Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate #4:
Use Blogging to Humanize the Online Experience
People like doing business with people, not businesses.
Let me say that again…
People like doing business with PEOPLE, not businesses.
… and businesses (of all sorts) are starting to catch on. Think about some commercials that we hear all the time … ones that stand out:
Those are real people representing their now-wildly-successful businesses. Real Estate blogging gives you the opportunity on a local level to be the “voice” and “face” of real estate, much like these guys have now become a voice and face for diamonds and dating.
There was a particularly interesting article about Humanizing the Online Experience, by Robert Williams. He points out that there is a great need for human contact in the internet:
“Search is my favorite online tool. I use it daily. But search doesn’t tell you things, it only finds things — lots of things. And brings them all back to you like a mad, overachieving Labrador Retriever, leaving you to sift through the pile, looking for what you really want. That’s when search is operating as designed. However, if you’re not sure or clear enough, if you’re not using the right words or phrases when searching, then you’ll be left with a potentially never-ending task looking for that desired needle in the digital haystack.”
Can you imagine the immense haystack potential home buyers and sellers find themselves in when they begin their online search for real estate help? It is ridiculous how many real estate related things are online.
What blogging does is MAKE SENSE of online real estate information.
Blogging gives real estate professionals the ability to prove that you are the expert in a way that makes online home buyers and sellers actually understand exactly what it is you are the expert of.
How do I humanize the online real estate experience with my real estate blog?
- First, write your blog posts like you would write an email – professional, but not insanely formal. Blogs are not meant to be dissertations on the science and philosophy of the field of real estate studies yadda yadda yadda. Blogging is a conversation that you are having with your readers. (Just make sure you Speak English Good.) Yes, at first, it will feel like a conversation that you are having with yourself and the few spam commenters that find your blog, but eventually it will be a conversation that you have with your readers… the folks out there looking to eventually do business with you. Write your blog in a “tone” that you would use if you were responding to an email.
- Second, don’t be afraid to let your personality show through your blog posts. This is called your “voice” … Now, if you are a complete jerk, you may want to reconsider being in real estate all together, as there are enough jerks out there and I’m pretty sure the Real Estate Jerk Quota is full. Try back later.
Your personality will attract more people than just a bunch of statistics and data on a computer screen. In addition to people wanting to do business with people … people like doing business with people they know. Letting your personality shine through your writing will get people to know you before they even “meet” you.
- Third, explain things in terms that your target audience will understand. YOU may know what a FSBO and a REO is. YOU may know what DOM and absorption rate is. YOU may know all the lingo and terms that are now a part of your everyday language… but the everyday public may not.
Stand out from your competition. Don’t just HAVE an About Me page … BE your About Me Page.
Read Also:
Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate: Introduction
Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate: #1 Use Blogging as a Farming Tool
Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate: #2 Answer Real Estate FAQ’s Just Once
Top 10 Ways to Use Blogging in Real Estate: #3 Use Blogging to Become a Niche Expert
