Today we have the pleasure of publishing a tale of inspiration
from our favorite Real Estate Blogging Goddess, Teresa Boardman.
How Do You Define Content For Your Real Estate Blog?
By Teresa Boardman
My friends have been telling me for a couple of years that I need a photo blog. Honestly I didn’t want to take the time, but a couple of weeks ago, on a cold Saturday night I built one. It has energized me and gotten me more engaged with my blogging efforts. So far all of the photos I have posted are out of my collection so I have not had to work at all to generate content. I could probably post every day for a year without ever taking another photo.
The reason it has energized me is because in recent months it has been a challenge to find good news in the housing market or even new news. I often feel as though I have written everything I have to say and that there is no more. The photos are not news, and I enjoy taking them and I have plenty to work with.
When my photo blog was just a couple of days old some local photo bloggers paid me a visit. We are going on a photo shoot this weekend. I just met them but photos and blogs have a way of creating bonds. The photo bloggers also had questions about my theme and some of the custom tweaks that I put into my blog. I was amazed at how much I knew and had planned on asking them for help if I were to get into trouble with the thing.
The process of creating this blog also brought me back to the basics; the things that I have forgotten about over the years. It forced me to think about what the blog looks like and how it is organized. I was forced to think about things that I figured out once a long time ago when I set up my business blog. As a result I ended up tweaking that blog too.
During these challenging times it isn’t always easy to write blog posts. Those of us who have local real estate blogs don’t have much happy news to report. When business is slow it is difficult to want to write a blog post. In my case most of my “blog food” comes from selling real estate. The writing machine needs fuel and when there isn’t much the quality of my posts deteriorates and my readership declines.
There isn’t any rule that says a blog needs to have a lot of writing on it. A blog can be photos, video or audio with little writing. Creating a video blog or a photo blog might help with creativity. If the goal is to meet people I am finding that the photo blog works for that too. There is an about page and a link to my business blog and one or the other has already prompted a reader, or I should say viewer to send me an email with a real estate related question. My business blog was around for about three months before anyone contacted me because of it.
The photo blog also demonstrates that I know my way around the twin cities and I have already gotten notes asking for advice on where to go to get certain shots. In my spare time I will be building a map for the blog so that people who don’t know where to go to shoot will get some ideas.
I have concluded that a blog is a must have for Realtors. I have also concluded that while quality content is important that content does not have to be writing. My photo blog is becoming more of a networking blog. Local photographers have homes too. Now they know a Realtor, and we all know that in this business people like to do business with people that they know.
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Thanks Teresa!
Related Must Reads:
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
