Hosting a Real Estate Blog

What's the best way to host a real estate blog?In short...
Register your own domain name (www.mydomainname.com)
Find webspace on a host other than the host your agent site is hosted on
Use a well known blogging platform (Blogger, WordPress, TypePad)One of the biggest reasons for creating a real estate blog, is to help build PageRank to your agent website. Think of it as a tool to create some backlinks to your agent site, in addition to driving some referrals.When Google evaluates all the websites that link to your agent site, it doesn't count every inbound link. Inbound links from sites that are spammish, or where links appeared to have been sold, or sites that have no editorial oversight, are ignored and don't transfer any PageRank to your site.But Google seems to like blogs, particularly those with lots of content, and content that isn't duplicated on other sites. So by creating your own blog, on its own domain name, and on a server other than the one your agent site is hosted on, it's an easy way to get one or more backlinks counted towards your PageRank.The reason why you want to host the blog on its own domain name is because these blogs carry more PageRank value, as opposed to blogs hosted on Blogger's, WordPress', or TypePad's subdomain.The reason why you want to host the blog on a server other than the server your agent site is hosted on, is because this mimics a real life scenario where someone else is linking to you. There's concensus that when two websites are hosted on the same IP address, Google can tell that these two sites are owned by the same owner.Lastly, the reason why you want to use a well-known blogging platform is because Google seems to know these platforms better. I'm convinced that Google prefers blogs from Blogger, because of the fact that Google owns Blogger. But, I know there are many people who will argue that Google plays no favorites.If you don't know how to set up a blog in this fashion, any website design company can do it for you. The company that set up your agent site can do it for you.And you don't need to stop at just one blog. You can set up a blog for real estate matters in your hometown. Another blog for real estate in general. Another blog for just what's going on in your community. Another blog for your personal stuff. Another blog for your hobbies....On each blog, link to your agent site. You don't need to link from your agent site to your blog(s) however. Through an RSS feed, and by pinging Google's BlogSearch, Google will automatically find your blog.When you link to your agent site from a blog, do it from within an article. You can also do it from a "Blogroll" on a side bar, but linking from within an article is seen by Google as having greater value.