If there’s one tool in every real estate marketing tool box that works for agents 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s their website. To make your website work harder for you and to increase search engine optimization (SEO), you need to have a blog on your website.
Concerned you don’t have enough time to write a blog or don’t have anything to write about? Don’t worry. Blog posts don’t have to be long to be effective and you probably already have a good deal of content written.
How Your Listing Presentation Checklist Can Provide a Month’s Worth of Content
First, take a look at your listing presentation checklist. Next, determine which items can be expanded into a more detailed blog post that would provide valuable information for your clients and prospective clients.
Here are a few examples to get your creative wheels turning:
Checklist Item: Discuss digital photographs for the listing
Blog Post: Write a brief post about the importance of professional pictures for listings. You can show the difference between homes listed with low quality photos compared to ones professionally photographed.
Checklist Item: Identify items that require cleaning or repair
Blog Post: Create a detailed checklist that expands on this topic. Write a brief article about when it is better to replace or repair items and/or when a cleaning or touch-up is the best option. You can take this opportunity to give examples of what upgrades yield the most return at sale.
Checklist Item: Local market analysis
Blog Post: Every quarter the KW Blog has a series of national market analysis articles in the Market Aha series. Topics covered include GDP, unemployment, new home starts, mortgage rates and home prices/affordability. Take the content from those posts and customize the message to your local market. In short, give your clients a national overview followed by a detailed local analysis.
More Content Suggestions
- New business openings. Keep an eye out for new businesses opening around town. This shows you’re on top of what’s happening in your community and provides useful information for your clients when they are considering moving to a new neighborhood.
- Community events. Is there a fair or festival coming to town? Write about it. Share some of the more exciting features and let people know if your team will have a presence there. If so, invite them to stop by and see you.
- Movers and shakers. Give a shout out to members of your team when they celebrate milestones and welcome new members.
- Real estate advice. One of the oldest pieces of writing advice is to “write what you know.” And you know real estate. Write short pieces that will be useful to buyers and sellers such as tips for home staging, four ways to improve your curb appeal, or how to choose the right moving company. These types of pieces position you as the real estate sales expert you are.
Best Practices in Blog Writing
When you start your blog writing program, remember the focus of your posts should solve some pain point for your reader. Real estate agent blogs are targeted toward helping clients become more informed buyers and sellers.
Don’t stress about writing every day. It is important that your content is consistent, but it doesn’t have to be daily. If you want to post one article each week, that is fine; just make sure to post every week.
You are competing for readers’ time and attention so be sure to focus on stories that will be of interest to them. Use personal stories and past client testimonials (with permission) to add personality to your posts.
Before you publish your posts make sure you can clearly identify what the value is to the reader. Don’t just post to have something on the screen. It is important to build trust with your readers. Providing value leads to trust.
Install a contact form on your blog. If you are going to invest in publishing good content, you want to capture as many readers as you can. Most blogging platforms such as WordPress have a turnkey solution for adding contact forms.
Don’t forget about analytics! Every post should have a call to action (CTA). This can be an option to download more information or a contact form. When your posts have a CTA, you can measure the activity and get a sense for how well your content is performing.
Name your blog. Experts suggest giving your blog a name. For example, American Express’ blog is called “Open Forum” and The Zebra’s blog is called “Quoted.”
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