Blogs and Websites - Let the World Hear Your Voice

Many who work for themselves have a particular area of expertise. For example, a massage therapist may specialize in sports massage or pregnancy massage. One therapist may be an expert at Swedish Massage and believe that works best therapeutically while another may be an expert at lymphatic drainage and the various techniques that go with it. These special areas of expertise and skills make you different from the rest.

No matter what your expertise is, use a blog or website to inform the public and show off your talents and skills. Blogs are a great way to connect with people, both local and around the world. People who work for themselves consistently find their blog brings in extra money. One SBI'er made thousands of dollars extra in his dentistry business because people read his website and trusted him enough to drive out of their city to see him. A friend of mine makes $1,000 extra dollars a month in his wallpapering business because of his website.

If you consider this route to build your business, keep in mind there are a couple ways to do it. You can get a free blog through blogger.com or

A blog can have a couple static pages but mainly is written in on a daily or near daily basis. It takes some work, but is worth it to build an audience and get them commenting and talking about your articles and services. Blogs are a great way to voice your opinion and keep your readers up-to-date on the latest news or research in your field. And once it is built and you get the hang of it, adding a daily article can mean only minutes out of your day.

A website is more static. It may consist of 100 to 400 or more pages. Once sites are built with an initial 30 pages, then the rate at which pages are adding can be more relaxed. Often, professionals have websites to let the world know about their service and once created, only maintenance is put into it as opposed to daily writing.

I use Site Build It for my website. I started here because there was so much to learn from building the different areas of the site to adding a newsletter, RSS feeds, adspace, autoresponders and adding images or graphics. Over a two year span I studied different areas but became very frustrated because in the end I didn't know how to put all these together to build one site. I felt no further along than when I started learning. When I came across SBI, I felt very fortunate. I have learned many aspects of building and maintaining websites and internet marketing and now I even delve into html and css.

I use Wordpress.org for my blogs as I have gained confidence in my technical skills. I have learned that I don't need them for this program, however, I understand much more than I used to so directions and building my first blog was not so frustrating. I use Host Gator which meant installing Wordpress (which seemed very intimidating at first) was only a couple clicks. They also have online chat help, so when I did get to a sticking point, I got opened up the chat help in another window and they answered questions I had on the spot.

If you have a business you are building, don't forget the website or blog option. Many people will not even use a business or service if they can't read about it first. Also, it is cost-effective enough that most people can afford to have a site. Use your blog to get your voice and service known to the world. For now, keep rockin' and great success to you.

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