Blogging For Business Networking Class - Week 1
Week 1 of our Blogging For Business Networking Class was a success! We had a great turnout of interested bloggers and newbies looking to learn more. We had Keller Williams agents, Coldwell Banker agents, RE/MAX agents and agents from some of the independent offices around. We had people from several other industries as well.
Week 1 we focused on where to start with blogging. I went over the 3 most popular places to blog and focused on my favorite - ActiveRain. ActiveRain is a great place to blog for people in the real estate industry because it is simple, established and Google loves them. I've been blogging on ActiveRain since January 2007 and I can't say enough good about my experiences here in the Rain.
I've tried WordPress and Blogger, but nothing keeps me coming back for more like ActiveRain. Whether you're simple like me where you'll find the WYSIWYG very helpful in writing your blog posts or you're advanced and can understand how to write and customize your blogs in HTML, AR is for you.
Yesterday we went over the basic necessities for any blog:
-
Catchy Title - Something that best describes what you're blogging about
-
Content - Good content with key words and phrases spread throughout
-
Tags - Keywords or search phrases that will help your blog be found by people searching on Google
-
Links - You want to have links that will bring readers to your website or Facebook fan page so they can engage with you further
We also talked about what to put into your ActiveRain Profile:
-
Detailed biography with your work experience
-
All Contact Info - Email, Websites, Phone, Office Address, Twitter and Facebook pages
-
Links and/or pictures of your listings or sold properties
-
Specialties & Designations
-
Client Testimonials
Some Great Topics To Start Blogging About:
Market Stats
Home Staging
Short Sales
Foreclosure Market
New Construction
Community Events/Local Businesses
I'm very proud of the class participants that are already taking the first steps into developing their blogs. I look forward to working with you as you progress and look forward to all of us helping each other grow.
Next week's class is Becoming a Rainmaker & How to Shoot Up the Search Engines.
Please join us for the next 5 weeks in Sturbridge. We are meeting from 9AM-10AM Tuesday mornings at 135 Main Street. Hope to see you there!
Kathleen Cooper Best Option *** RE/MAX Professional Associates *** LICENSED IN MA!
 |
THIS BLOG WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: YOUR Social Media Girl Phone: 508-444-2673 |
Thank You for the information Kathleen, you have to keep learning to stay ahead in this game.
That's so true! That's a major part of me doing these classes. Keeps me learning and researching and on top of my game! =)
Sincerely,
Kathleen
Great job Kathleen! I've been teaching a blogging class to members of my office, and even though I'm not a pro, it's nice to see I'm ahead of the curve when it comes to blogging!
The class was great! You did a fine job Katheen; even taught me a few tips on navigating the system I didn't know!
I'm looking forward to next weeks class!
I'd say you're a pro Craig! I would love to take your class! It was a lot of fun and we had a good turnout yesterday from all kinds of people. Looking forward to next week.
Thanks Mom! You're my #1 fan! =)
Sincerely,
Kathleen
I am on fire.....Thanks for putting it under me...
Jen
good job Kathleen...it's fun to share....and KW does that well !
Kathleen,
This is great content - I really wish I was close enough to come in person.... a couple of questions - when you're working on the keywords, are you using someplace on the web to check the "usefulness" or "search-likelyhood" of the words? Do you START with the key words that you'll use and then put them into the text or vice versa?
Great introduction!
Hi Debbie,
I usually don't search for the keywords online. I just write about a lot of local stuff and real estate, of course! =) I start with a topic and then determine what my keywords are from there. It's much easier for me. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of something and think "HEY! THAT WOULD BE A GOOD BLOG TOPIC!" You could do it both ways though, that's just how I've always been able to blog.
Sincerely,
Kathleen
Hi, I was wondering just where the tags come into play. I looked at the underlying html for both this page and the AR page for week 4 and see only that the meta description contains most of the first paragraph and there are no apparent tags or keywords.
Robert Boyer
WJB Home Loan
Investment Property Search
San Diego Real Estate Homes for Sale
Hi Robert,
The tags are used to group similar posts together so they are easily searchable when going back. I try to make a theme now with my tags so I can find like posts when I want to go back and refer to one for a client or reader.
Hope that helps!
Sincerely,
Kathleen