Now that you have your website up and running, how often and what do you blog about as a Realtor®? I started this series because there seems to be a world of information out there as to why and how to blog for the real estate market. 

You, as the Realtor®, have to decide how much time you want to put into it. K2media strives to be honest with the information we publish. So let me give a disclaimer that there will be disagreements on this post as long as the Great Wall of China. Just hang in there and enjoy the ride.

There are three types of posts available to you as a Realtor® that will increase your content. The depth to which you want to exchange ideas for content is up to you.

• Personal posts – These are posts that you write yourself. They will give your readers a feel for your personality and tone. Your clients will get to know you on a more personal level when you grow as a blogger yourself. These types of blog posts allow your clients to hear from you as often as you want them to or you have the time.
• Adjunct posts – These posts are posts that you pay for that are authored by someone else and they get the credit. In other words, when you post for yourself, your readers will see that your name is attached to the post. Adjunct posting will have someone else’s name under it. The reader will be able to know that you are getting help in keeping your content fresh. 
• Ghost writing – These are posts that you pay someone to write for you but still have your name under the post. Why in the world would you do this? Most Realtors want the personal feel of having their names all over the post but don’t have the time to write. In the business world, this is acceptable. 

Letting other people write on your site will increase your posts per week and also increase your traffic since the search engines will be pinged each time a new article is published. This allows you to have multiple articles published on yoru site without your having to take time to write them all.

Here is where the controversy begins. Are you being dishonest with your clients by having a ghost writer? That depends on what you want your blog to be. Are we at K2media shooting ourselves in the foot with this post? I don’t think so as honesty, we feel, is the better part of valor. Here are the 2 sides to that coin.

Yes, ghost blog writing is dishonest. Blogging started out as a personal way to let your friends and family know what was going in your world. So if someone else is writing your stuff under your name, it stops being your words and looses the personal touch that a family blog should have. Now, blogging has evolved to become a business marketing tool. It is a way to let your clients know all about your business in a dynamic format. So if someone else is writing on your sight and saying they are you, it should be fraudulent. I agree with this thinking only in the sense that the writer should not write under the pretense that they are you. There should be no personal antidotes as if they are an actual business person running the site. If they do, then yes, I believe it is wrong.

No, ghost blog writing is not dishonest. Think about it. How many business exec’s write all of their own reports to present at huge conferences? When was the last time you saw a president of any nation read a speech that they wrote themselves 100%? I can’t think of a single time. Most all politicians and top business executives get help writing the speeches and power points they deliver. Along this line, so goes blogging in the professional world. Most business owners pay for advertising agencies to write an ad and then they have the option to read it on the radio or act it out on the TV. But they did not write it. So if a professional blogger writes a post on your site and tags your name to it, there should be no problem. As long as the ghost writer is not specifically trying to deceive by adding personal quips to the post to appear to be you, I do not see a problem with it.

Let me also tag a few snag points to your already overloaded decision of blog posts. 

1. You as the Realtor® have many options for posts. Any combination of personal, adjunct, and ghost posts will increase your traffic and in turn generate online leads. You should, however, realize that you have to take responsibility for ALL posts on your site no matter who writes them. Review them before you publish them.
2. You need to decide what kind of posts you want to have and be honest with your professional blogger up front; if that is the way you choose to go. Some bloggers will not entertain the idea of ghost blogging and will not write for you at all. Some will as long as you allow them to use your site for future resumes. No one wants to write without getting to use the content to further their blogging portfolio.  
3. If you choose to have additional bloggers on your site, know the pros and cons. If you were to search on Google about ghost writing and blogs, you would get over 6 million hits. Obviously, this is a hot topic. I encourage you to do the research and get a feel for what you would like to do with your website. 

Keep in mind that the more posts you have and the type of content you publish will directly affect your visibility on the web. The more traffic you have coming to your site, the more opportunities you have to generate leads and turn those leads into clients. It is a lot to think about, but blogging adds the kind of depth to your site that you strive to accomplish!