Local Real Estate Blogging: Karen Goodman
The following is an interview with Karen Goodman, a real estate agent in St Louis.
1) How long have you been blogging? What got you started?
Last July I switched real estate brokers from one that provided me with all of my clients to a traditional real estate brokerage. With the change, I knew it would be necessary for me to start marketing my services to build my business. I wanted to do more than simply send out announcements to my sphere of influence, and I had no desire to knock on doors of FSBO sellers trying to convince them to work with me. From the start, I knew I would need to set up a website. I honestly had no idea what a blog was and how it could be used to market my services. I had heard the term thrown around on TV newscasts, but had never read one.
My website provider, Point 2, includes a blog that is integrated into the website. As I learned more about blogs, I knew that it was a perfect fit for me. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and helping people learn about their options is important to me. I knew that writing a blog would be a perfect opportunity to provide information to my clients and potential clients, and to show them how I do business. I launched my website in November, and wrote my first blog post a couple of weeks later.
2) Do you get many leads from what you write?
I don’t have any hard numbers on how many of my clients have come from the blog yet. I do know that several clients have commented that they spent some time on my website and blog before they decided to use me, and that they were impressed with what they found there. Three of my recent home buyers found me after seeing an online ad for one of my listings, then clicking through to my website and spending some time there. All of them were relocating to St. Louis, and relied on the internet to help them choose an agent.
3) What do you try to focus on? Do you write for business, or do you write because it's enjoyable?
My blog is definitely a business blog, and I’m writing it to build my real estate business. My goal is to provide a resource for my clients and for potential clients. I’m trying to reach the people I meet through my other marketing efforts and those referred to me from friends and former clients. I want to have a place that these people can read up on real estate issues and learn about how I do business. I hope that if they are on the fence about making a decision on who to use for a buyer’s agent, they’ll read my posts and decide to give me a shot.
For now, I’m not really trying to capture all the search engine traffic. As much as I’d love to have tons of people reading my blog, I know that my focus on real estate issues and St. Louis market conditions will have limited appeal. But I will admit that it is fun to check out the search terms that people are using to find my site, and to discover that I’m number one on Yahoo’s search for ‘st louis homes for sale’.
Oh, and I do love writing. I’ve never really had an outlet before for my writing so it’s been a lot of fun.
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