25 Killer Resources – Blog Content for Realtors

45 Comment(s)

1. Diane Tuman | Apr 15, 2010 | Reply

   Thanks for the mention, Katie. Our partner relations director, Sara Bonert, did a great post in ActiveRain about the many ways real estate pros can use Zillow to their advantage: http://activerain.com/blogsview/977541/10-Ways-Real-Estate-Professionals-Can-Use-Zillow-v20

   And here’s a page that includes widgets and data you can use for your site, for free: http://www.zillow.com/webtools/

2. Marissa Myers | Apr 15, 2010 | Reply

   Scott Schang at Broadview Mortgage has devoted himself to homeowner education through blog and online classes. Check out his mortgage content at http://www.californiateachersandemployeeshomeloanprograms.com/author/porchlightscott/

   Scott?s now working on a project to offer an education-based blog and content syndication to agents. Definitely worth a look.

3. Jason Spencer | Apr 18, 2010 | Reply

   Thanks for mentioning StreetAdvisor.com in your list Katie. We are working with real estate professionals all over the world on helping them to become the local expert in their neighborhood.

   We’ve just launched widgets that let you show off your home town!

   http://www.streetadvisor.com/widgets

   Jason Spencer, Co-Founder
   StreetAdvisor.com

4. Alex at Maui Real Estate | Apr 19, 2010 | Reply

   Thanks for the great post, Katie. It can certainly be overwhelming for Realtors to come up with original, unique content on a continuous basis. I’d advise others to just write from your perspective, whether it’s about local news, your area real estate market, or your personal life (as deemed suitable and appropriate). Best of luck.

5. Katie Lance | Apr 19, 2010 | Reply

   Diane – You are welcome! Thanks for posting those links – they are super helpful!

   Marissa – Thanks for posting a comment and also your link – I will check that out!

   Jason – You are welcome! You guys have a great product – local is where it is at! That is a really cool widget. Have you begun advertising that? I would think agents would be ALL over that!

   Katie

6. Toby Barnett | Apr 20, 2010 | Reply

   Around the office, the topic of blogging for business is gaining traction, good thing I’ve been doing it since 06, as a practical marketing application. Other sources I use to gain topics are: title/escrow/mortgage representatives as well and clients and friends. Representatives typically have access to statistical data that I cannot come by with out extensive research. Asking consumers for topics is a easy way to find out what consumers are wanting to know. I recently asked a college friend what he is interesting in knowing and boom, 5 topics.

7. Katie Lance | Apr 20, 2010 | Reply

   Toby – great ideas! Sometimes clients come up with the best topics. I also think another good tactic is to have a blog post that is a Q/A of a question you get asked a lot.

   Just an idea!

   Thanks again,
   Katie

8. Shanna | Apr 24, 2010 | Reply

   Thanks for the list. As a brand new blogger, I really appreciate all the articles available to those of us trying to get into the rhythm.

   Shanna

9. Scott Schang | Apr 25, 2010 | Reply

   Marissa,
   Thanks for the mention. I was on a panel at Virtual REBarCamp earlier in the month with several others talking about how Agents should create marketing relationships with blogging mortgage people.

   Mortgage content is great for driving traffic to your real estate site and it’s a win/win for everyone if you have a high traffic site that will offer a decent back link to your contributor’s site.

   When interviewing someone to guest post on your site, make you you review their work, check their content for consistency with your values and make sure they are not “selling” on your site!

   Good discussion here!

10. Katie Lance | May 1, 2010 | Reply

    Scott – completely agree w/you! Thanks for chiming in!
    Katie

11. Bill | May 4, 2010 | Reply

    What if you’re not a Realtor? Can you still use this content? Realtor does not mean real estate professional you know!

12. Jason Spencer | May 5, 2010 | Reply

    Hi Katie,

    I’ve just posted about how Real Estate Portals (Trulia and others) are starting to use UGC and Location Reviews, might be of interest to readers.

    http://blog.streetadvisor.com/streetadvisor/2010/05/real-estate-portals-rating-neighborhoods-with-location-reviews.html

13. Ryan | May 5, 2010 | Reply

    Agreed – all great sites – I found a few new ones for our resource tab. Here is another great site that we hope you will consider for your next top 25 list – http://www.verusdecisions.com/
    We currently have a special offer for Inman members – the first 50 members to respond will receive a FREE 3 month membership to use the VERUS Rental Property Investment Analyzer. To get a FREE Rental Property Investment Analyzer – simply visit the website – http://www.verusdecisions.com/ – click the “contact” tab and send us an e-mail with the subject line “Inman – Free Rental Property Analyzer”. In the message section – tell us what you would like as your user name (we will assign a temporary password that you can change at any time) and tell us where you heard about this offer. We will create your account and send the confirmation to the e-mail account from which you send us the request. All we ask in return is you provide us with feedback on the tool – we will send you a brief survey after you have had some time to use the analyzer. Thanks and good investing to you!

14. gary ashton | May 6, 2010 | Reply

    Thanks for the post. Its always good to get a new perspective on ideas for content and blogging that is actually relevant and adds to the value of your website.

    Location reviews is something I think we’ll be seeing more and more as the consumer becomes more location specific in the interests and research.

    Thx again.

    Gsry

15. Big Hairy Ape | May 7, 2010 | Reply

    Hmmm…I still think the best content for a blog is agent generated personal content. Yeah, it takes work, and time…but it does pay off in the end. Consistency is also important, sometimes you have to force yourself. Kinda like going to the gym…

16. Sharon Poindexter | May 11, 2010 | Reply

    Love the tips! Thanks. It’s actually rough to have something refreshing and interesting to say everyday on your blogs… sometimes I get all kinds of excuses to avoid them…I read a lot of business magazines like Forbes, Fortune, Kipligers, etc. They always have very interesting articles where I get some ideas..

17. Lynn Abro | May 17, 2010 | Reply

    Keep it short, keep it simple and make it real. Some of the best posts (that get the most interaction) deal with personal issues. Such as a post about having your email hacked into, asking the question – How do you deal with this? I got a lot of interaction from that one.

18. Maggie Stone | May 17, 2010 | Reply

    I think that your own writings are always best for your site but if you can’t think of anything to write for your content or simply don’t have time you can use a free wordpress blog content service, we use it on 3 blogs and it creates pages daily, it will add unique real estate articles to your wordpress blog without you doing anything, then you can simply add your property search box to each page and get 100’s if not 1,000’s of pages indexed in the search engines, then you can use the promotion methods described in this article to promote each page. you can find it here http://theparamountnetwork.com/blog/adding-content-to-your-site/ there are also some great free seo tips http://theparamountnetwork.com

19. Mark Andreo | May 18, 2010 | Reply

    Is this only for wordpress blogs or for any type of blog?

20. Paramount Properties | May 25, 2010 | Reply

    Always looking for ideas for articles and posts.I find I have become more adventurous as time has gone on- started with very studious property/ specific and now I’m commenting on life, events and weather. What would you be more interested to read about should be the rule

21. Kent | Jun 7, 2010 | Reply

    Just as a side note… Google and other search engines love blogs that have a lot of activity so you are making your site more likely to rank high in the search engines if you are being consistent with your comments and doing it often.
    Also… for those of you that feel like it is to much… get an assistant or VA to help you with it. It will be worth it for your future business.

    Kent with http://www.InternetMarketingFor Realtors.info

22. Raj Sharma | Jul 5, 2010 | Reply

    Thanks everyone for providing the perfect information one is looking for

23. jocubed | Jul 24, 2010 | Reply

    Thanks for this. It was Incredibly helpful!

24. Jay Zenner | Jul 24, 2010 | Reply

    I routinely “plagiarize” my own Rotary Club program write-ups. Often these are delivered by important leaders in the community. Most buyers are not just looking for comfortable shelter but also a type of community or a neighborhood. Using the blog to “sell” the community also demonstrates that you understand and care about the community.

25. David, The Real Estate Visionary | Jul 24, 2010 | Reply

    Those are some really good points. Another good tool is Google Alerts. You can get alerted for whenever real estate news hits Google. Also, DSnews is a great site for content as well. The key though is being original, don’t copy or plagiarize.

26. Mike The Sarasota Real Estate guy | Jul 24, 2010 | Reply

    100% of my content comes from my visitors’/customers’ interests.

    Whether real estate agent, mortgage person, title, credit repair,etc. – create a list of frequently asked questions AND (and here’s a big one) questions your visitors (potential customers) should be asking but aren’t asking.

    Now, here’s what I do for my team’s online presence and for other agents whose lead gen I manage: I create “rings” for my content, generating short 60-90 second VIDEOS of each topic. I then create a longer post/article on the same topic.

    VIDEO is big and getting bigger. For people who like to write or don’t write well, create short, powerful videos and distribute them. Nothing wrong with vlogging.

    Very powerful…and services will transcribe your videos (text & audio), allowing you to distribute additional content as well.

    I put (some) videos on Facebook and keep moving visitors along to the next source (blog) for more videos (i.e. more information).

    I don’t put all videos in one location.

    Creating and developing relationship takes time. It does NOT happen when real estate pros force sign-ups or post regurgitated, outdated information.

    The best “content” ideas should come from each RE-related person’s own “farm” area, regardless of RE, mortgage, credit, title, etc.

    Cheers,
    Mike

27. Austin Buy Homes | Jul 25, 2010 | Reply

    I have to check this out and see if it will work for me.

28. Dave Kropp | Jul 29, 2010 | Reply

    Mike, thanks for the great input. I am going to look into using videos. Thanks

29. Jason | Aug 8, 2010 | Reply

    Best content I’ve found is relevant content on individual neighborhoods where I work. People are always wanting to know what is going on, how much homes are selling for and what is being planned.

30. Mike Johnson - Realtor | Aug 12, 2010 | Reply

    This is pretty much the blog post I’ve been looking for. I’ll be dining out on these tips for ages. Cheers.

31. Homes in 32828 | Aug 28, 2010 | Reply

    I think the greatest source of info for your blog is hud.gov

    It is loaded with short sale, programs and financing copy that you can use.

32. Madison Homes | Sep 7, 2010 | Reply

    I think Jason is on the right track. I believe that consumers like to get info that reinforces their purchasing inclinations. If they are looking to buy a home in Madison WI, they will appreciate information about Madison neighborhoods…perhaps more so that information about my Airedale Molly .

33. Madison Homes | Sep 7, 2010 | Reply

    I think Jason is on the right track. I believe that consumers like to get info that reinforces their purchasing inclinations. If they are looking to buy a home in Madison WI, they will appreciate information about Madison neighborhoods…perhaps more so than information about my Airedale Molly .

34. Josh at Nashville Real Estate | Dec 1, 2010 | Reply

    Thanks for the list. I already use several of these and they are excellent resources for agents. There are a few on here I never even thought of and will be sure to check them out.

35. Lynnwood Real Estate Broker | Jan 6, 2011 | Reply

    It is interesting looking through search results, looking for threads like this for things to repost and comment on with social media.

    The hard part really is keeping followers engaged and thinking of you as the real estate professional with something interesting to say.

36. Houston Website Design | Jan 21, 2011 | Reply

    Google Alerts will also do the trick. Just setup alerts for keywords such as “real estate” or “mls listings” etc. They get sent directly to your inbox

37. justmoveout | Mar 16, 2011 | Reply

    I believe that consumers like to get info that reinforces their purchasing inclinations.

38. Unified eMail Customer Service | Apr 4, 2011 | Reply

    Don’t forget about direct eMail marketing.
    Staying in contact with existing and potential clients via eMail is one of the most affective (and cost efficient) methods in advertising.

    Consider sending monthly newsletters and/or special deals as a way to stay in-touch.

    You can do it yourself for less:
    Check out: http://www.unifiedemail.net/Service/SMTP-Relay/Default.aspx

39. Chris | Apr 17, 2011 | Reply

    We have an agent here in Maine that uses text messages. Her signs have the number and you get back certain info about the house. Neat idea.

40. Zack real estate agent | Apr 21, 2011 | Reply

    Great post, I appreciate this excellent list of resources.

41. Homes In Maryland For Sale | Apr 25, 2011 | Reply

    Agents should definately use social media. These days, agents need to use every tool available. As far as having nothing to say, they could offer tips for finding homes, interest rate updates, or even comment on related news stories.

42. myrealestatetools | Jun 4, 2011 | Reply

    there are lots of ways to promote your realtor business over the internet. I suggest you get a realtor software to make things easier.

43. masterpapers | Jun 29, 2011 | Reply

    That was an excellently written essay, thank you so much.

44. Mijas Real Estate Costa del Sol | Jul 23, 2011 | Reply

    Thank you for the helpful information and advice, i’m looking forward to putting it all into practise.

45. Jeff Morris (Real Estate Agent) | Jul 28, 2011 | Reply

    Hey Katie, that’s really a great info. And very much agree with your content tips too. I am a person who love to pen down the contents too.

4 Trackback(s)

1. From 25 Killer Resources – Blog Content for Realtors | Blog – Veo y Alquilo | Apr 15, 2010
2. From Tip Tuesday: 5 Secrets to Writing a Blog Post in 15 Minutes | Future of Real Estate Marketing | Apr 20, 2010
3. From 10 Days To A Better Facebook Page ~ Day 5 ~ Post Engaging Information « Victoria's Tech Tips | May 28, 2010
4. From It’s All About The Content, Baby! Part Two — Scott's Tech Tips | Sep 13, 2010

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