Blog like you Stole it....the Idea Anyway

Most of you that are involved with real estate have heard about the importance of blogging and how, with relatively little effort, it can impact your business, yet so many postpone getting involved. I believe that this is because of the fear of the unknown (how to get started) or the fear of being judged by their writing skills or ideas. The first step is to just start writing. That’s right, get off the fence and start moving those little appendages attached to your hands….

One way to approach this project is to think about your perspective and hone your online personality through practice and action. Join online groups that are aligned with your interests and pay attention to writing styles that you admire or make an impression…then imitate. Your own techniques will surface and the personality will be reflected in your writing style helps to connect with people on a personal level. No one wants to communicate with a brand and it’s hard to relate to a logo or a repost of the latest market report.

Finding interesting topics to write about can be as simple as subscribing to local or national online news outlets, they don’t even have to be directly real estate related, but keeping up with trends can give you plenty of ideas from which to spin fresh content. Don’t be afraid to write about topics that top bloggers write about. There is nothing wrong about forming your own opinion and presenting that opinion regardless of the source of inspiration. Most likely that blogger was inspired by someone else as well.

One way to build credibility is to write on subjects that you’re interested in writing about. Formulating thoughts and ideas on subjects that we feel passionate about is substantially easier than trying to squeeze creativity out of a topic that we have little interest in. Comment on others blogs posts that you find intriguing, that could be the thrust that gets you motivated to write a more in depth perspective on the same subject or take it in a different direction.

For the real estate industry, writing a blog post that offers a “how to” or “guide to” can generate more interest than a general description of the local real estate market. Enticing people to click through to your website or pick up the phone is of course the ultimate goal so leave them wanting more information. The trick in doing this is to bait the content with a link that inspires a click through. For example, offering the secrets to real estate internet marketing might result in a click through because the reader understands that something of value is being offered at another web page.

Don’t forget that your objective is to market you as the expert and the “go to” person for advice or a qualified take on the latest real estate trend. Pepper keywords conservatively in the body of your post for the search engines as well because getting search engine generated traffic is critical for business. That’s where your market is, so you had better be there too. Now get busy and go forth and conquer!

Anita Koppens