Blog or not to Blog? We all have asked ourselves this question at least once. And if you decided to blog or if you are going to blog, be aware for the new regulation from The Federal Trade Commission. Basically if you are blogging about something that you are receiving any compensation, you have to disclose. Going further, be sure to indicate that your opinions do not reflect your company's opinion about a topic or anything. Some may say it is one more government intervention. What do you think?
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Posted by Beth Ross on September 29, 2009 at 1:46pm
Well, here I sit, trying to justify my time on the computer instead of reading more recruiting material for gaining new agents. Then it hit me, Jesse is absolutely correct! Blogging is going to be the best way for anyone to get their words of wisdom out into the clouds so they can filter down to the masses!Trying to think of things to blog about and I have decided that blogging is a great item to blog about! I will give you my rendition of what a good blog should be.1 - Timely in material matter2 - Grammar and spelling are important3 - It's ok to talk about things that you are good ata - BPO'sb - Networkingc - How to market hard to sell propertiesd - What to say (and more important) what Not to say to your asset managere - Education and designationsf - wow, this list can go on4 - Keep the blog short or at least somewhat informative to maintain your audiences level of interest instead of putting them to sleep.5 - It's ok to use humor in your blogging6 - It is ok to make mistakes7 - It is ok to accept and give CONSTRUCTIVE criticism8 - It is ok to agree to disagree - all of us are never going to see eye to eye and that is why this business is so wonderful9 - You don't have to spend the entire night blogging on one thing or even a bunch of things. It's ok to write, copy and paste into your other sites that you blog on.10 - During your open houses come up with good topics to write about and use your down time to come up with new ideas11 - Ask your colleagues, clients, and even your family what topics might interest them - you'd be surprised, but keep them clean please!!12 - Don't feel pressured to write a blog just to keep a blog on a page for the day, it's ok to take a day off!Well, this is my blog for the day and even if you got just one idea from it or used it as a tool of what NOT to blog about, that's ok too. Then I have been successful in my endeavors for the day.I hope you all have a Better Than Great Day!!
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Posted by Linda Landry on September 28, 2009 at 4:01pm
No Brainer if you ask me. What is the point of writing a blog if no one comments? I guess there is something to be said for getting a bother off your chest....venting so to speak. However, I feel it rather nice to be more interactive. I like to make a post that others have an interest in reading. I more than like to hear what they thought about it. The interactive aspect is a learning tool and a networking tool for me. So please, if you read my blogs......leave me a comment about your thoughts. I wanna hear ya! Your comments will help get to know you better. It is called 'branding' ;~)Linda Landry, REALTOR ® Exit Realty 1st Choice Tucson, Arizona
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I recently was asked why do I blog and isn't time consuming?? It took me bit to come up with the answer but it went something like this:Importance of blogging.........Blogging help raise your google/yahoo ranking for free. Good blogs with tags and links and widgets that are linked deep into your website help create a web crawl. Once the web crawl locates the content it has to go back out thru every page of your site. I am working on that right now. Also it is educational. Not only for other people but for yourself. Time consuming??? You bet, but how else can you be a pro without just blowing pro smoke?? People in my city see my name (since I don't just work with REO's and they call me) Crazy since I look so young and I am kinda spacey but.....I do know my stuff!! Blogging also helps you find out about other things you might not have found otherwise.My site and my biz are important and blogging helps me to be more innovative then other agents and help me to stand out!! Everybody and their mom is a Realtor or reo agent. What is going to set you apart from everybody else??I left the part out that I really really like it and it is fun for me. You know I have been an AR member since the beginning. I think I was the 180 person to join. Maybe a little more maybe a little less. I was a member when AR was a totally different platform. I didn't really know what to make of it till recently when I found out what a innovative tool it was and how it could really help me. And help me it has.....Now I am a member of REOpro and I am stoked to have a place for my niche to learn and grow.
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REOPRO is a new site that is focused on REO Agent education. At the time of this writing, there are about 150 members. From a very rough review of the site, my guess is about half of us have little or no REO experience and want to break into the niche du jour while the other half has been doing this long enough to think they know what they are doing. I like to think I fall into the later category.As with any new site, our success depends on one another. I hope that we do not fall into two different camps – those in the know and those wanting to know. We are all here, I assume, to grow and better perfect our trade.MY METHOD - BLOGA method that I have been very successful with in my own personal growth is to teach. When I teach, I am forced to research and know the answers before I share them. Now, I don’t teach in a traditional classroom or even with traditional students. Rather I write.That’s right, I will find a topic of interest to me – typically one that I know enough about to be dangerous – but not an expert. What usually prompts me is I question something that I think I know, but am not sure of. So, I research and I document my research. Other times, I write about my experiences as I go through a certain aspect of my business / life.If you are a seasoned REO Agent, then you have something to share. I know you are busy, but this is an effort that will come back and reward you many times over – if you do it right.If you were to Google my name, you’d find that I have over 400 articles published – most on my primary blog – HemetRealEstateBlog.Com. I do have 4 or 5 other blogs that I write to on occasion, plus I am a guest author on another handful of blogs. When you Google me, make sure you check out Video as a search option and you’ll find that I have nearly 200 videos published as well – all of them from the very early days of video on the internet – March to June 2006. I quit, because I was not satisfied with my editing capabilities and I thought I looked goofy. However, there is not a month that goes by when I still don’t receive a phone call or email asking a specific question about the content of one of my videos.I share this because a public forum like REOPro can give you instant credibility and it helps everyone else who participates.MAKE THE MOST OF REOPRONow, this is a site that is dedicated to REO real estate and not all aspects of real estate. So, I for one truly hope that we will not see a bunch of articles that are off topic – you know what I mean…no one cares bout new home sales, FSBO’s, or any other real estate topic that cannot be tied to REO’s.OK, so if you are new, what can you write about? Well that’s easy…document your journey. Write a diary of what you go through to build your business. When you see something that someone in your market is doing good, let us know…then again if you see something that someone in your agent is doing that gives REO’s a bad name, let us know that too.Being new to the niche will mean you have the most questions. Instead of asking the same questions over and over again in different blogs, why not turn your question into your won blog post and solicit help from readers. I would suggest a format where you ask the question and give your best idea of what the answer is – and ask for clarification and further input.GOOGLE AND SEOBy generating your own blog, you are now generating your own credibility – both here in the REOPro community as well as in your own market. The good news, the more article that are written the more Google and the other search engines will respect this site and give us higher search engines in our own market. I’ll add some article here about blogging and the search engines – but believe me when I say, the more the merrier for everyone.The second step you can take to make REOPro a more productive networking platform is to add comments to others blogs. If you read something that makes sense to you – or maybe it doesn’t….leave a comment for the author. As a blog writer I can tell you that comments on my blog validate me which encourage me to write more. Maybe you missed Stacie Cunninghamsblog article about me - well, I've got to tell you it motivated me to start contributing here.Way to network Stacie!Another task you can take on yourself is to invite others to REOPro - remember, the Team spirit - Together Everyone Achieves More!Finally, the way I see it, REOPro is so new that we are on the ground floor. This can get as big and as important in our industry as we make it. Can you imagine the clout the agents who started NRBA or REOMAC have in those organizations today?So, to all of those REO REALTORS and those who want to be, welcome to this site and I hope you will make it your own.John Occhi, REO REALTOR®Century 21 Crest – CrestREOJohn Occhi is a REO REALTOR® thatspecializes in the sale of bankowned homes in the Inland Empireregion of Southern California. Hehas helped many buyers acquiregreat deals on these REO homes.His company, CrestREO, the REODivision of Century 21 Crest – the77th largest C21 in the Nation, hasSold Over $1Billion in REO Sales.
