There is a place for free blogs in your online marketing strategy. Free blogs give you the ability to do link building, build an audience of subscribers, and make money directly through affiliate marketing, contextual advertising, and more. Blog communities can be a great thing!
But there are a lot of great reasons for starting your own Self Hosted Blogs as well. It’s cheaper and easier than you might think. And beyond that, you’ll make more money at it as well.
Blogs can be used to talk to your customers, link building, build reputation, and build income. They can be monetised several different ways and are inexpensive to set up and easy to maintain.
Fast Facts On Self Hosted Blogs
• A domain name is typically less than $10 a year.
• Hosting for blogs is typically just a few dollars a month. If you already have an unlimited web hosting plan (such as with Hostgator), you don’t even have to pay monthly hosted fees and can add an unlimited number of blogs to your existing plan.
• Most webhosts offer Fantastico De Luxe, which makes it easy to add WordPress and a blog theme of your choice to your blog with a few keystrokes.
• There are hundreds of free template options to customise the look of your blog.
• You can find dozens of free widgets and other design elements to make your Self Hosted Blogs look unique and help you make it interactive.
• There are many different advertising programs that you can use for blog monetisation.
• Each blog you start can be used as part of a linking and prospecting strategy for your online money making efforts (use the blogroll, add text links, banners, RSS feeds, opt-in forms, etc.).
• You can flip your blog later and sell it for a profit (if you want to).
One of the reasons so many people are dabbling or delving into internet marketing, is because it’s easier than ever to get published online. While it often starts with free blogs, you don’t have to be highly technical to create your own blog from scratch.
You can carve out your own little niche in an area you’re interested in and profit from it. Who knew that talking about a topic you’re interested in could pay your mortgage? A lot of internet marketers use their blog to earn their sole income.
Many use blogs as a way to increase their online exposure and reach more of their target market. Investing in your own blog is a great way to up the SEO on your websites as well as reach out into cyberspace for more market share in your niche. And because doing it yourself takes away the limitations of free blogs and blog networks, you can have more control over your Self Hosted Blogs and earn 100% of the profit.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.AussieSEO.com 2010
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Sean,
Great hints and tips, with lots of links of useful information. I like how anyone and everyone can find out how easy it is too have a self hosted blog on line – one that can pay off the mortage sounds like music to my ears. Will be hit Tweet on this one
Cheers
Lisa
Lisa Wood´s last blog ..The Forgotten Generation
I think many people shy away from self hosted sites because they think it’s hard. In reality it is quite easy to learn and something anyone can do with a bit of practice. Thanks for the tweet Lisa
Hi Sean,
So refreshing to learn that self hosting a blog can be really quite easy to learn, easy to manage and is inexpensive.
I like the idea that I can build a blog and link it to my other blogs for better sales and search engine results. Great information here and lots of useful links.
Many people shy away from self-hosting due to believing it’s too hard. In reality it’s quite easy if you follow a few simple instructions
Hi Sean,
I agree the free blogs are a great way to get started in Internet Marketing. I have set up a few self hosted blogs now which I did find quite easy, the self hosted blogs give you more flexibility especially with customization, not to mention it is great to have complete control and 100% of the profits : )
Cade´s last blog ..Learn & Earn from Aussie Internet Marketer Sean Rasmussen for free.
Hi Sean,
I love having a self-hosted blog as it gives you a lot more freedom to customise your blog any which way you’d like. They are really easy to set up, especially when we have your videos to follow.
I also think self-hosted blogs are better at giving the impression that you’re serious about what you’re doing. Besides, you can still build free blogs and link them to your main site.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint
Hi Jazz
Who do you have your self hosted blog through. We learn on the forum that Hostgator is good. I am wondering if you are with Hostgator and if so, how have you found that company?
Kind regards
Elly
Hi Elly,
Yes, I use Hostgator on my self-hosted blogs. They’re awesome. Anytime I’ve had a problem I use their live chat service. It’s really easy to use and they respond very quickly.
They’re almost as good as the Zodiacs in Sean’s forum. Not quite as good but almost.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Success – Make It Happen
Hi Sean
It is so exciting that we can have a creative license with a self hosted blog.
I am in the throes of building one and so pleased I joined in on this competition because I have learned tons of new information and have taken notes on important ways to increase the ranking potential of my blog.
I really like that we can personalise it to our own tastes and will be able to work on it with even more joy when I have completed this competition.
I can see the value in linking the free blogs and blog networks for even more exposure in the market.
Blessings
Elly
Elly´s last blog ..
I think free blogs are great for keeping on-line journals. For example, I have one for my random thoughts and mutterings (http://betweenkeyboardandchair.blogspot.com) and one for the band I play in (http://gratefulwerenotdead.blogspot.com). Neither of these are used to sell anything and are maintained simply for the fun of it.
When it comes to marketing, then I agree that self-hosted blogs are the way to go and as Sean suggests, choose a hosting company that allows you to have unlimited domains hosted on one account. As mentioned, Hostgator is a good choice but there are other’s out there that do the same. With a little bit of research you can keep your monthly costs quite low.
Don White´s last blog ..You Cant Throw That Out-
Hi Sean,
I think it’s priceless and gratifying for all your hard earned efforts to be going towards your own domain and building your own domain authority, not someone else’s.
Thanks for empowering us to go out and host our own blogs!
Self hosted blogs definately seem the way to go. They give you a lot more choices to monetise your blog and set it up exactly how you like it. As far as I understand, it is better for seo as well when you have your keyword in your domain name.
Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children