Many real estate professionals have blogs that they use to gain readers and hopefully generate leads, both without and within the real estate community. While this type of social networking can be a good way to get your voice heard out there, you must be cognizant of the fact that it is competing with thousands of other blogs out there that are about real estate and some of which are probably produced by some pretty compelling writers. So how can you make your blog stand out?
This article presupposes that you care about real estate or at least your little chunk of it. You must love to write about something to do with this industry if you want to attract the attention of people who are also interested in the subject. If you don't care, you'll get bored and this will reflect in your writing, which will become dull and plodding. The writing of people passionately interested in what they do shines, even beyond spelling and grammar (although these are important and I'll address them below).
This doesn't mean that all of your posts have to be about idyllic homes with flowers and chirping birds, in fact, people like a good spice of negativity with their positive soup, so don't be afraid to rant on occasion. Just don't make it all the time. Your readers will pay more attention to your rants if you pop them in with more positive blog entries.
Your spelling and grammar should be good. Not exceptional - readers will forgive the occasional run-on sentence and typographical errors - but good. Spelling is a means to an end - it provides flow and rhythm to your writing so that people's minds aren't stopping and trying to unravel a poorly spelled word or a sentence that doesn't accurately convey what you mean it to. It does matter - get a good spelling/grammar checker. It won't be perfect, but it will help.
Don't write every day if you don't like writing every day. A daily blog entry that is obviously the product of a bored mind or someone in the throes of I've-got-to-write-a-blog-entry-every-day-but-I-don't-like-today is not going to garner very many interested readers. Keep it frequent, keep it fresh, but don't go past your personal threshold for the sake of having more content. If you are really serious about having daily content on a blog, consider asking fellow bloggers to write guest posts or have a weekly Cool Picture day or something that doesn't require that you come up with new content when you just don't have the desire to.
Sometimes it helps to have a niche. Are you especially interested in renovating leaky condos? Write about it. Do you enjoy the process of negotiating sales? Write! You may not be writing for people who share your love for the thing that you do, but you will get people who are interested in the information that you drop while enthusing about your chosen area. It will also enable you to create a unique blog that focuses on real estate, but on specific parts of real estate that other people are interested in.
Connect your niche with the world outside. People aren't as interested in how something benefits you unless you can show how it benefits them. If your passion is the renovation of leaky condos, show people what they should know in order to avoid a leaky condo or buying one as an investment. Show them how to do something, save money or improve their lives and they will read. They may never, ever put your advice into practice, but they will keep coming back, hoping that you have the key to their next success.
Listen to your readers. People love to be famous, even a little bit. If "UberRealtor" posts an interesting point or opposing view to one of your posts, take him/her up on it and write a post about it, if it's interesting enough. And this isn't an "UberRealtor is sooo stupid for saying X" thing; you really want to get into UberRealtor's reasoning. Take what they say and run with it. Agree or disagree. If it's a subject of interest, people will have all sorts of opinions on it. Plus, a reasoned response to both criticism and agreement will mark you as a blogger to watch.
A good realtor blog is one that delivers what it promises to readers. It focuses on a particular subject and runs with it, shows people the connections between its subjects and the outside world and ultimately delivers to readers interesting content on its subject. Top blogs don't tell people how great their writers are and why they should do business with the writer- they give the readers a reason to.
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