It is still necessary to have an updated website that reflects your real estate business. There should be only a few pages within your business website that changes infrequently - your contact information for one. Resources on available properties must always be up to date; testimonials grow; real estate statistics fluctuate; neighborhoods and subdivisions develop; entertainment events consistently change. Usually, these types of information come from another source. Your voice also needs to be heard.
Blogging - your brain online, provides you with an opportunity to share your thoughts with the world. The great thing about blogging is that all it takes is a thought. That's the seed. You talk to people every day, whether you are with a client, a prospect, your children of any age, family, neighbors, colleagues, volunteers, strangers in a department store. The cashier. You are involved in many daily tasks. Some you absolutely love - some you don't. What do you think of these tasks? Tell us. Some of us agree, some of us disagree and like to know that there are others out there that understand. Do you like to golf? What about books, do you like to read? Any thoughts about a book that you've read? Are you a master gardener, or a cook? There is a lot for us learn about subjects that we are not familiar with and would like to learn more about - from your point of view. Each subject is called a post. A history of your posts are archived and ready to be found.
I've suffered almost all my life with cluster headaches. I've only met one other person that experiences this type of agony. I wish I had an opportunity in my youth to be able to search for 'cluster headaches' in a search engine and get results from real people that experience this awful, frequent, debilitating pain. Now, I can and I do. I Google "blogs: cluster headaches" and get real people's blogs that I can relate to.
Blogging is your brain online in every day language and expression. Write about real estate, and anything else that you wish. Search engines love blogs because they are frequent. Link your website to an external blog account or use one that is built into your website. Use the tools that promote your blog; comments, sharing with other social networks, linking to other sites; inviting visitors to join your blog account for instant notification on new posts. Add videos. Make them personal videos - vlogs! They don't have to be perfect. As a matter of fact, raw, authentic, spontaneous, organic videos are the best!
HAR members already have blog accounts ready to be used. http://blogs.har.com gives you a good understanding of its great advantage. Log in at HAR and select the blog link under "my". You can also create a free online account for posting at sites such as this one - www.blogger.com - a Google product that is very easy to learn and flexible with room to grow with your editing skills. Start with just writing your blog post. Add a subject that is easy to find based on the subject of your blog post (for example, if you're going to write about growing roses in Texas, name your post "Growing Roses in Texas") Then, add a video that you've uploaded to your YouTube account simply by copying and pasting the HTML code from the uploaded video. Walk around your rose garden and explain on video how you grew your roses...what type of nutrients you used (don't ask me...I can't keep plastic plants alive!)
Oh...and have fun!
