Real Estate SEO

Posts Tagged ‘Real Estate Blog’

Overcoming blogger’s block.

I’ve been working at Boston Logic now for 2 months, 2 days, 16 hours, and 57 minutes.  As an online marketer, blogging is a part of my job. I know I need to do it.  I know I can do it…but what should I write? There are over 171,476 words in the English language (I Googled it), and it feels like there is  no original combination left.

I know I’m not alone out there. There are real estate professionals all over saying, “yeah yeah I know I should start a  blog”‘ or “yeah yeah I know I need to blog more”, but what’s stopping us? We’re busy, we’re unsure, and maybe we’re afraid. I’m not talking Robert DeNiro on your houseboat fear, but maybe just fear of commitment.  Fear of needing to write something every week.

We talk a lot about WHY blogging is important for real estate online marketing and what to do to optimize our existing real estate blog.

But what about HOW? How do we get over that fear. My suggestion—let go.

Write from your phone when you’re on the bus. Write from Starbucks. Write whenever you’re thinking about something. This morning on the bus with my coffee I thought—gees why haven’t I blogged yet? And look…a blog post.

Write after you show a listing and talk about the questions asked. Write after you read an industry article that gets you thinking.

Don’t spend 2 months, 2 days, 16 hours, and 57 minutes worrying about HOW. Just do. Your keywords and links will find there way in if you write about what you know—your neighborhood,  your business, your industry.

We’re in this together, so let go and let me know what you think.

Today was session 4 of my series with the North Eastern Association of  Realtors.  We further went over the benefits of social media and blogging in Real Estate SEO and lead generation. Take a look:

Here are some answers to everyday questions about blogging and managing your agents’ outside blogs:

How can I persuade my agents or other agents to blog? David recently wrote a great post about the SEO army. Put that army (aka your agents) to work. Learn how to by reading more in that post.

Is it ok to have multiple profiles or blogs out there? Yes, it’s a good thing to be visible in multiple places. They offer more means through which potential customers can find and reach you. You just want to make sure that those other sources (profiles, accounts, blogs etc) link back to your site in some manner.

What are some basic things I need to know before blogging? Blogging is basically an extension of your personality, so keep that in mind as you write. It will vary from author to author. If you have multiple authors you will want to divide some of the writing workload, which also helps maintain consistency in terms of volume and style. Also keep the basics in mind, meaning good grammar and spelling.

Shouldn’t all communication come from one source? It is my professional opinion that if your agents are already spending quality time writing good posts, then those posts (if relevant to your business) might as well go up on your site. However, that varies from business to business. You will want to establish a ground rule from the onset. But keep this in mind, it’s a great and inexpensive marketing medium for your agents.

I already have agents blogging. What can I do next?Assign someone to manage some of this communication. In all likelihood you have some kind of office assistant or manager who can surely spend a little time tracking some of this communication (really it can take as little as 15 minutes a day).  A quick and easy way to do this is to either follow up with agents directly or (if you are one of those saying, yeah right) sign up with Google Alerts and track what gets published through there. Obviously if your agents are all blogging at the same place then this won’t be much of a problem.

How do I SEO my blog posts and incorporate keywords? Read this great article about the basics of SEO and you will be well on your way to a successful blog.

How can I help promote my agents’ blogs? A great way to promote your agents’ blogs, personal site or other outside profiles is to link to them, whether from your broker blog, a dedicated page on your site or some sort of other profile page.

What else do you want to know? If there any questions that I’ve left unanswered please let us know by asking the question through the comment section.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why Monitoring Your Name is Important (ariwriter.com)
• How to use Google Alerts (itfreakszone.blogspot.com)
• Smart Realtors Use Search Engines for Marketing (stompermom.com)

It happens to the best bloggers. Sometimes, you just don’t know what to write about. The first rule of blogging is that you should be creating original, engaging content on a regular basis. But how?

Here’s a simple answer. Start a conversation.

Craft your content so that it elicits responses from your readers. Then, you can react or respond to their comments and questions. Your blog readers will actually give you the topics you’re looking for. Problem solved.

Common question: Why don’t I get any comments on my blog?

If all you ever post on your real estate blog is factual or one way communication then you’re not going to get a lot of responses. Ask questions of your readers. Ask for their input. Your blog should be a conversation with your readers, and not a speech to the silent masses.

Be topical, this will help your Real Estate SEO the most.

In every market, there’s a hot topic! This might change monthly, or weekly, or even daily. If you blog about a timely topic, more people will be searching for information on that topic NOW.

Here’s an example, a client of ours has a real estate website in a town where IBM has a large office complex. IBM recently closed another facility and is moving those employees to offices in our client’s town. Of course, this will have an effect on the local real estate market. This was the post on the home page of his site for a week.

Think about all of the opportunities that this can bring him.

• People relocating
• IBMers who want to rent
• Residents who want to know how this might affect their property value

These are all great opportunities. If you can identify the hot topics and SEO your real estate site around these topics. you will see the benefits of traffic and an active reader audience.

In the end, this all comes down to the age old problem known as writer’s block. Maybe we should start calling it Blogger’s Block?

Tell us your story of blogger’s block and how you get around it. We’ll be sharing the conversation with all of our readers.

Blogging is great from a marketing perspective. You’ll be leveraging the shift from outbound to inbound marketing and interacting with your clients and potential clients in a new way. A blog lets you meet your clients/customers more directly than sending out brochures or newsletters. It provides visitors with something to interact with and come back to. As a Realtor you have everything it takes to maintain a successful Real Estate Blog, because being effective in real estate blogging requires focus on your expertise - the Real Estate Market.

Thinking about putting together a blog? We recommend the following best practices for your Real Estate Blog:

· Update your Real Estate Blog with consistent and relevant Real Estate information. Incorporate statistics, relevant neighborhood, and town or city news. Focus on bits of information that will leverage your expertise in the area. And remember, keep it exciting to both you and your readers.

· Incorporating “keywords” is a good idea. Use them in your Title or Subject line and links if possible. But use them wisely, in a way that still makes your text enjoyable to read.

· Focus on similar topics, and use the same tags if at all possible. This is where the use of your keywords comes in handy. Nothing says expertise like writing multiple times on the same topic.

· Tell people about your blog. Get accounts with social networking sites like blogcatalog.com, linkedin.com, delicious.com, technorati.com, digg.com, stumbleupon.com, and spread the word. All of these will help you generate inbound links. They also rate and share your relevant blog posts.

· Find other Real Estate Professional Blogs and blog on their sites about exciting and leveraging, but real estate relevant topics. It will make people curious.

· Your blog should be updated on a regular basis. Weekly is enough.

· Feeling intimidated? Don’t be! Remember, things take time to catch on, so don’t get discouraged! The worst you can do is not getting started at all.

· Visit Boston Logic for more information on how we can help you leverage your web presence.

· Check out some great examples of well maintained, and professional Real Estate Blogs, Warren Residential Group Blog, and The Boston Home Team Blog.