Ok, yeah, I’m exited and I feel like prom night and all that jazz, but we gotta talk strategies, tactics and internet marketing. There are many good reasons to have your own domain. There are many good reasons to use a specific blogging platform. I thought this would be a great opportunity to mull these issues with you. And as always- a review!

Why Have Your Own Domain?

A lot of top bloggers say you should start by getting your own domain. I agree it has many pros:

• It looks more professional. (Just think about sending company emails from a gmail address, for example. )
• You own it, so you can do as you like with it (be offensive as you like, as spammy as you wish etc.)
• Owning a domain is like owning a piece of virgin land. Just think of the possibilities! You can sell it to an interested party, you can build an amazing blog then sell it for a lot more profit. It’s really up to your imagination.

Here’s a personal story of why you might want to buy the domain, right at the start:
A couple of months ago | was emailed by a stranger, telling me he just happens to own the domain http://themarketerreview.com. Now, I pride myself on my nose for scams, and this one wreaked like a wet dog. The first thing I did was go check out the URL. As I suspected, it only leads to an error page (go ahead, click it, see for yourself ). You know the kind- those that show up when a URL doesn’t exist.

There are two possibilities to this type of scam:

1. The guy (or gal ) goes around free blogging platforms, assesses if the blogger is serious enough to want to go pro, buys the domain for $14 and sells it to the poor unsuspecting blogger for $200 (that was the offer I got).
2. Easier still: The guy goes around just emailing every free blogging blogger he can find, makes an offer, and when the poor sucker says “yes”, he goes and buys it for $14 and sells it to you for $200.

Either way- you’re screwed.

Why NOT Have Your Own Domain?

All that said, I happen to believe that if you’re a beginner blogger, you should probably give it a try before you commit to it. Frankly, I never believed I could churn out so much original content (quite proud of myself, really ) I only decided to commit about half a year after I began. After that if you want to invest in your blog, chances are your desired domain isn’t taken. If it is, you could most likely find a variation on it.

Why You Should Work Offline?*

I’m an immediate person, and I can’t stand waiting the half a minute to 40 seconds it takes an online blogging platform to save my changes. An offline platform is kinda like working with a standard word processor. You press Ctrl/Cmd+S and it takes a couple seconds. That just happens to be very soothing to my tormented soul.

The most important reason to work offline is that you can add things to the site and test to see how they look, without going live. Only when you’re satisfied with the results, you publish. Not so in any online platform. Not to mention that while you’re testing things you have to reload the page again and again and again...

Why You Should NOT Work Offline?

An offline program uses an offline platform. It’s not accessible from the web, ergo you can’t access your blog editor from any computer, anywhere. So if you intend to travel, make sure your blog is making you enough money, to buy a laptop.

Blogger or Wordpress?

Ah yes…. The eternal question. Well I’ve used both Blogger and Wordpress, and I think it’s time to finally share my thoughts on this:

Blogger Sucks!

It is unreliable, dirties the code, has unrealistic tagging restrictions and doesn’t allow pages. (The integration of Google ads is a huge plus, but it’s just not worth it.)

Wordpress is King!

First and foremost, it’s got the friendliest editing interface. No hassles, no dirty code, no tagging restrictions and you can add as many pages as you like. The really great thing about Wordpress is it’s community. Just like Firefox (if you’re still using IE, you’re missing out on an amazing browsing experience), Wordpress has a developing system that allows any one, who knows how to develop plugins. The abundance can be overwhelming, but lets just say that is the kind of problems you want to have. Blogger has a traffic advantage over all other platforms, because it is owned by Google, thus optimized by Google. Wordpress has long learned to overcome this, with SEO-wise templates and widgets.

Free Wordpress Users: Know This

There will be no Adsense, as the free version allows no script (think of all the other cool things that won’t work! ).

That, however, is just the beginning. Here’s another true story for you:
About a month ago I logged into my Wordpress account (as I do every morning), and was attacked by a big, red, flashing rectangle, telling me I’ve violated the terms of my agreement and that I must email Wordpress immediately, lest I be shut down. This was, to say the least, very disconcerting, so I immediately emailed them, inquiring as to my sins. In Wordpress’ defense, I must say the answer was prompt and clear:

Hi,
Your blog appears to break the following:

http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
* Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (”Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc).

One affiliate link in a blog is allowed, no more.

-

Mark

After shaking off my initial indignation - Moi?! A spam Blog?! How dare you sir?!! - I went off to disable all my affiliate links, secretly smiling to myself, knowing I will soon have my own blog and have as many affiliate links as I want!


And so, to bring this grand opening to a close: Having your own domain gives you freedom. You don’t have to rely on free templates, thus letting your personality shine through design. You may speak freely, because you are home.

On the down side, I now have to rebuild my traffic and RSS, as both the domain and feed address are different. Let’s just hope you really, really love me.


To your own domain,

* I’m a Mac user and work with RapidWeaver. It’s magnificently beautiful and very customizable. Although it’s geared mainly towards e-commerce sites, there’s a warm and active community improving it and adding plugins, all the time.

Tags: The Marketer Review, blog domains, blogging platform, Beginner blogger, blogger sucks, Wordpress