Your blogs Missing Link

We all use email almost hourly (meaning a full 24 hours!) in the real estate industry. We attach pictures and documents and all sorts of other things to our email. We even add hyperlinks like http://yourrealestatemarketing.blogspot.com/2015/03/content-strategy-real-estate-blogging.html and send them to our friend, clients and coworkers. With all of this functionality we should have a great email marketing presence with our database, right? I have been writing on blogging for the past few posts and I wanted to explain the best way to both expand your blog reach and improve your conversion rates.

Expanding Blog Reach

Expanding your blog reach requires you to align the right content with the right time.

Right Content

When writing blog posts on different topics, one needs to develop the post with a goal in mind. There is no better place to start then with the questions customers ask you. Home buyers and sellers need to know the step by step process in your local area. They think they know what they need to do, however with all the local laws and codes people are more likely to search for answers online. With your blog you can develop the steps of buying a home with 300-600 word posts, images, even a video, and create great content for search engines and to provide to leads. By creating these categories within your real estate blog you now have the ability to share them out. Does this mean immediately post all blog articles to Facebook and other social outlets, NO! Does it mean continuous posting to social media, NO again! It means you keep them for the right time. (to be clear posting to social accounts is fine, the point here is to leverage what you have already written, not post it and forget it. Posting to social accounts upon completion is a great strategy, however for the purpose of this article it is not the point.)

Right Time

I once heard the right choice at the wrong time is the wrong choice, the same holds true here. In fact, this is one of the reasons most agents have horrible email marketing campaigns. They send out corporate content to their leads with expectations of high open rates and response rates. People will respond if you provide them the opportunity to, and if they think you are addressing their needs. With your blog content developed, now you need to match up particular keywords with your posts. For example, a new lead comes in and asks for information on homes. You should send the information with a call to actions like, “Do you know the unusual 1^st step to home ownership in Tucson” linked to a blog post on the 1^st step to home ownership. This is a great way to expand your blog because you are inviting email readers to see what you have written. This is even more effective if you have been in communication with leads for a while. They are going to read and understand what you are talking about before you ever meet with them. But what does that mean to the bottom line?

Better Lead Conversion through Blogs?

I briefly touched on the aspect that will improve lead conversion in the earlier paragraph. We all know some people we are able to communicate with and we just click. With your content on your blog you have already thought out, edited, and presented your information about particular topics. Now when your customer and clients ask particular questions you will have pre-thought out answers to those questions. This is the secret of scripting, it prepares you for a natural sounding answer to a general question. In fact, this part of blogging works both online and OFFLINE TOO!! When you have conversations with other people about topics and you already have written, edited, and presented the answer you sound more natural and you sound like you know your real estate. To say this will make a lasting impression is an understatement. Having these conversations on a consistent basis and updating your posts as more information comes up will improve your lead conversion both online and offline.

And the process is…

I wrote about several different aspects here and I thought I would give you some simple steps to guide you on developing a lead conversion machine from your blog.

• Step 1 – review your last 20-30 emails from clients asking a questions. See if there is a theme with the questions. Something like investing or home buying process questions. This is your working list of blog posts.
• Step 2 – take 1-2 hours per week to outline your response. Use your smart phone to record your answers. Then listen to what you said and literally create an outline. See my previous post on constructing a blog post. Once you have your outline you can schedule time to write your content.
• Step 3 – publish your content
• Step 4 – once an inquiry is asked, share your content. This can be done through email, social media, even texts if you have a text service through your PC.
• Step 5 – listen for more information, if it changes your understanding then change your posts or write new ones.

We never think of blogging as something we can use as a source of information to our customers and clients. It is one of the most underutilized aspects of the real estate industry. By creating the right content and sharing it to the right people you will expand your blogs exposure and increase your lead conversion. You will also decrease your anxiety and stress; blogging for business is now a must, not a luxury. Do you treat your real estate career like a business?