Thought you might be interested in what type of blog to use (if you are blogging)!
~~Rachel
Hi everyone,
Just back from three days on the road and catching up on this thread. Figured I'd address several points:
First, you have to ask yourself why you have a blog in the first place. For many stamping business owners, their blogs are more about personal sharing, and allowing other Demos to see what they're doing.
However, if it's a BUSINESS blog you're building, the primary purpose should be to attract new leads and, ultimately, customers to your business.
In order to accomplish that task, you need a blog that's going to attract those leads 'organically' – through free search engine results. And NOT for search terms like your name or your business name. Almost everybody shows up for their own name. Think about it, though… if someone doesn't know you, why would they search for either of those things? Rather, your blog needs to show up for more generic search terms that potential customers would be interested in finding out information about.
Unfortunately, Blogger simply doesn't meet this need. Even though their actually owned by Google, you can count on one hand the number of Blogger blogs that rank on page 1 SERPs (search engine results pages), which is where 94% of all searchers stop searching.
The truth is, the reason so many Demos use Blogger is that it's free. And free is one of the worst features to base a business decision on.
Unfortunately, this is a 'you get what you pay for' situation. And when you consider how inexpensive it is to maintain a blog anyway ($6-$8/month), the amount of money you could be losing on the back end in potential lost customers is that much worse.
On top of that, the list of things you can't do on a Blogger blog that you can do on a WordPress blog is as long as my arm.
Finally, that button at the top of all Blogger blogs (which does have to remain according to their Terms of Service) is another detriment. The fact that (as someone mentioned earlier) you can click that button and be taken to another random Demo's blog is NOT a positive for a business blog.
The difference between hosting your own WordPress blog on your own domain and going with a domain hosted by WordPress.com is simple: The former is a full-blown, open-source, supremely flexible blogging platform that allows you to do just about anything AND get maximum exposure. The other is a scaled-down, less flexible shadow of the first with far fewer options and much less opportunity for exposure.
I'm all about keeping it simple. And part of that is making sure you're getting the most bang for your buck AND your time.
If you're trying to build or use a blog to showcase your business to potential new customers, in order to increase sales and profits… and you're trying to get the best return on investment for your time and money… self-hosted WordPress is, by far, your best option.
Warmest regards,
John
John Sanpietro
Certified Professional Development Coach
Stamping Is My Business!
www.stampingismybusiness.com
THE BUSINESS STAMPERS COACHING GROUP
http://www.stampingismybusiness.com/businessstampers.htm
