You've heard it a hundred times at real estate conferences and in media reports: Start a blog. But it's actually great advice, and it's not so hard to do. Set it up in Wordpress, Blogger or another free program, add your credentials and start writing. But what do you write about? How often do you post? How do you get traffic to the blog, and where do you promote it? Basically, how do you turn the time, money and effort into something that stimulates your real estate business?

Why blogs?

In a nutshell, a blog is a cheap and easy way to update your site regularly with new keyword-based content. This activity pushes your site higher in search engine rankings, increases your authority online and brings new traffic from keyword searches. Not all Realtors are blogging, but the ones who do are reaping the rewards. Now that that's clear, what do you put on your blog?

Unique Content

While your main web site has your photo, contact info, listings and so on, your blog is a place for fresh updates and for interacting with your customers. What will bring them back to your blog week after week? Unique content. It can't just be any content, and it shouldn't be recycled. Your blog must provide a heartbeat for your web site, allowing you a place to reveal the real person behind the curtain. If you don't have time to do this every week, consider hiring a content feed or a freelance writer, but it's also good for the business owner to write as well.

Once the updated posts draw readers to the site, real estate prospects will want to find out who you are and why types of transactions you specialize in. Unique content is key, but this doesn't mean that you have to reinvent the wheel. Your blog is a tool for communicating with other real estate agents and bloggers. Therefore it's also an option to write about... what they just wrote about. So how often do you post on your blog?

The best way to generate content for your blog is to write about what you know: your real estate service area. Prospects looking to move into or out of your area will find your blog via their keyword searches about your area, and they'll return to your blog to read what you have to say about the market, schools, jobs, events and other important community-oriented tidbits. This way you become an authority on your subject matter (key for any blogger) and you'll be competing directly with other real estate agents in your field.

Regular Updates

How often to update? Everyone has an opinion on this subject, but the rule of thumb is to update your real estate blog as often as you can, especially in the beginning and especially when readers are engaging with you in the comments section. Recently, Inman News writers responded to the question by saying, "If your blog site is brand-new, you've really got to work and feed it. You need to make sure you've got enough of the right content that answers the questions and solves the problems of the visitors who come to your site. Stop worrying about being fancy. Stop worrying about showing your tech edge. Just answer questions and solve problems. Sit down, write out a list of the process a person goes through when buying or selling a house (or buying and flipping investment property, or buying and leasing out commercial property, or buying and renting multifamily property)."

Well put.

Promote Your Work

The real key to having a successful real estate Facebook page is building an audience through promoting useful content. Studies have shown that real estate agents who post listing after listing on their Facebook page are not retaining their audience or building likes. Therefore, each time you create a new blog post, promote it on Facebook, Twitter and all your social media channels. You can even promote it on Pinterest if you've built a following there. If you know other Realtors who are blogging, send them links and return the favor by promoting their blog posts as well.

Don't Just Write Blogs, Read Them

Every great writer is also a great reader. Reading other blogs can help you stay on top of social media trends, popular keywords and editorial approaches adopted by bloggers in other regions (or your own). It also keeps you mentally sharp and, if you comment on their blogs, it helps you build relationships in the blogosphere.

Check Your Stats

Assuming that you're updating your blog several times per week with original content — e.g. short, informative articles about your area, changes to your property listings, or secrets to your success — you might want to know if anyone's actually reading it. You also want to know who's reading which pages and clicking which links. Such details could be enormously helpful in choosing which direction to take your real estate marketing. Google has a number of free, easy-to-use programs, one of which is Google Analytics, which allows you to plug in your site and access data on page views, visitors, referring sites and more.

What most people might not know — even the ones who've been using Google Analytics already — is a feature called "In-Page Analytics," which shows you where people are going on your blog and what links they're clicking. Set up a date range and click through your pages within the In-Page Analytics framework, and you can make better decisions on page layout, content and web site goals.

Summing Up

Technology is not going to go away, and that it's changing the way people search real estate listings. Word of mouth and driving through neighborhoods has moved aside for Internet searches for real estate agent reviews and listings. Your blog is a key component for capturing that traffic and building your real estate business.

To view the original article, visit the ReachFactor blog.