Closing Business With A Blog

Jay Thompson is moderating one of the morning panels at Bloggers Connect. The panelists all certainly know how to use blogging as a client acquisition mechanism, and closing business with those clients:

• Linda Davis, Broker/Owner, Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Realty Group – http://blog.ctrelocation.com/
  
• Laurie Manny, Realtor, Long Beach Real Estate Home – http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/
  
• Mary Pope-Handy, Realtor, Co-Author, “Get the Best Deal When Selling Your Home In Silicon Valley,” Keller Williams Realty – LiveInLosGatos.com
  
• Teresa Boardman, Realtor/Broker, Keller Williams Integrity Realty – http://www.stpaulrealestateblog.com/

Linda does not pay attention to the SEO and instead writes purely for her readers. I think writing for your readers is definitely the right way to go, but I think it’s a mistake to not at least think about SEO a little bit. For instance, post titles are extremely important with the search engines and can help your blog rank for certain keywords you are writing about.

According to the panelists, you shouldn’t worry too much about a lack of comments since clients seldom comment on a blog — but they are definitely reading.

Laurie Manning believes that you need to weed through the leads and make sure buyers are pre-approved before spending time with them. Of course, this is dependent on how many leads you are receiving through your blog and your capacity to help everyone.

Teresa uses a ton of photos on her blog (she actually led a group focused on using flickr yesterday at RE Bar Camp), which resonates with her readers. Another thing she does is write about quirky topics, such as architecture styles.

Writers block does happen. If you are having it, post market reports for your local markets. And don’t use jpg’s. Instead, put the report into text so that the search engines understand what the post is about.

One of the funnier lines in the panel was Linda Davis saying, “If you have a crappy business, a blog isn’t going to help.” I agree.