Should I use Blogs to Advertise My Vacation Rental?

To Blog, or Not to Blog, does anybody even read them anyway?

This might be a bit long winded, but bear with me. We'll get to a point, I promise. 😁

So, full disclosure, I'm a Realtor®. And, like every other commission based business person, I am constantly looking for ways to grow, to learn, and most importantly to be SEEN.

Recently I attended a seminar about Social Media, or getting noticed on Social Media, or getting traction on Social Media, whatever it was, you get the picture. One of the takeaways was, "Don't bother with blogs, no one reads them, do videos instead." And I know this is true. How do I know this? Case in point.. recently I was standing in the aisle of the grocery store, searching for a recipe for Chilean Sea Bass. (and, boy, did I find an amazing one, and I'm gonna share it with you below, but, I digress...) At any rate, I find a recipe, buried deep in a blog. Hrrmm.... did I mention I'm standing IN the aisle of the grocery store? Nobody has time to read about how Chilean Sea Bass is a whitefish that is actually called Tooth Fish but who wants to eat a fish called Tooth Fish and omg can I just get the RECIPE ALREADY! Mad scrolling ensues and I am rewarded with ingredients; olive oil, kosher salt, dry white wine, etc. Perfect. And with that, I'm done with you, Spruce Eats blog! So, based on my personal experiences, I know, no one reads blogs.

I also know that everyone watches videos, right? Puppy videos, people crashing on their skateboard videos, you name it, it rolls down my social media feed on the daily. So, videos it is, and I set out to find someone who can help me with this. Person found, videos recorded, Youtube channel created, videos posted, and then....
(insert actual screen shot of the most number of views I've ever recorded on a video, here)

So, yea, people are watching videos, but they aren't watching mine. 😉

And then one day it happens. I get an email with a Bomb Bomb video attached. It was from a lender that does not check any of the coveted boxes that Realtors® are constantly trying to check, meaning, I don't know, like, or trust this guy. But every time I go into my emails, there's Mr. Dufus and the 3 second replay of the video he sent me, sitting there in my emails. ugh....
(insert actual screenshot of my own bomb bomb emailed video , here)

Now, full disclosure, I don't know if that lender is an actual dufus or not, but there's nothing flattering about his face playing over and over again in my emails, nor mine, frankly. Bomb Bomb videos recorded on a laptop aren't known for their high quality. And, since he doesn't check my "know, like, or trust" boxes, he gets deleted and unsubscribed.

Which is why no one is watching my videos.

So where does that leave me, and where does that leave you? Seriously, why even try at all? Well, as all this was playing out, the rather large Real Estate Company I work for partnered with an equally large contact management software company, and I now have the ability to create blogs any time I feel like it, and share them out to friends, family, post on my website, on social media etc. So, why not give it a try, right? So I did. (insert screenshot showing actual number of hits my top blog post got, here)

This particular blog was written a year ago, and updated just a few weeks ago (hence the recent date.) The number isn't HUGE, but at 1070 views it has almost 10 times the views in half the amount of time. So what's the difference? I took the time to write content that was relevant, number one. Then I shared it in places where I DO check those important Realtor® boxes, places where I'm liked, known and trusted. Facebook pages I frequent. My business page. My personal page. I've sent it to people I know are downsizing, are thinking of downsizing, or have family members that fit one of those two categories. I wrote in a friendly manner, I posted information that was personal, relevant, and engaging, and I added resources at the end (remember that Chilean Sea Bass recipe I mentioned? It's still coming), and I added a call to action at the end. Want to see for yourself? Here's the blog. Thinking about Downsizing? Don't know where to start?

So I promised you a few things. #1, this would be long winded (it was), #2, I'd get to the point, that's still coming.. and #3, that awesome Chilean Sea Bass Recipe

And the point of all this? If you are HERE, you read this in it's entirety. If you read it, you see that blogs actually WORK. You may or may not have clicked on that Recipe (I promise you, it's amazing), you probably laughed at, or felt some sort of embarrassement for, me and my plight at trying to be relevant as a Realtor®, atleast a handful of you felt this personally, a few of you rolled your eyes and thought I coulda gotten to my point quicker, (you are right, and yet also, you are still reading, aren't you? 😉) And IMAGINE..... if all of the words above weren't about me, weren't about THIS.. but were instead about you. Your Vacation Rental. How amazing it is. How it is located near all sorts of fabulous attractions that omg you MUST experience and yes, I also need to share this with my friends and family because I want THEM to come along too.

So after you write your blog, edit your blog, add beautiful pictures, you need a call to action. If this were MY blog, about MY place, my call to action would be a plug for my listing. YOUR call to action would be about your listing, and the call to action for THIS blog is to stay tuned for my subsequent blogs, because I plan to be around for awhile, posting blogs for Houfy.

So how do YOU post a blog? Log into Houfy...click the plus sign, then click write a blog post.

Write your post, use the edit functions to add pictures, emojis, link urls, etc.

Read the post for spelling or grammar issues, then click Publish on the far right. Select up to 5 relevant topics, select who you want to see your blog, then click publish now. Once you publish it, choose how you want to share it. It's that easy!