To blog or not to blog? That is the question.

First, assume I have something worthwhile to say and maybe five or six other characters that I think are worth listening to. Then everyone else can comment on their posts, if they want to.

I could just create a web site, of course. It could even be an interactive web site. It could be a blog using an established blog program. If so, which one to use? It seems to be getting a little crowded in the blog-o-sphere right now. All blogs sort of look the same. I haven't yet been convinced that blogs are any kind of SEO boon. Does someone have input on that? I haven't been convinced on how important RSS capabilities are, though I understand that will all change with IE7, perhaps.

How about a logical rational discussion on the value of blogs and, if valuable, which programs are best?

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Terry Light - Professional Contrarian
Office Phone - (949) 305-7995
RealEstateBytes.com
Real Estate Encyclopedia
Author for RealEstate ABC (Creator, too)

which one to use?

Wordpress.

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I agree about Wordpress. On the blog that is incorporated into my site it allows me to add news whenever I want which adds content pages to my site and shows that I have an interest & knowledge about my area besides just the real estate aspect of it. The se's pick up on some of the articles pretty quickly. My blog ranks for some keyword searches along with my site.

However, I'm not sure about my stand-alone blog. I really don't know if it gives value & I'm thinking maybe it doesn't (at least to the site it's associated with). I'm linking to my blog from my site and then there's a link back from the blog to my site so it's not like it's a one-way link to either. However, this blog was a regular website at one point before I switched it over and it also has some top serps which I would lose if I gave up this domain to have the blog incorporated into my website. So I guess it's going to remain on its own.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

I'm a little late to the blogging scene myself, only creating one two weeks ago. I played around with Nucleus and Wordpress and stuck with Wordpress. So far, I like blogging a lot. It's easy to update and add content & images, compared to editing/creating pages in Dreamweaver and then FTPing the files.

A couple of things I've observed with blogging. First, I noticed it got indexed fairly quickly and I've gotten hits from user searches in Google and Yahoo. Second, other bloggers have found out about my site (I assume from feeds, etc) and have linked to my blog. In looking at referrers, two other Seattle real estate blogs have brought well over 100 people to my site in less than 3 days. Basically, in just two weeks, my blog appears to be more accessible than my website and have reached more people.

I also like the fact that people are subscribing to my feeds. It means they'll know whenever I add new content and may continue to visit the blog, which I see that as a big benefit over my website. But, it's only two weeks old and time will tell if it generates business.

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Experience Seattle Real Estate and learn more about Seattle Condos and Lofts.

First, I noticed it got indexed fairly quickly and I've gotten hits from user searches in Google

This plugin seems to be effective

http://www.arnebrachhold.de/2005/06/...rator-v2-final

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I love using wordpress. I haven't tried other blog software and I don't really want to. Wordpress is awesome

i use blogger right now... i gonna try wordpress

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Real Estate Listings - Find Real Estate Listing, Homes for Sale and Commercial Real Estates in Australia for FREE!
Real Estate Blog | Classifieds Article

I've tried blogger... I use WordPress exclusively now. Being open source, I say WP is hard to beat. There are so many developers out there continually improving it and creating useful plug-ins for just about anything you would need...

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---cK

CK Chung is an independent SEO consultant who provides premium Holistic SEO services, including services specific to Real Estate SEO. You can find his alter-ego, Kid Disco, spouting off on his SEO blog at SEOdisco.

I hear that Google owns Blogger. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to this? I started with Blogger in November and am getting over 50 blog hits a day and 30 referrals a week to my site.

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Sam Chapman
Austin, Texas
Austin Homes |Lake Travis Real Estate |Austin Luxury Homes

Sam;

In short-no advantage.

HomeSurfer;

My vote is for WP by a landslide. The advantages:

1) Great plugins that make it wasy to add what you need.

2) Open Source--FREE to use even hostede on your own server (better for SEO)

3) On one site I am doing with my son, I am going to use it as a CMS so that he can easily add updates since he hasn't picked up coding yet and lacks the patience. It's not quite as strong there, but still great.

4) Doing the "blogging thing" if finally starting to grow on me as a way of building links. (Mind you since I do a brokerage site for over 100 agents in the real estate business, I won't be adding a blog there...)

Cheers

Eric

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Eric Blackwell
Technologist, SEO Specialist and Consultant

Louisville Real Estate My Home Real Estate Site

Search Engine Marketing, Coaching & Custom WP Blogs Learn how to get the MOST out of your already awesome REW site.

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