Phoenix Real Estate Blog

Solution

Thompson knew nothing about posting blogs or website marketing, so he began with an out-of-the-box internet site template, however it didn’t provide itself really as a writing system. And so the Phoenix real-estate Guy blog was created may 8, 2005. The eponymous name of his debut offering was “The First Article.”

Your blog straight away attracted followers and Thompson started to notice just what worked and exactly what performedn’t. The masthead said “Phoenix Real Estate—Anything & Everything about this. Plus Random Musings, ” additionally the content was getting traction. He discovered that individuals initially came the property content, but returned for his musings. Thompson had been convinced the answer to getting audience was to post regularly—he begun with one post per week, after that increased to three per week—and to-be personable.

“From day one, i obtained much more engagement from private material by far, ” Thompson recalled. “Four or 5 years later, I would informally survey my readers about what content they preferred, and I can state that 60 to 70 % associated with the responders said their favorite stuff was the arbitrary musings.”

Still, Thompson spent thousands of hours learning how to build a better blog, eventually discovering how search engine optimization (SEO) could help drive Internet traffic to it. He put himself in a consumer’s footwear and searched for what he would want to know if he had been going to undergo the house selling procedure. When he blogged in what he learned, individuals listened and registered, planning to hire the interesting straight-shooter.

Thompson put himself into aggressively writing and advertising the blog, which makes it 70 % of his marketing and advertising time, work and budget. Keeping the other internet pages used the rest of the 30 percent in which he thought we would forego every other prospecting practices. He pointed out your blog target inside the outbound sound mail announcement. Thompson’s Phoenix property Guy tees caught the eye of an airport protection scanner just who recognized the blog and its writer. Interns on local Phoenix television stations held the blog bookmarked and called Thompson for commentary whenever property had been featured regarding the night news. His company card ended up being basic white stock that detailed just “PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com” and absolutely nothing else.

“People would think of it, transform it over, find out that’s all it said and explained, ‘That’s brilliant, ’” Thompson stated. “Then they’d tuck it away in their pocket. I’m fully believing that drove traffic to my blog.”

The Phoenix real-estate Guy web log created so many prospects that within just 3 years, the partners could actually begin unique brokerage. Thompson Realty hung out its shingle in February 2008 and within an hour or so after posting the headlines into blog, Thompson along with his partners had been overwhelmed with emails and phone calls from representatives planning to join them. In the course of time there have been too many leads to allow them to handle alone, so they hired more representatives.

The Phoenix property Guy blog proceeded to generate visibility for Thompson with business movers and shakers and. He previously made presentations at neighborhood real estate occasions and had been in the course of time welcomed to speak at Inman Connect in 2007, where he had been approached by some “bigger players” whom requested the blog, read it and were convinced that Thompson belonged on speaking circuit.

But it was only when he had been expected to conduct a breakout session on blogging during the 2006 Realtors® Conference & Expo in New Orleans that Thompson understood his blog had garnered him national recognition.

“once you walk on stage and are expected exactly how much business comes from your site, and you will state that because of it, you got 3, 000 associates and sealed 45 product sales that year—that’s one thing, ” Thompson marveled.

“we don’t believe I’d be employed by Zillow if it weren’t for blog site. It nonetheless blows my brain at number of options it opened.” – Jay Thompson

Results

At its peak, The Phoenix Real Estate man blog site had tens and thousands of supporters in social media outlets as well as in 2011—the last full 12 months Thompson blogged and also the 12 months before he joined Zillow—it created over 9, 000 associates and had one million special site visitors from 194 nations. It obtained Thompson several conversing involvements and four local television appearances.

Thompson’s blog performedn’t just generate prospects which he changed into clients; the blog in addition acted a recruiting tool, attracting representatives who liked the Thompsons and wanted to make use of all of them. They expanded to 32 representatives in nearly 36 months, in which he and Francy needed to farm on prospects.

“I in the course of time could have started my very own brokerage—I have to be the boss—but your blog had been the catalyst, ” Thompson acknowledged. “I don’t believe I’d be doing work for Zillow if it weren’t for that blog site: It still blows my brain on number of opportunities it opened.”

Thompson admitted it was an error to place all his advertising eggs in one container, but he surely caught lightning in a bottle—largely as a result of their early use of blog posting and also the decreased competitors.

“once I started Phoenix real-estate Guy, there was no facebook to cope with, although I becamen’t the first someone to have a weblog, I happened to be certainly one of just a few, ” Thompson clarified. “It could be impractical to achieve similar standard of success my blog did, but we still think it is the easiest method to ensure you get your character around.”

Thompson featuresn’t posted to Phoenix real-estate Guy for pretty much 3 years, but their company, which merged with eXp Realty in 2012, nonetheless obtains about four associates a week from it. Sporadically Thompson gets notice of someone linking returning to Phoenix Real Estate Guy—usually see your face is compiling a listing of the very best real-estate blog sites in the usa.

For Thompson, the blog had been the best mixture of his love the real deal property along with his enthusiasm for writing, plus it worked beyond their wildest imagination.

• Generated an average of 750 monthly leads
• Over 450 shut product sales
• Over 3, 500 RSS members plus than 1, 000 e-mail subscribers
• Exceeded 1 million special visitors in 2011
• Earned dozens of speaking involvements

“we can’t tell you exactly how many times the blog made the phone band, but i could inform you it absolutely built my business, ” he stated. “Every day somebody will say they see the Phoenix property Guy and inquire me for help.”

Relevant resources

Jay consistently compose and share their thoughts and tips to assist real estate professionals. Here are some resources which will help you raise your business besides:

With millions of homebuyers and vendors seeing Zillow and Trulia each month, the potential to come up with and transform brand-new leads is boundless. Are you ready to bring your business to the next level? Our advertising plans offer you visibility and use of an incredible number of prospective customers.