By Rich Bowden
By now you probably
know the advantages of having a blog for your real estate business
but very few people know how to create a real estate blog. The good
news is that creating a a real estate blog is very easy. There are
many different blogging platforms out there (some free!) including
Google's Blogger. I recommend creating a blog using the WordPress
platform. Here's why:
- WordPress blogs are easy to use
- Typically WordPress blogs are cheaper to build
- WordPress is the most popular platform which means there are more themes and plugins to integrate with your blog
- WordPress SEO tools are easy to use and perform great
One of the first steps
is to purchase a domain name for your new real estate blog. If you
already have a website, I'd suggest using a version of that (e.g. -
realestatecompanyname.com so use blog.realestatecompanyname.com for
your blog). Otherwise choose a blog domain name that is
representative of how you want to be found in search engines.
Once you've decided to
create a WordPress blog, you'll need to decide where to host your
real estate blog. Wordpress.com offers free hosting and software.
However you'll be severely limited with designs, themes and
functionality. I strongly recommend finding a hosting company that
offers specialized hosting like BlueHost, Weebly or DreamHost. There
are many others to choose from as well. These companies offer
hosting and a wide variety of themes, designs and functionality.
Best of all, it's so simple to use that you should be able to create
your new blog in less than a half-hour. Step-by-step instructions
vary depending on which hosting company you select so we won't touch
on those directions here.
Earlier I mentioned a
wider variety of plugins for your WordPress real estate blog. One of
the most important plugins for a real estate blog is the ability to
allow consumers to search for listings in your local MLS. There are
several companies that offer IDX WordPress plugins.
Also make sure your
real estate blog has calls to action (contact forms and other ways
for potential clients to reach you) along with the ability to share
your blog posts on other forms of social media.
We'll talk about the
various ways to promote your real estate blog and what to write about
in a separate article.
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