Are you killing your blog by lecturing your reader? Does your blog put readers to sleep? Do you just spout out the same old rhetoric about how great a Realtor/Broker/Lender/Human Being you are over and over? One of the biggest mistakes companies and real estate professionals alike make is looking at blogs as just another way to get the same old marketing message out in the same old corporate mumbo jumbo. Blogging is about connecting with people by having a personal one-on-one conversation. This means you have to nix the industry jargon and speak through your blog the way you would to guests at a party. Remember you not only need to be the host of your blog but also the life of the party. You need to be Mr. or Mrs. Personality to capture a reader’s attention.

Shout out of the day goes to Sellsius for this article on why people stop reading blogs

If you’re boring, blogging is not for you. 

Blogging is for the brave, the brawny, the bawdy- but the boring, not a chance. Assuming you have more personality than your average wet nap, you already have all the tools you need to have a successful blog. For example, if you are a flirt, pen playful posts, if you are a little quirky, type those crazy thoughts you think, if you have a biting wit, sprinkle sarcasm throughout articles, if you are a closet comedian, give readers a belly laugh with each post, the list goes on...    The gist? Let the inner you bust out and go splat all over that blog of yours. People connect with writing that shows your inner self. They want to see you as human and relatable- warts and all.

Mantra: Boring bloggers breed boring blogs and boring blogs live lonely lives. 

Read also: Top 5 secrets of successful blogs

Secrets of successful blog posts

1. Write a catchy title

First impressions are important. So, make a splash with a flashy title. Something clever that still clearly conveys the topic and includes your primo keywords. Not quite as easy as you thought, right?

Read also: Traffic driving blog titles

2. Identify with your readers

One of the most basic principles of human sociology is that people gravitate towards other people that they can readily identify with. So, the key to winning readers is to creating copy that allows them to easily identify with you.   What that really means is that you need to show people you are just like them. For example, remind readers you live in the same community, you have children that you cart to baseball and ballet, you are golfer, fisherman, stamp collector, etc. Make people feel as if they know you by releasing small pieces of information about yourself.

Read also: Humanizing a real estate blog

3. Write compelling copy

The purpose of every sentence in your post is to get the reader to read the next one. That is a lot easier said than done. This is what separates the men from the boys in blogging. 

• Sentences should be easy to read and easy to understand.

Don’t try to impress readers with your amazing vocabulary or metaphoric prowess, you can come off as arrogant and turn your less well-read readers off. 

• Clearly remind people of the benefits of reading the post.

Explicit benefits are always better than the implied ones. Flat out tell people how the knowledge gained from this post will make their lives, better, easier, faster, richer. If the post is about staging an older home for sale, visit and revisit the idea that implementing the suggestions in the post will help them to sell their home.

• Do all the work for the reader by including examples

If you are writing a tutorial article, include specific examples or samples of what you are talking about. Basically, you should always do all the work for the reader.   People don’t want to feel as though they have to do extra thinking. If you provide a few examples of what you are talking about, readers have a baseline from whence to start their creative process.

Read also: How to write a blog that generates leads

• Make copy easy to read

People like to be able to scan over large bodies of text quickly to find what they are looking for. Make the copy easy to read by breaking it up with numbered lists or bullet points. Use a bolder font for topic headings and always include lots of white space. The easier your posts are to read, the more reads they will get. Visitors feel overwhelmed when they are faced with text that seems to go on and on forever, so use formatting techniques to break up the text into easily digestible chunks.

• Cross link your posts to retain visitors

One thing all successful blog writers know is that in order to keep first time visitors interested enough in their blog to subscribe to their RSS feed, they need to link related posts. See how I include a “read also” link with most topics in this post? That’s how you do it. You direct readers to other related posts that can add value to what they are interested in. 

Read also: How to use links to retain visitors and boost Page Rank

• Call readers to action to generate leads

You are a Realtor, your blog is there to generate leads for you. Call readers to action at the bottom of each post. If the post is about selling, ask them to list their home with you. If the post is about buying, ask the reader to start their dream home search with you. Always include both a link to your contact form or email and your phone number. I think one of the biggest mistakes Realtors make is to only include a phone number. If someone started their search online- they probably feel most comfortable sending you an email first. Indulge them.

How to know if your blog is dying a slow painful boring and lonely death:

1. Your site traffic isn’t climbing
2. Nobody is subscribing to your RSS feeds
3. Your backlinks aren’t growing
4. Other blogs aren’t linking to you according to Technorati

Read also: The 6 signs of blog death

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