As most of you know, I have been working on getting my condo/loft niche website up and running 5 years now, but have really been focused the last several months. You can link to it from the links in my signature. Anyway, I have a great search option and have been working on getting each building history completed with pics and amenities. But I also want to write a blog which features fun and interesting information about St. Paul, MN, not just real estate related. So far I have blog posted about a condo building, a restaurant in the area and today I'm posting about the winter carnival that's going on (nation's largest).
So, my question is: How do you becoming an interesting blogger that people want to read posts from? Did you take a course? If so, what type? Online? Is there a great book I need to read? Any and all tips are welcomed!

No one?

I am not a big blogger, pretty new to it. Yet one thing I have come to see is that less can be more. Use small but important ideas and explain them quickly.

I broke a large idea into 5 or 6 blogs and made a series. After about 3 months now I find tricks like that keep the ideas spaced out so you do not run out of content.

I like to use bullets and graphs.

I think there are other posts about this so you might want to search the other networking posts for different answers.

The other thing I was told and it appears to be true is to do it regularly and give it time before you expect results. I am starting to see some results trickle in now after 3 months. The ultimate response goal is a lead, and I do not have that yet, but I do have some solid feedback from people I targeted, so hopefully that indicates they are tuned in.

There are some real pros who piped up to address this.

How about a course in "Creative Writing" at your local Community College ?

Or consider joining your local chapter of Toastmasters, Int'l.

Think only unique interesting thoughts and write them all down.

If it doesn't sound extremely intriguing, stop thinking about it.

You don't "need" to blog.

I volunteer and am getting business from the other adults in my group, who've come to know and count on me over the years. Divide my hours by my commission and that makes me a rather well-paid volunteer.

The content of your blog is important and as Doin' said, less is more. Your blog articles only need to be around 250-300 words each. You don't need to be overly creative just clear and easy to read. If you are going to do all the writing yourself, you need to post 1-2 new articles per day to increase SEO rankings and get more traffic to the site. You may want to consider contracting for articles. There are sites that offer very affordable writers like guru.com or oDesk.

Whatever you do, make it yours! Write about what you know and is important to you. Have someone read it before posting. I am no writer but have a blog. It is hard work for me but it's getting easier.

It's a niche website so I just want to write about places that are unique to the area. So far I have written about a restaurant, a neighborhood bar and a carnival we had a few weeks back. I have only been posted once a week thus far. Sounds like I should be posting much more often? I am working on other parts of the website, like adding in building history and I didn't want to add too much too fast and have that backfire. I want to have the blog because I feel like it will help get my rankings up.

Make sure you use longtail keywords - very specific to your area.

You may be restricting yourself by making your blog strictly about a specific location....

My blog has several categories for various locations. My blog is about my entire market area w/ niche categories.

I do not know how much is the correct amount to post. I read earlier someone suggest 2 posts daily. I happen to do one a week or every 5 or 6 days. Look I don't have that much information to share with the world. I am not going to over saturate my people with blog ofter blog. I hit them up when I have something intersting to post, otherwise it is overkill. Now if you want to toss in your listings and you are a heavy hitter you might be looking at more.

Just stick with the mantra of doing what feels right and works for you. I do not think there is a single correct answer. I am not an expert but I think 1 to 2 a week would cover it.

Two posts a day is overkill. If people subscribe they will quickly turn you off!

I agree w/ Doin'bpose - I would aim for a couple a week. I've also read other opinions about length. I think anything that falls in the 300 - 500 word area is fine if you write interestingly and are sure to break it up with well placed pictures (with text wrapping around the left or right) and with paragraph breaks.

Yeah I have been able to add a picture in with every post so far. I just need to find a clever way to make my posts interesting. I feel that so far they are more like reviews you'd find on yelp. It'll get easier as I keep writing I suppose...

How about a "tips" or instructional section. A new "how to" project would give you a new topic every week and it can be anything, don't feel hemmed in by the area.

[url=]http://rrjank.wordpress.com/[/url]

I think you have the correct idea and plan. Set your goal as a realistic one. No single post is going to be ground shaking, but if you can just provide something interesting or useful to some folks in each post, you have succeeded in my opinion. I have added a goal of blogging about something entertaining to some of my posts. Since I hit my FB friends up for traffic, I like to leave my professional cap off sometimes.

I linked to my blog above if you want an idea of my style. I am new to the process, just a few months now. I certainly am not an expert. But I thik I have a decent handle on it. I am always looking to improve my ways though, so feel free to let me know what you think.

Awesome idea, thank you!

One thing I started doing was a collection of things, like top 5 this, top 7 that, etc. of things to do in the area, places to go, places to eat, and favorite listings I wanted to suggest(generally from my office but occasionally another agent's listing from a different office that I asked permission to use.) 3 favorite attractions, 4 unique homeowner communities, 5 communities with indoor pools, 3 hotels in the area that allow pets, etc.

Nothing wrong with sounding like a review on yelp.

Are you more comfortable talking out loud instead? For some, ideas seem to flow more easily this way. Create a recording on your computer and then send this to a transcription service. You can then go through and quickly edit material, even turning that information into multiple articles. The beauty about talking, is that you can rest assured that your content will usually come out fairly unique!

Has anyone ever told you that you're a genius?

Kudos to Perky_REALTOR, creating lists is great place to start - just try to avoid "top 10" as it's long since been overkilled, it would be better to keep the number off beat like 7, 24, 99, etc.

You could also take more of a curators stance, finding the best ____ (fill in the blank). These could be blog posts about a certain subject, Twitter users, YT Videos, etc.

Another idea, and it's one I think you're implementing, is to make the blog posts hyper-local. A lot of newspapers answer the "local" question for many consumers, but if you can dig deeper than that then you'll set yourself apart.

Posting 2x per week isn't necessarily bad, but I would wait to post that much until you're receiving more traffic. Initially I would post 1x per week or even 2x per month. Let the posts increase as the traffic increases.

I posted a new blog today and I think others could borrow the theme and make it their own pretty easily. I borrowed it from Jeff Foxworthy and you might be a redneck if....

I put my town name there, You might be from Anytown, USA if...

I posted about 5 unique interesting things people do in town.

If you've ever had to ask for extra napkins at Porky's BBQ, you might be from Anytown.

Link to Porky's

These are popular things and interesting things searched for by people visiting the town also. After each entry I had a link to the website where someone could refer to the actual thing.

GREAT idea!

Another idea is to go to your county planning or conservation office or even check the website. they often have great pamphlets and materials that would be great blog fodder!

Blogging is fun. Let me give you some tips i use in writing my own blog that is related to my area of specialisation:
keep it simply and plain. it dosn't need to be very long. two sentence or three is okay.
remember, at first it will look as if you have run out of idears or you have no idear, but consistence is the key.
The more you blog the more you become an expert.
Writing a blog once a week or monthly is okay and it's the best way to start.
Make sure you carry a diary or jotter to jot down any idear that comes into your mind so that you don't forget them.
Also listen to real estate programmes, news and current happenings. From there you can get an idear of what to write next.
first start writing about the real estate in your area of specialisation because that is the area you are familiar with most.
Hope this works for you as it worked for me.

I wrote a one month blogging strategy that may give people a few content ideas - http://www.geekestateblog.com/a-1-month-...ign=socialmedia

Also, try getting a guest blogger for your blog as well. I just reached out to a mortgage broker who I and a few other realtors have dealt with and she loved the fact I invited her to do some writing.

I like the idea of a guest blogger. Thanks!

Since I requested some help from you guys earlier in the year, I have actually been inspired. I have a long list of topics to write about and I post a new blog post every 1-2 weeks. My monthly statpress numbers are going up, up, up each month, as they should. I think things are going really well. Thanks for your help!

Well, you don't just sell real estate...you sell your city, your community. Write about things that go on there. I'm sure there is a farmer's market some people didn't know about, or some upcoming events for students (any level) returning to classes in the Fall. You've got to think outside the box and think bigger in terms of what you do, where you do it and then you'll get an idea of how you want to accomplish the end result...ask me anything!

Glad to hear you're getting the hang of it! Collecting a list of internet sources is one of the best ways to stay inspired. I'm not saying go out and copy other people, but you never know what might catch you're fancy. If you're totally stumped, I find the best thing to do is starting writing things down, anything that comes to mind. Eventually you'll start coming up with good topics.

Maybe start with a Facebook community page. You can put the 'notes' application on the page and update accordingly. Of course other content is necessary, afterall, you don't just sell properties, you sell the neighborhood, or the community. So try and get some other people on board as contributors.

Consistency is also key, if you don't, you're going to lose interest, as will other people. At least 15 minutes, twice a day. By all means, put a new listing on there, but talk about what encompasses it...the neighborhood, what residents like about living there, etc


Once you get the consistency part down, you can start a WP site/blog, but start small and go with the community page...
...hope that helps!

If you are not a great writer, you should hire a writer to write for you. I think you should do what you do best and hire professionals to help you.

You dont have to take a creative writing course to become an interesting blogger. I post nearly 2 blogs a day per website for several websites. The key to writing good blog posts, and the key that escapes most people that try to write good blog posts, is to write about what you know and experience. Im unsure of the real estate market or attractions in your area being as I am from Sarasota, Florida, but write about what you experience. Write about homes or condo's that you sell, list or other. Write about what fun thing there is to do coming up this weekend, then attend it, take photo's and or video's and post a follow up on Monday saying what a great time such and such real estate company had at such and such event. If all else fails, write something up with statistics. If there is one thing real estate is not short of at all is statistics on everything. Weekly, monthly quarterly yearly mortgage rate changes, foreclosures......

Blogging is always a great option for persons looking to sell real estate. You can even blog about topics that are non real estate related - have some fun with it. Most persons blog about things they are interested in while staying somewhat on topic. Bloggers will tell you that "Content is King" so above all - if you're looking to be successful at blogging you need to write a lot and often! Good luck.

For the last 14 months or so I have been blogging every two weeks on average... I write mostly about events and businesses in the area on my niche website. I post new blogs on my Facebook Fan Page one time and Tweet it on Twitter occasionally. In the past 14 months, my unique user count has gone from a handful to over 4000 a month now. I am appearing on the first and second pages of google for many of my keywords! I've also had requests for blogs regarding certain times of the year from Twitter followers (ie: Adam... would you write a blog about Halloween events in St Paul). I'm happy people see my blog as a local resource now

So far so good, thanks for all the help!