2011 Blogging Buyer's Guide: What Others Are Saying About

“Building Confidence”

“My blog is part of my persona of being that real estate professional people can have confidence because I know and use all the tools available to me,” says Colin Bray, ABR, Century 21 Cityside, Fine Homes & Estates, Boston.

He launched his blog, Back Bay Lifestyle (www.BackBayLifestyle.com), six months ago as a resource for people specifically interested in that part of town. “I wanted to create something connected to the neighborhood I specialize in, with information about its history and architecture, local real estate and retail space, what’s happening in the community, and the whole lifestyle of living there,” he explains.

As far as content goes, he’s always hunting for appropriate topics. Bray subscribes to e-mail newsletters from the neighborhood association and lenders and scours YouTube for videos on the area. He always blogs about videos he creates for his new listings and uses his Twitter account to promote all posts.        

The biggest blog challenge, he admits, is making the time to compose new entries. “I try to post at least three or four times a week, but you’ve got to schedule it, just like a showing, and keep to it,” he advises.

“Tightly Targeted”

Eventually people interested in buying small multifamily dwellings in Minnesota discover the Duplex Chick blog and Web site. “Before real estate I worked as a freelance writer, so blogging seemed a natural for me,” says blogger Kari Lundin, sales associate with Keller Williams Realty Integrity in Edina, Minn., and an experienced owner and investor in the homes she writes about. “I was looking for a way to differentiate myself and to educate people about all aspects of buying and owning a duplex.”

This was not a do-it yourself project. Lundin had no interest in learning Web design or HTML, so she had her blog custom created by blogging specialists Real Estate Tomato. The narrow focus on duplexes has brought her local client buyers and sellers and attracted readers from all over the country through Google searches. She’s currently in the process of recasting the blog with more of a national spin to serve that larger audience.

“A lot of the topics I write about come from my clients and the questions they ask me,” she says. “It’s all information people want and they don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

In serving them, Duplex Chick has also underpinned Lundin’s success as a real estate professional: “Without blogging, I’d be out of business.”

“A Blogging Pioneer”

“A blog is a great way to brand yourself and much easier to update than a Web site,” says Jay Thompson, broker of Thompson Realty in Phoenix. Six years ago, while a sales associate with another company, he started The Phoenix Real Estate Guy and became one of this industry’s early adopters of blogging. More than 1,800 posts later, the WordPress blog still serves as his primary Web site. It’s attracted so many local leads and clients that it enabled Thompson and his wife Francy to launch their own real estate company three years ago.

“The blog gave me the opportunity to combine my desire to write with my passion for real estate,” he says. “I thought it was a great way to get my personality out there.”

He advises aspiring bloggers not to expect instant results. “It can take as much as a year before a blog can start generating leads, but eventually Google will find it,” he assures. “In the beginning, you should be adding new posts at least three or four times a week.”

In every post, let some of your personality show through. While his blog is clearly about real estate, he’ll occasionally write about whatever is on his mind or of current interest. “Don’t be afraid to get personal without getting too opinionated or controversial,” he says. “When I meet people for the first time, they’ll often tell me they feel they already know me, that I’m just like they thought I’d be from reading my blog.”