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Your Blogging Voice... Where is it? (Realty Blogging Review #2)

By
Real Estate Agent with The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty

 First, I must convey the complete IRONY of this post, I am battling a particularly odd bout of Laryngitis, and, well ... I can't speak. (Or when I do try to talk, I sound like the punchline to a joke that starts, "What do you get when you cross a dying duck and a sick donkey?")

In reading Realty Blogging, I have already learned a lot about the different facets of blogging, and I'm not even done. If you haven't already, please check out the review and discussion on the first couple chapters ...here- in Carole Cohen's Blog, I Think Therefore I Blog: Realty Blogging Says Be a Groundbreaker...Blog Now!

"In the age of self-service mega stores and non-personal online shopping, blogs can be an integral part of keeping you connected with your community." (p.36) As I had mentioned in Carole's blog, blogging makes the blogger (us) ... Human. Although SEO and blog platforms are very important for our online businesses, how the public perceives us is #1 ... at least to me. For as impersonal as our lives have become in this Information Age, adding the "Human Touch" may be the single best thing you can do for your business, and blogging is a perfect way to do this.

"Blogs let Realtors become People" (p.37) ...Yay! I'm Human! I'm not just another airbrushed face in a polyester suit plastered on a bus stop bench! A blog tells the world, "I (Realtor) have a life, and it is quite interesting actually. I also know a lot about some very important stuff, and Guess What? I love to share all of this, right here, on a regular basis. So, (reader) keep coming back - There will always be something new  for you to learn!"

Like the Realty Blogging book says on pages 37-38, "Blogging creates relationships ... [through] honesty, transperency and passion... [and is] where others can come to learn from you - not to be sold" (There are so many excellent statements and ideas in this book ... I have already worn through a highlighter!)

HOW?       How can we convey this "human real-ness" as a blogger?

Among many other great ideas and pointers that this book makes (C'mon ..Buy the book, - come read and learn along with us...) one of the hardest and most important, in my opinion is ...

                                                                          Find Your Voice.

  • Find your "voice" and stick with it.
  • You will know your "voice" when you find it... and it will come naturally. It will feel real... and people love "real"
  • Read some great bloggers - one of the things that make them "great" is their voice. It differentiates them from others.
  • Your voice is what brings that element of HUMAN to your blog- a sense of personality. Experiment until you get the response from readers that you are happy with. Once you find your voice- stick with it and your blog will 'pop' and it will come alive!

Find your voice. (and if you find an extra one, send it my way...?) Your voice will put the "Real" in your Real Estate Blog.

Check out the Book Club for some great Blogging Resource Blogs ...

Posted by

       Posted By: Derek and Mariana Wagner - Springs Top Agents

Keller Williams Premier
(719) 434-7525    SpringsTopAgents.com

Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®

Teresa~ Yes! Finding your voice IS difficult. It is also a hard concept to grasp - but it is one of those things ... you know it when you find it! Congrats!

Lauren~ Thank you. Do you have the book yet?

Ines~  Yay!! (Fingers crossed) ((as I sit here imagining you doing the Cabbage Patch)) We will sure welcome Mr.Chaney!

Dec 03, 2006 08:30 AM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO

Here I was, all alone at 3 am and excited to tell you all!  Hi ladies! 

Dec 03, 2006 08:37 AM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®

Carole! I know!! How exciting!!

(I feel slightly famous!! ... do you?)

Dec 03, 2006 08:42 AM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO

This was our fifteen minutes of fame? LOL

Dec 03, 2006 08:44 AM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO
what I really liked about it was to read his post and his enthusiasm for the book (Paul Chaney's)  -  blogging is one of those things that gets the juices flowing and boy I could 'hear' it in his comments.  And yes it felt good to be a part of that!
Dec 03, 2006 08:49 AM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®
No kidding!! It must be nice to know that when you put your heart & soul into something, it gets appreciated! You could tell that he was happy that his book had fans! Whoo Hoo!
Dec 03, 2006 09:03 AM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO

Do you have time to meet in the 'Book Club' post? Ines? TLW? Monika? Ann? I think we need a meeting of the minds! lol  Or tell me when we can have it later?

Dec 03, 2006 09:07 AM
Barry Hurd
123 Social Media - Seattle, WA

Can we invite Paul Chaney for a "live" chat ? Would be so fun to interact about the book here on AR!

Mr. Chaney- would you like to join us for a book club round table?

 

~This is Mr Chaney's secretary (LoL, thats what I feel like!)


I will track down Mr Chaney and let him know. We do a weekly webinar for BloggingSystems and I'm sure we can setup a Richard and Paul round-table for everyone. 

Dec 05, 2006 03:32 PM
Anonymous
Paul Chaney

Mariana,

You, Carole, and everyone in the book club have been so kind to Richard and I in terms of your response to this book. Wow! I cannot thank you enough.

I would be more than happy to sit in on a discussion about Realty Blogging, and I know Richard would as well. So, the answer is "yes!" to Michele's suggestion.

Paul

Dec 06, 2006 12:19 AM
#67
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®

Paul- Hello! and thank you for stopping by. You guys wrote such a great book - it's hard not to have a great response to it!  You have to know where this all started though - a blog by our Blog Queen, Mary McKnight, here in Active Rain. After her recommendation, I went straight to Amazon and purchased it.

We will get a discussion put together - How Fun!!
~Mariana

Dec 06, 2006 01:32 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL

This is so exciting!  a visit from the author to your post!  Congratulations, and thank you Paul, we look forward to the discussion.

Ines

Dec 06, 2006 03:44 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL
LADIES. YOU HAVE MADE ME SO PROUD JUST LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED HERE. MAN THIS IS GREAT. TLW...ROAR!
Dec 06, 2006 01:29 PM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO
It goes to show you (with Paul Chaney's generous spirit) that there is nothing we can't learn if we all work together. I don't want to sound corny, but that's how I feel.
Dec 06, 2006 01:36 PM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®
Together Everybody Achieves More
Dec 07, 2006 02:45 AM
Debbie DiFonzo
Debbie DiFonzo - United Country VIP Realty, SW Missouri - Lebanon, MO
Lebanon MO and Buffalo Missouri Real Estate
Thanks Mariana - I started reading this book before finding ActiveRain and before this board. I need to go back and start over - you made some great points I didn't catch!
Dec 08, 2006 07:13 AM
William Collins
ERA Queen City Realty - Scotch Plains, NJ
Property and Asset Management

Mariana,

Thanks for the post. "Realty Blogging" is the destination.

Dec 25, 2006 06:20 AM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®
It is SO worth it ... a MUST READ. You will love it.
Dec 25, 2006 03:14 PM
Judy Cicalese
William Raveis Real Estate - New Canaan, CT
Market Knowledge-Social Media Savvy 203-638-7812
I discovered this book when I took my E-Pro course.  I bought the book and then I found AR.  I think it's time to go back and re-read so that I can begin my journey fresh.  I've been reading, reading and reading here on AR and have not done much posting.  I haven't found my voice yet.  So much info here - I need to re-focus and I will.  thanks for the reminder!
Jun 03, 2007 04:53 AM
Derek and Mariana Wagner
The Artisan Group- Keller Williams Premier Realty - Colorado Springs, CO
The Artisan Group - Colorado Springs REALTORS®
Judy, I found that the more I wrote/blogged - the easier it was to find my voice. It is a living process- and my voice changes continually, like my blog is in a perpetual state of puberty? Don't be afraid to start...
Jun 03, 2007 05:50 AM
Tina Merritt
Nest Realty - Blacksburg, VA
Virginia Real Estate
I HAVE to get this book!
Dec 10, 2007 02:21 AM