Georgia REALTORS® partners with the Local Boards and ® REALTOR Firms to provide quality, affordable continuing education courses.
Blogging for Business, Part 2: A Setup Course for Beginners
#59067
Sponsored by: Georgia Association of REALTORS®, GREC School #271 Partners in Education Program
Visit the Georgia REALTORS® website to learn about membership benefits, continuing education opportunities, networking events, and more!
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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 packet without the express written permission from the GAR Professional Development Department.
2016
STUDENT NOTICE
The Georgia Association of REALTORS®, Inc. is approved by the Georgia Real Estate Commission (GREC) to offer continuing education, sales postlicense, and broker prelicense courses. 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 of continuing 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 communication methods such as text messaging, E-mailing, web surfing, etc. is prohibited while class is in session 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 allowed during this course or on the premises while this course is in session. Any effort to recruit by 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 Guide
Blogging: The Setup Course for Beginners
1. Get in Position – Content Strategy
There are several places to find good content to write about.
Real Estate a. NAR (Industry news, Online magazines, Valuable Resources) b. CNN Money c. Forbes and Bankrate.com d. Local Paper e. Set 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 News a. City-data.com b. GreatSchools.com c. Neighborhood Scout d. Yelp for local reviews
Home Information a. HouseLogic b. Real Simple c. HGTV d. DIY Network 2. Publishing Options – Start here a. The Blog Publisher (i.e. Blogger) b. Open Live Writer (formerly Windows Live Writer). Now an open source platform. Thanks Microsoft. c. MS Word
3. Image Options
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FREE a. www.Pixabay (Instructor’s favorite free option) b. www.freedigitalphotos.net Public Domain Images. Free to use. Royalty free. “Public domain images are top quality, high resolution (up to 20 mega pixels). All images are copyright friendly – safe images, not copyrighted, no restriction for their use, no rights reserved.” c. www.public-domain-image.com Microsoft Office has images d. www.office.microsoft.com e. Take Your Own Pictures
PAY OPTIONS a. www.bigstockphoto.com - 8 Million Photos & Vectors***see www.retailmenot.com for coupon codes before you purchase credits b. www.istockphoto.com
FREE Resizing and Editing Options Irfanview software Paint.net 4. Design Options
Software – Free – Xheader Software – Cheap – GFX Writer (from Incansoft) 5. Lead Capture and Opt-in Box www. iContact.com www.Constantcontact.com DEMO
6. Make it Pop!
1. Add YouTube videos (YouTube Creator Academy) 2. Podcast – Visit lifehacker.com/how to start your own podcast 3. Photo Gallery (Find an Image host) a. Flickr b. Google Photos c. Instagram Tools for Instagram Users
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STEP-BY-STEP PARTICIPANT’S GUIDE
Blogging for Business Part 2
Juanita McDowell, InMotion Real Estate Institute Instructor and Consultant 5/24/2016
Copyrighted Material. Do not copy without written permission from InMotion Real Estate Institute.
Table of Contents SETTING UP YOUR BLOG ...... 3 CREATING A PROFILE ...... 3 SWITCHING TO A CUSTOM DOMAIN ...... 3 DETERMINING YOUR BLOG’S SETTINGS...... 4 Setting Appropriate Time and Date ...... 4 SETTING UP BLOGGER COMMENTS ...... 4 Understanding Comments ...... 4 Determining Who Can Comment on Your Blog ...... 5 Configuring Comment Notification ...... 5 SYNDICATION FEEDS AND EMAIL FEATURES ...... 5 The Site Feed Feature and Atom Syndication ...... 5 Email and Mobile ...... 6 YOUR BLOG DESIGN ...... 6 Important Gadgets to Add to Your Blog ...... 7 POSTING, EDITING, AND MODIFYING BLOG POSTS ...... 8 Understanding the Post Interface ...... 8 Creating Your First Post ...... 9 Notes and Reminders: ...... 9 Editing Your Posts ...... 9 FORMATTING YOUR POSTS ...... 9 Selecting and Sizing Your Fonts ...... 9 WORKING WITH IMAGES ...... 10
“Learning to blog is like learning to drive; just take it slow and steady.” BloggerDesign.com
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SETTING UP YOUR BLOG 1. Go to www.blogger.com. Sign up for a Gmail Account (www.gmail.com) if needed.
2. Click on New Blog. 3. Enter a Blog title. Blogger will be using this in two places (1) on the blog itself and (2) on your Blogger profile. Hint: Consider matching this to the community you plan to serve or the service you plan to provide (i.e. information source for a particular city). If you are undecided, name it anything right now; you can modify at a later date. 4. Enter a Blog address. You can name your blog address something different than the title but I don’t recommend this. Keeping it the same makes it easier for your 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 PROFILE 1. You can use your Google+ Profile or create one specific for Blogger with a plug- in. THE BASICs
SWITCHING TO A CUSTOM DOMAIN 1. Visit www.godaddy.com and purchase a domain name. Ask tech support to assist you with domain forwarding. 2. Or, purchase directly from Google.
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DETERMINING YOUR BLOG’S SETTINGS
Setting Appropriate Time and Date 1. Click on your Blog Title. Click on Settings.
2. Click the Settings tab then the Basic sub-menu. Here you can add a description and set your privacy options.
SETTING UP BLOGGER COMMENTS
Understanding Comments 1. Go to the Settings Tab 2. 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.
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Determining Who Can Comment on Your Blog 1. Registered users include anyone on Blogger 2. I prefer you set this to Anyone. Monitor this selection over time. You can always change it later. 3. Only members of this blog. This selection is for bloggers who create a team blog. Only specific individuals can view, write, or comment.
Configuring Comment Notification 1. Comment Form Placement. This tells Blogger where you want the comments to appear. Below post is recommended. 2. Comment Notification. For every comment made on your blog you need to receive a notification. Give Blogger a good email address (es). 3. Additional considerations will be discussed by the Instructor.
SYNDICATION FEEDS AND EMAIL FEATURES
The Site Feed Feature and Atom Syndication Site feeds are XML documents that provide a blog reader a way to read a blog without having to go to the website. They do this using a news reader. Blog creators must first put a site feed address on their site to enable this functionality. When this is done, each time a post is published on your blog, the site feed will notify the reader that a new post/entry is available. The blog reader can then either go to the site and read it or just use 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. For Allow Blog Feeds, select Full is recommended.
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2. Under Post Feed Redirect URL, click on Feedburner. This will open up an empty box. Now go to feedburner.com and sign in with your Google account information. 3. Go down to Burn a feed right this instant and type in your blog address. You can go back to View blog to capture the whole URL for your blog. 4. Click Next. 5. Verify URL and click Next 6. Select Atom or RSS and click Next 7. You should see the Welcome! Page. Click Next 8. 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 for a more richly detailed view of your feed readership. 10. Go back to Blogger and paste the feed URL into the Post Feed Redirect URL field. 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 Mobile Along 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. I recommend that you select a Post Later option. 2. For mobile, you can select the Blogger app from the App Store or Playstore.
YOUR BLOG DESIGN It’s time to decide on the look and feel of your blog. At this point you can select another template and you can add and arrange elements on your blog.
1. Go to the Dashboard (click on Blogger logo) and select Template. You will see what 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 at any time. As an example, to change the background, click the drop down arrow next Background Image of the default. To change the color, click the drop down arrow next to Main Color Theme. Move the slider to change the default color. 5. Select Layout and make note of the width. You can go to www.fiverr.com and have someone do something customer for $5.
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6. Select Layout and change the number of columns for your blog. Next, move the elements around. 7. Select Advanced. Here you can also change the fonts accordingly until you have 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 < Add and arrange page elements 1. Begin by adding the Profile. 2. Next add an important element—the subscription. Click Add a Gadget and select Subscription Links. Click on the + sign. 3. Since you have already added the feed address to your Site Feed tab, you are good to go. Give it a title like “Subscribe To This Blog.” Click Save. You can also View Blog to see how it looks on the page. Important Gadgets to Add to Your Blog Gadgets are the core components of your blog’s design. You will return to the Layout tab often to give your site additional functionality. 7 The following Gadgets are highly recommended for real estate agents. You will find them under different categories. Add these gadgets immediately: HTML/JavaScript. This will enable you to add an Opt-in box. Add these gadgets after you have content Search Box AdSense (Use the Blogger Help) POSTING, EDITING, AND MODIFYING BLOG POSTS Understanding the Post Interface 1. Click the Posting Tab. 8 FIGURE 1 Creating Your First Post 1. Click the Orange button. This is the New Post option. Notes and Reminders: Make your title compelling. Remember the News Feed sends out the title and an excerpt. You want to draw people to your website. You can do your post in Word or Notepad and use the copy and paste feature to load your post into Blogger. You now have a specific link for this post. Editing Your Posts 1. Click your Posts option on the Dashboard and click edit for the blog post you want to edit. 2. Can’t find your Post? Use the Search feature. 3. Click the Arrow to see a preview of the post. FORMATTING YOUR POSTS Selecting and Sizing Your Fonts A word of caution about changing the Font. You want to maintain the integrity of the design (it goes with the design template). Use the default for consistency, unless you want special effects (Large capital letter). 9 WORKING WITH IMAGES 1. Caution: Resizing the image after you have uploaded it can be a clunky experience. Do so using Irfanview before uploading. 2. Advanced user: When you download the image, you can view the HTML code and move it to another place on the post if you desire. Resources 1. If you get in trouble, go the Dashboard and click on Help. 2. YouTube is another great resource for Blogger tutorials. 3. Questions about what you learned in this class? Contact your Instructor on Facebook or Twitter. Facebook: Http://www.facebook.com/juanitamcdowellseminars Twitter: www.twitter.com/juanitamcdowell NOTES: ______ 10 Georgia Association REALTORS® Partners in Education Student Course / Instructor Evaluation Course Name ______Instructor ______Date ______ PLEASE FILL IN THE BUBBLES COMPLETELY SO ANSWERS ARE SCANABLE. Please do NOT use check marks, x's or any other type of mark. The instructor encouraged my participation through questions and answers or exercises. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree The instructor presented ideas clearly and made the subject matter interesting. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree The use of the outline / handouts for study and / or reference was helpful. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree The topic is relevant / helpful to my real estate activities. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree I would want this instructor back. Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Additional Comments: Thank you for your input. (Revised 52017) © 2017 Inspironix, Inc. (916) 4883222 InspiroScan Survey Form PIE Instructor / Course Evaluation v5 Side 1