- Developing a content calendar, utilizing social, updating posts and leveraging other people will help you grow your blog.
Establishing a thriving real estate blog in a competitive market takes more than just good writing. A creative use of mixed media, a deep understanding of your audience and a well-developed strategy are all essential for blogging success.
The following tips can help make a strong impact on blog growth while encouraging more interaction from your target market: potential homebuyers and sellers.
1. Develop a content calendar
One of the most important goals for every realtor-turned-blogger is to enhance readership with homebuyers. It is prudent for those in the beginning phases to remember that planning in advance for the right content strategy will take things to the next level more efficiently and quickly.
Focus on value; sharing posts with unique real estate knowledge or tips will be beneficial to those interested in the market and will help develop trust with your audience.
2. Share posts on social
At this point, most real estate agents and brokers are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Share posts at least twice a day, but focus most of your efforts on the platforms that resonate best with your active community.
Use a social media management tool such as Hootsuite or Buffer to assist your efforts, allowing for more time to focus on strategy. Prior to sharing, consider each post — how it will provide value while resounding with a potential homebuyer or seller.
If a post topic doesn’t fall within the same vein as your current content — such as posts on community events or information about your favorite sports team — you can still post it, but as long as it stays in line with your brand image.
If there is some value provided, it is worth the share.
3. Share your content within new posts
In each new blog post, find creative ways to interlink your past posts — it shows you are well-established as an industry expert if you have a plethora of real estate content. It’s also a great way to keep readers on your blog while attracting a slight SEO benefit.
4. Keep your older posts updated with new ideas and popular links
For example, if your article on “pre-development condos” was written a few months ago, consider updating the post as new information becomes available.
“Evergreen content,” as this is called, retains your existing SEO ranking while providing readers with up-to-date content. It’s essential to develop a reputation for fresh content, while maintaining readership by sharing content from pages with the most traffic.
5. Create conversion opportunities on your most-shared posts
Once you have determined your most-shared content using apps such as Google Analytics or Social Crawlytics, add links and widgets to your post for the purposes of email collection or monetization.
Some methods include adding affiliate links to the article, promoting your services with a strong call-to-action or placing advertisements in the sidebar or on the bottom of the page.
6. Reach out to other real estate bloggers
Once a steady content publishing pace has been developed, it is wise to interact and associate with popular real estate writers.
This will allow other blog owners to notice you and perhaps even share your information on their blogs — bringing your name and brand to new, and potentially larger, audiences.
It also helps to connect with blog owners via social media or email by starting a real conversation and kindly asking them to read or share your post.
7. Find serious homebuyers
A resourceful way to find individuals of interest who post about real estate or tend to interact well with the topic: copy the URL of a popular real estate article, and paste the link in Twitter search or another social media platform that allows this type of search.
Once you have determined which users interacted with and shared the same article, follow and interact with them too.
If your content is superior to other available posts, it won’t be long before users will be sharing and interacting with you as well.
Maintaining a consistent back-and-forth relationship with your followers will ensure blog loyalty and an organic audience.
8. Get your employees in on it
Motivate staff to help promote your blog posts on their personal social media accounts. Ask for their engagement as well as their opinions, as you never know what great ideas may arise from a good industry brainstorm.
Credit the views of your staff, and mention them in posts (with permission) for extra visibility and to build employee morale. This also adds a unique personal touch by featuring some behind-the-scenes of your daily operations.
Becoming a leading real estate expert in your community requires effort and patience. Growing your blog can successfully be done by utilizing the above tactics and obtaining a solid understanding of the audience you are focusing your efforts toward.
Also, with a good feedback system in place, you can gain a better understanding of how well your efforts are faring while recognizing the homebuying needs of your soon-to-be clients.
Madaline Zannes, J.D. Law, Zannes Law in Toronto and L.A. Follow her on Twitter, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
