Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Varying statistics have been thrown around about how many of today’s home buyers start their search on the web, but regardless of certain discrepancies, one thing is certain: it’s a lot. In a world where many real estate companies struggle with getting found, marketability, and developing their real estate brand, consistent blogging remains an underused web marketing strategy that can help drive visibility, higher search rankings, and widespread consumer acceptance.
© Lucian Milasan - Fotolia.com
It’s no secret that posting frequent blog articles is a key element towards stronger search engine optimization. Past studies have shown that small businesses that blog regularly get 55% more website visitors than those business who rarely add fresh content or don’t blog at all. The one thing almost every real estate agent in the business will tell themselves is that selling homes is a numbers game—eventually, someone they’re working with will either buy or rent a home and all that hard work will pay off at some point. Well, if that’s true, the numbers I’d want on my side are 55% more website visitors than the competition. And in order to see those numbers, it would appear that all I have to do is follow one simple rule when it comes to web marketing: BLOG!
But despite the proven advantages of blogging, many real estate agents still fail to take initiative and find one excuse or another as to why adding a new article to their real estate blog has somehow been put on the back burner. Not all real estate agents fall into this category, however. For every agent who doesn’t take web marketing and blogging seriously, there’s usually always one who does.
Earlier, I spent some time researching quality, frequently-updated real estate blogs from agents around the country; and despite coming across dozens of real estate blogs that haven’t had a new post since 2010 [or earlier in some cases], I was actually able to find a handful of blogs that I thought had quality content and certainly worth sharing. Listed below 20 real estate blog sites that stay current and up-to-date by giving readers fresh new takes on the local market, community happenings, and various other topics relating to the real estate market:
Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence in Chicago, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.
Thanks for including my blog AlbuquerquerRealEstateBuzz.com on your list. Although I may not update daily, I do try to post several times a week. In between selling homes of course.
It looks like my post on Google+ stirred up some good discussion between Anita, Corinne and you. They are just two of many fine bloggers I know that post very frequently as well.
Thanks again.
@Rich. You are welcome, and thank you. I hope we can help shine a little light on lots of great people, somehow otherwise obscured. If you could see or know how we have all struggled too, I know you, Anita, Corinne, and our team, would all recognize one another much easier 🙂
Let us know your thoughts, how we can help, your concerns, and we'll do what we can. Honest.
Always,
Phil
Thanks for answering, I appreciate that as most would hit the delete button and ignore us little fish. We do work hard at what we do and a little pat on the back every now and then does wonders.
@Corrina. You are more than welcome, like you guys we really try hard. This digital thing we all use, it is wonderful and awful at the same time. You there, figuring this or that, us here, doing similarly. I think the best that can come of our endeavors, and our interaction, is to go forward together and learn more. I know that sounds corny or cliche, but it is true. That said, if you come here and find any writer has been critical, it was out of caring. Complimentary? Out of caring. Idiotic? Out of being human. And brilliant? None of us are so brilliant as to take credit for luck. 🙂
I thank you for taking your time, it is just as valuable as mine.
Always,
Phil
Phil,
I think you made both mine and Corinne's point...you are correct, our communities are not a "hotbed" of real estate activity on the national or global scene, hence the request for considering small market real estate blogs that are as good for their local real estate community as any of the big city blogs are for theirs.
You say a few daily and I say on average 435 unique visitors a day...yes, small in comparison to what another top agent in Atlanta, LA, or Phoenix may have visit their site but they also have a lot more competition then the really active small market agents have. Add in business from our IDX sites, Youtube, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, and a myriad of other social media outlets and we are just as busy as any agent we know (in any market).
Let's not forget that real estate IS local and regardless of our Alexa Rank or whether we are in the top percentile of any measurable statistical category does not matter IF we are providing content the majority of our clients (who tell us they found us online and are not from Thailand BTW) appreciate and found helpful when they were searching for an agent.
We (me anyway) are not looking to compete with the big markets for popularity...we are just saying bigger is not always better in the blogging world.
Thanks for the engagement...love the dialogue!
~ Anita ~
@Anita. If you are satisfied, then I am. I offered what I could.
Always,
Phil
It's a shame us small market bloggers never get to be picked for a list like this. I post far more frequently than the Chicago guys and am more active on Google +.
@Corinne. I just ventured over to you very nice blog, you do update fairly regularly. As to the shame and disgrace of small market niche visibility? This is the rub of a digital world of course. On the one hand you have a local market that absolutely cannot find your insights, and on the other a global audience that cannot find your insights and contributions. That said, it's easy to see how we might have trouble finding you.
I will now do a regular segment on this very issue, thanks to you and Anita Clark. I hope you will continue to endeavor to provide a depth of expertise the locals there in Barrington, Illinois. 😉 As a piece of humble added advice, Tweeting and plussing each and every piece you produce, it has a cumulative effect, as does more engagement via @barringtonhomes and other points of contact. This applies at both the local and the global level.
Always,
Phil
The Editor Person
A good list of bigger market blogs that provide quality content. My only criticism...there are plenty of small market real estate blogs that are updated DAILY and provide great content for their consumers too.
@Anita. As I commented to Corinne, you have touched on a very valid case in point here. I will personally do a weekly roundup of local or regional agents who engage well now. There is, however, another fine point to be mentioned. It is also a bit of my duty in these instances (as I see it) to be constructively critical. Let's just be blunt for the sake of economy here. Being emphatic and passionate is a wonderful thing. I can see this in your blog posts and the DAILY point too. I respect your diligence, really I do.
But, and there is always a "but", isn't there, Warner Robins is not exactly a hotbed of Internet innovation and social media engagement over real estate, now is it? The metrics for, for instance, your website suggest the few daily visits it gets are not from South Georgia but from Thailand. I know this may set you slightly on your ear, I am sorry. But please, look at these comments from a different perspective. Imagine a Warner Robins homeowner sells his house on FSBO dot com, then marches into your office to demand top seller billing on your for sale signs.
This situation we are in now makes me think of someone saying they love teddy bears, and then jumping into an arena with a 2000 pound Kodiak bear yelling and waving their arms. Sorry Anita, but daily posting and trying is not tantamount to parting the Red Sea for Georgia home buyers. An Alexa score of 1 million something, traffic that is generated from searches for Subdivisions in Centerville Georgia (40 percent of your traffic), and searches for your name (about 20 percent) this is a pattern of visitation by a very few people, almost like someone using a website as a bookmark for Centerville subdivisions?
Now for the really good stuff. Your nine hundred something blog posts there on Selling Warner Robins - the are quite excellent pieces. Local info that is genuinely geared to help the community, the reader, and gently remind people you can help them buy or sell homes, your effort is near perfect Anita. I am sure your DAILY comment here came more from the frustration a really good professional feels when effort does not equal outcome - and I know that feeling well.
All your endeavors are missing really, are as you surmise, some exposure. You can attain some of this via SM and other citizen channels like @Anita_Clark (which is a it upside down). The rest of the visibility curve? How about this Anita, contribute a weekly or monthly expert article on RealtyBizNews, the fastest growing real estate news site in the world?
How's that for small town notice?
Always,
Phil
The Editor Person
Thanks for taking note! If I can do it, anyone can! Creating interesting content will be vital to any agent wanting to improve their business. Consistently doing will only speed their way to success.