1. Home
  2. Business & Finance
  3. Real Estate Business

Using Blogs to Build Your Real Estate Business

Though relatively new to most real estate agents and brokers, it is critical that you learn about blogging and implement it in your business as soon as possible! For an individual agent, it may be a smart thing to do before a web site. Learn why blogs are effective and how to get business with a real estate blog.
Jump Into a Real Estate Blog, Know the Commitments.
If you're considering blogging in real estate, know that it requires a commitment of time and dedication to consistently interesting content. You can achieve great success with a real estate blog by bringing interesting news and information to your reader subscribers on a regular basis. By the way, that's also what the search engines like.
Your Real Estate Website Can Be A Blog Without You Being a "Blogger"
Too many real estate professionals, and even some technology gurus keep differentiating between websites and blogs. Yes, hardcore blogging is one thing, but you can combine the two for a website on a blog platform and get the benefits of both.
Study Proves That Blogging Brings More Business Than Websites
Hubspot did a study of more than 1500 businesses on the Web, and it proves dramatically that blogging is much better than regular websites for site traffic and business generation.
Using Flickr & WP-Flickr Plugin to Make WordPress Blogging Faster
By using Flickr "sets" to group your images by subject matter, then installing the WP-Flickr plugin, you can place images in posts faster, and without the WP image gallery hassles.
e-Newsletters the Easy Way - Blog RSS Feed to Automated Newsletter
Using your RSS feed to populate a professional e-newsletter saves you time, and the automated delivery to your subscriber base will save you even more time. This inexpensive solution takes away the need for drip email, and it's much more consumer friendly.
Fast & Easy Original Content for Your WordPress Real Estate Blog
With one plugin, and a little help from willing business and government entities, you can have fast and constant original content for your WordPress real estate blog.
Using Flickr to Speed Up and Enhance Your Real Estate Blogging
Flickr is a tool that has made my real estate blogging easier and faster, and it just keeps getting better. Learn how Flickr works with WordPress for fast posting of images.
More Interesting Real Estate Blog Posts With Zemanta
Zemanta is a tool that allows you to insert legally licensed images into your blog quickly. This tool will also suggest links to related material that can be added with one click.
Chapter 3 - Getting Ready To Post & Setting Options
Setting up your WordPress real estate blog before the first post. Learn here about general settings, get your theme activated, and build your categories.
Chapter 2 - Choosing a WordPress Theme and Setting Up Categories
This chapter concentrates on things you need to do BEFORE you publish your first post. One is choosing a theme, and what to look for, and the other is setting up a logical category and navigation structure.
Chapter 1 - WordPress How To for Real Estate - About WordPress
This is the first chapter in a detailed tutorial on using a self-hosted WordPress.org blog for your complete real estate website presence. It is effective, search engine friendly, and very inexpensive.
Setting Up a New WordPress Real Estate Blog
This step-by-step tutorial will have even the novice up and running in days with a first class WordPress real estate blog for their business.
Lesson 3 - Hosting Considerations for Your WordPress Real Estate Blog
Be sure that you're choosing a host not just on the cheapest price. You want a host that guarantees up-time and more. See here what else you need to consider.r
Lesson 2 - Why WordPress Makes for a Great Real Estate Website
Why WordPress for a website? First, search engines love the way blogs handle content. Next, WordPress makes building and maintaining your real estate website easy.
Lesson 1 - WordPress 2.7+ & Real Estate Blogging
This is the first in a series of articles and instructional pieces on setting up a highly successful real estate blog in WordPress. It can, and should be, your only web presence.
Don't Hire When People Will Provide You With Free Real Estate Blog Content
Too many real estate professionals are afraid to begin blogging because they fear there will not be enough time or ideas to keep generating relevant real estate blog content. Not true. It's easy.
If Your Real Estate Blog Looks Like a Standard Website, Don't Call It A Blog
There are many real estate bloggers who have chosen themes for their WordPress blogs that look more like standard websites than blogs. The fact is that there is still a large percentage of the population that is not into blogging.
How Realtors Spend Their Time & No Time for Real Estate Blogging
I love hearing my local real estate competitors make the statement that they don't have time to blog. Every day they hold that opinion, I gain a tiny future bit of Internet marketing share.
Mimbo Pro Premium Magazine Theme for Real Estate WordPress Blogs
I wanted to write a review about the theme that I'm using for my personal real estate website on the WordPress platform. Here's the scoop on Mimbo Pro 2.2.
Your WordPress Real Estate Blog Installation & File Locations for FTP
Most WordPress users end up doing a great deal of uploading of files and images using an FTP client. Learn here how your WordPress installation is laid out and where those files are.
What You Need to Know About Hosting Your WordPress Real Estate Blog
There is critical information here that will keep you from making a mistake in hosting that will cause problems down the road for your WordPress real estate blog.
Why Should You Choose a Self-hosted WordPress Blog for Real Estate?
In this series on blogging for real estate, you are getting detailed instructions on using WordPress 2.7 as your real estate blogging resource. Learn why here.
The Why of Blogging - Why a Blog Should Be Your Web Presence
It's no secret that I believe every real estate professional should have a self-hosted WordPress blog. Here's the :why" of blogging, and the reasons to use WordPress.
Trade One Print Ad's Cost For A Year Of Internet Marketing
How many real estate print ads have you run for $100 - $200 each? How many direct response leads can you attribute for sure to each of those ads? Here's how to trade one ad for a year of great marketing by real estate blogging.
Using The WordPress MemberWing Plugin for Real Estate Lead Generation
Though primarily designed for blogs to sell premium content to subscribers, the MemberWing plugin can be a great lead generation tool for real estate bloggers on WordPress.
WordPress for Your Real Estate Blog
Having used several blogging solutions, I want to review WordPress here as far as its suitability for a real estate blog, or even an entire real estate web presence.
The Brokerage Real Estate Blog - An Agent Community
Brokerages are missing out on a great opportunity to provide inexpensive marketing support to their agents with a common real estate blog platform. Learn how to make it work.
Real Estate Blogging On The Vine - Is A Blog A Website?
There is little doubt that blogging works for Internet real estate marketing. And, WordPress is the best platform for it. It's just a big step. See how the Real Estate Tomato can help.
Answering Questions for Real Estate Blog Content
One of the reasons many real estate professionals do not blog is the fear that they cannot create enough content on a regular basis. An FAQ category can take care of the problem.
Carving Out a Real Estate Niche With Your Blog
Being controversial in your real estate blogging might not be the best strategy. However, you can draw compatible clients with your blog posts.
Real Estate Blogging - New vs Returning Visitors
We want traffic to our real estate blog site. Who should make up the bulk of that traffic, new or returning visitors? Obviously in growth mode, new visitors would dominate, particularly if we're doing PPC marketing.
The 7 Keys to Real Estate Blogging Success
Real estate blogging is gaining in popularity daily. So why is it that many sources say that less than 5% of real estate blogs are actually successful at their primary goal of generating leads to convert to buyers and sellers? It could be that less than 5% of real estate bloggers are doing everything right. This survey asked successful and failed bloggers alike to answer questions intended to …
Self-Hosting and Real Estate Blogging - There is a Success Relationship
How does self-hosting versus a blog network translate into more business for those real estate blogging? Learn here what one survey found out about hosting of real estate blogs.
Real Estate Blogging and Site Analytics for Lead Generation
Real estate blogging is growing exponentially, with a small percentage finding it successful for lead generation, and many more failing miserably. How does the analysis of site statistics play in lead generation?
Real Estate Blogging and Lead Conversion from RSS Subscribers
How does the number of RSS subscribers to your blog convert to leads and from leads to actual clients? Learn what one survey says here.
Real Estate Blogging And The Social Networks - Are the Leads Good Ones?
A great many bloggers tie their blog posts into social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Does this improve lead generation and conversion to commissions?
Should You Write About Specific Properties in Your Real Estate Blogging
Writing about specific properties in your real estate blog will likely cost you leads and money over time. Read the survey results that prove this here.
Real Estate Blogging - Don't Display Your Listings
We're not talking about an IDX or other MLS search function, but displaying your listings. Surveys show that the more successful bloggers do not. See why here.
Proof That Real Estate Blogging Pays Off - If You Stick With It
There is survey evidence that bloggers who have stuck with it for two or more years are getting 2/3 of their leads from their blogs.
Real Estate Blogging With Easy Mapping
Real estate blogging is not just blogging. Your entire web presence can be a WordPress based blog, and the results can bring you a lot of business. Here's a way to easily map listings, local sights and more.
The Website-Blog Combo for Networking & Marketing Success
The super agents of the future are likely to be those who recognize a fleeting opportunity to use the Internet to combine marketing and networking. The first site in a community to do this right will have a huge advantage.
Make It Easy for People to Share Your Real Estate Blog Posts
People like to share, and you want to make it easy for them to share your blog posts with others. Learn how here.
Example Site Page Navigation Structure & Content Plan
Here you get detailed instructions and screen shots for setting up an example page navigation structure for a WordPress real estate blog. We plan our content categories, pages, and how the visitor will find them through navigation.
Customizing the WordPress Sidebars With Plugins and Widgets
In our chose theme, we have two sidebars, one left and the other right of our center dynamic content column. Learn here about customizing what is displayed in these sidebars with plugins and widgets.
Getting Your WordPress Community Real Estate Blog Started
There's plenty of web information out there about how real estate blogging will help your business. There is a lot of theory and even a great deal of writing about what a real estate blog should contain for content.

What there isn't is a step-by-step guide to set up a WordPress blog for real estate. I'm promoting community blogging, so this series will focus on a community oriented blog, bu…

Managing Pages in Your WordPress Blog
Most Word Press themes display page navigation as tabs across the top, and secondarily down the side in a sidebar. Here we learn how to create and manage pages.
Developing Our Blog Post Category List
This is an important step in our setup of the WordPress blog site. We develop our category structure. Categorizing blog posts helps our visitors to find them later.
The Settings Tab Off Our Dashboard - Multiple Setup Screens
Using the Settings tab at the top right, we go through multiple screens to set up various functions and styles in our WordPress blog. This includes some setting for plugins, as well as general settings for post writing, reading,etc.
Uploading and Activating Plugins in Wordpress
In this WordPress blogging lesson, we learn how to upload and activate plugins that we'll need to make our blog function in some special ways. Plugins allow us to do special things with our posts and displays.
Selecting and Installing Your New WordPress Site Theme
Here you learn where to look for themes, and some selection criteria to think about when you're looking at hundreds of really great looking themes.
Tour of the WordPress Dashboard
The WordPress Dashboard is your control panel. This is your spot on login where you build out your site, set up the design, and post all of your items. It all happens here. This tour will hit the high points of all your options.
The First Step in Building Your Real Estate Community Blog
For those who believe that networking reaches a whole new level via community blogging, this article leads off a series of step by step instructions and tutorials in building your own at a very low cost.
The Real Estate Community Blog - Getting WordPress and a Hosting Service
The first step in community blogging is to get the WordPress blogging software set up on a hosting service with your domain name of choice. Learn here the best and least expensive options.
Do Pull Networking With a Community Oriented Real Estate Blog
Networking in our community is a successful business building activity for many real estate professionals. Use a community focused blog to pull good will instead of pushing yourself.
Blogging for Real Estate - Community Information or All Real Estate?
Real estate bloggers will argue this forever. Decide what your goal is for a real estate blog, as well as what value it will bring to your marketing efforts to make this choice.
The Blogging Debate - Stick to Real Estate or Cover Community?
Real estate blogging experts are continually debating about the content that works best in an agent or brokerage blog. There are those who believe it should be heavily real estate focused, so the search engines will bring that ready-to-transact prospect to them. Others take a longer term approach.
Your Real Estate Blog – The Networking Monster in the Closet
Too many real estate bloggers overlook one of the most valuable contributions a blog can make to their business. They focus too much on real estate, and not enough on community.
Your Real Estate Blog – Newspaper or Real Estate Store?
Real estate bloggers have strong differences of opinion as to the content of a real estate blog. Should it be almost all real estate, or should it be significantly about the community?
Should Your Real Estate Blog Focus Mostly on Those in the Market Now?
Who is your target demographic for blog posts? Should it be those in the mode to buy or sell now? Or should you widen the net for more down the road?
Real Estate Blogs Are The Future
This really isn't about the format of a blog, or how it works with Search Engine Optimization. This is about your future client, the site visitor who you need to satisfy.
Website or Blog? The Ultimate Listing Solution is Both
With single property websites gaining acceptance, marketing listings on the web is changing for the better. However, with some suggesting multiple blogs instead of web sites for listings, you might wonder which is best. Don't make a decision - do both in one! This is the ultimate internet marketing strategy for listings.
Use a Blog for a Single Property Web Site
Single property web sites have become quite popular for marketing real estate listings on the internet. A better solution is a blog for each property for several reasons outlined in this article.
Blogging as the Local Expert with Regular Hotsheet Report Posts
Real estate blogging is rapidly gaining respect as the way to communicate with clients and prospects, position yourself as a local real estate expert and garner better search engine positioning. Here's a blog post strategy that works for all three.
Networking and Blog Posts Both from Homeowner Associations
Your real estate blog and web site will benefit from the frequency and original content of blog posts. You also have to come up with all this material. Get help from local subdivision and homeowner associations and their good will as well. Have them email you their meeting schedules and agendas and post them.
Blog Post Ideas from Your Prospects' and Clients' Questions
Real Estate Blog Post Ideas - As a real estate agent or broker, you receive questions from buyer and seller prospects and clients on almost a daily basis. If someone asks a question, there are surely others out there with the same one, but they just haven't asked it yet. Write down every question you get and use each and the answer for a blog post.
Tips for Successful Real Estate Blogging
Blogging for real estate is growing quickly, because it's an effective marketing tool for many real estate agents and brokers. Before you start your real estate blog, know your time commitment, as well as the type of content for your blog posts that will work best.
What is a Real Estate Blog and do You Need One?
Real Estate blogs are growing in popularity at an extremely fast rate. Real estate blogging can be a boon to your business if you learn to do it properly and have the dedication to post frequently.
How a Real Estate RSS Feed Works
The huge popularity of real estate blogs requires that agents understand the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feed concept and how a Real Estate RSS feed is used to deliver their blog content to subscribers.
Sending Automatic and Fresh Newsletters from Your Real Estate Blog
If you're not blogging yet in your local real estate market, you should be. If you are, and you're doing it right, there is a wealth of topical content in your blog. Instead of mailing a regular newsletter and having to locate content for it, have one created from your blog posts.
Jump Into a Real Estate Blog, Know the Commitments of Time and Content.
If you're considering blogging in real estate, know that it requires a commitment of time and dedication to consistently interesting content. You can achieve great success with a real estate blog by bringing interesting news and information to your reader subscribers on a regular basis. By the way, that's also what the search engines like.
How Blogging Can Supercharge Your Real Estate Agent Business
In marketing power, blogs or web logs for real estate are approaching the importance of a web site. It cannot be stressed enough how powerful the real estate blog can be in positioning a real estate agent as a local area expert. Some real estate web site template services are now adding blogs to their site offerings.
An Effective Real Estate Blog Will Be Inexpensive, But Not Free
Free platforms for building your real estate blog are everywhere. They're quite effective for the casual blogger or family blog. But, the chances are good that a free platform won't have what you need for a good real estate blog.
Realty Blogging by Richard Nacht and Paul Chaney
Realty Blogging, a book by Richard Nacht and Paul Chaney tells it like it is if you're considering starting a real estate blog. From search engine optimization with blogs, through content, community blogging, branding and market niche, it's chock full of great information.
Explore Real Estate Business
About.com Special Features

Start your new business on the right foot with these helpful tips. More >

Easy steps to take control of your credit card debt. More >

  1. Home
  2. Business & Finance
  3. Real Estate Business
  4. Marketing for Real Estate
  5. Internet Marketing
  6. Blogging for Real Estate

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.