Alphablogs

Why are you reading this right now?

Chances are that you hope to be informed and entertained – hopefully even both.

It’s the same with your readers; or, for that matter, your clients. They spend one of their most precious resources – their time – on you because they hope to get a good return on their investment.

When putting together a blog post – text, images, links, etc. – that’s what we need to keep in mind. That is, don’t come from a position of what you have to offer – come from the position of what your clients need.

Kathy Sierra has a great post on this concept, together with one of her characteristically accurate graphics:

Let’s imagine you’re a commercial real estate agent in Victoria, BC. What do your clients need to read? Put yourself in their shoes. If you were, say, a small business owner in Victoria in the market for a two-storey storefront for an upscale grocery store close to downtown, what would be your concerns? How about

Parking
Property taxes
Mortgage options
Business climate for that particular geographic area
Crime
Local business associations
Local events
Tourism from the US

The interesting thing is that you will do much of this research for your clients anyway, including some of the photographs and web sites. All you need to do is put it in writing and post it. Of course you want to eliminate any confidential topics – but much of the information you provide is common knowledge anyway.

If you’re a real estate agent or have ever dealt with one, what additional information would you suggest to be interesting to our grocery store millionaire-to-be?