Usually I subscribe to the opinion that the more your brand/company name is on various websites, the better, especially if you control those sites (valid, relevant, updated content). As search engines are programmed to weed out website pages and content that are created solely to increase links back to the main brand vs. 'real' company websites and blogs, you must ask yourself if having an externally hosted website at a company like Brand-Yourself would hurt or hinder you. Would advancements in Google rankings (ie. Google Panda) penalize you for using a service that is, really, meant to increase the likelyhood of search engines find you by adding one more place your name and information is out there. But, I'm a sucker for wasting time on the internet when taking a break from actual work during the day - and I'm a design company, not a B2C brand, so Google rankings actually are not all that important to me. Nearly 90% of my business is word of mouth and since I am good at what I do, I am currently too busy to worry about trying to get random internet traffic - I have found most organic search traffic is nearly useless in my industry.
However, I do have some other side-jobs where this issue might be explored more - such as http://www.spicymangos.com/ which can and does benefit from being randomly found as I sell quality, simple products there that anyone would be interested in: food snacks. I haven't pushed the issue with Spicy Mangos yet - although the standard social networks sites were all created as the go-to for getting multiple sites to display your brand and link back to your main website. But, as you must know, that isn't enough. You can't expect to make major cash without advertising. Nike and Pepsi are household names, but they didn't rely on organic search engines or word-of-mouth to get there. They PAY for advertising. Still. Today. A lot.
To me this is the major flaw of paying thousands of dollars to some SEO company promising to get you high in the ranks by reworking your site code, writing useless articles packed with keywords, and/or adding random RSS feeds to your site as part of link sharing. Who cares about clicks and search engine traffic if it isn't turning into profit for you? Suck it up. There isn't a magic button for sales you can press and do minimal work for - and SEO is more overrated that you think. If you want to sell something, your time might just be better spend paying for advertising in mediums that reach your target market than spending too much money and a lot of time worrying about how fast people find you on Google. The only way to get effective search engine traffic is to really manage and monitor and update content yourself - and if you think that takes less money than targeted advertising then I think you are delusional. Time = money.
With effective advertising and good brand development across all mediums you can make yourself a household name, even if only locally to start. People like the friends-and-family plan: Have you tried sponsoring a local 5k or school event? Joining your chamber of commerce? Printing up flyers or door hangers? All of these options are very very cheap and offer a lot of specialized exposure to people that want to support a local business. Once you get done locally, and expand online enough to offer retention content (coupons, quizes, etc.), you might just have enough money to waste on internet advertising or some other traditional media. Then, when people already know you, they will know how to find you - they will look for you by name. You won't need to be found in search results of generic keywords to sell your products. And if they like you they will tell others.
P.S. That last line leads me to something people really seem to overlook: offer a quality product with good customer service and you will last longer than if you are just out to 'make a buck'. Give it a try and CARE about your customers.
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