"If you have a local audience, Blogging is a high level marketing tool to increase your personal brand so that you sell more stuff." Justin Foster, Tricycle Marketing 

 Blog
$100 monthly

 Guidelines to Writing Great Blogs

1. Help your audience
   Provide more than just great information; feed them information that will pro-actively help them. Stats are interesting but they do not sell or build homes. Self Serving messages do not sell homes. Valuable and helpful information is what people are looking for. Suggest thoughts that will help them build a better home? Find a great builder? Realtor?  Other industry Professional? Get the best price for a home? Cool products they should know about. If a blog was titled “10 ways to get the home you want at the best price.”  Would it get read? What about “10 things builders must do when building your home” People love Top 10 Lists.
2. Less is more
   Short blogs are more likely to be read. If it looks too big they won’t read it. If they are able to take a bite and like it, they will want more!  Respect your reader’s time and give them value. If you have a thesis to share, break it apart into bite size chunks.
3. Value and Expectations
   Did they find their time spent with you valuable and what they expected? FACT: The more valuable your blog, the more valuable you become.
4. Personalize entries
   Tell a story about what happened to you or a client. Telling someone information is great, sharing a short story is better.
5. Draw a line in the sand
   Want to create dialogue?
6. Build Relationships
   A blog is a great way to develop community, trust and relationships Brag about other people, companies, and products. Provide links. Let those people know you mentioned them in a blog. Everyone likes fifteen minutes of fame. Pay it forward!
7. Use key words
   Green, Real Estate, Builder, Boise, Nampa, Energy Star, LEED, etc. Use them more often as adjectives as well. “Boise Real Estate”   “Boise LEED Builders” This will help search engines bring more and more qualified readers to you.
8. Blog often
   Readers are like back yard birds, the more you give them the more they want. In time your blog can become the consumers guide or book of record and you will be the authority.
9. Add Pictures
   Pictures help add emotion to the blog. Try www.images.google.com   
10. Don’t Argue with Your Reader.  
    There is nothing wrong with critical thinking but arguing online is a losing battle. Remember rule #6. If it seems to be an argument, don’t attack your reader. You may want to acknowledge their point and let it go. “Great Points. Thanks for your input.”  Don’t follow it up with a ‘but’ or ‘however.’ Agreeing with your visitor takes the wind out of the sail. Agreeing makes you both look good!