How To Use Real Estate Data To Write A Blog When You Don’t Feel Like It
It’s okay for real estate professionals who write a blog to admit sometimes it’s just a big pain and that’s when real estate data can come to the rescue.
Let’s face it. For busy brokers and agents who manage everything from open houses to newspaper ads to home stagings, finding the time and motivation to write can be difficult.
Of course, that’s putting it mildly. Writing a blog on certain days can be downright agonizing.
Follow these simple tips from pro bloggers
Don’t fret. Here are a few tips to help you get something down on a page even when you find it difficult to write.
- Write as though you are talking to a friend
First off, this is the blogosphere, not a Nobel prize contest. Don’t try to be Ernest Hemingway or JK Rowling.
In fact, don’t even think of your blog as any type of fine writing.
Think of it more as a conversation.
Pick a topic and then write about it as though you were telling a story to a friend.
Don’t worry about finding the perfect word, or the right descriptive sentence. Frankly, your readers don’t care.
They just want to get to the essence of what you are trying to say. So talk to them by writing the way you speak.
- Make just one or two points
People are busy. The attention-span for web users is beyond limited. Think in terms of seconds, not minutes.
Don’t try to write a dissertation on all aspects of real estate in modern-day America.
Just pick one or two key points. That’s all you will have time to present and all readers will want to know.
If you have multiple topics in mind, pick one or two and save the rest for the next blog. You will always need ideas for blogs. Just don’t use them all at once.
Real estate data will provide plenty of topics
- Use real estate data to add credibility to your blog
Here’s where real estate data can make your blogging life much easier.
By partnering with a reliable real estate data provider such as Home Junction, you will have access to a wealth of data about the communities in your marketplace.
Data on Recent Homes Sales, Sales Trends, Demographics, Crime Stats, Cost of Living Indices, etc.
Pick one and write about it.
Use the data you get from Home Junction to back up your commentary.
Point out how home prices in XYZ community are starting to rise. Or, let people know that homes are selling like hot cakes in ABC town over here.
Maybe there are some interesting demographics about a particular community. For example, you may notice that many people in the P&J subdivision have doctorates. Perhaps a bunch of professors from the local college are all flocking to one area.
Another item to point out are what types of homes are selling. Perhaps high-end homes are selling in one area as opposed to home sales in the county overall. Compare one community to another.
(By the way, you can point out how consumers can visit your website and use your Home Valuation Tool to see find their own estimate on the value of their home. This will give them tremendous insight into the status of properties surrounding that home and their particular marketplace. People love this functionality. Why not? It provides credible real estate data on the most expensive thing they own.)
- Show, don’t tell
Are the words still not coming to you? That’s fine. Add pictures.
Use screenshots of charts to provide images that elaborate on the real estate data you are discussing.
People love images. That’s why Instagram has a gazillion followers. Instead of trying to think of how you can add more paragraphs to the page, think of adding screenshots of different data charts.
Show the trend line for recent sales in one community. Or the direction of home prices in another community.
An image says a lot. And that’s a lot of words you don’t need to add in your blog.
- Get the content on the page, then take a break
Here’s something that might surprise you – not even Ernest Hemingway could write a great page of text on the first try. In fact, he’s famous for admitting “First drafts are ____________.” (You fill in the blank).
Rather than squeeze your brain hoping for the right words to get out, just start typing something. Anything.
Eventually, things will start to flow.
After you write your first draft, go take a break. Do something else.
Then come back and edit what you’ve written. The second draft will be much better.
Rewrite again if necessary. Read the text out loud. Proofread what you’ve written one more time and you are probably ready to publish.
(If you use a WordPress real estate website, all of this writing, rewriting and posting images is much easier to do. With WordPress, you can also add plugins that will help you optimize that page for the search engines like Google and Bing. WordPress provides so much versatility for real estate professionals in this day and age that it really should be the platform of choice).
Bonus tip: Be passionate
This tip should really be number one but we made it last because we want it to be the icing on your content.
As a blogger, you don’t necessarily need to be a wordsmith. Especially if you are a broker or agent.
People don’t expect you to be a whiz with a keyboard. In fact, if your writing is too lofty or verbose with big fancy words, you will turn people off.
But what you can do to put zing into your prose is to be passionate. Show enthusiasm.
Get excited about a new subdivision opening up in your area.
Use a real estate map plugin to show where a new school is being added to the neighborhood.
Let your feelings jump up and down on the page (figuratively, of course).
For example, perhaps your local real estate data plugin indicates home prices in one particular neighborhood are finally starting to rise after years of being stagnant.
Maybe you know a bunch of homeowners who live there. You know they have been waiting anxiously for their properties to appreciate like other neighborhoods. Get psyched up. Be the provider of good news (positive real estate data). Act like a cheerleader for their properties.
As you can see writing a real estate blog does not have to be a big chore. Follow these tips.
Remember to:
- Make your writing seem more like a conversation with a friend
- Get the words down on paper, no matter if they don’t totally make sense or the writing is sloppy
- Provide some images or screenshots
- Show enthusiasm about properties, neighborhoods and recent data updates
- Refer to that bank of hyper-local real estate data offered by providers such as Home Junction to make the whole endeavor a whole lot easier
