5 Tips To Improve Your Real Estate Blog Today

I look at a lot of really good real estate blogs (and a lot of really bad ones) on a daily basis. The good ones consist of the following:

• Good Design
• Content Rich (listings & local info)
• Easy to Navigate

So today, I thought I’d share some quick tips that you can turn around and implement to get the most out of your real estate blog.

5 Tips To Improve Your Real Estate Blog

1. Make it all about the listings! After all, that’s what consumers are looking for isn’t it? “Homes for Sale in [Your City]” is one of the reasons consumers are coming to your site to begin with. So, you want to make sure you’re showcasing your listings to drive traffic to your site and convert that traffic into a closed sale. If you can’t afford a paid solution like dsSearchAgent or dsIDXpress (Disclosure: I work for Diverse Solutions), don’t worry, you can still create a Featured Listings page using something like the WordPress Property Plugin.

Here’s a great example from the folks at homesbyhaycox.com (the first thing you see upon landing on their homepage is listings, listings and more listings):

2. Get local (talk about the local community). Your not just selling real estate. You’re selling a lifestyle. People want to know what’s it’s like to live in [Insert Community Name Here]. So talk about your local community. Feature local restaurants and things to do around town. Dale Chumbley has done an excellent job of this over at: clarkcountyrealestateguide.com. He features local things to do around town, establishing himself as the local expert. All the while, he subtly set up his site for lead capture by displaying his Home Search page and contact forms. When it’s time to buy in Clark County, guess who’s recognized as the local expert?

3. Publish more often. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: “The success of your blog is dependent on your ability to develop fresh new content consistently.” Quit worrying about it being perfect. Focus instead on being consistent. Get an editorial calendar if you have to and stick to a schedule. Don’t know what to blog about?

• Evergreen Content: What kinds of questions are clients asking you on a daily basis? Blog your answer to those questions. What real estate terms can you define for clients? Blog your definition for others to see it.
• Market Reports: How’s that new condo development in [community name here] doing?
• Mortgage Updates: What do interest rates look like today?

…bottom line, real estate IS content. There’s lot you can talk (write) about. The goal is to get it own there consistently (don’t worry, practice makes perfect).

4. Clean up that sidebar. Dan Green has two things on his sidebar: 1.) a rate quote form (for lead capture), 2.) video interviews (these serve as social proof). Really, that’s all you need. If it’s a real estate blog, put a “Quick Search” form or badge that directs people to your Home Search page. Display your contact info to make it easy for people to get in touch. Showcase your subscription options so people can subscribe to your content (or newsletter). All of this information should be above the fold. Everything else is just clutter. Period.

5. Start measuring (the right) results. How many ReTweets/Likes/Comments you got is a useless metric so quit obsessing over it. What you should be concerned over instead is “how many IDX registrations did I get this month?” Focus on setting more specific, business oriented goals. Monitor these statistics once per week (no need to stare at them daily). If few people are subscribing to your newsletter, maybe you need to move the registration form higher up the fold (or lessen your required registration fields). Maybe you can add a Call To Action below each post. Mariana for example places this at the footer of each post:

What else do you recommend?

Do you think you can implement any of the above tips to improve your own real estate blog? What other tips do you recommend to newbie (and seasoned) bloggers for getting the most out of their effort? What’s been you experience?