The Best Ways to Stay in Front of Your Subscribers Part 1: Blogging

The best agents out there possess two elements of success that most other agents don’t : 1) incredible relationships with the consumers in their marketplace and 2) massive  authority as the expert in the real estate industry for their area.

They didn’t acquire these two fundamental requirements for success by chance. They engineered them using proven strategies that put them in the position to influence people at the highest levels.

More specifically, they used authority building strategies like blogging, creating and disseminating videos and building a powerful social media presence.

In this three-part blog series, I’m going to address, individually, each of these approaches to creating authority with your subscribers and discuss why you should weave them into your daily approach to building your business.

Once you’ve read them, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the go-to real estate agent in your marketplace because you’ll have the inside scoop on the best ways to stay in front of your subscribers.

It all starts with authority

There’s no mystery in how to create authority in your marketplace. You position yourself as an authority by consistently disseminating practical, usable content to the members of your audience (your subscribers).

The information that you share in this content needs to solve their problems, provide solutions, and meet their needs.

You get people’s attention because you position yourself as the expert who is willing to share your expertise, teach them what you know, and be an advocate in helping them achieve their goals.

As part of your positioning strategy, take a specific stance on what you believe to be true and do not waver from it.

Your goal is to be polarizing so that you can attract the people who want to work with you and repel the people that don’t.

Remember, generating and disseminating content is the easiest, fastest and best way to grow your authority, and become an authority and content marketer throughout the process.

Why you must write a blog

Every real estate agent should have a blog, no if’s, and’s or but’s about it.

Over the past several years, we have seen blogs explode in virtually every industry; scoring thousands of loyal viewers every month and being one of the most effective forms of marketing your business.

If you have any reservations as to why you need to start your own real estate blog, here’s how blogging can have huge impact on your bottom line.

More leads

Internet lead generation has become the go-to strategy for agents to turn to for leads for their business.

And who could argue with that? Virtually everyone goes to the internet when they are looking for a product, a service, or information.

Heck, how many times in the past week or month have you hit up Google for something that you needed? Probably quite a bit.

When sellers look for a real estate agent that specializes in getting homes sold fast and for top dollar without a bunch of headaches, will that person find your information or your competitor’s?

Since the majority of people don’t go past page one - and others not even below the fold -  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) needs to be an important ingredient your marketing strategy.

When you have a blog, your posts will include specific keywords that let Google know you exist, which makes it easier for potential home sellers to find you. The great thing about SEO is that you are generating new leads organically just by having a web presence and a blog that you update on a consistent basis.

A Low-Cost Marketing Tool

Any budget-friendly lead generation is a good thing.

Implemented properly, having a real estate blog can be one of the least expensive forms of marketing in which you will ever invest your money, which is a good thing as we all know that advertising and lead generation can get expensive, quickly

Now, I’m not advocating you drop all of your lead generation strategies and focus solely on writing a blog.

What I am recommending, however, is that you blog consistently and take advantage of building your brand alongside your other lead generation efforts with the goal of shrinking your investment in them as your blog “bears more fruit”.

Your blog will cost you next to nothing. A good web hosting and domain strategy will cost you about $100 per year, and that’s pretty much all you need to get up and running.

And, with the ability to record what you’ll post each time have it transcribed for about $30, what other form of advertising will require such a small investment, yet yield such a high ROI? You guessed it, there isn’t one.

Blogging is, ideally, the most cost effective form of advertising there is.

Cast a wider net

Your goal is to build as big a subscriber network as possible. To do this, you’ll need to cast a wide net to reach a larger audience.

When you combine blogging and social media together (which we will discuss in a subsequent blog post), you can reach quite a large audience.

For instance, let’s say you write a blog about how to drive up demand on your home around the holidays. You post it on your blog itself and then share it on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You’ve done your work for the day, but your subscribers are about to do even more. They’ll read it. And if they like it, they’ll share it. And if the people with whom they share the post like it, then they’ll share it, too.

And, since it lives on the Internet forever, it can reach people for days, weeks - even months - after you write it. Potential clients will be able to find it and share it numerous times after you write it and post it once.

The impact of that one blog post can be huge and the compound effect of doing this a few times a week can help you reach and impact a large number of clients and prospects consistently, putting more opportunities in your lap over time.

Let them hear your voice

Blogging is an incredible way to give your brand a voice. As you write your blog posts and share your stories and beliefs, your will personality shine through.

This will give your subscribers an opportunity to connect with you - something you absolutely must have happen if you’re going to build authority with people and be able to influence them in the future.

Share freely your experiences and your expertise and always add tremendous value in every post you write. Doing this will build tremendous credibility while attracting new leads your way.

If you’re reading this, then you know that I believe firmly in the importance of blogging myself.

It’s and easy, proven, inexpensive method to market yourself and should be an essential part of your marketing plan.

It’s not simply a marketing tool, it’s likely one of the best marketing tools in light of the the ROI that it can generate for you.

Don’t sit around and think about it.

If you’re looking to boost your revenue and profits, start a blog today and commit to posting three times a week. It should take you about three to five hours to do it and I know you’ll be glad you did it.