Can You Afford a Free Business Blog?
Saturday, December 1st, 2007Connor T. MacIVOR Santa Clarita CA Real Estate Relocation - “I have used a lot of “free” blog services. They have their place, but I cannot post something on a free platform and within minutes see myself surface in Google [usually page no. 1] for the key words I target like I have with Kinetic Blogs. With the Free platforms, we’re buried deep and that’s a waste of our time… which is money.”
In fact, unless you’re very skilled it’s likely you’ll need independent programming help with hosting, design, features, optimization and that still leaves you without any committed service or instructional education. These are not free: as a business with the never -ending need to reduce cost, we often forget that a lot of what we’re paying for is service & accountability. There are many free blog solutions; however, in one way or another we often get exactly what we pay for. Not to suggest that some of the free blog solutions are lacking as content management systems. On the contrary, there are good free systems out there and some offer unique & valuable propositions, but as a business person with many challenges, needs & responsibilities [including your own brand identity] you may want to ask yourself the below questions before you go the free route.
The Top Reasons to be concerned about investing valuable time & effort in a Free Blog Platform – Can you really afford a Free Business Blog?
- what will it cost me in terms of time, effort & learning curve to go free?
- do I own my long term destiny with a free blog?
- is there any customer service?
- who is truly accountable to my business requirements?
- is there any effort to optimize for search engines, including when they change?
- Google is always evolving… is my blog solution?
- is there search engine, brand or direct marketing education?
- if not, can I succeed as an independent advertorial business blogger?
- will my free blog host ever change policies or standards to my detriment?
- will my free blog host ever decide to mandate advertising (potentially competitive)?
- do I own my own content, does the host own it or do we both own it?
- am I a part of someone else’s user- generated content?
- is my domain a sub domain of the host’s network?
- am I just helping to build someone else’s brand?
- can I use a domain that serves the brand of my choosing?
- do I have the flexibility to present content in a variety of different ways?
- do I have design flexibility?
- how do I get all the features I want or need?
- is there an effort to secure my blog?
Folks, you may not like the answers. In this day and age, people search because they can and to some degree they’re looking to interview businesses long before they actually make direct contact. Considering a Blog can offer your business tremendous Search Engine, Public Relations and Direct Marketing visibility with one solution, can you really afford to trust core assets such as these [including independent online brand identity] solely to a free service?
Obviously we’re biased, but if you have real business requirements [including independent online brand identity] you will find it both useful and cost-effective to have Kinetic Knowledge build, host & serve your Business Blog needs. Our intention is and has always been to make it simple for our clients: to provide good business blog solutions, support and ongoing education for an affordable price.
[...] via comment oriented conversation, with an unlimited no. of people; however, it offers an independent presence or online brand that is entirely in the control of its’ owner. One may use it personally or for advertorial [...]
[...] does it mean to have a hosted blog or a free blog versus a custom blog that lives on my own [...]
[...] Can you afford a Free Business Blog? Contributed by Chris Frerecks chris@kineticknowledge.com http://www.KineticBlogs.com [...]
[...] Ans: "Namely, service and value. There are good free blog technologies out there; however, not one is completely prepared to meet the exact brand design, feature, security, ownership and search optimization needs of a business. Even the folks who released WordPress for free, upsell services for a living. Like any other technology, blogs need management. Without IT management there will inevitably be maintenance challenges. I can assure you, there are large corporate webmasters who have had trouble managing free WordPress. Some may be able to do it themselves, but even those will sacrifice at the cost of time, effort and precision. If well managed solutions, service and a reduced learning curve [via education] are available affordably, it’s probably worth a great deal to a business. Free is never what it seems! [...]
[...] Can you afford a Free Business Blog? [...]
[...] The Trouble With Free Blogs [...]