Is Your Real Estate Blog Getting Stale? Here’s How To Keep It Fresh!

Does your real estate site look like it’s new and updated? Or does it look like a ghost-town?

When consumers are shopping for real estate online, they’re looking for local, up-to-date, and accurate information.

If your site isn’t current, it says “this site isn’t reliable.” At least that’s what it translates into in your prospects mind.

You might have a great IDX with accurate data. But if your site seems out-of-date and your content stale, your site visitors will come and go in a hurry.

So what do you do to keep your content fresh and keep your site visitors engaged? Here’s a few things you can do:

• Update your old posts. Do you have any evergreen-ish posts that you’ve written for buyers or sellers in the last year that could use an update?
• Find questions in your inbox and write blog posts with your responses. We’ve talked about this before in “How To Use Your Blog for Stock Answers.” Train yourself to take questions people (prospects and clients alike) ask you daily, and turn them into blog posts.
• Invite your local home stager and loan officer to guest post on your blog. You’re giving them promotion (via a 3 sentence bio) and a captive audience in exchange for their content and expertise. Here’s a great example from real estate blogger Irina Netchaev and guest author, Michelle Minch from Moving Mountain Design (a staging company) – Home Stagers Tips: How To Remove Smoking Odors From Your Home. Who can YOU invite to guest post on your blog?
• Invite your current and past clients to guest post on your site. Do you have a client who’s a foodie? Invite them to guest post on your site about local places to dine and eat. Who better to talk about the local community and great places to visit than your current clients!
• Use dsIDXpress shortcode to write a post series titled “Home of the Week.” Once a week, you hi-light a new home for sale. Tell us what’s unique about it. (This takes about 5 – 10 minutes to write and publish).
• Use dsIDXpress shortcode to write a post series titled “Neighborhood of the Week.” The idea here is to hi-light a new neighborhood each week similar to what real estate blogger Dale Chumbley did here. Only take it a step further and include IDX data in your post. In addition, share with your readers what’s unique about the neighborhood. What makes it a great place to live?
• Do more with video. Real estate blogger Irina Netchaev for example partnered with local designer Laurie March to host “Foreclosure Friday.” The idea is simple, once a week, hi-light a new property under foreclosure, and do a walk-thru, interview style as Laurie features potential ways to improve the home. You close with whether you think it’s a sound investment based on the purchase price and improvements to be made. Another great example comes from Walter Burns who uses video to talk about specific condo’s. He not only gives advice (via video) on the purchasing process, but he includes tons of video reviews on the local community. How could YOU do more with video?

What other type of content can you produce?