Blogs are essential to the success of your real estate company. In fact, HubSpot found that 92% of companies who blog multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog. Blogs are lead generators – especially for real estate agents. Since blogs provide critical opportunities for agents to acquire new leads, you should have a solid foundation for your blogging plans. You’ll need to develop short-term and long-term goals for your blog. Having both short and long-term goals are beneficial for blogging strategy because it prepares you for growth. It’s easy to envision and have your mind set on the end goal, but you need to master the basics first. Long-term planning allows you to be prepared for the influx of engagement you’re looking for so you can use it to your advantage!

 Keep reading to learn how planning your blog’s long-term and short-term strategy can help you become a successful leader in real estate.

Short-Term Strategies for Real Estate Blogging

1. Create a schedule for your blog posts.

Many people – myself included – sometimes have trouble consistently publishing blog posts unless they’re held to a firm schedule. First, decide how often you’ll post to your blog. Weekly? Biweekly? Daily? Part of this answer comes from how much you have to say to your clients; you don’t want to post so rarely that people won’t follow your blog, but you don’t want to run through all of your content in a few weeks. We generally recommend that agents start off with weekly posts to gauge how often they should publish content. Think of your blog post schedule as both linear and cyclical. You should always move forward with timely and relevant content for your clients, but you should also repurpose and repackage old blog posts to continually drive traffic to your site.

2. Determine the type of content you’ll produce.

Your company’s brand voice plays a huge role in the type of content that you produce for your clients. Did you develop an informative, concise brand voice for your real estate company? Use it in your blog. Publish FAQs and studies on local market trends. If mortgage interest rates are dropping, tell people about it. What if you developed a fun, family-oriented brand voice? Write narrative stories about local attractions and events to tell your readers about the unique opportunities that your town offers.

3. Determine how you’ll promote blog posts.

The content of your posts certainly matters, but it’s critical that you promote them on the right platforms. Where do your clients live online? If most of your clients interact with you on Facebook, post links to your blog posts in new statuses every week. No matter where you post about your blog, always include a link that directs people back to your site.

Long-Term Strategies for Real Estate Blogging

1. Build a group of followers.

If you post it, they will come. As you post more and more content, people will start to anticipate your blog posts. They will become regular readers, and – with some time and luck – they will start commenting and talking to you about your posts. Once you have a loyal set of followers, those people will begin reposting your content to their friends and slowly build your network. You should also publish your blog posts on your social media accounts. Social media is a relatively easy way to get your blog in front of new readers and build a group of followers. Additionally, the more posts you publish, the more indexed content you’ll create for search engines. This means that your blog will be more likely to appear under specific search queries, and you’ll have an even larger audience looking at your content.

2. Measure engagement, and adapt your approach accordingly.

Successful blogs come about through trial and error. Don’t be afraid to screw up every once in a while. As you build your content, pay attention to – and measure – your engagement (hint: think blog comments). While you might have thousands of readers coming to your blog every week, true engagement comes in the form of social shares and comments on your post. Try different methods, mix up the type of content you produce, and see which posts resonate best with your audience.

3. Become a thought leader in real estate.

Most business bloggers write to be recognized within their trade or industry. As a real estate blogger, one of your biggest long-term goals will be to find recognition within the real estate world as an authority blogger. Dare to be different. Write posts about real estate that no one else has. Network with the folks at Inman News. Do what it takes to get your content in front of new eyes. The more diligent you are, the more likely your blog will be noticed. 

Goal Setting and blogging go hand in hand and having a plan is your key to success. Short-term and long-term goals both entail different things but work together to achieve one common goal. Thinking about now and the future will help you create your blogging schedule and identify exactly what it is you want to talk about. While staying relevant to the topics you’ve chosen, routine posts promoted on the right platforms will lead to engagement. Use the engagement data to see what works and craft your posts around this. Remember engagement comes in the form of shares and comments so differentiate yourself from the rest and think outside of the box!

Want to learn more about blogging and how it’s beneficial to your real estate website and online presence? Contact us today!