Creating an Online Presence - Choosing a Path

Note: This post is part of a series on creating an online presence.

So far in this series, we have discussed some key considerations in deciding how you will go about creating your online presence.  By now, you should have a good idea of the following.

• What an online presence is (from post #1 in this series)
• What resources you are willing to bring to bear (from post #1 in this series)
• Your goals (from post #1 in this series)
• Whether or not you want a domain name (from post #2 in this series)
• The type of content you want to create (from post #3 in this series)
• Whether or not you want to self-host (from post #4 in this series)
• And a short diversion to consider "free" applications/services

Now it is time to look at the paths and pick one based on these considerations.

If It's Free, Are You The Product?

Note: This is a respite from the Creating an Online Presence series, but it is part of the next step in the discussion.

"If it's free, you are the product."
- Somebody on the Internet

It sure sounds clever and when people first hear this phrase, it can be enlightening if only to expand your sense of perspective.  But it seems to be used rather sloppily and heavy-handedly. The end result can be the closing of minds and misunderstanding, things we should not propagate.

I feel there is a better way to think about this.

Creating an Online Presence - Should You Self-Host?

This post is part of a series on creating an online presence.

If you have been following this series, and asking yourself the questions I posed, then by now you should have a pretty clear idea about:

• What an online presence is (from post #1 in this series)
• Some ideas of what you can do  (from post #1 in this series)
• What resources you are willing to bring to bear (from post #1 in this series)
• Your goals (from post #1 in this series)
• Whether or not you want a domain name (from post #2 in this series)
• The type of content you want to create (from post #3 in this series)

You have a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish.  The next important question is whether or not you want to self-host.

Creating an Online Presence - Content Considerations

Image credit: fiveminutemarketing.com

Note: this post is part of a series on creating an online presence.

You may not think of your presence as content creation and some marketers might dismiss it as such, but it is content.  If you are creating an online presence you are definitely creating content.  The question is, what type of content will you create through your online presence?

Some common choices are:

• Static pages (i.e., the content is not changed often)
• Feeds from my other content, e.g., a Twitter feed that shows a stream of posts
• Frequent posting to the online presence site, e.g., blog, journal, photo journal

Now, let's discuss some simple examples.  Your site can easily be a mixture of these (mine certainly is).

Creating an Online Presence - Domain Names and Branding

Image credit: brandgy.com.

Note: this post is part of a series on creating an online presence.

In our previous post, we thought about:

• What an online presence is
• Why we would want to create one
• Our goals
• The resources we will bring to bear
• Our options

But an early consideration should be whether or not you want a website with a specific name, i.e., do you need a domain name?

Creating an Online Presence

This is the first in a series of articles on creating an online presence.  Let's start by pondering what an online presence is, how we might go about creating one, and what main concepts we should consider.

Third-Party Software Products and Components

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac [well, at least this version of the proverb]

There are a lot of great software products out there and a lot of companies and developers do a great job of giving their customers what they need.  But sometimes you need a capability that isn't there and that's where the a "third-party" comes into the picture.