1. The most important reason for hosting your community blog off of your website is for search engine optimization reasons. Since your community blog will likely consist of topics that are unrelated to real estate it will dilute the real estate theme of your main website. That's not good for either your blog or your website.
Google and other search engines strive to bring users to the most useful information based on their search query. If, for example, someone does a search for Maui Real Estate the search engines will take into account the theme of the sites about Maui real estate. If one site is only about Maui real estate and another is about Maui real estate and non-real estate related topics (speed bumps, street lights, etc.) the site about Maui real estate is more likely to be shown first. You do not want to dilute your primary real estate website with a community site for just that reason.
2. A link from your homepage to any other page on your real estate website adds little value to your page rank. On the other hand a link from another website to your website can be of great SEO value. If you have a link from your community blog to your real estate website it is more valuable than a link from the blog on your website to your website.
Blogging on your real estate website can be a very good SEO practice if you write about real estate. If you write about anything else, community issues for example, it is doing you more harm than good.
3. Here at VisOnTheNet we advocate online interaction with customers and potential customers alike; but alas, isn't there always an exception to the rule? A effective community blog needs to allow neighbors to comment, but do you really want those comments on your professional website? Probably not.
Not only will comments posted by visitors dilute your content, but they could make you look like a fool. Imagine having another real estate agent critiquing your advice on your website for all of your business prospects to see!
4. If you want your community blog to succeed, (and by that I mean successfully promote you as the real estate agent of choice) you must stay fresh in the eyes, minds, and hearts of the potential home buyers and sellers in that community. You want people to like you, respect you and stay in contact with you..... especially when it comes time for them to buy or sell their next home! You also want them to see you as the real estate expert in their community ... and you can do that on the community blog.
On the other hand, if you try to create a community blog on your real estate website, neighbors are going to see right through your game. More importantly they are not going to take your site seriously because it will reek of self-promotion. The answer is to do your self-promotion on a real community blog where it will not only be tolerated but appreciated.
For more information on how to farm a community visit us at VisOnTheNet.com
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