WELCOME TO THE WEB!

We’re delighted to announce the launch of www.DesertDwellersRealty.com, the real estate broker website of Desert Dwellers. The site features integrated IDX property searches and individual web pages for each of the Desert Dwellers agents. The site also boasts RSS news feeds, dynamic content (CMS) and a host of links, area information and tools.

Welcome to the web!

One of the best parts of my job

I love it when a website goes live. Weeks or months of work have come to this moment. Even though the site owner(s) know what the site looks like, there is still a feeling of seeing something for the first time. The vision is a reality.

I say this today because I’m proud to announce to launch of www.PattyFusco.com, the real estate site of (you guessed it) Patty Fusco. Featuring many standard “realtor” site features such as listings and MLS searches, the site also offers market analysis, trends and reports.

What’s more, unlike many conventional agent sites, this one is 100% custom, with a supporting content management system that allows Patty to update, refresh or remove her own conent.

Saying “your site is live, congratulations” is one of the best parts of my job and a major reason why I do this for a living.

Have a great weekend!

Blog or website…or both?

Several of my clients have raised the question of blogging recently. Concerns run the gamut from “what should I write about?” to “what it no one reads it?” Questions that I’m sure we’ve all asked from time to time and ones which I do my best to help them resolve.

One of my clients, however, asked me about whether he should bother with a site at all and perhaps just start a blog. He’s a business coach and the nature of his work and his communication frequency and style make the idea of a blog instead of a site (at least to begin with) something worth considering.

I found the “blog vs site” question a thought-provoking one. I could see some immediate benefits to the “blog only” approach, the first being the “free is good” factor, but also the flexibility and ease-of-use that the big blogging sites WordPress, Blogger, etc give someone who may not be very technical and wants the to “play around” with ideas. Plus, you can virtually build the remaining “site” components using many of the available gadgets that integrate with these tools.

On the flip side, a web site is (in theory) lower maintenance, more fixed than dynamic. There is somewhat more flexibility with customization, less “template”, more built-in “intelligence”(optional) and application support with a custom site, though some of the blog applications are challenging that theory.

Blogs take more commitment, time to manage and moderate, but they can engage the audience quickly and get a conversation going, essential if your business is communication.

I did some digging around the web and found that there had been some discussion on the issue a couple of years ago, when blogs were really just starting to reach the world at large.

Then I hit the jackpot, an article by Darren Rowse, aka @problogger. It’s titled “Should I Change My Website Into a Blog?” and for anyone considering that question or variations of it should read his post.