Hold it, I thought free meant no money? Is this some kind of trick?

No trick but is free worth your time and effort? There are many websites that offer you the opportunity to sign up for a free blog but do you get anything with that? You can do a quick search on the internet if you want to learn more but right now I want to explore this thing called “free” and talk about getting our “money’s” worth.

By definition (online dictionary) free means: costing nothing; without charge. Typically we think of it as meaning, “I get something for nothing”; meaning, I don’t give you any money…but you give me something." Would you agree that is how we usually think of free?

So we go online, find a website or a blogging site that offers free blogs…and we are “invited” to sign here. But, here’s my point:

• What does this free site give you for training and support?
• And what do they plan on selling you once they have your name on the dotted line?

Those are my concerns. However, some of them actually offer training, show you how to set up your blog, and even how to monetize it if that is your goal. And they are willing to give you all of that for “free”.

Let me quickly cover a few "free" points with you:

1. Free blogs that also come with training give you an excellent opportunity to learn and do; especially true for us Baby Boomers that still may fear breaking the very keys meant for typing. We can come up with many excuses and reasons why we cannot blog but, with the right training and support, we really have no reason not to do it.

2. Free blogs are also a great way to trial your idea and see if it is something that people want to read. Being very conscious of our pocket books, we all prefer to learn before we invest a lot of money; after all, we go to post-secondary for 2 to 4 years to get an education before we get a job. But we have to pay for that…with both money and time.

3. What free truly means in this case is you get your website, your blog, for free but it will take a lot of your time and energy to get it up and running and add to it each and every day. That is why it will be so important to ensure that, regardless with whom you sign up with, they need to provide you with the tools to actually learn about websites and how to create a successful blog. So take care on this point, especially beginners, so you don't throw up your hands in despair before you write down a word on paper...or screen.

In this case: free = time and effort to make it successful.

You will need to determine not only how much time you have but also what the intent of your blog is. Some may have just a passing interest, some may think that if it works they will put more time into it, and some of you (like me) may decide that developing and building a quality website is worth whatever time we have to put into it.

Based on the above, it’s not a question of whether or not free blogs are worth the money but a question of the time and effort required to make even a free blog into the wonderful website you have envisioned. Make sure you get the training and support you will need because your “time is money” even though the cost of your blog is free. Please feel free to leave me comments below. I would love to hear your definition of free. Thanks for reading.