FREE BLOGGING PLATFORMS: DANGEROUS COMFORT ZONES
Feb 5th, 2009 | By admin | Category: A.B.C. OF BLOGGING
Let me share some vital views concerning questions and comments raised by many readers of this blog.
Yes many of us are familiar with the broad world of INFOTECH, what is blogging? I am of the strong view that the Word “BLOGGING” cannot be erased from the lexicon of popular readership. If we feel and think that people would not like or do not even know that word because it is not popular yet, that would never change the nomenclature. All over the world, BLOGGING IS BLOGGING!
The latest adverts by STARCOMMS Plc. – Nigeria’s largest CDMA and Internet service provider for her broadband (EVDO) internet service is wrapped around this so-called unpopular word “blogging”. All the flexi banners, and billboards of stacomms in all her offices and branches nationwide carry that promo declaring “GO BLOGGING WITH EVDO BROADBAND”. The next question that the 2 milliom+ Starcomms customers nationwide would be asking in the next few weeks is WHAT IS BLOGGING? It is better to anticipate that, than to shy away from our “unpopular profession”.
In the next season as the world economy struggles in the throes of a great slump, “MONETIZED BLOGGING” is going to acquire such a great momentum because every potential investor would be looking out for what this new offsping of the infotech world carries for the proffiting.
Now to my main subject of BLOGGING PLATFORMS. last time I treated the subject of ‘Blogging as a passions game’, particularly if you have passion for making money online; blogging is one of the most veritable escape windows from poverty.
If blogging is likened to the entertainment world with a blog as the ‘stage’ set for performance of bloggers as ‘actors’ and ‘actresses’. I concluded that, to be a successful and prosperous blogger, you must possess TWO THINGS:
- Have a consummate passion about something, and be willing to share that with others (‘spectators’) who share the same passion with you.
- Develop the mentality of an actor. Not that of a spectator. You must be conscious that you want to perform, and good performance would bring huge crowds coming to ‘watch’ you. The greater the spectator crowd, the more the money you will make, from your ‘performance’.
Stop seeing yourself as a visitor to many websites or blogs, start seeing yourself as a creator of original content on the web, which the spectator or the internet public is searching for.
Until now, many of us were satisfied to be ‘Spectators’ who go a-visiting blogs and websites, either for information and entertainment. But from now our attitudes must change. We must become part of the solution to the internet world. We must have something unique to offer the internet world. It is an “OFFERER’s World” out here on the internet, if you have nothing to offer, you will suffer, even though you may not know it, while surfing the internet.
Just as in the game of football, the spectators reward is the pleasure and entertainment derived from the game. The real profiting, glamour and honor however goes to the footballers who win the match. Surely, the spectators helped them to boost morale to win the match, but the spectators are not given any award by the referee or judges.
Similarly, in a cinema, the crowds come to watch a movie and derived pleasures from that leisure. But the money goes to the actors and the producers of that movie.
The next thing you need to know after the introductory blogging stage is what I called BLOGGING PLATFORMS.
This is so crucial seeing many attempts made at blogging by so many startup bloggers dying premature deaths, because of confusion about the blogging platforms which they deployed at the start of their aborted blogging career.
After post, I received many honest queries by text messages and by mails from readers. Some asked me to inspect their ‘blogs’ and proffer a critique. Others asked me how they could get regular content for their blogs, while majority of the queries were focused on how to invest in blogs and reap, as it were, a harvest within 3 months!
I noticed a palpable and genuine expression of hunger for financial change in the land called Nigeria, and I am happy for this surge. A blog is like a corn seedling, and you must have patience for its full maturity within six to nine months after ‘planting’, if you really want to reap the full harvest. Blogging is a process which you cannot jump each stages of growth, first the blade, then the ears and finally the full corn.
A Blogging Platform is a device or software used to publish your blog posts.
There are many free blogging platforms on the web. The most popular ones are Google’s BLOGGER http://www.blogger.com which has over 60 million blogs freely hosted on her blogspot.com platform; WordPress dot Com http://www.wordpress.com is another popular and free software for publishing blogs, it has well over two million blogs freely hosted on her server. Yahoo also has her own platform called Yahoo! 360° http://360.yahoo.com/ which is also a free blog software for anyone maintaining a Yahoo account. Microsoft also has its own free blog hosting platform called Windows Live Spaces http://www.space.live.com. Movable Type, Multiply and TypePad, are other popular ones.
There are hundreds, if not thousands more free blog hosting platforms out there on the web. The truth however for the unwary, is that there is no free lunch anywhere on the web; you would give something in return without even being conscious of it. If you want to make money through blogging, it is better to steer clear of all these myriad of ‘free’ platforms to make real money.
Many of the blogs that most of you requested me to come and inspect last week belong to these ‘categorical traps’ of free platforms. Such platforms did not dignify you as a real blogger. I traditionally call those who operate on such platforms as PRE-BLOGGERS. That is, a preliminary blogger.
You have not started, you are just warming up. Another popular name I call them is TENANT BLOGGERS. You are just a tenant, with limited space and freedom. Your ability to make money or be richer than your landlord is severely hampered. Tenant Blogging is a dangerous comfort zone for any aspiring blogger.
All these free platforms do not give you space for nothing, they usually and subtly add their own paid adverts making cool money off your labour, through your ‘free’ blog. Even Blogger.com that gives you space to monetize your ‘free’, blog still had a means of gaining an extra reputation and great branding from your free labor.
If you must be a professional blogger, that is, one who engages in blogging with the goal of earning a living and prosperous income from it, the place to go is Paid hosting, after buying your desired domain name with less than =N=2,000 (Two Thousand naira). WordPress dot Org has the most flexible and comprehensive array of tools and plugins to customize and adapt your blog to your taste and choice freedom.
Next week, I would show you the FIVE dangers of TENANT BLOGGING and the THREE sure steps to LANDLORD BLOGGING. The BLOGGING Seminar slated for June ending has started gathering steam with 17 people registered at the time of going to the press. That is where the ‘face-to-face’ BLOGGING BASH would happen, and it is more than my weekly tips in this column. There is 10% discount for early registration before 15th of June, 2008. That is saving you a cool =N=1,000 (One Thousand Naira).
HAPPY & PROSPEROUS BLOGGING!
_________________________________________________________________
Aderemi Ojikutu is the Chief Blogging Officer (CBO) of Blogging Resources International Ventures.
Telephone: +234-7033342535 ceo@web-konsult.com
(Member of The Search Engine Strategies International Group) SES
[...] shown you the MINDSET of a successful and prosperous blogger last week, now, I am going to show you the booby-trap lurking on your way to monetized and [...]