As I share my passion for blogging with others, I've realized that so many people are just becoming aware of blogs and curious about how to really participate. So this post is all about the how and why of COMMENTS on blogs. The comment feature of a blog is one of the primary differences between a website and a blog. A blog is designed to be conversational - invite commentary, questions, two-way or multiple conversations. Another reason to comment on blogs is you are able to create a link that can take a reader to your website or blog. Linking... Read more →

What an amazing experience Bloggers Connect and Real Connect 2007 in San Francisco was! I posted my 25 Top Tips & Best Ideas About Blogging on my Active Rain Blog. I invite you to check out what I gleaned as the best comments from the panelists and experts at Connect. Here are key highlights from Real Connect 2007 for me: The conference answered the questions: What is Web 2.0, social networking and media, and blogging? Why do we need it and how to integrate it into our companies and business models. The event was also about networking and meeting peers,... Read more →

I'm attending the Real Estate Connect and Bloggers Connect in San Francisco and will be posting reports, updates and the best tips and ideas I gather from the various sessions. The first social networking session was held last night at the Thirsty Bear - "Beer with Bloggers". The place was jam-packed with bloggers and the beer was flowing. I met several interesting people and was jazzed to have a great conversation with my Project Blogger pick: Tisza Major- Posner of Route66Living. Project Blogger was an online blogging contest co-sponsored by Inman News and Active Rain where novice bloggers and blogging... Read more →

On June 12, I posted Reasons to Join the Active Rain Real Estate Network . At that time there were over 36,000 members (professionals from real estate, mortgage, title and related industries). As of today, there are now close to 40,000 members. In fact, a recent press release on Active Rain states: SEATTLE, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- ActiveRain, the world's largest social networking site for real estate professionals, marked its one-year anniversary today by surpassing 35,000 members and 120,000 posts, and projecting monthly double-digit growth over the next 12 months. For the full report: World's Largest Social Networking Site For... Read more →

I subscribe to and read over 30 blogs. My feed reader changes as I add new and intriguing blogs and delete those that I find have lost their edge, don't udpate often or simply don't interest me any longer. In reviewing why I subscribe to a blog (and why I delete it from my reader) I formulated this list of common features of the blogs I feel are good or great: Author's true voice, honesty, passion and personality shines through the posts The blog is upated frequently with well-written, quality, compelling and interesting content Author is transparent about who is... Read more →

Today's post is about the elements and features of a blog. We will be covering several of these topics later is the series including the blogging software I recommend - Wordpress, Typepad or Blogger. I use Typepad for this blog. Design Options Most of the blogging platforms have a variety of template designs and format options. After deciding on a theme, you’ll want to decide if you want the 1, 2 , or 3 column format. I prefer the 3 column format. So, let’s use my blog as the example to describe the various elements. Starting at the top, you... Read more →

Here are some considerations and questions to ponder before you launch in to the world of blogging. 1. Are you committed to posting on a regular basis? Weekly at a minimum - to several times per week? There are many, many abandoned blogs in the blogosphere. It's pointless to start a blog if you are not willing to commit the time and effort to keep it current. 2. Do you have something to say? to contribute? Do you enjoy writing? 3. Can you provide compelling, valuable content for readers? 4. Do you read other blogs? Are you familiar with who... Read more →

There are many good reasons to create and maintain a blog... these are my top 6: 1. Relatively easy and cost-effective web solution Don’t need to be a “techie” to create a blog Real time, fresh, relevant content Easy to maintain and post There are many free blog platforms Your time and commitment is the main resource needed 2. Create higher Search Engine Rankings Blog posts are coming up more and more frequently in search engines Again…fresh, relevant, keyword specific content is the key! Your blog can be an extension of your website – have a link to your primary... Read more →

There are a variety of Blog Search Engines to assist you in search of blogs on your favorite subjects. Two of my favorite sites are: Technorati and Google Blog Search. Search tip for Technorati: Type in the keyword(s) of what you are looking for in the search bar. Let's say you were looking for blogs about "Real Estate Coach". After you type in "real estate coach" in the search bar - you will be directed to recent posts that are "supposedly" relevant. Technorati defaults to "posts" with relevant keywords for your search. I recommend clicking on the "blogs" tab to... Read more →

The short answer...anyone and everyone! From the average citizen blogging about their daily life to celebrities to politicians to businesses (Fortune 500 companies to small business owners). Whether you want to blog about your hobbies, passions, city, neighborhood, rants or raves, or the Las Vegas Real Estate Market - the blog is the platform to find and share your unique voice, reach your target audience and interact with others. An early, popular blog is Dooce.com which chronicles the life and times of Heather Armstrong (formerly Hamilton). Heather made national headlines when she got fired from her job for blogging about... Read more →

The majority of blogs are text-based. You can make your blog more creative and interesting with the effective use of photos, graphics, audio and/or video content. Some cool tools to consider using for adding multi-media content to your blog: Flickr - for photo storing and sharing. Flickr has a built-in blog feature that allows me to upload a photo to my Typepad blog. You Tube - Upload and share your videos. Easily upload and embed video to your blog (currently works with Blogger, BlogSpot, WordPress, LiveJournal, and Piczo, Friendster) Audio Acrobat - I use this service to upload and store... Read more →

I just joined the Active Rain Real Estate Network and recommend it highly to anyone who is really wanting to connect with other real estate professionals locally and nationally. Some other reasons to join: Experience the power of social networking and Web 2.0 Learn about and experience blogging in a community of industry professionals Expand and promote your business and referral base Share your opinions, expertise and knowledge actively with others Get innovative, cutting-edge business and marketing ideas Some of the features at Active Rain: Create your profile highlighting your expertise, market areas, links to other sites/blogs Setup and maintain... Read more →

When you stop and think about it, blogging is just the next, logical level in the continuing evolution of the Internet. It's also what makes the Internet so powerful - the ability to instantly connect with others, obtain and share information. Before blogging became popular, communities took form in many other ways on the web: bulletin board systems, forums, usenet, newsgroups. The first true blogging communities were online diaries which became popular in the late 1990's with sites like Open Diary and Live Journal. People would comment on their daily lives, experiences, rants, raves, post poetry, comment on anything and... Read more →

Blog is short for "Web log" Here is the definition from Wikipedia: "A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. The term "blog" is derived from "Web log." "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its... Read more →

Today I am launching a series on How To Blog with an emphasis on blogging for the real estate professional. We are also planning a series of training sessions to cover this material in the near future at Prudential Americana Group. We will conduct the training live and also record a series of tutorials (audio and video) for posting to this blog and CareerRealty.com. Here's the outline: How to Blog Series 1. Blogs Part 1 – The Basics What is a Blog? The Blogosphere - History/Stats Types of Blogs Who is blogging? Why blog? To Do List before you join... Read more →

Are you a part of the blogosphere yet? Have you heard of Technorati? Wikipedia? Web 2.0? Social Media? Blogging? Have you claimed a blog? Found Your Unique Voice? Now is the time! Look for a series of posts in the coming weeks on getting started with blogging and understanding the basics of Web 2.0 and how it can impact your business. Until then, click on the Wikipedia links above to learn more and check out the latest full report on the State of the Blogoshpere and the Live Web from Technorati - The State of the Live Web, April 2007... Read more →

This article entitled, If You Blog It, Will Leads Follow? from RISMEdia is a good overview of why blogging has become a necessary tool to use for increasing your marketing presence, establishing your brand, building relationships with your client base and positioning yourself as a market expert. Some blog basics include being clear about the goal of your blog, committing to posting frequently and promoting your blog. Read more →