Blogging for Success!

What is all this talk about blogs, AKA Web logs?

You may have heard through a number of media sources about 'blogging' or 'blogs'.  And like many, you may not be familiar with this huge trend in Web communication.  Blogs really started out as streams of consciousness or online journals used for personal topics such as hobbies or poetry, etc.  But many saw quickly the potential for making blogs an additional media outlet.  Since then, many have used blogs to get news and other information out to the public.

Of course, real estate professionals have begun to use blogs to update the public on market conditions and local news, and also to drive traffic to their real estate Websites.  Matt Pellerin of Phoenix Real Estate has developed a blog that has become quite a useful business tool.

This week Matt shares his thoughts and success on his Arizona Real Estate News blog.

"My blog, Arizona Real Estate News has been a tremendous traffic generator. At first I was just using it to keep my clients up to date on the scene here in the Greater Phoenix real estate market. But, now that it is number one on MSN and starting to place on other search engines, it is actually sending traffic to my other three Websites, mainly my Phoenix Real Estate Advanced Access site.

I really wasn't watching the stats on the blog until a few clients starting thanking me for it. They would say things like "Your news blog is really informative" or "We chose you because of all the knowledge you share on your real estate news site, it made us feel that you are the Central Arizona real estate expert that we are looking for" and more. Once I started hearing these types of comments, I started looking at the blog stats and the stats on my Advanced Access site. Sure enough, traffic was actually coming from the real estate news blog. AND, they were staying for a while and surfing through quite a few pages.

So if you ask me if having a blog is worth it, I'll answer quickly with a big YES! But, I must caution you that it can be very time consuming; it requires a commitment. I add one to three articles to mine every weekday, none on the weekends. Once people get used to using the real estate news blog on a regular basis, they are going to expect to see it updated often, or at very least on a regular basis. So, don't even get started if you can not commit to a regular schedule of updating it. Even if you only add articles once a week, you'll need to stick with that pattern in order to not disappoint your eventual audience.

While I started mine at Blogger.com (because it's free), I eventually switched everything over to my own hosting. I still log in to Blogger.com to publish articles, but they are then uploaded to my host. There are many additional options once you pay for your own hosting (such as design changes, etc). So, evaluate them carefully. If it's too complicated, you'll never use it. If it's too darn ugly, you most likely won't use it and so on. The best application is the one you use. I am using Word Press on this Phoenix Arizona Real Estate blog of mine. Note the beauty of the template? Well, I think it's better looking than my main blog. But it is just another free blog (like Blogger.com) that I picked up from one of the real estate forums of which I am a member."

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Advanced Access receives many inquiries about additional things that can be done to generate web traffic.  While we plan to outline several options over the next year, getting started on a blog now is a great idea.  If you need help with how to get your blog started, visit one of the sites Matt mentioned, or visit our Advanced Access Forums and post to get some assistance from some of our other real estate professionals who are blogging for success.

.INFO Domain Name Confusion?

Within the last year, our domain name registrar has run promotions for various domain names. One of which was a promotion to buy a .COM name and get the .INFO name for free for one year. Many people who used our registration services left the box next to the .INFO name checked, taking advantage of the promotion, thus aquiring two names for the price of one.

We have seen many inquires lately that lead us to believe that many did not realize they were in possesion of an additional domain name. When you get a renewal notice for a .INFO name when your website is at a .COM, check to be sure you aren't using it in any capacity. If not, and you do not wish to retain the .INFO name, simply do not renew it. You will get the automatic emails reminding you to renew the .INFO name; those notices can be disregarded. However, if your .INFO name was aquired as a result of this promotion, then your actual domain name (your .COM) is also up for renewal as well. It is important that you renew your .COM name if you have not already extended the registration in order to retain ownership of that name.

Should you have questions regarding this, please feel free to contact our Customer Support Team at Support@AdvancedAccess.com or 866-518-1571.

Domain Name News!

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E-Mail Signatures

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Intellicards v3.0

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