I think that it is mostimportant to blog about Real Estate on your blog but it is also important to post blogs about the area as well.  At least that will be seen as pertinent information for leads considering a move to the area.  When people are moving from out of town, they not only want to work with someone who is knowledgeable about real estate, they also want someone who is knowledgeable about that area as well.  See you at the Tomato.

Love writing and blogging and am working on improving every day to enhance my value to potential clients... not Google.

XXOO

Blogging about the area is about Real Estate.  We don't just move into a house, but a neighborhood.  Most clients want to know where they can shop, eat, walk, take the dogs, buy groceries, etc.  My old manager used to tell the story about the restaurant reviews he did in his newsletter that became a must read. 

Thanks for the post I am new at this blogging and such so any good information, I appreciate.

Of course we should blog about real estate, but much of selling real estate is selling lifestyle, so it's important - IMHO - that we write about the lifestyle as well. Someone has to want to live in our area before they want to buy a property here.

As the owner of a for sale by owner advertising service in Massachusetts, I introduced a series of articles for our monthly real estate magazine which focused on local communities in Western Mass.  I invited local college students who were majoring in journalism/English/marketing to discover a community and write about it from an angle that was not easily provided in some of the cookie cutter town websites.  We were very pleased with the efforts and results and intend on continuing the series in our new Buyer's Guide To 4 Sale By Owner & Builder. The authors were not paid for their articles/photos, but did get reprint rights for their portfolios as they became legitimate published authors.  We have considered doing snippits of our community articles to include in our blog here on Active Rain or in our Massachusetts 4 Sale By Owner Real Estate Blog

I disagree, many people are calling me or emailing me because I know about the area and the communities.

I've been researching Realty Blogging and research indicates that blogging is brand building. In essence we as Realtors are building our brand and positioning ourselves as the experts. As a blogger, we are creating our own niches by localization. As we localize ourselves Googles search engine picks up on key identifiers. Search engines pick up on these identifers from blogs more than web-sites. With this being said, your blog will rise to the top of the search engine based on key words or tags.  Choose your tags and be consistent. This is what brands you and creates your niche in the marketplace...

Thanks for the post. I often wondered about it. I will read the entire article.

Tomato, I don't have great expectations in wining any biz or even leads from my blogging.  So far I have learned much more, your biog being a good example, than I have "given" so far, so for me it has been a gold mine of marketing ideas.  But I also feel it does provide some degree of branding and awareness.  With more eyeballs on the Internet looking for homes than are reading our printed Real Estate Book these days, it seems that the Internet is the place to be, so blogging is a powerful tool for us and best of all, for the most part , its free.  When was the last time time an agent or broker had a real estate  column published in their local newspaper that the paper didnt charge for?

My gut tells me this blogging thing has some traction, if I can find the right trails........thanks for the post!

 Also, love your site! 

Rich,

Whether directly or indirectly, I believe that a dedication to (solid) blogging is going to improve anyone's career... be it RE, or any other consulting business.  Right on, Man.  Glad to have your readership.

Thank you for the great post.  Very Informative, I hope that more of us put that good advice to practice. I know I will.