A friend – a fellow real estate agent – wants to get a start as a blogger. I sense her bewilderment. Where to start? What to write about?
The trick here is to narrow the focus and to find a niche. Anyone can babble on about themselves and their latest listings. But that’s not the sort of blog people are interested in reading. Instead I recommend focusing on a narrow market niche.
Narrowing a blog down to a tiny market segment may seem counter-intuitive. After all, we’ve grown up in the era of broadcast media. Big media is all about getting a message out to a big audience. Big numbers always win. But that’s not the way social media works. The best blogs focus on an amazingly narrow subject matter. I was tempted to make this a blog about social media marketing for small business, but that’s just too broad. Instead I focus only on real estate agents. And people who want to know about social media and real estate practice find this focus refreshing and valuable.
Here then are a few ideas for focussing your blog and your writing.
- Write about a particular property type in a defined area. You may want to write about Federation homes in Mount Lawley or single bedroom units in Leederville.
- Write about the restaurants in your area. You may get a defacto reputation as a dining critic. But you’ll also get the reputation as the go-to person for local information.
- Have an informed political opinion. Be the person to break news about what’s going on with your local council. Blog AT council meetings.
- Take on a cause. Become a commitment in action for cleaning up graffiti or planting new trees. The cause doesn’t matter. The passion does.
- Be a renovation tips guru. Take photos of successful renovation ideas and post them to your blog. You’ll have an instant fan base.
- Be a gossip blogger. Know about the famous people in your area and who’s coming and going. Tread carefully with privacy on this one though.
- Blog about subdividing or developing. Become an expert. No, make that THE expert in subdividing or developing a block in your area.
That’s just a few ideas but hopefully you get the point. Once the focus is narrowed a whole world of possibility opens up. And with the focussed writing comes a loyal readership who are keen for the next instalment.
Happy blogging.
Photo: philippe.sosson
