Why “Blog-Clients” Are Better Than “Leads”

Photo by Chris Williamson.

Introducing guest author, and real estate blogging savant, Ardell DellaLoggia:
If you know me, you know that I consider LEAD and DEAL to be “dirty four letter words” that we should all strike from our vocabulary.
If you haven’t already done that, make it your New Year’s Resolution for 2011.
Yesterday was my 5th Anniversary of blogging. On January 14th it will be my 5th Anniversary of writing on Rain City Guide.
In that 14 day period I had already had a call from my first Blog-Client AND he had already made an offer on the property he purchased.
The offer I am talking about negotiating in my first Rain City Guide post, is my first blog client. From then until now, I have never, for one day, not had an active Blog-Client. If you have been blogging for weeks or months or years and don’t know if ANY of your clients were Blog-Clients…you are doing something wrong.

While most Blog-Clients email me, that first one called me on the phone and simply said, “I want to hire you as my Buyer’s Agent”. Stop and think about that for a minute. How many of your clients call to hire you vs. calling you because they want to see a house or because they are “interviewing several agents”?
The most effective use of blogging is it can and should become an Agent Selection Tool, so that your Blog-Clients have already chosen you to represent them before they contact you.
1) Blog-Clients tend to be at the END of the process vs a year before beginning

2) Blog-Clients contact the Agent to hire them, vs to “see a house”
3) Blog-Clients often already know which house they want to buy
While 1/3 of the people who hire me as a result of blogging are Sellers, I can’t really talk about the motivation of Sellers and Buyers at the same time in one blog post. Some of those sellers are staying in the area and buying a home with me in addition to selling their home, so let’s stick with how blogging works for buyers of homes.

Pt 1) Blog-Clients are at the END of the process

The answer as to why is pretty simple. When someone wants to SEE a house, they want someone to Open The Door. When someone wants to BUY a house, they want someone to REPRESENT them in the purchase of a home.

Pt 2) Blog-Clients contact the Agent to hire vs to “see a house”

You may have read the controversial topic of “Should you blog your Listings?” and the answer is NO. There are many reasons why the answer is no, and as I said, it’s a controversial topic. The simple truth is if you want to have people call to HIRE YOU vs SEE A HOUSE, well…pretty simple, don’t blog about houses.  Blogging is not about getting calls to “see a house”. One of my Blog-Clients put it best when he asked me this question: “ARDELL, Why do so many agents use New Technology to do OLD things?”
You need to know that “Being a Blogger” and “Having A Blog” are NOT the same thing. “Be a Blogger” and you will never be in need of a new “Lead”. “Have a Blog” and you may just be adding one more useless “make-work” activity to spend your time on.

Pt 3) Blog-Clients often already know which house they want to buy

Understand that most people who read blogs also have looked at homes ON THE INTERNET.  They already know who they want to hire (you) and they also pretty much already know which house they want to buy. Sometimes that house just sold, and that is why they are calling you to represent them.  They are not only READY to buy, they often just missed out on a home they had been “watching” without “acting upon”.
In the old days the rule was “ask for the business”.  NO MORE!  Once people call to hire you…that old rule is in the trash can. You don’t have to “ask for the business” because they are asking if you might considering taking them on as a client.
The New Rule is ASK about “the house that got away”.  Was there a house they would have bought, in the time they have been looking at property on the internet, that sold before they acted?  Key Question of the Day! What you do with that information is not always the same…and the topic of a different blog post. 🙂
Back to Blog-Client #1. I met him on Thursday, January 12, 2006. We made an offer on the property he bought on Saturday, January 14, 2006. We Opened Escrow on Monday morning January 16, 2006 and he became the owner of the house on February 24, 2006.
Many people think it takes a lot of time from starting to blog to depositing your first $9,000 check in the bank from blogging. For me that was from 1/1/2006 to 2/24/2006.
It’s not about “time”.
I want to thank Jim Cronin for asking me to guest write for The Real Estate Tomato to celebrate my 5th Anniversary of Blogging. My 5th Anniversary Post is a lot more detailed and “mature” than my original posts of Five Years ago, and that’s the side benefit of Being a Blogger. It helps you grow in all the right directions.
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Thanks Ardell and welcome to the Vine!
Ardell is an exceptionally professional real estate agent in the Greater Seattle, WA area.
Check out her real estate blog here.
If you want to master these techniques alongside a personal trainer, contact us right away to schedule a session.