PETER SARMAS: The Holy Grail of a great blog

Although not complete, it will certainly help you build a great following of readers who will support your business.  

Identify Your Audience

Who are the people you are targeting with your content? It might be an idea to sit down and brainstorm with your team as to your ideal customer. Who knows – you might pinpoint a niche market that could significantly grow your business.

What Sort of Content Does My Audience Want?

A great and proven way to find this out is to ask your audience directly through a mass email. Alternatively, you could conduct a random test by calling trusted clients. If you’re a social media user, consider finding out which of your Twitter or Facebook posts are getting the most attention. Bit.ly is a great way to track the performance of articles; I recommend looking into it.

Every blog you write must have some sort of value to the reader, otherwise what’s the point in writing it? Time is such a valuable commodity today that you risk losing your readers if you aren’t providing worthwhile insights. Some of these insights could relate to local property trends, but you could also write about hot topics or gossip in your industry. We ran a recent story about Julia Gillard’s house for sale in Altona which attracted a huge readership.

Look at what’s trending locally through your social media. If other locals are talking about a topic in your area, even if it’s not property related, there’s a very good chance your readers will also be interested. Try to mix it up a bit. Don’t just write about property related subjects all the time, it does get boring and readers do begin to drop off.

Be Yourself

Here’s where I know I am going to get myself in trouble with some people reading this blog. Today, people really get a sense of a person and what they’re about through their writing. Certain people are attracted to a certain person and their style and the way they put their point across. Forget thinking corporate, proper and “stuffy” boring content, it just won’t cut it in today’s world.

Being yourself doesn’t mean that you can say what you want and use profanity or be unprofessional. You can maintain a level of professionalism while showing your personality through your words. Tell your followers about your involvement in the community – for example you might be sponsoring a local football club or running a fundraiser – and post blogs, tweets and Facebook pictures about these events.

Be Consistent and Give It Time

This is the one of the most important and difficult things to execute – finding the time and having the discipline to write or have other people write quality content, and then delivering it the same time every day, week or month.

Another crucial thing to remember when it comes to marketing – whether it be social media, blogging or email marketing - is that it’s not measurable. Yes, you might be getting great open rates on your emails, but how do you translate the time, effort and resources compared to the time you spend listing and selling?

It will take at least six to 12 months before you start seeing any benefit from your blogging. What it will bring you is authority, a strong following and a business that does not rely on external marketing.

Good luck!