How to Re-purpose Your Real Estate Blog's Content To Grow Your Email List in 5 Simple Steps
If you are blogging 3-5 times/week as part of your marketing strategy you should use your published original blog content to your advantage. Re-purposing the content from your published blog posts allows you an additional vehicle to brand your business and promote your services online.
One easy way to re-purpose your content is to to create an ezine from the content contained in your published blog posts. An Ezine is similar to a newsletter and is published in a PDF format which makes it easy for your readers to access, save, refer to, and share your content and information.
Ezines are an easy way for you to distribute your content and to grow your contact database.
Here are 5 Simple Steps to re-purpose your real estate blog's content to grow your email list
1. Decide Which Real Estate Blog Posts You Will Use as Content for your Real Estate Ezine
Before you create your ezine you will need to decide which of your real estate blog posts you will be using to create the publication.
Here are some recommendations of topics for your Real Estate Ezine:
Real Estate Market Reports- You could take 3 months worth of real estate market reports and create a quarterly ezine.
Home Maintenance and Repair- You could group by seasonal repairs/improvements or by type of repair/improvement (e.g. kitchen, living room, outdoor landscape)
Home buyer checklists
Home Seller checklists
Short sales 101
First time home buyer information
Relocation information
Any of your real estate blog posts that you have in a series
Once you have decided which blog posts you will use in your ezine, list the names of the blog posts on a document ( I use Google Docs) and the order in which you want them to appear in the Ezine.
2. Create your Real Estate Ezine
Go to Zinepal.com and take 2 minutes to fill out a form and create an account. It's free. Once you have an account an Zinepal you will log in and start creating your ezine. The first step is to enter the url of your blog or your blog's rss feed. Once you have done this the zinepal.com application will pull a list of your blog posts. You simply check the ones you want included in your ezine and zinepal.com will add them to a dashboard for you.
Check to make sure that you have the right blog posts for your Ezine in your dashboard and click the customize and create my ezine button.
3. Edit your Real Estate Ezine
Once you are in the Ezine Editor it will ask you to:
Enter your keywords and an introduction for your ezine.
Choose your logo for the header of the ezine, font type and font size.
Upload an image for advertising on your ezine (I'll discuss this later).
Save your ezine as a template for future ezines.
Editing your Ezine will take you about 5-10 minutes maximum. Once you are done you can preview your real estate ezine or hit create to publish and save your ezine.
4. Your ROI Is Dependent On How You Market your Real Estate Ezine
You will get a PDF copy of your ezine which you can download onto your computer and save in your documents. You will also receive a profile page on zinepal.com that will become a library for your Ezines. You can choose to keep this ezine profile page public or private. If you allow your profile page to be public visitors can subscribe by RSS to your ezine feed.
Here is how I recommend you market your Real Estate Ezines:
Decide which ezines you are willing to give away without requiring Internet visitors to fill out a form and which ezines you require visitors to fill out a form before allowing them to download.
Embed this form on your website, email, blog, social networks and other places online where your advertise your real estate services online. After they complete the form it will take them to the URL where your private ezine(s) are located for them to download.
Expose your public ezines by leaving them public on your profile on a document storage and collaboration website. This will allow visitors to download and share your ezines by email, facebook, twitter, Digg and more. It will also allow the search engines to index your profile page thereby increasing the visibility of these public documents.
Use the RSS feed you are given from zinepal.com and embed it on your blog or website. Even though you may leave some of your ezines public, you can still use the RSS feed to gain subscribers and grow your email list).
5. Take the Marketing of your Real Estate Ezine to the Next Level
The simple repurposing of content from your real estate blog into real estate ezines can provide a wealth of viral branding avenues for you to explore and create new business opportunities. Taking the marketing of your ezine to the next level means marketing your ezine in both offline and online venues.
Here's how you can take the marketing of your real estate ezine to the next level:
Use the advertising space when you are creating your ezine to promote your business, another real estate vendor or local business (possible paid opportunity- add disclaimer), an upcoming home buyer's seminar you are giving, or a charity you support.
Advertise your ezine in newsletters you send to your farm or in expired postcard and letter campaigns.
Offer your ezines as printed publications in local businesses that you network and partner with and/or on their websites.
Contact your local libraryif your ezines are of educational value on local or newsworthy issues and offer to allow them to be distributed in printed format and/or electronic format on their website.
Rebecca, Thanks for the detailed post. I am going to start advertising my blog in my quarterly newsletter, and this might be a good way to do it. Many of the people in my neighborhood are older and have not read any blog yet. Maybe an ezine would be easier for them to feel comfortable with.
Wow! I was just thinking about this this morning. Thanks for the timely aid. I have bookmarked it for as soon as Steve and I have next month's marketing piece completed andam subscribing to your blog. I am excited! --Sara
I have bookmarked this, Rebecca, and will get to it when I have finished figuring out how the heck to manage my Facebook page :) Thanks for all the great information you provide.
Rich- I am glad this is timely for you then and thanks for coming back and letting everyone know how easy it was to use. Truly a simple tool:) Congrats on your first ezine.
Sara- Awesome and thank you too. I am excited that you are going to use this and that I have a new subscriber:)
Jane- There is a lot to Facebook that's for sure. Just know that one of the great things about this marketing action plan is that you will already be using what you have taken the time to create, good content.
I read the reblog, and good we have re-blogging, as I would have missed it. As Missy, I am bookmarking it to go to it tomorrow. I think this is an excellent suggestions and thank you for such informative blog post.
I knew of Ezines from another area of interest last year. I'm glad you posted this, Rebecca. I'll be back to read it again so that I can implement it effectively -so consider it bookmarked. Thank you so much!
Hi Rebecca -- Great idea, and it can help create excitement by consumers who expect to see something regularly and will look forward to it. I know some consumers have kept my postcards I sent out to a farm for 2 years, so perhaps this could be 10x better.
Rebecca, I have a question... I have a ezine/newsletter and I also have a blog. How do I entice other s to join both, or do I even worry about the blog?
Excellent tips, thanks for sharing! I've been working on content for external blogs and will have to remember to plan for repurposing the content to get the most out of it.
Hi Rebecca - You've really opened my eyes to the possibilities of ezines. This is something I've never thought of before, but your detailed post provides a great roadmap for implementation. Thanks!
Rebecca, thanks for such a great guide. I jumped on board to complete this right away and decided that with all good things, one is not enough so I will be creating several ezines for different target audiences.
I am going to have to spend more time choosing my photos for my blogs since they will now be reincarnated.
William- Great so you have some familiarity. Have fun making it.
Lisa-
I read quite a bit, actually some weeks I feel like I am taking a master's track in smm, blogging and internet marketing. Lucky for me I have a sib who is currently in Law School and so when I am researching adn working I sometimes think of her required work and I am comforted.
But seriously, I enjoy this field so immensely and keep up with what I can manage in terms of "new tools". Normally I know what I want to blog and eduated readers on or implement for my clients and my business, so then I GO SEARCHING for the tools. I think that's a huge and important part of this that get's confused. Honing the skills of marketing and networking should be the research part...then finding the tools to implement plans for marketing and networking comes into play.
Chris- That's a great tidbit you shared. You could even have a call to action on those postcards asking clients if they would like your "xyz" newsletter to request by phone, email, website, form....etc. If your local newspaper is still widely read (ours newspapers are read here) you could put an ad if your ezine is chock full of info. for your ezine.
Dan- You could have separate campaigns or combine your marketing campaigns. You always want to advertise your blog because this is the hub of your content. It is from your blog that you can take and create other marketing venues, like real estate ezines, because you have already spent time creating the content.
Nelson- Excellent glad to hear you will be doing this.
Jennnifer- Thank you and no problem. I wanted to blog a true action plan.
Jim- That is so awesome, glad to hear you did that.
One of the huge benefits of this IS that it will also reinforce honing your content in your blog posts and really spending the time making them visually pleasing and making the content really shine so that repurposing is a cinch.
Judi- I am so happy to hear that. Happy Real Estate ezine making.
Tom- Yes there are other ways to make ezines, I just wanted the easiest route possible for this idea so the time can be spent on the marketing rather than the creation.
Laura- I'm really glad to hear you will be trying this and thank you for your kind words.
Jim- I checked out your real estate ezine. I like it. Remember to use that advertising space they allow you at the footer of the first page:)
Very informative! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. It looks like an easy to follow path, and I am bookmarking this blog for reference. Good ideas!
Rebecca - this is terrific. I so appreciate the thoroughness of your tutorial. I now have a ton of ideas for what I can do to reach several groups of people I market to. Now to find the time to do all this!
I'm absolutely fascinated as I've just started thinking through how I can merge more of my content between blogs and newsletters. Don't have time right now but bookmarking to return and experiement with your
I've been trying to figure out various ways to repurpose my blog posts, and this looks like a great way to go. I'm going to try it. Thanks for sharing.
WoW.... I am blown away with all the great info today, I think it is going to take me weeks to absobe! Thanks a bunch for an overwelming amount of info, page marked for later.
Rebecca - OMG, my brain is exploding! E-zines!!! What a GREAT idea, and something I would LOVE to do....DEFINITELY bookmarking this post. Thanks for the wonderful idea!!
This sounds like an amazing tool. I have bookmarked this to start using. I usually send out a "Newsletter" e-mail once a month linking to my blog post, but I am going to go to the next level.
Thanks, Rebecca, for all the details you gave. I've bookmarked the post as this will fit right into my 2010 business plan. I've subscribed to your blog, too.
This is a great idea. I can't wait until I have a few minutes to check it out in more detail. Lately I've been learning so many new things, it's difficult to find time to implement them all.
This looks like it will be a cost and time effective way to re-use what we've already put together!
Thanks for the great tool. I think that ebooks are good if you've posted on a subject to a point of near completeness to the point that you can create a resource good enough to call "How to Buy a Home in X" including neighborhood guides, home inspections, school information, etc. Until that point, I think that simply offering email subscription through a took like feedburner will garner many more emails AND give you a more honest ability to disperse important future information like posts about your listings, rather than possibly spamming this ebook list.
Rebecca, this is fantastic. I will for sure use this down the road once I have done enough blogging to complie them. This is all way above my head at this point, but when I am ready, your instructions seem clear.
Lynn and Marc- I am sure when you use the ezine application you will find it simple and quick.
Dee- I hope you were able to get your ezine done. Thanks a friend of mine who does graphic design made the header....he took my vision and did an awesome job.
Myra- Well I am completely excited that you found what you are looking for in my post. Humbled too. Blog on.
Tina- Excellent I am glad this was timely for you.
Arlene- You're welcome thanks for reading.
Daniel- Yes if you are blogging consistently and use some of the topics I referenced as a guide, then it wouldn't be spamming, because you would be able to offer more than one ezine of value AND you would give subscribers the option of also perhaps subscribing to a newsletter or your blog on the same page....many avenues for this which would not be spamming.
Gene- Excellent and also I would continue to send your newsletters.
Lottie- I am glad this is a good fit for your business plan, so important to have one and excellent that you do before the new year begins. Thank you also for your subscribership. I appreciate it.
Chrystina- Exellent. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Tonda and Steve- "This looks like it will be a cost and time effective way to re-use what we've already put together!". Yes that was exactly the plan.
Tigard- Well then I am happy to bring something new to you and thanks for reading.
Mike- As you sift through your posts and you write your blog posts if you develop them around the idea that they are your central content hub you will find you spend the time on your posts and the repurposing comes naturally.
Christine- Well then excellent...happy to be the how to.
Jirius- Thank you I am happy for you to have a resource present or future for this task.
Hi Rebecca- I did this and it was set up in 5 minutes. The import feature was a dream, but unfortunatelyly didn't pick up my graphics form the AR blogs. At least I have enough posts to make the newsletter. I'm hoping to get it out tomorrow. Thank again. It's a big task to put together such extensive instructions! --Sara
I have to re-read this one again. Good info. What benefit/results have you really seen from all of this? I know you give the steps and they seem easy but a little time consuming. I'm not sure I can blog and do this. Will need to give time to really check it out. thanks much for the ideas.
I guess I will check it out though a little hesitant on signing up for something new and then have it not do what I intended. Thanks for the info, I'll give it a go.
Sara- Thank you for your kind words. I wonder if maybe it is how you are adding your photos to your blog here on ActiveRain that is making the difference as to the Ezine software not pulling the photos onto your newsletter. I am not sure, kind of guessing off the top of my head but that might be the reason why, meaning, whether you add your photos to your blog posts by adding the link or by uploading the photo.
Bev and Bob and Lynn- The results will come as a result of how thoroughly you intend to market this, it's not maintenance free, in other words:) The creation of the ezine is fast and easy, it is the marketing of it that is more labor intensive (like any other content based marketing efforts online) and that is why I did also include some methods for marketing the ezines in this blog post.
Rebecca -- I have wanted to trying creating ezines but didn't know where to start. Thanks for explaining it so thoroughly. I can't wait to get started.
Rebecca, this is a great post. I never thought about doing an ezine! Ironically, they've been around a long time. I need an assistant to keep up with all of this! ;-)
HI Rebecca - Thanks for sharing this information. I have done enewsletters but they are a lot of work. To have a website that helps to put it together will really make it a lot easier.
We've created a monthly ezine and provided all of the articles for you. We've set it up so it's branded to you, and you can easily import all of your contacts into your client dashboard. Your branded Welcome Home Active eZine is delivered monthly via email. For more details visit: http://promo.uscybertek.com/preview. Oh yeah... did I mention it's FREE?
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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Good article. We always learn a lot from Active Rain blogs.