Transcript Blogging 101 Shailesh Ghimire AzMortgageGuru CTX Mortgage Company www.aimeeloans.com © 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire “Your Mortgage Team For Life”

Blogging 101
Shailesh Ghimire
AzMortgageGuru
CTX Mortgage Company
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Introductions
• We are in the mortgage business
• CTX Mortgage more than 3 years
• Blogging for more than 3 years
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
So… You Want to Blog
• Part One
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What is a blog?
Self hosting vs. Free hosting
The Wordpress Platform
Setting Up a WP Blog
• Part Two
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Blog Topics
Blogs as Networks
Marketing your blog
Search Engine Results
What makes a blog great?
Turning clicks into deposit slips
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
What is a blog?
• A blog is a website where entries are written in
chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse
chronological order.
• A blog provides commentary or news on a particular
subject such as food, politics, or local news; some
function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog
combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web
pages, and other media related to its topic.
• Source: Wikipedia
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© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Blog vs. Website
• A blog is a type of website
• Websites are typically more static with a brochure feel
• A dialogue, a conversation with fresh content
• One does not displace the other, they serve different
functions
• Lets look at a blog and compare it to a website
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
How to Set Up a Blog
• Easy 1-2-3 step
• Requires a blog software
• Available platforms:
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Wordpress
Typepad
Blogger/Blogspot
LiveJournal
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© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Setting Up a Blog
• Free hosting
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http://your-blog-name.wordpress.com
http://your-blog-name.blogspot.com
Advantage: No cost to you whatsoever
Disadvantage: Brand equity, ownership
• Self hosting
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http://www.your–blog-name.com
http://www.your-domain-name.com/your-blog-name
Disadvantage: Cost?
Advantage: Brand equity, ownership
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Setting Up a Free Hosted
Wordpress Blog
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Free Hosting Setup
• Go to www.wordpress.com
• Click on the “Sign Up Now”
• Select username and password and submit
• Blog is set up as http://username.wordpress.com
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Setting Up Self Host
Wordpress Blog
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Follow These Steps
• Obtain domain name
– GoDaddy, DreamHost
• Select host for blog:
– GoDaddy, DreamHost
• Host will need to do the following:
– Install Wordpress
– Configure Wordpress access
– If you already have a domain, then ask the host to set up WP in a
subfolder
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
File Transfer and WP Folders
• FTP Setup
– To transfer files, themes, plugins etc.
– GoDaddy already has a built in FTP tool
– DreamHost – you need a FTP tool (Coffee Cup)
• Three folders:
– Plugins (to install WP plugins)
– Content (to install themes)
– Admin (admin – never need to go there)
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Wordpress Themes
• Themes and design (thousands of free themes available)
– http://www.freewpthemes.net/
– http://www.freewordpressthemes.com/
• Useful tips when selecting a theme:
– Test your blog on varying platforms (IE, Firefox ...)
– Check the load time (anything greater than 7s is bad)
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Wordpress Plugins
• Install some useful Plugins such as
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Askimet
Ultimate Tag Warrior
Google Site Maps
Flickr Photo Dropper
Social Bookmarking
Contact Form
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Final Setup Stage
• Search Engine Optimization and Analytics
– Install Google Sitemaps
– Register with FeedBurner
– Register with Technorati, BlogCatalog…
– Register with Google Analytics
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Some Lessons Learned
• Host your blog within your own domain name
• Choose a web host experienced in hosting a
blog
• I’ve heard mixed things about GoDaddy
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions while setting up
a blog
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
WordPress Tour
• Dashboard, Write, Manage, Comments
• Blogroll, Presentation, Plubins, Users/Options
• STOP HERE……………...
• You’re ready to write your first blog post!
• Stand up and clap!!!!!
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Part Two: Content and
Marketing
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Define the Goals of Your Blog
• To be found on the Internet
• To be read by peers and potential clients
• To demonstrate your expertise
• To maintain relationships with past clients
• To turn clicks into deposit slips
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
What Do I Blog About?
• Anything and Everything
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Start with an area of expertise
Neighborhoods/Farm Area
Parks/recreation
Hobbies/Interests
Customer stories
Personal triumphs
Controversial topics (if you’re comfortable)
• Make it distinctly you, don’t plagiarize, don’t compare and
don’t underestimate yourself
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Content is King
• Write about what you want to be known about
– Brush up on your writing skills if you need to
• Keywords in your post title and story
• Picture descriptions and title
• Relevant tags and categories
• Keep the blog fresh (3-5 posts a week)
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Some Blogging Idea Tips
• Subscribe to:
– RSSPieces.com (A Years Worth Of Blogging Ideas)
– Daily Blog Tips Website (dailyblogtips.com)
• Read local newspapers and comment
• Read industry publications and comment
• Read blogs from outside of the industry
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Networking: Becoming a Blogger
• Visit other blogs
• Use a RSS Reader
– Google Reader, Bloglines, Feedreader, FeedBruner, Pluck ...
• Leave comments on others posts
• Draw inspiration from other blogs (don’t plagiarize)
• Link to other blogs and posts
– Trackback
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© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Links, links and more links
• Links coming back to your blog (keyword rich links) help
your search rankings
• Deeplinking helps keep your readers within your blog
• It brings new visitors to your website
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Congrats! You’re a Blogger
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Now That You’re a Blogger
• Manage your Ideas
– Make your blog predictable (Funny Friday, Monday
Market Update...)
– Jot ideas down when you think of them
– Save good articles you have read
– Save funny cartoons you have viewed
– Save YouTube videos that may be relevant
– If you’re on writing roll, then post-date a few articles
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Bloggers Creed:Common Sense
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Become familiar with copyright laws
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Backup what you say with proof, because they will question you
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Never lie, never personally insult, never vent aimlessly
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Respond to questions you receive about your posts
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Read the comments people leave and respond
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Be careful about what you write. Once you publish it’s set in stone. Google
will find it one way or another!
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Just be you!
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Resources and Blogs of Note
• Locally:
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RealEstateWeblogging101.com
PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com (Real Estate)
BlogArizona.com (Home Inspection)
ChristophSchweiger.com (Real Estate)
• Nationally:
– http://www.reagentinct.com/blog
– http://www.brokerbryant.com/
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© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
I do mortgages on the side to
support my blogging habit!!!
Call Aimee at (480) 516-1819
E-mail: [email protected]
Shailesh at (480) 516-1851
E-mail: [email protected]
On the web: www.aimeeloans.com
Blog: www.azmortgageguru.com
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”
Questions
www.aimeeloans.com
© 2005-2008 Aimee & Shailesh Ghimire
“Your Mortgage Team For Life”