That sounds simple and easy. All of the design work is done, almost all of your content is already written, you get an attractive well written web site right out of  the box. This is a great way to get a web site online fast. But when it come to search engines like Google, and Yahoo, the pre-written part is not so good.

Pre-written is the content. There are several companies that provide websites for mortgage and real estate professionals with pre-written content. The sites are full of well written  articles and information. In many cases the content is very well written and informative. So why are pre-written content web sites a problem when it comes to SEO, branding, standing out from the crowd, etc.?

The short answer is that original content is king! The major search engines award sites for original content and penalizes sites for content that is not original.

Take the phrase “Our customers save money and close their loans quickly because we employ the most advanced mortgage technology available.” This can be and is said in some form on almost all mortgage web sites. But the exact phrase can be a problem.

Google – “Our Customers save money…….”

Do the above search (click on the link)..  this is a line taken from one of the top providers of pre-designed web sites – there are over 15,000 web site listed on Google that use that exact phrase… word for word – multiply this by an entire site full of the same content other than the name, address and phone number.. now do you see the problem?

Content that is a 90% + match to 15,000 other web sites is not going to be ranked well.. this is not considered original content. If your web site is full of non-original articles and phrases the odds of your site ranking high in searches are not good at all.

Content for your site should be original – it should be written with your target market in mind, your target customers in mind.

Websites that use a Blog format are a great way to accomplish this with out the big price tag that custom websites can bring.  No one knows your market like you do, no one knows your clients better than you do.

We are working on a solution to this problem that will help you have original content designed to rank high in the search world and be as affordable as the pre-written – out of the box – websites.

If you find this information helpful please let me know. I always welcome suggestions,  comments and new subscribers.
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Writing longer blog articles – part 1

Writing longer blog articles – part 2

As you can see, there is a small but important difference between writing a regular blog post of a few paragraphs and writing a longer blog article. A little more planning and thought at the beginning, before you actually start to write the post, is the primary difference.

Communicate

Actually, following the same process for all blog posts could produce for you better posts no matter what amount of content is in your blog post. Even on very short posts you probably will follow the 8 steps, but not formally. If you review this article you should be able to see how I used the process to write it.

I also suggest that you group the steps into 2 phases.

1. The first 4:  Theme, Brainstorming, Outline, and Tags, Categories, and Images should be completed, reviewed and updated to your satisfaction before you begin the second phase.
2. The second 4:  Forms, Breakup, Details, and Recap. Determine the forms you need and the references that you want to link to and use.  How will you break up the article and write the details are almost one process. The last step, Recap, is to tie up any lose ends and to address any questions that need addressed. The Recap is also a good place to include any forms or documents that you want to include.

For this article I created a short form that you can you use when you are working on your article. tfslocom-longerblogform .

If you find this information helpful please let me know. I always welcome suggestions,  comments and new subscribers.
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Blogging for mortgage loan officers.
In our industry there are usually no short answers and there are times when you need more than a paragraph or two to cover the topic effectively. Longer articles are approached a little differently than short blog posts. The longer blog is a more detailed look at a situation or it is an educational article that requires more than a couple of paragraphs to successfully tell the whole story.

The longer blog article is not harder; it just requires a little more thought regarding content.

Let’s take the 8 steps and break them down.

1. Theme / Title.
Start with a title or theme. Write out your blog theme in one or two sentences. This is your topic focus. In this article the title is: “8 Steps to writing longer blog articles”. As you gather more information and start to write more details your title will be your compass that keeps you on track. As your content increases you should keep referring back to your title to make sure you have not strayed too far off track. If you do, you could have the beginnings of another post. So, if the points you make are not on target but you think they are important, copy the information onto a new document for later review. Your theme should be concise and to the point. What is the main idea of the article?

2. Brainstorm.
This is a simple, but very effective process. Start with a blank sheet of paper or a fresh document opened on your word processor and write down every idea you have about the article. One of the secrets to successful brainstorming is that there are no bad ideas at the beginning of the process. Write down every one without trying to prejudge its merit. After you complete this step, go through each idea with a critical review to determine which ideas you will use. Usually you will need to do some editing and rewriting. Some will need to be combined to make a stronger point. Others will need to be discarded. You only review the ideas with a critical eye after you have finished brainstorming ideas for your article.

3. Outline.
Using the main title theme and your brainstorming ideas, start writing an outline of your article. Write down the main points that you want to make. When I was writing this article I did not start with 8 as the number of steps. I started by writing out the steps and when I was satisfied, I discovered that it was 8 steps. My original theme was “Steps to writing longer blog articles”. Then 7 steps… After my outline was completed and I was part of the way through the details step, it was obvious to me that my title (and the number of steps) should be 8, not 7. Every blog title or article does not have to have a determined number of steps that are detailed. This really depends on the subject of your blog article. Other possible titles that I could have used are: Elements to successful mortgage blogging, Bloggers learn how to write the long blog, or Tips for better blogs.

4. Tags, Categories & Images.
When your outline is finished you should now think about tags and categories. These should be written out in a list and used throughout your article. The tags I decided fit this article are: mortgage blogging, writing blogs, long blog articles, bloggers, mortgage, and blog tips. How did I do? Did I use each tag at least 1 time in my article (not counting this sentence)? I decided what my tags and categories would be before I started writing the details. This helped me stay on track and incorporate the tag words into my article instead of just jamming them in to places where they do not fit easily.

5. Forms.
Next, decide if there are any forms or references you should use. Make a list to use as a checklist as you complete your article. You can link to your forms in your post or you can talk about them and link to a forms page that has the forms you use. Either way is correct. For this post I created a simple form that you can use when you are working on a post.

6. Break it up.
Decide how to break up the information into 2 – 4 blog posts. This article for bloggers is going to be a 3 part blog article. There is no wrong answer. I was not sure about how many parts to break the article into until I completed a majority of my outline.

7. Details.
With your outline, tags, categories, and forms you can flesh out the article, writing in detail to explain each of the main points. Working from a blank page is a lot tougher than working from a well planned outline with notes and comments. You might not use everything you initially wrote and you probably will rearrange the order as you go. The final blog post will not look the same as your outline. That is part of the process. If you follow the brainstorming and outline phases you will have a better article. (As I was writing this section I determined that I had left out an important part of the process “Brainstorming.” This is where I decided to add an additional step to the article. I just went from 7 to 8.

8. Recap.
To finish, summarize your article by reviewing the key points and link to your forms or references. This post is a 3-part post. In the first part I outlined for you the process that I would discuss. The second part is the details. I broke each step down and provided a more detailed explanation. The third part is used in this article to recap the main points of the article. If I am doing my job correctly, I am telling you a lot of the things I told you in the initial summary, but I am saying them in a different way. After reading the first two parts of the article you now have a better perspective and the summary should help tie it all together.

In part 3 I will wrap up and summarize this series on writing longer multi-part blog posts and include a useful outline form that will help you write longer blog articles .

If you find this information helpful please let me know. I always welcome suggestions, comments and new subscribers.
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The Full Service Loan Officer (www.tfslo.com) is dedicated to helping loan officers build referral relationships by establishing a branded position in their market as a trusted mortgage professional.

Most blog posts are short, usually one page or less and one to four paragraphs long. But, there are times when you will want publish larger articles. In the mortgage industry there usually are no short answers and there are times when you need more than a paragraph or two to cover the topic effectively. Larger articles are approached a little differently.

The regular blog post is usually a quick opinion on a current situation, some information that you want to comment on, or some news you want to make everyone aware of. The longer blog is a more in depth look at a situation or it is an education article that needs more than a few paragraphs to successfully tell the whole story.

For these types of blog articles I suggest that you make the article an installment piece.

Instead of making the article 3, 4, 5 or more pages, you can break the article into easier to digest segments. This way your readers will have the benefit of your full explanation because you were not limited by regular blog limits of space.

In this series of posts I will try to give you some useful ideas on how to approach writing a long blog article.

I broke the process down into 8 basic steps.

The 8 steps are;

1. Title / Theme. Like any article long or short you start with a basic title or theme. Write out your blog title in one or two sentences.
2. Brainstorm. Free form thinking of the major elements.
3. Outline. Using the main title, start with an outline of your article. Write down the main points that you want to make.
4. Tags, Categories & Images. When your outline is finished you should think about tags, images and categories. Tags should be written out in a list and used throughout your article. A few well placed images can also add a lot of impact to your blog article.
5. Forms. Next, decide if there are any forms or references you will use – make a list to use as a check list as you complete your article.
6. Break it up. Decide how to break up the information into 2 – 4 blog posts.
7. Details. With your outline, tags, categories, and forms you can flesh out the article. Write in detail to explain each of the main points.
8. Recap. Summarize your article by reviewing the key points and link to your forms or references.

In part 2, I will review each step involved in writing longer multi-part blogs in more detail.

If you find this information helpful please let me know. I always welcome suggestions, comments and new subscribers.
(To subscribe use the subscription button in the upper right of this page.)