It’s our job here at Union Street Media to recognize and foster your company’s online potential. We believe (heck, we know) blogging is a crucial part of that process, so we’ve collected some of the best reasons to join the blogging community along with tips to blogging like a pro.

Why Blog?

more website visitors | more conversions | SEO opportunity | client interaction | earning trust

  • Companies that blog receive 55% more website visitors than companies that do not blog (hubspot.com).
  • Because blogging drives people to your website, there is more opportunity to convert visitors into customers.
  • It’s an SEO dream: link to relevant pages on your website and social media profiles, use targeted keywords & tagged images, and update frequently… you’ll be on your way to ranking higher in search engine results.
  • Blogging allows for feedback and client interaction. Invite your readers to leave questions and comments. You can even devote a new blog post to answering some of the good ones.
  • You get the opportunity to sound smart and be the authority in your field. Use your real estate savvy and insider knowledge to write impressive content, earning the trust and business of your readers.

Blogging Best Practices: How to do it Right

link | update | optimize | revamp | call to action | create interest | edit edit edit

  • Link your blog posts to related pages on your website, and link your social media posts to your blog posts.
  • Update your blog regularly. Start off with one post a week. As you get more comfortable, try writing as many as four posts a week. “A company that blogs more than 15 times per month receives five times more traffic than one that doesn’t blog at all, on average.” (www.versio2.com)
  • Optimize your posts with keyword-rich, natural sounding content, images, title tags, and meta descriptions. Do this even with your old posts. Revamping an outdated but popular post with a fresh take or updated data (or, at the very least, with more relevant keywords or a different title) will attract new readers, and the search engines will reward you for keeping current. But don’t be a spammer- only add good keyword phrases that are descriptive of the content within the post. In WordPress, the title and meta description fields can be found on the same screen as your post (look for the SEO plugin below the editor).
  • Include calls-to-action that link to landing pages where your viewers can convert by filling out forms or using the tools on your site.
  • Create interest. Use pictures, graphs, lists, and bulleted information. Write short paragraphs. Get to the point.
  • Write about your business. 75-80% of blog topics should be relevant to your company and your industry; the rest can be about local news, town information, events, and other such human interest topics. Some company topics include: new listings, price reductions, luxury listings, just sold listings, new agents, home staging tips, neighborhood profiles, market trend reports, tips for increasing the value of your property, and open houses. Be the expert.
  • Edit. Spelling errors, comma misuse, wordy language, run-on sentences, and redundant content have no place on your blog. Remember: the point is to sound smart. Have colleagues read and edit your posts before publishing them.

Blogging may seem like just another task demanding your already limited time, but the benefits are real. Want to know more? Check out our other posts on blogging for real estate.  Now get to it!