In my last post about high-performance real estate websites, I mentioned the value of incorporating a blog.

Blogs give agents a powerful means of promoting their services and properties. They can be integral to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaigns designed to boost your content’s Google rankings.

They can also become a channel for engaging with potential clients, giving brokers, agents, and corporations an opportunity to flaunt their authority and give home and property buyers the information they need.

Crafting a real estate blog involves more than posting a few articles every now and then about generic real estate topics. It requires due diligence, much like any other digital marketing endeavour. Keep these strategies in mind as you build a blog that can truly earn you the clients you seek.

Identify Your Market

The key to any high-conversion marketing effort is a detailed strategy. Your real estate blog should fit neatly within your overarching advertising strategy for attracting and retaining clients.

This strategy should, ideally, have a target market in mind. Your target market is the audience you are attempting to reach. The more specific the market, the better. While marketers continue to debate the merits of niche, customer-central marketing in comparison to “shotgun,” mass marketing, consumers are still far more likely to respond to content that has them in mind.

Target audiences can fluctuate, especially between different forms of marketing. For this reason, it may be helpful to divide your blog posts into categories based off of target readers.

For example, let’s say that your target market is home buyers in Chattanooga. Some blog post categories could include first-time Chattanooga home buyers, retirement property purchases in Tennessee, and summer home buyers in the Chattanooga community.

Keep your target readers at the fore every time you compose a blog post. Do the same when you promote individual posts through email newsletters and social media.

Research What Your Market Wants to Know

Merely identifying your target market may feel sufficient. You may already have some blog post topics in mind.

Write down anything that surfaces, but do be sure to research what your audience truly wants to know. Gain insight into potential clients’ minds by spending time on community forums such as Quora.

Read local news articles and scan blogs on prominent blogging platforms. Note what questions, concerns, and interests appear. Identify any knowledge gaps where you may be able to provide an authority voice.

Take notes on these particular subjects. Once you have written posts addressing relevant questions and ideas, you can further market your blog by formally joining in on forum or blog discussions.

You may also wish to survey your existing clients about the types of blog posts they may wish to read. Query your social media followers on Instagram or Facebook—both platforms make it relatively easy to compose polls and surveys.

If you send out a newsletter to clients, invite subscribers to submit their ideas for blog posts.

These attempts to understand what matters most to your target market has the added benefit of establishing your reputation as an agent or company truly invested in client needs.

Show Your Authority

When generating content for your real estate blog, don’t shy away from any opportunity to show your authority. Trust is a central component of most purchase decisions, including the decision to commit to an agency as a home seller or home buyer.

Build trust amongst potential clients by writing blog posts that are authoritative and relevant. If your agency caters only to individuals who are interested in investment properties, write articles specifically about investments. If you cater to property managers, write about property management.

Visitors are far more likely to linger on your site after reading a blog post if the content is relevant to the services you offer.

Even if your company has only a tiny niche in the real estate market, you can still be creative. Maintain client engagement and write to your ideal users to maintain authority in your niche.

Above all, aim to educate your visitors. Education is one of the best means of captivating clients and showing off your industry knowledge. Write to your readers’ needs. Give them the answers they seek.

Write Well

It isn’t uncommon for prospective clients to “judge websites by their covers,” scrutinizing and assessing their content in order to make a purchase decision. Poor web copy can deter more clients than most brokerage firms realize, particularly if it is consistently rife with errors.

Write well whenever you compose a blog post. This means generating articles that are absolutely free of grammatical or spelling errors. Your blog posts should be easy to read, with bulleted or numbered lists when possible.

Most importantly, ensure that every post reflects your agency’s, firm’s, or own individual voice. Blogs give all business owners an opportunity to have some fun on the page and demonstrate their philosophy and approach to real estate. Don’t miss this opportunity to give visitors a taste of what it might be like to work with you.

You may wish to invest in professional blog writing services, particularly if your marketing budget has room for such an investment.

Promote Your Content

Whenever you publish a blog post on your site, promote it via other digital channels. Share your posts on social media. In fact, if you haven’t done so already, create business profiles on both Facebook and Instagram, the prominent social channels for companies and agents.

Don’t forget about LinkedIn, either. LinkedIn is a professional network that enables field authorities to publish industry-specific content. You can also publish your articles here for even more coverage (and proof of authority).

If you send out an e-newsletter to subscribers, include links to recent blog posts.

Manage Comments

Once you’re writing popular content, you may start to receive a few comments on those posts. It’s essential to manage these comments, because some readers may include questions in their responses.

Even if readers leave brief comments about their positive engagement with a post, leave a short response. This further demonstrates your commitment to reader experience and all stages of the client-agent relationship.

A high-performing real estate blog should be treated as one of several potent digital marketing tools. When seen as such, crafting relevant content optimized for a specific market can be your first step to earning the clients you seek.