You now have a killer, fully-customizable blog that you can use to share your market knowledge and earn new clients… but where to begin??? Here are some first steps that I would recommend to get things all set up and moving along:

1. Go to your dashboard…this is where you control your blog so learn how to get here.  You can get here by saving the link in your bookmarks, by clicking on “dashboard” in the admin bar at the top of the page or by clicking on the “site admin” link on your blog’s homepage if the theme you have has that link.

2. Add your real name and customize your password… from the dashboard, look at the top of the page and click on your username.  Follow these steps on this page:

1. Enter your www.zolve.net profile username first.  If you don’t have a Zolve profile, then, well… you should.  It is quick, free and easy and helps you grow your business.  It will also serve as your “about” page for your blog.
2. Enter your first and last name or enter a nickname you want to go by.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “update profile”
3. Now, go back to the name area and choose from the dropdown options under “display name” the name you want to go by.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter an easy to remember password for yourself.  Then click on “Update profile” again to save your display name and customized password.

3. Add your picture… your picture or logo is important on a network like this.  On the left side of your dashboard, find the “Users” section and click on “Your Avatar.”  On this page, you can upload your picture or logo, crop it to the right size and now appear as a person with personality on the network.

4. Use your own domain name! This is important. Using your own domain name like www.woodlandsmarketreport.com is not required but highly recommended.  If you put a lot of effort and time into your blog, then you are going want to own the domain name that you have poured that effort into.  Zolve makes this crazy-easy to do.  Follow the simple instructions on this post.

5. Write your first post… you have to get started. Don’t wait until you have the perfect story. Just write.  Write from your personality and from you experience and people will enjoy reading it.  If you try to write to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one.

7. Comment on other blog posts across the network… This is the whole point!  The advantage to blogging on a network like this over having your own independent WordPress blog is that in the latter case no one will read it for a long time.  When you are part of network, you can support and be supported.  Not only will this make it more fun to build your blog but this activity, linking, commenting, etc. will help your blog perform on the search engines.

more to follow… until then, comment on this post if you have specific questions and I will reply.

Brian