Writing every day is a challenge
It isn’t easy to crank out a blog post every day and there are times when we all struggle to find content. Most of the 1500 or so posts on my local real estate blog come from my every day experiences but that isn’t enough.
Over the years I have assembled a small collection of books for my blog. They are a great source of blog posts. I don’t copy articles from the books I use them for ideas and for information.
One of the books is for tourists and it has a lot of information about local content. Another book has history and historic landmarks. I have a book that is a guide to the best restaurants and another that is just about street names and the stories behind them. There is a book about local public art that I plant to buy soon.
Why Books?
In most cases the information that I find in the books is not available online. They are packed with information and photos about specific topics.
When I don’t have a clue what to write about I grab the book with information about a local attraction and I go out and take some photos and write a post. I have lived in the same town most of my life but I don’t always know what someone else might find interesting.
Books about your area can be found on Amazon.com or in a book store. Look for local books or go to the travel section and find the books they write for tourists. Start a series on some topic related to one of the books and write about it once a week.
Local real estate blogs can’t be just about real estate, the housing market and numbers if they are they don’t get much traffic. Variety keeps them coming back.
Chuck G
February 25, 2009 at 8:15 am
Teresa,
You’re absolutely correct. Broadening the community scope of an RE blog is essential to get and maintain readership. The two most commented posts on my site are not directly related to real estate – they’re community issues.
But lest someone think the two topics are not related…they are, because “real estate” and “community” are absolutely intertwined. A neighborhood’s home values and its desirability (is that a word?) are often linked to what’s happening in the surrounding community.
Keeping readers informed on things other than just home prices and endless statistics is what transforms a site from just another RE blog into a valued community voice. And that’s what we should all be aspiring to do, right?
CG
Lynn Cromer
February 25, 2009 at 11:18 am
I also use books. But lately I’ve been subscribing to my local media emails that talk about what’s going on around town. One that I think is national is socialmedia.com or something like that. Here it’s socialmiami.com. Most people I know don’t subscribe to this post, nor do most people, especially suburb folks, know what’s going on in the city. I use their ideas to write about local attractions, etc.
Bob
February 25, 2009 at 11:48 am
Content for the sake of content is over rated.
Kim Wood
February 25, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Great idea…. I’ve always thought your abilities to “just sit and write” is one I’d like to have… I struggle with what to write about sometimes. It would be nice to pick up a book !
Lisa Sanderson
February 26, 2009 at 6:31 am
Great tip, T! My main blogging ‘problem’ right now is finding a way to get all the article ideas in my head in to print…time management & discipline issues, I suppose. But I guess that’s because I’m a relative newb…when I get to 1500 written posts like you (!!) I imagine the ideas may be harder to come by. Thanks, again, for sharing.
Missy Caulk
February 28, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Oh…. great idea. True we don’t always see or know all that is available in our communities.