Blogging For Business, Part 2 - Georgia Association Of .

Georgia REALTORS partners with the Local Boards andREALTOR Firms to provide quality, affordable continuing education courses.Blogging for Business, Part 2:A Setup Course for Beginners#59067Sponsored by:Georgia Association of REALTORS , GREC School #271Partners in Education ProgramVisit the Georgia REALTORS website to learn aboutmembership benefits, continuing education opportunities,networking events, and more!(www.garealtor.com)NOTICE: The following material is copyrighted and is provided to you for one-time use only in this GAR-sponsored course.You may not reproduce or redistribute any portion of this packetwithout the express written permission from the GAR Professional Development Department.2016

STUDENT NOTICEThe Georgia Association of REALTORS , Inc. is approved by the Georgia Real EstateCommission (GREC) to offer continuing education, sales postlicense, and broker prelicensecourses. The GREC school code number is 271 with a renewal date of December 31, 2019.The Georgia Real Estate Commission has approved this course for three (3) hours ofcontinuing education credit. GAR school policy defines an instructional hour as 50 minutes.To receive continuing education (CE) credit for this in-classroom course, the student must: be on time sign in with the course facilitator before the course begins be present in the course during all instruction periods return a completed evaluation to facilitator at the end of course not have taken this course for continuing education credit within the past 366 days.There is no make-up session for this course.Cell phones and other electronic devices can be distracting. Use of communicationmethods such as text messaging, E-mailing, web surfing, etc. is prohibited while class is insession if it poses a distraction to other attendees and shall be grounds for dismissal.Taking pictures of PowerPoint slides requires the permission of the instructor.Entrance qualifications and standards of completion will not be based on race, color, sex,religion, national origin, familial status, handicap, sexual orientation, or gender identity.No recruiting for employment opportunities for any real estate brokerage firm is allowedduring this course or on the premises while this course is in session. Any effort to recruitby anyone should be promptly reported to the Director of Professional Development;Georgia Association of REALTORS ; 770-451-1831; 6065 Barfield Road; Sandy Springs,GA 30328; or to the Georgia Real Estate Commission; 404-656-3916; International Tower;229 Peachtree Street, NW; Suite 1000; Atlanta, GA 30303-1605.10-2016

Blogging for Business Resource GuideBlogging: The Setup Course for Beginners1. Get in Position – Content StrategyThere are several places to find good content to write about.Real Estatea.b.c.d.e.NAR (Industry news, Online magazines, Valuable Resources)CNN MoneyForbes and Bankrate.comLocal PaperSet up Google Alerts for conversation threads of your niche(www/google.com/alerts)f. Trulia and Zillow (see Voices Activity and Advice respectively)g. Study great real estate blogs mentioned in this course.Neighborhood ood ScoutYelp for local reviewsHome Informationa.b.c.d.HouseLogicReal SimpleHGTVDIY Network2. Publishing Options – Start herea. The Blog Publisher (i.e. Blogger)b. Open Live Writer (formerly Windows Live Writer). Now an open source platform.Thanks Microsoft.c. MS Word3. Image Options1

FREEa. www.Pixabay (Instructor’s favorite free option)b. www.freedigitalphotos.netPublic Domain Images. Free to use. Royalty free. “Public domain images are topquality, high resolution (up to 20 mega pixels). All images are copyright friendly – safeimages, not copyrighted, no restriction for their use, no rights reserved.”c.www.public-domain-image.comMicrosoft Office has imagesd.www.office.microsoft.come. Take Your Own PicturesPAY OPTIONSa. www.bigstockphoto.com - 8 Million Photos & Vectors***see www.retailmenot.com forcoupon codes before you purchase creditsb. www.istockphoto.comFREE Resizing and Editing Options Irfanview software Paint.net4. Design OptionsSoftware – Free – XheaderSoftware – Cheap – GFX Writer (from Incansoft)5. Lead Capture and Opt-in Boxwww. iContact.comwww.Constantcontact.comDEMO6. Make it Pop!1. Add YouTube videos (YouTube Creator Academy)2. Podcast – Visit lifehacker.com/how to start your own podcast3. Photo Gallery (Find an Image host)a. Flickrb. Google Photosc. Instagram Tools for Instagram Users2

STEP-BY-STEP PARTICIPANT’S GUIDEBlogging for BusinessPart 2Juanita McDowell, InMotion Real Estate Institute Instructor and Consultant5/24/2016Copyrighted Material. Do not copy without written permission from InMotion Real Estate Institute.

Table of ContentsSETTING UP YOUR BLOG . 3CREATING A PROFILE . 3SWITCHING TO A CUSTOM DOMAIN . 3DETERMINING YOUR BLOG’S SETTINGS. 4Setting Appropriate Time and Date . 4SETTING UP BLOGGER COMMENTS . 4Understanding Comments . 4Determining Who Can Comment on Your Blog . 5Configuring Comment Notification . 5SYNDICATION FEEDS AND EMAIL FEATURES . 5The Site Feed Feature and Atom Syndication . 5Email and Mobile . 6YOUR BLOG DESIGN . 6Important Gadgets to Add to Your Blog . 7POSTING, EDITING, AND MODIFYING BLOG POSTS . 8Understanding the Post Interface. 8Creating Your First Post . 9Notes and Reminders:. 9Editing Your Posts . 9FORMATTING YOUR POSTS . 9Selecting and Sizing Your Fonts . 9WORKING WITH IMAGES . 10“Learning to blog is like learning to drive; just take it slow and steady.”BloggerDesign.com2

SETTING UP YOUR BLOG1. Go to www.blogger.com. Sign up for a Gmail Account (www.gmail.com) ifneeded.2. Click on New Blog.3. Enter a Blog title. Blogger will be using this in two places (1) on the blog itselfand (2) on your Blogger profile. Hint: Consider matching this to the communityyou plan to serve or the service you plan to provide (i.e. information source for aparticular city). If you are undecided, name it anything right now; you can modifyat a later date.4. Enter a Blog address. You can name your blog address something differentthan the title but I don’t recommend this. Keeping it the same makes it easier foryour readers.5. Type in the word verification and hit continue.6. Choose a Template. You can always change this later.7. Start Blogging.CREATING A PROFILE1. You can use your Google Profile or create one specific for Blogger with a plugin.THE BASICsSWITCHING TO A CUSTOM DOMAIN1. Visit www.godaddy.com and purchase a domain name. Ask tech support toassist you with domain forwarding.2. Or, purchase directly from Google.3

DETERMINING YOUR BLOG’S SETTINGSSetting Appropriate Time and Date1. Click on your Blog Title. Click on Settings.2. Click the Settings tab then the Basic sub-menu. Here you can add a descriptionand set your privacy options.SETTING UP BLOGGER COMMENTSUnderstanding Comments1. Go to the Settings Tab2. Click on the Posts and Comments tab along the sub-menu of the Settings tab.Your readers use Comments to provide feedback on your posts.4

Determining Who Can Comment on Your Blog1. Registered users include anyone on Blogger2. I prefer you set this to Anyone. Monitor this selection over time. You canalways change it later.3. Only members of this blog. This selection is for bloggers who create a teamblog. Only specific individuals can view, write, or comment.Configuring Comment Notification1. Comment Form Placement. This tells Blogger where you want the commentsto appear. Below post is recommended.2. Comment Notification. For every comment made on your blog you need toreceive a notification. Give Blogger a good email address (es).3. Additional considerations will be discussed by the Instructor.SYNDICATION FEEDS AND EMAIL FEATURESThe Site Feed Feature and Atom SyndicationSite feeds are XML documents that provide a blog reader a way to read a blog withouthaving to go to the website. They do this using a news reader. Blog creators must firstput a site feed address on their site to enable this functionality. When this is done, eachtime a post is published on your blog, the site feed will notify the reader that a newpost/entry is available. The blog reader can then either go to the site and read it or justuse the feed to keep up with the blog.Blogger makes this simple. Simple allow for a Full feed.1. First go to the Settings tab, Other submenu, scroll down to Site feed. ForAllow Blog Feeds, select Full is recommended.5

2. Under Post Feed Redirect URL, click on Feedburner. This will open up anempty box. Now go to feedburner.com and sign in with your Google accountinformation.3. Go down to Burn a feed right this instant and type in your blog address. You cango back to View blog to capture the whole URL for your blog.4. Click Next.5. Verify URL and click Next6. Select Atom or RSS and click Next7. You should see the Welcome! Page. Click Next8. You should see the Congrats! Page. Copy your new feed to your clipboard.9. For future, click Next and consider the additional free Feedburner stats option fora more richly detailed view of your feed readership.10. Go back to Blogger and paste the feed URL into the Post Feed Redirect URLfield.11. Eliminate the space (if you have one) and you are good to go.12. You are now ready to add a subscription option to your blog.Email and MobileAlong with a site feed, Blogger gives you the option of mailing posts to your blog site.1. Click the Settings Tab followed by the Email submenu and set this up. Irecommend that you select a Post Later option.2. For mobile, you can select the Blogger app from the App Store or Playstore.YOUR BLOG DESIGNIt’s time to decide on the look and feel of your blog. At this point you can select anothertemplate and you can add and arrange elements on your blog.1. Go to the Dashboard (click on Blogger logo) and select Template. You will seewhat your blog design looks like on a mobile phone as well as a computer.2. Scroll down and select a new template.3. Click Customize.4. In this class we will move through the following options on this tab: Templates,Background, Layout, & Advanced. For each option, feel free to make changes atany time. As an example, to change the background, click the drop down arrownext Background Image of the default. To change the color, click the dropdown arrow next to Main Color Theme. Move the slider to change the defaultcolor.5. Select Layout and make note of the width. You can go to www.fiverr.com andhave someone do something customer for 5.6

6. Select Layout and change the number of columns for your blog. Next, move theelements around.7. Select Advanced. Here you can also change the fonts accordingly until youhave the blog design that you desire. After you have made all of your changes,click APPLY TO BLOG at the top right hand corner of the page.8. Select Back to Blogger in the upper right side of the screen to get back tothe Layout Tab.Add and arrange page elements1. Begin by adding the Profile.2. Next add an important element—the subscription. Click Add a Gadget andselect Subscription Links. Click on the sign.3. Since you have already added the feed address to your Site Feed tab, you aregood to go. Give it a title like “Subscribe To This Blog.” Click Save. You can alsoView Blog to see how it looks on the page.Important Gadgets to Add to Your BlogGadgets are the core components of your blog’s design. You will return to the Layouttab often to give your site additional functionality.7