I have just moved my website from the free WordPress site, christybelden.wordpress.com, to christybelden.com. Honestly it has been an agonizing decision for a couple of reasons:
1. When I speak to groups about personal branding, I try and show them everything they can do for free. I hope to encourage others to take it on and work on their own personal online brand.
2. I was not ready to put a lot of time into it. I have several blogs out there – WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr – all of which were free and I did pretty well and getting them ranked when searching on my name.
3. Did I really need it or was my ‘pride’ getting in the way?
So why did I decide to change from a free to paid model?
1. I wanted to experiment more. Frankly, the free version limits the ability for SEO work and limits access to analytics. Both of which are important in trying to experiment and figure out what works.
2. I plan on creating more content. With creating more content, I wanted a true home for it and this felt like the right place.
3. I could get my name outright. I didn’t want a catchy, SEO-loaded, domain name. I wanted my name. It was available – and cheap.
4. Committing money to something puts a commitment on ‘paper’, so to speak. This act means I am not walking away from blogging or writing.
5. In the ultimate personal branding spot, I wanted to own my domain. I didn’t want to have to buy it from someone later.
Here is to a new chapter of writing and blogging. I will be discussing all of the things I am working on this site.
