Blogging
Shannon RegisterRegister Real Estate Advisors
Spring, TX @ShannonRegister
No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I would start with is a blog. Chris Brogan, Founder, New Marketing Labs and Author of the New York Times Best-seller “Trust Agents”
• 10% of Realtors blog regularly (NAR 2011)• Most of those do not blog effectively• The most common blog post is on the
agent’s listings• 3% of blogging agent’s business comes
from their website.• 80% of my business comes from my
blog/website (Makes it a priority)• Effective blogging Readers Contact
info Leads Closings
Blogging Platforms
Free(multi-user)
Wordpress.com
Blogger
BlogSpot
Tumblr
Real Estate Specific
(multi-user)
Active Rain
Trulia
Realtor.com
Self Hosted (inexpensive)
Wordpress
Movable Type
Joomla
Drupal
Most Successful* Real Estate Bloggers…
• Have an integrated website• Self Host (Wordpress or similar
platform)• Learned to adjust the site themselves
/ minimal code
* Generates a significant portion of their business from their blog
Which to Use? – My Online Strategy
• Blogging as an SEO Strategy
• Wordpress Self Hosted• Use real estate multi-
author blogs for syndication
• Fully integrated website using WP as platform
How to Get Started
• To get started– Domain name– Hosting package w/ database– FREE software
• To reach the goal ($)– Learn some technology–Willing to spend the time– Build a platform that works
Tech Tips
• Get out of your comfort zone• Learn some code• Tutorials / videos / books / trial and
error• Learn to add posts and pages
yourself– Self publishing = freedom
• Learn to make videos• If it were easy, everyone would do it
Beauty of Wordpress as CMS
• Plugins– Adds functionality to your website– Tens of thousands available for almost
anything
• Themes– Themes are a set of files that determine how a
website will be displayed. – Usually the only modification that needs to be
made to a Wordpress website
Why Bother?
I am a literary genius that feels obligated to grace the
world with my wisdom.
Search – a marketing method that didn’t exist a decade ago, provides the most efficient and inexpensive way for businesses to find leads.John Battelle, Journalist and Founder, Federated Media Publishing
• Google owns YouTube• Content is King / Post daily• Vary your content• Blogs feed search engines which
drive traffic
Variety
• Variety of Style– Videos– Photos– Text– Links– Quotes
• Variety of Subject– What to blog about?
What To Blog About?
• Listings• News stories• Events• Neighborhoods• Economic issues• Educational posts• Areas of town• Local neighborhood
events• White Board Monday
• Vendors • Other thought
leaders• Radio shows• TV segments• Viral videos• Local politics• Market trends• Allow guest posts
Longevity of a Blog
• Shelf life of a tweet = seconds• Shelf life of Facebook post = minutes• Shelf life of a blog post = YEARS!
Free Blog / Non-integrated Site
CONTENT
TRAFFIC
“MONEY SITE”
BLOG
SuzieTheRealtor.Blogspot.com
SuzieTheRealtor.com
Self Hosted Integrated Blog
CONTENT
TRAFFIC
LEADS!
BLOG/“MONEY SITE”
COMBINATION
SuzieTheRealtor.com
The Center of Your Online Universe
Website/Blog
YouTube
Business cards
Stationary On air promotion
T-shirts
Signage
Email Marketing
Print to web
EVERYTHING!
Drive traffic to your website!
A steady stream of high quality content + a search engine
credible website = TRAFFIC!
Traffic = LEADS!
Leads = $$ CLOSINGS! $$
Syndication
Blog
Active Rain Trulia
Realtor.com
Other News Sites
Over 55 Social
Bookmarking Sites
Syndication
• Automate where you can– Social Media– Social Bookmarking
• Generate backlinks• Drive traffic back to your
site
Now You Have Traffic, Now What?
• CONVERSION!!!• Draw them deeper into your site.• Ask them to connect. Calls to action– Social Media– Opt-in email lists– Comments– Contact forms– Capture contact information– IDX Search for listings– eBook offer
Measure Everything!
• Google Analytics• Other analytic software• Google alerts
Where is your traffic coming from? What are your clients searching for?
But I can get a blog for free…
• Ticket to NAR Tech Edge - $49.00• .com domain name for 1 year - $12.99• Hosting package - $4.25 / month
For the price of your ticket to this event, you can have a domain
name and 8.5 months of hosting.
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
“I tried blogging for almost a month and I didn’t get anything out of it” -Frustrated Agent
Half Effort less than Half Results
Time
Resu
lts
Search Engines started driving
major traffic at 8 monthsMost quit at 6
weeks
Key Tasks
• Steady stream of high quality content– Articles– News Stories– Blog Posts– Segments (audio and video)
• Syndication– Biggest Impact / Least Effort– Automated / Semi-automated
• Connect– Turn visitors into clients– Convert to sales
Free Tools
• Wordpress.org– Tutorials– Themes– Plugins
• Filezilla – FTP client – allows you to transfer files from computer to web server
• Gimp or Paint.net– FREE photoshop
Secret to Blogging
• Supplemental marketing• Focus on consumers with quality content– They will find you eventually
• Consistency– Takes time– Cheap– Easy
• It only works if you do it• Don’t outsource
Results
• Thought Leadership• Credibility• Personal SEO• Create a following• Build your database• Shortens sales cycle• Lead Generating Machine
THANK YOU!
Shannon RegisterBroker/Owner
Register Real Estate AdvisorsRREA.com
[email protected]@ShannonRegister or @RREAdotcom
on Twitter
281.288.3500For a copy of these slides, visit
RREA.us/NAR
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