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The small, local area in which you're an expert almost always consists of a set of even smaller areas: neighborhoods, subdivisions, large condo developments or high-rise buildings, landmark districts, and school districts – to name a few.



These hyper-local areas often matter a great deal to the people who live in them or are considering moving to them. It's often difficult to find basic facts about most areas on the Web, and search engines will reward you with visitors if you post… Continue

In-depth real estate knowledge is a small part of an expert agent's stock-in-trade. People skills are essential, as is a wide-ranging familiarity with the local community, its amenities and its resources.

Home buyers actively research community information as well available homes. They want to know about schools, parks, restaurants, shops, recreational opportunities, and more. If you write a number of brief, specific posts on each of those topics you can count on the search engines to… Continue

A blog post doesn't need to be an elaborate 5-course meal to satisfy an audience. Shorter posts are generally better, since most readers don't have the time or the appetite to digest a lengthy post.



Factual tidbits appeal to readers who are grazing for information. A nuggets of information can be more nourishing than an analytical essay that needs to be lengthy to avoid being insubstantial.



Your interests and the reader's dovetail nicely: in most cases it's easier for you… Continue

If your reason for blogging is to attract more home buyers or sellers and inform your existing ones – and what other reason could there possibly be? – you need to maintain an obsessive focus on providing information about the small local area you know the best.



Let me elaborate on some of the elements of that statement, beginning with "small local area."



It's common for real estate agents to tout themselves as an "expert in representing buyers and sellers of residential… Continue

Statistics are boring – except to home buyers and sellers, who have a keen interest in local market data.



Buyers and sellers are hungry for up-to-date local data, and there's almost no place for them to get that data. That's where you come in: provide some simple market data at least once a week and you'll quickly develop a loyal audience of buyers and sellers who'll become your clients when they're ready to make a move.



Market statistics can be as simple or as elaborate… Continue

f you're new to online social networking you might hesitate to start a blog, comment on others' blogs, or participate in groups and discussion forums.



Relax. There's an easy way to begin showcasing your local expertise: an events calendar. Think of adding events to a personal events calendar – a feature that's built in to your network – as "training wheels" for online social networking.



Why a local events calendar matters

Alerting people to what's going on in… Continue

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