If you are a real estate professional who has embraced technology and the internet, then you likely have a blog. Ideally, your blog is located and integrated into your real estate website. Sure, there are sites like Active Rain where you can blog to your heart’s content. But to get the biggest bang out of your blog and really brand it with your real estate business brand then you should think seriously about having the blog located on your current site. Here are some additional tips:
1 – Determine the purpose of your blog. Sounds simple enough. But are you blogging for other real estate professionals? Or are you blogging for your prospects? Perhaps you are blogging for your current clients. But guess what? You’re actually blogging for all of those groups! No, your main target is not fellow real estate professionals. But your fellow real estate professionals will send you referrals from time to time and they may work with you on a future transaction.
2 – Make the information relevant, but personable! Yes, you should tell your blog readers about the local market, whether the news is pretty or not. But make sure it’s written in your voice. Imagine if you were sitting in front of a client or prospect. How would you talk to that person if she were sitting across from you at a coffee shop? Your blog should sound like you. It shouldn’t be devoid of personality, cold or robotic. You want your blog readers to get a sense of who you are. Prospects reading your blog will get a sense of who you are and will choose whether or not to contact you based on the personality you portray online.
3 – Make it visual! If you mention your new listing, make sure to include some photos of the property. If you discuss the new commercial development going on at the south end of town, go take some pictures of the area and post them. People like color and they like pictures that accompany a given topic. You may also take a short video of a featured listing, or you working at your office, or a sample listing presentation. Present something more than just words to your blog audience.
4 – Invite interaction! Ask your blog readers from time to time what they want. Do they want tips on green living? Do they want the latest zoning information for the area? Do they want to be kept apprised of commercial developments in the area? Find out what they want and give it to them!
Your readers will not only let you know what they are interested in knowing, but they will also give you tips that you can use in your business. They can give you the heads up on that new cafe that just opened up in that little shopping strip that you didn’t notice. They can tell you about who the best vets are in the area… information that you can use for out of town buyers who have pets. The point is, you want to think of your blog as a two-way street, not a single directional stream of information.
5 – Make it snappy! That means a catchy headline that draws readers in and short posts. Your readers don’t want to read a book-length monologue on the real estate market and the state of the economy today. They want short, to-the-point pieces of information.
6 – Don’t forget to use keywords! No, they shouldn’t be every other word. But the mentions should be frequent enough for you to start becoming a highly placed search result when people type in your keywords. You want to optimize your blog for the search engines and make it easy for your future clients to find you. So sprinkle those keywords around! But use common sense and good judgment. Too many of those keywords and your writing may become unreadable or just plain annoying. Aim for about 5-10% keyword density in your posts, or within a couple of posts that will be on your home page. For example, shooting for 5% keyword density would equate to 5 keywords for every 100 words you write.
7 – Be consistent! If you find it too time-consuming to write daily posts, then aim for 2 to 3 times a week. It may help to create a schedule. Perhaps you will post every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Having a schedule and sticking to it will not only help you plan out your real estate writing time, but will also create an expectation with your blog readers and keep them coming back for more!
Volker Weiss – Maui Realtor(R/S) specialist focusing on Wailea Beach Villas. Make your vacation last forever, check out Makena Real Estate. For immediate help call VW directly at 888.572.6888
[tags]Real Estate, Maui, Hawaii, Makena, Wailea, Investment, Property, Beachfront, Oceanfront[/tags]
|
|