Finding the Time To Blog As a Busy Real Estate Professional

The more content you create, the more likely you are to rank higher in search results for specific keyword phrases.

Want to work with buyers?

Then write content that attracts and educates buyers.

Want to work with sellers?

Then write content that attracts and educates sellers.

The key of course, is to create new content, consistently over time. The more time people spend engaging with and consuming your content, the more likely they’ll seriously consider what you have to offer — hiring you as their real estate agent.

But how/where do you find the time? Well, here are some writing tips for busy real estate professionals…

1. Prioritize your time and your activities.

Priority #1 is to help your buyer find a new home or your seller sale his home faster and for top dollar. Between looking at homes, hosting an Open House and reviewing offers, it’s easy to let your content marketing efforts fall on the back-burner.

What happened to that Market Report you were thinking of writing? Yeah, I’m sure you’ll get to it later...

Here’s the thing though, if you expect your blog to be the cornerstone of your lead generation efforts, then you need to dedicate the time to creating content that’s going to attract buyers and sellers.

Real Estate Broker, Irina Netchaev closed 23 escrows last year. About 90% of them were leads that were generated as a direct result of her blog and her content marketing efforts. In other words, she focused on creating highly relevant content marketed towards to type of client she was hoping to attract. She says:

It finally dawned on me that I had to look at developing content as prospecting time. I made a decision to allocate an hour a day for research and writing. My goal was to have 3 to 5 posts a week, especially when my blog was still a baby. – Irina Netchaev, PasadenaViews.com

Get through your daily To Do list. But then, make sure you’re prioritizing your time appropriately. That means that instead of conversing on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, make sure that you’ve finished drafting tomorrow’s blog post. Once that’s done, you can get back to interacting on social networks. Right now, what matters is that you write that next post.

2. Keep a swipe file of potential blog posts. 

Newspaper reporters call this keeping a “morgue file.” It’s simply a folder containing article clippings that are used as a quick reference guide.

When it comes to your real estate blogging, you want to keep something similar for quick and easy reference so you can write something quickly if you have to. Whether it’s a notebook or your Evernote account, keeping a swipe file is an easy way to ensure you never run out of things to write about.

Here’s what you do:

• When you come across an article you want to quote or link to in a blog post, save it into a notebook in Evernote.
• Whenever you have an idea for a new blog post, write it down. (Personally, I sit down and write potential post titles several days a week).

Keep that swipe file handy so that when you sit down to write your next blog post, you have a bucket of ideas to pull from.

3. Answer client questions with a blog post. 

Most agents tell me they “don’t know where to start.” Well, a great place to start is your email inbox!

Here’s what I mean… Open up your email, and look for all of those questions customers and potential customers are asking you on a daily basis. Write them out as a list.

That list, is a series of blog posts waiting to happen.

What you’re doing here is basically taking all of those client questions and answering them in the form of a blog post for the benefit of everyone else who might have the same question.

So say someone asked you about the mortgage pre-approval process. Write your post, them email them:

Hey Ricardo,

Great question! Here’s a detailed post that I wrote that hopefully helps answer it in a little more detail:
http://www.mortgageporter.com/reportingfromseattle/2012/02/what-do-you-need-to-get-a-preapproval-letter.html

If you still have any questions, let me know. I’m always happy to help!

Best, 

[Your Contact Info here]

This way, you’re not repeating yourself over and over one email after another. But also, that article serves as a marketing piece for anyone going online and wanting to learn more about the pre-approval process.

4. Capture content everywhere you go.

As a real estate agent, you spend a lot of time out “in the field.” Previewing homes, driving around town, and taking a break to grab a bite to eat at your favorite restaurant.

All of that is an excellent opportunity to capture and create new content. Think about it. In many ways, real estate involves selling the community even before you sell the house. People want to know what it’s like to live there. What is there to do around town? What are some of the best places to eat?

So when you’re out previewing homes, or eating at your favorite restaurant, take pictures. Lots of them. Capture video if you can. Then later, use it for your next blog post by writing a review. Paint a picture of what it’s like to live in the area. What are your favorite restaurants, and why?

Instead of simply stating “now’s a great time to buy,” help paint a picture of the neighborhood in your next market report post full with pictures and/or video! I love how real estate agent Walter Burns is doing this with his Living on the Hudson Condo Videos.

Don’t have a digital camera or a video camera? Don’t worry, you can capture all of that content on your smart-phone. You just have to remember to do it.

5. Let go of perfection. 

Learn to let go of your inner perfectionist. You know, that little gremlin inside that’s telling you “everything has to be perfect.” Your writing, your photos, your video.

When you’re creating new content, it’s easy to criticize yourself and stop yourself from publishing your work for fear of it not being ready. Or it not being good enough.

The problem with that though, is that if you’re constantly waiting for things to be perfect, nothing will ever get published!

So today, learn to let go of your inner perfectionist. That post doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to hit publish (more often). You’ll improve your writing, your video recording, and your photo taking with time.

Is Finding the Time To Blog a BIG Challenge for You? 

How often do you publish new content on your real estate blog? Do you commit to publishing a certain number of posts weekly? Or do you write only when you feel like you have something to say?

How have you made creating content a part of your daily routine? If it’s not a part of your daily routine, what can you change to improve your results the way Irina did in the example above?