Marketing expert Jon Krabbe deconstructs the common mistakes you might be making and offers a smarter content plan for your blog.
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Real estate offers no shortage of marketing and lead gen tactics, but the real challenge is sticking with one. If you’ve started and stopped blogging, chances are it’s because you didn’t see the results you wanted fast enough.
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A real estate blog can encourage engagement, help you develop your brand’s authority, and grow the “know, like and trust” factor that’s so important for bringing in business. Ensure that you’re not making the following mistakes, however, and undermining the effectiveness of the content you create.
No content distribution
Blogs don’t operate on the principle of “If you build it, they will come.” To gain traffic, you’ll need to distribute your content in multiple channels. These can include:
- Social media posts about your latest blog post to engage followers and attract new traffic sources
- Newsletters or a QR code on direct mail to engage with your sphere of influence and geographic farm
- Featured post links from your landing page or the homepage of your website
- Links in the description of your related YouTube content
Rather than simply linking your blog post, craft a tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) paragraph or bulleted list to engage visitors and give them a preview of the topic you’re writing about.
Generic or one-note topics
Speaking of topics, if you’re writing about what everyone else is writing about, it’s hard to stand out. Focus on a niche or the effect that some current event will have on the reader and on the local market.
Strive for a 2:1 mix of evergreen topics — those that are always interesting and useful for your target audience — and up-to-the-minute topics to encourage both new and repeat visitors. Work with a search engine optimization (SEO) expert to plan your content calendar in advance and home in on keywords that will improve your site’s ranking.
Posts are too short
Generally speaking, a blog post should be, at the very least, 300 words, and most standard-length posts are somewhere between 750 and 1000 words. Longform or pillar posts, which are helpful for enhancing SEO, are the true “deep dives” and “ultimate guides,” usually starting at 2000 words and going up from there.
A too-short post won’t get noticed by search engines and won’t be considered authoritative or complete. That can have a negative impact on the ability of your blog posts to enhance your website’s ranking.
Too much ‘inside baseball’
Too much jargon or highly technical language can make it difficult for your audience to follow your blog. Most blogs are designed to educate and inform — tough to do if you’re talking over the reader’s head.
In real estate, we love abbreviations and acronyms, so make sure that if you use them, you also insert a parenthetical to explain what they stand for. For instance, rather than telling the reader that you have your SRES designation, it’s more helpful to let them know that you’re a Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES).
Formatting is not user-friendly
Even the most avid reader will be scared off by a wall of text. Including photos, graphs and charts can help break up all of those words and make your blog post easier to read, especially when the topic is a complex one.
In addition, use subheadings, numbered lists and bullet points to break up the post and make it easier for the reader to scan or track. Don’t overuse bold and italics; they can make a post look messy.
Erratic scheduling
While you already have a jam-packed professional life, creating content calls for you to be disciplined. If readers never know when to expect a new post from you, they’re less likely to notice it in their overflowing email inbox or on their social media feed.
Instead, commit to a regular weekly or monthly schedule for the post and the distribution copy associated with it. If readers know that they can count on a new post from you every Sunday morning, for example, they’ll be on the lookout, and it will become an important part of their weekly routine.
Weak calls to action
If you want your blog to convert, you’ll need to nail down your calls to action. Are you writing about homebuying? Instead of ending with a generic, “Call me if you have any questions,” why not end your post with something like this?
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Take the first step toward your new home today — whether it’s getting pre-approved, booking a showing or just asking the right questions. Don’t wait for the market to change — make your move now.
If you love to write and share your knowledge with others, a real estate blog gives you the opportunity to create a storehouse for all of the insights and strategies you’ve put together throughout your career. Don’t get frustrated by too little engagement; make your blog a showstopper, so you can get more eyes on your site.
Jon Krabbe is the co-founder of Agent Image and Access.com, a premier digital marketing agency specializing in branded website solutions for real estate professionals since 1999. Connect with Jon on Instagram.