It’s the 10 Blog Commandments – Tips on Blogging by Trulia Blogs

Here is some great advice from Trulia on blogging, not just on their platform, but for any blogger.

In addition to Trulia Voices Q&A, blogging on the new Trulia Blog platform is a great way for you expand your thoughts, ideas, opinions and tips to your readers. You can dive deeper by adding pictures, videos, charts and more. We want to see you succeed so we came up with this basic framework for you to follow when writing your blog posts.

1. Create a Blog Plan

Create a list of specific topics that you plan to write about. Things like local market conditions, local inventory, new developments, first time home buyer tips, home seller tips, home buyer tips, community report, building report, neighborhood news, local businesses and more. You can even create a calendar, either online using google calendar or in print – a simple calendar journal with specific topics for each day or week. This will help you stay focused and manage your time better.

2. Know your target audience

Are your writing to other agents or are you talking to the consumer. It’s ok to do either one but knowing who you addressing in a particular post will help you choose your words a little better.

3. Know What your area of expertise is and Own it

Are you a new construction specialist? Do you work with seniors? Are you a investment property expert? You get the idea. Blog about what you know best in the areas you know best. Get specific to your geography.

4. Keep it simple

You don’t have to write a novel. Think about the point you’d like to make with you post and keep it concise. One to three paragraphs is more than adequate.

5. Take your own local pictures

What better way to show a consumer that you know your area than by documenting it via photographs? Take pictures of anything real estate related. You never know when you will need a photo for a future blog post. I have my camera, two actually, on my hip at all times. Sometimes, a photo may be the inspiration for a blog post.

6. Use Video

This is more of an advanced technique to add valuable content to your blog. But anyone can do it easily. Shoot very short 10-60 second videos of your neighborhood, local businesses, parks, attractions and more. This will give the consumer, especially one relocating from outside the area a glimpse, your personal view, of what could be their future neighborhood. Then, you could even interview local businesses, consumers on the street, home sellers, buyers and get feedback on their real estate thoughts.

7. Use the Community for Ideas

Trulia Voices Q&A is a great resource to get ideas for blog posts. Find threads that you feel you provide more in depth information on and then link back to that thread. It will expand the conversation to another level.

8. Be Original – Don’t Just copy and Paste

It may be tempting to just copy and paste someone else’s great article or post in it’s entirety, but it’s not the right thing to do. If you find such an article, copy a quote a portion of it into your post. Then add your opinion and personal take on it. Make sure to include a link back and attribution to the source of the original article – this is proper blogging etiquette. By doing this, you are creating new content and while crediting the original source. It allows you to give credit where credit is due while adding your original perspective to it. Be original

9. Create Optimized Blog Post Headlines

This is very important – for both getting readers attention and search engines. It’s one of the most important parts of a blog post – Voices Q&A question too. If you are wighting about a neighborhood, make sure that neighborhood name is in the title. If you are writing about a city and town, the same applies. Ditto if your writing about one of your listings, buildings or communities – make sure you include them in the title.

Another angle could be to create unique and catchy post titles like – The 5 Best Reasons to Live in Manhattan or My Clients Can’t Stop talking about me – Find out Why. Try different things.

10. Write from Your Personal Experience

Share your real life real estate experiences. People love stories. It’s what conversations are all about. Your blog is a way to share these stories. Someone who is looking to buy or sell may relate to something you mentioned in your blog post which can lead them to call you. I am fascinated with the personal stories and experiences of people. It gives us an insight into who they are as a person and a professional. Ultimately, it helps us decide whether we want to work with them, be friends with them or not. Your blog and Q&A contributions give consumers a glimpse of who you are. It’s your opportunity to make a good first impression on them. And, it gives consumers a chance to study you. The same holds true for consumers who will choose to write on Trulia. You will give agents an opportunity to see who you are too. It’s a two way street. Let’s meet in the middle and get to know each other a little better.

As you know, real estate is a people business. Be personable yet professional in your posts and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.

Matchpoint, a local search service that connects people and businesses, was named the SES Awards’ “Most Advertiser-friendly Search Engine” at the Search Engine Strategies 08 conference held in San Jose, California last week.

Judged by a panel of over 30 industry experts, the SES Awards honors outstanding search marketers in 15 categories.

Applicants were measured in four key areas:
* Innovation in methodology and execution
* Achieving success goals
* Excellence in tactical execution
* Overall approach and category relevance

“The ‘Most Advertiser-friendly Search Engine’ is a highly competitive category,” said Kevin Ryan, vice president, global content director for Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch. “Once the finalists were determined by the SES and SEW editorial teams, our panel of industry peers evaluated the submissions and voted on the winners.

Congratulations to Matchpoint for its accomplishment.”