Stop me if you've hear this one before: 'The top three topics that Internet real estate surfers search for are listings, neighborhoods/schools and mortgage rates - in that order'. This means folks are key wording things like 'Danville Homes For Sale', 'Danville CA schools' and 'California home loans'. If you want to get your blog entries picked up in the search results for these folks, you may want to focus your blog entries on these 3 topics and the keywords that get you there. You already know to blog about your new listings and when information changes such as price or terms. But what do you say about neighborhoods or school districts?
We covered neighborhoods in the last lesson so let's cover schools today. The first and easiest thing to do is to list the school scores. Listing the API base scores seems to be the most popular choice since it's a weighted average of different measurements, but you could also choose direct measures like STAR or SAT. Great Schools, School Digger, and City Data are a few of the third-party data sites for finding this information and are pretty easy to navigate but some don't offer raw scores, opting instead for their own formulas. The raw school data can be found at the state department of education. For California, go here. The raw data is tougher to navigate but is a direct source and thus more reliable.
A good example of taking this data and compiling it into a relevant, compelling story is the recent blogpost of real estate professional Vicky Nagy of Empire Realty Associates in Danville, Californa CA. Vicky spent a lot of effort putting this story together so please don't plagiarize her post. In addition, you are relying on her accuracy which I'm confident is good, but common sense would dictate that you get your information from a direct source. This would be a good time to talk about attribution. Bloggers are journalists and should always cite their data sources. This is courteous to the data source provider and adds authority to your story. Plus if that data source is wrong, then its more likely to be perceived as their mistake and not yours. This is especially true for real estate agent bloggers whose words are being relied on to make big investment decisions. Quote an API false score of 950 instead of the actual score 850 and the new homeowner who relied on your information might get upset. A disclaimer might be good to add at the bottom of your post stating that the information you are providing is believed to be correct but that you make no warranties, etc. That said, I am not a lawyer and you should seek a lawyer's advice on adding any disclaimers. Ask your Broker - she or he has probably already paid a lawyer for this language.
Now that you've done the first blog - a list of local school scores - you have laid the foundation for a whole universe of satellite posts. One series would be individual school profiles talking about how they rank with the other schools, special programs, news, national merit scholarship winners, science/debate/math team awards, football/soccer score, etc. Another series could be about declining classroom sizes, new educational bonds, or even changes in the school lunch programs. There's been a lot of national news about soft drinks and junk food so it's on peoples' minds. Just make sure each blog post contains keywords such as the school name, district name, state, town, and some real estate terms like buy, sell, real estate, homes, houses, agent, Realtor, etc. While compelling content is important, keywords are king. And don't forget to add your own name and contact info at the end with a hyperlink to your web site so, you know, people can find you after reading your brilliant blog post!
Happy Blogging,
Eric Robbins
Manager, MIMiC Group
Counselor, Blog Camp
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