11 Valuable Blogging Tips For Real Estate Agents In 2023

In today’s media-driven world, professional blogging has become more and more lucrative as a means of promoting business and providing value to the consumer. Blogging for real estate is an especially valuable opportunity that can help to grow your brand. 

In this post, we will get into everything you need to know about blogging for real estate and how it can be beneficial for your business.

Why is Blogging for Real Estate Agents Important?

Blogging for real estate can help you establish authority and expertise in the field. As you build your brand in this way, you will become a go-to resource for others seeking advice and knowledge.

You may be surprised to hear that you don’t need to know everything about a specific topic before you start blogging for real estate. Instead, as you research more about your topic and begin to write your blog, you will expand your personal knowledge which will help you help others.

A notable benefit of blogging for real estate is that it can be a viable source of leads. Once someone likes your content and signs up for your email list, they instantly become a warm lead. They’re already interested and actively consuming your content, so they are more likely to be receptive if and when you follow up. 

Finally, in the long run, blogging can actually save you time. Instead of having to answer the same questions over and over to different people, you can send a link to the content you have created for that particular topic.

Finding the Right Keywords 

51% of all website traffic comes from organic search, so before you even put pen to paper be sure to do your research on what keywords are being searched. You need to know what people are searching for so that you can maximize organic traffic to your site and rank higher on Google. Otherwise, you could end up writing the best blog post but if no one finds it, it’s all for not.

Use the Auto-Suggest Feature on Google for Ideas

The auto-suggest options that come up when you search for a term on Google show you some popular ideas that people are searching for. This will get the ball rolling, but once you have a few options it’s time for additional keyword research.

Utilizing KWFinder.com

KWFinder.com is a great keyword research tool that you can use to start blogging for real estate. The site provides more in-depth details about different keywords, such as search volume and ranking difficulty so that you can decide which ones to use.

Search by Keyword

Type a keyword into KWFinder and it will tell you how many searches the term brings in per month, how difficult it will be to rank for it, and an analysis of your competitor’s posts that use that same keyword.

Difficulty Scores

KWFinder creates a Keyword Difficulty Score that will tell you how hard it is to rank for a single keyword. If you’re new to the blogging game, then it’s best to stick to a score below 30 for the best chance at ranking.

Search by Domain 

If you notice any websites in your niche that come up fairly often when you’re doing your keyword research, then you can enter that domain on KWFinder. KWFinder will show you all the different searches they rank for, their estimated site visits, and a Keyword Difficulty Score for their keywords.

Create Lists

Lists are helpful so that you can keep track of each keyword’s search traffic and difficulty score and have a dedicated place to compare your results. 

It can be helpful to do all of your research for multiple keywords upfront, so you don’t have to repeat the same process week after week. This will help you focus on creating content, rather than getting bogged down with a bunch of research. 

You’ll want to update this list every few months as search difficulties and statistics can change over time.

Answerthepublic.com

On Answerthepublic.com, you can enter a keyword and it will create an entire list of related keywords. You can then download that list and upload it to KWfinder, which will analyze all of those terms for you. 

Search Intent

Optimizing to match the searcher’s intent is very important. Before locking down your keyword, do a practice search on Google using that keyword. Make sure the majority of the results on the first page are for blog posts and not just advertisements or commercial links. 

For example, if you were to search the keyword “best shoes,” you would likely see a bunch of e-commerce sites in the results. This means that your blog post probably wouldn’t show up because Google has established that the searcher’s intent by using that keyword is to actually purchase something, not read a blog. 

Additional Tips For Using Keywords

When you’re blogging for real estate, you have to be very intentional and specific in the way you use your keywords. 

For example, once you’ve done your research and found an effective keyword or phrase, you don’t want to change the words or the order of the words at all. Make sure to place the keyword verbatim in your headline. Even the smallest change can mean you are ranking for a keyword with a much higher difficulty score. 

In addition, you want to avoid “keyword stuffing.” This is where you use the keyword in your blog too many times. Google can tell if you do this, and it will hurt your ranking.

How to Write Good Posts

Choose Your Niche

Create content that is only relevant to your area. For real estate, this means focusing on your specific market or locale. The more specific your niche is, the easier it will be to start ranking on Google, which in turn means more people will find your blog. 

Make it Easy to Read

Use short paragraphs that are anywhere between one to three sentences long. Short sentences are always better. Be sure to use transition words to help with the flow. Use multimedia like video clips or images in your posts to create visual breaks and make the content more digestible. Lastly, keep your tone light and conversational.

Use Click-Worthy Headlines

The trick here is to create a click-worthy headline, but not clickbait. That will only upset people and can hurt your rankings long-term.

Some tried and true headlines include:

• Lists (“10 Tips for Creating a Blog”)
• How-to articles
• Questions
• Case studies (ex: “How I Went From Selling Zero Homes to 40 Homes in One Year”).

Start Off With a Good Intro

When blogging for real estate, you can follow a three-sentence formula for your introduction:

• Introduce the problem, or why the reader came to your post, to begin with
• Offer the solution
• Give proof that your solution is effective

These three components will make your introduction powerful enough to capture the reader’s attention and keep them reading.

Create Backlinks with Statistics and Case Studies 

A backlink is created when another site links back to your site as a reference.

For instance, if you include statistics and case studies that are unique in your blog post, then other people are likely to use that as a reference in their own posts. 

This will tell Google that your blog post has information that people want, which will increase your rank on the search engine results page. 

Include Images and Infographics

Helpful images and infographics you’ve created are best since they are exclusive to your post and provide unique content that no other site will have.

Update Your Old Posts 

Maybe you’ve already tried blogging for real estate in the past but the posts are from years ago. 

No need to start from scratch, it is best to go back and update the original post rather than delete it or generate a new post on the same topic. A new post will only create competition, which could affect your search engine ranking.

Ask for Feedback

This can come from a friend, family member, or spouse. It might be especially helpful if whoever reads it is not a real estate agent, because then they can let you know if you explained your topic well enough for the average reader.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing your individual blog posts in order to rank higher and earn more traffic. You can do this by formatting your posts in a way that makes it easy for search engines to understand what your post is about. 

Keyword Placement

Some of the places you should make sure to put your keyword are:

• Headline (Place your keyword at the beginning of the title, not the end)
• Primary headers
• Subheadings
• The first 100 words of your post

Meta Description

The meta description is the box of text that appears underneath the post title on the Google search results page. If you don’t fill this out yourself then Google will pick a description for you.

Filling out the meta description manually is an opportunity to use your keyword and describe your topic in a way that will appeal to the searcher. 

If you’re using WordPress, you can download plugins such as Yoast, which makes it easy to see and edit your meta description.

Bounce Rate

If users are clicking on your page and then just bouncing right off, Google will pick up on this and it will hurt your ranking.

You can reduce your bounce rate by avoiding clickbait headlines and keeping your page loading speed to an average of 1.5 seconds. Tools such as Google Page Speed, GTmetrix, and Pingdom track how your site is doing in this area. 

Ideally, you want your page to be under two megabytes in size. Media can have a big effect here, so keeping it to an average of four to five images per post is best. Bulky file types take longer to load, so try to stick to compact formats like jpeg. 

Using too many plugins can slow down your page speed, too. However, there are some plugins that compress your image file sizes, and can actually speed up your page loading speed.

Once you get your loading speed down to 1.5 seconds, you don’t need to worry about getting the load speed any faster. While you can be penalized for a slow loading time, a faster speed doesn’t really benefit you.

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate is affected by several different factors, and being aware of them is important when you’re blogging for real estate:

• Title
• Meta description
• Featured image

For the featured image, make sure that it is a square as opposed to a rectangle, as this can affect the way your post looks on the search results page. 

Internal Links

Internal links are links to other posts on the same website. 

Internal links are important for spreading your link credibility and increasing your site ranking. Since you’re in control of your internal links, you should make sure to optimize them.

There is a plugin you can download called Link Whisperer that can simplify the process. Just type in a particular keyword, and Link Whisperer will search your entire site for content that matches that keyword. You can then link to this content in your post.

External Links

To give your post credibility, make sure that you’re linking to external sources outside of your webpage. Make sure these are credible sources because it will help your own credibility with Google if you are linking to sites with good reputations.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO is taking action outside of your website in order to rank higher and earn more traffic.

Social Media

Simply sharing your posts on social media and asking other people to share as well is an easy way to rank higher and get more traffic. Google tracks the number of shares an article gets across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and the more shares you have, the better.

Build Backlinks

One way to get backlinks is to directly reach out to other related sites in your niche. Ask them to include a backlink to one of your articles that you think might help their audience.

Broken links can also be an opportunity to reach out to other sites. 

Broken links can occur when a URL gets changed or your site crashes. You can use tools that let you search a website for broken links, and then contact the owner of that site. Let them know you found a broken link, and then offer a new backlink to your post as a way to fill the gap left by the missing content.

KWFinder has a tool that lets you see the backlinks your competitors have included on their posts. If they’re linking to other posts, there’s a chance they will also link to yours if it’s similar. Usually, you can find the site owner’s email address, and then just ask.

Create an Email List

If you want to start blogging for real estate, you need to build your email list from day one. 

If you’re just starting out, you might not have much to offer outside of promoting your newest posts. But as you grow, you could start offering a free guide or mini-course as a way to entice people to sign up.

Email is an important and effective tool for generating traffic to your blog. Your email list readers are interested in what you have to say and will likely spend more time reading your post. This will help your site’s ranking and traffic.

Real Estate Specific Blog Tips

Only Create Content on Your Own Domain

If you’re using a CRM or a website provider for your buyers and sellers to look at real estate, then you don’t want to put your blog on that same platform. 

Instead, you should add IDX links to your blog posts to send people to your real estate website. That way, if you end up changing your CRM platform down the line, you won’t lose any of the traffic or great content that you built up. For some inspiration, check out these 17 awesome real estate blogs.

Types of Posts to Include When Blogging for Real Estate

Write about Zip Codes and Neighborhoods

When it comes to real estate, people are generally searching for the best neighborhoods to live in or for information about a certain zip code. This creates a great opportunity for you to step in and provide that information.

Real estate market information

If you wanted to write a report about the July San Antonio market, no one is going onto Google and searching for “July San Antonio market report.” 

You’ve got to find out what keywords people are using to search about your market. KWFinder.com can help you with this.

Lifestyle in your market

This could be things like “Christmas in San Antonio” or “The Best Coffee Shops in San Antonio.” 

How-to buy/sell guides

These posts can be more of general guides and not specific to your market. In some cases, general content can appeal to a much wider audience and thus bring in more traffic.

Other Tips

Use Original Images

Original images will always be better than stock images, though stock images are better than nothing. For example, if you’re writing about a specific neighborhood, original pictures of it will be very impactful to your reader. Or even better, original video.

However, if you do need stock images, Pixabay or Unsplash are good sources to turn to.

Setup Analytics

Analytics won’t start meaning much until you have a good amount of traffic, so don’t focus too much on this at the beginning. However, it’s still important to get your analytics set up to use later on. Google Analytics is a great option to track your site.

You can also set up Google Search Console, which will show you all the different keywords that your site is ranking for and other data from Google search.

Setup Facebook Pixel

To set up Facebook retargeting ads, you must use a Facebook pixel. A pixel helps you find visitors to your blog on Facebook. This allows you to run ads on Facebook specifically directed at them.

Even if you don’t plan on retargeting your audience at the beginning, it’s helpful to get this tool set up from the beginning so that all the data is there when you’re ready to use it later on.

If you’ve built your own website, installing the code for Facebook Pixel is fairly straightforward. Log in to your Facebook Ads account and follow the instructions on setting up your Pixel. If you didn’t personally create your website, contact the person who did for assistance. 

Final Thoughts On Blogging for Real Estate Success

These tips will help you start blogging for real estate in no time. Soon you’ll find that you’ll get more traffic and more leads for your business, as more and more people discover your helpful, high-quality content.