There are a lot of different ways to separate yourself from the competition.
Keeping your web presence in line with that is a big part. This is why you need to be blogging.
Blogging is not prospecting for leads, it's for establishing yourself in your market.
And it will bring in leads.
Having a blog allows you to present your expertise in real estate and your knowledge in the area.
Just writing random blogs whenever you feel like it and about any topic that you are thinking about that day won't do much for you.
You need to be smart and strategic about what you blog.
Many agents have perfected the strategy and know what type of content to blog and how to promote it or use it by showing it to leads.
John Occhi has been a realtor on the west coast since 2006 and has been blogging since 2008.
He uses the blogging website and software Active Rain.
"I mix it all up. I've had a lot of community blogging. I've had a lot of consumer information on the things you must know before you buy a house, how to choose a loan. That type of stuff, I've taken a lot of generic reports that realtors have been known to use and I've made them my own and I've blogged them and made them relevant to my local market," he said.
Since 2008 he has done over 1,000 blogs for this site activerain.com/blogs/mrhemet. You can choose any platform to blog on, it does not matter.
As you can see he blogs about a variety of subjects. Some community real estate, local events, and just interesting topics as well. People can go to his blog and he is the local expert in his area and his the home market there. Or he can direct leads to the blog so they have another reference to who he is.
"When I had a listing appointment prior to the appointment time I would email a copy of a CMA to my prospect along with articles that were relevant to their particular home or particular situation where I knew their situation at that point and I'd put in one or two blog articles that I'd send to them," said Occhi.
There are a seemingly endless number of subjects you can write about in the buying and selling process. Mortgages, title insurance, appraisals, the subjects for real estate are almost endless. Then when you give this or send it to a lead, you a validated.
"I talked a little bit about everything. I'd talk about the weather, I'd talk about the parks, I'd talk about restaurants. I'd talk about something that's going on in city government. I kind of talked about the community itself," he said, "Because of these I can declare myself to be a local community expert."
Blog about local events going on and stuff around the community.
Ranking the best restaurants, parks and things of that nature are great blogs to write. Even people who aren’t in the market for a home will be interested in them. Eventually, they’ll start browsing your site for information of that nature.
Then whenever they are looking for stuff on the housing market, they should have your site in mind. They will not want to do business with others because you have established yourself as the local authority online.
A
blog can separate or validate yourself.
This will bring in leads.
When people from out of town search for homes or even information in your city, if you’re ranked high enough, they could land on your site. Promote your blog articles. Email them to any lists you have.
They might even just like you on Facebook and after seeing a stream of new blogs that you promote there, want to talk to you for more information.
Regular posts that update local areas on the housing market and talk about how to sell for more money are things that will interest potential buyers and sellers.
This isn’t chasing leads. Making a blog is going to want to make people work with you. It’s a lot different than chasing leads. Every agent has their different ways of doing things but leads that contact you first are as good as it gets.
You need to use SEO.
This is one of the more important parts of having a blog. It all depends on where you are ranked on google or other search engines. Every blog or business uses SEO (search engine optimization) and it’s a big part of how they gained their following.
Your blog can help the ranking of your website as well if they are connected. Using keywords and phrases that are the most popular can bring loads of traffic to your sites.
WebIf you have good, genuinely valuable information on your site, it will make you appear higher up in the search rankings. The higher you are on Google, the more hits and leads will come. It worked for Occhi.
"Google loves that stuff so you know the more variety I had in my blog articles the more Google picked up on it and highlighted what I was doing. My blog was a direct result that amounted to several hundred listings that I had," he said.
You’re providing value.
This goes back to it being completely different than going after leads. You really can be providing some worthwhile stuff for viewers, and that’s what makes this so different than other marketing ideas.
Blogs on signing contracts can actually teach potential home buyers an important step in the process they might not have understood before. This stuff will help them out a lot. If your a Smart Agents member, we give you a preloaded blog with over 120 pre-loaded articles.
Using this to boost your social media.
This where it may even be your biggest benefit. Facebook is one of the best places to get leads and promote yourself as the expert.
Posting your blogs to your business page on Facebook will legitimately verify you as that expert. This is how leads come to you.
What if parts of your real estate business ran without you? You can train assistants to handle your trivial tasks, therefore reducing your daily workload and stress.
Not only that but they could also help you with blogging and prospecting.
Your would be able to focus more on the important tasks and improving on those. Check out our new book.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
