- A real estate blog should have listings in it.
- A real estate blog should NOT have listings in it.
- Realtors should write about real estate, not community events, restaurants, etc.
- Realtors should concentrate more on SEO, writing for better placement.
Right off the bat, I will say that you should always write first for your readers/visitors and then for the search engines. Your content should be valuable to your site visitors, easy to read, and not sound like a keyword density exercise. So, think about your post subject, how it will be of value or interest to your visitors and readers, and then optimize it a bit for the engines if it doesn't dilute the readability.
As for whether to promote your listings in the blog or not, I'm still in the camp with those who do not. Stating that real estate site visitors want most to view listings is true, but it doesn't support the argument for placing promo posts in your regular blog. Unless your brokerage holds a huge percentage of area listings, your visitors are better served by an IDX search of all listings. You should have a blog for your listings, or better yet, a blog for each one individually. However, these promotional blog areas can be a category that doesn't display on your main page, so that your loyal readers aren't bombarded with listing promotions.
The arguments really get interesting when the subject is the mix of real estate writing and community items. Some very respected real estate bloggers believe strongly that you should write at least 80% about real estate, keeping community, events and other stuff to a minimum. The statement is made that you must position well in the search engines for the real estate key phrases to catch the prospects when they're actually in the market to buy or sell real estate. Keeping them informed about community events isn't going to do that, or so they say.
There is some merit to the argument, but there is a big problem that isn't quite so obvious. It involves the percentage of people actually wanting to buy or sell real estate at any given time, and the timing of their searches on the web in relation to their actual anticipated transaction date. Read about why it may be better to appeal to those not yet in the market, rather than focusing on those that are right at this moment.
