RISMEDIA, February 10, 2009-If your blog is already up and running, congratulations. Now, the real work begins. To truly enjoy the advantages of a popular real estate blog, develop your content in a regimented and strategic way to grow a highly relevant audience. The three simple ideas that follow can help you do just that.
Own local
If your market is Tampa, you won’t be helped by readers looking for homes in Minneapolis. Write local, link local. Tie every post back to something in your market. For example, if you are writing an article on how to use paint to help stage a home, interview a local painter or home stager (and link to their site). If you are writing about national home value trends, juxtapose that data against local information.
Make everything you write relevant to your city. You’ll draw a more relevant audience, build new connections with area business people and come across as a local expert. All good things to help you build business.
Commit to a writing regimen
Starting a blog is pretty easy. Staying with it is not. You have to make a time commitment to writing – and probably every day. Make writing a part of your routine, even if it’s just 15 to 30 minutes. You won’t use everything you write, but over time you’ll build a content reserve that you can call on when you just can’t fit writing in, or are stuck for new ideas.
In addition, have a place to store content ideas as they pop into your head. You can reference your list when you’re having trouble getting started on a particular day. Make a regimented and daily commitment to feeding your blog, and writing will get easier over time.
Write for people not currently looking for a home
A real estate blog must combat audience churn and attract readers not yet in the market for a home. If you write only about home buying and selling strategies or your new listings, you will have a tough time building a longer-term audience.
Readers will lose interest once their transaction is complete. People not yet in the market won’t be interested in your blog at all.
To build an audience that stays with you, cover topics outside of the home transaction sphere. Write about home improvement. Highlight cool things to see and do your community. If you pique the interest of homeowners who are not yet looking to buy or sell, they will be much more likely to turn to you when their time comes. After all, you will have been conversing with them for a long time.
Blogging can be an important tool in your marketing arsenal. To improve your results, stay local. Set a writing schedule. And remember to write for those not yet in the home market. Your blog can make you a trusted local authority, and that’s great for your brand and your business.
Matt Tillotson is the marketing partnership director at PODS. To learn more about how PODS helps real estate agents service clients and sell homes, visit http://www.pods.com/realestate.
