The whole reason to have a website and be online is: To be found. In turn, we hope it leads to revenue... but why would you place your business wholly in another's hands. That's exactly what you do by not owning your online real estate.
[caption id="attachment_2536" align="alignright" width="225"] Image Credit: James Cridland (Will you lease it?)[/caption]
The Entrepreneur And The Small Business Owner
Recently, I overheard an Entrepreneur telling another Small Business Owner:
"I have my own free google websites already. I use google's blogger.com for my own websites and webshops."
She went on to share a free one-page website set-up that promised to be tweaked for SEO, and offer attractive design options.
When I asked what led the entrepreneur to share so enthusiastically and with such confidence, the reply was similar to this:
"I'm just sharing things I find in my surfing. I am always getting questions on how to set up a website, and most people are too busy or tech-phobic to do it my way, so when I come across a simple free/cheap professional-looking option that has good reviews, I share it with those who might find it useful."
First, the entrepreneur must be having some success, or people would not ask her what she is doing. That should be recognized.
Second, I do think it is essential for small business owners to come together to exchange ideas that have brought success! They should network and communicate with other entrepreneurs at least once per month.
Third, we need to remember that some tasks & topics can be crowdsourced, while others should be left to professionals for hard and fast advice.
By that I mean:
- Would you ask your auto mechanic about your child's sports injury?
- Would you ask your dentist about the leak in your roof?
- Would you rely on Tiger Woods to make the winning Super Bowl touchdown?
The correct answer is, no.
Don't Send Your Ducks To Eagle School
We need to be looking to the correct professionals to perform tasks of their expertise.
Entrepreneurs are great at developing and running their business. But they probably will not be able to give you the best advice on website development (unless that is indeed their business).
Jumping back to the above conversation, I went on to explain to the entrepreneur and small business owner:
"Your methods are actually short-changing your business if you are using free sites for your primary online presence."
The Entrepreneur was not over-joyed by my direct statement. But I made it out of desire to see these small business owners succeed!
Free Is Not Free
Every time you do something on an online free resource - you are part of the product. The owners of the site refer to you as a "user."
All of your activity there contributes to that platform's SEO, not necessarily your own. PLUS, you own nothing there -- it's all "rented or leased" space.
You'll also notice there are usually lots of advertisements, or the site is actually trying to sell you something else. If we're talking about websites, a common tactic is to offer you a small upgrade for $5-10 per month.
Additionally, a big company like Google can make a decision at any moment that affects your business outcome. Haven't we all experienced the ebbs and flows of Facebook?
Sites like blogger.com, wordpress.com, and onepager.com are great for:
- Getting your feet wet. Learning.
- Backlinking - obtaining links into your main site. A secondary activity.
Users of those platforms should remember that the longer they are there on a primary basis, the longer they do not own the ultimate outcome for their online business activity.
Quit Leasing & Own It
A self-hosted site formatted in Wordpress is actually more in-line with modern processes and technologies, and gets great "Google Love" (SEO).
Secret: It's the same thing you find at Wordpress.com ("free"), only you own it. Simple!
It really is. I sometimes get resistance to the idea, but here's the simple truth:
- Wordpress itself is free.
- You can use a free theme to get started.
- It is very customizable through "plugins," (similar to phone apps).
Some Simple Math
Less than a year ago, I paid $126.00 for my domain name, hosting, and security certificates - that's total cost for a year.
My theme (design) was $35.00.
So, a total of $161.00 with tax.
Divide that out over 12 months = $13.42 per month.
My plan includes some things many often opt not to include. But I wanted extra safety features.
For a business expense, that is extremely reasonable!
The Pleasures Of Owning Your Online Real Estate
No landlords or supers - I own it all! And it's easy to maintain -- For just a few dollars more than the "free or almost free" options listed above.
No big companies make decisions that affect me, and I've created an inbound marketing tool that attracts my customers to me - on local, regional, national, and international levels.
Even better - I can monetize my site so it is working FOR me, and it can become an additional form of revenue for my business. Especially if you're blogging to create consistent indexing to improve your Google rankings.
BONUS: Google loves Wordpress...I've watched them favor it in the search rankings! :)
What do you think your chances are of being found online at a free site, when you are stacked among those that own their sites?
Did I miss any benefits of ownership above?
I'd love to hear from you below in the comment box...
64 Replies
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I learned a lot from this post. Keep posting. Thank you for sharing. Good job!
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I’m satisfied to see the work you put in this astounding site. Blog’s aren’t my life, yet I trust one day I will come to your “on the web” level. ? Thanks & Regards Benchmark-Developers
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Thank you so much for valuable information about real estate this blog help me a lot
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Nice post, I think this information is very useful to people.
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“Don’t take your ducks to eagle school” I love that! May I add that if your web person sells you a free blog that is only linked from your website > run! I see this every day and it pains me how people get ill advised. Great content Keri! Thanks for re-sharing
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Great Post …I very like this article, thanks
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I very like this article, thanks
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Hi Paulo Ramos, Woouu! I have excited hear you “after less then a month of blogging I had won around $4,99 on a webhosting referal and more then $15,00 in adsense” How did you do that. I am still struggling with adsense and Godaddy reseller hosting. @Keri Jaehnig , Thank you very much for your post and lost of interesting comments
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Me again Keri 😉 Just to say I spent $8,99 on a year of hosting incluiding .com domain name, and I’m using a free theme. The logo design was made by me, and after less then a month of blogging I had won around $4,99 on a webhosting referal and more then $15,00 in adsense. I think I’m in the right track. 😉
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Hi Keri I’m very pleased to see the work you put in this amazing website. Blog’s aren’t my life, but I hope one day I will reach your “online” level. 😉 I’m an recent Portuguese blogger writing in english, so excuse me for grammar errors. Best regards Paulo Ramos
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This post if full of wisdom! Thanks for shinning light on this very important subject. One added benefit of owning your own WordPress blog is that it forces you to acquire new skills that otherwise you would not be motivated to gain.
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Hi…For me, we need this so much!Thanks a lot!
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Hi…I have learned a lot from this post and I want to thank you for sharing it to us here…
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Wonderful post, I have told many people that not only is it great to own your site but who is going to remember the free sites name i.e. sexybagsnshoes.wordpress.com, when the time comes to drive offline traffic to your place online, you want something that is easy to remember and that reflects your image, not that of the free site. While wordpress is free, it cannot be completely customized to suit your needs & all it takes is one wrong comment & someone to mark you as spam and your site is gone. Personally when I speak with others who say they have an online business & they give me the name of a free site, I do not take them seriously. Hope people will read this & take your advice.
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Hi Keri, Where I agree with the majority of comments mentioned above, I would like to add something. Not to be contrarian, but the notion that we are safer with a self owned/hosted blog vs a free hosted blog I believe is false. The reality is, either direction you go, you are STILL at the mercy of the host provider. Unless your blog is TRULY self hosted on a server which is owned by you, then it’s not safer. A hosting company can fold just as easily as a free hosted blogging platform. This is why we should always backup/export our posts as a safety precaution. I have been using blogger.com, tumblr.com, and then of course wordpress.org (which is “self-hosted’) since 2008 with no issues. Now with that said, the reason I believe folks should use WordPress.org over other blogging platforms is because of the amount of flexibility it offers. I know this, even though I’m still on blogger (temporarily) as my WordPress theme is being designed. Great post Keri 🙂
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I just read you post and the many, many comments. What a wonderful group of friends and colleagues you have. I wholeheartedly agree with you about owning it. Yet sometimes it is hard to make people understand. From now on, I will point them to your post. ‘Nuf said! Cheers. Dorien.
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Great post Keri as always! Very educational and lots of valuable information. Thank you! Jocelyn
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Hi Keri, I am so glad that I decided to pay for my own domain and not go the cheap route which I almost did. Plus, many bloggers decide to sell their site down the road to earn some cash and I don’t think you can sell a free account/website.
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Hi Keri, I am new to the blogging world and I am planning to launch my first wordpress blogsite in February 2012. I have done some research on wordpress and its themes and plugins. Initially I was planning to go for a free website but eventually I came to know that it would be better to own my own site rather than going for the free options. After reading your blog, I am truly delighted and motivated to own my wordpress blogsite.
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Keri, Great article. I think for some people, they don’t know how easy it can be to own or have a business. Especially with the pennies that you have pointed out that it costs. I hope people will be inspired by you, and open up more businesses online. Keep up the good work. Luke Fitzpatrick
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I think people just to damn lazy to start learning something new. Especially if they are not techy (even though you don’t even need to be an engineer to build an online presence. In general people are afraid of things they don’t know or understand and that’ kind of crippling. It’s much easier to collapse in front of the TV after a long work day than to get that butt in front of the computer and start beating on the craft of “blogging”. Owning a blog has a entrepreneurship feeling. You’re the boss, you run the show. great share! Akos
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Thanks for this post Keri and nice to be back here on your domain. I liked the “don’t send your ducks to the eagle school” 🙂 LOL
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You make really valid points. I think many people who are business minded about their own specialized field (golf clubs, window treatments, etc.) do it for the love of their field and make broad assumptions on everything else so they learn from trial and error in most aspects of their business, including the part about hosting their own site. It’s good that someone like you is able to steer them to the right direction. By the way, I got here via a tweet and am glad to have landed here as you’re doing exactly what I’d like to do with my career – social media marketing consultant. I’m glad to see someone is successful in my chosen path (i.e. there is hope yet for me!) Always great to find inspiring women like you 🙂
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Great image picturing Tiger Woods rushing a touchdown! LOL. I totally agree with you. Having a free platform gives the idea that you do not really want to commit with your business.
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I don’t understand people who really want a business on the web using free blogging platforms. You are giving control of your site over to someone else. Makes no sense. I also don’t understand all the people driving traffic to their FB fan pages. The fan page is to drive traffic TO YOUR SITE! In all honesty, those fan pages can be here today and gone tomorrow. Enough said.
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yes I agree completely. Although typepad does offer a paid and less techy option for blogging that I use and have used for people who don’t want to deal with the hassles that wordpress can create.
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I wholeheartedly agree with you there is no good reason to host your primary online business on a free platform – I’ve come across some businesses that try to run their business purely from Facebook, the mind boggles. Free platforms are so restrictive it is hard to achieve your businesses unique branding by using one; your identity is pretty much framed by that of the platform that is hosting you. If I follow a link to someone’s website and I find my Blogger taskbar at the top of the screen then I start to question the integrity of the business that I am looking to do business with. I’m pretty sure I am not the only person that makes these types of judgement. So not only are you making it hard for your business to be found but then you are negatively impacting your conversion rates! /sigh this is one of my biggest bugbears – think I may need to lie down in a darkened room for a while!!
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Great Post!! In my business I often find those business owners that give out free tax advice and then run into issues later. So I completely understand where you are coming from and that it is important to find the correct business for the correct issue. I am also glad to see that you and Dorien @MoreInMedia think alike as she advised me not too long ago to do the same thing with a WordPress website. Smiles
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Keri I’m glad you wrote this post. A lot of people think that since it’s easy and free it’s just enough starting. So they forget about the plan! The entrepreneurs are a strong factori in developmen and innovation but should remember that even if web is so nice, it’s not a joke. And involving the business in it requires the standard procedures: Vision, mission, plan, control and management. Smoe years ago there were a nic spot on the TV: we make money the old fashion way: we earn them! I feel you help smallbizzers to think again in this way. Thanks
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Great post, Keri. You actually beat me to the punch a bit, as the blog I intend to write today is called “Delegate Design”. No worries, I’ll link to yours as an added bonus for my readers.
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