Blog marketing is about two things:

1. Establishing your reputation.
2. Improving the visibility of your website

Both of these are tools for creating an influence over the buyers and sellers - and it’s that influence that will help you to build your real estate business.

Blog marketing, therefore, requires that you approach it with specific goals in mind:

• Consistency of message. When you’re marketing your real estate business with a blog, it’s a good idea to focus on providing a consistent message. If you find yourself writing posts that directly contradict one another, it’s going to be difficult for you to attract more readers and to establish the reputation you want to have for your business.
• Quality of message. With blog marketing, you can’t just type out quick messages filled with spelling errors and conflicting ideas; your goal is going to be creating posts that provide readers with information that they can use because that’s what is going to attract readers.
• Helping out readers. When you’re marketing yourself with your blog, your focus shouldn’t be just on writing posts, it should be on writing posts that others will want to read. The best way to encourage visitors to keep coming back - and to check for more details on your website - is to give them information that helps them to make choices that are right for them.

Focusing on the readers and providing them the information that they need will do more to establish your influence and build your real estate business than providing them with the same information they see everywhere else.

When you make the choice to use blog marketing to promote your real estate business, there’s something that you need to remember: you’re using your blog to provide the information that buyers and sellers are looking for - information that will lead them to your services - you’re not trying to sell them on your services within the blog itself.

Because blog marketing is a tool for getting your message out there, you’re going to want to be sure that you know what kind of a message you want to send. If you message is - ultimately - that you want to encourage more people to invest in real estate, then you need to focus on the advantages of real estate investing; if you want to ensure that FSBO sellers use your service for marketing their home, then you need to be able to use your blog to talk about why marketing is so essential.

Providing information gives readers the choice about what they are going to do: it shows them that you know what you’re doing, and it shows them that there are pieces of the puzzle that they’ve been missing. Your blog is a way to fill in the gaps for them, it’s a chance for you to make sure that they are getting the right info.

The marketing information that you use in your blog has to be subtle - it’s not the sales pitch. Yes, you want to “sell” your readers - at least to some degree - on following through a link to learn more about a related topic or service, but your primary goal with blog marketing is simply to get and hold the readers’ attention.

When it comes to blog marketing for your real estate business, there’s one important lesson that you absolutely must learn: in order for your blog to be successful, you need to be sure that you know what type of reader you want to appeal to.

Start out by looking at the blogs that you read: why do you read them? Marketing blogs like this one are targeted towards real estate professionals who want to get ahead, take their websites to the next level and use them to attract buyers and sellers. Sure, a lot of the advice that you’ll find would be applicable to other businesses - rather than the phrase “real estate website,” consider “knitting studio website” and shift around specifics about the product - but we recognize who the members of our audience are and what they are looking for.

Simply put, when you read a blog on a regular basis, the key is that there’s information that you can put to work for you, information that’s geared towards you and your needs. If you’re writing a blog for those who are going to be moving into your area - if you want to be sure that you’re attracting people from other parts of the country to the neighborhoods where you sell homes, shouldn’t you be focusing on topics like relocating, the best features of the neighborhoods and some details about the services that you offer.

When it comes to blog marketing, your goal isn’t to attract readers who aren’t already thinking about your services to your website; you should be using your blog to speak to those who are already considering making the move.

Knowing which people you want to market your services to is always going to make your marketing materials stronger and more effective; why would it be any different for blog marketing?

When you’re going to use blog marketing for your real estate business, there’s one big point that you’ll need to keep in mind: who are you writing your blog for?

Some real estate pros make a conscious choice to write their blogs toward their peer group - to talk about insights that they have into the business and to ask for feedback from other agents, brokers and investors, or to give advice to those who may want to go into the business.

Others make the conscious decision to write to those who are within their farm area who may be looking to buy or sell a property in the area to make sure that people know who they are and what they have to offer.

There are merits to both forms of real estate blog marketing; it all depends on what you hope to accomplish. Just keep in mind that if your goal is to reach out to prospective clients, you need to target your writing to them and not to other agents. Likewise, if your goals include getting feedback from other agents, don’t focus your writing on buying and selling tips.

In order to effectively market your business with a blog, you need to know who your market is and make sure that you are writing for that market.

Many real estate pros, when they first hear about blog marketing, wonder whether or not it’s really something that can help them. They don’t see how adding words to a website is going to help them to make their site more popular, they don’t know that they’ll be able to attract readership - let alone see that readership transform from prospect to lead to buyer or seller.

Thos who have been using blog markeing already, however, see things a bit differently. When one blogger was asked how his career changed from after using his blog, his response was:

(source)It’s so common for me to meet someone in the real estate world here in Vegas that knows exactly who I am because of my blog. Now I am memorable because of my blog. They remember the name.

It such a change from when I had a template site with Advanced Access. I had that site for years, no leads, no mentions of it, no one knew me because of it… I had it listed on all my marketing, everything… and it never produced.

With the blog, it was only a matter of months

Particularly, if you are in a crowded real estate market, blog marketing is essential. It will let you set yourself apart, show what you’ve experienced, and really clearly display what you’ve done differently throughout your career. Not only that, but you can include your vision for the future - and that’s going to draw in your clients.

In real estate, sure, it’s all about location - just as you’ve come to believe and explain to all of the buyers and sellers that you work with. But what happens when the “real estate” you’re marketing is your own real estate website? Blog marketing for those sites is an effective way of drawing traffic to your site and building a relationship with your clients.

There are also ways of making the blog marketing that you do even more effective. Some of the simplest include adding photos and videos to the blog that you write.

Videos that you include in your blog can take advantage of the virtual tours that you’ve created for properties that clients have listed with you. Take the opportunity to market the property in your blog by including some details about the home or the neighborhood, encourage readers to watch the video and see inside and then provide contact information for those who are interested in taking the next step.

Photos, likewise, can break up the content of your blog and be extremely relevant to the topics you’re writing about. Let’s say that you’re going to do a post to talk about the importance of home staging, show what the room looked like before, talk about the changes that you made and then use an after picture. The same can be done if you’re working with sellers to improve the curb appeal of the homes, or even if you take the time to talk with buyers and want to show what’s been a turn off for them.

These details and tutorials are extremely valuable when you want to let prospective clients know what you can do to help them along the way - whether they’re buying or selling a home. Adding photos and videos can do show them that you have the skills to back up what you’re talking about - and that will help draw more prospective clients to your website.

Blog marketing for real estate? There are plenty of real estate professional out there who are far from convinced that they will be able to really affect prospective clients with their blog.

Blog marketers, however, along with those who have studied blogging, disagree:

(source)“What the traditional media doesn’t recognize is that many bloggers, though unrestrained by traditional journalistic methods and ethics, have audiences and actual readership larger than many newspapers, television and radio shows,” Crowther said. “Plus this audience is often more loyal and able to be influenced than that of traditional media, giving bloggers tremendous power to shape opinions, actions and purchasing behavior.”

When it comes to marketing your real estate business, blogging is essential - especially when you consider that it’s estimated that 70-80% of prospective homebuyers start their search online. If you’re able to use your blog, market neighborhoods, services that you offer and trends within the real estate industry, you’re going to find that you’re able to “speak” to those who are getting ready to buy. If you’re able to offer staging and selling tips, you’ll be able to reach out and attract listings as well.

Blog marketing gives you a chance to let prospective sellers and buyers get to know you without having to make a commitment. By giving them that opportunity, you’ll be giving yourself an edge over your competitors.

There are some key elements to blog marketing for your real estate business that, well, aren’t altogether different from writing sales letters: while you’re writing your real estate blog, you’ll want to be sure that you’re creating posts that really draw in your readers.

(source)Getting a visitor to make that leap from reader to participant, or even inquirer involves at least 2 elements.

1. Trust

2. Value

Bloggers build trust through established readership, blogging consistency and the ability to develop passive relationships with their audience.
Bloggers can demonstrate value through their perceived expertise, resourceful real estate tools and reputation.

So, how do you go about making this happen within your own blog?

First, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re addressing real estate issues that people in your area are interested in. If you have a lot of sellers who are asking about home staging, for example, you should make sure that you’re talking about the benefits in your blog and that you’re answering those common questions. If buyers regularly ask the same questions about a neighborhood, you should make it a point to show that you know that neighborhood - talk about it’s features but be honest if residents all share a similar concern (remember, your goal is to establish trust; don’t discourage anyone, but be objective).

Objectivity - and not throwing out a constant sales pitch - is going to help you to establish trust. Providing the information that buyers or sellers or investors are looking for gives your real estate blog value. Those two things will keep readers coming back.

Draw them in with a great headline or title. Establish yourself as the agent who can help them accomplish their goals. Use testimonials and provide links to the services that you offer to show readers what you’ve accomplished for others and what advantages they’ll have when they use your services. Bring it all together when you close with a call to action - give your readers a chance to respond - then stay involved in the conversation.

Be engaging, be funny sometimes, be sincere: all of these things will help you to put your real estate blog to work for you.

When you’re looking for things to post about while marketing your real estate business with a blog, look at your ram area.

When you’re looking around your farm area, are there a couple of streets where the houses seem to stay on the market a bit longer? Are their neighborhoods that have great schools but don’t seem to attract families with kids? Is there a new shopping center that’s going to be built or are their new office complexes, corporations that are planning to move into the area?

Blog marketing gives you a chance to do more than just draw attention to the products and services that you offer with your real estate business - it gives you the chance to draw attention to a neighborhood (and that can help you to put your business on the map in more ways than one).

Write posts that talk about businesses and opportunities. Talk about how great the schools are and how accessible everything will be to those families and individuals. Get your readers - your leads, your prospective buyers - excited.

When people are able to get a clearer look at what’s out there for them, it’s far easier to get caught up, see a great deal and to go for it. It’s really as simple as that.

With the number of free blogging platforms that are available, many people who are new to blog marketing get to wondering why it is so important that they choose a domain name and get hosting for their blog. Some say “Well, why shouldn’t I use Blogger?” Other’s ask, “But so many people say that I should blog with Wordpress, why not just let them host my blog too?”

The first part of the answer is simple: having your own domain and hosting puts you in control of your blog. You are able to choose from additional layouts (even have layouts designed so that they match the look and feel of the rest of your website) and you’re able to use widgets and plug-ins to improve the functionality of your blog. More importantly, you’re able to use links your way and not risk have your blog deleted because you are using it for business purposes.

The second part of the answer is related to search engine optimization. When you choose the domain name for your blog, you’ll be able to make it more relevant to your business. If you sell commercial properties in San Diego, you can find a domain name that will be easy for site visitors to find and remember. The same holds true if you sell land in Kansas or Arizona: it’s possible for those surfing the web to find your blog based on the keywords and title.

Whether you’ve been marketing your business with a blog for a while and were hoping for better results or you’re just getting started, you’ll want to do what you can to make sure that others will be able to see and read what you’re writing. You run your business your way; shouldn’t you run your blog your way too?

When it comes to marketing your real estate websites online, blogs and other social marketing tools are extremely valuable to helping you attract clients and to communicating with the clients that you already have. Even though this is the case, many agents and brokers are still reluctant to add blog marketing to their overall strategy for getting the word out about their businesses.

As far as I can tell, the reason for this is simple: those agents, brokers and other real estate pros don’t understand all that blog marketing can do for them.

With a blog in connection with your real estate website, you’re able to share your knowledge. You already have an understanding of marketing, of the multiple listing service, or why setting the right price for a home is essential; by including that information in your blog, you’ll find that your clients are better informed as well - and they’ll understand why you’re making the choice to do things the way that you do.

Of course, you don’t want to just focus on what you know - you’ll want to express why it’s important based on your experience in your field. By telling stories, you’re able to share something of yourself, of what you know and of your successes. And in the process, you’ll also be able to really share your passion for your field: your clients (current and prospective) will be able to see how much you care - and that’s going to help attract them to you.

That attraction will help get you noticed - both in your field and in your area and by the internet search engines. You’ll be adding fresh content to your website, build links to other pages in your site and serves to attract even more prospective clients - helping you to grow your business.

When part of your real estate business involves selling properties, chances are good that you’ve faced some challenges with getting one property to stand out from others that are similar to it, especially if you’re selling a few homes within the same neighborhood or homes that were designed by the same developer.

If you’ve listed three different homes and each has three bedrooms, two and a half baths and 1/2 acre of lawn space, you might think that there aren’t many things that you can do to differentiate the properties and attract attention to them individually. Each home, however, has its own personality - in part because of the people who have owned it and been living there.

If you have brought blog marketing into your business, you just might find that you have access to a great tool for highlighting the features of each home: your blog.

Think about it for a minute: if you’re using your blog to market properties, each property can have its own entry. For each, you can include photos, details about the neighborhood - even great stories about the neighbors who, whether they realize it or not, can be a selling point for a home.

You can create virtual tours, and you can also include details about why the kids love the home (or an added feature that makes one home particularly kid-friendly). Each of these stories that can be shared in a blog can help the property listing to stand out, help it to catch someone’s eye and attract more interest for the home.

More importantly, however, when you use blog marketing to get the word out about properties that you represent, you’ll find that you’re continuing to market your real estate business and yourself as an agent. It’s win-win.

Blog marketing is all the rage when it comes to website promotion. There are good reasons for this. The content of your blog - like that of the rest of your real estate website - can be optimized to attract attention to your site. By using links in your real estate blog, you’re able to drive traffic to your site. Most importantly, with a great blog you’ll find that you’re able to relate more with your clients and get a better sense of what they are expecting from you.

The problem is this: not all business blogs are created equally. Unlike a personal blog, when you are creating a blog for your business using a blog to market your business you don’t just hit the ground running - and that’s why it may prove beneficial to work with someone who has the experience to set up, optimize and create content for your blog.

The right partner can ensure that your blog has been set up correctly and is hosted privately - not on a free blog site but on either your current website or an independent host. Search engine optimization can be used to determine the right keywords for your blog, and a professional copywriter can be hired to add fresh content to your blog each and every day - something that is vital to marketing your real estate website.

Why would someone use a copywriter to create blog content? The answer is simple. When someone is dedicated to creating daily, keyword rich content for your blog, you won’t need to worry about making the time to make updates nor will you need to be concerned about your blog not being an effective marketing tool.

When you’ve made the decision to market your real estate business with a blog, there are going to be a few things that you need to figure out.

The first thing that most people do is to start looking for more information about blogging; the problem is some of what they find is, well, not exactly beneficial to them while other information provides great advice and proves to be a valuable resource.

Of all of the blog marketing information that you find, nothing is so valuable as the advice you’ll find about keeping your blog content fresh.

If you don’t update your blog regularly, you’ll find that your site isn’t as attractive to search engines as it could be. If you don’t update your blog regularly, you won’t be working on a relationship with your clients and prospects on a daily basis. You also won’t be able to market your products and services as effectively.

The best way to keep content fresh is to post daily, include photos when relevant and ask for guest bloggers if you’re not going to be able to write say one day a week. Or, if you just don’t have the time to write your blog, consider hiring a blogger to do it for you.

Real estate agents, in order to be as competitive as possible and to set themselves apart, need to know who they are and to identify their services. Local advertising is important and so is marketing your services on the web.

There was a time when having a website was enough, but that time has passed. Now there are a number of things that you need to consider: search engine optimization, email lists, content, and a blog.

Blog marketing is a great way of letting your prospects and clients know what you’re about as an agent.

With a blog, if you work with buyers, you can offer tips and tools for those looking for homes, give information about what to expect during the closing, and info about great mortgage lenders.

Similarly, if you represent sellers you can take advantage of blog marketing to explain the benefits of selling with an agent, what the MLS is, include information about the homes that you represent - because buyers will check out a great blog too.

Blog marketing lets you carry on a casual conversation, allows you to interact with prospects and clients and helps you to get the word out about what you can do. On a lot of levels, it really is that simple - at least to get started.