Blog Writing Tips for Realtors

Many Realtors have their own blogs or have at least contemplated starting one up. It gives you the perfect platform to sound off on local issues, promote community events, and promote... yourself! A real estate blog can be a really smart way to market yourself by focusing on your experience and expert guidance.

You can address topics that potential prospects are interested in, and provide local market insight. Basically, you can lay some tracks about your knowledge of real estate, and when the time comes around, you'll be top of mind for when buyers and sellers need an agent's help. This type of digital marketing can also certainly help you stand out from a crowded field.

If you have a blog or are thinking about starting one, but you aren't sure what to write about, RPR is here to help. In this article, we'll explore how to come up with topics for a real estate blog, how it can help you in your self promotion efforts, and how you can use RPR data to back up your writings. We'll also offer some general tips on blog basics to ensure that you're checking all the important boxes.

Write Now and Write What You Know

To have a decent blog, you've got to write blog entries. That may sound obvious and over-simplified, but it's the single most important thing to keep in mind. You've got to stay current and keep up with entries to keep your audience's attention. And you'll need just the right mix of quantity and quality to capture the most eyeballs and interest.

At the minimum, plan to write one new blog entry per week. And you need to write about topics that are relevant to your readers. A good rule of thumb is write frequently and cover subjects that your audience cares about.

Grabbing some generic real estate article about curb appeal and slapping it up on your blog once a month won't get you any real traction. You simply have to commit to creating fresh, original, topical content so your readers will notice you, and then come to you with their real estate questions.

A good practice is to focus on real estate topics where you have extensive knowledge. For example, if you're a listing agent, write about selling, not buying. If you excel at staging a home, definitely cover that. Be sure to write about topics that homeowners are interested in, such as market trends and home values. And don't just always write about real estate—mix in some events or have a take on happenings in your local community and neighborhood.

• Pro Tip: Be sure to have someone proofread your entries and/or run your blog drafts through writing engines such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Ginger, or WhiteSmoke. You'd be surprised at how many people are turned off by typos and bad grammar!

Blog Basics

Here are some other best practices to keep in mind when publishing a blog:

1. Use Visuals: Post pictures and videos in your entries whenever possible. Visual elements make your blog more interesting and appealing. It helps to use them to break up long sections of copy, as well.
2. Content Creation: If you're stuck on ideas, Google is your friend. Another popular style to fall back on is "List" and "How-To" articles, such as "5 Great Golf Courses in Cedar Ranch" and "How to Choose a Listing Agent." You can also always do a spotlight piece on a local business owner. And here's another great tip: listen to your clients during a typical real estate transaction. Whatever questions they ask you, write them down. Each one is a perfect subject for your next blog.
3. Choose Your Words Carefully: Make sure you use keywords in your blog article title and at least a few times within the body and subheadings. This will help with your basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and make your subject crystal clear to the reader. For example, if you live in the neighborhood of Cedar Ranch and you're writing about home values, your title should have "Home Values in Cedar Ranch," or some combo thereof, in the title.
4. Be Social: Be sure to post and share your published blog entries on all of your various social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Also include a link if you send out a monthly eNewsletter.

Using RPR to Bolster Your Real Estate Blog

RPR provides you with unparalleled access to up-to-date property data. You can use some of these facts and figures to pique reader interest in your blog.

Current market snapshots and home valuations, especially in today's market, are of particular interest to homeowners and potential sellers. Consider writing a monthly or quarterly blog post that answers the question, "How is the housing market doing right now?" Then in the article, reference specific metrics from RPR that back up your point.

Here's how to do it: use RPR to run a Market Activity Report. The neat thing about this report is that you can use the RPR map to define and save your own neighborhood boundaries. Then the Market Activity report will include specific metrics such as Median Sales Price, Median List Price, Median Estimated Home Value and how those values are changing over time.

Taking information from the Market Activity Report and highlighting it in a blog post is a great way to break the ice and create interest in individual home valuations. Simply share some information on a neighborhood market, and then ask if someone would like more information, or specific info on their home value.

If someone expresses interest, you can reach out to them and offer to provide an individual home valuation. This can also be done through RPR, in the RVM™ (Realtor Valuation Model), through either a Mini-Property Report, a Property Report or a Seller's Report.

You can also capture screen grabs of market charts to include in a blog entry. For details on how to use visuals from RPR Property Reports as postable images, check out How to use RPR and Canva to Make Shareable Market Charts for Social Media. We know you'll find it useful!

The Last Word on Blogs

In the coming weeks, we'll have more blog-focused content for you, including future articles on how you can start your own website/blog page from scratch. Then we'll take an even deeper dive into how you can use it to spark leads through a digital marketing plan. Happy blogging!

To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.