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The Letting Agents Guide to Blogging

A question I am often asked at my training courses on ‘Landlord Farming’, where I teach agents the skills of attracting landlords to their lettings agency’s. So here is what I say ..
 
The first thing you need is a dose of common sense. I know it’s a simple one, but nevertheless worth emphasising. You will not, save for the letting agency firms with the greatest resource, be able to have a convincing presence in every social media platform – but that is the beauty of blogging, you don’t need to. Write the meaty stuff on your blog and pop a few tweets and posts on Linkedin. Stick to what you know best and feel most comfortable in. Is there a right time to start? Well don’t wait for the right time, there will never be a right time. Start today, slowly at the start and grow from there. You will learn, with common sense what you should or shouldn’t do.  

Next you need to be diligent. Once you decide to introduce yourself and your letting agency into the blogging world and inhabit the tinterweb as a way to reach out and engage with your existing and potential or targeted landlords - you need to keep at it. Once you start this journey, you can never stop. Practice does make perfect and there are no silver bullets, as in all examples of taking a step into the unknown (which a lot of letting agents think this ‘landlord farming’ is), it takes guts and determination to do it well. There will be ups and downs along the road but if you believe you are giving and adding value to your existing landlords and target potential landlords you will eventually succeed.

Patience is indeed a virtue and you will need it in bucket loads, neigh shed loads. You are laying the foundations for you and your letting agency’s digital footprint. Build your reserves over time and you will be repaid. Great content is the gift that keeps on giving – if you are prepared to be patient. Great content is NOT talking about what you do, NEITHER is it what makes you different as an agent or the services you offer NOR is it s.8 notices vs s.21 notices and if I see another blatantly repetitive ‘landlords wanted ’ poster/ad, I may just have to blow a gasket!!!

But the last and biggest thing you need is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, for me, is by far the most important part of blogging for letting agencies. If all you do is list your services and what you do, paying lip-service and a few nods and winks, bulking your blog out with links to articles in Telegraph or Times is lazy and boring or what’s happening in the UK property market, that is poor uncommitted content, which is better off not being written at all as it will fail to engage and be ignored. Do not, I repeat do not see an article and drop it in to your blog.

You need to be passionate about creating great content (great content is talking about the local property market) and have a burning desire to enrich and improve your landlords and potential landlord’s informational needs. I have seen all too many poor and perfunctory attempts: letting agency’s jumping on the bandwagon of blogging, they start with a bang then you can see it petering out after a month.

If you start a blog, if you do it right, you won’t get one enquiry for at least three to four months .. do you have the common sense, diligence, patience and enthusiasm to last that long .. really? And why is blogging so important? Well it is simply our response to landlords and potential landlords informational needs for any given problem or process.

Letting agencies seem preoccupied with the next new entrant in to the agency market place or which portal they should use? Landlords couldn’t give a monkeys about that. They have two hot buttons ... How well is my current property doing?  ... and Where is the next one I want to buy? ... it’s a simple as that.  ... and that is what you put in your blog.

You see there are three rules to blogging. Firstly, how do you get people to your blog. Secondly, how do you get them to keep coming back to you blog and finally, how do you get visitors to your blog to make contact with you? ?? This article has started to answer the middle (second) question – by giving them great content. Question is though, that’s all well and good, but if you don’t get people/landlords to the blog in the first place, how will they get to see this great blog? Well that’s another question entirely we will cover in another future post.

PS The Monday, 15th September 2014 ‘Landlord Farming’ course is booked up, but there are a couple of spaces for the Friday, 12th September 2014 course. They are held in Grantham – those who are rubbish at geography, Grantham is between Leicester and Nottingham in the Midlands or for our London cousins, 59 minutes from Kings Cross.

PPS are they any good, these courses?  Well, see what John Paul, owner of Castledene Group in the North East and recent winners of four Gold awards including the top prize of The Times and Sunday Times Letting Agent of the Year 2014 and The Times and Sunday Times Best Training and Development in the UK, said of what I can offer (and thank you John for posting this on as a testimonial on Linkedin .. you and Adele run a fabulous ship with Castledene)  

 I found Christopher's course to be fantastic and we are already seeing the positive results of his teachings. As with everything action is required, but by putting into place the information taught by Chris, you cant help but get more business. He is also a really nice bloke, which helps massively, highly recommended" ... 

PPPS  another picture of Joey .. the lettings dog with his 3D glasses on!