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Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

By Bill Gassett

Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Executive Realty 91362

March 07, 2010 10:45 PM

I just started a new Real Estate blog on the Wordpress platform and would like to invite everyone to come drop by and take a look!

It would mean a lot to me if you could check out the new site and leave a comment on one of the posts I have written!

If you are not familiar with the Wordpress platform I would urge you to check it out. The customization of a Wordpress blog is just incredible.

There are all types or plugins and customized widgets that you can add to the site in order to give your blog a customized look and feel.

The name of my Real Estate blog is Massachusetts Real Estate News. The site will have a wide variety of topics surrounding general Real Estate, financing, Massachusetts laws, Short sales and other Real Estate news.

There are many "themes" within a Wordpress blog. The theme I have chosen is called Thesis. The reason for my choice was simple, as it is the best platform bar none for SEO!

Thesis boasts the strongest SEO of any theme on the market today due to its expertly-coded HTML + CSS + PHP framework. Thesis also contains additional options that will allow you to fine-tune all the pages of your blog. The beauty of Thesis is that you don't need to worry about onsite SEO as everything is set up perfectly for you. Adding great content will do the trick to be found online!

My blog has only been up and running for a few weeks and already some of my posts are in the 1st couple of results for the topics I have written about. I have no doubt that within a few months this new blog will be at the top of Googles search results for many of the terms I want to rank for locally.

If you are interested the charge for a Wordpress Thesis Blog is a reasonable $87 for the year. For me this was an absolute no brainer!

We all know the beauty of Active Rain and having our content be found. The only draw back of Active Rain is we do not own the site. One day you could wake up and find out that the Active Rain you know does not exist anymore. There is always the possibility it could be sold for the big bucks! Having your own blog makes a lot of sense for so many reasons!

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Dona Reynolds

Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Stein Summers - Saint Joseph, MO

St. Joseph MO

Bill, The new wordpress blog is great as with your A/R blog...Very Well done!

Mar 12, 2010 03:37 PM

Kevin Vitali

EXIT Realty Beatrice Associates - Middleton, MA

Helping Massachusetts Home Buyers and Home Sellers

I have already checked it out. Word press is the best. Bill is it easy to set up? That was my only concern...

Mar 13, 2010 12:04 AM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Kevin like anything else it is a little difficult at 1st but once your learn it you will be fine.

Mar 13, 2010 01:46 AM

Christine Donovan

Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA

Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Bill,

I set up my own WordPress blog/site a few months ago and am loving it though I still tend to blog mostly on AR.

Mar 13, 2010 07:46 AM

Missy Caulk

Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI

Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Bill, can we say better late than never.

Looks great and so glad you got going on your outside blog.

Did you set it up yourself?

Mar 13, 2010 08:41 AM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Missy - - LOL yes this has been a long time coming:) I did set it up myself. I just need to get a banner now.

Mar 13, 2010 08:44 AM

Terrie Leighton

Ferrari-Lund Real Estate - Reno, NV

Reno Real Estate Agent ~ Selling Homes in Reno

I will check it out Bill! Thanks for the advice on why we should be setting up our own wordpress blog as well. I do have a question for you though. I know that several other AR members have outside word press blogs as well. Why do they/you not post the same blog on both AR and your outside blog? More exposure about one subject, isn't it better? And isn't it easier to write one blog and post it in more places?

Thanks Bill.

Mar 14, 2010 09:35 AM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Sure Terrie there is no reason why you can't do that. I have posted a couple of articles that I have posted here on Active Rain. I have also posted some that are not because the blog is new and I want to make sure there is some originality in the eyes of search engines. I would have no problem continuing to do both.

Mar 14, 2010 09:51 AM

Terrie Leighton

Ferrari-Lund Real Estate - Reno, NV

Reno Real Estate Agent ~ Selling Homes in Reno

OK, I just left you a really great comment on your "price per square foot" blog and I got the "500 ` Internal Server error" ....grrrr.

So I wll go back later and try again. I do really really like the lay out of your Massachusetts Real Estate News blog but I was wondering, I have not looked yet, but did you post the "price per square foot" blog here on AR? Why or Why not???

I did read your article from FaceBook earlier Bill and was wondering the same thing, I just forget to email you!

Thanks again Bill!

Mar 14, 2010 09:51 AM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

That is strange. I have no idea what that error is. I have not posted that article on AR but it is actually one that I was thinking of posting here. I may just do that tomorrow!

Mar 14, 2010 09:54 AM

Sheldon Neal

Bergen County, NJ - RE/MAX Real Estate Limited - Maywood, NJ

That British Agent Bergen County NJ

Great advice and your new blog looks great ! Thanks for the push to get over there :o)

Mar 15, 2010 01:32 PM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks Sheldon much appreciated! I am having a lot of fun with it.

Mar 15, 2010 01:45 PM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Thanks Sheldon much appreciated! I am having a lot of fun with it.

Mar 15, 2010 01:46 PM

Simon Westfall-Kwong

LuxeLife Group of eXp Realty - Chatham, NJ

The LuxeLife Group of eXp

Bill, this is very timely! I have a blogger and activerain blog and do not like blogger. I had somehow decided that WP was going to be the platform of choice and your post has confirmed that and taken it a few steps further! Thank you!!! You're awesome to share all this with us all!

Mar 18, 2010 12:46 PM

Elizabeth Bolton

RE/MAX Destiny Real Estate Cambridge, MA - Cambridge, MA

Cambridge MA Realtor

Hi Bill ~ I know the Thesis theme has become very popular but I hadn't heard about its SEO bennies. I love Wordpress' SEO - it's amazing. Off to check out your blog.

Liz

Mar 20, 2010 02:56 PM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Patrizia & Liz - I would highly recommend Thesis. It rocks for SEO.

Mar 20, 2010 11:19 PM

Marcie Sandalow

Marcie Sandalow, Compass 301.758.4894 - Bethesda, MD

Bethesda Chevy Chase DC real estate

Hi Bill-

Got a chance to look at your new WordPress blog today. Looks great. Two things I noticed (and they may have been mentioned already?). 1. Perhaps my screen is too small, but I have to scroll to the right to see your last column. And, 2. the type from your Facebook "box" downward is cutting off the text (Remax shows as ReMa, and a few other letters are cut off below that). Again, could just be my computer? Content looks great. Pictures are clear. Nice job.

Mar 23, 2010 09:27 AM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Hi Marcie - Yes for a smaller screen you do need to scroll across. I have a larger screen so I see everything. I am curious the size of your screen? Thanks for visiting my blog:)

Mar 23, 2010 09:31 AM

Melinda (Mel) Peterson

Grants Pass, OR - Bend, OR

The Savvy Broker - ABR, CRS

Wow, just the info I have been looking for Bill. Thanks for the golden nugget of info. Are you exporting your AR posts to your MassRealEstateNews site? Or just the opposite. Seems like more work to maintain both. Would love to know how you are handling that. Do you also maintain an outside blog on AR?

Apr 19, 2010 04:43 PM

Bill Gassett

RE/MAX Executive Realty - Hopkinton, MA

Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate

Melinda - Most of the content that I have in the Wordpress site does not appear here. I have on occasion posted something in both places. I do have an outside blog on AR as well. The work is worth it to me as I get a lot of business from my blogs and website.

Apr 19, 2010 11:38 PM