With all the available choices for publishing online these days, why would you every choose to have a self hosted website that you have to maintain on your own? As a business owner, this is one question you must answer correctly to ensure the long term health of your operations online.

A self hosted blog requires you to buy a domain name and have a paid hosting account. You have to install your blog, choose a template (a theme for WordPress), install some form of analytics, and then you can begin adding your content (images, text, videos, podcasts, etc.).

Why not just set up a free Tumblr blog, or WordPress.com blog? They offer easy publishing options and you can have a nice looking site set up in minutes, right?

Well, that’s true to some degree, but the real question is, are you running a business or strictly engaging in a hobby?

If you’re setting up site to support your hobby interests, then it doesn’t matter. If you’re setting up a business website then you’ll want to have every business advantage possible. You won’t want to be subject to restrictions that limit what you can do and what you can offer your customers.

As a publishing option each free services each have their own set of drawbacks, but the one common fault they all share is that you can’t download your files, burn your website to CD, and hand it to someone if they purchased your business.

This might not sound like a big deal at this point in your business, but think long term and consider this future business transaction from your potential buyers point of view.

Let’s say you’re looking to buy a website that’s well established and has good visitor traffic. You find two sites. Both are involved in the same industry and both have excellent traffic and have been around for the same amount of time. One site is self hosted and the other is hosted on a third party service. Both sites cost around $10,000. Which one would you rather buy, the one you could get your hands on, or the one that was hosted on someone else’s system?

Did your brain quiver for a second there?

If there is even a moment of friction in our hypothetical situation, then imagine what would happen in an actual situation where real money is on the line. You don’t want a potential buyer to walk away because of a sense of uncertainty of what they are getting for their money. If you can’t guarantee they’ll own it, then you’re less likely to be able to sell it.

Does that mean all free publishing services should be off your radar? Of course not. These resources should be viewed as a way to establish promotional channels that extends the reach of your brand and help increase the value of your actual website where you do business.

A good example of this can be seen by looking at what Gary Vaynerchuk is doing with his personal brand. He has several popular sites that he uses to distribute his message and build his personal brand, but when it comes down to doing business, his sites are on paid hosting sites. He leverages the free publishing sites as marketing tools, but long term his money is invested in business sites that he owns and could sell to someone as a tangible asset.

So yes, leverage free, but own your business.

How are you using free to build your business?

Share your thoughts below and let us know what you think.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.

It’s all about the story. And Yes, you only remember the good ones. They stick in your brain and refuse to let go. They tug at your heart, your mind, your soul.  Hell, even a hooker has a good story to tell.

Your business MUST have a story. A story tells everyone who you really are. It allows them to trust you because you trusted them enough to tell it.

As a general rule, people don’t like to give their money to a business unless the company can appeal to them on a basic level. Passion, Freedom, Success or even Fear of loss. Whatever it is, your story should align and support something within their own story.

It’s all about the money, right?

When you earn Money. You’re earning the freedom to chose. Chose where you live, what you drive, and how you want to spend your time. Money provides that choice. Its not just paper and coins. It’s freedom.

When you sell something, you’re asking someone to give up some of that freedom.  As a business, you MUST provide more than a product. You have to sell the story too.

One way to do that is to give the customer something worth believing in. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Whether they admit it or not, everyone wants to feel special.

“Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, “Make me feel important. Never forget this message when working with people.” – Mary Kay Ash

Aligning your business with a charity for social change can be part of the story about the culture of your business. It’s a way for customers to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. Even if they aren’t socially active themselves, they can feel that they are supporting someone who is.

Bonuses, Specials and giveaways, will all satisfy logic. They won’t satisfy the heart and soul. A true story about how your business wants to change the world can do that.

Make sure that people have a reason to give you money beyond a simple exchange of goods and you’ll earn a lifelong customer and not just a one time sale.

So…What’s your story?

Chaz & Toff
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using social media.

Does marketing really need to be a measure of how much bull you have to shovel at a potential customer to get them to buy your product?

What if you could make your product or service known and then when someone is ready to buy, they remember you. Yes, I know that flies in the face of all traditional marketing, but we are just talking about “what if’s” right now.

Let’s look at an example. The last time I stepped onto a car lot, I was assaulted by a salesman who was determined to make a hard sale that day. I wasn’t interested in buying that day, I was trying to figure out which car I wanted. Once I figured out which car I wanted, I would be ready to buy.

The salesman was obviously not deterred when I told him this directly, and he continued to harass and even bully me into a decision. That pretty much sealed the deal and I left, not having learned what I wanted to about their cars. I wasn’t ready to buy, period. I didn’t have the money yet, and I still needed to find the right vehicle. Nothing the salesperson was going to say would change my mind on that.

I may have forgotten to mention it, but I am a horrible consumer. I rarely, if ever impulse buy. I get incredibly annoyed when someone tries to sell me something. I want what I want, and if you have that, then great, but if you don’t, then please shut up!

What I need, is a way to match my needs to your product or service, without someone trying to stuff garbage down my throat. I need a way for companies to work WITH me in meeting my needs, not blocking my search with a sales pitch.

I have a client that wants to increase his sales. He has a very good reputation, a great service and happy clients. I recommended to him that he increase his exposure to potential clients, by creating videos, podcasts, and articles to be placed in websites that his potential clients congregate (basic stuff, really). The idea is to put the information that someone is looking for, along their path. This does not mean building a brick wall in their path. It means placing a golden Easter egg on the side of the road where people are looking for Easter eggs.

Instead, he wants to buy a list of names and email and call them until they either buy his product or tell him to go away. Buying a list and working it is easy to do and measure. Creating content that is interesting and appealing to a potential customer is difficult for a lot of people to do. Measuring is getting better. There are new tools that allow you to measure the effectiveness of online marketing this way. It’s not traditional marketing, but more and more people are getting tired of being beaten with a marketing stick.

If you need an example of non-BS marketing, look up John Haydon. I met him while working with a charity organization. When I mentioned that I was new to twitter (at the time), he sent me a booklet and multiple links to more information. This met my needs exactly. He didn’t give me information on Facebook because that’s not what I asked for (I already knew how to build facebook pages just like the OpenSourceMarketer Fan Page). John gave me the information and never brought it up again. No harassing, no sales pitch, nada. I now follow him on Twitter and Facebook. When a client of mine (or myself) needs additional information, I now consider Mr. Haydon to be a prime source.

Its like fly-fishing for new customers rather than harpooning them.

The company who leads the customer to their doorstep is going to have an edge over those who continue along the previous generation’s shoveling methods.

Of course, that means less sales for the guys who sell boot cleaner.

Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer

Accelerate your business online using social media.