Blogging is not a flash in the pan approach to marketing. Just like having
a baby is a life altering decision. You should plan on the same attention to your
blog. You should blog 3-4 times a week, at least, when getting started, though more is better.
The more posts you have out there, the more weight you have with Google and other search
engines. If you don't keep feeding it, your blog will lose its attraction. Just like a baby,
one or two feedings a week will not make it grow.
When you are planning on having a baby, you think yours will be different. Smarter,
cuter, he/she will behave when corrected, be an A student at school and never give
you any cause for worry.
Similarly, when you start blogging, you read the established bloggers with zeal, trying to
pick up all the tricks of the trade. They tell you it is a marathon, not a sprint but in typical
newbie fashion, you expect instant results. You try the latest widgets, the latest technology,
thinking that should attract buyers. After a month or two of blogging, you should have people
lined up to do business with you, right? Where are they?? Am I blogging into a vacuum??
Like having a baby, after a few months, you are into the " What have we done?" phase. It
is a chore to keep this little thing happy. Will I ever have any free time again? Well,
if you have children, you know the answer to that one!! If you don't, you will just have to
guess.
As to blogging, you can never walk away, it is your blog, you must feed it and care for it.
If properly nurtured and fed, this blog will work for you, over and over. For over a year, we
blogged, and blogged, and blogged some more. We had a few calls and some leads, but
nothing to write home to Mom about. Just as we were getting to the point of wondering if this
was really going to work, was the payback worth the amount of time we were putting in?
Well. something magical happened.
We reached the point of returns.
We are now getting 4-5 calls, or emails a week. Buyers, mostly but sellers, too.
They read our blog and want to do business with us. We are the experts. We have had one
of the best months we have EVER HAD in the real estate business, in over 35 years, despite
the economy, despite reluctant buyers, despite falling home prices. We credit our blogs for
almost all of it. We are now believers and are glad we stuck with it. So many real estate
agents try blogging and aren't successful at first. Just like us. We kept reading the success
stories of other agents and we were delighted for them. We just couldn't figure out why it wasn't
working for us. It was. We just didn't know it.
The experts tell us that most buyers start their online home search about 1-2 years before they
are ready. Buyers don't contact you until they are ready. So if you haven't done your online
marketing homework, how will they find you? Will they call the local real estate office and
ask to speak to an agent? Highly unlikely today.
After 18 months of blogging, we are finally reaping the rewards. Not all our blogs
are great. We don't mean to convey that. But we do blog about our local area, our
local real estate, and our local news and events. In fact, we are not one of the most
popular bloggers on Active Rain because most agents don't want to read our local
real estate blogs. But our local buyers do.
These blogs get us in front of buyers and sellers online. Where 85+% of
buyers are looking for homes today. So don't give up, keep blogging. Buyers are
reading your blogs. They just aren't ready to contact you yet.
Gotta go, my cell phone is ringing!
Westbrook Realty Grand Rapids Real Estate
Copyright 2009 All rights reserved
photos by Bonnie Westbrook
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The authors of the this blog write about Grand Rapids Real Estate,
the Greater Grand Rapids MI area, and what it is like to live in
West Michigan. We believe: Grand Rapids is a Great Place to Live!
Westbrook Realty Grand Rapids MI Real Estate
Contact Terry 616-292-7263
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