If you’re a beginner blogger, or just want to move your blog to the WordPress service, Yaro Starak’s and Gideon Shalwick’s Become a Blogger is just for you.

The Many Faces of Gideon Shalwick

I first heard of Gideon Shelwick from Yaro Starak. Shalwick has two internet marketing sites. Internet Marketing Wizards- an interview blog, with all the big guns, that exhibits his professionalism. And Internet Marketing News- an internet marketer-oriented entertainment site, which exposes a gayer side of him. Both top notch, whether you’re looking for a little mind-numbing internet marketer-targeted entertainment (find more here), or professionally done interviews with all your favorite internet marketing gurus.

Yaro Starak Never Sleeps
Although Starak may report to the contrary, he seems to be churning out more and more new content every day. You never expect someone, who’s just re-launched a membership site, to launch a brand new site, but there it is!

Become a Blogger – Simple, elegant
Become a Blogger is a beautifully and simply designed site , that’s aimed mainly at beginner bloggers, who want to get their blog set up. Having said that, I think it’s also great for veterans, who want to move their existing blog to WordPress, or bloggers considering hosting, for the first time.

I want to take the opportunity to talk about good web design. In the above picture, you see the homepage of Become a Blogger. First off, look how pretty it is: round corners, a planned color scheme, good use of stock images and tons and tons of white space.

Why is pretty important? When I look at a well-designed site, I know somebody payed a professional to do the job right (either that, or the owner actually knows design, but that shows effort, as well). When somebody slaps a site together and airs it, you can tell, and as a potential customer, it raises questions of trust, in you. A great design like, Become a Blogger, also catches you off guard- in the end, this is a squeeze page for Starak’s Blog Profits Blueprint (a 5 star report, I’ve reviewed before ), but what an amazing squeeze page it is!

Navigation has Never Been Simpler
From the above picture, you can see exactly where you can go and what you can see, on the site. The simple design is not just pretty, it’s also checked the usability box, as well. And just in case you’re not sure where you want to go, the big images ask you very simple questions: Are you new to blogging? Or are you already in that stage, where you can start making money? These two questions clarify what the whole site is about, and make sure to capture the right target audience.

Innovating the Squeeze Page
Charles Trippy started this revolution, but Starak and Shalwick are taking it one step further. Starak is highly influenced by his mentor, Rich Schefren. Schefren’s latest report, The Attention Age Doctrine Volume II, is all about providing value, inside the free content, in order to close a sale. That’s what the Starak and Shalwick team do. Become a Blogger is not you’re ordinary long-copy squeeze page. It’s a content-stuffed site.

The Become a Blogger Content
In all the excitement, I almost forgot to mention the site content. We’re talking about 10, grade A, tutorial videos, to help you technically set up your hosting, WordPress blog and plugins, and RSS. Starak and Shalwick give you two viewing options:

• A video page
• A blog (with RSS, of course)

What Can a Veteran Blogger learn from Become a Blogger?
Excellent question, young grasshopper! Here are 6 lessons we can learn from the Become a Blogger launch:

• Pretty sites look professional (=trust worth and authoritative ).
• Easy navigation keeps visitors on your site longer (and maybe even prevents their immediate leaving).
• A blog could be an excellent squeeze site (in contrary to “squeeze page”- so passe, get with it! ).
• You can provide the same content on the same site, in different ways, which will make your site seem richer in content (+ it gives people choices for how to consume your content).
• Provide value to your potential customer, and they are more likely to do whatever it is you want them to do.
• The complex sales funnel: Note what Starak and Shalwick are doing here (The following includes some guessing on my part, if you know details to be different, please let everybody know, in the comment section!):
  My guess is that Shalwick is an affiliate in Starak’s Blog Mastermind affiliate program. Becoming a Blogger is Shalwick’s site. He creates the videos and sets up a site. Then he contacts Starak and offers him a small JV: “I create a site all about your free report- You put your official stamp on it.” Starak does a small welcome video and allows Shalwick to use his official picture and sponsorship. The site leads the user to download the Blog Profits Blueprint, Shalwick’s name is linked with the user’s name. The Blog Profits Blueprint leads to Starak’s membership site, when the user joins, Shalwick is credited with affiliate income. Everybody wins. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Yaro Starak’s and Gideon Shalwick’s Become a Blogger, is a good tutorial site that also sets a wonderful example of how squeeze pages should really be done.

Viva La Revalucion!