Content that ConneCts At A GlANCE Blogging is a great way to move up your Web site placement in the search engines. Useful content will gain you a following. Consider local information, property listings and advice for buyers and sellers to attract repeat business. Need a plan to motivate buyers to make that o er? We ve got some sure re ways to get the market moving. High on the Sure, anyone can write a blog, but to generate business, you must write a blog that people read again and again. Here are some ideas for content. by Dan RafteR blog (pascoflrealestate.typepad.com/john_ elwell_realtor) the steps residents have to take to nd the listing of sexual o enders in Zephyrhills. You want people to come to view you as a solid source of information on your local market, says Elwell. This isn t necessarily a di cult task. For example, when posting a general story about home inspections, bloggers can add a list of local home inspectors. That turns a generic post into one focusing on their speci c market. o a Google search on real estate blog and you ll nd more than 19 million blogs it s overwhelming. However, competition isn t all that erce when you consider that many blogs are uninteresting and rarely updated. Others are lled with stories that buyers and sellers have already read countless times like preparing your home for a hurricane and reducing clutter. If content is the key to creating a blog that readers actually care about, then what should you be posting on your blog? Here are some ideas. Local Market Information Mark Washburn, a sales associate with Island Coast Realty in Cape Coral, has been blogging (gulfreturns.com) for ve years. During this time, he s made sure to ll his blog with posts about his local market. This is key, he says. Buyers interested in Cape Coral don t come to my blog looking for national news. They re generally not D 1. even interested in state news. They want to learn about Cape Coral home prices, the community s neighborhoods and its amenities. It s about getting them acquainted with the neighborhoods, says Washburn. John Elwell, a sales associate with Century 21 Bill Nye Realty in Zephyrhills, also emphasizes the local. For example, Elwell posted on his Florida Real Estate Blog 2. Make It Useful Buyers and sellers are understandably confused about the Florida real estate market. Home prices are stagnating Great IDea I don t list the actual properties, instead I mention generic categories of real estate, such as waterfront property or high rises. When visitors click on these categories, they re taken to the relevant speci c listings on my Web site. Mark Washburn, of Island Coast Realty in Cape Coral 24 FLORIDA REALTOR february 2009