To blog or not to blog is the question. Do network marketers need to blog? I think this is a debatable idea and one I don't want to deal with in this article. Suffice to say, if you are a network marketer and you do not have a network marketing web presence then you are slipping behind. The times, they are a changing my friend and to be successful these days you must keep up. If you do not have your own website then a blog is the best and/or easiest way to go - partly because it's free and partly because it's relatively easy and partly because it works. I am going to give you 4 pointers to make sure you get started properly to have an effective network marketing blog.

First, there are several blog platforms you can use that are free and I would recommend Wordpress. Wordpress is easy and versatile and one of the most popular and Google loves it. This means it will be easier to get indexed to get traffic. Wordpress also has a lot of different plugins, something you'll want to Google to find out about that provide additional functionality. Plus there are a lot of different themes you can use to begin your network marketing web presence, which means you'll have a great chance to find one that suits you. So using Wordpress is one way to be sure to have an effective network marketing blog as you begin to build your network marketing web presence.

Second, be wise in choosing your theme. I've recently learned that when Google crawls your blog it typically reads from left to right. The reason this is important is because if you have a sidebar on the left with links or anything that is always the same then Google reads it first every time and considers it duplicate content. Duplicate content is not good and will hurt your rankings and thereby your traffic in the search engines. So pick a simple, easy to navigate theme with navigation bars on the right side allowing Google to read your new posts first. This will help to ensure an effective network marketing blog.

Third, to build your network marketing web presence you should post to your blog regularly. Update your blog at least every couple days and try to be consistent. Plus, always try to post something of value for your readers. This can possibly be the most difficult part to building an effective network marketing blog. So, it may be wise to plan ahead a little and gather information for good post topics. You can write them all ahead of time so it makes it easier to stay on track. In fact, you can set up Wordpress to auto-post for you as in every couple days or so which is something worth looking into.

Finally, and not the least import is that you should host the blog yourself and have your own domain name. You'll get more Google love this way and rank higher in the search engines. You can find good quality hosting for less than $10 a month and a domain will cost you less than $10 a year. These four tactics will ensure you get started right to have an effective network marketing blog. Need help? Let me know.