November 17 2010
One question I get consistently any time I talk to people about real estate blogging is, “What do you write about and where do you find the time?”
And a darn fine question it is. Actually, it’s two questions. We’ll attempt to tackle the first one now, ans the second one in a follow up article.
Here is where I differ somewhat from many “blogging experts”. Personally, I don’t think a real estate blog needs to be exclusively about real estate. You don’t need to go all “hyper local” to have a successful real estate blog.
“Blasphemy!” someone is saying.
In my opinion (and according to a small poll I took with non-real estate agent readers of my blog) readers like to see a variety. It is, after all, the spice of life. They like to see your opinions – not just the regurgitation of random facts.
Yes, you can build a readership posting nothing but mind-numbing real estate statistics and charts. You can be wildly successful with nothing but “hyper local” content.
But you don’t have to go that route.
Write what you are passionate about, write about what interests you. Your readers are smart. They will pick up on your passion and interests. Conversely, they will also pick up the fact that you are writing for search engines, or on topics you have no interest in but feel you should write about. Believe it or not, you are not all that unique in what interests you. Trust me, if you find a topic interesting, the odds are overwhelming that a bunch of other people will also find it interesting.
The bottom line here is that it is OK to get personal. Let’s face it, people ultimately pick a real estate agent to work with because they connect with them on some level. They pick an agent they like. And a real estate blog is an outstanding tool for displaying your personality on the Internet.
This isn’t to say that you have to divulge every intimate detail about your personal life. But injecting your personality is critical. Check your ego at the keyboard. The sooner you realize that you can’t be the perfect real estate agent for everyone, the sooner you’ll find more and more things you can write about. And the sooner you will engage with your readership.
Writing is painful for many people. I’m fortunate in that writing comes fairly easy for me. Sometimes I get stuff stuck in my head and the only way to get it out is to write. That probably seems foreign to a lot of folks. It’s just the way I’m wired. Yeah, it’s weird. And there is a fine line sometimes between a curse and a blessing…
If your brain isn’t naturally full of writing ideas (or full of something…), here are a few tips to help you come up with topics for your real estate blog:
Finally, if you are the type of person that would rather slit their wrists than sit at a keyboard and write, don’t sweat it. You are not alone, and just because you don’t like to write doesn’t mean you are inferior to those who do. You are just wired differently. So what can you do? Video blog. Here are just a few kick-ass real estate video blogs (full disclosure, two of them are Thompson’s Realty agents):
If you have other suggestions on what to write about, or any questions of course, please feel free to leave a comment!
So you’re done reading this 1,201 word tome. What are you waiting for? Get out there and write (or video) something!
Next up, real estate blogging time management tips, tricks and tools. Stay tuned!