Blogging As A Lead Generation Strategy

Does your real estate agent website include a blog?

If you’re like most agents, chances are the answer is yes. Many website platforms today include a blog tab. Of course, if you use WordPress for one of your sites, a blog is instrumental to the design.

So, the obvious next question: if you have a blog, do you post content on a regular basis? Most agents with a blog post rarely or infrequently post original content. In most cases, they will post listings as their blog content. This is better than nothing, but not good enough to take advantage of the unique strength of posting regular blog content.

If you have a blog and aren’t using it (or just use it for listings), you might want to reconsider your strategy. Regular blogging can be a powerful tool to build your personal brand and give you a competitive edge in your market. In fact, a survey by Hubspot showed that 60% of businesses that blog on a regular basis report stronger business results.

But most importantly, for real estate agents, blogging can enhance your lead generation efforts. Of course, as a Vulcan 7 agent, you already have access to great FSBO and Expired leads every morning.  But you’re always interested in leads, regardless of the source. That’s why blogging can be a powerful strategy for you.

There are many reasons to consider blogging. Here are five we think are noteworthy:

1.BLOGGING CAN DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

If you post interesting content on a regular basis, people will find it and that means visits to your site. A static site means only one visit. But if someone finds your content interesting, they will come back many times. And in the world of marketing, frequency rules!

2.BLOGGING CAN ENHANCE SEARCH RESULTS

One of the biggest challenges for single agents or small brokerages today is how to improve organic search results. It’s not easy competing with behemoths like Zillow and Realtor.com who always own the tops spots. But interesting, original content (especially content that is shared) gets noticed by search engines and can improve your organic search rankings.

3.BLOG CONTENT CAN BE REPURPOSED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

A single blog post can be broken into multiple, short posts on Facebook or Instagram. This becomes an excellent way to drive even more traffic to your site, especially if you invest a few dollars to boost those social media posts.

4.BLOGGING CAN MAKE YOU AN AUTHORITY

Perhaps you’ve decided to focus your real estate business on a specific part of town. You can use your blog to post relevant content about what’s happening in that area. In addition, you can post updates about what’s happening with the economy, mortgage rates, etc. If you consider that most of your competitors aren’t blogging, this type of relevant content helps you to position yourself as a go-to authority.

5.BLOGS CAN HELP YOU CAPTURE INFORMATION

Most real estate agents focus on outbound strategies when it comes to lead generation (i.e. cold calling, postcard mailings). Blogging is an inbound marketing strategy. By attracting people to your site, you have an opportunity to engage them. For example, you can have them subscribe to your blog. Or, you can offer downloadable content (e-books on certain neighborhoods). In either case, you capture emails that can be used for downstream marketing.

We’ll throw in one more, bonus reason to blog. It’s a great way to show your personality and have some fun in the process. A personal blog can be the perfect way to introduce yourself to prospects, building trust and credibility in the process.

Blogging takes work but may be well worth the effort for your business.  The next few weeks we will be exploring blogging in more detail.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak has over four decades of experience as an advertising copywriter, agency creative director, blogger, and content creator. He joined Vulcan7 as a Content Specialist in 2016. In addition to ongoing website copy refreshes, Doug has produced over 300 blog posts while developing content for Vulcan7’s social media platforms.