Blogs do's , don'ts & most effective

[ChicagoDrew]

ok so for those of us that are or will be starting blogs. What are some of the do's and don'ts?

How long should you wait to add a new blog thread? Should you keep an old thread in the top 3 so it is on you home page if it is a good "bait blog"? How do you get ghost writers from vendors that you use and want to use as apposed to another vendor that likes to write but you don't like or want to use their service? Does a blog on the home page have more weight than on that is archived? Does a blog have more juice if it allows others to have links to their site or the site being blogged about?

I'm sure I will come up with more the more I delve into this.

[Mert]

Absolutely no limits, write away my friend write away.

[kensmith]

Drew the most important thing is to write at a pace that you can keep up. If you have long gaps between posts you will loose readers and have to start over to get them back. Start with a post per week and see if you can keep it up. If you have time to write 2 posts in a week, post one and save the other as a backup for a week that you are busy.

Other than that I don't ahve enough experience with blogs to give much advice. Best of luck and share with everyone if you learn anything useful elsewhere.

[ChicagoDrew]

Hey Ken,

Thanks for the info. I have already made a list of topics and did some outlines to get ready for the blogging. The idea of making one and saving is defiantly something I will do. Also going to try to mix it up with different real estate topics and topics that involve the whole buying, selling and investing process.

I have been looking into blogging strategies or website strategies and it seems that articles are also something that attracts people similar to blogs. Was thinking of having articles and then ties it into a blog entry or vice versa. But keep it all on my site is I believe the main ingredient. I actually found a site that swamps articles.

[kensmith]

I don't like to send people away from my site if it can be avoided. This is something that I plan on making a few changes on my site over the next few months (less ways to leave my site). So having the article on your site would be the way I would go, but that is just my opinion.

[ChicagoDrew]

Oh yea definitely that is the only way to go. I was thinking of having articles too, but the only draw back I can think of is that if in the article they had a link or a web address. Which is why I would read through all of it, like anything else that would be on the site. Just was thinking that articles would be a nice tie in with the blog. But only if it brings in more traffic to get more clients and not allow them to leave to another site.

[Jim Messenger]

Originally Posted by ChicagoDrew I actually found a site that swamps articles.

Just watch out for those alligators in the article swamps.

[Elise Wright]

I have to respectfully disagree with Mert. There absolutely should be limits to the content you post on your site.

I would suggest staying away from hot topics such as abortion, capital punishment, and the war in Iraq. That is unless you make the conscious decision to immediately alienate 50% of your audience (which for some is a strong marketing technique). Highly contested topics have little or nothing to do with your site, and risking cutting down your reader base is just too risky.

The more frequent you can post a blog, the better. Ken was right on the money when he suggested keeping a consistent pace because you absolutely must keep your readers' attention when you are starting out. Once you develop a following, you have more freedom to do what you want.

As far as keeping an old thread on your homepage... don't worry about it. People are going to link to the permalink for your article. So although the article will migrate off of your homepage, the address will remain the same.

Coming up with content for your blogs can be a challenge. We are currently working day and night to compile a list of content ideas for our readers. We will not disappoint.

-Elise

[ChicagoDrew]

I haven't really checked them out, but what should I look for to see if it is a scam or detrimental.

[ChicagoDrew]

Yea, I am only going to have real estate related info on the blogs. It is like here in Chicago you can mention or cheer for the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks and even the Fire with out repercussions, but if you mention Cubs or sox you can pretty much kiss almost half your potential clients good bye.