How to build your online empire for free

December 9, 2009 By

In yesterday’s post, I told you it’s OK to stick with Blogger.com, a free web-based blogging platform, if you weren’t ready to do the whole design-and-manage-your-own-online-empire thing.

Today I want to talk about the money part of the equation. Or really, the how-can-I-avoid-spending-money part.

I get asked questions about cost a lot. Mostly, “What will my online business cost to build?”

And I hate to tell you this, but… it depends.

Yeah, I know. The most UNhelpful response in the universe.

So I’m going to try to be a teeny bit more helpful and give a few figures based on my experience. Your figures, it should go without saying but I’m going to say it anyway, may be completely different.

But first, just to reassure the bootstrappers, the downsized, the laid-off, and the otherwise economy-stricken among us:

Yes, you can do it for free

You can totally build a complete online empire (yes, even one where you can sell stuff) for free. You don’t have to pay for anything, not even a domain name.

The tradeoff is that you are going to spend your own time and energy (since free means you’re not going to pay for help) setting everything up. This is a fine tradeoff for many people. And it may be fine for you. But you should know about the tradeoff before you plunge ahead thinking that free means easy.

My tools of choice for this path are:

  • Blogger to build your website. I mentioned this yesterday. Reliable, powerful, and free.
  • Feedburner (another Google-owned service) for managing a full-featured RSS feed, including email subscriptions.
  • Google Analytics for fancy-schmancy site statistics.
  • MailChimp if you want to have a mailing list with more features and more control (say, for a newsletter, an email list for your buyers, or an advance discount list). This almost obnoxiously friendly service is free as long as you have fewer than 500 subscribers.
  • PayPal for all your e-commerce needs. Technically PayPal does have a monetary cost, since they take a percentage of your sales, but there is no up-front cost since they only get paid when you do.
  • CoolText for creating buttons and snazzy doodads for your site. You don’t have to be limited to the standard yellow PayPal button anymore!
  • FreeConferencePro.com for recording conference calls, client sessions, or just yourself talking (an instructional audio, say).
  • TalkShoe for backup recording (use 3-way calling to dial into FreeConferencePro.com and TalkShoe, so you have two recordings of the same audio — this can save your skin) or to set up a live webcasted conference call (otherwise known as an Internet radio show).
  • DimDim.com for screen-sharing, webinars, and collaborative editing.
  • Jing for recording short (less than 5 minutes) screencasts.
  • Viddler for hosting and publishing those short videos (and why not post them on YouTube as well?)

Oh my goodness, that’s a long list. Longer than I planned. And I’m sure there are more tools out there — leave a comment to contribute your favorite!

The costs of “free”

Two important points before I hit the publish button:

  1. Please don’t fool yourself into thinking that free in monetary terms means there is no cost. There is always a cost. Time, energy, perhaps frustration, and limited choices are all real costs. And only you can determine what costs you are willing and able to pay. When someone else tells you what you should outsource and what’s worth paying for, that’s true for them. Is it true for you? You may adore doing the DIY thing and building “sweat equity.” Or you may not. And no one else can decide for you.
  2. This whole “building a website” thing is not a one-time project, so it’s not a one-time cost either. You may think that if you could “just get your website done” your business would be Ready for Prime Time. But I’ve worked with enough clients and built enough sites to say Trust Me: You will eventually want to make changes to your site. That’s why I like to emphasize the DIY aspect of website management, because I want my clients to be empowered to make changes to their own sites. But if you’re not a DIYer, you’ll need to have the resources to pay to have these inevitable changes made.

And that leads us to the paid path. The technology-budgeting stuff I started out with. That’ll come in the next installment because this post is quite long already and it’s time to go start making burritos.


Filed Under: General How-To's Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Do I really need WordPress? Can’t I just start with Blogger?

December 8, 2009 By

This question comes straight from the mailbag:

Is it okay to just start on Blogger? I tried WordPress but it frustrated the heck out of me.

I’m so glad you asked. It’s true that I’ve been hyping WordPress for its power, flexibility, and ease of use. But there are a couple of practical barriers to getting started:

  • Even though the WordPress software itself is free, you’ll need a web hosting account and a domain name, both of which you’ll have to pay for.
  • Even though WordPress can be very easy to use once it’s set up properly, you still have to figure out how to get it installed and configured, which honestly isn’t that easy if you’re just starting out.

Now, I’ve got the solution to the second problem: You can hire me to install and configure WordPress so you can start blogging without having to tear your hair out trying to figure out how to get your site set up.

But that doesn’t help with the first problem (in fact, it adds to it, because in addition to buying hosting and a domain name, you’re now paying my fees).

When Blogger is better

So, if your website budget is somewhere between hahahahahaha what budget? and $500 per year (I’ll break this down in tomorrow’s post), or if you’re simply a little — or completely — freaked out by the idea of having a hosting account and running your own blog, Blogger is an ideal solution.

Here’s why.

  • Blogger is free. As in completely free. No hidden charges, no paid upgrades for pro versions, no fees of any kind.
  • Blogger is totally web-based. You don’t need a hosting account, and to manage your blog all you need to do is login to your Blogger.com account. This also means that your site is backed up so it’s difficult to lose anything.
  • You never have to worry about upgrading or reinstalling anything, because Blogger takes care of all of that behind the scenes for you.
  • Blogger’s interface is completely visual (the jargony term is WYSIWYG, for What You See Is What You Get). Move stuff around by dragging and dropping, change settings by typing and clicking checkboxes, and never worry about the underlying (and scary) code.
  • At the same time, you have access to the code if you really want to get under the hood (see the flip side of this below).
  • Blogger is owned by the mighty Google, which means that it is seamlessly integrated with other Google-owned goodies like Feedburner, AdSense, and Google Analytics.

Be the master of your own domain

So, yes, absolutely, go with Blogger if that’s what works for you right now, especially if your budget is zero.

There are lots of free resources and tutorials out there, and I plan to add some Blogger how-to’s to this very blog (if you want to ask a question or suggest a Blogger how-to, leave a comment here or drop me a line).

That said, as soon as you can spare $10, you should immediately buy yourself a domain name. If you can spare slightly more than $10, lock in your domain registration for a couple of years.

You can use your domain name with your Blogger account (no extra fees from Blogger for this), so instead of yourblogname.blogspot.com, you can now point people to www.yourblogname.com, which is much much better for your business and also provides for a seamless transition if and when you decide to move to WordPress.

When you realize that Blogger is a gateway drug

You can blog happily along on Blogger for quite awhile. And if it’s working for you, there’s no reason to fix what ain’t broke. You can even skip the rest of this post. Honest.

But if you notice any of these symptoms:

  • You wish you could have a customized theme, because you can’t quite tweak your Blogger template to give you the exact look you want
  • You’re looking at a premium theme like Thesis or Headway, both of which are exclusive to WordPress
  • You’re considering paying someone to customize your Blogger template or design a custom header for you
  • You want advanced functionality, like setting up a membership site, a forum, or a complex online store
  • You want your blog to be a part of a “regular” website, or you want your site to have a front page that’s not bloggy-looking

…you might be ready to move from Blogger.com to a self-hosted WordPress site.

If you’re going to drop any bucks on customizing your site, you’d be better off going with WordPress where you have complete and total control. You want to make sure you have the resources to set it up properly and get the help you need, though. And that’s the subject of tomorrow’s post, so stay tuned.

Have a question for my mailbag? Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Filed Under: From the Mailbag Tagged With: , , , ,

When competition isn’t, really.

April 28, 2009 By

If you want a WordPress blog, you should go check out Johnny B. Truant’s promotion. Basically, he’s offering free WordPress blog setup to anyone until Thursday. On Friday he’s going to start charging for this service. You do have to meet some basic criteria (such as buying your hosting through GoDaddy following his instructions), but it’s still a darn good deal.

I basically adore Johnny, but the first time I heard about his offer I got a horrible sinking feeling.

Why? Well, I was charging people money to help them set up a blog on Blogger.com, and here comes Johnny offering to get people on WordPress for free. On the face of it, that’s a no-brainer. Why would you pay me (or anyone) for a Blogger blog when you can get a WordPress blog from Johnny for free?

Good question. And it turns out there are some pretty good answers.

One way to answer it is by dissecting the specifics of the respective offers. For instance, Johnny won’t set up your blog if you already have hosting. And you need a domain name to take advantage of his offer. For the workshop I was teaching, you didn’t need hosting and you didn’t need a domain name. Signing up for the workshop means you’re making time to attend six classes and do your homework, but Johnny’s offer gets your blog installed for you, then he hands you the keys. And of course there’s the fact that he’s using WordPress and I was using Blogger, which are completely different systems.

Another way to approach the answer is to consider the type of person each offer is designed to attract. If you take a look at Johnny’s create-a-blog page, and then you read my page, you’ll see that they each speak a different language. Johnny is brash, and hilarous, and he swears (and I love him for it). While I am, let’s face it, a touchy-feely tree-hugger type. Nothing is wrong with either approach; they simply appeal to different people.

And then there’s the fact that the product/service is actually entirely different. Johnny’s very clear about the fact that his service is great for people who don’t want to do it themselves. My workshop was specifically designed for people who do want to do it themselves, and need some help with that. Johnny says “Sorry, but I can’t walk you through it all personally.” And that’s exactly what his Right People need to hear. My Right People, on the other hand, really need to be walked through Blogger.com personally, and that’s exactly what I do for them.

So the horrible sinking feeling is gone, replaced by a heart full of warm wishes for Johnny (c’mon, I said I was touchy-feely!). He’s not competing with me, not at all. My Right People are totally different, and there are plenty of both groups to go around.

Plus, if people are specifically interested in the WordPress part of his offer (and they certainly seem to be), that means there’s probably a market for me to create new services and products that are similar to the Blogger workshop, only for WordPress. Or to offer WordPress-specific help and coaching for those who don’t know what to do with their WordPress blog once it’s been created. In other words, tools for My Right People who happen to use WordPress. I’ve discussed elsewhere why I think Blogger is a good choice for complete beginners, but there are certainly people who know that they’ll be moving to WordPress eventually, or who want to start with WordPress to avoid moving at all, but who are just as new to blogs as my Blogger workshop folks. More areas for creative collaboration, not competition.

So rock on, Johnny B. Truant. Rock on.

Update: Johnny’s free promotion is over, but he’s now offering WordPress blog setups for a measly $39, which is an incredible deal.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

9 reasons why Blogger.com is best for beginners

March 31, 2009 By

Lots of folks have asked why my first teleclass focused on Blogger.com instead of WordPress.

That’s a Really Good Question, given that I’m using WordPress for my very own online home. I posted earlier about why I switched from Blogger.com to WordPress, but I thought it was time to round up some reasons why I still believe Blogger.com is the best choice for web beginners to create their first online presence.

Reason #1: It’s free. As in totally free. As in no extra charges for anything. TypePad, another online blogging platform, is a paid service. WordPress.com, the online hosted version of WordPress, starts out free but charges users for the ability to modify basic stuff that Blogger.com lets you do for free. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Reason #2: You don’t need web hosting. Blogger.com is completely web-based, and all you need is a web browser to sign up for a free account. You don’t need a separate web-hosting account with some other company that charges you by the month (as you would if you used WordPress.org). And the completely-online-hosted versions of TypePad and WordPress.com, as I mentioned, have financial costs.

Reason #3: You don’t need a domain name. Blogger.com gives you a subdomain so you are automatically (and freely) provided with a web address that looks like “http://mydomain.blogspot.com/”. Yes, there are good reasons to get your own domain name, but that’s a separate step that you can take care of, if you want, once you get more confident with all this online-presence-creation stuff.

Reason #4: When you’re ready for your own domain name, or if you already have one, you can use it with Blogger.com. You might have heard a reason for not using Blogger.com that goes something like this: “They own your domain name and you’re just building traffic for them, not for you.” This is one of the biggest misconceptions out there about Blogger.com. Don’t you believe it! It’s totally wrong if you’re using your own domain name. Just because Blogger.com automatically gives you one of their subdomains doesn’t mean you can’t switch (it literally takes about 3 mouse-clicks) to your own domain name. Blogger.com even lets you buy a domain name from right inside their dashboard, so you don’t have to mess with finding a domain name elsewhere (although if you’ve already done that you can still use it, easily, with Blogger.com).

Reason #5: Blogger.com plays nice with Google. Google owns Blogger.com. No, this doesn’t mean you automatically get better search engine rankings. But it does mean that Blogger has easy and simple integration with other services owned by Google, like Feedburner (a way to let people subscribe to your blog) and Adsense (a way to place ads on your site).

Reason #6: You don’t ever have to look at HTML. You don’t need to be able to go in and edit the mysterious gibberish that lies underneath the pretty surface of your web page. Everything on Blogger.com can be accomplished with human-friendly menus, buttons, and good old-fashioned click-and-drag technology.

Reason #7: The themes available on Blogger.com just work. No downloading, uploading, installing, unzipping, configuring, copying, or any of that hassle. Just pick a theme and bing bam boom, the whole look of your website changes instantly. Yes, there are other themes out there (not on the official Blogger.com template-picker) that you could download, upload, configure, etc. but if you’re a complete beginner, why bother with that? Let Blogger.com do the heavy lifting for you.

Reason #8: Create as many blogs as you want. It’s still free. Yep, Blogger.com lets you create unlimited blogs and all the same stuff applies. So if you have one blog for your business, and one for pictures of your cat, you can use Blogger for both of them and they can look completely different. And they’ll still both be free.

Reason #9: Blogger.com is business-friendly. You are free to sell stuff or offer services on a Blogger.com website. You can add a shopping cart (we’d recommend starting with the free PayPal one), ads, affiliate links, you name it. This is the biggest disadvantage to WordPress.com, the online hosted version of WordPress. Their terms of service don’t allow for “commercial use.” So you’re free to post photos of your cats, but if you want to sell them, you’ll get booted off of WordPress.com. Blogger won’t do that.

Want to share your own reasons why you heart Blogger? Or is there a question I haven’t addressed here? Leave a comment and join the discussion!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
« Older Posts