NewTampaHomes.blogspot.com recently had its second birthday. I remembered yesterday when I was answering questions from another Tampa realtor® who wanted advice on starting a blog. Little did I realize two years ago that this blog would evolve into what it is today!
When I first started this blog, blogging was not well known; certainly not local community/real estate blogging. I created the blog back then because I found it hard to find one source for the latest local information that I felt necessary for a better knowledge of the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area as a local real estate agent.
My blog posts tend to be “snippets” of the local information that relate to the blog. If I write a post that may have more specific importance to the readers, they have the responsibility to seek out additional details as required. Additionally, the blog has “labels” in the right sidebar where people can find previous posts that relate to the topic, making searches on the blog easier; a feature that I even occasionally use.
The blogging technology has improved significantly over two years. Blogger (Blogspot) got bought out by Google and the formatting on Blogspot has become much easier and more stable. Additionally, the use of new third party formats compatible with blogging, now makes it easier to have more photo enriched concise posts for the reader.
I have found that blogging requires an enormous amount of discipline. (Technorati says that only 50% of bloggers are still posting three months after they start a blog.) Sure it takes some time, but not as much as you would think! It has allowed me to become a resource to the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel community on the latest developments. Surprisingly, two years later, the overwhelming majority of real estate agents still don’t blog. Not yet at least! Many are afraid of the technology and others are not disciplined enough to maintain a blog or choose not to make the time to blog. According to the National Association of Realtors®, only 4% of realtors® blog. (Gee, I have more than one.)
Occasionally I am asked why readers can’t post directly to my blog. Early on I had the feature, but found the effort to police/censor comments to be tedious. You wouldn’t believe what some people would write! I visited some local forums and was horrified over what was posted on them as well. Since I didn’t want to be associated with these types of comments and preferred not to be the censor, I removed the comment feature. I have considered opening up the “blog” to comments again, but remain reluctant. For now, readers can contact me via e-mail or phone; so perhaps www.newtampahomes.blogspot.com is more of a community online magazine dedicated to New Tampa and Wesley Chapel new businesses, real estate issues, road improvements, etc. than a true blog.
Where do the posts come from? I read more than two local newspapers daily, national magazines, speak to local builder representatives regularly and occasionally to county government representatives, and I am a member of real estate social networking sites. Additionally, I have to thank the readers of this blog, because many times YOU are the ones who give me a “tip” on new local stories or developments.
I realize that the length of this post deviates from my usual snippet. Back to snippets after this! Yes, I always keep my camera in my vehicle; I never know what could become tomorrow’s post on this blog!
Russ Perlowski, People’s Choice Realty (813) 494-2124 Info@tampahomesontheweb.com .
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