Western Montana & Missoula Real Estate Blog & Area Information

As If My Blog Wasn't Working Hard Enough Already

After blogging for close to three years, we have developed an extensive library of content on real estate-related articles. Google loves our content and rewards us by ranking us highly for many local real estate terms and neighborhoods.

Our blog works very hard for us, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, helping consumers learn more about the area, find our home search, promoting our listings, and asking them to contact us for their real estate needs. All of this hard work pays off by helping us connect with people who need help with real estate.

We've also been using our blog as a quick and easy way to put together a e-newsletter to our Sphere of Influence. When I go to compile a new newsletter, I have lots of relevant articles to draw from for content which makes creating a newsletter a breeze, and our contacts love it. I'm always receiving positive comments about our newsletter.

Over the summer, I decided that I'd like to really leverage my blog content and get it to work even harder for us. I wanted buyers and sellers who work with us to feel like we were providing them with the knowledge and resources to make their real estate experience easier. I decided to take our library of blog posts and use them in two additional ways:

1.) Created an Online Relocation/Area Guides on My Website - I have lots of Localism posts about Where to Go and What to Do in Missoula and the surrounding communities that would be helpful for people who want to learn more about the area. Since I wanted to create a "Virtual Relocation Guide" on my website, I put together some information about the area but also provided links to relevant Blog posts about specific restaurants and attractions. Here's our Living in Missoula page on our website.

2.) Created a Communications Plan for Buyers and Sellers - Since we've started in real estate, we have made it a priority to communicate to our clients and prospects on a regular basis. We decided to create communication plans for prospects and sellers and provide information on buying and selling with links to specific articles on our Blog.

So for instance, for a first-time homebuyer we will send a welcome email thanking them for working with us with information about us, our website, a link to our home search tool, and a few blog posts or "Articles". A week later we will send them another note with a link to a few more articles, and so on.

Some examples of posts we send are ones about what they need to apply for a mortgage, $8000 tax credit basics, Why They need a Radon test, Why They should use a Buyer's Agent, etc.

Since we've implemented the Online Relocation Guides and the Communication Plans, we've seen an increase in traffic to our website and our Blog and have found that people are also spending more time on the sites. We've also gotten a lot of positive feedback from our clients.

There are lots of ways to leverage your Blog content and make it work even harder for you. I know ours will be putting in a lot of overtime.

How Others Are Using Their Blogs to Enhance Existing Relationships

Parental Success - Our Daughter is a Blogger!

Parents dream that their children will one day become a doctor, a lawyer, an astronaut, a fireman, a nurse, or many other great professions. Well, our daughter Kelsey may still become many of those things as she has her whole life ahead of her.

We are already excited and very proud of her though as she just started her own Blog - www.Krayphish.com, named after her nickname from volleyball. Many of you may already recognize her name as she is also an amazing photographer and we have posted many of her pictures right here on ActiveRain.

Kelsey has always expressed an interest in writing and Journalism and has spent a lot of time in writing classes and camps. She's even written a few blog posts on local events for our MyMissoulaCounty blog our MissoulaPet.com. So she has amassed a good bit of content - poetry, stories, articles, and of course, some amazing photos.

She may even write a guest post for us at some point here on ActiveRain. So, if you get a chance, check out her blog, feel free to comment, or send her a message on Twitter.

Here's some of her photos on AR:

Nosy Neighbor

Bird Watching

The Mission Mountains

I Can Make Faces Too!

Why Are You Interrupting My Dinner?

Blog Posts:

Keep Your Pets Safe in the Summer Heat

Top 10 Ways You Know You're a Blogger If..

1.) You won't leave the house without your camera, or better yet, it's attached to you at all times. You never know when you will find inspiration.

2.) You have the thought at least once a day, "Oh that would make a great blog post!"

3.) You keep notes on your desk, stuck to your monitor, or in a file on "Future Blog Post Topics."

4.) You love to read other Blogs. If you're a writer, chances are that you're also a reader, they go hand in hand.

5.) You've been kept awake at least one night because you have a hot idea for a blog post or you're struggling with the perfect Blog Title, or you have gotten up way too early to write for your Blog.

6.) Blogs are a major source for your news - why bother with TV and newspapers when there are so many quality blogs?

7.) You know what it is to "Reblog" and you either love it or you hate it.

8.) You've made real-life friends, clients or business associates with people who comment on your blogs, or by commenting on their blogs.

9.) You've spent at least one Friday or Saturday night home blogging instead of going out.

10.) You can easily use the terms "Blogosphere" "Trackbacks" "Permalink" "RSS Feed" and "Blog Roll" in a sentence.

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Kevin and Monica Ray are Missoula Real Estate sales and marketing professionals for Access Realty in beautiful Western Montana. We provide services in, but not limited to: Missoula, Superior, Alberton, Saint Regis, Lolo, Clinton, Turah, Potomac, Florence, Corvallis, and Hamilton

For more information on Kevin and Monica Ray or Western Montana Real Estate, they can be reached at 406-207-1185 or online at www.YourMT.com.