Seven Days of Blogging: My Personal Guide to Blogging

Where are you in life right now?… where is your business? Are you getting the exposure and connections that you need to make your business succeed? If not, then this will be a very exciting week for you, as I will be launching my “Seven Days of Blogging“, which will be my personal quick start guide for creating a blog that really matters and creates massive value for not only your business, but also your audience.

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it till I die… starting my blog in 2007 was one of the best things I’ve done for my personal brand and business! However, before we get into the specifics of why you need to have a blog and how easy they are to setup… let me first reflect back on my start and how all of this led up to where I am at today.

1995- From High School Student to Affiliate Marketer to Entrepreneur to AUTHORITY BRAND!

I first started making money online back in the mid 90s. Back in the day I was a teenager and chatting with other site owners in the AOL Web Diner. I had a couple free web sites of my own that were hosted on the AOL member pages and other sites like Tripod and Geocities. These were just fun sites, but it was a great way to learn about the internet and just a glimpse of what potential lied ahead.

Getting back to how I first made money online… The first dollar I made online was literally “a dollar”! – In the AOL Web Diner I would hang out with other people that had web sites of their own and wanted to have a 468×60 banner for their site so they could advertise it on the now defunct “LinkExchange”. I would design the banner in my favorite image editor software PaintShopPro, send them the banner and they would (hopefully) send me $1 in the mail. This was way before Paypal or any online payment system existed. This went on for a while and it was fun… but it would never get me anywhere in terms of growth and scalability.

The learning process was amazing and thinking back on these times it was quite exciting and so much fun. Here are just a few of the methods I used for discovering different ways to make money online, and my own little timeline for falling into what eventually would be my start in online / affiliate marketing.

• Creating 468×60 banners for $1 each on the AOL Web Diner chat room
• AllAdvantage (a banner network that would pay you to use the internet) which I did receive a bunch of checks for.
• Promoting a PacificCoast pillow company at .01 per click (but never got a check, as their minimum payout was $100!)
• Pushing web hosting services (AdGrafix) through AOL Chat Rooms (worked pretty well and paid monthly on hosting plans)
• Eventually coming across the Amazon.com associates program (over $100,000 in referred sales while a sophomore in high school)
• Discovering affiliate networks WebSponsors.com and OnResponse (my intro into affiliate marketing)

It was always exciting to get my first Amazon.com checks in the mail!

Long story short… while I was in high school I had the opportunity to experience the birth of internet marketing and what it would eventually turn into today. Even though I was able to generate over $100,000 in sales for Amazon.com as one of their associate partners, there was a lot more room for growth and money to made in affiliate marketing. Instead of having to earn a commission every time someone bought something through Amazon, I could earn a commission on new credit card signups, free magazine trials and sweepstakes.

This process went on for a while and I would go on to create PPC ad campaigns and build out my own lead gen sites where I would collect data and pass them along to the end advertiser, then start my own affiliate programs on Commission Junction and have affiliate partners of my own.

2000 – My First Encounter with Super Marketers and Big Name Brands

Everything mentioned above was just the beginning of my journey into the world rubbing shoulders with the big names and brands on the internet. After running successful ad campaigns, site and my own affiliate programs through Commission Junction, it was time for me to attend my first internet marketing event in 2000, which was called CJU (Commission Junction University).

I live in NJ and the event was in Santa Barabara, CA and I was still in high school at the time. My dad and I flew across the country and got to meet with some amazing people, many of which I am still good friends with today. Not only was this the first time I really got to experience one on one contact with the people running big internet companies, but it was the start of my personal branding as well – I was definitely the youngest kid there and many people were interested in talking with me and sharing their advice and experience with me. I always appreciated the time and effort that others spent with me and that’s something I’ve always portrayed through my blog and when I meet new people are different events I attend today.

Speaking with the likes of Jeremy Schoemaker, Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, John Chow and more…

Attending CJU was the kickstart I needed to not only get even more dedicated to what I was doing, but it also gave me my first set of “real” contacts that I got to meet with in person and not just through email. After CJU in 2000, I spoke at my first conference, which was called AffiliateForce and it was located on a cruise ship that would sail out from Miami, FL and around the Bahamas. It was an amazing event, which led to even more contacts and helped expand my knowledge, personal contacts and business a million times over.

2007 – Time to Start a Blog!

It wasn’t til 2007 that I finally decided to start a blog of my own. It only made sense for me to launch the blog under my personal name of ZacJohnson.com, which I had secured a few years earlier. While I was so what well known at events such as CJU, Affiliate Force and Affiliate Summit, I never took the plunge to make a name for myself on the internet and actually be a so-called “guru” or “coach” in this space.

Many different designs over the years… but always the same message and goal.

Through the use of my blog I’ve been able to publish over 1,000 articles that cover everything from how I first got started with my business, creating tutorials and guides to help people get started, review different ad networks and services I’m using and even just to write about whatever might be going on in my life at any moment.

Since the launch of the blog I’ve been able to build out my own personal brand and reach more people than I’d ever imagine. As a result of the blog I’ve been able to appear on ABC News and Fox News, speak at different conferences around the world, win amazing top blogger contests and prize, meet big name celebrities, write a book, partner with multi-million dollar companies and much more! The coolest thing is never knowing who is reading your blog in the future and what that next opportunity may lead to!

Seven Days of Blogging: My Personal Guide to Blogging

Click Here to Get Your Free Domain Name and Web Hosting Setup.

Over the course of the next seven days we will be covering everything you need to know about launching a blog for your business, brand or just so you can have your own little place on the internet. I’ve already experienced the sheer power and opportunities that lie within having a blog of your own, and now it’s time for you to experience the same. If you already have a blog, you will still benefit from the series. Best of all, it’s completely free!

• Day 1: Preparing for Your Blog Launch
• Day 2: How to Setup Your Blog in 5 Minutes
• Day 3: Discover the Simplicity of WordPress
• Day 4: Finding the Right Voice for Your Blog
• Day 5: How to Write Your First Blog Posts and Creating Pages
• Day 6: How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog
• Day 7: Making Real Money with Your Blog

If you would like to get started right now, you can sign up with my recommended host and secure your domain name and blogging account right away. The cost is only $4.95 a month for hosting. Once you are signed up with your account, shoot me an email through the contact form and I will setup your blog for you at no cost and I’ll also set you up with a $79 premium wordpress theme at no cost!

In the next section of  my “Seven Days of Blogging: My Personal Guide to Blogging” I will be covering what you need to do to prepare for the launch of your blog. This includes picking a domain name, a web host and knowing what you want to blog about.