Over the years I've seen many people declare "Blogging is dead" or "Blogging doesn't work".
And there is ALWAYS another bright and shiny out there isn't there? The next silver bullet that promises it will take any agent willing to fork out the $$ straight to the top of their MLS ranking!
And it's true, for some people, blogging doesn't work, but..an examination of their posts will often quickly reveal why no one is calling.
- I've read some excellent consumer facing posts over the years, but there's one problem. The writer is on a Rainer account, so no consumer ever gets a chance to read the post because it's not public and not indexed by Google. The dollars to upgrade to Rainmaker can be some of the best spent on your business if you're willing to do the content creation.
- There aren't enough posts written that are consumer facing. Writing about the latest issues with NAR, or Z, or the agent that "irritated" you, aren't going to be be something a consumer is searching for, nor care about. Your only hope for those posts is top of mind with other agents and maybe a referral later.
- This would seem simple and obvious, but where's the contact information? Make your contact information obvious and easy to find (e.g. use your blog signature to your advantage).
- The posts are generic. Posts that are specific to your local market will do more for you. Topics that are covered regularly by some writer for Yahoo, MSN, or the like will show up higher in rankings than your take on the same issue.
- The posts are repeated, either by the blogger, or by other bloggers. Google doesn't give credit for duplicate work, whether it's you writing the same post with very minor changes, or the folks using hired gun writers (e.g. Keeping Current Matters) as their sole source of content. It may be good stuff that you're paying for, but it's not going to bring strangers to your door. However, those type posts can be good for keeping your existing sphere engaged.
- The content is hard to read. Not enough white space, no pictures, spelling/grammar issues, font too small, etc.
- The posts are not addressing what the consumers need, or are targeting too small of a portion of the potential audience. Niches are good, micro, micro, micro niches with one house sold every two years? Not so much.
The bottom line, if your blog isn't producing results, most likely the issue is between the keyboard and the chair. If you can't see what is wrong, maybe it's time to ask for some outside eyeballs to help decipher why your results aren't apparent.
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help,
Bill & Liz aka BLiz
Comments(17)