Real Estate Data Feeds Are A Great Resource For Bloggers

Real estate data can help you write that all important 1,000-word plus blog.

A 1,000-word real estate blog you might say? Are you kidding? Doesn’t “War and Peace” have that many words?

Yes, coming up with something to write about on a regular basis is certainly not easy.  Most people have a hard time writing any blog. To think of one every week, well that’s downright torture. And now you want a 1,000 words?

Sure, the first month that a blogger starts they are chock full of great ideas. Then comes month three, four and five, etc. In fact, the months don’t stop. They just keep coming.

All of a sudden that keyboard isn’t so friendly anymore.

The key to writing a blog on a regular basis is to have a source of information that provides you with fresh ideas on a regular basis.

One of the best sources for hyperlocal ideas is a hyperlocal feed of real estate data from providers such as Home Junction.

With a real estate data feed, you literally have a fire hose constantly feeding you constantly changing local information.

• Recent homes sales.
• Trends in home prices.
• School information.
• Local business information.
• Demographics
• Cost of Living Indices
• Crime statistics.
• Etc.

Use local real estate data to lengthen blogs

Because here’s why you need as much hyper-local information as you can gather.

Google and Bing. That’s why.

The search engines Google and Bing and all the others like content. (Inman says so.) Fresh content.

And they like in-depth content.

The quality of content is one of the main factors that Google and Bing use in determining rankings. (Sure, there are about 200 other factors as well, but Content is a Big One. Be sure you have that one nailed down. It’s within your reach).

What do Google and Bing prefer in regard to content?

First of all, the verbiage needs to be relevant.

So, if you want your website to rank for Lucky Putter Country Club, it’s smart to have content about the Lucky Putter Country Club on your website and add words related to the club.

With a WordPress real estate website (also offered by Home Junction) you can easily upload tons of content on any subject. WordPress is one of the best platforms in the world for Search Engine Optimization. The software is coded in a way that Google and Bing can easily understand and index in their rankings of websites.

That’s why more than 25% of the content based websites out today use WordPress.

The second item that Google and Bing look for after relevant content is updated content.

Sure, someone can set up a web page about the Lucky Putter Country Club and not touch it for years. But if someone else posts updated and fresh content about Lucky Putter, well Google and Bing are going to notice.

Search engines are all about determining which sites offer the best answers to search queries. Fresh content is one criterion they use. Too many sites are just created and left abandoned with outdated and many times, wrong information.

Google and Bing see that a website that is continually updated, is a website worth paying attention to.

Third, there’s the length of the content.

Sure, the bots that Google and Bing deploy are very sharp. They are equipped with many mechanisms to determine quality content.

But after all, they are still bots (mini-robots).

They aren’t human.

So, one of the factors these bots rely on to measure quality content is the number of words written about a subject. Most experts say a blog or any bit of content should be at least 300 words. Many say the optimum length is 1,000 words (Yikes!).

Some experts will claim blogs should really be 2,500 words. (You’ve got to be kidding. That’s the length of a phone book, right?).

Yes, those numbers are daunting. Or writing anything on a regular basis, say weekly, is challenging as well.

That’s where real estate data can come in handy.

With your own real estate data feed, you have access to an incredible database of local and yes, relevant information.

For example, you could talk about certain neighborhoods you are targeting.

Provide a write-up about the community. The type of homes. The number of homes. The location.

Then go into your real estate feed.

Start pulling up charts for Recent Home Sales in that community. Talk about the results.

Do a screen shot of the chart. (Another key factor that Google and Bing like are images with blogs. Images, break up long blocks of text and make it easier for people to read).

Do the same with trends in Home Prices in that neighborhood. Talk about where the market is going – up, down or in between. Give some predictions on where you think it is going.

With your real estate data feed, you can also talk about recent homes sold in the community. Point out how that home over there sold for a record amount per square foot, or how that home over here sold in record time for that neighborhood.

Dig deeper.

Talk about the demographics of the community. Maybe the average income is above average for the area. Or perhaps there are a lot of young people who happen to live in this particular area.

Check out your real estate data feeds for the latest school information. Talk about enrollment sizes, student-teacher ratios, rankings for the middle school that sits in the middle of that particular neighborhood.

If the population skews older, use the information from the feed to talk about the different medical facilities in that community.

Crime statistics are always important.

Not only can you use local real estate data to talk about a particular neighborhood, but it’s also great as a comparison tool (in fact Home Junction offers a comparison function that consumers can use themselves).

Comparisons are powerful for helping people sort out information and make decisions. It gives them perspective. A way to evaluate.

For example, perhaps Neighborhood A is a hip, super-desirable neighborhood. The perception that everybody has is that this is the place to be. But, with your real estate data tools, you can do a comparison with Neighborhood B and show it has as many of the EXACT same characteristics as the other neighborhood, but with home prices that are not as inflated.

Perhaps by now, the point is sinking in. Real estate data provides you with plenty of information to elongate your blog posts or your posts about a target neighborhood you want to farm.

With that information, it makes it a lot easier to reach 1,000 words in length. Just like we did here.

Do yourself a favor. Tap into real estate data feed. Your fingers and your followers will thank you.