A blog is a great business asset to have – especially for real estate agents. It’s an opportunity for you to market yourself and show off your expertise, while at the same time giving valuable information and insight to your readers (and potential customers!). A blog can also help drive more traffic to your website – it’s a powerful search engine optimization tool.
You don’t have to hold an English degree to have a blog. Anyone can write one – but you need to know the basics before you begin. The idea is to write blog posts that attract an audience and hold their interest so that they stay and become loyal followers.
Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! We’ve answered some of the top blogging questions to make the process easier.
How do you define your audience?
Every great blog needs a well-defined audience. Sit down and think about who you really want to write for. Do you want to focus on home buyers? Home sellers? Renters? Whatever audience you choose, keep them in mind throughout your entire post.
What do you write about?
Before you put your pen to the paper – err, fingers to the keyboards, you want to make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to write about. What are you passionate about? What advice do you want to share with your readers? Write about what you know – it will establish a sense of trust and understanding with your audience.
How do you organize your content?
Every post should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. A long body of text without any headings can appear intimidating and scare your audience away. Headings, subheadings, bullets, and bold text help break up the content and make your post more reader-friendly. These formatting features can also help increase your blog’s SEO value.
How long should the post be?
The average person doesn’t have the patience or time to read lengthy blog articles. Make it short and simple – but not so short that the page looks empty. A good rule of thumb is to write posts between 600-700 words.
Should you add pictures?
Of course! Pictures help bring your blog post to life. They also compel your audience to share your content on their social media networks. Only post high-quality photos that make sense with the rest of your content.
How do you make your posts search-engine-friendly?
SEO keywords are 2- to 4-word phrases in your blog post that make it possible for people to find your blog through search engines. Keywords should accurately describe what the post is about in simple, everyday language. For example, if you’re writing about how to find a vacation home, “vacation home”, “vacation property”, and “vacation rental” would be effective keywords to include in your post.
When writing your blog, choose a few keywords to focus on and use them in your title, throughout the body of the post, and in 1 or 2 of your post’s headings. Don’t fill your content with too many keywords, though – this practice is called keyword stuffing and is frowned upon by Google and other search engines.
How do you edit your blog post?
Reread your post and check for any grammatical errors or typos. Make sure your message is clear and cut out any distracting or confusing fluff. If you can, have someone else take a look at it. It’s always helpful to have a fresh pair of eyes on your post before you hit “publish”.
Just like anything else, the only way to get better at blogging is to practice. Remember – writing a blog should be fun! As long as you stick to the basic rules and write original, engaging content about something you’re passionate about, you’re sure to attract readers.
Author: Christine Nedilsky February 28, 2019