STARTING A BLOG

Writing comes naturally to me, I love doing it, and once I get my fingers on the keyboard with an idea, I can go for hours. But I've come to realize that this isn't an easy trait for everyone to pick up on. Most people, it seems, stumble on trying to find topic ideas and don't feel like they can put together an article interesting enough to read. Here is the biggest tip I have to give you when it comes to your blog. It is NOT a college essay paper. It is your platform to share your character. And if my introverted, hide under the blankets when given the opportunity self, can write quirky blogs, so can you. Why? Because all you need is a topic and YOUR personality. The purpose of your blog is to educate your followers on topics relating to real estate and your niche. But one thing people overlook, is that it's also an avenue to build a relationship with your followers. You don't want them to read a generic blog and get a disconnect, because they will exit out of your page. You want them to read your blog, feel interested in your personality, and go check out the rest of your page (where you can then potentially get them as a lead.) So if you are goofy, perfect. If you are articulate, perfect. If you aren't, perfect. There is no one way to write a blog, you want to write from the heart, add a joke the way you would if you were talking to someone in person, and just have fun with it. Pretend you are explaining something to your favorite person in the world, and write your blog in that fashion.

Now if you are thinking do I need to have a blog? YES! Blogging is one of the best methods to generate business in today's market. That can change next year, that can change in 5 years, as all marketing platforms do, but if you want a leg up RIGHT NOW, then you need to jump on the blogger train. But don't make the mistake of just having generic real estate topic blogs, that practically everyone has. Yes, you want educational blogs about the process on buying and selling a home, but add those sporadically. From a marketing perspective, you are going to want to write blogs about your niche and your city. Because those are the topics that will go viral in your community. It'll be those topics that will get tons of visitors on your website, some of which will search other pages, and some of those who will input their info about buying and selling. And they are going to be an even warmer lead, because they came from a blog post that expressed your personality and connected with them on a topic they are interested in. 

You want it to be obvious throughout your site you are an agent, specifically with call to action buttons, pictures, etc. But you want to make an emphasis on things that will pertain to your followers. And that's where the importance of your niche comes in. If you are writing unique material for dog lovers in your city, or fashionistas, or female entrepreneurs, or young families; you are going to mold a strong relationship to these people with the blog. You want to entertain them, because then they will stick around for the educational aspect. Then write topics on your city that are different from what generally circulates. People LOVE to know what's going on in there area, and get frustrated having to search Google for it. If your website is the number one source of updates for your community, they'll become frequent visitors, then turn into customers. Write about the best places to eat at, the best things to do on a tight budget, the best spots to visit for family fun, etc. Do the research for them, so it'll be easy for them, and by giving them value, they'll begin to value you. And this tool is AMAZING for SEO purposes on Google. If someone is searching those terms, they can end up landing on your page, and that is organic reach. And we LOVE LOVE organic reach.

Now if you don't have much time, or you really are terrified about writing, you can always hire someone else to do it for you. But PLEASE make sure that their writing personality is similar to yours. You don't want to get a blogger/writer who is going to be the south pole to your north. You want someone who will basically sound as close to being like you as possible. This may be a bit tough, but it's important to do the research before outsourcing this job, because it can have a negative impact if you hire the wrong person. If you do choose to do it on your own, awesome! Make sure you have a theme to your blogs that bring people back for more. And more importantly, a strict timeline for blog publishing. On your blog page details, let your visitors know they will get a new blog every Friday, or every 1st and 15th of the month, or every 1st of the month, etc. No matter how many times you want to write each month, make your visitors aware of the time period, so they can keep you in mind to come back. You want them to know there will be more juicy topics, so you'll stay on their mind. And be sure you are STRICT with your timeline and stick to it. So give yourself enough time to get a blog written and published on your allotted day and time.

As with any avenue that you take, nothing will be an overnight success. It will take time to get your blog going strong and bringing a lot of business. But, thankfully for you, a lot of agents are lacking in this department, so you will be a step ahead of the game if you get started right away. You want to pair your blogging website with your social media, and you'll be golden. Every time you write a new blog, make sure you share/advertise it. Post it on your personal page, post it on Twitter, make a post about it on Instagram with the link to it in your bio for 24-48 hours, post it on your Facebook business page, boost it for $25 (or more if it gets really popular). You aren't just going to write a blog then become wildly successful, you'll still need to put in the leg work to get it in front of people who can turn into dedicated followers, which in turn will create organic reach for future blogs. 

The best topics to write about will come from your local and niche related Facebook groups. Join as many as you can locally, and if you have picked a niche, join as many niche related ones as possible. See what people make posts about and draw inspiration from that. The discussions in there should give you plenty to write out about. And to get started, here are a few topics I've listed that you can find here.