We all have different reasons for blogging, but I think we can agree that getting business from it is the top priority. When I started blogging last year here in Active Rain, I got something I never expected from this network, camaradery, useful information and friends!
But after months of blogging and not seeing any business coming my way I started thinking that the ROB (return on blogging) was not really there and that's when Paul Chaney invited me to be his apprentice for Project Blogger. Yes I worked my tail off and yes I started Miamism, my outside blog. But most importantly, I started getting real estate business from my blog.
What was I doing differently after Project Blogger that all of a sudden began bringing me business?
- It forced me to find a balance from the types of posts I write (local events, architecture, real estate stories). This post talks about the importance of balance (especially for search engines).
- It force me to identify my audience and focus on writing to them.
- It forced me to organize my thoughts and not to just post arbitrarily (I very seldom write 2 local event posts back to back, or two architectural posts back to back - If I feel inspired, I write it and leave it as a draft and then post it a couple of days later).
- I concentrate on keyword rich content- you need to narrow your topics down in your blog and concentrate on those keywords (I'm still working on that one by the way).
- I started reading a lot more blogs inside and outside Active Rain.
- I began to search for very local blogs in my area that were not about Real Estate and have created relationships with them.
So where am I going with this? I wanted to share something that happened from the blog that was so minute, but If I would have missed the bigger picture, I wouldn't be writing about it now. A lady contacted me from across the country telling me that she had read my blog, we thought I was a nice person and she wanted to know if I would help her find a rental property in Miami.
Although we don't do rentals, how could I refer her to someone? I had to live up to my blog's expectations. So I sent her a list of rentals in the area and the one she liked had no photos.(doesn't that surprise you?....NOT).
I called the listing agent about the photos and she told me she was an investor, it was her own property and she wasn't very good with the computer and had no intentions of taking photos. That's when I had to stop and ask myself - would it be worth it to go take pictures of this property, or should I just skip it and spend more time with my real paying customers?
I decided the property was close by, took about 20 photos of the place, e-mailed them to her and guess what? Not only did she rent the place, but has sent business my way. The listing agent was so impressed with my service that she will now have me list her properties as well. And the customer will buy in a year and will use me as her real estate agent.
The lesson behind this is that blogging is about a lot more than writing your thoughts down as they come. You need to be a responsible blogger and offer the service you write about, even if it means going outside of your comfort zone. For those that are frustrated about not getting business, stop what you are doing and study the nature of the blog, identify your goals, and blog on!
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