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Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

RealTown Report

Blog by Frances Flynn Thorsen, e-PRO, SRS

Tucson, Arizona

RealTown Report offers insight on news, views, and events surrounding the real estate community.

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Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

Posted at RealTown Report by Frances Flynn Thorsen, e-PRO, SRS

Jan. 25, 2008

Categorized in: Blogs

Tagged with: realtown blogs

... when they can get all of this for FREE at RealTown Blogs?

COMPLETE CUSTOMIZATION AVAILABLE (with knowledge of HTML)
Good selection of templates
Easy to use and manage
Quick setup
Wide range of CHOICES!
Built-in Search Engine Optimization at RealTown web portal
Comment moderation choices
Special comment review section
Privacy settings
Wide range of easy-to-use text formatting editor that toggles seamlessly back and forth between HTML and WYSIWYG modes.
Multiple “Sticky” Settings
Design Landing Pages with Category Sticky Tool
Built-In Ping Service
Multiple-Author feature
Post-Date Entries
Save Draft Entries
Comments accommodate links, photos
Featured Blog posts appear on home page of RealTown.com
Non ‘Featured Blogs’ appear on RealTown.com/Blogs when you post a new entry (getting eyes viewing your blog)
Creative use of categories is central for an organized look
Post via e-mail
Create teasers (helps with SEO)
RSS Feeds (Another article here.)
Blog links your RealTown Profile which is also SEO Friendly and fully featured with social networking functionality
Mailing list to alert readers of new entries
Lots of Entry Default settings that can be altered on a per entry basis
50MB File upload (jpeg, jpg, gif, bmp, png, mp3, wav, mov, avi, mpg, pdf, ico, wmv)
Entry Editor allows for code (maps, videos etc)
Ability to subscribe to other RealTown blogs and receive notifications when new posts are made
Visitor Statistics
Support (most free blogs don’t offer more than FAQ’s—you can’t contact anyone!)

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User Comments

1. RE: Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

Written by: Jim Duncan

Jan. 25, 2008

Not to start a scrap, but you get all of this with Wordpress or Wordpress.com blogs.

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2. RE: Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

Written by: Hector Virgen

Jan. 26, 2008

You're right, Jim, Wordpress offers most (if not all) of the features outlined here. However, Wordpress also has some strict requirements:

1) You have to provide the hosting yourself, which requires a web server running PHP and MySQL. The "5-minute install" requires setting up a MySQL user account, setting directory permissions (for Linux-based servers), and configuring your web server for mod_rewrite if you want search-engine friendly URLs. This really isn't too hard if you're a full-time web developer...

2) You have to build your own SEO value. All blogs on RealTown inherit the SEO value of RealTown.com.

3) You have to create your own member base. All blogs on RealTown have access to the same 70,000+ members, and all new entries are featured on the Blogs tab of RealTown.

The other Wordpress alternative is to let Wordpress.com host your blog for you, but as a professional I wouldn't want Wordpress.com on my business card.

But I think what it really comes down to is the community. RealTown is powered by real estate professionals for real estate professionals and their clients.

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3. RE: Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

Written by: Jim Duncan

Jan. 26, 2008

1) Any number of webhosts allow the "5 minute install" - on mine, in 3 clicks (if I remember) I had my blog up and running. I'd say that very few people actually host their WP blogs on their own server at home. Wordpress.com is even more simple, and you can mask your domain so that people don't see the "wordpress.com"

2) I'm not sure how beneficial this is - there aren't that many links to realtown in google. http://www.google.com/search?aq=f&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=1EF&q=link%3Awww.realtown.com&btnG=Search (tried to add a link, but it wouldn't take) . I see this as beneficial to Realtown, but don't see the inherent benefit to the blogger.

3) A member base of 70k? How many of those are consumers?

4) Is there data portability? Can members take their content with them to another platform? Should they decide to go to typepad, wordpress, moveable type, etc - would they lose their content, or can they take it with them?

I think which blog platform you use depends on what your goals are.

Don't get me wrong - I see the value in RT for some; I don't have a dog in this fight, nor do I really care, but i do think your arguments smack of scare-tactics designed to minimize other blogging platforms' value.

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4. RE: Why Would A Real Estate Agent PAY for a Blog?

Written by: Hector Virgen

Jan. 26, 2008

Quoting Jim Duncan:

Most web hosts have PHP and MySQL, and most of them also have mod_rewrite already installed. But web hosting isn't free, which is why I pointed out the DIY requirements above.

I didn't intend to scare others away from Wordpress or other blogging platforms. I was just sharing my experience of installing Wordpress on my personal web hosting account. I'm sure a Wordpress.com blog (hosted by them) has a much simpler install than the downloadable php source code.

Unfortunately, RealTown Blogs does not yet offer import/export features.

But I think Fran's intention was to inform others of a free easy-to-use option for a blogging platform that meets all the requirements a real estate professional should need.

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