As I was pondering how to start this ongoing series to help realtors market themselves online, I thought to myself,
What better way to start this Web Marketing series than to discuss how realtors and agents can market themselves without having their own website?
The solution: create a website out of a blog.
That being said, the first part of this series will deal with effectively marketing a blog, starting from the beginning:
Step 1: Picking A Blog Solution That is Right For You
There are many blog solutions freely available that you can use to start your web presence. Probably the top 3 freely available blog solutions are (in no particular order):
- Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start
- WordPress: http://www.wordpress.com/
- MovableType: http://www.movabletype.org/
To figure out which solution is best for you, you will just have to go to each of these sites and figure out which features and options are most important to you.
My Personal Recommendation:
When it comes to choosing a blog solution, I recommend WordPress. I have been using their platform for years and it is backed by a great community with new gadgets and functions developed daily to make your site better for the end user. Ideally, you will download Wordpress and install it on your own hosting service for maximum customization and effectiveness.
Step 2: Set Up Your Blog On a Hosting Service
While you do have the option of setting up your blog right through WordPress or Blogger, you are really better off setting it up on your own hosing plan.
Why?
Well for starters, why have your website as http://www.wordpress.com/yourname when you can have it as http://www.yourname.com? It’s much more personalized and professional using the latter method (especially when you are going to market it). It also gives you the ability of more customization.
Where can I get one of these ‘Hosting Plans’?
If you don’t have your own hosting service, I would recommend 1and1. With domain names (ie: www.yourname.com) as low as $6.99 per year and hosting plans as low as $3.99 per month, you can have your personal site up and running for very little cost. I personally use them for some of my sites and have not had many problems with them whatsoever.
The Problem:
Installing your own blogging platform on your own server requires some technical experience. To help you out, here are some great tutorials on how to easily install WordPress on your own server.
Install and Download Video Tutorial
WordPress For Beginners Tutorial Series
Fortunately, there is also Customer Support. With 1and1, it may take them 24-48 hours to get back to you about setting up your own blog but hey, with any luck, you may actually be able to get them to set it up for you (I’m not making any promises, though).
In the next installment, I’ll start talking about the next steps you can take once your blog is up and running. If you ever want to see the next installments in advance, you can find them at my (other) blog: Codename: Real Estate.
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