Volcan, Panama
Control.
Bloggers who invest in their domain and hosting control their:
- message
- brand
- rules
- online business
For example, I close comments 24 hours after posts go live on Blogging From Paradise to control spam. No one drops spam comments on posts after the 24 hour mark. Few spam comments slip into the spam and trash folders here but the outliers never see the light of day as published, public comments because I control moderation.
Yep; I am in complete, personal control of the spam situation.
But when I check my Facebook inbox and comments a few hours from now on a site I clearly do not control, you bet your sweet bippee I will see a vastly different situation. 90% of my inbox will be users attempting to spam me. A few legit comments will be mixed in with a few spam comments. Why? I have almost no control over Facebook, its rules, its regulations, its algorithm and its policies because I do not own FB like I own my blog. Naturally, I face a ton more resistance there which is par for the course.
Spending increasing time publishing posts to my blog, promoting my blog posts and dropping simple updates to social media to play well within their rules makes the most sense to me, at least. I run the show here. I can publish virtually any manner of content, from colorful posts, to perhaps mildly bawdy humor, to in your face honesty, because I own this blog and control how things get done, here.
Ownership Wins
Ownership is the chief benefit of investing in your domain and hosting because you:
- run the show
- set the rules
- sell how you wish to sell
- teach how you wish to teach
- keep out spammers and riff-raff how you desire to keep out spammers and riff-raff
- determine your publishing schedule
- monetize your blog as you wish
Having these powers gives you:
- peace of mind
- serenity
- freedom
- potential for massive online business success
since you own and control everything.
Not so, for any other channels.
Email Marketing
Even precious email marketing is a sometimes unstable stream because email seems subject to strict regulations based on your country of origin. Bloggers spout the benefits of email marketing because finding the inbox seems fairly reliable as a dependable traffic and income source. But do you control the rules, regulations, policies and laws of your government? How about the policies of email campaign managers? Mail Chimp and the US government adds rules, regulations and policies from time to time, all of which take alleged ownership and control out of my cyber hands and places ownership, control and yes, power, into their hands.
I have pretty much all of the power on Blogging From Paradise, though.
Wise entrepreneurs spend most time working on owned real estate where these successful individuals yield full control and creative power.
Consider Time
Think about the time you spend attempting to wade through the cyber muck on social media.
Being spammed left and right feels taxing, too.
Mind you, I use social media extensively to access its billions of users to serve my niche reader. But I keep the spam and time elements in mind as I navigate its strict rules, regulations and policies put in place to prevent all from going to custard.
The general population is largely lost simply because most seem mindless. As an entity like social media becomes adopted by the gen pop, increased regulation becomes a natural by-product of its mass appeal.
Knowing this empowers you to use it moderately and your blog quite freely to step into real power.
But if you neglect these truths you will waste an incredible amount of time on social media trying to find a few diamonds in the rough while dealing largely with the rough.
Facebook Feces in My Littered Inbox
My Facebook inbox largely consists of:
- people trying to manipulate me into hiring them
- people looking for, asking for and begging for money
- people looking for love in all the wrong places
Never take this truth as me airing grievances. I know it comes with the territory and look past the resistance.
However, reading these words and processing my message could help you see parallels between my social media experience and your social media experience which could then inspire you to:
- close out Facebook now
- log in to your WordPress back office
- write and schedule your 3 next blog posts
You may choose ownership, control and power again versus dawdling for hours on a site where you own nothing, have almost no control and wield very little power.
Develop Posture
Refusing to compromise on this concept requires serious posture.
Develop it with a decision: build your blog, your online home, first and foremost.
Add traffic channels like:
- email marketing
- social media
- guest blogging
- genuine blog commenting
slowly but surely as secondary or tertiary strategies for increasing targeted traffic and income.
Dwell on the control concept before scrambling to social media and looking past your blog.
First, your peace of mind expands because you control your blog and how you communicate through it with the outside world. Doesn’t that sound nice?
From there, you craft your message clearly how you wish to convey your service, being entirely free of the rigid rules, shackle-like constraints and expansive tendrils of social media sites.
At the end of the day, Mark Z, Elon M and perhaps a few trusted people around them determine what stays and what goes on Facebook and Twitter.
At the end of the day, Ryan Biddulph and a few trusted blogging buddies and loyal readers determine what stays and what goes on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.
What makes more sense?
Investing most time and work on platforms where other people yield almost all of the control?
Or investing most time and work on platforms where you yield all of the control?
Develop at least a little more posture than an earthworm negligent of its core exercises.
Take advantage of control, power and ownership.
Run everything through your blog.
Build that sucker up diligently.
Add traffic channels like social media but make your blog the priority since you own it, control it and have full power over that piece of cyber real estate.
One Note on Free Blogging Platforms
On a side note, immediately trash the free blogging platform blog and get on WordPress Dot Org if you currently appear to be cyber squatting on those platforms.
If ya think ya have little control on social media sites…..your content is almost worthless on free blogging platforms from a branding and online business perspective simply because if they pay the domain and hosting bills then your free content has the shelf-life of an ice cream cone in a Middle Eastern desert.
You get what you pay for when it comes to free blogging platforms.
If you pay nothing you get nothing in terms of driving high quality traffic and increasing online business.
