Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Remote Blog or Self Hosted Blog?

So you’ve decided to blog, but aren’t sure whether you should host the blog yourself or sign up for a free service like blogger.com. It’s a dilemma that many bloggers face. There are pros and cons to both, which makes the decision difficult for many. Neither is perfect, and neither is for everyone. Fortunately, you should be able to make the best decision for you if you are armed with adequate knowledge of both. In this newsletter, we’ll go over services like blogger.com and others, plus software that allows you to host your own blog. We’ll also go over the pros and cons of each. After reading this, you will know which is best for you.

Who offers free blog hosting?

Many sites offer free blog hosting. Among them are Forumer, Blogger, BlogEasy, Aeonity, BlogThing and Blogates. A quick search for “free blog” on Google reveals many possibilities.

What software can I use to host my own blog?

Like free blog hosting, there are many possibilities for software that makes hosting your own blog easy. Most of them are free to use. These include:

WordPress(the most popular software)
Apache Roller
Blosxom
Geeklog
Textpattern
LifeType

There is also blog software which you can purchase for use on your site. These include:

Community Server
Movable Type
Radio UserLand

One negative about using software and hosting your own blog is that the process can often times be complicated. You have to download the software and install it to your server, which doesn’t always go easily. It’s particularly hard for those who don’t have a lot of experience installing things on servers.

Why should I remotely host my blog at a place like Blogger?

Places like Blogger allow you to host your blog there. It’s a good option for many people.

The Pros

• It’s easy to set up and maintain a blog. You don’t have to go through the trouble of installing software and configuring it to work on your server. All you have to do is sign up for an account and start posting.

• It’s friendly for beginning bloggers. Sites that host blogs offer good tutorials on how to make your blog postings, so that even someone who is completely new to the concept of blogging can do it easily.

• Most blog hosting sites are completely free to use. There is no need to pay for things like a domain name and hosting.

• Monetizing your blog is easy. Rather than having to manually put HTML/Javascript codes on your blog to manually set up things like AdSense and Pay Per Click advertising, you can select an option on most blog hosting sites that does much of the work for you.

The Cons

• You don’t have as many options to customize your blog. Remotely hosted blogs are admittedly somewhat limited in terms of what you can actually do on them. You have to stick with what is provided to you in terms of look and features.

• The URL you get is always yourname.BLOGSITE.com. You don’t get to have a custom domain name like YOURNAME.com. This can possibly hurt traffic to your blog.

• Blogs hosted on free blog sites don’t look as professional as self hosted blogs.

Why should I self-host my blog?

The Pros

• You have more options and more flexibility. You are able to tweak the blog to your liking.

• Your URL is your address for your blog. Rather than having go to where your blog is hosted to read it, they can read it right from your site.

• The ability to make your blog look professional. Blogs that are hosted on sites of their own tend to look a lot better than those hosted on free sites.

• More space for your blog. Free blog sites usually place a restriction on how much space you have for things like photos and music. By hosting your own blog, you are able to use as much space as you need.

The Cons

• There are sometimes problems with setting up blog software to run on your site and server. If you aren’t experienced when it comes to working with mySQL, the process will be hard.

• Updates aren’t as easy to post.

• You have to manually set up programs to monetize your blog. However, if you are good with HTML/Javascript, this shouldn’t be too hard.

• You have to pay for your own hosting and domain

As you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Which should you choose? Well, it depends on who you are and what you intend to use your blog for. If you intend to use it for business, then a self-hosted blog is the best idea. If it’s a personal blog, then a free hosted blog will probably be fine for you.

Closely examine all of the pros and cons mentioned above. That way, you’ll be able to make the best decision for you!

Internet And Business Online – The Act Of Interdependence

The best role of business online is that of interdependency. We’ve all heard the old saying, “No man is an island.” When it comes to online business this is especially true.

If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.

It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.

Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.

In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.

Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.

This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.

The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.

In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.

Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.

It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.

I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.

Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.

Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Fear Stops You From Starting A Home Business

Most people would love to start their own home business but the fear is the thing that stops the to do so. They realize that in order to run successful business, the needs of customers must be priority and come before the needs of family. This is the sacrifice that must be made while running the business and many people aren't ready for this.

The money is a second aspect that makes them fear because when things with money get messed up it may become a problem of not only the one person by also of the other people around. Keeping in mind that the needs of their family will be still very important thing, the fear of inability to provide them with decent and prosperous live because of eventual lack of money lost on business that went wrong keep people away from starting the one. Another thing to be afraid of is that sometimes there is nobody to turn to for help when the things with business aren't too good. Another thing is health insurance for the family. The problem begins if the monthly payment can't be maintained and there might be nobody to ask for help with providing the affordable insurance offering good coverage based on the income generated.

Sometimes the man is lucky when he can be covered under his working spouse insurance policy but normally when a couple get into business they might have no way back when the things don't go as good as they both hoped to go. Besides they are also usual daily activities and things that have to be paid. Eating, driving a car, utilities are just a few of them that will require some extra income in order to be paid for. The fear that they won't find money to pay for their business and the rest of things makes them stay in old job no matter how dissatisfied they are with it.

Because starting a business brings a lot of concerns there is one important thing that must be considered. It's a weighting potential success against the possibility of failure and making the right decision. Another thing is planning the campaign. Even when the person has a product or service that has the potential to bring the profit very quickly, if it's not market properly to the right customers it will become just another way to waste the money. Another problem is experience. To start their own business people need to switch from employees to the business owners and together with that change must go required knowledge that must be learned to make this switch successful. Being responsible for something and being decision maker isn't easy skill to gain after years of listening to some else's orders.

Another problem is that usually it takes some time to get the new started business off the ground and make it grow. And here is another fear that appears sometimes, the fear of mistake made by living the old job as the person may start thinking that it wasn't good decision to leave it because it was a good source of steady and monthly income. That's why a good thing here is starting part time business while working and grow it to the level of income that allows to leave regular job. This solution is safer.

Finally the fear shouldn't be a factor deciding about success or failure. The true is that in order to make a big thing the high level of risk must be considered, that's why starting a business is for people who realize that and are ready to "make a leap."

Event Production

Event planning is all about planning and organising a ceremony, intimate formal dinner, convention, high level meeting, celebrity concerts or a very personal party. Event execution an event can be a tedious task as it requires a lot of time, effort, and industry know-how and includes tasks like décor, invitation, budgeting, setting dates, selecting the event venue, among others.

Professional event production and publishing companies can handle all aspects of a professional event and transform this difficult task into a simple mission. There are many benefits of hiring an event planner. Most of the event these companies offer a complete event production package without compromising on quality, creativity and integrity. Event production companies offer end to end solutions, right from the pre-event preparations to post-production reports.

They have the ability to undertake all kinds of tasks involved in an event planning and production such as selecting the right theme for your event and estimating the costs involved, strategising, conceptualisation and visualisation, crowd control, security and disaster management, branding and promoting the event, obtaining permits, cleanup, organising transportation and parking, coordinating all kinds of support system such as electricity, food, drink, and music. They can also help you with a customized proposal and budget as per your affordability and put together an event that matches your expectations and goals.

Event production companies also have skilled and dedicated in-house resources specialized in the event planning, event production and event management including the production and public relations team. They also have strong networks in the business world that help you get the most out of your event. All this helps you meet the objective of your event and for promoting and communicating the key message of your event to your guests or clients, entertain and give you peace of mind that everything is taken care of without compromising quality.