Who Blogs?

What platform do you use? What's your success?

I've been on ActiveRain.com for well over a year. I've seen considerable success with it but am reading other agent blogs cautioning against giving my content to AR...

What bothers me is the suggestion that AR "owns" the content I provide.

I've got a good blog on Wordpress as well, and am wondering if I should just phase out ActiveRain and put the majority of my content on the Wordpress blog. But my AR stuff outranks the Wordpress blogs in search engines.

Sigh. Just wondering if there are others here who blog regularly and wondering what you do.

I do blog using Wordpress.

How do you mean that your AR stuff outranks your Wordpress stuff? When I search Google using the keywords you have in your Wordpress Blog title and in your Wordpress blog posts tiles - your Wordpress blog is right on top.

Personally, I use Wordpress as well. Then again, I use ActiveRain too. If you want to use both, you have a couple of options. First, post all your fresh content on your personal blog then wait a day or so and then post it to your AR blog. By then, the search engines should know that the content on your blog is the original source.

Another option you have is to post whatever it is you want to post on you AR blog, but leave it incomplete. Then, if people want to read the rest of your blog post, tell them to go to your personal blog to read the rest. Of course, the incomplete material you put on your AR blog has to be engaging enough for people to want to read the rest...

WordPress is way more flexible and open compared to AR, which is why I always post my fresh content on it first. On the other hand, your AR blog will probably attract targeted traffic right away, so by using the strategies I talked about, I get the best of both worlds.

Doug, thanks - I guess I meant in general real estate term searches. It could be though that my AR blog simply has more content in it because it's older and has more content.

Dresden, that sounds like the plan I should take. The problem is that there are things I like better on AR, and different things I like better on Wordpress.

My main concern is that somehow, AR and Localism could end up using my content, provided by free, to promote my competitors who become "sponsors" and I just don't want to pay to "sponsor" something I helped create. LOL. The abbreviated posts with a link to my WP blog is a great way to get around that.

My main website is a customized wordpress blog - very happy with it. I looked at activerain and i know some people are having success with it...but it just seemed bloated to me...but then again i only gave it 5-10 minutes...

Well, today I got a nice contact on my blog so maybe my WP blog is catching up with my AR one...

The main reason I am hesitant to phase out AR is because in addition to the rankings of the AR blogs for "general" real estate, almost all of my blog customer contacts have been from my AR blog. Because customers rarely leave comments on blogs, the best way to track it has been through the AR contact form.

THe last couple of days I've gotten some excellent contacts on the Wordpress.com blog.

I think I'm going to do as suggested and publish on the Wordpress blog first, then a few days later post it on the AR blog. SOmetimes that doesn't work well because I have certain things for certain days, (Tuesday Tips, Friday Five Wild Card Wednesdays...) Unless I just plan for AR to be a week behind my Wordpress.com blog.

AR has a TON of great info;especially for agents starting out with blogs or just starting out all together; the problem is now that there are so many members blogging willy nilly, it's difficult to find the good stuff through all the chaff.

I'm not sure if you have implemented this on your AR blog, but have you created some HTML or something like a banner that you can put on your side panel to promote your WP blog? I have seen a few AR blogs have areas that really catch your eye saying things like "Sign Up For My Newsletter" or something like that. Granted, I would recommend you use more enticing terminology, but I think it would definitely be worth your time to help you get more traffic to your WP blog.

My website is a WP blog, the homepage is a static page. I think if you can keep your primary focus on your WP blog it will ultimately help you more in the long run.

I wouldn't drop the Active Rain blog though, those links have to be benefiting your main site as well. I would just spend more time on the stand alone blog.

I blog, I even wrote a blog about blogging. I have seen other RE forums and communites, and to me, hands down Active Rain is the best out there...

I'm doing as suggested and posting mostly to the WP blog first, then a day or two later, posting it on AR.

I owe a lot to AR - it's helped my site a great deal.

In Texas only 7-8% of agents blog. Of them, who knows how many are any good at it? That small number tells me that if you can write and you if you will be consistent and post interesting content, you should blog. Wordpress is about the best platform out there.

The value of Active Rain isn't in the blog platform itself, it's in the fact that the search engines know that the vast majority of posts have to do with real estate - which makes it easier to rank. In addition, by participating in the Active Rain Community, you've got an army of Realtors around the nation who will be adding content (in the form of comments) to your blog-post - making it that much more authoritative.

Wordpress is certainly much "prettier" and easier to work with, but it's a different monster. Having a wordpress blog is much like opening up your own "Mom & Pop" hamburger stand. It's fantastic, but you're on your own when it comes to driving traffic to it, and building your business. An AR blog is somewhat like having a McDonald's franchise. You'll begin to see traffic the day you open your doors. you might not like every aspect of the franchise, but it's a proven system that works.

With that said, there's nothing saying you can't do both, and with the right syndication in place, it won't even be that much extra work.

I have read a lot of blogs. Most are just redigested information from else were on the web. Some appear to be blogging just to blog. I suspect that in the near furture that Google will start treating blog the same way it treats link exchanges.

While I agree with you that a lot of blogs are worthless (redigested info) I doubt that Google will sweep all blogs under the same carpet so to speak.

There are MANY excellent blogs out there, there are many crappy blogs out there - there are many excellent sites out there, many crappy sites out there. I think Google is smart enough to know the difference.