Editor’s Note: Bill Cobb is a wizard at using blogging, social media and other “new stuff” to increase business. Here, he generously shares his expertise.
 

Using Blogs to Grow Your Business
By Bill Cobb

This may seem shocking to you but I don’t own an appraiser “website.”  I don’t need one.

I am not an expert in SEO (search engine optimization).  My sites are not “PR5”s to “PR8”s (Google page rank) but I have figured out how to grab the attention of Google for those searching for local appraisers. You may ask, “Why appraiser blogging?” and, “Is it worth my time?” These are excellent questions- the same ones I asked. Here are the answers.

In early 2006, my experience with appraiser blogging began out of major frustration. I was spending almost $1,000 a year for a fancy website with all the bells and whistles and around $1,500 a year for online appraiser directories that weren’t producing many appraisal orders. 

About that same time, my friend, Wayne Pugh, MAI, owner of SFREP appraiser software, taught me how to set alerts for Google content. So on the particular website with which I was working, I spent time adding content and updating it. Still, not many additional orders were produced nor was there an increase in Google attention. Then, when a blogging feature was added to that website, I began adding my local content but still, no attention from Google.  

Fortunately, a relative sent us a link to his new Blogger Blog (Blogger.com), a free blog from Google, with photos from his missionary trip to Russia. So I started my own free appraiser blog that weekend. I took content from my website blog and posted it to my Blogger Blog and within one week I began receiving alerts of my published content called “posts.” Shortly afterward, I began receiving calls from national lenders needing appraisals. When I asked them how they found me, they said they Googled my area and I appeared at the top of the list. Cha-ching! So, I setup a free Wordpress Blog as well as blogging on two other free blogs. 

Unfortunately, within two months, both blogs were shutdown because they were about the self-promotion of my business- a violation of their Terms of Service (TOS). All of those hours invested into my blog posts just evaporated instantly. Gone.  

I learned two lessons early on: Blogs built into websites do not generally index well and free blogs generally do not allow appraisers to promote their services due to violations of TOS.

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