While defining my audience though, I have realized that 2 sites will benefit our business and I am working on a second one as we speak – miamism always being our hub and the other one just for the audience and business that the particular readership brings.

I don’t think there’s a right and wrong way – we each need to define our goals and identify aspects of our business that will benefit from the different structures. And yes….i will continue with the mojito vids.

Put another way, the web is your website and search is your navigation. Google doesn’t direct traffic to your sites home page (only 20% of the time), but rather brings their customers to the precise peice of content about which they inquired. More often than not the content lies somwhere dep within your site.

So, you see, the website integrated with blog is irrelevant. Consumers doing research online and finding the content that satisifues each unique search request is much more relevant.

The battle for eyeballs will be fought on the open and distributed web. Think distributed!

In my estimation, having more than one site creates more issues than it solves. First, there is the management side of things, double hosting, maintenance, etc. That is a royal PITA.

From a marketing perspective, I think it can fracture your brand. Multiple sites can lead to sending multiple messages. I don’t want to send multiple messages. I want to send one message– “come HERE for everything you need.” I don’t want to say, “come here, and go there, and oh, go over there, too, because I own them all.”

On of the main reasons that I think agents maintain two separate sites is there is a psychological comfort in it. The agent thought process goes something like this– “Blogging is new, and trendy, and kinda edgy. What if it doesn’t work? What if people hate it? What if it doesn’t generate any leads? OMG, I can’t give up my static site, it is trustworthy and safe. It is my rock.”

What most agents are missing is exactly what Kelley said– a blog is merely a platform, a vehicle, a means by which you can do what you have always done, only better.

While the new StrongTeamRealtors.com is being built on the Wordpress platform, and blogging will be a component of what we do there, you will never hear us refer to it as a blog (not publicly, anyway). Consumers don’t care if the thing is Wordpress, or Point2, they don’t care if it is a blog-based CMS or Joomla, they just want information, advice and expertise. Our job is to choose the most effective way to deliver it, all in one place.

LOL, glad I could help. Having people answer their own questions is ideal.

@Todd -

If having two sites with two URL’s is beneficial for Kelley, then wouldn’t it be better with three sites? Why not four? Fifteen? As you say, with RSS and master CSS file, connecting 20 sites together into a seamless experience is no big deal.

@Jeff -

So the link to IDX, link to Relay, links to YouTube, etc. can’t exist on your blog? Why not? Widgets from Trulia and such could go on a blog just as easily as they could go on a ‘website’.

But your site and your blog seem to serve totally different purposes, which then perhaps means they need to be separate.

-rsh

While I started with just my primary website at http://www.jeffreydouglass.com which is produced on the Mac, I soon found that the blogging portion was not good enough for my needs and went to Word Press. And yet I need the main website for more visual postings and more commercial aspects of my business. In fact I think that most REALTORS are using a combination of many websites that are linked together for a seamless experience. For instance I have a link IDX property searches, a link to Relay, which is a on-line transaction management with client access. I also use links to single property websites, links to You Tube, and widgets for Trulia and other real estate related information. I guess what I am trying to say is there is no universal tool to rule them all, YET anyway! Nothing more sinister than that.

However, I like the idea of multiple sites. The way Kelley’s sites are set up, people who come to the blog get the blog experience. People who come to housechick.com get the blog integrated, all-in-one experience. The magic of RSS and matching CSS takes care of connecting the two into a seamless experience between both sites.

Best of both worlds if you ask me.

Wait, I think I just answered my own question. Thanks, Rob!

~Heather