A lot of bloggers work the social aspect of the blogosphere. This applies to real estate agents as well. Much of their time is spent writing blogs on personal issues and their own pet peeves. Sometimes they even turn into tirades and gripes about fellow agents, or even clients! (We have to just wonder how prospective real estate clients feel about this when they run into these sorts of posts.) The general thinking among these bloggers is that post topics should be directed toward other bloggers who read them. Then they comment on each other’s blogs and pat each other on the back. They call this a “conversation” and think that this insular dialogue will somehow bring more traffic and more leads. Well , it probably does bring more traffic. But what kind of traffic? Other whiny real estate agents in other parts of the country? What good is that? High traffic does not necessarily mean business. However, if the visitors are enamored with a particular post, they might give a backlink to it. Whoopdee doo! This could give some search engine boost to the blogger who receives the backlink, but it is hard to measure. In the meantime, potential real estate buyers gain nothing of value, and probably did not even see the site anyway. (In some cases, this might be a good thing!) Virtual blogging communities containing virtual friends will pop-up, and they even give each other “virtual hugs” and “virtual beers!” They might even “twitter!” Yikes!
Much of this blog-commenting behavior is aimed at creating backlinks that will supposedly boost search engine rankings. Although this is conventional wisdom and practice, most blog comment links are “nofollow,” meaning that Google does not even detect them.
This is where Sherri Anderson enters the picture. Sherri doesn’t give a hoot about backlinks, or the blogging community. She doesn’t know much about computers beyond using them to serve clients. After all, she is a professional REALTOR, not a programmer! This Inver Grove Heights real estate agent probably wouldn’t know a ping or a trackback if it knocked on her door! Sherri is not interested in becoming a geek or an internet social butterfly. Sherri Anderson is interested in using her blog to promote her listings!
Surprisingly, it does not take much technical expertise to do this, so Sherri can better spend her time focusing on clients and the dynamics of the real estate market. Does she want to spend a lot of time figuring out computer stuff? No. Does she sell real estate? You bet! Reliable, red-carpet customer service trumps computer tinkering any day. It is this service ethic that has brought this no-nonsense IBR agent her success.
Most of the blog snobs don’t approve of this practice; they think that posting real estate listings on blogs is tacky, blatant self-promotion, and is not something that other bloggers would want to read. So what? Real estate listings are relevant, geographically focused, on-topic subjects. Search engines love blogs, and Google especially loves Wordpress blogs. A post can index very quickly, and frequently a listing will rank on the first page of search engine results within hours of posting! Sherri believes ALL of her marketing tools should be used to promote her seller’s properties, and if they don’t do that, what good are they? Besides, most buyers find their properties and real estate agents on the internet? Why would you not want to put your listings out there on the net?
Of course, Sherri will be including other things on her blog, but they will be directly related to real estate. The posts will be used to provide updated information on Inver Grove Heights real estate, and real estate in general. If the blog stimulates questions and conversation from people who are actually interested in real estate, that would be even better. In fact, she won’t even get upset if you visit her blog and just want to chat a little bit or drift a little bit off-topic!
Sherri’s site is only a few hours old at the time of this post. However, she has already posted three of her listings, and there are a few more listings on the way. Check out her new Inver Grove Heights real estate page, and check back from time to time to see how her website is evolving. Maybe she is not a blogaholic, but that doesn’t mean that she is antisocial!
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