Starting a blog is fairly easy; starting a blog the right way is not a walk in the park. I recently came across yet another spin off of the “put your blog inside my master blog and let me charge you money to build links for my domain” type of service. Wrong! Anyone starting a blog has to think about their needs and themselves FIRST and ALWAYS!

Reinforcement – Starting a Blog Is YOUR Business Strategy

I think the reason so many fall for the idea that starting a blog as a subdomain under a “master domain” is “easy” is because they don’t dig deep enough to understand the full ramifications of this decision:

1. It’s NOT your domain – you’re going to slave away building links for the other guy who just has to sit back and let you do the work to grow his/her business.

2. It’s much better to build your own spot on the internet for so many reasons!

A Few Reasons Why Starting A Blog of Your Own Is Best

As every marketer knows (including my case in point above) starting a blog with its wonderful link building is a must strategy to be attractive in terms of SEO and other people finding you. Eventually, you’re going to have to bite the bullet. You need to decide to stay on the edges or jump in and swim with the big and small fishes. I can tell you that having your own spot to advertise and market is easier on your wallet. In addition, you’re spending your money on yourself.

My case example (for starting a blog to his advantage) charges over $60/month. Hmmm… it reminds me of a time (long ago) where my business partner (at that time) and I spent $97 a month doing the same thing. It didn’t take us long to realize, “Wait a minute! We’re starting a blog, but this guy now has over 600,000 back links in the search engines!” Of course, we canceled that membership!

Free blogs and their pitfalls have been discussed before on this blog, so there isn’t a need to reiterate why going free isn’t always a smart move. Suffice to say, you want to put your best foot forward and let the world know you are an independent operator with the ability to afford (at a minimum) hosting of your own.

Consider the advantages of blogging with a pre-established network when starting a blog or a website online.

Nowadays it’s getting a bit easier for some marketers to start thinking of ways that go beyond traditionally taught strategies and entertain the idea of participating at trade shows and using pop up displays.

What Are Pop Up Displays?

In an earlier post written in December 2010, I covered the idea of the professional look and feel of pop up displays. Today I’d like to take a different approach, just to get you thinking outside the box.

Have you ever considered the fact that what you have chosen to promote also could be marketed, physically, in a one-on-one trade show? And, if you’ve attended trade shows, you cannot miss the numerous use of the trade show pop up. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, they are the wow factor that draws those crowds to specific booths, right?

So Why Would You Participate in Trade Shows and Use Pop Up Displays?

Think about it. Online marketing is an excellent, quick and fairly painless process. However, overall, online or offline, it’s work don’t kid yourself.

The challenge is to come up with new ideas. Perhaps you’ve never considered that many online programs also make excellent offline promotions. Yes, you may have to step outside your comfort zone, but the persistent marketer is always willing to challenge him or herself. “Going public” is a definite plus and being seen, shaking hands, meeting people, and making contacts – in person – can move mountains.

So imagine yourself at a live event, at your table, with others around you making more efficient and effective impressions by using pop up booths. You’d be kicking yourself, right? Especially if you knew how very easy pop up trade show displays are to transport, set up, and take down.

Choosing the Right Type of Pop Up Displays Made Easy

Available in table top versions, canopies and accordions (to name but a few), pop up displays are readily available for you to use. The question is… will you start thinking outside the box? Will you dare to add to your repertoire and try something different? The world awaits. You just have to make an appearance (with careful planning of course).

Online and offline marketing make the perfect combination no matter what program you choose. The only thing that holds you back from making use of offline promotion, and the impressive pop up displays, may be YOU.

This morning in my inbox was a survey request by the program owner of the web site builder I use for My Wizard Ads. Typically I tend to ignore these, but since the subject revolved around the all important “traffic and how to get more” issue, I was game.

After going through a series of screens and reaching the finish line, I came to two conclusions:

1. The “recommend a friend” (which I did not fill out) was inevitable.

2. As I answered the questions, I can already “see” the results for myself.

The outcome of this survey, one of which I am still hoping will be useful, at the moment appears to be a rehash of who is doing what currently online. Traffic generating is a huge issue, and always will be, of course.

However, since there was no spot to input comments like, “Hey, you’re not going to believe this, but I found that x is a great way to get traffic!”, it most likely will be yet another compilation of the same thing we all know – email marketing, blogging, article marketing, PPC, coaching, search engine optimization, and social media marketing. The only difference will be the percentages – how many are using which ones.

So, while I have my fingers crossed that there might be “something new” to learn, I can almost with 100% accuracy predict what will be in the “report”.

Thank goodness I’m getting a copy of it for free LOL!

(P.S. I know, the title sounds very “Yoda” to me, too)

The other day while visiting and reading a favorite blogger of mine, Lisa had a guest writer post that really struck the right nerve for me. I’m sure it will be true for you, too.

It was another way of looking at success versus failure. Actually, it was much clearer than that – how “Success is not the opposite of failure; it’s merely the other end of the see-saw”.

Succinctly put, without failure, we would never move forward. If life came easily, we would not have to try. Sure we need successes in our lives, but if we cringe at the word “failure” and spend all our time avoiding it, when do we step up to the plate and really give something our all?

The other message writer Brian V. Hunt inspired me with is the thought of how to wake up and approach each day. To, honestly, embrace failure as a friend. He actually has written an entire section on “How to Court Failure”.

Interesting things start to happen when you stop looking at the word from the negative – and no this isn’t some law of attraction post (although it sort of is). My words cannot do justice to the value of reading Brian’s post on Lisa’s blog the other day.

By changing the way we look at success and failure, our family life changes, our business lives change, our friendships change. For me, the affect has been a very positive one, so a big thanks goes to Brian for writing, and Lisa for posting!

My suggestion, and challenge, for you today is to read it, too.

Then be sure to COMMENT and tell me what you think. All the links will open in new windows, so you can return here easily.