As real estate moves into the digital world, Realtors® are finding more and more tools to utilize to their advantage. This article will focus on blogs and how blogging could help Realtors® help grow their business.
Blogging is a way to improve your web presence, offer tips and suggestions to your readers, establish a following community, and communicate with your readers in an open and unfiltered manner. For Realtors®, blogging should definitely be part of their marketing arsenal. The following are some reasons why you should have a regularly updated blog.
Improve your site’s traffic
Last time we talked about the importance of having your own website. With that in mind, a blog can then help boost your site’s traffic. It is common knowledge that blogs earn a high “score” in most search engine rankings so blog posts usually appear more often in searches, sometimes even with the most random of key words.
Hence it is important that you not only write stuff in your blog but you need to make sure that what you write is relevant to your website (in this case, real estate). That way, you improve the chances of your visitors not only reading your blog but also navigating around your site afterwards. Having more material in your blog can only help improve your site’s visibility especially if you write appropriate content for your target audience.
Share your expertise
As human beings, we always find pleasure when we are able to help others. Through a blog, you can share some of your professional expertise in the world of real estate to your readers by writing articles that are informative and helpful. Or you could write blogs about some of the common mistakes that occur to teach your readers to know better. It is just another way of sharing what you know to those who could use the help.
Build a following audience
As long as you keep writing good relevant content on a regular basis, your readers will want to continue reading. Sometimes, if they like what they read, they would even share it to their friends.
As a Realtor® these readers are basically leads that could be potential clients or if not, could provide you with referrals to their family and friends. This could be very powerful when you have a strong following. Hence it is very important especially at the start to really think who your audience is and write specific content that would appeal to them.
Provide news and updates
When you already have a following, a blog can also be used as a means to provide news and updates to your readers. You could write a blog about a new listing that you have and the story behind some of its hidden charms. You could write about an open house that you will be having and talk in a little more detail about what you normally do in an open house.
What’s great about a blog is that it does not have to be formal. It is just a way of communicating to your readers more openly and directly.
Direct Communication
In most blogs, depending on the author, readers are allowed to post a reply or to comment on the article. This is great because it gives you the opportunity to communicate with your readers more personally. Sometimes, your readers would even communicate amongst themselves about your entry. It allows you to develop a personal relationship and establish a community with your readers that they could trust. And as a Realtor®, gaining your client’s trust is very important.
Grow your Brand
As your following grows, so does your brand. A well-followed blog could easily grow your business because like I said earlier, any one of your readers could be your client in the future, or could refer you if they know someone who needs your services. As long as you have a good following and your readers trust you, a blog can only do wonders for your business.
However as great as blogs may be, blogging is also a lot of work. Two of the most important aspects of a successful blog are frequency and consistency. Readers may expect a new post from you once a week or month or what have you, so you need to add the task of writing blogs in your already very busy schedule.
Also, sometimes it could be difficult to think of new topics to discuss on your blogs. This is where you need to put on that creative hat of yours and challenge yourself to write interesting blog posts. Everyone has a story to tell, and you could use a blog as a means to tell your story. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s still a way of improving your business. So why not, right?