Real Estate Blogs You’re probably aware that Real Estate Blogs are just websites; however, they’re different in that they allow a layperson or a non website expert to publish content to the web *at will*. It’s a big deal for a real estate business for several reasons. Particularly because

1. search engines desperately want to be the conduit to all the best answers possible, so logically they are attracted to active sites that offer more and more timely content;
2. sites that enable a layperson to publish are often, logically, more active;
3. the cost of publishing knowledge and information to the web has become negligible;
4. the means to distribute knowledge and information [search] for those who want & need it has been established;
5. search engines always connect qualified searching consumers with good answers/ information;
6. you have the ability to demonstrate knowledge & enthusiasm to many new leads that you would have otherwise never been able to reach;
7. those qualified, researching consumers can develop a feel for you and your service ;
8. and those same consumers can subscribe to you, enabling a direct, ongoing & voluntary connection.

WordPress Blogs Let’s take a look at WordPress Blogs and some of things it might help to know about them and open source software. There are lots of good blog solutions out there, but WordPress is considered by many to be the most universally used solution… so let’s take a closer look. With WordPress Business Blogs you have options, including:

1. You can create a free blog, which would be hosted as a sub domain of WordPress [i.e. janedoe.wordpress.com]. Free Business blogs have both up and down sides, depending on your business requirements. Do you need service or education?
2. You can download WordPress software onto a server and then host it via a domain you own. This a great strategy, but it requires some know how. Even if you pay for hosting, you’ll still need to develop some installation and ongoing management skill. Do you need service or education? 
3. You can hire an independent programmer/ designer at an hourly rate to set it all up. This is a great strategy offering a wide choice for options and design. Be sure to review the hourly rates, experience and then the total cost of service. Don’t discount ongoing service or education! 
4. Hire a comprehensive Business Blogging service for a fixed price. This should include hands’ on service, an ongoing educational curriculum and then blog technology management. For instance, managing software updates, reviewing and then adding features that are sustainable, secure and also safe from flaws and/ or a lack of upkeep. It’s a race and requires balance because search engines are changing and then one thing can slightly undermine the next. What’s more, what is most important [security, architecture, design, features, etc.] depends on with whom you’re speaking. Google certainly does not disclose how they evaluate your page[s] rank.

WordPress Blogs and the WordPress Open Source Community There are really two official versions of WordPress software [WP and WPMU] and then a variety of variants. WordPress software is managed by a brilliant development team and it is supported by an international ‘open source community’ of independent programmers & designers. Development manages software updates and the ‘open source community’ builds feature add ons, such as design themes and features that can be plugged in.

What’s incredibly powerful about open source software is it *leverages the power of many to develop, to evolve and to improve software.* In the case of WordPress, software source code is made available by the development team permitting collaborative use, change, improvement and modified redistribution. Many believe it’s the future of software development because of how it can enable rapid fixes, improvements and fine tuning. Now, by no means should this suggest proprietary software isn’t valuable. While proprietary may be slower to improve and less transparent, it may offer some advantages versus open source. For instance, the more people contributing to software code, the more difficult it may be to manage quality. Like any business, including with good management, things go wrong. You should know that the ‘open source community’ is voluntary participation. However and versus proprietary software, studies have shown that open-source software has a higher and quicker flaw discovery turn around. After all, even Microsoft and Google have had their issues.

Going forward: Software updates are the core WordPress development team’s domain! WordPress software is the their day job and, very much like with proprietary, they have all the incentive in the world to innovate and to improve. They earn a living doing it! The core team also discloses what is coming down the pike to the ‘open source community’, encouraging it to offer input and to update their features and themes. With the ‘open source community’, centered around talented independent programmers & designers, the work is partly for the love of WordPress and partly because it can serve as marketing recognition for their unique programming and/ or design skills. In other words, their incentive to innovate and to keep up is pay that comes from jobs that are a result of their great work.

Business Blogging Service and Management It’s important to understand that there is no formal open source theme or plugin evaluation process. There can be sloppy, insecure or obsolete code coming out of the ‘open source community’, but it is NOT the rule and most certainly the exception. Consider this recent business blogging case scenario: "I’m not familiar with what the protocol is for these matters but…many WP users have installed themes by XYZ. She has stopped updating her themes and her former website is down. I have tried contacting her w/o success. I was wondering whether protocol permits a theme developer adopting her themes and updating them (making them widget-ready for example) for the thousands of WP users who have wonderful themes like A, B & C. Many of us hope these themes won’t be abandoned." It is possible that open source programmers/ designers may not keep up with core software updates, but as in most cases there is a self policing and the issues was solved. With the frequent code updates, themes, plugins and a random hack there’s a lot to keep up with so consider good help. Keep in mind, problems occur with proprietary software too… so it’s mportant to have some knowledge of your choices and to feel confidant with your blogging software :-)

This post is presented by Chris Frerecks, Kinetic Knowledge/ Real Estate Blog Sites and is meant to provide useful real estate oriented education for the benefit of the Star Power audience. Kinetic Knowledge LLC and Real Estate Blogsites provide real estate professionals, including the STAR POWER organization, with leading blog solutions, blog writing content, blogging education and service. Chris is easily reached via email at chris@kineticknowledge.com.

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