Blogging has been a hot trend in business for several years now. Business owners, including Realtors®, realize that customers are searching online, and search engines give results based on great content that seems to match the keywords used by the customer. The goal of any business blog is to be relevant to specific keywords in order to gain customer traffic.
However, that shouldn’t be the only goal. Just like with print marketing in key neighborhoods, you want to establish a relationship over time. That means creating useful content that keeps readers coming back, even if they don’t need your services right now.
Here are five tips that will help you establish a successful real estate blog that brings in search visitors and builds relationships over time.
Write About Local Real Estate
This is the most important way to get noticed in your market. The key to being listed highly for a search term is to write about it frequently. Being in the top results for terms like “real estate agent” is very difficult and really not that helpful. Customers are much more likely to be using terms like “buying a home in Dallas” or “selling homes in St. Louis”.
This means that the most bang for your buck will come from writing about local real estate. Write about new home developments in your area, or write specific tips about how to prepare a house for sale with references to your city built in. When you write with local terms, your blog will naturally rank well for local real estate search terms.
Know How Often to Post
Some Realtors® don’t start a blog because they are worried about the time commitment. In truth, you can post as little as once a week and still have a great, fresh blog. Quality of content matters much more than quantity.
This can help you avoid starting a blog and abandoning it also. If you know you don’t have to post every day, you can take some of the pressure off of yourself and create great content once a week or so, rather than trying to post every day and burning out.
If you need help creating regular blog content, there are writers who can help. Find someone who is a great writer and is familiar with the real estate business to help you. You can work out a contract where they ghost-write for you, and you own the content and can publish it under your own name. Of course, these need to be high-quality blog posts.
Write Naturally
The best and most authentic writing is when you write similarly to how you talk. You don’t want to sound fake or canned. You certainly don’t want to be shoving keywords like “St. Louis real estate” into every other sentence. Just write naturally, the way you sound.
When you write naturally, not only will you be creating great blog posts, you’ll be allowing your audience to get to know you. This will help them feel a connection with you immediately, which is essential to getting business. In addition, those that don’t need your services right away will still feel connected to you and may well come back and continue to read your blog. This will keep you top-of-mind when they do need a Realtor®.
When you create a frequently-updated local blog, you’ll be creating a resource that is valuable for those moving in to your area and those that already live there. When you write in your own natural voice, you’ll be building authentic relationships through your blog. A great resource and authentic relationships bring sales to YOU, saving you time and making you money. Sounds like a win/win, doesn’t it?
Do you have a customer-facing real estate blog? Why or why not? Share in the comments!
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