6 Reasons Why You Should Be Blogging

If you have a website, the odds are it includes a blog. The odds are equally as good that the blog is not being updated as frequently as it should (if at all).

Blogs are one of those “checklist” items for many businesses. Perhaps you read at some point how important a blog is and so, as you did with Facebook, you started a blog. And maybe at first, you put a lot of energy toward that blog, kept it active with frequent posts. Over time, you might lose the energy or motivation to keep developing content and your blog posts drop to once a week. Gradually, excuses begin to pile up and you’re posting about once a month. In an effort to keep the blog going, you begin to assign posts to your team or, possibly, hire a cousin or freelancer writer to post on a frequent basis. Eventually, you begin to question the value of the blog, of paying someone to write it for you and the posting process fizzles out.

This is not an unusual scenario. It takes work to maintain a blog, work that, for many, is difficult to justify. If you’ve gotten to that point, if you’ve suspended posting activity because you can’t justify the time or expense, we think you should re-evaluate your position. Blogging can be an important asset in your business development efforts. In fact, we think a strong blog can be a tremendous game changer for your “personal brand” and, by extension, your portfolio of business.

That said, we’d like to share 6 reasons why you should be blogging:

1. Enhance your communication skills: blogging takes discipline and focus. Active blogging keeps your mind sharp and forces you to think through what you are saying and how you are saying it. Blogging improves all aspects of your business communication efforts.
2. Provide thought leadership: the greatest benefit of blogging on a regular basis is that it makes you a thought leader in the eyes of your business prospects. By writing on topics essential to the real estate market in your area and on a broader national basis, your insights become valuable to those people considering buying or selling a home. Thought leadership gives you credibility in the marketplace.
3. Increase your visibility: a well thought-out blogging strategy is one of the most cost efficient ways to build your brand persona in the market. It differentiates you vis-à-vis your competitors. Visibility translates to the kind of awareness that’s valuable when you are making cold calls; you are more likely to get the response: “Yes, I heard about you” or “Yes, I read your blog about the mortgage situation.” Or, to put it another way, you go from making a cold call to a warm call.
4. Communicate your vision: a blog is a great way to establish what you stand for in your market. What makes your team different, unique? How do you differentiate yourself from other teams? Blogging provides a great platform for your personal brand and, by extension, improves the overall prospect for your team.
5. Improve your trust and likeability: it’s simple-people want to work with people whom they like and trust. A blog helps to craft your individual brand “personality” and provides a forum for you to gain the trust of your prospective clients.
6. Attract visitors to your site: if you create original content on your blog, you can disseminate it through your social media platforms, with links back to your site. Ultimately, greater site traffic is the goal for any agent. Original blog content is a great way to drive such traffic.

If you have a blog on your website, but it’s been sitting idle for awhile, now’s the time to dust it off. Active blogging is one of the best strategies an agent can pursue for building a strong brand and driving greater engagement with potential clients. Don’t worry about being perfect; just get your story out there so people can find it.