Using a Blog (weblog) to market your property

[la vache!]

I'm sure Garri will reply, but I think its the fact that I have started the comments, it is then up to other people to add theirs (hopefully they will) otherwise there is no point. It is really to get genuine comments on the accommodation back on the blog - I can't edit out bad comments, I just have to rectify problems and say how I will do this. Any good comments will be genuine ones, whereas on a website there is doubt as to whether comments are geniune or not (e.g. several of the forum members comments on FHH as a recent example).

[Garri]

One question for the experts - there is no reason you couldn't have a page of your site look like this, so what are the benefits of putting this information in a blog, other than the fact that blogs are cool?

Blogging is basically a database driven website we're talking about here - a content management system if you will. Once you've set up your templates you just post articles to them and
generally organise your content.

Out of the box they are all semantically structured xhmtl with a css style sheet that you can alter the look of until your heart's content. You can assign authoring permissions to other people in your group - if you are working in collaboration this is vital.

Out of the box they come with RSS built in (XML) which is becoming an increasingly important way for people to keep track of information.

The blogger example of Susan's has certain technical constraints because it's the free version but they can be extremely flexible publishing tools.

You could indeed have a page look like this on your site but it would require a massive effort so why reinvent the wheel?

Also, there's different types of blogging. The seecroatia website is a very good example of someone using a blogging tool to create a whole website that doesn't look like a blog. It's a very sensible way of managing all our content. They have done a brilliant job utilising this software for their site to quite stunning effect (imho)

People are using this technology in different ways.

[Garri]

Susan, I can't really find any fault in your effort. I think you've demonstrated how powerful this technology is and the speed in which you implemented it.

But you need to carefully manage this, especially where comments are concerned. Don't be surprised to see some idiots comment spam you.

Anyway, it's a great start and it didn't cost you anything other than a little of your time.

[Garri]

Any good comments will be genuine ones, whereas on a website there is doubt as to whether comments are geniune or not (e.g. several of the forum members comments on FHH as a recent example).

Let's not go there again!

[la vache!]

Thanks Garri - just one thing - I'm a bit shy and I would never have put this stuff on my website, to me it is too personal and more for people who have stayed so therefore know about everyone and everything mentioned. Personally I don't really like websites which include this sort of personal information, am I now contradicting myself by publishing it on a blog? Or should it be seen as a compliment, those who wish to see further info can click on a link and there it is?

[Alan Knighting]

Garri,

Thanks for the technical information but I don't think anything there singles out a blog as unique. Setting up any Website by using a template is the easy way of doing it. Using CSS, XHTML, RSS, PHP, SQL, etc. - they're all just options.

Thinking about it, I am perhaps starting to see the wood from the trees. A typical Website is a static thing unless the author changes the content. A forum is a mobile thing as it changes with every posting. A blog has, or can have, more in common with a forum in that people other than the author can post contributions. It can have the characteristics of e.g. a personal Website, a forum and a chat room all in one? It can be part static and part mobile at the same time?

Is that it?

Alan

[vrooje]

Strangely, I've been a blogger since well before the word "blog" ever existed... with my very first website I had a page where I just wrote down stuff from my day or random thoughts in entry format, and linked them together.

Nowadays I keep two, both personal -- one at www.livejournal.com and another at www.opendiary.com . I've had the latter one for almost 7 years now. LiveJournal paid blogs are highly customizable and inexpensive; Open Diary journals are somewhat different from traditional blogs and I don't think they'd exactly work in the rental-property-owner niche.

Susan, I think your new blog is fabulous! Really pleasant and just the sort of thing I would do were I to start one for our property. Show pictures of the house this week, cute photos of the area, descriptions of area events, etc.

To have a good blog for a property would be a lot of work -- in my mind the distinction between a blog and an official property website is tonal more than anything else. People don't automatically come to websites, nor do they to blogs. Blogs still need to be well-organized and useful, and as Garri pointed out there are even more chances for malicious surfers to abuse a blog than a website. This is not to say that they aren't a fabulous idea in this context -- just that it's not a trivial thing.

Whoever said blogging is addictive is completely right -- it's just as addictive as, oh, forum browsing!

[mpprh]

Hi

I'm far too laid back and lazy to write a daily blog.

But I link to interesting blogs here : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/artic ... les01d.htm

The interesting thing is that my stats tell me that they are a very popular part of my website.

Easy way to do this is to play with this Google search page : http://blogsearch.google.com

BTW, comments on blog pages are picked up by the google robot.

Peter

[Garri]

Yes Alan, that is it. As I said earlier, a blog can be many of those things. Of course, you can build websites in a variety of ways but cms software contains all of those technologies into a bundle and, due to their open source nature, are extensible.

If there's a more compelling reason not to use bloated software such as Dreamweaver then cms/blogging is it.

This is not to say that they aren't a fabulous idea in this context -- just that it's not a trivial thing.

Brooke, yes this is the key - they aren't trivial and that's why a strategy needs to be thought out, objectives and goals need to be set and it has to be tightly managed. Set editorial and style guidelines, a framework.

It's all in the application of this technology.

[alexia s.]

"Don't be surprised to see some idiots comment spam you"
Can't Susan just erase these comments the way she can erase anything on her original web site?

[craigkillick]

Paolo, Alan

A Blog is indeed just a website (from the front end) but it is so much more than that.

The one common problem with websites is that the information tends to remaind static and Google (especially) sees that and says 'This website does not change much, it is not relevant anymore' (very basic explanation). If you have a Blog, you can update your BLOG, or 'website' very very easily, as often as you want using [almost like] a CMS (content management system).

CMS is easy because you don't need to know programming code, you just need to log on, follow simple instructions to ad a post, add links, add pics, add email links, etc. as well as format the text with bold, italic, etc. - very powerful options.

If you use a BLOG correctly and link it correctly to other relevant BLOGS (or websites) and get people linking into you, you create a much more interactive solution. It will have so much more worth than a static website.

Then, if you see anything relevant in the area of your property, you add it to your BLOG, ie. 'During September there is a festival celebrating.......' That automatically makes your site (BLOG) more relevant because it is adding more value to the visitor, and the search engines.

Hope I didn't rattle on there and it makes sense.

[Garri]

Alexia, she can but will she be there all the time to enforce that?

There are a few measures in the variety of platforms that have tools to counteract this but they're not all perfect. Many platforms are now supporting the 'nofollow' link attribute which tells search engines to ignore the links in blog comments. Again, this is not perfect either.

Looking at Susan's blog she invites comments on all the posts but she really only wants to use this for collecting & publishing feedback from guests.

For that purpose I would create a page called 'Guestbook' for example with a brief post about its purpose and then invite comments for that 'post' only, and that post can have its own dedicated page.

All other posts can have comments switched off (I think blogger allows you to set this function on a post by post basis)

Here's an example of a bad guestbook on a site and although this site isn't using blog software, it's an example of what can happen:

ryadmabrouka.com/uk/accueil_uk.htm

It's a shame because the owner of this place probably doesn't know how to get rid of this, so I've written to him this morning to let him know about it.

[Garri]

That automatically makes your site (BLOG) more relevant because it is adding more value to the visitor, and the search engines.

Craig, that's it in a nutshell really.

[Alan Knighting]

Craig, Garri,

I think I am starting to get it. It all appears to be easier to maintain than a more traditional Website although content should be pretty straightforward to maintain on a fully CSS Website.

Another question. Are other people's posting, comments, etc. added to the blog site automatically as they are on a forum or does the site owner have to add them manually?

Alan

[alexia s.]

My favourite Blog - don't rush to it, because it is highly specialised & I only read the parts that are not related to the main subject - is run by an American professor of Philosophy. Maybe that's why it is so well thought out. It has a central column which is the "core": the prof adds to this about every second day, with items on the main subject or quotes (and comments) on political matters - this is very broad and why I read it. Next to the central column he has another column which lists the "Guest Blogs" - the reader can choose which of these to consult. On the other side of the central column he has an index to recent posts, which saves running all the way down the central column to find them. He publishes letters from readers but it is not possible to post directly. You can e-mail him.
Alan, unless I've missed something, it's not like a web-site because it runs vertically without a seam. (Web sites have pages, don't they? )
As I said, don't rush, but if you want to see the organisation go to:
http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/