Just about every site with any real following out there has added in a huge blog focus over the past few years. So with all of these competing Real Estate websites talking about similar content (listings, communities, buying, selling, etc.) how can you write your posts so that you really stand out as an agent over the coming year?
Here is one big insider tip to not only make your posts more interesting to your average visitor, but also to make your posts really pop to the search engines who are ranking your website in search results. Not to mention it only takes a matter of seconds to add this tip on to your regular post regimen.
If you have a home search on your website, it most likely comes to you via an IDX data feed based on what listings are currently available through your MLS affiliation. Many of you (*especially if you’re a Tribus customer*) will have the ability to insert listing data directly from your blog post editor. For Tribus websites, you can tell these icons apart from the rest in your toolbar because they look like little green icons with a photo of a house. Clicking on these will allow you to insert properties (either one or an entire listing feed) exactly as it was entered into the MLS (meaning details, specs, photos and all)!
Our recommendation is at the end of every new blog post that you take the time to write; click on the triple green house icon to insert a results feed of listings. You can say something as simple as “Please browse the results below to continue searching for homes in the _____ area”.
When doing this, there is a very specific method to keep in mind in order to make this most effective and worth your while:
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- Choose only one area to focus on. It is best to keep the geographic area as small as possible and to make sure that this area is consistent with the focus of the rest of your website.
- break down the inserted feeds to each display slightly different data within that area. For example, you might start with the feed on your first post being “Dallas homes under $100k” then the next post would be “Dallas homes $100-$200k”.
- Consider how often you post. If you post once per week it may make sense to space your price ranges by $50- $100k. However, if you post daily, you would drop that amount considerably. Maybe to $10- $15k ranges.
- Try not to repeat listing data that you’ve already selected in previous posts. If you run out of price ranges that are realistic, consider following with a similar pattern focusing on condos. The goal is to have new data displayed on each post.
- Did we mention you can go back to your very first post and add this data on at the end? The best case scenario would be to begin with your very first post and continue on for all new posts as well.
What is the real goal of doing all of this?
Each listing on an IDX data feed (specifically speaking for Tribus powered websites) gets indexed as it’s very own page on your website. Without sounding overly tech-y… this means that your website is growing exponentially with each inserted feed by however many homes are displayed in the results. The more pages of info about one specific area that you can feature, the better! As a bonus, by each feed displaying it’s own unique data, you are now providing a very search engine friendly road map of what your site can offer to potential visitors. You are in essence saying “Not only is this a Real Estate website; not only does it feature homes for sale in the _______ area; it features homes for sale in _______ in every available price range and property type”.
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As we’ve said before, unique content is King for creating a powerful website. The clearer the message you can send across when writing your content, the better. We all know it’s best to keep the search engines happy!
Cheers to your successful blogging in 2013!
TRIBUS CUSTOMERS: Watch the video for more tips on working with your IDX icons.
