Web Tools: Blogging Made Easy

Ninja Blog Setup

If you’re involved in ecommerce on the Web and you are not blogging, you’re probably leaving some money on the table.  Well, here’s a great way to get going for free: NinjaBlogSetup.com.  This is a great. The guy who runs this site sets up professional, WordPress-style blogs. 

He’s got everything you want, and he does it for free — when you sign up for hosting through one of the companies listed on his site. The hosting organizations, pay this guy a small commission.

So who is this guy?  His name is Shawn Swisher, and he’s been building WordPress blogs since 2007. He figured why not get a small commission and help other folks get their own blogs going.  And you get all the work done for free.  Obviously, you are going to pay the hosting. 

NinjaBlogSetup.com (Click for larger image).

The site has dozens and dozens of themes you can choose, all different colors and different styles. You find the one you like best, fill out all the information, and a couple of clicks later, you are on the blog business: you’re ready to go.  This is definitely something that you want to take a look at.

So it’s a pretty simple three-step process.  Let’s review.  Step one is sign up for hosting.  Now the hosting companies that he’s listed offer wonderful prices. There’s an extended list of hosting companies and when you look at the annual cost, it’s less than $100.  So when you get a moment, go take a look at Ninja Blog Setup.  It’s a great idea.

What Should I Read Next?

If you’ve ever read a good book, it’s often disappointing when it ends, isn’t it?  You want the enjoyment to continue.  So, here’s a handy resource: It’s a Web site called WhatShouldIReadNext.com and the theory behind it is very simple. 

WhatShouldIReadNext.com (Click for larger image).

You enter the title and author of a book that you’ve enjoyed reading, and the program gives you suggestions on what to read next, based on the feedback of other people with similar tastes.  Kind of like Pandora for bookworms, I suppose.  And it’s completely free, which makes it even better.

RITR: Radio-TV Interview Report

One of the biggest challenges in the world of public relations is letting the world know that you have a story to tell.  And frequently, there’s a huge disconnect between the people that want to interview people and those who have the story to tell. 

But take a look at this great site: the Radio-TV Interview Report.  It has a huge circulation.  Normally when we look at Web sites is look at the Alexa rating.  These folks have broken the 200,000 mark — that means they are in the top 200,000 of Web sites in the world.  That’s a remarkable rating, so you can be confident that a lot of people are visiting this site and a lot of things are happening.

Radio-TV Interview Report (rtir.com) (Click for larger image).

So how does it work?  If you have something to promote, it’s a great place to come and tell people what it is that you have to say.  If you produce a radio or TV show and you’re looking for someone to interview, you come here to find a guest. 

If you need to find a guest you can search by a number of categories: actual location by state, and then by a number of different topics such as Health or Fitness. Or you can do a word search,  for, let’s say, “yoga” and you get back a bunch of interview opportunities: “Can prisoners be rehabilitated through use of yoga and meditation?”  “Stress damaging someone you know?  Yoga for stress release.”  So it’s a great place to find somebody to participate in your program.

On the other side of the equation, let’s assume you’re promoting a book or video, and you’d like to be a guest on a TV show or a radio show to get the free publicity.  You provide them with information about who you are and the details about what you’re promoting.

The Radio and TV Interview Report is a great place to go if you’re trying to promote yourself, your product or your ideas.

Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”