I won’t say their names, because it really doesn’t matter. Unfortunately in a few months some other artists will be singing a similar song that says abuse is ok. This was the final straw in avoiding a calling I have had for years. I can no longer stand by and let the cycles of hate and abuse continue.

While that calling came almost 3 weeks ago, and I stated to myself that I would finish the Blog Challenge before leaving this blog behind. Although I nearly quit just 4 days before the challenge ended.

Each day, each post has become harder and harder to write. Some of you may know that I also write for 365 Online Tips. This is a daily success and motivational site. There is another motivational site in the works. I am actually looking for some women who are willing to make commitment to helping women.

But for those of you who are friends on my personal website, you probably have read that I am thinking of getting out of making websites and even out of WordPress. Well, the decisions were made as to what I was/am going to do as of almost 2 weeks ago.

Now it is time to confess….

Rockstar Guide to WordPress will soon no longer be available for sale as an ebook. I am working on getting it published. It will be sold on Amazon and hopefully on Kindle as well. It will be available at a much lower price and I am looking to get some other authors to add some chapters to help people with their websites. This is extremely important because half of the profits will be going towards special organizations and that new project mentioned earlier. It will need some funds for scholarships and such.

So…

• If you want to add a chapter to a WordPress book, please comment.
• If you are a woman and would like to participate in a special project to help others, please comment. (make certain that you use email box because it will be a private message)
• If you are a man, and would like to help get the project going, please comment.
• If you would like me to continue doing Freebie Fridays, please comment.

I still enjoy WordPress and very much enjoy tech stuff, I just won’t be able to do daily blogs or commit to WordPress projects.

Do you have a blog?

No?  Then you may need help Picking a Blog Topic and Getting Content.   Please note there are Website Mistakes That Cost You Readers.   As a beginner you need to know  What Does Your Blog Need in Posts

Now for more experienced readers.

You should know what makes your blog voice unique.  If not you Finding Your USP should be your next focus.  Experienced or new, we all sometimes forget  Why is Content King?

If you are working a job, have kids or are going on vacation then Scheduling WordPress Posts will help.  You can write 2 or 3 or more posts a day and schedule the rest so you can have a post appearing if you are home or away.

How will I come up with so many posts?

You can have Easy Web Site Content.  The answer is amazingly simple, even better what if you could turn One Question Into Multiple Blog Posts and Content Creation.   Now do not be fooled not all your writing needs to be just about your topic, you will be surprised to learn What Should My Blog Posts be About?

Adding Outside Content

Perhaps writing tons of blog posts is not your thing  or you need some filler material on your vacations.  All you need to do is Find Articles on Ezine Articles once you find an article you like Adding an Ezine Article to Your Blog is an easy process.   Now before you obsess too much about Google Slaps and Duplicate Content my friend Sunbonnet Sue Busts the Duplicate Content Myth.

I certainly hope this odd little story will help all you bloggers in the newest blog challenge.

~ MJ Schrader

Write for your readers…

No matter what you are writing, unless it is for your amusement only, you need to think about your readers. They are following you because of your topic. Now it may be that your point of view has become the stuff of legends and it brings in readers as well.  For most writers it is your subject matter, your niche is your “market.”

What is your niche?

That blog niche is what your readers care about most. This is probably what brought them to your blog, be your niche be about taking the high road, hypnosis, online tools or pole dancing. Your readers expect most posts to about that niche. Did you notice the “most” bit? Your readers are your most important goal. Your readers do not expect a robot. You have a personal life, you have more than one interest.

More interests?

Well, I don’t know about you, but as much as I enjoy WordPress, I love my English Cocker Spaniel more. Perhaps you enjoy a particular dog breed, or just animals. Maybe you have a rose garden, or you paint, or you cook. Having a whole blog about it would destroy your interest but it is something you want to share. Then mention it on occasion.

Should I include personal stuff?

How about an example?  Here on the left is a picture at a social gathering.  You can see Joe Vitale drinking some home brewed beer that I made.  Home brew is an interest of mine.  Being able to talk with Joe Vitale, Wendi Friesen, an world renowned hypnotist has given me confidence.  This was after a seminar that helped establish my reputation as the WordPress Rockstar. It’s a cross niche, cross interest, cross topic that helps add material to my blog and let you know… yup I am real.  (or at least last I checked)

Make it real!

Making a reference to your life gives your blog a personal feel. (If you have children, many blog writers use code names for their children rather than real names.) You may have children, a spouse or significant other, pets… these help bring your life into focus and may help you focus on your niche.   It helps your readers know a bit about who you are.  Writing only business without any personal reflection will alienate you from readers rather than bring them in.

When you write a post about your life weave in the blog focus, lessons learned related to the focus, humor, or combine all of the above. This involves the reader and keeps the blog focus.  Social media is the current king because we are sharing more and your posts should as well.

~ MJ Schrader

PS.  What is your niche?  What is your unique angle?

PPS. And with that thought I now I have a post for tomorrow!  TOMORROW: What is your USP?

Continuing the theme of lifesaving, today’s post is about moving your blog.  As a side note, please feel free to comment. I have changed my comment system to Disqus. On Monday I will explain why and how it can help your blog.

Why would I want to move my blog?

The reasons are endless. You decide your old domain name no longer suits you or perhaps the direction you are now going. Perhaps you decided to move things around. You could decide to change web hosts. Maybe someone offers you a million dollars for your domain name. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

Start at Your Existing Domain

Export your WordPress posts, see export WordPress from yesterday. Note where you save it. Now visit your cPanel. If you have a favicon or Robots.txt file you will want to copy those as well.

If your blog move is because a theme or plugin is corrupt, or you are changing those, then skip to the next section.  Next you want to copy your entire wp-content folder from that blog.  This should get all your plugins, themes, and uploads such as pictures. (should) Again note where you save it.

On to Your New Domain

First you need to make certain you have your new domain set up with WordPress. Use Fantastico or SimpleScripts depending on your webhost, or do it manually. If you copied your wp-content you want to upload your old wp-content and override the existing folder on the new blog.

Go to Your New WordPress Blog

Now visit your new blog. It will be empty. Visit your dashboard and import all your blog posts, from the file you saved. Check your results.

Activate your theme (or new theme) and your plugins. If you are remaining the same in appearance you want to make certain all the same things are in place. Check settings on plugins, widgets, and themes. These may remain the same with the transfer, but they may change.

Add a Plugin

Click your plugins, then Add New. In the search box, type “Update URLs.” The plugin you want is “Velvet Blues Update URLs.” Install and activate the plugin. Then visit settings and update URLs. Check your blog, your URLs should be as they were before except with your new domain name. Now visit plugins again, deactivate Velvet Blues and then delete it. As a side note, you want to remove any plugins you do not use. Keeping your WordPress clean helps it work clean.

Congratulations, your blog has been moved!

~ MJ Schrader

Today starts a challenge from Connie Ragen Green. She has challenged her twitter and blog followers to a 30 day blogging challenge.

This is actually my second blogging challenge with Connie.  I accomplished the first one back in December, which was rather difficult because Christmas was very busy this year.   This one is actually going to have even more chaos than the first.   Family activities will keep me rather occupied during  2 of the 4 weeks.   However after Connie’s last challenge, I upped the ante and challenged myself to write 100 articles in 56 days (8 weeks). I did it 48 days.

So I am not worried.  But the reason I am in the challenge is because I know challenges can help me and my business.  Challenges can also help your business.

How do challenges help?

Depending on the challenge it can help in a variety of ways. Writing 30 blog posts is going to help get more material on my website. It means writing daily which forces me to increase my speed and forces me to write. This gives me something to talk about with my subscribers and gives me more ideas about things to write and share.

But what about online business success?

With more material on your website, subscribers have more reason to visit your website. The more often they visit, the more likely you are to sell something. Your business success depends on visitors. This also gives them more reason to respect you.

What about a different challenge?

A traffic challenge will bring in more visitors. Increasing social media will provide business publicity. Writing for other websites means outside links pointing to your online business. If there is a business related challenge it will generally mean more visitors for you. Any way you get more visitors there is a greater chance for people to buy!  Connie competed in a challenge by Armand Morin “Better Your Best”  and she improved her business by many little ways that help her make money without a job.  In addition she won the contest and accepted a nice check from Armand Morin himself in front of everyone at Big Seminar 13 in Vegas.

What if the challenge is too hard?

Then you need to judge how much it will actually help your business versus how much work it will take. Something that is going to cause you to double your work load for a few visitors is not going to help you. However the increase is manageable and your visitors double then it would be worth the challenge.  Your business will benefit and so will your wallet.

What if the challenge is just too much to do?

If the challenge itself is too much, but you like the challenge, change it. No, you won’t be able to compete, but you could gain the knowledge and the ability. Instead of doing 30 days of press releases do a week or two weeks, or do one every other day. Go for the 30 days or for 60 so you have 30 at the end. You learn how to do the press releases, you get more of them, and you build your reputation. What is not to like?

Your business success depends on your ability to bring people to your website so any challenge that does is a good one. Just make certain it is a challenge that will benefit your website. If it the challenge is too big, break it down into a manageable size.

Thank you Connie for the wonderful challenge!

~ MJ Schrader

PS. If you need articles please visit Articles and Bio of MJ_Schrader