Real Estate Blogs—Where Do I Start?

We are getting more and more questions about blogs and how they impact real estate and, in particular, brokers and agents. Suffice to say that blogging has matured significantly in the past year and that ignorance of the power behind publishing on the Internet, could be as costly as thinking you didn't need a website a few years ago.

We will begin this series with a look at the basics and then add some meat to the discussions as the weeks go on. We will skip the history part, but do look for the links in this article as hints where to go to find the info you need.

There are a plethora of companies dedicated to helping you get your blog online and we will just mention two of the more notables here—Blogger the FREE kind and TypePad by Six Apart, the blog software Coach's Compass is using. Check out these vendors and others to get a feel for what is out there.

The next thing you will need is a News Reader. When I first looked at blogs I will tell you this—I was skeptical. When I learned about the news reader, well, that changed everything. From this blogger's perspective, the reader is the engine that makes publishing as often as possible, a reality. Here's a few sources for news readers to get you started.

• PC World has a list of readers for PC users.
• For MAC users the leaders is NetNewsWire

Now before you go out and get your first blog set up and install your news reader and subscribe to a few RSS feeds... I will answer the one question that most of you will want anwsered before you take the plunge—WHY!

The answer is you MUST! If for no other reason than to understand what this medium has to offer and whether or not you can benefit as a REALTOR or Broker. If you believe communicating with your customers is important, you will understand how blogging will contribute to your success. It is a journal, it is a publishing tool and it is a news aggregating resource. Blogging is the next wave in publishing.

Next week... a few real estate blogs and links to subscribe to. Now off to get your new toys!

by Glenn Davies