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Five minutes with Matt Mullenweg

Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress, delivered the opening keynote on Thursday at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas. After the session, I was able to talk with him one-on-one for a few minutes.

Just 23 years old, Matt grew up in Houston, where his family is involved in real estate, and now lives in San Francisco. Here's part of our conversation:

JN: After starting on ActiveRain, many real estate agents go on to create WordPress sites. What's a good source for 'tips and tricks' to help us build our sites?

MM: Lorelle has an awesome blog on WordPress.com that's great for people who are getting into blogging. It's at Lorelle.WordPress.com.
JN: What advice do you have specifically for real estate agents about how to get the most out of blogging?
MM: Be personal, let them see who you really are. And don't be afraid to be critical. If you're a univeral cheerleader your readers will see that and move on. If something needs to be challenged, be critical, but not in a destructive way.

For more from Matt, read "WordPress founder looks into blogging's future" from the c|net News blog, or click on the video below.

Posted by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate on 11/10/2007 03:31 PM

Comments (10)

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10 Comments on Five minutes with Matt Mullenweg

A little over a year ago I wasn't even sure what blogging was. Thanks to an invite from Maureen McCabe, I got started on ActiveRain, and this post puts me over 200,000. For everything that I've gained from blogging and networking with other bloggers, it seemed appropriate to write about one of the founders. Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and encouraged me along the way!

11/10/2007 03:45 PM

by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

Hi John,

Congrats on the points. I just broke 20,000 yesterday and felt like Hercules. You must be Zues.

I dig this line: "And don't be afraid to be critical..." "If something needs to be challenged, be critical, but not in a destructive way."

That resonates with me.

11/10/2007 06:52 PM

by Michael Tarabotto (Certified Appraiser) Santa Clarita, San Fernando, Westside (California Appraisal Solutions Corp.)

John way to go on getting to 200K. I have created a few outside blogs on WordPress.com and .org and I find that the .org version would be the way to go for agents that really want the google juice.

I read Matts blog all the time and he is pretty amazing for being so young. Thanks for bringing this forward.

11/10/2007 08:43 PM

by Jay McGillicuddy~Real Estate Broker (Prudential Verani Realty)

congrats on the 200k and thanks for all the points (AR.) And for joining.

he's only 23?????? Good info. I took a quiz what blog celebrity are you most like and I was most like Matt Mullenweg. Matt Mullenweg took the test and he was most like Jason Calacanis....

I envy your meeting Matt M and going to BlogWorld Expo.

11/10/2007 11:37 PM

by Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate (Real Living HER)

Michael - Thank you! That same line really impacted me too. People want to see both sides of an issue, not just the positives.

11/11/2007 11:39 AM

by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

Jay - I agree with you on .org versus .com. I'm putting together two other sites that are hosted on BlueHost (recommended by Mark Flanders). Matt has certainly accomplished a lot at 23, and the great thing about it is that he's still very approachable.

11/11/2007 12:03 PM

by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

Yeah, I don't know if you read my wordpress to hell and back post but .org can be frustrating at times. Mark Flanders helped me big time and Blue Host, who is not my hosting company helped me a lot too and I will be switching over to them in the near future.

11/11/2007 03:40 PM

by Jay McGillicuddy~Real Estate Broker (Prudential Verani Realty)

Maureen - You're more than welcome! I was suprised Matt was so young, too. He kind of reminded me of the comedian and television actor Dave Foley. It was a thrill thinking 'I'm talking to the guy that started WordPress.' Where was the blog celebrity quiz? That sounds interesting!

11/11/2007 07:35 PM

by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

Jay - I did see that post, and was really impressed by how much Mark knows about WordPress and how willing he was to help. Says a lot about Mark, and says a lot about the culture of our network.

11/11/2007 07:39 PM

by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

I bloggged about it back in mid Septeber on ActiveRain, I found it on PlanetWordPress.com in an entry Matt wrote but I had not as yest sorted out who Matt was... "Take Technosailors's Self-Importance Test Which "web celebrity" are you most like when it comes to 'Self-Importance?"

The blogger from Technosailor came and commented and explained the scale of self importance...

11/12/2007 06:48 AM

by Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate (Real Living HER)

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