What’s Your Foundation?
Our host today is Keith Bloemendaal. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
Note: This is a video post so if you’re seeing this in your email or feed reader be sure to stop by the site and watch this 2 minute video clip.
Having a solid foundation is very important, for every blogger. I talked about how I felt like I was “all over the place” in the video. This can lead to a feeling like you are chasing your own tail.
Other foundations could be your content, your design, your social media presence, your products, etc.
I like to think of my personal site as my foundation now that I have it up and running. But, I have many sites, and I offer a ton of products online. My personal site becomes my “hub”.
That is just me though, and I am in the middle of re-positioning my online presence. So, some drastic changes are being made with some of my “online properties”…. remodeling of sorts.
Discussion:
How about you? Do you have a foundation? Is it a particular site, Twitter, a product? Let us know in the comments.
Nabeel | Create Your First Website said:
Yeah I agree with your thoughts there.
There are some great advantage of having a central location (example your personal site). You can point visitors to your other locations and increase traffic to your other sites.
I think it is a great thing to do, it will definitely increase the ‘organizing’ part too.
Kevin Muldoon said:
I think it’s good to have a ‘hub’. I have a personal blog and a company site though I never update the company site. I’m planning on sprucing it up in the near future.
The foundation for most people is their most successful site/blog. So their foundation may change over time (if they sell that site or if they develop a different product/site).
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Keith said:
Hey Kevin, I completely agree with that, I have developed sites/businesses and sold them to move on to another project. That is why I am going to use my personal site as my hub.
I make the most money from a site I rarely tell people about, most people don’t even know about it.
But my foundation will be a place that will always be there, if I sell my ecommerce business, I will still have my personal site to use as my foundation.
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Kevin Muldoon said:
Yeah I think the personal/company site is the best place for a hub however you need to develop it in order to use it effectively.
Although I do have a personal blog and company site, I have never developed them effectively because I spend more time on other projects etc.
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Kevin Muldoon said:
Yeah I think the personal/company site is the best place for a hub however you need to develop it in order to use it effectively.
Although I do have a personal blog and company site, I have never developed them effectively because I spend more time on other projects etc.
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Derek Jensen said:
Keith,
My foundation is the site I am most passionate about with a distinct focus. I will say it has taken me a while to establish what my foundation is, but once I have it now everything just flows or shall I say “builds up”.
Another thought is to have my social profiles be other ‘foundations’ because that is where they are going to be able to really connect with me and figure out who I am.
Thanks for bringing up this important point. We need more people that actually have foundations.
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Keith said:
Hey Derek, I like what you have been doing, and I think the changes you have been implementing will surely help propel you to the next level.
I like to think (again on terms of a structure) of social media as a “sub floor” that is an extension of the foundation. But the foundation is the strength of the structure.
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Derek Jensen said:
Appreciate the kind words man.
I would say that the social network sites are your own “customer service” to your foundation. They help it get to the next floor.
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Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing said:
Hey Keith, you been readin’ my blog network posts?
If not, a very brief rundown is, a network of blogs, forum, chat room, and newsletter with DEDC as my personal blog and central hub.
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Keith said:
Hey D, yeah I have been keeping up in my reader, just haven’t had time to get over there and drop some spammy comments using an email address that is fake and link to my long sales page lately
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Gautam Hans @ Blog Godown said:
My foundation is the blog I am working on. Once I will build it to my satisfaction, then I may diversify my work and build more blogs.
I would try and do my best to build a rock solid foundation first and then diversify and work on other grounds
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Richard Scott said:
No foundation for myself. I concentrate 99% of my time on my niche Jewelry site. I want to make that the biggest information site for Diamonds and Jewelry there is.
After that… maybe it’ll be me.
Jorgen @ Personal Branding said:
Hi Keith, spot on stuff there. I recently set up my own name domain as I wanted a home hub, or foundation, that I can direct everyone to. The main purpose of it is to inject my personality and obviously to capture those emails for a rainy day
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element321 said:
Hi Keith, it good to see you here. I agree you need a foundation. Right now I have a buisness site that is not updated and I have my personal buisness / informational site. I am trying to figure out the best way to build a foundation site like yours but the personalized domains for my name are taken and so I am working on figure out that. Once I figure that out, I will be starting that site up.
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Onibalusi Bamidele said:
This is really great.
My foundation is my first blog, but now things are changing.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
martin said:
Great tips , its nice to see such and as a blogger, I have to agree with the flow. I really got it a lot. Appreciated!