Your Blog – The To Do’s And The Do Not Do’s
Here is an awesome blog post from propertyadguru
The benefits of agents running their own real estate blogs are many: they can position you as a local expert in your neighbourhood, enhance your credibility as a businessperson, and attract leads that might otherwise have overlooked you entirely.
At least, that’s the theory. In practice, an agent’s blog can have the opposite effect, driving away leads by presenting an image that’s far from professional. It’s an understandable by-product of the accessibility of blogging – everyone can do it, but not everyone can do it well.
So what are some of the pitfalls to avoid with your blog, and what are some attributes to aspire to? We don’t intend to name and shame, but after scouring the web for agent website examples, we have come up with a few hot tips:
The writing has to be up to scratch. You might be a wonderful communicator “in real life”, but the online environment is less forgiving, as typos and poor grammar sit around until you correct them. The trick is to write as if you were speaking to a friend, keeping your sentences as natural and conversational as possible.
Closely linked to the way you write is what you write about. And here’s where you ask that all-important question: who is my audience? Would potential customers really be interested in the latest industry news? Or would they be more attracted by content that discusses movements in the local community – new shops opening, business successes, perhaps even an interview with the local mayor or council member? Put yourself in your readers shoes and consider what you’d be searching for in your online home hunt.
Speaking of mayors, keep this in mind: politicising your content, while tempting, is a sure-fire way to alienate those readers who don’t see things your way. Of course, it makes sense to discuss local issues and the way government is addressing these, but by taking a hard-line stance you’re sure to upset someone, and that someone could potentially have been a new client.
The basics aren’t enough when it comes to blog design. Of course, not everyone can begin with a perfectly designed blog – at first a basic theme will probably have to do. But as time goes on, readers will expect improvements. A poll, more pictures, updated links, a few more pages – anything to make things more interesting for return visitors beyond the daily or weekly posts.
If you give up, take it offline, at least until you’re ready to re-start. If your blog is your only online presence, consider stripping it back to a basic contact and information page. Then, when you’re less run off your feet, bring back the posts. Nothing will bring doubt into the mind of a potential client more quickly than the top post being dated “September 4, 2008″.
Propertyad guru go further and state this interesting fact:
Track what’s working, and change things accordingly. There’s no point signing up for a web analytics service if all you do is paste in the code and forget about it. Figure out what kinds of posts draw in the most visitors, and what keeps people on your website for more than a few seconds. Your website’s click-stream – the way people move around the website – should also be something you’re familiar with. Using all this information to constantly modify the content on your blog is the key to gaining traffic.
Look at the search terms people are using to find you. Some results will be slightly off-the-wall, but in amongst those will be some gems that tell you exactly what your readers were hoping for when they clicked through to your blog. The next question you have to ask yourself is, did you deliver? If not, what can you add that might satisfy those readers next time?
Colour is important. It is easy to lose a lot of time playing around with themes and colour settings, but at the same time, poor choices here can drive people away. This is where honest feedback from friends and colleagues can go a long way, as well as a survey of your favourite blogs to see what works for them.
Explain who you are up front. Ideally, the description under your blog’s title will tell people who you are and what they can expect to find. Information in your sidebar should expand on this with facts about your business, location, and an option for people to contact you. The more you say here, the more likely people will be to think of this blog as an extension of a real-world business.
Try not to leave people hanging in your comments section. If your readers have a question, answer it. Even if someone else has jumped in while you’ve been away from the computer, take the time to acknowledge the question and throw in your two cents. This helps to remind people that there really is someone on the other side of the posts.
A great post that I think you should think more about. In my opinion going back to the fourth point bought up. The look of your blog. Have a look at my other blog and see if you can get your head around the concept. It looks different and can deliver some great information. Unfortunately this blog is boring and does not function very well. This I know has turned many people away but I want to improve it. Unfortunately I can not due to the limitations set out by the people who manage the host domain – correction also Wordpress MU is a little tough to 
Your blog should be interesting to the eye so that it captures the imagination of your reader, otherwise they will press the back button to the google results and look for something better. I am working on making this site better with better plugins and other themes so watch this space. we will make it happen with the help of the crew.
If you have any further comments let me know.
Deon
February 26 2010 03:50 pm | Uncategorized
Alistair Helm on 01 Mar 2010 at 5:02 pm #
Deon,
I was drawn to your last paragraph. Specifically the comment
“Unfortunately this blog is boring and does not function very well. This I know has turned many people away but I want to improve it. Unfortunately I can not due to the limitations set out by the people who manage the host domain”
I think it is important to remember and for your readers to appreciate that this blog is provided free of charge and has been provided free of charge for any licensed real estate agent in NZ by Realestate.co.nz since January 2008.
Whilst I confess that this multi-user platform Wordpress application is not ultimately flexible it does what it was designed to do which was to provide a easy to use and easy to get started blog platform free of charge.
Over the past 2 years over 140 agents have started blogs and currently 84 are actively using the platform – these numbers I believe speak to the value of the service we provide.
Clearly as an agent develops confidence, skills and an audience the blog provided here may not suit their needs and at this stage it may be time to “fly the nest”. The application here allows for complete import and export from this blog to any other blog.
Alistair Helm
CEO Realestate.co.nz
Deon Swiggs on 01 Mar 2010 at 5:44 pm #
Alistair,
Thankyou for your comments.
Your right. Wordpress MU unfortunately does have its limitations. But what realestate.co.nz do provide is the very platform for some wise people to make use of the technology out there and become the so called expert amongst the rest. And it is fantastic so I thank you and your team for the effort put into this.
The comment ‘boring’ is a unilateral comment. I say it because the fact is that to me it is. I just wish that I could put some more flashy stuff on it, add a few java scrips and add a new theme, as this will most surely make a user seem more interested.
There are daily more and more websites discovered and that means competition online is heating up for the great google and search engine space. For myself and other fellow NZ bloggers it would be a real asset to have a good looking site. Of course this isnt everything. You need to make sure that there is relevant and interesting articles on the blog to make sure it actually delivers any sort of help to its readers.
Your comment about the “fly the nest” are awesome. But taking it from my experience its not always the best thing. Having the use of RealEstate.co.nz blog space provides every agent in NZ an equal level of opportunity to gain a market share online. The great thing about using this platform is it is the best for getting you out there. realestate.co.nz is by fast the best Real Estate website in NZ and has probably the most traffic, its the go to place for Real Estate. This means that a blog that is part of it is naturally going to get better rankings with search engines and more people will see. Its a win win situation for both realestate.co.nz and the blogger.
What you are doing with the voices/unconditional is great. But lets not stop here, lets make it better and blow the competition out of the water.
seat rentals makati on 04 Mar 2010 at 8:43 pm #
Great blogging tips for real estate sites. It is always a thing to consider to write/blog whatever your mind speaks is in your passion.
ortigas office space on 04 Mar 2010 at 9:51 pm #
Great blogging reminders. Blogging is really one of the effective technique to market your business services all over, just assure that the contents and topics are valuable.