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How to be a GREAT Blogger

Anyone can blog...well, maybe not. Let's change that to anyone can HAVE a blog.

Having a blog and being a blogger are not one in the same.

So here's a couple of steps to being a GREAT BLOGGER vs. "having" a blog.

1) Listen to your clients and post about things your clients care about

2) Stop talking to agents unless what you are saying to agents expresses a consumer concern that you are helping to fix

3) Say all the things generically to consumers that you privately tell your clients

When you write the top five things buyers should know, make them the top five things real buyers asked you, not the things you WISH they would have asked you.

In other words...keep it REAL.

Posted by ARDELL DellaLoggia on 05/21/2007 12:32 PM

Comments (22)

22 Comments on How to be a GREAT Blogger

MAY

2007

Hey, that's my website your talking about. Seriously, all our marketing should be about answering the client's when they ask "what's in it for me?"

Greg,

A blog is not "marketing" in that sense. If it is, it's not a blog. I haven't looked at your blog, will go peek at it now and come back.

Great point Ardell. Sometimes I feel like I need to be blogging but I can't find the words. Those are the times I need to get back to the basics :0)

Greg,

You need to learn the appropriate use of the "public" vs. "members only" drop down. Many of your public posts should be Members Only.

Same is true for me, but I am under the constraint of the contest. Since Judges are not always members, I have to show publicly that which appears to be speaking to agents about blogging. It is the hardest part of the competition for me. By agreeing to be a Coach, I have turned my blog into an industry talking, blog talking piece of trash. But I'll clean it up by pulling the posts into "members only" when the competitionis over.

That is the beauty of an AR blog. You can refine the public look with editing the drop down from public to members only.

View your blog withou being logged on, and note the posts that are not to consumers or of value to consumers regard real estate, and turn those into Members Only posts.

Come on now Ardell don't sugar coat it for us. Just tell it like it is. ( HE HE HE ) This is why you are in my subscription basket.

You have that Mike Ferry cut to the chase hard hitting point of view. Gotta luv it.

Ardell,

I agree - if you aren't being real on your blog you might as well save some time and scrap it. Posting marketing out of your brochure doesn't work. How many people have read your brochure? If the answer scares you stop posting that information on your blog - it doesn't look any better on the computer screen.

Ross,

See my advices to Greg. You have the same issue.

How many of your real life clients asked you about those topics in the last 12 months. Instead of jotting down ideas to write about, jot down the questions real people ask you every day.

Herb,

I think it just goes with being from Philly. It is both my Crown and my Curse.

Ardell, I have to say that I disagree with you a bit on this one. To me, there is no one set "Way" to blog. We all have our reasons for being on here and one set of criteria for blogging doesn't cut it.

As far as the members only option goes. I've gotten slammed both ways on that one. I'll write a post that says something that I don't think would be of interest to the general public and will mark it "member's only" only to have someone tell me that the public needed to hear that. The the opposite will occur...

I've come to the conclusion to write what and how I want to write and let the chips fall where they may!

Bob Mitchell

ValueList

Ardell,

I was referring to my website. My blogging is to accentuate my website. My bread and butter is my website. The blog posts that you are referring to originally made me stop and contemplate making them private but there is nothing there that I would not discuss with potential clients. Plus, members only blogs don't get crawled by google and I need to add more cached content to my blog to offset the number of outgoing links I have.

I think it's important to mix posts on travelogue-type subjects, to establish your regional bona-fides with those readers considering relocation, with posts on subjects directly of interest to your sphere of influence. Add to that posts about the things that make you tick, so readers can view you as a human who owns a RE business who they'd like to know more about...

Ardell........

My sentiments EXACTLY. :)

Jeff,

Here, courting relos is sometimes not a good thing for a blogger to do. Often they will pick your brain and then either be assigned an agent by relo, or they will be renters.

So it depends on your area. The only time I wasted last year was talking to relocating people. So I court the people who are already here and not the people who may be coming here.

I hear ya, Greg. As I said, I am much in the same boat regarding my AR writings.

Bob,

While you disagree with me in the comment, you clearly agree with me on your blog. Great balance there and several Member's Only posts mixed in with Public ones.

Based on your actions, you do agree with me. You just might not know it :)

Ardell.

Thanks for the tips! Although I mostly post community info, I am working on a new blog with real estate specific information and little community info. I will heed your advice.

Ardell,

I think sometimes people think a member post should be a public post and vice versa..I am not sure which is really true..I guess the writer has their own perception and the reader might have another. Short and sweet and right to the point blog.

MAY

2007

ARDELL, If we all just posted about our daily interactions with clients we'd have so much fodder for a blog, we could post 3 or more entries a day. I posted two today. Finding the time is the problem.

Carol,

Problem with that is confidientiality and so better to wait until the dust settles. But yes, I was going to write a dozen on my blog and link them over. I've had more interesting scenarios in the last week than I can count.

ARDELL, My last month has my blogging idea file full.

I had a house with half a foundation...what do you got?

MAY

2007

Thanks Ardell. Good reality check.

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