Shock Statement:  Blogging for real estate agents is not such a great idea.

Okay, before you ask yourself what in the world I’m implying, work with me for a minute…

I really like this quote I read from a post at 1000WattBlog yesterday:  Where in America is someone sitting in their living room thinking “I really wish I could read a blog from my local Realtor?”  Now, how true is that?

Even if you’ve nailed you’re niche online, if you’re blogging as a real estate agent only, at best you’ll probably only attract a handful of readers.  But blog as their friend first – as an expert on the community with something to add to the conversation – and the problem at hand is defeated.

In other words, blog about stuff – whatever it may be for you – first and let the fact that you’re a real estate agent shine through naturally here and there.  Believe me, it’s a remarkably effective tactic.  Keep this in mind and you’ll be a successful blogger in no time at all.

To help put it all in perspective, here’s sort of a break down of the different types of real estate blogs that exist and what they’re all about…

Community Blogs – These are almost exactly what I’ve just described above.  Simply put, a real estate agent can connect with potential customers by blogging about the community (could be a locale or could be a business niche) they know and love and focusing most on providing a valuable resource to their base of readers.  The readers will eventually feel like they’re personally friends with the blogger and this can lead to natural customer development.

Local Listings Blogs – We see these blogs frequently and really read them even less frequently.  While they might be of interest to a select handful of targeted readers wanting to look at properties in a certain geographical area, they don’t do much to attract the readers in the first place.  But keep in mind, they can be excellent tools when used to supplement other reader friendly content.

Real Estate Guru Blogs – Blogging about real estate actually seems to be one of the more popular topics to blog on across the entire blogosphere.  Lots of gurus specializing in their own real estate or mortgage niches find blogs to be the perfect outlet for sharing their expertise and networking.  Works great if that’s the goal, but really this type of blog doesn’t do much for drumming up local business.

Advertising Only Blogs – Because real estate is such a popular topic on the web, we’re seeing a big increase in bloggers that share their knowledge on various things real estate and monetize their blogs through advertising on the blog rather than actually selling real estate.  These blogs can range topically from locally targeted to worldwide and still be successful.

Sales Pitch Blogs – Another form of real estate blog you’re likely to bump into from time to time that seems to provide very little actual value, but instead only bait to try and get you to buy an expensive real estate investing strategy or program.  After awhile, the high pressure sales pitches are easy to spot and just as quickly dismissed.