I began blogging in May 2009 on Active Rain. At that time, my real estate career was far from flourishing and I had made a decision to leave real estate and return to the corporate world if I couldn’t figure it out this year.
Blogging changed my life and my career.
My gross production in 2009 was somewhere around 1.5 million. It was serendipity or chance or fate that I landed on Active Rain and became enthralled by all that was going on in social media.
I blogged daily. Twice daily.
I went through tutorials, attended conferences, talked to fellow bloggers.
I literally blogged until I bled.
I tell friends that I had plenty of time to blog because I sadly was not busy with real estate.
Then, THIS happened.
1st success story:
My phone rang one Sunday morning and I had not even had a cup of coffee yet. Here’s how the conversation went:
Tim: Is this Lori Cain, the expert of midtown Tulsa real estate?
Lori: Why yes it is – I’m Lori!
Tim: My wife and I toured a home in Maple Ridge, and we’d like to make an offer. We would like you to pull comps, advise us on what to offer and write up a contract.
Lori (after catching my breath and wishing I had coffee): you’ve already toured the home and just need me to pull comps and write an offer?
Tim: Yes – we told the Listing Realtor that we would be making an offer, but wanted our own Realtor representation.
Lori: What is the address of the property you viewed? What is YOUR address, and may I come by at 6pm this evening?
Now, the interesting part of this story is that when I met with Tim and his wife Cindy that evening, I discovered that they had spent HOURS on my blog. I asked Cindy how she found me, and she responded, “well, Lori, you KNOW that I want to walk my baby and my dogs down the sidewalks. There are sidewalks in Maple Ridge, but not in Sunset Terrace. So, I googled midtown homes with sidewalks.”
What I want new bloggers to understand is that I had only spent 15-20 minutes with this couple, but they thought I knew as much about them as they knew about me. When people spend TIME on your blog and believe you to be knowledgeable and/or the local expert, they have a level of TRUST in you that can’t be beat. It’s better than a recommendation from your Mother.
Now, I didn’t recall writing about sidewalks in midtown Tulsa EVER, but when I got home, I googled it myself. Sure enough, I pretty much 
fill up the page with that longtail search term. Seems that when I write neighborhood blog posts or market reports, I often mention that we walk down our sidewalks in midtown Tulsa and visit with our neighbors and sip tea on our large porches. There is also a local art show I write about yearly where artists display their work on the sidewalks of Utica Square shopping centre. Whoda thunk? Gotta love that google juice!!!
Happy ending – Tim and Cindy purchased the $350,000 home in Maple Ridge, and I made clients and friends for life.
2nd success story:
Leor called one day and asked if I could tell him about midtown. He told me that his children had gone to college and that there was no need for he and his wife Hillary to live in the Jenks school district any longer. They wanted to move to midtown Tulsa to be closer to Leor’s job, closer to their synagogue and closer to the cycling trails. He gave me his list of search criteria and off we went on our house shopping journey.
We lost out in a bidding war on the first home we fell in love with. But, as always, it was meant to be. I later found a FSBO (for sale by owner) that was exactly what the doctor ordered (Leor was a physician), and I wound up earning the largest commission check I’ve ever earned on one transaction: $23,000.
Funny part of this story is that we closed at 9am in the morning, and my husband and I flew out of Tulsa at noon that day to go to New Orleans for a work-related conference for hubby. When I went by my office to pick up my commission check, I asked one of my colleagues to take a photo of me with that big-ass check. When asked what I was going to spend it on, I replied, “I think I’m going to take my husband out to dinner tonight . . . in New Orleans!”
My advice to new bloggers
Be yourself – everyone else is taken.
Share as much of your personal life as you are comfortable doing.
Write as if you are discussing a topic over a cup of coffee or glass of wine.
Never write about a topic for which you are not knowledgeable.
Never steal images.
Don’t drink and blog.
Be transparent.
Your blog is a means for which people have the opportunity to get to know you and understand the type of real estate services you offer.
Most importantly, blogging is the means to meet people whom you otherwise would not have the opportunity to meet. Exceed their expectations.
Lastly, begin writing. Follow best practices when able, but don’t worry about being perfect from the start. You can always go back to old blog posts to revise.
Now my production is over 6-7 million each year and has been since 2011.
So, start blogging, and you’ll see the money!!!
Content written and published by Lori Cain.
Lori Cain is a residential Realtor with eXp Realty serving the greater Tulsa Oklahoma area. Call 918-852-5036. eXp Realty is the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®!
