Using a Blog (weblog) to market your property

[Garri]

I only mentioned Dreamweaver on the basis that one needs to edit content somewhere.

Alan, it can be done in the blog software.

Maybe the text editing tools in the blog site software are enough.

I think so. Textpattern uses Textile for fomatting - which is pretty easy to use and websites can read it.

Get one (which one?) of the free offerings and play with it.

I've spent a considerable time researching and playing with some of them and found Textpattern the best for me. I understood the concept better than the others, it all made sense in a split second!

The true power of blogging software comes in how it is applied to the problem in hand. If you have a website with a lot of content, and content that is continuously being updated, then it would be madness not to use some sort of cms tool, whether it be blogs or whatever. If on the other hand you have a static site like an on-line business card type thing then blogging/cms is perhaps not that important although personally, knowing what I know now, I would still use a cms tool for a static site.

It's how well you know the tools and how to manipulate them to your needs that is the key to all of this, assuming you have the content to publish in the first place.

The site I'm working on now is undesigned. Because of the approach I'm taking and the tools I'm using the design and branding can be applied iteratively later on in the process.

I've learned my lessons in the past not to be constrained by a design. There is an argument that setting oneself constraints is a good thing and I agree to that statement to some extent. For my project right now it's more to do with becoming familiar with how the thing works and trying to design the information archiecture and navigation overall. If I set the design in stone at this stage I would have to make compromises and deal with those problems when I have enough other problems with the project to deal with that are more crucial.

[la vache!]

Garri,
what other platforms can you recommend as that one is too basic - it didn't allow me to edit the comment out at all, I just had to delete the whole blog entry, which is pointless.

[vrooje]

Paolo,

If you want to host a blog in your own domain name, that can be done for free.

For example, check out this Google Search Result for PHP blog software. It's very easy to find free code you can download and then install on your own servers.

I think that if I lived near our property, I would already have a blog. It would provide information on local events, weather, little anecdotes about town life, etc. But it feels like doing that from afar is a) not really possible and b) fake.

[thisfrenchlife]

Hi

I've written before that a blog-style site is a great way of promoting a holiday home, in fact practically any business.

But to see them in the flesh, here are some examples:

http://perigordvacance.typepad.com/perigordvacance/

http://radio.weblogs.com/0136203/

http://provenceproperties.typepad.com/

I use TypePad which gives you a 30 day free trial but there are many others, you can try them and see if they work.

You can set up blog software on your own site, or using TypePad for example allows you to host it with them and point your domain name at it, technically it is called Domain Name Mapping.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

Regards

Craig

PS- my own site http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/ runs on TypePad

[Garri]

Which blogging software allows you to use your normal domain name? Presumably the paid ones?

Most of them, including Blogger.

[thisfrenchlife]

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.

That is one of the key elements. If you then follow up the comment with steps you intend to take not only are you answering this person's concern, it could even make a future article for the blog.
For example, a guest said they would like to see XXXX and so we thought about it and decided to fit one, here it is.
You can also link back to the page that featured the initial comment.

I would also look to get comments on the site about the surrounding area, if people visited a place ask them to write a few words for the site and get them to post it.

Can you imagine anyone resisting the temptation to tell their friends once back off their holiday that they wrote a short article for a French website

Best

Craig

[la vache!]

Craig, I have taken your advice and re-written mine using Typepad
http://lahautemanceliere.typepad.com/
- it allows more control than the blogger. Just a quick question, is it possible to change the order of the posts?
Thanks,
Susan

[craigkillick]

Susan

If I could give you advice, what you need to do is set up categories for each section, ie. Dogs, Cats, Pool, etc.

If you then also go to the design section and change the order of things under the Your Content Section.

1st. Go to 'Change Content Selections' and make sure you have Categories on. Then;

2nd. After Okaying that and going back to the Design Section Page, click on the link below it 'Change Ordering'

After you have done this, you can go into each post and assign it a category.

One thing to bear in mind is the size of your photos also, they are quite big so the page taks a while to download.

[la vache!]

I wondered about the size of the photos, is it best to have their default thumbnail photos - those seemed too small!

[craigkillick]

You can change that as well when you post by changing the default image size.

Play with the settings on design because you can really change the way it looks and organises itself.

http://craigkillick.typepad.com gives you a little idea into it.

[Alan Knighting]

Susan,

Judging by the speed at which you are changing this burgeoning blog of yours, you are absolutely brilliant or blogs are a total doddle to use. Which is it? Actually, I hope it is a lot of both!

Alan

[thisfrenchlife]

I wondered about the size of the photos, is it best to have their default thumbnail photos - those seemed too small!

(First thing, I'll be CraigMcG, what do they say about buses )

You can post pictures directly to your articles without having a thumbnail.

Just prepare your pic in a standard format that fits the column of your page. Personally I use 310 pixels wide for landscape and approx 250 pixels for portrait.

Then when you load them into a post click on the settings and you can place it just left or right.

I don't use the thumbnail option for two reasons, the first is that not everyone has fast internet access so they may take time to download.

The other is that TypePad has a photo album feature where you can place larger images and build up more pages for visitors, and Google, to spend time on.

This is how I use the albums:

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenc ... album.html

As Craig suggests spend some time experimenting, it is a bit of a steep learning curve at first, but once you are happy with the site you can get writing.

All the best

CraigMcG

[la vache!]

I like your blog Craig - very interesting, you have picked some good articles.
I still can't re-organise the categories I have created though! I have given all the posts categories, but there isn't an option for resorting the categories, they just seem to be alphabetical,
Susan

[la vache!]

Alan,
I would class myself as a non-techie, far from brilliant, but I can assure you it isn't difficult to use with these templates (much easier than dreamweaver anyway!). I'm getting plenty of advice from some very kind, far more competent than me people on this forum! Its also pouring with rain here so I have got time to play about with the new stuff at the moment!

[Alan Knighting]

susan,

Sometimes astro-physics can be easier to understand than Dreamweaver. What do you think Brooke?

Alan