I have been constantly working on CoMO Blogs for the past two weeks. My goal for the site is to provide people of Columbia, Missouri a local option for premium blogging and affordable websites. Speaking with small businesses about using the internet for marketing has taught me one thing: most small business owners don’t understand internet marketing or what they need in a site.
The only thing the small biz owner knows is they need to be on the web. At this point they either go to a web development company, a marketing company, or look online for a cheap solution. The problem is web development companies are designed to create killer web applications that tend to be highly customized to the users need, marketing companies come up with beautiful websites but usually aren’t designed to be found. Being found on the internet is the most important thing, it doesn’t matter how pretty your site is people need to find it first. There is absolutely nothing wrong with web development companies and in fact I have used Delta Systems in the past and would recommend them to anyone that needs some custom coding. Marketing companies are equally useful because they help you create the image you would like to communicate to others. Marketing companies can actually assist you with your CoMO Blogs website.
Columbia, MO Blogs currently has over 105 themes with more planned for the future. These themes all have different advantages and can be customized in various ways. Some allow you to change out the header to easily change the branding while others allow you to modify colors, background, and font types. There are even 3 themes designed to be used specifically as a full blown website that are highly customizable. If you aren’t satisfied with any of the themes we offer then as a premium CoMO Blog supporter you can hire someone like to create a theme and we will load it and give you exclusive access to it.
How much does it cost to be a premium member? I’m glad you asked. We offer monthly, quarterly, and yearly pay options that range from $5 per month to $42 per year. You can have a website for $42 per year which is cheaper than anything you will find at a web development company or marketing company. It is probably cheaper than a lot of the existing “cheap website” companies as well but they aren’t even worth looking at. You don’t even have to have a domain name. You can utilize the existing domain which would be something like yourcompanyname.comoblogs.com. You can also use your own domain and redirect it to the site. Future developments include full domain mapping but rest assured your site can be found.
While you can simply sign up for a blog, become a supporter, and instantly have access to all of the benefits some people are more comfortable having the website created for them. If you prefer this route then for an additional fee we will work with you to set things up and show you how to easily modify your content in the future.
One final note, all websites and blogs can be searched from the CoMOBlogs.com homepage with Google integration. This will give Columbia citizens an easy place to search for local businesses.
This is a labor of love and an ongoing development. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions I would be happy to hear them.
