Why Blogging is Like Flossing + Owners Overvaluing Their Homes + much more...

885,391 daily readers and growing! February 19, 2016 Why Blogging is Like Flossing Dear Reader, Let’s face it: Blogging is like flossing… Everyone knows they need to do it and yet nobody does it. I remember going to a seminar or training class and listening as some blogging guru got me all excited about starting my own blog and so I decided I would bite the bullet and do it. While I waited for my blog website to be built I imagined filling it with all of the real estate wisdom that so unceasingly flows from my vast wells of experience (sarcasm). I pondered that first, all-important blog post and rolled a few ideas around in my mind and finally landed on my opening topic. Finally the blog was ready so I sat down at my desk and began to write. I not only wanted to articulate my topic, but I wanted my magnetic personality, sharp wit, my passion and zeal, and of course, my expertise to literally ooze from the article. When I eventually and mercifully finished that first “masterpiece” a wave of emotion flooded over me. I felt elated, mostly just because I finally finished. I felt excitement because I’d officially begun my new blog. I felt anticipation wondering what my readers would say and think. And after a few days, I felt underwhelmed. Why? Nothing happened. No comments. No calls or emails. Nothing. That was a lot of work for nothing to happen. Okay, maybe I didn’t expect Simon & Schuster to offer me a book deal, but I sort of expected something and yet absolutely nothing happened. And that was my best stuff. So after an article or two, the blog just sort of died on the vine with nothing new being added. Sound familiar? Let me guess -- you’ve been there, done that. The reason I bring this up is that last week I had nearly identical conversations with two different agents -- both about this very topic. In fact, it's a conversation I have with agents virtually every month. And it reminds me that, in an effort to not constantly pitch my readers on all of features of my Ultimate Website, I have completely failed at telling my readers about one of the coolest things I’ve stumbled across in a long time. This short article is an attempt to correct that oversight. Let’s start with what may be the most unasked question in real estate: Why do I need a blog? Many of us have built or purchased a blog without ever even asking the question. We bought a blog because we were told by the experts that we needed one. We never gave it a second thought. But seriously, why do we need one? I believe there are two reasons every agent needs his or her own blog. Reason One: Blogging gives you the opportunity to set yourself apart as an expert or as the “go-to” agent in your sphere of influence and beyond. The problem with typical sphere of influence marketing is that you are continually calling your circle of 50 or so people. If you are organized about it, you typically call two or three every day, and if and when you reach them, you small talk about them for 10-25 minutes before “getting around to business”. Eventually you work the conversation around to the age-old, “Who do you know right now that is thinking about buying or selling real estate that maybe I could help?” If not that, then some variation of it. Every month you hound your sphere of influence until they get sick of hearing from you. I still remember one Sunday at church seeing a friend out of the corner of my eye. I hadn’t made eye contact yet and when he saw me, he turned and walked the other direction. Sad, but true. That was the day I quit hounding my friends and family for business. Never again. Blogging allows you to put good real estate related content out on a regular basis and your friends see it and over time begin to associate you with being the real estate expert without you having to blow your own horn. It’s perfect. It’s what I call "pull" marketing versus "push" marketing. Reason Two: Blogging is great for organic ranking in the search engines. Unlike years ago when search engines looked for keywords in your meta tags, today’s search algorithms are much more sophisticated. They can easily determine which sites have real content and which ones have been artificially stuffed with keywords so as to manipulate the search engine rankings. The simplest way to rank high in search engines today is to have fresh, recently updated, always changing, keyword-rich content. Nothing moves a site up in the organic search results faster than new, relevant content. If you continue to post fresh content to your blog, you will watch it move up and up in the search results. So blogging is important for those two reasons: positioning you as an expert and helping your search engine rankings. The problem is that blogging is hard to keep up with. Unless you're a retired novelist, the blog posts probably don't flow effortlessly from your fingertips. They require time you don't have and effort that would be better spent elsewhere in your business, and therefore, most blogs eventually die. And nothing is worse than a blog with only one or two old and stale posts. It’s like the old saying, “Nodunk is better than podunk.” You’re better off not having a blog than having a bad one. Blogging Made Easy... So let me introduce you to my Ultimate Blog. Many of you know that last year we introduced the Ultimate Website, and many of you rushed to get one. What many of you don’t know is that my Ultimate Website has the Ultimate Blog built right in. Why do I call it the “Ultimate Blog”? I’ll show you and when you see why, you’ll agree that it’s the ultimate blog as well. My Ultimate Blog does the blogging for you. Several days a week we automatically post relevant, consumer-oriented real estate content for you. If you don’t like some post, no problem. With a click of your mouse you can remove it. If you feel particularly inspired and want to write your own post, you can do that too. Simple. Some of our agents use the blog to create free one-page mini websites for their new listings, complete with photos or a virtual tour. Better yet it doesn’t cost much to make your seller happy with his own property website. Spend $8-10 and buy a domain name like 1234MapleStreet.com and you have a website. Better yet, when people go to visit that site, they are captured with your LCM technology and the lead is sent to you by email and text message so you can immediately follow up on the lead wherever you are. How cool is that?! But that's not even the coolest feature -- it just solves your content problem. Arguably the most important feature is that it allows you to effectively work your sphere of influence without becoming "that guy" people start avoiding at social functions. Because it’s integrated with social media like Twitter and Facebook, with one click, you can share any blog post on Facebook or Twitter and publish it to your entire sphere of influence for free. It doesn’t get any easier than that. For example, here’s what I like to do with mine. About once a week, I’ll find an article that’s been automatically posted for me, and one that I particularly like. I’ll reread the article and click the Facebook share button. With one click I share that article on my Facebook timeline and invariably I have friends who click to read the article and many times share it on their own timelines as well. What’s really cool is that when they go to read it, they have to register on my LCM and I get a notification. Now, without making a single call, or without ever becoming a nuisance, I can immediately identify which of my sphere of influence are interested in buying or selling real estate, and best of all they’ve been slowly programmed over time to see me as the “go-to” guy for real estate in the area. I don’t have to send out newsletters, postcards, or other junk mail. I don’t have to waste an hour a day trying to keep up with my sphere of influence. I don’t have them running the other way when I approach them at church. It is the Ultimate Blog. And there’s one more thing I haven’t mentioned yet. While my blog is slowly positioning me as the market expert, it is also moving my website up in the organic search engine rankings because every day or two, more fresh, timely, real estate content is being published under my name without my doing a single thing to make it happen. I still have my time and I haven’t had to pay some company thousands of dollars for search engine optimization. And because my blog is a part of my Ultimate Website, the organic rankings are good for my website as well. I mean, what’s the point of having a great search engine ranking on your blog if your blog doesn’t produce you any business. By having the two integrated you have the best of both worlds. So if you haven’t had a chance to check out my Ultimate Website, I urge you to make the time. I think you’ll be blown away at how great the Ultimate Blog is. Imagine what it would do for your practice -- you’ll have an up to the minute, incredible looking blog without having to spend hundreds of hours blogging. You just blog when the spirit moves you, so to speak. No self-imposed publication deadline hanging over your head. And you reap the benefits of having a great blog -- you’re positioning yourself as the market expert and you’re gaining in organic search ranking for your website -- all without spending any additional time or money. But if you’re thinking about getting this blog for free, you need to act soon. There is no guarantee we will continue to offer it free of charge with the Ultimate Website. But if you sign up now it will remain free forever. And today’s discount pricing will be locked in forever too -- as long as you own your Ultimate Website. So whether you get my Ultimate Blog or you build or buy another, you need to start blogging today. If you don't, you're ignoring one of the biggest sources of high quality customers. If you haven’t yet tried my Ultimate Website (with LCM technology), I’d encourage you to check it out. Agents who use it are generating an average of 2-3 new inbound leads every day without spending additional money on advertising. It costs less than most websites and there is no long-term commitment or activation fee. Here is a link: http://GuerillaRealty.com. Get My Ultimate Website Now » As always, thanks for reading. Matt Jones Broker/President/CEO FavoriteAgent.com Matt Jones is the founder and CEO of FavoriteAgent.com, nationally syndicated columnist, broker, and best selling author. He has been profiled by major media outlets as an innovator and a pioneer in the industry, and CNN's Pulse on America claimed he and his company were "changing the way real estate is done in America."

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