This document provides an overview of blogging for business purposes. It defines what a blog is, explains why businesses should blog, and provides tips for how to start and maintain a successful business blog. The key points are: 1) A blog is a type of website where posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, allowing readers to leave comments. Blogs can focus on a specific topic or range of topics and are more frequently updated than traditional websites. 2) Businesses should blog to promote their expertise, share knowledge, network with others, and improve search engine rankings to attract more buyers and clients. 3) To start a business blog, businesses can sign up for free platforms like WordPress or

1. Why Blog For Biz

2. INTRODUCTION
STACEY ALCORN
P3 Coaching
stacey@peakpandp.com
I blog on
Wordpress
Patch
And Have Experience Blogging on
RealEstateTomato , Active Rain, Blogger.com

3. COACHING, TRAINING, AND
MORE!

4. THANK YOU!

5. WE WILL DISCUSS
What is a Blog?
Why Blog?
How to write a blog.
Where do I submit my blog?
Marketing my blog
Blog Topics
Your Blog Plan

6. WHAT IS A BLOG?
"Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a
term used to describe web sites that maintain an
ongoing chronicle of information. A blog features diarytype commentary and links to articles on other Web
sites, usually presented as a list of entries in reverse
chronological order. Blogs range from the personal to
the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a
whole range of subjects.

7. MANY BLOGS
Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web
design, home staging, sports, or mobile technology.
Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all types of
other sites. And others are more like personal journals,
presenting the author's daily life and thoughts.

8. WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
A main content area with articles listed chronologically,
newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into
categories.
An archive of older articles.
A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a
"blogroll".
One or more "feeds" like RSS, Atom or RDF files.

9. WHAT IS A BLOG?

10. WHAT IS A BLOG?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NN2I1pWXjXI

11. WHAT IS A BLOG?
Sort of a website, but different.
Quick, easy to submit
“Posts” are read “newest first” to “oldest”
Readers can leave comments and “converse” with you
Can include text, pictures, videos, sound and slide
shows, widgets & gizmos.
Updated more frequently than websites
Indexed and captured by search engines quickly.

12. WHY BLOG?
Opportunity to learn & perfect your skills
You get to share your personality, business practices and
knowledge.
24/7 Exposure…. All year long
Network with other professionals
You become a search engine search result.
Buyers and Sellers will FIND YOU!
Gives you “credibility” and “authority status” on your
listing & buyer appointments.

13. COMMENTS
Want an interactive website? Wouldn't it be nice if the
readers of a website could leave comments, tips or
impressions about the site or a specific article? With blogs,
they can! Posting comments is one of the most exciting
features of blogs.
Most blogs have a method to allow visitors to leave
comments.

14. ARCHIVES
A blog is also a good way to keep track of articles on a site. A lot of
blogs feature an archive based on dates (like a monthly or yearly
archive). The front page of a blog may feature a calendar of dates
linked to daily archives. Archives can also be based on categories
featuring all the articles related to a specific category.
It does not stop there; you can also archive your posts by author or
alphabetically. The possibilities are endless. This ability to organize
and present articles in a composed fashion is much of what makes
blogging a popular personal publishing tool.
(from Wordpress Help)

15. SAMPLE BLOG SITES
Active Rain
Word Press

16. http://activerain.com/marieepisale

17. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

18. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

19. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

20. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

21. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

22. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

23. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

24. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

25. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

26. http://marieepisale.wordpress.com/

27. MORE MARKETING &
PROSPECTING
Ask yourself why clients might connect with you.
Knowledge
Personality
Your background, education & experience
Your business philosophy
Community Expert
Your market savvy
The Internet is ALWAYS OPEN

28. HOW TO START A BLOG
Start with these:
www.wordpress.com
www.Blogger.com
www.ActiveRaine.com

29. WORD PRESS
www.wordpress.com
Click on Sign Up Now
Choose User Name and Password
Blog will be www.username.wordpress.com, so
choose user name purposely. Best bet: use your
firstlastname as user name

30. ACTIVE RAIN
Click on hyperlink:
join # professionals on the world’s largest real estate network
Fill out form and
continue to follow
instructions

31. HINT:
Have your photo and bio ready ahead of time, so you
can just “copy & paste”
Save to your “thumb drive”
Create folder labeled “bio stuff for websites and blog
sites”
Write your bio, philosophy, about you, business
experience, areas of expertise, testimonial quotes from
your clients etc.

32. WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT? BLOG
TOPICS:
Read other blogs
- “google search” real estate blog (topic or no
topic)
- read www.activerain.com blogs
- read www.realestatetomato.com blogs
Get ideas from your clients or colleagues
Blog about what is important to you
Blog about what is timely in the market

33. MARKETING YOUR BLOG
Put your blog site everywhere
Flyers
Business cards
Website
Advertising
E-mail signatures
Mailings
Sign riders

34. MARKETING YOUR BLOG
Once you have content in your blog, its time to tell the world.
The challenge is – ‘How do you tell prospective readers that
your blog has what they are looking for?’ Social networking
sites like stumbleupon, orkut, twitter, facebook and a zillion
other websites are breeding grounds for finding prospective
readers. Building your network can be a time consuming,
never ending task, but it doesn’t end there, you need to make
the effort to make your network aware of your blog. The
benefits can only be exponential. Getting them to post
comments is a completely different ball game.

35. THE PLAN
Blogging and Social Media sites are the 'must do' in
real estate internet marketing.
To be part of this, you must have a Plan.
Plan Your Strategy:
•You need to make a commitment to consistently blog.
•Identify your mission statement and stick to it
•Determine what return you want from your blog, then
blog for those reasons.

36. NEXT STEPS AND OTHER THINGS
Post Articles:
Write as often as you can.
Schedule fixed time to write articles.
Start as many 'good idea drafts' as you can - this ensures a
reserve of good content.
Stay on subject (no one cares about the weather, or how
busy you've been).
Don't be wordy
Many short is way better than a few long.

37. SET CATEGORIES
Allows readers the ability to easily find content that
interests them:
Buyers
Sellers
By Community
Testimonials
Restaurant Reviews
Places to Take the Kids

38. MONITOR COMMENTS
I always set my blogs so that comments are not
automatically displayed to the world. I recommend
setting up an approval process so that you receive an
email when someone comments on your blog. You
simply click on the email and approve the comment.

39. POSTS VIA EMAIL

40. Tips to Success with a Blog
• Post often, at least 2 to 3 times a week.
• Keep your posts short and on topic. Blog
readers have short attention spans.
• Write with keyword rich content. Mention the
town, area and local market several times in
your post. The search engines will pick up
these keywords.

41. Tips to Success with a Blog
• Use hyperlinks that will give the reader
excellent resources: Official town websites,
your website, demographics, school
information.
• Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer and
write for them.
• Online consumers will not respond to posts that
are not relevant to anything or that are
obviously just to advertise you. Consumers
read blogs for information, so that’s what you
must give them.

42. Tips to Success with a Blog
• Use spell check. If you have a lot of spelling
errors, the educated consumer may look over
you when picking an agent.
• Be yourself in your posts. Be authentic to
yourself. This is the forum for that. This is
your time and your space to be you and to share
“The Professional You” with the world!

43. Plugins
Plugins are cool bits of programming scripts that add
additional functionality to your blog. These are often
features which either enhance already available features or
add them to your site.
WordPress offers simple and easy ways of adding Plugins to
your blog. From the Administraton Panel, there is a Plugin
Page. Once you have uploaded a Plugin to your WordPress
plugin directory, activate it from the Plugins Management
SubPanel, and sit back and watch your Plugin work. Not all
Plugins are so easily installed, but WordPress Plugin authors
and developers make the process as easy as possible.

44. Cool Plugins For Your Blog
Broken Link Checker

45. Share This

46. Cross Linker

47. YOU ARE IN FOR A RIDE!
Do not expect an easy ride when you blog. You can put in a lot
of hard work and then realize that nobody is commenting on
your post. You will have days when you will be banging your
head against the wall wondering what to post about and then
there will be days you have so many ideas in your head that you
don’t know where to start.

48. WHERE TO GET BLOGGING HELP
•
•
•
•
•
High school
Colleges and Universities
Social Networks
Youtube
Blogging Books

49. Why Blog For Biz