How To Be a More Productive Real Estate Blogger

Time is short. You know it and I know it.

Content is at the core of any great real estate blog. But it takes time to write a great headline, create a solid, content-rich post, and find a good picture to go with it.

Where do you find the time to keep delivering the type of content people want to read and share so that prospects spend more time on your site and eventually, more time looking at your offer?

Today, I share a few action items that you can follow to be a more productive real estate blogger…

1. Create a Swipe File to Store Content Ideas

New post ideas hit me at all times of the day. So to stay on top of things I do two things: 1.) I carry a moleskine notebook with me everywhere I go, 2.) I use bookmarketing service delicious to bookmark posts for later reference or I simply email an article to myself.

The key here is to create an on-going list of post ideas when inspiration strikes. If there’s a post you want to reference or link to, make sure you have it bookmarked somewhere so that you can easily reference it. In my moleskine, I write post titles for content that I think I should write now or in the future. This way, when I run out of post ideas, I can always reference the notebook for something new and fresh.

2. Outline Your Post

I tend to start with the headline first. Once you have a headline, you know what you need to deliver in the body of your post. So the next step is outlining the post: intro, body, end (with a Call To Action).

If your outline has one too many points, then it’s probably a good ideas to consider splitting that post into a 2-3 part post series.

3. Write One Post At A Time

It’s easy to lose focus sometimes when you’re writing. And it’s tempting to want to jump from one post to another before you finish the first one. I do it to. Heck, at the writing of this post, I have 5 tabs open on Chrome. And that’s the problem… Such things are nothing more than a distraction.

To be more product, focus on writing one blog post at a time. Don’t start the next one before you finish the first one. And if you really want to step up your productivity, try using a timer (a standard kitchen timer will do). Here’s the trick, set the timer for 15 minutes and write without stopping or pausing until it buzzes. Then, take a minute or two to walk, breathe and edit before you sit down and start writing again.

4. Create a Post-Publication Checklist to Promote Your Content

For example, I like to do the following:

• 8:30 – 9:00am Publish my post.
• 9:00 – 9:15am Tweet & Facebook Share my post.
• 9:15am Update my LinkedIn Status with my post.
• 10:00am Post gets emailed to email subscribers.
• 2:00pm Tweet my post (again).

What sorts of things might you add to your checklist? Either way, keeping a schedule of what you need to update/publish, makes it easier to go through the motions. Make a schedule and stick to it.

What else would you add?

What others sorts of things do you do to stay productive? What seems to work well for you?