I recently took part in a Blog Q&A session with Coach Ken Goodfellow. Below is a recap of our discussion.

Coach Ken: It seems like Blogging is getting a lot of media attention lately. What is your advice about starting a blog.

Brad: Blogging has many benefits from both Search Engine Optimization and attracting new clients. Search Engines love it because it’s fresh and unique content. Site visitors love them because blogs are geared around information and not about hard selling. The other good thing about blogs is that there are great opportunities out there. NAR just released a statistic that only 5% of Realtors are blogging. This means that there is a wide open opportunity to become the expert in your area. And search engines and site visitors are not the only ones that pay attention to blogs. Traditional media are relying more and more on “bloggers” for quotes and expert advice. This allows you to truly be seen as the area expert.

Coach Ken: I know that for most real estate agents, time is an issue. What kind of time commitment does it take to be a successful blogger?

Brad: Blogging does take time. But like all marketing strategies, you have to weigh the cost (money or time) against the return on investment. Imagine if an agent had a chance to speak in front of hundreds or even thousands of potential buyers and sellers. Most agents would probably jump at the opportunity. That is exactly what blogging is all about - being the expert for hundreds of your readers. And don’t forget about the ancillary benefits. One of our clients has only been blogging for a few months. He already has over 5,000 websites linking to his blog. Including places like the Miami Herald, New York Times, Inman News, and thousands of other blogs. On many of his keywords, his blog site actually outranks his main website!

Coach Ken: Does he write all the content himself? Obviously it sounds like the payoff is there - but what about people who may not be the best writers or people who simply don’t have the time.

Brad: He does write all the content himself. In the blog world there is a phrase you hear repeated quite often. “Find your Blog Voice.” You don’t have to be the best writer. But you do have to be a good communicator. Luckily, being a successful Realtor pretty much requires you to be a good communicator. You don’t have to be able to write poetry, you just have to find your style (blog voice) and do what feels comfortable to you. But I do realize that not everyone can or wants to write. Even then, you can get pretty creative about keeping your blog updated.

Coach Ken: Give us a few ideas.

Brad: Sure, Ghost writing is one example. That simply means having someone write on your behalf. When you’re doing this, be sure that the ghost writer knows you enough to convey your personality and style. Remember, your readers will begin to learn your style. They will expect that same style when they see you face to face.

Another idea is to draw from the resources in your preferred partnerships. Negotiate a win-win situation for both parties. For example, have a mortgage broker write a monthly blog on interest rates or something related to the mortgage industry. It’s free advertising for him and it’s unique content for you.

You can also link up with other businesses that are not necessarily related to real estate. Interview business owners about how great it is to live/work in your area. Interview local politicians, school board members, builders, bank owners, CEOs, etc - they will jump at the opportunity to have free exposure and build “good will” in the community.

Get creative and do anything to find unique content. If you have a team, have a buyer agent do a “Day in the life of” post. Let consumers see what it’s like to be a Realtor for a day. This is a great way to soft sell the many things you do to earn your commission!

Coach Ken: Okay, let’s say these agents want to start a blog tomorrow. What options are out there? How do they know the best route to take that is going to have the most impact on their search engine optimization and ultimately their business?

Brad: Scalability is the key. What I mean by that is you want a blog platform that is going to grow with you and be easy to use. That’s such a key ingredient. The reality is that if your blog is not easy to use, then you will be less likely to keep it up. There are a lot of companies that have proprietary software platforms for blogs. But unfortunately you are locked into their system and do not have a lot of growing room. The flip side to this is free blogs. While these are good to use in your total online marketing presence, they should not be used as your main blog. Personally, we use the WordPress platform for all blogs that we build. It’s great because it’s low cost to implement and it gives you tons of flexibility and growing room.

Coach Ken: I want to go back to something you mentioned earlier. You used the phrase “online marketing presence.” Can you touch on that? I know some people think that their online marketing only consist of their website. Can you talk about that for a moment?

Brad: That’s a great point. It used to be that easy. Put up a website and watch the leads pour in. But now days that simple strategy is being harder and harder - Let me give you an example, most people think that Search Engine optimization (where your site appears in the search results) is just based on the content on the site. If I have a site about real estate widgets then all I need to do is have a website about real estate widgets and I will be at the top. But your site’s content is only one of many factors. Google and other search engines take many things into consideration including how many websites are linking to you (and I don’t mean just link farms) as well as credibility, age, amount of content, and a host of other factors. And search engines are not the only ones looking beyond your website. The whole Web 2.0 craze has people relying more on places like social networks to get the information that they need. You want to be where those people are and ultimately point everything back to your main website. You want your website to be the ultimate authority on a subject. It’s only then will you see rankings in search engines. Imagine this – You have a circle in the center of a piece of paper that represents your website. Now think about lots of smaller circles around scattered around the piece of paper. Each of those smaller circles represents other websites. They could be the chamber of commerce, MySpace, Active Rain etc. Each of those smaller circles needs to point to your main website. They basically need to say “Yes we have some information about real estate widgets but the ultimate resource on real estate widgets is this main flagship website. You can see an example here.

Coach Ken: So are there particular websites that help you build an online presence?

Brad: Yes, hundreds of them. But remember, its quality not quantity. Most people make the mistake of just throwing up a ton of duplicated content on lots of different sources and then say that this strategy doesn’t work. I actually wrote a post about that on my blog the other day. Again, it’s all about thinking creatively. If you have a blog, then you have a good chance at being quoted in your local newspaper. Newspaper websites are reference websites and therefore are great links to your website. You can upload content to MySpace, YouTube, ActiveRain, the list just goes on and on. Michael Russer and I recently wrote an eBook about this exact subject. It’s called the Real Estate Website Accelerator. It breaks down how to drive traffic to your site using these and other sources.

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