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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Plan It | |
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| What Kind of Blog Are You Going to Run? | |
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| Solo vs. Collective | |
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| General vs. Niche | |
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| Pundit vs. Instructional | |
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| Business Blogs | |
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| What's Next | |
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| A Rock-Solid Plan for Your Blog | |
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| Define Your Blog's Main Topic | |
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| Analyze the Size of Your Niche | |
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| Give Readers a Compelling Reason to Stick Around | |
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| Set Goals for Your Blog | |
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| Choose and Register a Domain Name | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Build It | |
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| Setting Up Your Blog | |
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| Choose Your Blogging Software and Hosting | |
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| Configure Your Domain Name | |
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| Install WordPress | |
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| Configure WordPress | |
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| Enhance WordPress with Plugins | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Customizing and Fine-Tuning Your Blog | |
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| Pick a Professional Theme | |
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| Enable Tracking of Your Site's Visitors | |
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| Customize Your Sidebar | |
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| Encourage Social Media Sharing | |
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| Win Over Subscribers | |
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| Don't Get in Trouble-Use Disclaimers | |
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| Master On-page SEO with Platinum SEO | |
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| Performance Considerations | |
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| Enable Code Highlighting in Your Posts | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Creating Remarkable Content | |
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| Content Is King | |
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| Write for the Web | |
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| Can Linkbaiting Be Ethical? | |
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| Write Catchy Headlines | |
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| Develop Your Own Voice | |
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| Where to Find Ideas for Your Posts | |
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| Case Study: Math-Blog.com's Headlines | |
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| Get Readers to Explore Your Content | |
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| Copyright Matters | |
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| Back Up Your Content | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Producing Content Regularly | |
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| What's the Post Frequency, Kenneth? | |
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| Consistency Is Queen | |
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| What Days Should You Post On? | |
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| Schedule Time to Blog | |
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| Manage Your Time with the Pomodoro Technique | |
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| Survive Writer's Block | |
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| Get Others to Write for You | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Promote It | |
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| Promoting Your Blog | |
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| Market It and They Will Come | |
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| Correct a Self-Sabotaging Mindset | |
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| Perform On-page and Off-page SEO | |
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| Not All Links Are Created Equal | |
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| Guest Blog on Other Blogs | |
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| Other Forms of Article Marketing | |
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| Participate in the Community | |
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| Leverage Foreign Blogs | |
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| The Dark Side of Link Bunding | |
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| Promote Your Articles on Social Networks | |
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| Promote on Technical Social News Sites | |
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| Case Study: ProgrammingZen.com's Referral Traffic | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Understanding Traffic Statistics | |
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| Baseline vs. Spike Traffic | |
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| Key Site Usage Metrics You Need to Consider | |
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| Interpret Visit Quantity and Quality | |
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| Where Do They All Come From? | |
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| Analyze Google Analytics and Clicky Statistics | |
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| Keep Track of Your Blog's Growth | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Building a Community Around Your Blog | |
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| Engage Readers | |
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| Supplement Your Blog with Community Tools | |
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| Forms of Criticism | |
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| Your Mantras When Dealing with Criticism | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Benefit from It | |
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| Making Money from Your Blog | |
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| Common Monetization Strategies | |
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| Make Money with Ads | |
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| Make Money with Sponsors | |
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| Make Money with Affiliate Offers | |
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| Make Money with Other Monetization Strategies | |
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| Case Study: My Monthly Income | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Promoting Your Own Business | |
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| A Checklist for Company Blogs | |
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| Identify and Understand Your Readers | |
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| Craft Your Content for Your Prospective Customers | |
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| Convert Readers into Customers | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Taking Full Advantage of Your Blog | |
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| Improve Your Skills | |
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| Advance Your Career | |
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| Obtain Freebies | |
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| Prepare for Success | |
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| Other Benefits for Startups | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Scale It | |
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| Scaling Your Blogging Activities | |
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| Scale Your Blog Vertically | |
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| Hire a Team of Bloggers | |
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| Build Your Blogging Empire | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Beyond Blogging: Your Strategy for Social Media | |
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| Define a Social Media Strategy | |
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| Select the Social Networks You Intend to Target | |
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| Create Your Social Media Profiles | |
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| Cross Promote Your Site and Social Properties | |
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| Post Frequently and Interact with Your Followers | |
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| What's Next | |
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| Final Words of Advice | |
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| Try It Out | |
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| Blogs to Follow | |
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| Keep in Touch | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |