Wordpreneur.com

Just digging through my notes for business ideas you may be able to capitalize on. Here’s one…

IDEA: Provide local businesses with an easy turnkey on-going business blogging service.

Keys are “easy” and “turnkey” (which, in my book, also means “everything included”).

Target those who will recognize the value of what you provide, who in all likelihood can do all this stuff themselves, but really are either just too busy or simply have absolutely no interest in getting their hands dirty with all this technomuck…

…but since they realize the value, they’re willing to pay someone (you!) to set up and maintain this “online presence” for them.

Charge a fee to cover the costs of the domain and Web hosting set up, not to mention setting up the software and initial info pages you design and write. Then, you populate the blog with new related, appropriate content on a regular basis… and for a regular fee.

Think about it… after the initial set up, this mostly becomes a writing gig.

This kind of blogging operation is a heck of a whole lot easier nowadays versus “designing websites” in the olden days because of software like Wordpress. Wordpress makes it easier to set up full “blog” sites, not just the black-and-white technical aspects of one but also the more esoteric and subjective areas of design. Frankly, that’s where a lot of website development services fell flat… now, with Wordpress and the practically endless supply of “theme” designs (mostly free ones at that!), you can even let the client pick-and-choose what look s/he wants, plunk it in, and knock yourself out writing their content and cashing their checks.

Easier said than done for those of you who haven’t gone through the tech learning curve, obviously. If you’re in that position, there’s only one thing to do: build a blog site for your own use. That’s how you learn. A month of that (or even less for many you, I’m sure), and you’ll know the minimum tech stuff cold.

I could write a book on this very topic, but you should be able to figure your way with this brief post, and the following details:

• I get my domains from GoDaddy.

• I get budget Web hosting from Site5, which offers software called Fantastico that makes it painfully easy (relatively-speaking, anyway, in this tech universe) to set up and install “scripts” like Wordpress. You don’t have to go with Site5… it’s got lots of competition. Just find something similar (again, look for Fantastico).

One more thing: Notice that you’re just focusing here on what is essentially developing and maintaining an online publication for your clients. Newfangled dynamic though it may be, it’s a pub. We’re not getting into e-commerce or a whole bunch of other techie Web stuff; that’s a whole different level. If you’re not into that geeky stuff (frankly, if you were, you’d already be in it by now), leave it alone and focus on blogs… and prospects who’d be perfectly suited for that kind of online presence.

Questions, post comments below. I (or other fellow wordpreneurs) will try to answer you as best we can. Have fun!

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