4 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Real Estate Blog

Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links and generate 67% more leads per month.

Just having a blog, though, doesn't mean it will automatically produce leads. A real estate blog is no different. If you are going to spend all that time designing a website and creating content to publish, it just makes sense to do it well.

1. Know Your Audience

Part of having a blog people like and share virally is posting good content.

Keys to good content:

• Aimed at the right audience - You need to decide who you are primarily targeting. Whether that's other agents, home buyers, or a specific subset of home buyers, it's good to know who you are talking to, for it will affect your writing and how you market your content.
• It's relevant - If your audience doesn't care about your content, they won't read it. A good tip here is NOT to post "Pick me!" articles all the time. Once in a while is okay, but if your main aim is to promote how good your services are, it will be a big turn off to readers. For example, first time home-buyers care about how to navigate the home buying process and will gravitate toward insider tips and "what to expect" pieces. Agents, on the other hand, have different needs than clients and will therefore care about different things – like "How to manage your time well" and "What to do when your client goes crazy."
• Timely posting - Timing matters when publishing content. What time zone is your primary audience in? You worked hard on your content and you want the most amount of people reading it. Once you find a good time of day/week to post your content, stick to it. Readers respond well to consistency. Try to post at least once a week – you want familiarity. The more your posts get out there, the more people will remember you. If you start posting more than four times a week, though, it starts getting a little too post happy – you need a happy medium. You want people to pay attention to your posts, not ignore them because it becomes more like white noise.

2. Use Visuals

Visual storytelling is imperative if you want your content to stick. The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than reading text, which means people are six times more likely to remember content if it's accompanied by a picture.

Tips on how to include the best visuals:

• Make sure the picture goes with the content. Don't just put any random picture with your topic, you want it to make sense.
• High quality photos are key. This is especially important when posting to social media. Facebook promotes images that are higher quality, so find photos that are large and clear. The larger the photo, the clearer it is and the nicer it looks.
• Don't infringe on copyrights. Make sure you cite where you get your photos. Ideally, you take your own photos. If you aren't able to do that, just make sure you tell people where you found them and give the author credit.

3. Compelling Headlines

The headline is one of the most important things about your blog post. It draws interest and makes someone want to hear more. What draws you in and makes you want to read more? You've no doubt included some content that is super helpful to your audience, so make sure to write a headline that pulls people in.

A good headline should:

• Give a taste of what the article is about.
• Not be too short (or too long). Search engines and social media sites do better with short, sweet, and to-the-point titles.
• Grab attention. Find a few words that sparks someone's interest in your content.

4. A Well-Designed Website

The overall look and feel of your website should be pleasing to the eye. The design of your actual site can deter a lot of people in itself. You can put a little creative flair and personal touches in there for sure, but there are such things as color contrast that actually hurt eyes. Put colors that you like in there, just make sure you don't have to squint or need sunglasses just to read your content.

How you organize your content will also make a big impact. I don't know about you, but if a website has too much going on, I get a little overwhelmed and quickly find the exit button. You do not want people to think the same about yours.

Must haves for website design:

• Clean, easy to follow layout – The menu, links, and flow of the site from one article to another should make sense and go together.
• Less is more – Do not over-clutter your readers. Organization is key here. If you have a lot of articles, create menu tabs and file each article under its corresponding category. When there is too much to look at, readers get lost. You want them to pay attention to the information at hand and not get overwhelmed or distracted.
• Responsive – Make sure the design you have translates well on mobile devices. Most people view content on their phones and there is nothing worse than something that takes too long to load or is unreadable on a small screen.
• Pleasing design – Pick or create a design for your website that looks nice. It doesn't have to be fancy, but the nicer it looks (matching colors, not too much going on, quality photos displayed), the more people will want to linger and stay awhile. Rather, if it is exploding with color and pictures everywhere, it will be a major deterrent and will do the opposite of what you are wanting.

With any blog site, there is the freedom to find something that works for you. You have your own unique writing style and just style in general. If you keep these tips in mind and put your own flair in there, nothing can stop you. Give yourself permission to try things out and see what happens. Your goal is to see what your audience responds well to, so don't be afraid to tweak things down the road if you're not getting the traction you were wanting. It may take you awhile to find your sweet spot. Just keep at it until you find it – Rome wasn't built in a day.

To view the original article, visit the Showing Suite blog.