How do we make our blogs interesting to readers? This question is always on my mind when I think of the next topic for my post. Some say “don’t worry, just write what’s on your mind. Blog is like a diary, or a day in the life of…”. My idea is to write about things that are useful to the readers, about what's on my potential clients mind. But how do I know that and how do I judge interest. Does lack of contact from consumers, mean my posts are not interesting, or may be they are just not found?

When it comes to writing for the AR audience it seems it should be easier, since we are here mostly for the same reasons, and we do get  feedback through comments. But is it really the case?  I was reading Broker’s Bryant post today and realized, that he understands exactly what his readers want –information that is practical and useful. It made me think of what makes an ideal post for me to read. I came up with one word answer - SPECIFIC.  I come to Active Rain to learn (among other things) and the best learning is when I can implement what I learned. So, what is it that I am interested in learning and reading about? I am interested in learning about successful marketing strategies, improving my blogging techniques and results, SEO, technical information helping me to do my business better, and ideas to better serve my clients.
With this in mind, if I could custom order a post, which would be of most help to me, this would be my order.

Marketing Posts

These are the ones I really want to see a lot of. So, here is my ideal, by way of an example. Let’s say the post has to do with a winning expired letters strategy. I would like to see in a post like this a SPECIFIC example of a winning “expired” letter. This is exactly what Broker Bryant did in his post and that was great value. When I read posts about a strategy that works, I am happy for that person. But if the information is generic and not SPECIFIC, and I can’t take this information and apply it to my own business, it is less valuable. I understand that people may not want to share the specifics, that being their “trade secret”, and that generic post serve as self-promotion, and that’s fine. But it’s not my ideal read.

Client- Related Posts – Case Studies

We want to do the best job possible for our clients –that’s another reason we are here. So again, by way of an example, let’s say there was a challenging client situation. I would like to read how SPECIFICALLY (without disclosing names) such situation was handled. I would like to learn about what produced positive as well as negative results. Doctors actually discuss on their professional network real patient case studies, so they can provide better care. If we do it on AR, posts like that can help us be better agents for our clients.


Technical Posts

Technical posts would have step-by-step instructions, hopefully with screen shots, or HTML code, or whatever is appropriate, and address the most inexperienced reader. The experienced ones, can skip it altogether, or go to the point that interests them. AR has an amazing number of people that write posts just like that. For example Cheryl Johnson writes posts like that: is extremely detailed, illustrated, and implementable.

SEO Posts

For things related to blogging and SEO, “case studies”, based on a real blog, describing, for example
The right and the wrong key words;
Ways to generate back links;
Sample content that is rich in key-words, but not stuffed and punishable by Goggle;
Comparisons to competitive sites;
What and how non-AR blogs should be different. One example of such post is by Brad Anderson.

There are people on AR whose business is to providing this advice, and it may not be possible to write such detailed and specific posts for free. 


Localism Posts

These posts are directed to the consumers and are usually of little interest to AR members. Why would someone in California care about some local events or markets in New Jersey?  My answer is because we are consumers, and can provide value by reading these posts with a consumer hat on.  If you were reading my blog as a consumer would you be interested and engaged, or bored to death? It would be of great value for me to know, so I can improve my game. The way it can be done is through comments on the blog, if you like it, and private e-mails if you have Specific suggestions for improvements.

For my ideal post I wouldn't want to just say “Great Post”, I want to say “Great post - I will use your suggestions“. To me this is a million dollar difference.

If we speak up as readers, we should benefit as writers, and by extension - our clients by getting insightful, engaging and relevant real estate information.

I would like to know, what is your "ideal" post are what is most helpful to others on Active Rain and to their clients?