Since you’ve been loyally reading all the bran posts up till now you probably already know this.

Your blog is the center of the universe.

Well your universe.

The epicenter or hub of your social media and community building strategy should be your blog.  (Not sure what to do with social media?  You’re not alone.  But, that’s a topic for another post, or two, or ten.)

People may think that with the rise in social media tools like Facebook and Twitter – you know, the ‘big ones’ – means that blogging has gone the way of the dodo bird.  Extinct.  Pointless.  Done.

Not true.

Blogging works alongside your other social media efforts, and is not replaced by them.

Consider this.  Blogging allows you to carry on a conversation more in depth than what may be possible with something like Twitter.  It’s a lot harder to give a complete explanation or opinion in just 140 characters.  But, blog about it and you can easily condense the gist of the post (say, the title, for example) and a link to it in 140 characters or less.

See how they work hand-in-hand?

More importantly, people are still reading blogs.  By blogging for your business, you  have the potential to make contact with people that you might otherwise not have done through other more traditional or not-so-traditional mediums.

Read This:

• Are Blogging and Commenting Still Important Tools in Social Media?

But wait, there’s more!

S to the E to the O

Search engines love blogs.

Why?

Basically, for the same reasons people do. Because there is always new, fresh, and very relevant content being added to a blog.  Search engines love that stuff.

I’m going to keep it short and sweet and list off just a few points.  Click through to the links for the expert explanations.

• Keyword-rich content.
• Fresh and frequently updated content.
• Lots of links – of all kinds.

Read This:

• Six Reasons SEO’s Love Blogs
• SEO Benefits from Blogs

There you have it.  Bran is good for you, and now you know blogging is too.

How else is blogging like bran?

Well, let’s recap…

It’s 100% Natural, Full of Fiber, Keeps You Regular, Tastes Good, and It’s Good For You!

Well that’s the end of this (not-so-)little mini-series.  I hope it was as informative and fun for you to read along, as it was for me writing it.

I’m not going to lie, I probably could have come up with 10 Ways Blogging Is Like Bran – bran is just that good.  But, hopefully these 5 tips will stick with you (just like a good bowl of bran gets you through the day) and help you craft the next great blog post.

Have you put these tips into action?  I’d love to see some of your new and improved blog posts.  Send them my way: blogging@point2.com.

What images does this evoke?  Hopefully, you are thinking of websites, as that is the most powerful form of online marketing that you are currently using to gain exposure for your business and your services!

But what does “online marketing” mean?  How can you market online in other ways in conjunction with your website?  How do you turn your website into a lean, mean, online lead generating machine?

Online marketing is a way of selling products and services over the Internet.  Usually, this means websites that contain information relevant to the capabilities, functionalities, and benefits of said product or service.  With most people going online for key information regarding everything from clothes, to education, to real estate, to self-help, this medium for reaching the masses has become increasingly powerful.  General word or term searches have become the quickest method to access specific information on a topic from all corners of the globe.  The world is, literally, at your fingertips!  “So, how does this relate to my website?”, you ask.  There are many things you can do to be part of this massive information sharing that is occuring.

You have already taken the first step by creating a website, having recognized the need to put yourself in front of these millions of people hunting for relevant information.  The next step is to customize that site with the content for which these people are searching.  Applying this directly to real estate, what is there in the neigborhoods that you service that stands out the most?  What are the names of the specific neighborhoods?  What terms and phrases would these online hunters be using?  Is there a local attraction that draws attention?  All of this data should be used within the content on your site, as well as your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for those specific pages.  This customization will help the search engine crawlers find you and your website, thereby increasing your online marketing!

Another great way to share this information is through blogging.  Point2 Professional and Premium members have the opportunity to integrate their own blogs within their websites, providing another online marketing piece.  We talked earlier as to how people are like hunters – they skulk around the forest of information that is the Internet.  They are looking for their prey: the specific content that meets their needs.  Hunters want their prey, and while they are willing to spend the time to make sure they get what they want, they want a fairly quick capture.  The same applies to our online hunters. 

They are willing to spend a bit of extra time to find better quality information, but they don’t want to spend hours reading through it.  Blogs alleviate this aggravation, as they are meant to be short and quick captures of key pieces of information that could include everything from real estate specific events like open houses, to local events like parades, to advice-type articles like vantage points for watching the local parade.  Keep yourself focused on what matters the most to people within your community, as well as those visiting your community. 

This works in your favour in many ways: entries don’t require a lot of creation time, they help your SEO efforts, you will appear to be the expert of that community, and people will repeatedly return to your site once they know that you will deliver the information in an easily-digestible manner.  Okay, done with the hunting analogy!

Another online marketing tool is Point2 Syndication, which gives you the power to syndicate your listings out to the Point2 Syndication Partners.  Since online visitors look in a variety of places for their information, the more you are exposed in those venues, the better the chance of those markets seeing you and what you can potentially offer them.  Having the control over which listings are syndicated to each Syndication Partner gives you the chance to control how that online marketing tool works for you, your business, and the listing itself.  Syndication also helps with your SEO, as it can redirect visitors to your website and blog, further online marketing tools you have implemented!

Since the premise of online marketing is getting the information onto the Internet, and since the goal of visitors on the Internet is to find this information, we have covered aspects that will help you be found: customized content on your website, SEO customization for terms and phrases that are specific to your serviced areas, blogs with concise paragraphs relating to topics that are specific to readers, and using the Point2 Agent to syndicate listings to Syndication Partners.  Changing the conventional way of looking at marketing by incorporating these online marketing tools with traditional marketing strategies, you will be covered on and off the Internet. 

Quote to ponder: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

~ Tanya Spilchak, Education Coordinator, Point2 Education Team

Seriously.

I am not just saying that to sound dramatic or philosophical; social psychology dictates that the need to belong is an intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others and be socially accepted. This is essentially the reason we as humans tend do form communities, cliques, and clubs – we can’t all be mavericks!

In the context of internet marketing there is no better illustration of this concept then the rise of blogs, and the idea of “The Long Tail”. Put forward by Chris Andersen, this concept states that “endless choice leads to endless demand”. The idea is that when blogs first entered the public consciousness there were (and still are) no barriers to entry. This meant that anyone could set up a blog on any topic, and after a few years there are now dozens of blogs on even the most obscure of topics. For example, at the time of writing this post I found 1,870 blog posts on Google dedicated to the obscure pastime I enjoy called slack-lining, and 18.7 MILLION posts on the topic of real estate.

So the obvious question then, is how to grow your humble little real estate blog into a thriving community? Especially when there are already a variety of blogs out there which are serving the need quite handily. The answer, it turns out, is any number of things…depending on your strengths. For some people, promoting your blog everywhere & with every medium possible is the ticket, yet for others meticulous planning and carefully timed promotions are preferred.

With that in mind, here are ten things which I think that you should consider no matter what your promotion strategy is when you are attempting to build your blog & community.

original image courtesy of sawater.com.au

1. Comment as much as you can on other people blogs. The more you position yourself as a known and credible course within the blogosphere, the more people will want to seek you out to hear your opinion.

2. Give your blog a human element. There is nothing is worse then reading a blog void of emotion. It never hurts to show your true colors (good or bad) in order to engage people and build relationships.

3. Make social media your friend. Try adding tools like ShareThis or AddThis to your blogs. If people dig the content they will always share it with their peers and drive traffic.

4. Make subscribing to your blog as easy as possible. Try prompting users with something like “hey, if you enjoy this post why not subscribe to this blog!” or use a unique RSS icon like these.

5. Keep a war chest of blog topics. Sometimes you sit down to write a blog post and the words will just not come out right, or sometimes don’t come out at all. It is always great to have a list of topics on hand to pull from in order to combat writers block.

6. Reel in readers with link-bait. For some reason numbered lists (like this!), quizzes, and tutorials go together with blog posts like peanut butter goes with jelly – so give the people what they want! Just make sure not to overuse the tactic, lest it becomes the norm.

7. Encourage Opinion. Go out of your way to prompt discussion in all of the posts you write. If that means asking your audience a direct question or taking an extreme position that will prompt reaction – give them a reason to speak up!

8. Use the KISS principle. Try to get into the habit of writing short, concentrated posts that are factual and easy to reference. If you do it correctly, people will always want to reference your posts later if they need the facts.

9. Link your subject. Make sure you include a picture or create a hyperlink about whatever the subject of your post is, be it a person, place or thing. Doing so will ensure people won’t have to leave your blog just to find out what you are talking about.

10. Tweet your post. Engage your Twitter network with your posts by merging it with your conventional tweets. For example, try tweeting a question on your core topic (how about something like “does syndication matter?”) with a link to your post – most people will definitely click through to find the answer!

Finally, if you have your own tips for promoting your blog, please post your comments below so everyone can share and learn!

Welcome to the new Point2 Agent real estate marketing blog, and the new look of Point2Agent.com!

We’re looking forward to cramming this space full of tasty real estate treats for many years to come, and we’d love to have you along for the ride . . .