Blog Hosting for Online Sellers

In a previous blog post entitled Online Sellers: Should They Be Bloggers, Too?, I raised the following question. Do you feel it is necessary to own your own domain and host your own blog? It's a very personal question and I am sure my readers are divided upon the answer! After spending time researching, and soul-searching, here's how I feel...

No matter where you blog, blogging is an asset to your business.

Kinda vague, isn't it? But consider this... I just spent a day at a motivational seminar in Chicago. One of my favorite speakers was Rudy Guiliani, who I consider to be a man-of-action - a problem-solver. So I was very interested in what he had to say about motivating yourself to success. He stressed the importance of setting goals, in writing. After you've made that list of goals, make another list with ideas on ways to achieve those goals. Then take it one step further and write down the pros and cons of each idea in your plan of action. This will help you sort out the good ideas from the bad and prioritize your steps.

We've already determined that blogging is an important step in your online business. So let's look at the pros and cons of hosting your own blog versus writing a blog on a hosted platform, like WordPress or Blogger. 

The Pros of Hosting Your Own Blog:

• Customization: The free sites offer an array of templates to create your blog, but to develop something unique, you'll need the freedom of owning your own domain and site. 
• Monetization: Placing specific ads and affiliate programs is accomplished more easily through a paid site. While the free sites allow you to monetize your site, the ads your viewers might see are not always governed by you.
• Credibility: You'll be taken more seriously if people see that you've invested in your blog.
  *** I am not sure I whole-heartedly agree with this, but let's place it as a Pro for the time being.

The Cons of Hosting Your Own Blog:

• Cost:  I love free, (just sayin'). There are many options for web hosting and I've investigated a few, which we'll talk about below, but suffice it to say that you can expect to pay a minimum of $5 per month, and up to $20 per month, depending upon your choice of plans. Are you ready to shell out $60+ dollars to start a year of blogging? If you're a beginner, or someone who is not truly committed, this may not be the avenue for you.
• Computer Literacy: Ok, so some hosting plans offer WordPress automatically installed for you, but if they do not, your level of computer skills may hinder your progress. Do some research and find a plan that you can work with, without needing to take web-development classes.

Other Arguments:

One topic of discussion on many forums is the search ranking of blogs. Some adamantly argue that self-hosted blogs offer better ranking results. I disagree, as do many others. With proper SEO and good keywords, any blog can rank high in search engines. What do you think?

The other argument is credibility, mentioned above. Let's say, for example, that your business is web design. Then yes, it will be expected that you will have the knowledge, and the creativity, to wow us with a self-hosted blog. Online sellers, however, have other skills, and products, that quantify their importance in the online marketplace. A blog, free or otherwise, is just an added tool. It's that simple! Just get out there and write... remembering that content is king. Good content will get any blog noticed.


Things To Consider:
Is your store on a personal website or a venue, like OnlineAuction.com? I ask, because while you cannot add a blog on outside venues, you can easily add WordPress to your existing personal site. It's free, as long as you do not need to upgrade your site size. WordPress requires 4.0 or greater MySQL and 4.2 or greater PHP.

• MySQL is a database management system, that runs as a server, providing multi-user access to a number of databases. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. This is a standard at most web hosting services, but be sure to check your site's availability.
• PHP is a scripted language, embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document. PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. You should again, check your site's availability.

See why I mentioned your computer literacy?

Another thing to consider is backlinks. If you are adding WordPress to your existing site, your site name will have one search result in the search engines. What I believe is advantageous for sellers at outside venues is the addition of a second link on the search engine results page! One for your store, and one for your blog, similarly named... at a free site or self-hosted. Think about it. Those backlinks support each other and as your blog grows, or your store grows, they each empower the other.

Lastly, if you're considering that self-hosted blog, you'll need to figure out which hosting service is the best for you. I investigated only three, based upon recommendations I found in forums and blog comments. They are:

• GoDaddy 
• Host Gator 
• Free Hostia 

At all three services, I was able to choose a plan that would fit the needs of a beginner blogger. Personally, I would probably choose GoDaddy, because I read a lot of good reviews on support and "up-time". The cost of a WordPress blog and hosting at GoDaddy, ( the "Ultimate" plan), with unlimited space and bandwidth, is $7.99 per month, or $95.88 per year. Be aware that many plans include options a-la-carte, for important add-ons like:

• Domain Registration
  You must choose a domain name. This can be done independently, for a cost of about $10-$12. Many plans offer you the option of choosing your domain along with your hosting plan, at a reduced price.
• Site Analytics
  I always recommend analytics. Many hosting services offer analytics options for a cost of about $2.99 per month.
• Search Engine VisibilityThis is an add-on that I found at GoDaddy. The cost is $29.99 per year, and can save you the hassle of submitting your site to the search engines yourself.
• Social VisibilityThis is another GoDaddy option, which helps you stand out at popular sites like Facebook and Twitter. Available for $1.89 per month, I would certainly give this consideration.
• SSL Certificate
  This is not necessary, unless you will be selling product, or accepting sensitive client information on your blog.

Now, are you ready to jump in? I'm not. At least, not yet. I really like this Blogger blog! And I have a free WordPress blog, too, which I like, but admittedly do not devote as much time to promoting. I have, though, convinced myself that it is not in bad taste to use the free blogs, nor is it detrimental to your purpose.

What about you? I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments section of this post! What kind of blog do you manage? And how did you choose?

Online Sellers: Should they be bloggers, too?

Keeping up with a blog is a lot of work. Countless hours are spent dreaming up concepts for the next post, researching topics, (hopefully) writing good content, avoiding spelling and grammar blunders, enhancing with images and video, and monitoring any feedback that you might receive. From an online seller's point of view, it may seem overwhelming. So the question-of-the-day is simply this.
Online Sellers: Should they be bloggers, too?

I've been debating this for the past week or two. Those of you who are familiar with my blog know that I spend time reading other blogs, from so-called experts in various fields that include SEO, Blogs, Social Networking, and the Antiques and Collectibles market. You've heard me mention, and quote, articles from one of my favorites, ProBlogger, but today I am going to ask you to consider reading and following one of my latest favorite bloggers, BlogTyrant. His writing style is refreshing... laid back and conversational, and he doesn't bombard you with paragraph after paragraph of tech-talk. I like that, because some of the other bloggers can easily get over my head with the language, the terms, or the instructions, and they simply lose me. BlogTyrant is different. You'll feel like you're chatting with him over coffee, in some quaint Australian cafe.

To be brutally honest, in his post Why Blogging Is A Waste of Your Time, BlogTyrant prompted me to question the validity, or necessity, of my own blog! This is good, however, as it stimulates a period of self-examination. Why am I blogging? Who am I affecting? Are there things a blogger like me, (or you), can do better? These are just a few of the questions that will both torment and embolden you. Should online sellers be bloggers? Thankfully, my answer is a resounding yes!

Online Sellers put the cart before the horse, in terms of the blogosphere. We opened our stores, stocked our shelves, rolled out the red carpet, and then realized that without SEO, we weren't going to see any traffic. So the quest began to find ways to develop those highly-desired backlinks and build our online presence, all the while enriching our knowledge of SEO. Twitter became an overnight hit. Facebook soon followed. Amid the social media revelation, many online sellers became bloggers, too. You know what? It's working.

The backlinks you create, and the connections you make, are like gold in terms of SEO.

For professional bloggers, the focus must be to gain a following and earn money off of each post, whether that revenue comes from affiliate advertising, adsense, direct marketing of services and skills, or guest blogging. While an Online Seller could certainly do that, there are rewards, as well, for socially engaging your client-base, building a network, helping and sharing with your peers, and in-direct sales through product promotion.

What kind of blogger are you? My goal for Fleapirates Plunder is basically all of the above, without the challenges of professional blogging. I hope that somewhere in my posts you've found a solution to a problem, a spark of interest in a new technique, news of utmost importance, an item at OnlineAuction that you cannot live without, and perhaps a chuckle or two.

Fleapirates is here to stay.

The conversation, however, does not end there. I challenge you to read other articles from BlogTyrant. Start with How To Blog Part 1. In this post, he emphasizes the importance of owning your own domain and hosting your own blog. Do you feel that is necessary? If so, why? I'll be researching that, and writing about that, in my next post. Until then, keep blogging! Yes, Online Sellers should be bloggers, too!

The Five W's of Blogging

 I was both honored and energized to be invited to be a speaker on the OLA-Radio Show last night! The night's topic of discussion was blogging, (one of my favorite things), and we talked at great length about how to start a blog, how to maintain a blog, and why blogging is important for your online business. The show is archived, so anyone can access and hear the show in it's entirety.

Our radio host last night was MetzyMom, and besides me, the show featured two guest speakers. StubsInc is the coordinator of the OLA Team Blog. A long time blogger, StubsInc also shares her knowledge of blogging with all OLA members via omail, the chat forum, and regular Webinars. GalleriaGifts is a valued OLA friend. As an eBay PowerSeller; Education Specialist, Podcaster, and eCommerce Coach, her words of wisdom are always highly respected and appreciated. Are any of you tweeting? You can find and follow any one of us on Twitter!

This article is targeted towards OnlineAuction.com members who are current bloggers, or are thinking of becoming bloggers. Actually, these tips will benefit all bloggers selling merchandise at any online venue! It is a summary of what we discussed last night on the radio show. I call it The Five W's of Blogging, and I hope it will motivate you to start and maintain a blog of your own! If you're the least bit hesitant, joining the OLA Team Blog will give you the practice you need to become a confidant blogger, the ease of membership in an already successful blog setup and the support of a growing, eager team. Who could ask for more?

The Five W's of Blogging

WHO? You, of course! It really doesn't matter where you sell, in today's online marketplace social networking is an essential part of any solid business plan.

WHAT? Write about what interests you! To get you started, here are a few ideas...

• Your products or niche market
• Your store or any sales you are advertising
• Any events you are participating in
• Humor... look at Supergranny's blog and you'll see what I mean!
• Knowledge... check out Kidatheart10's blog posts on the OLA Team Blog for a great example of sharing knowledge. Remember, if you can teach your readers something, you provide a value to them, and they'll return for more good reading!

WHERE? Well, obviously, I like Blogspot. It is a Google product and very simple to use. Also accessed by the name Blogger, this blog can be created by signing into your Google account. Another popular place to create a blog is WordPress. Both programs have easy to follow instructions which will lead you through all the steps necessary to create and maintain a blog.

WHEN? Search Engine Spiders, (bots), thrive on relevant changing content, so the more active you are, the better. My advice? Write as often as your schedule allows. I try to post once or twice a week on the OLA Team Blog and once per week on my personal blog... more if I have time. And not to be cold-hearted, but if you reside on my blog roll and have not made a post to your blog within 30 days, I am liable to delete your blog from my list! Staying current is as important to your SEO as it is to hold any loyal readers that you may acquire.

WHY? Because of their relevant changing content, blogs are often given greater ranking than standard webpages. Today's online reader looks for blogs as a source of information! Want incentive? The OLA Team Blog received over 2500 hits in the month of July! And the backlinks that are created show popularity to the receiving webpage. This means that every time we link to OLA, OLA gets another popularity vote, and their ranking is increased. This is the same for your store and your product! (There I am with the building blocks theory again!) I've posted this article from Wikipedia about backlinks before, but please take the time to read it... you won't regret it.

HOW? Ok, so it is not a "W"! Read on anyway...
Create a blog. The process should take about 15-20 minutes to set a basic blog template. Important features to consider when creating your blog are:

• Title - keep it relevant to what you will write about, whether it is your store, your product or your life.
• Description - again, keep it relevant, and use keywords to describe the content to be found on your blog.
• Comments - you may choose to allow comments from anyone, or moderate your comments, (which means you'll get an email asking you to allow or block any comment before it is visible on the blog).
• Adult Content - you'll need to add this warning message to any blog that may contain foul language or inappropriate content... and we sure hope that all OLA blogs refrain from including any adult content!
• Date / Time Display - speaks for itself. You can set it to your preference.
• Template - Blogspot offers you a wide variety of attractive templates - choose one!
  
• Color/Font - in Blogspot you can also change the font and color of your background page template.
• Page Elements - Blogspot offers you an area to add gadgets to the sidebar of your blog. Right away you'll want to personalize your About Me page, add other blogs to your Blog List, and offer readers the opportunity to Subscribe To your blog. Other gadgets, like Twitter feeds, widgets and hit counters may be added using the HTML box. You can add gadgets and modify your settings at any time. To start, just get the basics done!
  

Once you've created a blog, start writing! In my experience, your confidence and your skills will grow with each post. And be sure to read other blogs, join in any webinars that you can, and soak up all the information that you can... all this will assist you in becoming a successful blogger! In addition, I have a few tips below:

• Always include a link to you. (Your store, your product, your website, etc.) If you don't know how, we hold webinars to talk about quality linking... try to attend one, or ask for a private session with one of our Team Members. Your link should contain words that are relevant to the webpage that you are linking to, so that you maximize your potential for search engine exposure.
• If you choose to include a picture, be sure that the title of your picture is relevant to the picture. For example, when uploading pics from your camera to your hard drive, do you let the computer numerically title them, (ie; Pic202, Pic 203, Pic204, etc), or do you title them yourself, according to what they represent? (ie; Babe Ruth Rookie Card, Fenton Colonial Blue Vase, Sapphire and Diamond Pendant, etc.) Titling allows the search engines to further index your blog post by including the picture titles as keywords, as well as the keywords in your blog title and post. Incidentally, last night GalleriaGifts mentioned the use of Flickr for image hosting, citing Flickr's new capacity for using keywords in titling images, which leads to increased SEO. I've not yet investigated this, but surely will! Care to join me?
• Copy and Paste is your friend. The exact copy of your auction listing title, first paragraph, (or section), of your description, and the use of additional keywords will increase the popularity of those phrases in search engine exposure. It's fast and easy, too! Gotta love that!
• Use 72 characters max for titles. This includes auction titles and blog titles. Keyword rich.
• Keep your topic focused. Writing about multiple topics only confuses spiders, and they are likely to find that your blog post is not relevant, thereby reducing your standing and importance in the indexing. (They are computers, remember!)
  
• Ask questions! As I mentioned above, MetzyMom, StubsInc and I are always ready to offer advice, instruction and support. You can also count on help from Aesthetics48 and Sunflowerranch. Don't hesitate to contact any of us - we want you to succeed!
  
Please stop by and browse the treasures in my OLA store, Fleapirates Plunder

July 1st Kicks Off the OLA Team Blog Challenge!

July 1st kick off the OLA Team Blog Challenge! Here we are, at the start of 30 days of committed blogging, intended to rev up the SEO of all participants. I'd like to issue a big welcome to our newest members, SunflowerRanch, Curiocache and KidatHeart10, who have already gotten into the swing of posting on our blog. Kudos to you!

There is always room for more bloggers on our team, so I hope many more OLA sellers decide to join in the fun and take charge of advertising their own businesses! Those who have questions are encouraged to contact either myself, (Fleapirates), StubsInc, MetzyMom, Aesthetics48, or SunflowerRanch. Any of us would be happy to help you get started, get motivated, learn blog techniques, and reap the rewards of consistent blogging!

Another way to get information would be to attend the Team Blog Webinar that will take place this coming Monday, July 6th, at 9pm EST, 8pm CST, 6pm PST. It will be held in the LIVE CHAT room that you will find on the right sidebar of the OLA Team blog. Just click the button, and be sure to enter your OLA username, as "guest" questions will not be acknowledged.

And finally, I'd like to shout a huge Welcome Back to one of my favorite sports card dealers, Cardmanlou1, who has just returned to OLA! He is such an inspiration to me and other sellers, and we're all glad to see him back listing product and active in the chat forum. Do you know I, (jokingly), tried to race him on listing auctions today? At last count, I had hit 84 and he was still going at 532. WOW! In one day! Everyone stop by his store, check out all those items and welcome him back to our OLA family!

In Lou's honor, here's one of my latest baseball card listings:








1995 Upper Deck MINORS Scott Rolen # 78 Phillies Top Prospect

Click the title to visit the listing!

What You See Is What You Get!

Hello everyone! Today's OLA Tuesday Tidbit explores the world of WYSIWYG Editors, & the need for OLA members to learn how to use them. Many members enjoy making auction templates, store backgrounds & chat signatures with colorful graphics, unique images & distinctive font styles. This creativity is more easily achieved with the assistance of an outside WYSIWYG editor.

WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output, which might be a printed document, web page, slide presentation or even the lighting for a theatrical event.

The phrase was originally a catch phrase popularized by Flip Wilson's drag persona "Geraldine" (from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 60s and then on The Flip Wilson Show until 1974), who would often say "What you see is what you get" to excuse her quirky behavior.

(I loved that show! Didn't you?)

For the past year, I've been touting the editor at Creating Online. It is simple to use, and fulfills all my needs in making auction templates, etc. However, Creating Online has one drawback... it does not operate well within Mozilla Firefox browsers. Like many users, I have gotten away from using Internet Explorer, preferring the security & ease of Firefox. What to do???

After getting frustrated with searching editors online, I contacted my buddy Rowen, at OnlineAuction.com. He actually gave me links to 4 different editors, and after doing some research, I have found one that I really like! It is from Trellian WebPage, it's a download, & it has capabilities to help someone publish a web page. So many new gadgets to investigate! What I needed, (the editor), was easy to locate and use, & I am looking forward to learning the rest of their tools. Check them out!

While I was surfing the net today, I also ran across an interesting blog from ProBlogger, Darren Rowse. He surveyed online users about what would they prefer - to have more blog readers or more Twitter followers. Twitter may be new, but people are flocking to it by the thousands, & while it did not get many of the votes in his poll, many people would be interested to see if the results would change in a year from now. I am following Darren on Twitter now, because he's a social media participant & a full time blogger, & I think he will have many, many informative posts. I hope you'll all take a moment to check out his blog! And do tell... how would you have voted?

FLEAPIRATES TUESDAY TREASURE:

Artesania Rinconada # 38 Rabbit Figurine. This treasure is now retired. Excellent condition, with no chips cracks or breaks. Artist signature is on the bottom. Measures 2 inches tall x 3 1/4 inches wide. Weighs 6 1/2 ounces. Hand-carved & detailed in fine grain earthenware ceramic material.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Artesania Rinconada was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, by twin brothers, Jesus & Javier Carbajales. Born in Spain, the twins moved to Uruguay in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War erupted, but never forgot their spanish roots. Focusing upon nature, they released the Classic Collection in 1972. Over the years, other collections have been added, such as, The Silver Anniversary Collection, Rincababies, the Emerald Collection, and the DeRosa Box & Dolls Collections. Highly collectible, these figurines are still widely popular in stores today. Many of the older pieces are now retired and difficult to find.

Click HERE to see the details of this auction!

Click HERE to browse other collectibles in my OLA House!

Alphainventions

Just joined http://alphainventions.com!

Anyone who blogs should check this out.
Still taking it in, but it seems easy to use,
and fun to read the various blogs!

Good way to increase views!

And when you're done,
stop by Fleapirates Plunder,
for a variety of affordable, vintage collectibles!