How to find the best topics for a Real Estate Blog?
Paradoxically, one of the most lucrative industries, and where I see the ugliest and most outdated websites, is Real Estate. Those who do it well get all the results, but they are the exception, not the rule.
Today I will tell you why and how you should start publishing a blog, if you have a real estate company. Here you will find a short but detailed guide for you to take your first steps on solid and fertile ground.
After reading my article on the best topics for a Real Estate blog, you will have no excuses. If you don’t take action, it’s because you don’t want to get the results.
Who is the real estate blog written for?
We already know that for a real estate agency the blog is important because it can attract clients.
This brings us to the next point: Who should we write for in a real estate agency blog?
Real estate companies have two groups of customers.
- Those who sell.
- Those who buy.
Some real estate companies, in addition to buying and selling, also manage properties. There we could identify other potential audiences. However, let’s keep this article simple. Let’s focus on those who buy and sell properties. To do his job, a real estate agent must pay attention to both groups.
The first group is composed of property owners and developers. It provides the real estate company with a portfolio of properties to offer to those who have the money to buy them and the budget to do so.
The second group is made up of people who are looking for a home or office to occupy or as a form of real estate investment. They are the ones who make sense of the whole real estate market. Without buyers, the rest of the players in the market would have to abandon it and dedicate themselves to something else.
So, when creating a real estate blog, both groups should be considered.
Buyers and sellers have different concerns and needs. Therefore, within the editorial calendar we will include valuable content specific to each of them. But what does valuable content mean?
Content that satisfies a need or helps solve a problem is valuable. To find out what needs and problems real estate buyers and sellers have, we must first map their Custumer Journey.
The Custumer Journey is a marketing tool. In it we collect relevant information about the stages that the customer goes through from the moment he/she detects that he/she has a need or problem until he/she solves it by taking action. For most people there are three stages:
- Recognition.
- Consideration.
- Action or Conversion.
At each stage, these people face specific needs or problems, specific to the stage they are in. Once those needs are met or those problems are overcome, they move on to the next stage, where there are new challenges, and so on, until the main goal is achieved. The questions and concerns raised during the process are an invaluable source of ideas to write articles for the real estate blog.
Although the stages are common to both audiences, the specific problems that buyers have to solve are different from the problems faced by buyers. Hence, our content agenda for the blog treats them differently.
Let’s analyze each group separately.
What Topics to include in the blog for Vendors?
In the first stage of the Customer Journey, it is the recognition phase. Owners begin to reflect on situations or problems they are facing. They are not yet thinking about selling their property, but are looking for information about a specific problem.
These situations could be:
- They need more space, and where they live now they don’t have it.
- They face changes in the family that require a change of housing.
- They need to relocate geographically, for work or family reasons.
- They are having difficulty meeting their mortgage or other expenses.
- They need the money to finance other activities, for example, entrepreneurship.
In each case, people have a situation that is susceptible to be solved by selling the property, even if they have not thought about it yet. If there is a content that connects this need, with the possible solution “selling the property” then we could get the person to move in that direction.
The idea is to capture the prospect’s attention at a very early stage, and accompany them to the second step, the second stage of the Customer Journey.
In the Consideration stage, the owners already see selling their property as a possible option. However, they are still undecided and lack important information to take action.
For example, in the consideration phase a prospective seller will seek information on:
- In what situation is the real estate market (crisis, healthy or bubble).
- The average price of other properties like yours in your area.
- What permits and documents are required to sell a property.
- What are the tax obligations assumed by the seller.
- Which is preferable, direct sale or through a real estate company.
These topics, and others like them, are perfect to address in a Real Estate blog. Here the agent can demonstrate his or her level of knowledge, professionalism and experience in the industry. It is the ideal type of article to gain the confidence of homeowners, and invite them to include their property in the agent’s sales portfolio.
Finally, the third stage of the Customer Jorney, conversion, is best worked directly in landing to capture properties. Here special attention should be paid to the user experience (UX), and the application of the most appropriate sales and conversion techniques.
SEO TIP: Always link from content corresponding to the discovery stage, to content corresponding to the consideration stage. Then, from these, link to the conversion landings.
Now let’s see what topics we can cover in the real estate blog, but from the side of the clients who are looking to buy a property.
What topics to blog about for potential buyers?
Potential real estate buyers have their own Customer Journey. So, as we did with sellers, let’s now analyze the needs of the people who might eventually buy a home.
In the reconnaissance phase, a potential buyer:
- They need more space, and where they live now they don’t have it.
- You are starting or expanding your family and require a home of your own.
- They need to relocate geographically, for work or family reasons.
These three needs are common to both buyers and sellers. However, there are others that are unique to buyers.
- Make an investment in real estate.
- Adopting a pet that requires a space adapted to its particularity
- Access certain services that are geographically limited.
In all these cases, the interest of those seeking information is focused on solving certain problems or needs, and they are looking for solutions. The mission of the articles published in the blog of the real estate company is to address these situations, and to demonstrate that one way to solve them is to buy a property.
In the second stage, the consideration phase, those interested in buying a property typically seek information on:
- When is the best time to buy a property?
- The average price of homes for sale in the area you like.
- Types and dimensions of real estate that meet your taste and needs.
- What is the best way to finance the purchase of a property.
- What taxes are assumed by property owners when they purchase real estate.
This type of content is perfect to invite users to download some promotional material, or to sign up for a newlsetter, and thus get them into the real estate sales funnel.
Finally, the third stage of the Customer Jorney, conversion, is best worked directly on the property cards. Here special attention should be paid to the user experience (UX), and the application of the most appropriate sales and conversion techniques.
These are the advantages of real estate blogging
A blog is one of the most powerful attraction marketing tools I know. Along with email marketing, they are the two channels with the highest ROI among all digital recruitment options.
Whenever it is well managed, having a blog, it is all benefits.
The 4 main advantages are:
Capture organic and qualified traffic.
Blogging is not intrusive, but places your website in a position to be found by potential customers as they search for information that will help them solve a problem.
Educate your audience.
Even the best positioned products and services have edges on which the audience can be educated. The blog is the perfect place to develop this activity.
Create community and build loyalty.
When you have a blog with articles that help or inspire, it is easy for users to return to consume more content. Little by little, you can create a nurturing group of people with feelings of belonging to the brand.
Generate leads for the business.
You should never use the blog to sell directly. Readers hate that. What you can do, however, is ask for their contact information in exchange for the promise of more value. That said, deliver what you promise.
Tips for running a real estate blog.
If you have reached this point, then you already know what topics are likely to be addressed in a real estate blog, and how to generate ideas to always have content to publish.
Before closing this post, which is already quite long, I want to share with you 5 tips for you to take your real estate blog forward successfully.
✅ First tip: Publish regularly, this way both users and Google will know when to return to your blog to find new and quality content.
✅ Second tip: Focus on your audience’s problems, needs and dilemmas, and you will always have positive feedback.
✅ Third tip: Approach topics in a deep way, but using plain language. On the internet, when someone abuses technicalities in their content, it ends up generating rejection instead of the attraction you are looking for.
✅ Fourth tip: Try to optimize your contents with real estate SEO, in this way you will achieve that your articles reach prominent places in Google.
✅ Fifth tip: When you publish, post on all Social Networks. This way you can always attract a new audience to the blog, and you ensure an important percentage of social traffic.
Ready to create a real estate blog?
Dare to create a blog for your real estate agency today. This way you will be able to take advantage of all the benefits I mentioned before for your company.
Creating content for the blog is a demanding task, but the results justify the effort.
If you have any questions, doubts or suggestions, leave them in the comments. I will be glad to answer you.
On the other hand, if you prefer that I advise you, or even that we design everything together from the beginning, you can contact me and I assure you that both of us will be happy to work together to create the best real estate blog in your city.