There are a lot of good reasons to have a real estate blog. It helps establish you as an active member of the real estate community, can boost your search engine ranking, and helps you stay top of mind with your real estate leads and past clients.
Since many real estate professionals recognize the importance of a blog, they set out with good intentions. Unfortunately blogging mistakes are all too common.
You don’t have a real estate blog.
Let’s cover this one right off the bat. The first blogging blooper is to not have a blog at all. Posting to your real estate blog is an effective way to increase your network and offer value to your prospects and past clients. If you don’t have a blog yet, it’s time to start!
Solution:
The clear solution is to start a real estate blog. The question that follows is, “how?” It’s easier than you may think! It starts with choosing a blogging platform that meets your specific needs, reflects your brand, and is easy to use. Beware of blogging solutions that are cumbersome or difficult to post to. You don’t need the roadblock of a difficult platform to discourage you from writing and posting to your blog.
IXACT Contact’s agent websites come with a beautiful blog section built right into your site. It’s incredibly easy to post the blogs that you write, and you can even choose to use the professionally pre-written content that comes included with the platform.
You post inconsistently.
For those of us who do blog, the biggest mistake that we make is posting inconsistently. Some people believe they should write a blog when they have “something to say.” But unless you establish a blogging schedule, it becomes alarmingly easy to convince yourself you don’t have anything to say, or you’ll do it “tomorrow.”
The most successful blogs post because of routine, not necessarily inspiration. Consistency and frequency are two different concepts. You don’t have to post to your real estate blog daily… or even weekly! Just be sure to set out guidelines and stick to them.
Solution:
Come up with a blog posting schedule that is realistic and appropriate. For some of us that’s weekly, for others it’s monthly. If you’re drafting blog posts yourself, schedule time in your calendar for writing and editing and treat it like you would any other appointment.
Try using IXACT Contact agent websites to help you stick to your blog posting schedule by utilizing the prewritten bi-weekly blog posts. Whether you’re using all prewritten content, or combining it with your own content, IXACT Contact’s professionally written blogs are a fool-proof way to ensure you’re posting blogs consistently.
You neglect promoting your blog on social media.
There are several different ways readers will find your blog online, through Google search results, by coming across it naturally, or by seeing it shared by someone else.
Sharing is key for your content to get seen, and one of the best places to share is on social media. It pains me to see real estate agents go through the work of writing and posting a blog, and then just let it sit there. Neglecting to post your blogs on Facebook, Twitter, and any of your other favorite sites is a big blogging blooper.
Solution:
Make social sharing a regular part of your blog-writing process. Once your blog post is live, write a Facebook post and some Tweets to encourage your friends and followers to check it out and share. And don’t stop there! There’s nothing wrong with promoting past content if it is still relevant and helpful.
Wondering how to get more of your friends and followers to share your blog posts? Reciprocity is key! Try sharing some of their content (granted it’s something you agree with and like) and they are more likely to return the favor.
You’re a slave to word count.
Blogs are about quality, not necessarily quantity. Unlike the papers you wrote in high school, there is no word count applied to your blog posts. In fact, online readers tend to embrace shorter, more conversational paragraphs over long blocks of text.
Do you put off writing a blog post because it feels like sitting down to write the great American novel? It doesn’t have to! The best real estate blogs are a combination of different posts, some shorter, some longer. Don’t pressure yourself to post thousands of words, strive for 400-1000 words per post.
Solution:
Focus on posting quality, readable blog posts that will appeal to your audience. Try breaking up your post into numbered lists, or using subheadings to make it easy for your reader to take in.
Of course, if you’re using a solution like IXACT Contact, you don’t have to worry about crafting posts since the agent website comes with pre-written bi-weekly blog posts!
You’re all words, no image.
Landing on a webpage that is a solid wall of text isn’t very inviting. Even if the post is expertly written, not many visitors can make it through solid blocks of text without a visual.
If you’ve worked hard on drafting a real estate blog post, you might just forget to add an image, or perhaps you don’t know where to get an image to use. But visuals are very important in our digital world. Don’t make the mistake of neglecting to add an image.
Solution:
There are some terrific options for free stock photography on the web. Check out some of my favorites here and here. These are images that you can use on your blog without purchasing the rights to them. Check out what is available and add some visuals to your blog!
IXACT Contact agent websites pre-written blogs already have images added, so you can rest easy that your readers are seeing a visually pleasing page.
The ultimate solution
Have you made any of these common real estate blogging bloopers? You’re not alone. And it’s not too late to start a blog that is professional, findable, and easy to use!
Start your 5 week free trial of IXACT Contact real estate CRM and create your agent website, complete with a real estate blog.
Your new blog will reflect your personal brand, and you can even choose to have professional, pre-written content posted on your blog bi-weekly for no extra charge!
