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BRIAN PERSAUD
BabbleBee
reply 280 vote 17
 

Help! How much should I blog as a Realtor?

To all tech savvy Realtors

What is the optimal amount of blog posts per week someone should do?
Balancing time vs quality
Are short daily ones (<200 words)
Longer ones 2x a week (>250 words)

This also goes for video blogging

What kind of ROI can you expect from it?


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General Chit-Chat
 
 
 
TERI CONRAD
NewBee
reply 1 vote 4
 
 
4 BEST REPLY
Great comments ~ I would add that instead of thinking "ROI" ...think instead "ROR" - or "Return on Relationship". Use your blogging as a Brand builder; a platform to showcase your expertise and to gain traction within your community. We live in a world with A LOT of noise digitally. It can be quite harmful to your own brand to be perceived as adding to the noise. In my opinion it's wise to make an effort to share VALUABLE information focused on helping the consumer vs promoting yourself. Remember: Brand is what people believe and expect from what you deliver and how you deliver it - no longer just a clever tag line and a pretty logo... every time you 'touch' your consumer, they are experiencing your Brand. Make it count. 
 
 
 
MATTHEW SLUTSKY
Senior Buzzer
reply 2299 vote 171
 
 
1
I do not think that there is a maximum, or a minimum. 

If you have some great and interesting to say, post it. If you don't, then - don't!  

I am not a Realtor, so I do not know about the ROI (return on investment).
 
 
LEONARD THE BEE
Buzzer
reply 162 vote 4
 
 
Not sure why @mark savel / @Mark Savel didn't come into the Chat with this, but he says, via Twitter: "alot".
 
 
IAN GORDON
NewBee
reply 6 vote 4
 
 
2
Not a realtor but know a bit about online marketing. There is a trend these days to put up as much content as possible to improve "SEO" and drive traffic. This is a flawed long-term strategy. Driving traffic is only half the battle. For it to mean anything you have to convert visitors into customers. When people visit your site, if all they see is robotic, seo optimized writing, I would think the likelihood they will buy or sell a million dollar home with you is low.

As @Matthew Slutsky says, write when you have something interesting to say.  You can buy traffic with PPC but you can't buy appearing like someone people want to do business with.

ROI is different question.  ROI is dollars made minus dollars spent divided by dollars spent. Period, only, and always.  You need to track and measure the right things in order to calculate ROI.  

None of this is easy. Which is a really good thing!
 
 
CAIT FLANDERS
NewBee
reply 1
 
 
Hey Brian! I can't speak for realtors, exactly, but blogs in general should only be written if a) you have something to say and b) you can say it well. It's hard to write something daily, even if it is only 200 words! I would suggest writing 1-2 times per week, and anywhere from 350-550 words. But, again, only if you have something to say. :)
 
 
MATTHEW SLUTSKY
Senior Buzzer
reply 2299 vote 171
 
 
@Ian Gordon ...but, how do you calculate "brand awareness" and general "awareness" that is received from having a well received blog?
 
 
IAN GORDON
NewBee
reply 6 vote 4
 
 
2
@Matthew Slutsky Unless those things contribute directly and measurably to sales, they are not factors of ROI. Those things can be measured, and you can point them to sales, but it's hard. Don't get me wrong- There are definitely benefits to blogging beyond ROI.  I've noticed a tendency to speak of general benefits in terms of ROI. ROI is a business metric though. Return on investment. It is used to measure the effectiveness of something in a finite way. There are many benefits of having a good, well written blog. It can create business opportunities in many ways. Brand awareness" and general "awareness" are worthy, great things, just not usually factors in ROI ;)
 
 
MICHAEL KLASSEN
NewBee
reply 1
 
 
I agree with all points @Ian Gordon has made here. Having said that I've just started blogging myself and am finding once a week more than enough. Will keep you posted on ROI.
 
 
INGRID JARISZ
Buzzer
reply 10 vote 4
 
 
1
I am a Realtor and agree entirely with everyone's comments above and espeically "branding" and adding interest to who you are in writing a consistent Blog. A Blog is a great way for clients and potential clients to get to know you better as in our business, the reason clients want to work with you is 'because they like you" plain and simple!
 
 
MATTHEW SLUTSKY
Senior Buzzer
reply 2299 vote 171
 
 
So @Ingrid Jarisz, how often do you blog?
 
 
INGRID JARISZ
Buzzer
reply 10 vote 4
 
 
My goal is weekly but I also need to make that more consistent! Definitely one of my priorities this year to commitment to regular posts and to ensure they are interesting and a blend of business, information, personal and fun!
 
 
JOSIE STERN
Buzzer
reply 109 vote 57
 
 
2
When realtors, or anyone for that matter, blog about trivial things that have no purpose it does more harm than good to their brand. Quality over quantity is no different with regard to blogging. A well written blog takes time to write. It can’t just be slapped together. There are a number of  bloggers I follow and I get many good ideas and great content from them. They are a pleasure to read. But I could not keep up, even with the ones I like, if they blogged more than once a week. If I were a consumer and a real estate agent blogged daily, or even a few times a week, about nonsense, I would wonder where they would possibly get the time to deal with selling my house or finding my house when they are so busy blogging about things that just don’t matter. The things one blogs about and spends their time on says a lot about a person.
 
 
JAMIE KINCH
Buzzer
reply 142 vote 41
 
 
@Brian Persaud There is no right or wrong answer with how much you should be blogging.

Like everyone has said you should make sure that when you do write a post make sure that it has substance. If you are writing everyday but the post comes across as hollow in nature there is little value for people.

Write when you have something to say, but aim to find something concrete to talk about once a week. You want to make sure you offer fresh content for people to keep coming back for. Once a week seems to be the answer most people jump to right away when you bring up starting a blog.

I'd recommend using something like Evernote (http://www.evernote.com) to save stories, posts, emails, news articles, tweets, etc. that you might want to write about. Therefore you can start to build up research sources. Amazingly enough when you do this, the stories seem to find themselves.

I've done it this way with two blogs in the past with different subject matters and the most critical things is planning and putting aside time to actually construct and write the blog post. At the beginning this is more time consuming then you anticipate.

Have you thought about doing a mix of video blog posts and written blog posts since you already have experience in television?

ROI is kind of hard to measure with blogging in my opinion, I'll let @Ian Gordon expand more if it's required, he seems to have a bigger and better grasp on that subject matter.
 
 
MARGARET PELC
NewBee
reply 4 vote 1
 
 
Brian, I have to agree with the people who are saying that you should only blog if you have something to say. I too have been attempting to get my blog started, and have been told by some of the best Social Media guru's that you should blog at least once or twice per week. However, if you cannot provide something of value, then what is the point of blogging...I do feel that I have things to say, but I have limitations to how much time I can spend on this. I have researched blogging and I would suggest that you take a few online classes with Tech Savvy Agent or Inman Next. Both sources offer real estate bloggers solutions or ideas for a fee if you are serious about building a following.
 
 
ELLI DAVIS
NewBee
reply 1 vote 2
 
 
2
I think that there is never enough blogging and you don't have to blog only about real estate, there are other interesting topics to cover - the most obvious are events that are being held in your city or interesting places that could interest and help your clients, for example restaurants reviews, tips and tricks guide for everyday life, quality shops recommendation or photo essays. There is always something new and interesting to be shared. Basically it's all about showing how interesting and booming your city or particular neighbourhoods are.
 
 
JASON TANG
NewBee
reply 9 vote 4
 
 
Iv'e been blogging personally for years but the introduction of social media since 2006 as facebook and twitter has changed the blogging landscape. I now use twitter for short messages and quick photos and reserve blogging for longer text-based dialogue with clients.  I agree with the consensus here that blog only if blogworthy and the process is really about branding and relationship, there's no real ROI that can be calculated. 
 
Consumers and interested parties are very savvy these days and can sniff out SEO-oriented blogs versus entertaining/informative blogs.  I target 1 post per week.
 
 
JAMIE KINCH
Buzzer
reply 142 vote 41
 
 
great points @Elli Davis. I think it really comes down to what you are aiming for with your blog. @Brian Persaud maybe start two blogs? One professional one right on your website to drive traffic and maybe a tumblr blog for posting places of personal interesting, photos, short videos of your day-to-day. Just a thought.

@Jason Tang..... there is an entire community of businesses that will sell you on the fact that ROI can be measured from a blog. Though you can track statistics for a blog and make assumptions on ROI.... Those stats are as flimsy as those provide by billboard media companies.

I would definitely agree though that consumers are extremely savvy. The BS detectors will go off in a heartbeat if the blog is setup to gain SEO/Ranking bumps.  
 
 
STEPHEN MARLOW
Buzzer
reply 43 vote 6
 
 
1
Jay Conrad Levinson,author of “Guerilla Marketing” (1984),[ironically] stated “As real estate islocation location location, marketing is frequency frequency frequency.” Do what you gotta do

 
 
ELIZABETH SAGARMINAGA
Buzzer
reply 84 vote 9
 
 
Don't start a blog unless you're ready to spend the time necessary to post regularly. In most cases, several posts each week will produce the best results as regards both readers and search engines. A bare minimum should be one post per week, though.
There are so many great topics and items of interest about which you can write. It's best not to make it a blog totally about real estate.

 
 
GORD SMART
Buzzer
reply 224 vote 37
 
 
As with all blogs ... say as much as you would like ... as long as you are relevant. When blogs (realtor or otherwise) become vehicles of self-promotion, I turn them off. Be an expert in disseminating industry information that is useful. People can see self promoters  coming from miles away ... The second a blog "points" to itself ... I'm done.
 
 
 
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