by Gabriel Roberts
Last Friday I listened in to Active Rain’s live broadcast of a conversation with Jay Thompson, better known as the Phoenix Real Estate Guy. I’ve been a fan of Jay’s blog for a couple of months now, and really enjoyed the “computer-side chat”.
He and Bob Stewart discuss Jay’s award-winning blog-turned-brokerage. Below are some of my favorite quotes (I paraphrase):
“Real Estate is a personal business – people pick agents because they like them. Use your blog to let people know who you are, learn about you, and decide whether or not they like you.”
“You’ve got to have a really good home search on your blog. If you don’t have it, you’re missing out.”
Asked why he thinks Inman picked him as one of the 100 most influential leaders of the real estate community:
“It all boils down to internet presence- I am all over the internet – it’s hard to miss me online. Inman recognizes that.”
“I don’t often say completely stupid things.”
“Real estate is emotional. Selling a home or buying a home is one of the most emotional things people will ever do.”
Advice for bloggers:
“Blogging and social media is hard work – it’s not some magic pill that will make you successful – it’s a (lot) of work. The most important thing is being consistent, and it takes time. Start your blog today, don’t expect your phone to ring tomorrow.”
“Write something every 2-3 days for 6 months to a year before you can expect results.”
“You don’t have to blog your brains out every day at the computer. Block out some time – take 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon, write a couple of posts, and schedule them to post (automatically) – maybe on Tuesday and Thursday.”
“In today’s market, you should be prospecting 2 hours a day. I spend those 2 hours on my blog. Apply yourself consistently, and understand it’s going to take time and work.”
“If you hate doing something, bottom line is you won’t be doing it, so find something you like and do that.” (This applies to your blog – people respond when they sense you care about what you’re writing)
“Write how you speak – imagine yourself talking to a client, and write out that conversation.”
“The more you do it, the better you get, the easier it gets.”
Jay surveyed his readers last year, and he was blown away to find:
“readers liked most the posts that had nothing to do with real estate.”
And finally:
“Colt McCoy is a freakin’ winner – that kid has been a winner since he played peewee football.” (Jay is a from Austin, and a fan of the Texas Longhorns)
Active Rain has weekly computer-side chats like these. You can listen to the entire conversation here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/activebob/2011/01/07/rain-radio-computerside-chat-with-phoenix-real-estate-guy-jay-thompson
real estate is as much work you put in it is as much work you get back . simple as that . its the filtering process that you need to master .