Deborah Burns of John L. Scott has a blog, Seattle's Urban Villages that she just started a few months ago and she also participates in Active Rain. I met up with her last week at Starbucks to learn more about her experience as a Realtor who is fairly new to blogging. Deborah is full of "gems" of information that I'm about to share with you. Here's a few (her gems are in bold...my comments or addition follow):
If you're big into email communciation, blogging will be easy for you. This is because typing a post is really no different than sending an email. The title of the post could almost be your subject line of an email and the body of the post is your message.
It helps to be passionate about at least one key thing. Have a primary focus. Know who you're talking to and why your're talking to them. Deborah loves the various neighborhoods in Seattle and is becoming an expert on them through her blog. I wanted to get the word out about Loan Originator Licensing and also provide consumer friendly information about mortgages.
Determine what your goal with the blog is. Is it it to farm an area, get new business, to be found in google (or other search engines), etc. My ultimate goal is to be exposed to potential home buyers or consumers needing to be refinanced. I even have a picture of what my ideal client looks like. And each of my blogs have a specific goal.
Be a reporter. Ask questions and interview people for your blog...people are happy to talk to you. This is so true. When I tell my neighbors that I have a neighborhood blog, they love to chat...when I tell them that I have a mortgage blog they're not as interested. Last Friday, we went to make our own wine with some friends...I took some photos and let the owners/managers know that I was going to post it on my mortgage blog...they warmed right up to me and even forwarded extra photos for me to use! And "being a reporter" is fun! Hey, I guess I was kind of had my reporter hat on when I interviewed Deborah--look how sweet worked! Who would you like to know or work with...maybe they are an intersting candidate for an interview on your blog?
Write like you talk. People tend to relate to stories more than data. They learn about you, your ethics and how you do business. I have really found this to be true and lucky for me, it's my natural writing style. When potential clients contact me from my blog, they feel as though we've all ready have been communicating. It is a "warm" lead...at least for them--we still need to get to know the client.
It was great to meet Deborah. I've been reading her blog and as of this week, she's the newest contributor on Rain City Guide, the Seattle blog that I also write for!
Watch for future interviews with other blogging Realtors!
-- Rhonda Porter
________________________________________________
Reproduced with permission from Rhonda Porter. To visit Rhonda Porter's sites, go to her R-Team or Mortgage Porter Blog.
Copyright 2007 All rights reserved worldwide.
Comments