There are more than one million active real estate agents in the United States alone. That can make it difficult for potential clients to find you online. It’s essential to develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that allows you to connect with your ideal clients and spread the word about your services for future potential clients.
Blogging can be a powerful tool not just for connecting with potential clients, but also for demonstrating your expertise and experience. This article will dig deeper into the value of blogging as a real estate agent and best practices for developing engaging blogs.
Why Should Real Estate Agents Blog?
As I mentioned above, real estate has become an incredibly saturated market. Especially now that house inventory is so low in many areas, it’s even more important to get in front of your target clientele at the right time. Why real estate agents should blog can be broken down into just a few key points:
- Differentiate yourself from other agents out there
- Demonstrate your expertise to potential clients
- Improve your ability to show up on the top of local Google search results
- Convey your personality
How to Find Blog Topics
So you’ve decided to start a blog...awesome! Now it’s time to figure out what you’ll write about. This can be slightly daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll likely find you have an abundance of ideas.
Start by determining who you want to read your blog. Most likely, you want to target potential clients. Get a little more specific here. Consider:
- Where are your clients located?
- What are their goals?
- What stage of life are they in?
All of this information will help you develop content that will meet their needs! The next step is to consider what questions you can answer for these individuals. Think about the questions you’re asked most frequently on introduction calls, questions you receive through your website, and any misconceptions you frequently come across.
Create a document in Google Drive or a note in your phone that you can use to compile all of your ideas. You never know when you’re going to be inspired and I promise that amazing blog idea you had at 2AM will be gone by the time you wake up! Don’t just write down blog titles either. If possible, include a few bullets on what you want to cover.
Organize Your Topics
Once you have your initial list, go through and prioritize your topics. It’s a good idea to start with the most compelling, unique content first. From there, you can dig into other topics. If you have seasonal articles, like How to Stage Your Home for Fall Showings, plan on including those in your content calendar during relevant times.
When you’re just starting out blogging, don’t be overly ambitious. If you decide to write two blogs each week, you might be on a roll initially, but you’ll quickly grow burnt out and may run out of topics quickly. Instead, start by blogging every other week, then ramp up to weekly once you feel comfortable.
Crafting Compelling Real Estate Blogs
Once you’ve selected your topic, it’s time to start writing! You don’t have to be an incredible writer to develop great blogs. In fact, your expertise in real estate will be much more beneficial. Since you’re familiar with the topic and your experiences, it will really shine through in the final article you develop.
Start by outlining your blog. Determine how you’ll introduce the concept, then which body sections you want to include with a few bullets. Now is a great time to do any topical research you may want to conduct as well as SEO research. It’s a good idea to include statistics and studies wherever possible as well as to incorporate frequently searched keywords. (Learn how to choose the best keywords for your blog.)
Once you have an outline you’re satisfied with, you can begin building out your content. One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is trying to edit while they’re writing. Instead, wait until you’re finished writing to go back over your article with a fine-tooth comb for errors or places you can reword a sentence. Consider using Grammarly to double check for any errors you may have missed. If you have someone else on your team who can help, ask them to proofread your article for you before publishing.
Use Missinglettr to Promote Your Real Estate Content
After you’ve developed a fantastic article, you need to drive traffic to it! Share your content across social media to entice your followers and other potential readers to check it out. Don’t give the entire article away in your posts, instead post teasers that highlight what the article is about and what someone can expect to learn from it.
Missinglettr makes it easy to build compelling drip campaigns from your articles. In fact, Missinglettr automatically detects each new blog you publish and begins developing a 12-month campaign to promote it. You just have to click through and approve the posts (or make any edits as desired).
If you’re considering getting started with blogging, sign up for a free trial of Missinglettr to see just how powerful it can be for you!
