I have a lot of people ask me when is it time to move up to a self hosted wordpress site? For some it is a financial question, for some an seo question, and others a functionality question. My answer is always the same. “If you are using your blogspot, facebook, or wordpress.com site to promote your business in anyway, then it is time to move up.”

So lets narrow it down. Why do we use free services? Well the answer seems pretty clear…they are free. As small businesses we are always looking for ways to save money in our business. The problem with using free services almost always comes down to a perception issues from the people and clients you are trying to reach. Back in the early days, the internet was filled with several free hosing options, lycos and anglefire just to name a couple, and may small and home based businesses, myself included, took advantage of the free fare available. But free always came with a price. Most free sites were strewn with advertising and pop ups. It became apparent, that in order to have a real business online, you were going to have to pay for real hosting.

Along comes the blogging revolution, and the introduction of free blogging platforms. It was not very long till small businesses figured out very quickly that they needed to get on the bandwagon. Blogging is great for business, it is true. And I am the first one to tell clients that it is an important aspect of their online promotions. It builds credibility, drives dynamic content to their site and is great seo candy.

But…oh no the but! We seem to forget that our online visitors are getting smarter and smarter everyday. They know you are using a free service, there is really no way to hide it. And worse, if you are using your free site as your only online location, what is that saying to the client? I always like to use non virtual examples when I describe something like this.

So here it is…

If you are using a free website for your online location, you are basically telling your potential clients that in a non virtual world you would be selling your product or service from the back of your trunk.

If you are using a free blog as your business blog and think that it is driving google to your site, you are sadly mistaken. The search engines are indexing or seeing only the blog contents, not the contents of your site. If you want to use a blog to build seo, it has to part of a cohesive dynamic platform like wordpress or one of the other great CMS paltforms out there.

So what next? Did you know that it is relatively easy for an experienced wordpress developer to transfer your wordpress.com or blogger into a self hosted wordpress? You won’t even lose your pictures. We can even take the content from your current static html site and combine both to create a fabulous new online location.

For the months of February and March we are offering a couple of great packages to help you move into 2011 with a great new dynamic website and blog.

The first is for those that do not have a current site other that a blog on wordpress.com or blogger (blogspot). We will help you set up your new hosting, create and install and the necessary plugins for your new self hosted site, create your first 3 important pages (home, about us, and contact), create a simple branded layout, and then import your wordpress or blogger to the site.

Cost $1100.00 (includes 1 year of hosting)

The second is for those that have a current site and a separate blog. Basically the same as above, but we will also transfer your current site (Up to 10 pages) into the new setup.

Cost $1600.00 (includes 1 year of hosting)

For more information about this and out other service packages, please give us a call.