The Kings of Real Estate Blogging
Surprise! The name you’re looking for may not be in this blog post.
Hey, we all know that blogging is the way to go nowadays. The time when cold calling, door knocking and postcard sending are done. Over. Kaput. Now you need to write, write, write in order to connect. But what’s the right way?
This is what I’ve heard:
Content is King
Hey, wanna connect with an audience that will keep coming back for more? Then you have to keep adding in stuff that’s new and interesting. The advice differs but the least amount of posting I’ve heard is three times a week, minimum. Anything less than that and Google will forget your name, your address and the fact that your favorite ice cream flavor is Rocky Road,
This can’t be any ol’ content either. Nope. It needs to be engaging because you want the anonymous reader who stumbled across your blog today to come back tomorrow for more or, better yet, subscribe to your blog so he gets a steady stream of your latest and greatest. That’s right. You need to keep honing your writing skills because we all know the typical Web surfer has the attention span of a toddler about to take their nap. Think Pulitzer.
But, wait! There’s more.
SEO is King
The thinking on this is that you can write the most fascinating stuff on the planet but if no one knows where to find you to read it then you’re essentially writing for you, your mother and your assistant you hired to proofread your blog posts. So you need to fill all your posts with lots and lots of keywords so Google and all the other spiders and ‘bots and what have you can find your blog and deem it “relevant”.
Thusly:
“The home buyer considering the home purchase of 123 Main Street in Anywhere, MD came to an impasse with the home seller of the home located at 123 Main Street in Anywhere, MD over certain home inspection issues discovered by the licensed and certified home inspector from We Kill Deals Home Inspections. Unfortunately, the real estate transaction between the home buyer and the home seller regarding 123 Main Street, Anywhere, MD was not able to be completed.”
Of course, it could have been:
“One of my deals recently fell through due to inspection issues. Buyer balked. Seller wouldn’t move. Deal dead.”
‘Nuf said? Get your SEO mojo going or you might as well be one of millions and millions of blogs vying for attention. Wait. You have one of the millions and millions of blogs vying for attention.
But, wait! There’s more.
Social Media (the Relationship) is King
You can write like a 3rd grader and not know Jack about SEO but if you’re connected enough, you’ll float right to the top. Get yourself on Facebook and Twitter and Posterous and Plaxo and LinkedIn and anything else that promises a “relationship” with someone, anyone that might provide you with another connection or maybe even a mention in their blog and a backlink, to boot.
Maybe it you tweet, poke or expose your Posterous enough the people whom you have never met or spoken to will help you and your business. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Everybody knows that!
So every morning after your twenty minutes on the treadmill and morning coffee get social and make some connections so you can make some dough.
The Silver Bullet
People tell me I’m crazy for trying to find the silver bullet. The magic wand. I’m told there is not single path to real estate nirvana.
Is there?
Start spreading the news...
This article published on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 9:30 am | Contact the editor
Topics: Real Estate, Social Media
About this Columnist (Full Profile)
“Loves sunrise walks on the beach, quaint B & Bs, former Barbie® boyfriend…”
Ken is a sole practitioner and Realtor Extraordinaire in the beautiful MD Suburbs of DC.
When he’s not spouting off on Agent Genius he holds court from his home office in Glenn Dale, MD or the office for RE/MAX Advantage Realty in Fulton, MD…and always on the MD Suburbs of DC Blog
Email Ken Montville
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Comments (31)
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- AgentGenius:
#agnow When I grow up I want to be a famous TV star like you, Greg! To your larger point about emphasizing one's s… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- AgentGenius:
#agnow I'm with Bawldguy on this. The number of real estate pros that have made significant scratch using blogging … http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- How not to be irrelevant in real time real estate: relevant results:
[...] all is lost that many continue to repeat the failure of not responding relevantly to the consumer. Content, SEO, and social media are not separate, they are inseparable as they define real time and what you say in real time is [...]
- AgentGenius:
#agnow "Hey, we all know that blogging is the way to go nowadays. The time when cold calling, door knocking and po… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- Andrea Gilbert:
@agentgenius The Kings of Real Estate Blogging http://bit.ly/bqceBM
- AgentGenius:
#agnow [...] all is lost that many continue to repeat the failure of not responding relevantly to the consumer. Con… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- AgentGenius:
#agnow Don't sugar coat it, Jim. Tell us what you really think.
http://bit.ly/bJPwwV - It’s All Too Easy To Find Yourself on the Road to “Complete Blog Failure”:
[...] Content Is Original- Ken Montville just wrote an excellent article related to this subject, but the goal should be to post your own content, not others. The reason [...]
- AgentGenius:
#agnow [...] Content Is Original- Ken Montville just wrote an excellent article related to this subject, but the go… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- AgentGenius:
#agnow Ken, stick to left wing political commentary because your SEO advice isnt accurate.
"Then you have to kee… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
- AgentGenius:
#agnow Hey Bob, I think you and I read the article differently- I thought Ken was being facetious, I read it as ton… http://bit.ly/bJPwwV
Benn Rosales
Conal Campbell
Elijah May
Lani Rosales
Tara Steele
Marti Trewe
Charlene Jimenez
I’m just glad you didn’t start naming names like the top 100 most influential… because when I am sitting at my desk in Vienna, Virginia looking at the sun stream down on the house for sale across the street on McArthur Avenue in Vienna, Virginia
Darn it Ken, you got me!
Doug,
You’re such a, er, card. Most definitely the King of NoVa real estate – sun shining or not.
You hit the nail on the head! Content/SEO/SocialMedia make a blog what it is! The hard part is making some of the stuff we write about interesting enough to make the reader want to subscribe. I have found Scribe to be very helpful in getting the SEO of my blogs optimized.
“People tell me I’m crazy for trying to find the silver bullet. The magic wand. I’m told there is not single path to real estate nirvana.”
Agreed. Too often I see folks putting all their eggs in one basket. Agents need to market themselves through all the points made in this article, plus doing it across a multitude of platforms.
I’m on board, Colleen, but my guess is that you’ll find the people who market the silver bullets are saying their way is THE way. “Hey, it’s only the cost of one transaction to buy my thing…or …about the cost of a venti latte for our per month membership fee that will rocket you to the top.”
Hey Ken — No magic bullet, check.
>Hey, we all know that blogging is the way to go nowadays. The time when cold calling, door knocking and postcard sending are done. Over. Kaput. Now you need to write, write, write in order to connect. But what’s the right way?
Go to any brokerage with 50 or more agents. Take the top 10 producers. 8-10 of them don’t do much or any business from online activities. They’re killin’ the so-called blogger elite. I’m not being sarcastic at all. As you’re probably aware, I’m a blogger too. The next time my online efforts eclipse my online marketing will be the first. Online has averaged well over $100K/yr since I began blogging in July of ’06. That’s already happened this year, and blogging income STILL won’t touch what I do in the real world.
I’d love to hear from AG readers about the top producers/teams in their large offices.
BG – This is *absolutely* the case in my market in the Metro D.C. area. I keep track of the stats and *none* of the top agents have a great online presence and none are masters of social media.
Looking at my stats, 16% of my business comes directly from my online presence. The rest – all ‘old school’ marketing.
I wrote: The next time my online efforts eclipse my online marketing will be the first.
That second use of ‘online’ should’ve read ‘offline’.
Fantastic Post Ken.
Being new to the bloggin world I am always looking for ways to “get connnected”. I do sitll believe that using social media to connect with people and especially realtors from other market centers is a good thing to focus on. Anyone that is not marketing to other realtors is leaving money on the table and facebook, twitter and the such is a great way to stay top of mind.
As for the written blogs I haven’t ventured into that too much but focused more on the video side of things.
Keep up the great information!
Excellent post. The future is blogging, at least for a few more years.
I use blogging to punctuate what we’re doing with our contact base. For example, I had the good fortune to be on an HGTV show that’s still running in syndication. I realize not everyone can do this but for me, letting prospective clients know this has been a HUGE help in establishing credibility. We all have strengths. That’s why we blog….to reinforce those strengths with people that matter. Anything else is just white noise in the blogosphere.
When I grow up I want to be a famous TV star like you, Greg! To your larger point about emphasizing one’s strengths – absolutely.
You’re spot on, as always Ken. Bear in mind though, the example you give is running dangerously close to violation of Code of Conduct. Public disclosure of contractual details and pending deals can lead to legal trouble down the road. While we want to be as content rich as possible, we must be mindful of how far we go and how much we say, lest we want to be looking down the wrong side of a lawsuit.
Damn, Jonathan. Now, you’re making me nervous. I guess I’ll just have to go with example # 2 without all the repetitious keywords. Thank God, no one actually reads my blog.
I’m with Bawldguy on this. The number of real estate pros that have made significant scratch using blogging exclusively can be counted on one hand. Furthermore, content on 98% percent of real estate blogs can make for excellent fertilizer. It’s all about belly to belly my friend. While Agent Blogger is hoping to connect via a series of posts about little league schedules and “how to get rid of odors”, the cold caller has already cleaned his clock, got the listing and put it in escrow.
As part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, blogging is a must. As an exclusive means of procuring business, it has longer odds than the Powerball lottery.
“Hey, we all know that blogging is the way to go nowadays. The time when cold calling, door knocking and postcard sending are done. Over. Kaput. Now you need to write, write, write in order to connect. But what’s the right way?”
I totally disagree.. Ever since I slowed down on blogging over the past year and started focusing on the BASICS, I’ve been listing more properties and getting more on deposits.
As a matter of fact, I think I’m gonna start thinking about NOT blogging anymore. “Write, write, write?” After the novelty dies down, I don’t even bother to read half the blogs I used to. “BO-RING”, goes through my mind. I’d rather go to the neighborhood pub and say hello to someone live, in person.
Don’t sugar coat it, Jim. Tell us what you really think.
Ken, stick to left wing political commentary because your SEO advice isnt accurate.
“Then you have to keep adding in stuff that’s new and interesting. The advice differs but the least amount of posting I’ve heard is three times a week, minimum. Anything less than that and Google will forget your name, your address and the fact that your favorite ice cream flavor is Rocky Road,”
Not true. Not even close.
“So you need to fill all your posts with lots and lots of keywords so Google and all the other spiders and ‘bots and what have you can find your blog and deem it “relevant”.”
Again not exactly sound advice. You do not need to hit Google over the head with a keyword stuffed bat for them to understand the content.
“You can write like a 3rd grader and not know Jack about SEO but if you’re connected enough, you’ll float right to the top.”
Do you just make this stuff up?
Please go back to writing about what you know about. Its just wrong for you to proffer advice here that you admittedly dont have a clue about.
Hey Bob, I think you and I read the article differently- I thought Ken was being facetious, I read it as tongue in cheek.
If so I apologize, but apparently I’m not the only one who mis-read this.