NAR reports that 100% of home buyers and sellers will use the internet as a implemental part of their buying and/or selling process by 2010. They also report that about 9% of Realtors currently have a blog. Does this represent a fantastic divergence of supply and demand? I think so. The market is SCREAMING at us that they want us to have a blog! A blog is the best tool you can use to build a network online and become an integral part of your community. Whether you’re online in a big way or not…that’s where your potential clients are. So basically if you’re not there, you’re not even giving yourself a chance.

Do I think having a blog is mandatory? I want to answer this carefully, because I don’t want to be too over the top, but I will say this: if you do not have one, you are seriously imparing your ability to leverage your time and connect with people in a meaningful way. You are also not connecting with people where they are wanting to connect with you. You’re increasingly requiring that they step out of their element to get in touch with you.

That said, I do talk with an increasing number of real estate professionals who are interested in getting started blogging. It’s understandable. Blogging is an ideal way to connect with a large number of people in a personal way. It is also a highly cost effective marketing tool. I just launched this particular blog a couple months ago, and it’s already getting thousands of visitors a month (which I expect to continue to grow over the next year or so). What other marketing tool can you use to engage thousands of people a month in a personal manner for less than a hundred bucks?

One of the most intimidating factors of blogging for people new to the game is SEO. Search engine optimization. Afterall, without loads of traffic, your blog is toast. So what can you do?

First of all, read my article on 335 Ways to Explode Your Online Presence. There are a number of great articles linked up to keep you busy for a good while. Second, keep in mind that SEO is a field of expertise, just like real estate. I want to ask what I feel is the key question…do you even really WANT to know about SEO? You need traffic to your site, but does that necessarily mean that you need to learn what a robots.txt file does and how to write one?

Some people are do it yourselfers, and that is respectable. I have the ambition of building a dedicated blog specifically for the purpose of laying out step by step instructions for the ongoing maintenance and optimization of your real estate or small business blog. I will get to this when I can. If you think it’s a good idea, tell me; if I hear positive feedback I would be forced to realize that there is sufficient demand for such a site. The truth is that there are a million sites scattered out there all over the place with a wealth of knowledge. It’s occured to me that having a site that actually lays it all out step by step, specifically for real estate and other small business owners…people who want to maintain their own site but who do not necessarily want to become full time internet marketers. What do you think of this?

On the other side of this coin, as real estate professionals (which many readers of this blog are), we understand that we’re in real estate, not internet marketing. Running a business requires you to wear many hats. Do you have time to become an internet marketer? There is a learning curve, believe me. A blog is an essential tool for real estate marketing these days, but it’s not a magic bullet. Just launching anything won’t do it. It’s like any other marketing campaign…if done well, it can deliver massive results. But if done poorly, it can do more damage than good. That said, it’s not brain surgery. SEO is a lot like, well, real estate. There’s a ton to learn, a ton to keep up on as the rules are always changing and a ton to implement. Bottom line, we would never dream of having a buyer fill out and present their own purchase agreement on a home. They might miss some little thing like the key number and end up buying title insurance on the wrong home! Like I said…more harm than good. So do you even WANT to tackle SEO on your own?That’s the first question.

If you guys are inclined to really tackle SEO head on, let me know and I’ll start covering it more in depth. What would you think of a subscription site that covered things in depth with video and tutorials…kind of like a step by step guide to building, optimizing and maintaining your site? Truth be told, all this is essential and knowing SEO at least on a cursory level will do nothing but help. If you want me to build it and maintain it for you, I’m happy to do that as well. The hands off approach is what I submit is a true win-win for most small business owners, but I’d like to spend some time trying to figure out what you guys really want to do. Let me know!

What do you think is the best, win-win solution for real estate professionals to get into blogging? Should we do it all ourselves? Or is having a virtual assistant manage the SEO and maintenance details of the blog a better solution?

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