Blogging To Generate LEADS
Although I have transitioned from a sales agent to real estate broker, many of the agents I work with wonder how I am still generating a high volume of sales leads from my blog years after hanging up my consumer sales hat. Here are my tips that still work today but here's my caveat: we know Google seems to be trying to outsmart marketers with their algorithms so who knows what will work in 10+ years. But while the getting is good, here goes my top 7 tips to generate leads through organic placement...
1. ALWAYS feature words in your blog post that reflect your target market.
Create a list of 5 - 10 keywords that capture the essence of your targeted real estate market. If you have an Adwords account, use the Google Keyword Finder to help. Be sure to ties those words into EVERY post. This may mean you always mention landmarks in your area (i.e. near the Big Chicken, which is in Marietta, GA), highways (i.e. close to GA 400 and the Perimeter), top schools (i.e. in Walton High School's district) or anything else that buyers and sellers associate as a perk to living within your target area and will help them gravitate to both the area and your site (ummm... the Big Chicken is not a perk lol but you get what I mean).
2. Use video.
Video has become one of the main front-runners of mobile users so give them what they want! Remember, that we are in the age of Youtube-styled videography, where videos do not have to be elaborate productions but can still be of a nice quality.
This is how the search engines will connect what you have written with what people are searching for online. Many times we focus so much on the article, click publish yet neglect the most important piece - catering to the demands of the search engine. Be sure to write an intelligible sentence or two for your search description while packing in as many of your keywords as possible, without making the sentence garbly-goo because that is a SEO no-no.
4. Sign up for Google Authorship.
This is no slight to Yahoo or Bing but if you do nothing else, sign up for Google Authorship. This is important because this will ensure that if someone reads a great post you have written on a random site, they can find you on Google+. There's nothing worse than someone being impressed by your expertise but then not able to find you or worse yet, attribute it to someone else - ugh. Other search engines have options as well to link your content around the web to you but Google should be at the top of your list. Here's the link to do it.
5. Post to well-trafficked sites like ActiveRain.
My lone ranger Sandy Springs Now blog gained a much wider audience of home buyers, sellers, real estate agents and other professionals (I even started receiving invitations to review restaurants, go figure!) by also posting the content to ActiveRain. This can jump-start your exposure so here's the link to sign up for an account.
6. Share on social media.
It's 2014 so of course EVERYTHING you do needs to have snippets featured on your social media sites. This is great for exposure but it also saves you time and energy from having to create new content each time you engage on FB, Google+ (this one is vital: see this article), Twitter, Instagram and the like. Use what you have to reach those in your social sphere of influence.
7. Write (or hire a freelancer to write for you!) at least once a week but ideally at least 3 times a week.
Consistency is key! The older I get, I find that there are few things that lead to business success that do not require diligence. Blogging is no exception because this is a lead generation method that may take several months of consistency to create a pipeline of leads but the time is worth it because you are creating an online footprint that can last for YEARS to come as long as you don't delete the posts. Accordingly, I still have Blog Time on my calendar that repeats 3 times a week. Sure, there are times that my week is too busy to jot down my thoughts but my goal is to at least plan to be consistent and stick to that plan as much as practically possible.
I'm an open-book so don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions on generating leads by blogging or other methods at info@agentsaroundatlanta.com. Here's to your success!
