Who Has Been Successful at Blogging?

Question

Who here blogs? I am looking to find some real estate agent blogs that have been successful in either increasing website traffic, increasing leads or expanding how many people know about you or your agency. Feel free to link to your blog if you want as well.

MODERATOR: No, please do not link your blog here. Links in the Marketplace, only.

MODERATOR:  No, please do not link your blog here.  Links in the Marketplace, only.

Scott Costello · Answer

My blog is a good example of what happens when you don't do much external marketing/seo.  It has been live since 2008 and yet I still only get about 2000 visits per month and 10,000 page views.  In the 7 years since I've had it got about 700 posts.

I imagine my blog's marginal success is directly related to my marginal success as a wholesaler.  When my wholesaling picks up and it will greatly increase my credibility.  That will increase the loyalty of the readers and hopefully their interaction.

My goal this year is to really build it up and concentrate on better content with the hopes of people sharing my content.  As well as go back and properly structure my site to help it's onsite seo.

I will say that pretty much all of my contacts have come right from my blog.  It's great to go to a local REIA meeting and someone recognize my name and say..."Hey, you own such and such blog"..you do a great job.

With all that said, my blog is all about my struggles as an investor and is meant to attract other investors.  Your targeted audience seems like you want it to be customers, people looking to buy or sell houses.  That is a bit different from the types of blogs that I, @J  Scott  and @Mark  Ferguson have.

We live our content, are going to have to create content that speaks to your target audiences questions and concerns.  You'll have to think like a retail buyer/seller.  Not always easy to do.

I'm trying to do that with a motivated lead generating website that I'm building now.  It's much tougher because I'm not passionate about the stuff I'm writing about there.  It's all informational about topics that motivated sellers might be looking for.

I'm sorta rambling on here but I hope I've helped you out in some way.  It's taking me a while to figure this blogging stuff out and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

Best of luck to you @Adam Nowlin

Mark Ferguson · Answer

i have a real estate investing bog, but it is more about general investing, fix and flips and becoming a real estate agent.  It is not meant to direct traffic to me as an agent, but it does some.

I had over 80,000 views last month and started March of 2013

Sharon Tzib · Answer

I ran a successful blog for a few years in Belize for my relocation consulting/property management business. I drove all my traffic organically (no SEO) by blogging five days a week (I found if I did less than that, my traffic dropped off significantly) and always asking a question at the end of my posts to generate comments.  I also tried to keep my blogs to 250-500 words, since people's attention spans are limited.

I sold a lot of consulting services, ebooks, and leased a lot of rental property that way. I highly recommend it in any field, IF you enjoy writing and can commit to it. Otherwise, don't bother.

J Scott · Answer

I blog.  Not sure if I've been successful at it or not...I guess it depends on how you define success.  I have a lot of visitors and page views, but I haven't really figured out how to use it to make any direct money...  :-)

It's certainly helped me gain a good reputation, which has allowed me to find partners, lenders, etc.  So, in that respect, I'd consider it to have been indirectly successful.

J Scott · Answer

I buy and renovate houses as well, and as you suggested, I've never found a single seller or tenant through my blog (in fact, I really don't like when sellers/buyers/tenants even see my blog :).

Yet, I would credit my blog with helping me do dozens of deals, as it's allowed me to network with other investors, meet partners, meet lenders, meet borrowers, meet agents, etc.

In other words, your audience doesn't need to be your sellers or tenants...

Rick Bassett · Answer

Good comments. Having a purpose, a unique message and a good set of interested electronic contacts / friends / connections is key.

I blog about the community and international service activities of our Rotary Clubs (I am a Rotary District Governor in charge of 61 Rotary Clubs) and this blog generates excellent traffic with 500-1,000 views a day. Rotarians and their contacts like to see themselves and their friends in these posts. Since Rotary is an International organization I have readership all over the world. Blogging is a commitment and a real skill to find the right blend of material and the right frequency for your audience.

While I'm now highly skilled at blogging, I'm not sure that I could maintain a successful RE Blog that people would want to read or follow as there is so much excellent subject matter content out there (and here) already and I'd have little value to add.

It pretty much comes down to the goal of what you're trying to accomplish. For me it's about buying up poorly maintained SFH's in good areas, fixing them and renting them. Blogging isn't a good medium for me to reach these type of sellers or the tenants that I want to put into the properties.

Rachel H. · Answer

For me personally, blogging has and will always be an outlet to share my stories and adventures in my niche. To be a successful blogger, I think it's important to have purpose and a meaningful story.

In the past, I've seen many bloggers get burned out simply due to the fact that they just do not have a sense of purpose with a story to tell anymore. And, that's OK. They move on to other things and life goes on.

Those who have remained blogging continue to tell their story with purpose, despite the obstacles, because they want to not because they have to.

Hope that helps!

Account Closed · Answer

Adam, I have a blog that we use as part of our inbound marketing efforts and we generate a significant amount of traffic there each month. Quality content is the first step, but the most important step is how you PROMOTE it, otherwise no one reads it.

Rob Pene · Answer

I don't blog as much as I should, but for the sites that I have posted blog to, I've optimized the heck out of it and its still sitting on page 1 and pulls leads continually lol

Now its not a real estate related blog but I'm sure if I did create something real estate related and focused on it I'm sure it would yield some cool results

Walter Ichikawa-Doyle · Answer

Hi Adam,

I don't blog, but I do a kind of news gathering service of articles that might be beneficial to my potential clients. I then broadcast that on FB and LinkedIn groups with a linked to our homepage. Then every couple of weeks I send out an email summary of those articles to our email list. The posted articles on FB or LinkedIn are good for google ranking, but don't really bring in the customers. The most beneficial thing I've seen is getting involved in forums and commenting on other posts in LinkedIn groups you become a member of. The ability to comment insightfully or with a good answer works toward establishing your credibility, which, of course, is dire, and a couple of other people have mentioned as well.

Who Has Been Successful at Blogging?

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