Develop a Killer Online Strategy

Having a blog can be a killer online strategy for your real estate business. A vibrant blog can be the very top of your online funnel. But your potential clients must feel understood when they first arrive at your site.

Last month, I talked about creating a niche to strengthen your online presence. By all means, you can address several niches on your blog. However, you have to start somewhere, so start with one niche.

I believe all real estate blogs should be as community oriented as possible. Your blog should show that you're a resource for the community. For instance, you could publish articles on your market's parks, schools, or restaurants. Write articles about community activities or local places. Think about anything your potential clients would want to know before they moved to the community.

Here are four tips for creating a vibrant blog:

1. Address your niche; always address your niche. Think about what people in your niche market would want to know.
2. Write consistently. I generally say posting one article a week is ideal, however, if you know you can't commit to once a week, commit to every other week.
3. Answer questions. You are the expert, so answer questions your clients ask regularly.
4. Create lists. Create lists of information your potential clients would want to know if they are moving to the area. For example:
   • 7 Things You Should Know before you Move to Phoenix
   • 5 Things You Should Know about Moving to Scottsdale
   • 5 Best Restaurants in Old Town Scottsdale
   • What to Expect in an Old Town Scottsdale home

Notice the list above goes from a broad subject – moving to Phoenix – to the more narrow focus of Old Town Scottsdale homes. One of my niches is the Old Town Scottsdale neighborhood, which includes even smaller market niches of zip codes 85251 and 85250, as well as the McCormick Ranch area of Scottsdale. I could break this down even further into subdivisions. I suggest, if you can, make your niche market a subdivision, write four or five articles on each subdivision, then move on to the next subdivision.

Focusing your expertise on a specific neighborhoods is much easier in newer communities because they have subdivision names that are often searched online. I specialize in an older area of town where subdivision names aren't used much, so they I try to use keywords that are associated with my area.

To get started with your killer online strategy:

1. Choose your market niches.
2. Make a list of questions, articles, lists, photos, and videos you can publish to your blog that addresses each of your niches.
3. Don't forget to add keywords associated with your market niches for each article.
4. Start writing your blog posts, but manage your time. I recommend limiting yourself to one hour max per week writing, 30 minutes making graphics or taking photos, then publish the article.

To view the original article, visit the YPN Lounge blog.