Thread: It does surprise me that there are no blogs

As far as linking goes, yes, getting links from other blogs and sites is much better in all ways than from your own ones. As for posting comments on each other blogs, thus exchanging links (or with the only purpose of links) is not very smart. If your blog is more like a news type blog, than its a great marketing opportunity - keep it interesting to your visitor because this is whom you're creating it for, but if you're posting bored articles and don't have people there - than your links won't worth a penny. It's a huge difference having daily commemnts from your clients, visitors and friends than from fellow rewebmasters. Recently I saw a thread in DP - someone proposed 10cents per post to write in their forums and sure there are people that go for it. What a tasteless technique.

Originally Posted by gemini

As far as linking goes, yes, getting links from other blogs and sites is much better in all ways than from your own ones. As for posting comments on each other blogs, thus exchanging links (or with the only purpose of links) is not very smart. If your blog is more like a news type blog, than its a great marketing opportunity - keep it interesting to your visitor because this is whom you're creating it for, but if you're posting bored articles and don't have people there - than your links won't worth a penny. It's a huge difference having daily commemnts from your clients, visitors and friends than from fellow rewebmasters. Recently I saw a thread in DP - someone proposed 10cents per post to write in their forums and sure there are people that go for it. What a tasteless technique.

Excellent point. When I stated that it is a "fun" way to exchange links my thought was not for the link to be primary but for realtors to contribute content to each other and by so doing benefit from a link to their site. For example, a brief article about Golf in Plam Springs would be of interest to most anyone interested in Golf. Or perhaps Scuba diving in Key Largo would be of interest to scuba divers in California. Why limit the focus to only real estate in your own area? My thought is that by broadening the focus with interesting stories and comments you will broaden your audiance. Yes, I know not everyone will interested in Golf or Scuba.

Originally Posted by frobn

Why limit the focus to only real estate in your own area? My thought is that by broadening the focus with interesting stories and comments you will broaden your audiance.

This is good. You can have different sections in your blog (if such configuration possible) and have different things blogged about, but in big picture its still will be somewhat related. Good way to attract people and potential customers.

Yes, I know not everyone will interested in Golf or Scuba.

No, but a lot of people will and acticles can be about the area too. Why not to blog about what you like in your area and what people can do in spare time - will be really nice for those that relocating to the area and are not familiar with it. Share your experiences with local businesses, stores, attractions everything related to the area... may be som events etc. Of cource it would be much better to have it separately from real estate new, but still in the same blog.

I never thought about it but I would welcome any other posts on my blog.

Maybe we can start a sticky "Blog posts welcome" thread for those who would like that. I know many who don't like posts on their blogs from others. I do think that blog comments help the blog owner as long as the comments are at least a few sentences and don't contain a bunch of OBLs.

Originally Posted by RealEstate ABC

Blogs just sit there. A bunch of stuff on a page. If you remember, that's what web sites used to be like in the olden days. One long page of stuff.

Thats a fair opinion but here's why I blog (and it's not realestate)

• quick way of getting small bits of information online
• quick way of driving traffic and IBLs to sites I appreciate. A good example here is my wowexe.exe post which refers onto a very helpful article. I get alot of search engine clicks for this. I'm not paying for bandwidth so I'm not fussed if they don't stick around.
• if someone has annoyed me then it ensures that others will know too. A prime example is my NBO post warning people of active pro forma scammers. They've already been convicted but they continue to operate. The authorities have been made aware.

The core of my site doesn't use a CMS so the blog gives me a subset of that functionality which makes posting quicker and easier.

I've added a few of the blogs from this thread into my online aggregator/directory thingy under real estate. It might give you some inbound links and it helps me keep track of you all.

Let me know if you want to be added or removed.

Hey SarahK,

Thank you for the page you made for me, I noticed some typo's you might want to check out.

Real Estate
Arizona Real Estate News
This Blog is to keep my current, past and potential clients apprised of the real estate market conditions and news in Central Arizona, U.S.A. Though we will feature news from the entire state of Arizona... Special emphasis will be placed on the city's we specialize in selling homes in: Carefree, Cave Creek, Phoenix's Central Corridor, North Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Pinnacle Peak, Rio Verde Foothills and Scottsdale Arizona. Enjoy! AZ real estate news.

Not sure how those got pulled in automatically.

Just FYI... thanks again!

Originally Posted by Phoenix Realtor

Thank you for the page you made for me, I noticed some typo's you might want to check out.

I need to check the code. The ' is in your xml feed (as they should be) but I'm not handling them properly.

Sarah