This is a success story of a little blog that convinced me that being a Rainmaker is the best thing I have going for me in my real estate business - how the power of one blog post written by an amateur writer could make the difference between looking for a job and looking for an assistant.
My daughter, Annie, is a virtual assistant and does my website - she signed me up for Active Rain and mentioned it about 6 months later. She didn't know anything about real estate, but recognized that Active Rain is a powerful real estate site, even then. (Are your kids smarter than you, too?) I didn't know what a blog was or that it could propel my little website to the first page of Google for a whole lot of keywords.
I didn’t even know what a url was, keyword, link - I didn’t even know how to text! I was 55 years old - old dogs can’t learn new tricks, right? Hey - was I ever wrong about that!
A few months later, I was exploring the blogs on Active Rain, and thought, “I can do this.”
Hey - I was right about that! I started reading blogs on how to blog - I learned it right here on Active Rain. Soon, this old dog was using and getting business from those new tricks. My daughter is now my virtual assistant and webmaster - she built my Mesquite NV Homes and Condos website herself - her first website. ($4.95 a month plus $7.00 per year for the url) It moved from page 88 to page 1 of Google for many keywords since I joined AR and started blogging. It only took about 5 posts.
All of my business is coming from my AR blog and the links to my website from it. I don't mail stuff, I don't do floor time, I don't cold call. I blog on Active Rain. My website traffic increased dramatically when I added Hit Router, too. It goes right to my Mesquite Nevada MLS signup page that my daughter created for me - we don’t have IDX here, yet - but it is working well because of my AR blog links to it.
I wrote this post about Sun City Mesquite before I had learned how to use keywords, add pictures and links. I went back later and added them - the page views and clicks increased immediately and have been going up ever since - now 9121 page views and 7605 clicks on that one blog post and still going. I didn’t know it then, but that is HUGE. People were finding my blog from keyword searches.
Anyway - one Friday, I got a phone call from an out of state buyer who said they were coming to town to buy a house in Sun City Mesquite.
I said, “Who referred you to me?”
“Oh, we have been reading your blog for awhile and decided to call you when we are ready.”
Well, they were ready - they bought a new spec home in Sun City Monday morning with cash and it closed 2 weeks later.
I still didn’t get it. I thought I just got lucky.
Same week, I got another call from the same old post. They bought a new house on the next street.
Then I got it. So I wrote a few more posts about the same hot neighborhood and put them on my AR outside blog - everything about real estate goes there now - I don’t want to share my page views, the only face on my outside blog is mine. The only links on my outside blog are mine. All mine.
End of story of that one blog post?
No. It is still working for me. When sellers google their neighborhood, they are looking for someone who knows something about it. And they are looking for a real estate agent that will provide lots of visibility for their property - they want it on the internet, not just on Realtor.com and other bulk sites.
I have 2 current listings from that post, one of which closes escrow next week - the buyer‘s agent sent my blog post about it to the out of state buyer. :)
My other Sun City Mesquite resale home for sale will sell soon - no doubt about that - My AR Google juice is working on that one.
EDIT - SOLD - from a call on the above blog!
Another in escrow with a buyer who lives in Saudi Arabia and called on my blog. She is building a new Sun City home, will be done in September.
And one more in escrow from it - I am not sure which post in the series this buyer saw first - same subdivision - closes in August. Number 5!
Last week Annie added a page to my website just for Sun City Mesquite Resales. Of course, it is ranked already and comes right up in searches - because I link to it from my blogs.
I am a Rainmaker - my blog is viral!
Any questions about why you should be a Rainmaker, too?
I believe in paying it forward. Call me if you need any help with your AR blog. 702.622.1177
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