If you put a little effort into a blog you can get some exciting results. This year we have been strongly suggesting that our clients start blogging. Three big benefits are increased traffic to your web site, a way to connect with clients and potential clients and low cost for the blogger.
After a quick review of the benefits I’ll show you a sample post based on our own actual experience.
Search Engines Love Blogs. The reason they love blogs is because blogs supply fresh content. Search engines strive to provide new and relevant information to people who search the web. Blogs by their nature supply fresh content. The more targeted the content the better. (By targeted I mean something more specific- for instance real estate would be too broad, homes in Lombard would be more specific.)
The higher you are in the search engine rankings the more traffic you are going to get. The more traffic you get the better your odds of converting some of the traffic to clients. This is very simplified but illustrates what I’m talking about.
You Connect with Clients and Potential Clients. A blog can be more similar to a conversation than a static website. It is much easier for people to get to know you when they read your posts. Your readers also have a chance to leave comments which can start a conversation. A blog also makes it very easy to deal with current topics in the community. If you do things correctly with your blog you can end up being considered an expert on your blog’s topic or topics.
The Price is Right. You can actually set up a blog for free and there are plenty of low cost options. In fact all of our new websites have blogging capability built into our price and we offer a couple of low cost options for people with existing sites. For most people it pays to have some expert help but if you have enough time to learn you can do it yourself.
This post was inspired by one of our clients’ blogs- Out and About in Lombard. Caryn Kuhlman of Coldwell Banker writes a blog that focuses on Lombard, Illinois, and the surrounding areas. We read all of our clients’ blogs and we always find Caryn’s interesting. Because of Caryn’s blog about the Lilac Festival in Lombard, we decided to visit the town and it’s famous Lilacia Park for Mother’s Day.
Benefits in Action. If I were a client I would definitely lean toward using Caryn for my real estate needs if I were moving in that direction. I think her blog does a nice job of bringing traffic to her website – the statistics show her number of visitors has increased since she started blogging; if we were clients we would definitely be thankful to Caryn for telling us about the area and would feel like she was a trusted adviser. Caryn bought our Automated Blog For Real Estate Agents ($175 to set up her blog and to receive weekly reminders/topic suggestions as well as to help her with the actual posts.)
To give you an idea of a post that could be effective, below is a sample blog post I might have written if I were an agent.
Why Mom Loves Lombard Illinois
Lombard provides the perfect setting for Mother’s Day
Main Street Cafe, Lombard, IL
This year I wanted to make Mother’s Day special for the mother of my children and my “current” wife of 30 years. I decided a trip to Lombard, IL, would be the perfect way to spend the morning. Lombard and my wife have a lot in common. The words beautiful, warm and inviting come to mind when I think of both.
Lombard has a real downtown complete with charming shops and restaurants. We arrived in town at about 10 AM and were starved. As we drove around, we couldn’t help but notice the people streaming into the Main Street Cafe on the corner of Main St and St Charles Rd almost across from the Metra station. This looked like the place to go, so we parked on St Charles Rd although there was a parking lot for the restaurant.
Esquire M.E.N.S. Barbershop, Lombard, IL
Main Street Cafe was a real treat. It was a hustling, bustling family style restaurant with friendly efficient help, all dressed in some variation of purple (lilac). You could tell there were lots of regulars in the restaurant which is always a good sign. Breakfast was delicious and the servings were more than ample.
After breakfast, we were off to Lilacia Park, Lombard’s famous park devoted to lilacs and tulips. First however we had to walk down St Charles Rd to take a look around. Worth the short walk was Esquire M.E.N.S. Barbershop at 22 W St Charles, complete with old fashioned barber pole. Wow!
I also spied Punky’s Irish Pub which looked interesting but it was Mother’s Day and before noon so we passed.
Lilacia Park, Lombard, IL
Off to Lilacia Park. Lombard isn’t called the Lilac Village for nothing –8.5 acres of purple and green beauty. A band was just finishing its free morning concert as we got to the park. We walked the grounds and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Who knew there were so may kinds of lilacs? I am going to write a whole other post going into much more detail about the fascinating history of the park and all you can find on the grounds.
"No Dogs", Lilacia Park, Lombard, IL
Our one disappointment was that we couldn’t bring our grand-dog, Saydee, into the park but we walked her around the perimeter of the park and looked at some of the magnificent, classic homes that were in the area. If you are interested in what the local homes are priced at, Search Lombard Homes For Sale Here . (This would be where I would link to IDX). Even Saydee was impressed with the neighborhood.
If you want to find out more about Lombard, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.
Note this was originally written in May of 2010. Saydee the dog moved to Nevada. We actually went back to the Main Street Cafe and Lilacia Park again for Mother’s Day 2011 and just about everything still holds true for 2011.
