March 28, 2024

Blogging and Teaching

Blogging and TeachingBlogging and Teaching

A great attitude to have when you blog is to teach. This attitude helps in many ways. First, if you have this attitude then you have an attitude where you want to help and add value. This is important for our society and for our community.

It is also important to learn something well enough to teach it. To learn something to be able to teach it means that you have done your homework and have given your subject some thought. You have considered how to explain it to others and have thought out how to make your materials interesting and engaging. A good teacher is an interesting and engaging teacher. Blogging and teaching are a perfect combination!

Writing blog posts and articles helps to organize your thoughts and review the knowledge you’ve already acquired. Also, it usually requires some research and examples, which can even lead to knowing the topic deeper and better.

If you dedicate yourself to teaching others about your topic you are making a larger contribution than otherwise. This is a clear benefit to your audience. If you can add valuable benefits to your audience then you keep them coming back for more and this not only helps you to maintain your readership but also helps you to increase your readership.

Blog to Gain Backlinks

Last of all, your value added teaching content will enable you to gain in-coming links to your materials and this will help you to gain search position in two ways – one the content will gain search position in and of itself and will gain search position by attracting in-coming links. Off-site optimization (gaining back links) is an essential part of gaining search position. Read more about on-site and off-site search engine optimization here.

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Backlinks and Web Content

Link Building - Sharing Web ContentBacklinks and Web Content

How to get more backlinks with Web Content?

There are many different ways you can get more links pointing to the pages on your website.

First off, think about when you last shared a web page with someone else. You shared because you thought that it was:

Click on any of the above links to see an example. Each of these links to the source is valuable in some manner in my opinion.

The page that you shared was well done. It had something to offer.

Therefore, a great the 1st step to getting some great backlinks is to create some excellent content that people will value.

Create web content worth linking to and the backlinks will come without you having to beg for them.

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Blogging Tip – Blogging SEO

Blogging SEO - Use Post CategoriesBlogging SEO

Using Post Categories

I use WordPress for both the SEO Notebook Blog and this website. WordPress allows the use of a blog feature known as “Categories”. All good blogging platforms have this feature.

This feature provides some excellent blogging SEO benefits. To set up your blog in this manner will help your blog and website to perform better in search.

The reasons are as follows:

By placing your blog posts in multiple related categories you increase the chance that the blog post will be found by the search engines. Therefore, you increase the chance that links in the blog post will be found and the pages that these links point to. This helps the individual blog to be found in search and all pages that are links to from the post to gain a higher position in search. Remember that the search engines consider a link to a page to be a vote for that page in terms of its value and authority.

My recommendation is to use logic category names that also provide SEO benefit by using keyword phrases as category names.

By placing your post in multiple categories you help people find your materials. To have logical and interesting blog categories that are also based on search phrases that people use helps the exposure of that category and all the blog posts in that category. Some people may be attracted to a particular category and others to another category. Multiple categories help you to attract readers.

Blogging SEO – Keep Your Blog Relevant

Also, by putting your posts in categories you will also be able to gain insights into which categories are more popular and which are less popular. Publish more to the more popular categories to keep these people interested and study how to improve the popularity of less popular categories or redefine or eliminate the least popular categories. This will help to keep your blog relevant.

When setting up your blog use all the advantages that you can and this means to use categories and to post to multiple categories.

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Leveraging Your Blog

Fresh Content - SEO JuiceLeveraging Your Blog

Blog SEO

We have heard that Content is King when it comes to attracting the search engines and gaining high search position. This begs another question. How do you regularly add fresh content to your website?

In terms of adding fresh new content on a regular basis to your website you simply can’t beat having a blog integrated into your website. If you already have a blog but it is not integrated within your site then move your blog so that it is a integral part of your website.

If you don’t have a blog then install a new blog within your site. Integrate links within your site to your blog and from your blog to your website. Then then publish new posts at a rate that is competitive. Keep adding fresh content via your blog that is of interest and value to your visitors. It is important that when doing this you make sure that you aren’t just adding content for the sake of it, since this could easily fall foul of Google’s web spam algorithms.

Give some serious thought to links from your blog to your website pages. Also, publish your posts to logical search engine optimized categories as this will help both people and the search engines find this content. This will help your website with both the Panda and Penguin updates from Google. Your blog can be a powerful SEO tool.

For every blog post follow blog SEO best practices to further leverage your blog. Stay tuned to the SEO Notebook for some up-coming tips on blog SEO.

 

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Fresh Web Content and SEO

Blog SEO - Fresh ContentBlog SEO

Fresh Web Content

How much fresh web content do you need for your website? This is a complicated question to answer as it depends on a number of factors. The proper answer also means that you need to have good information on your competitors as search engine positioning is significantly based on being better than the competition. This is always the case when it comes to SEO. You do not have to do things perfectly you just need to be better than your competition.

Here are some key questions to ask:

How much fresh web content do your top competitors produce?

You should monitor your key competitor. In this case define your competitor not as the competitor right down the street but rather which competitors are in the search position that you want to be in.

How often are there updates or events that focus on your industry?

You need to be on top of news on your industry. If your industry has weekly updates on key information or on events and you update your website once or twice a year then your website is not keeping pace with your industry. This will make your site appear to be static compared to your industry.

How often is fresh content included in the results for your keyword searches?

From time to time – based on the rate of updates within your industry – do a manual search using your important keyword phrases and see if the major search engines are including fresh content in the search results. If you see content that varies much more frequently than the frequency at which your create new content then again you could have a site that appears to be static,

How much quality content are you and your team/resources capable of creating?

After establishing the rate a which you think you should be creating new content ask yourself whether you and your team can match the rate of content creation necessary to be placed in a category where your site is considered as being fresh.

Researching the answers to these questions for your market will give you good understanding of the volume and frequency of content you need to produce to meet your search engine optimization goals as they relate to the search engines.

Always keeping your capabilities in mind you can estimate whether you need daily, weekly, or monthly updates to include in your search engine optimization plan and stay fresh in the eyes of both the search engines and your website visitors.

Even if your business does not have anything going on in any of the categories above, it is important to publish something new at least on a monthly basis, growing your site and visibility for your products and services and anchoring your search engine optimization efforts in great content.

Fresh content needs to be part of your search engine optimization planning.

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To Blog or Not to Blog

Blogging means fresh Web ContentTo Blog or Not to Blog

Working to find materials for your blog can be very good for you personally! You have to conduct research – which provides you with information and insights.

You have to think about what you have just researched. This provides you with greater insights and helps you to “own” the material.

You have to write about it making you to think even more about the topic. To be able to write about your topic makes you better. You have to ratchet it up a bit to be able to explain what you just researched.

Therefore, the simple act of doing the research and writing about a blog topic causes you to improve.

Also, when you are writing you are in a creative zone and this is valuable for your brain. The creative zone is a time when you brain is not preoccupied with mundane items such as getting through your e-mails or paying your bills or washing the dishes. These things have to be done for sure but you do not have to be so creative to do them.

To set aside quality time to blog is good for your soul.

If you have a blog or think that you should then you have to set aside time to blog. I suspect that the most common reason, explanation, justification excuse for not blogging is that you are too busy.

I am sure that you are busy. However, are too busy to grow your business, educate your clients and potential clients, educate yourself and invest in your online community by providing your expertise with your Blog?

Perhaps you really have nothing to say. If this is the case then you cannot call yourself an expert. Blogging helps to present yourself as an expert. After all you have done the research, you have thought about it and now own it and if you blog then you are explaining your expertise to others.

Perhaps you have nothing to say because you are just not all that interested in your topic. Perhaps you feel that no one will think your blog posts are worthy. Maybe you don’t really know your audience and then do not know how to please them with interesting and valuable blog posts. Maybe you do not believe in your company so why waste the time.

This is all self-defeating noise in your brain. It can be paralyzing. It can keep you from blogging.

Guess what? We have to work at inspiration just like we do anything else.

You need to understand the value you can offer. You need to understand the business case for blogging. You need to see how it benefits you, your readers and your business. Blogging is good for you personally, good for your customers and potential customers and good for your business.

Look for more posts on blogging and its value. I have been thinking about this quite a bit of late and see great opportunity in blogging. Let’s see if I can convince you of the value of blogging for your business.

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Real Estate Blogging – Some Great Reasons

Real Estate Blogging

Real Estate BloggingI have a large number of good reasons for you to blog if you are a real estate company. It is work but it will help your business in multiple ways.

Here are more than a few good reasons that you should consider if you are “on the fence” about blogging within your real estate business.

  

 

  • It’s good for Real Estate SEO.     
  • Your blog should be part of your real estate website and therefore your blog posts represent fresh content.
  • Blogs can offer great link bait.
  • Blogs attract visitors (both buyers and sellers).
  • Blogs will help generate leads.
  • Your real estate blog can provide you with inbound links.
  • Inbound links are of huge value in calculating Google’s PageRank.
  • Blog posts will help your website rank for specific keyword phrases.
  • Blog post are like new pages and this adds to the depth of content on your site increasing your authority with the search engines.
  • You can write content and save drafts and set the drafts to publish at a later date. This helps you with time management. You can even schedule a post to be published while you are on vacation and no one will know the difference.
  • You can have multiple people within your real estate office write for you, or someone else all together if writing is not your thing.
  • You have to conduct the research and then think about what you research and then write about it. This makes you more knowledgeable. This makes you better!
  • Experts blog. Blog to demonstrate that you are an expert in your field.
  • Help to educate and solve the problems of your clients and customers by blogging.
  • It is yet another way to present you and your company.
  • It is a great way to get others involved. If you ask the other agents what they are passionate about in your real estate niche then this is a great focus for their blogging contribution.
  • Blogging is cost effective.
  • You can do a special expose on a new or unusual listing in your blog.

Blogging equates to fresh content which helps search position. Blogging results in more inbound links which adds authority to your website/business. This leads to more traffic.

People, now more than ever, are looking for that trusted resource – that trusted expert. They do research online prior to engaging. Blogging enables you to be that trusted resource and expert. Simply by blogging people will be able to read your materials and gain insights about you and your company that they would not be able to get if you do not blog.

Download our Real Estate Blogging Guide that will provide you with some great ideas on how to generate great attention-grabbing content for your real estate blog. 

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Write Like an Expert

Blogging - Write Like and ExpertWrite Like an Expert

You probably know already that by writing quality articles and blog posts your website is a sure and steady path to becoming an “expert” in you’re the eyes of your audience. If you write well for your target audience you will look far better than the competitor that does not write.

One way that you can write like an expert – and this works for any business or industry – is to take a process that you do and explain how and why you do it to your customer. Show them the value it provides to them as you explain this process.

It’s very easy to do and by communicating this to your audience, you show your audience that you:

  • Know about interior design, or
  • Know how to run a pet shop, or
  • Know how to install satellite dishes, or
  • Know how to search engine optimize a website

It’s the difference between someone who tells you they’re a good cook, and someone who can give you a step by step recipe (with tips from experience) that elevates the recipe and their expertise to a new level.

Do not be concerned that you are giving away your trade secrets. You will not make yourself redundant in the eyes of your potential customer. Telling your customer how you do something and the value it brings to them will not prevent you from being hired. When a customer is researching how to get something done . . . researching how to solve a problem they are really looking for someone that can solve the problem for them. They are not looking to do it themselves.

On the other hand they will be more likely to trust and select you if you have a number of articles or blog posts that demonstrates you know what you’re talking about. If your competitors are not demonstrating their expertise then you have the advantage.

Here are some ideas on how to write and demonstrate your expertise:

Write About Details

Pick something very small and specific that you can examine in detail. Do not worry about selecting something too small. Perhaps the smaller the better as details demonstrate that you know the material well.

For example if you eliminate pests from homes you could write about how to protect a home from pests. However, this is very general. You could be more specific and write about how to protect a home from wasps or go even deeper and write about how to protect a lake house from wasps when you are not there. This is how experts write. They do not write in generalities. They write specifically.

Focus On the Process – Leave Your Specific Talent Out of the Article

Here is an example. Let’s say that you are an Interior Designer. You have certain skills that may be very difficult to explain. These skills may be more like instincts. You may have an “eye” for color combinations but would have a tough time explaining how you get the colors just right. This may be too difficult to explain.

You could instead write about your favorite paints for certain situations or your favorite fabrics and why you like them.

If the explanation of a process is not the best for you then you could explain your best tool for doing something and why you like it. If you are an Accountant you may have a favorite piece of software and you are truly an expert in the use of this software. Explain to your reader why you like the software so much. Demonstrate to your potential customers how well you know the software and how this enables you to do a better job for them.

Give Your Readers the “why”

If you really want to seal your “expert” status then give your customers a “why” after explaining each step of your process.

For example:

We often use brand X paint for a child’s room. It never leaves an odor, is very durable and once dry you can wash it clean better than any other paint we know.

Your expertise comes shinning thought with insights such as this. You are more credible in your potential customer’s eyes.

I encourage you to add content to your website by blogging on topics that add value to your customers and potential customer and that also demonstrate your expertise.

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Blogging Tips for Real Estate

Blogging Tips for Real EstateBlogging Tips for Real Estate

Here are some tips for you if you are a real estate agent or broker and are blogging or are considering blogging. It is fun and can be very rewarding.

 

1.) Establish Goals and Track Them

You need to have goals for your business activities and blogging for real estate is a business activity. Take a minute to think about where you are trying to go with your blog and what statement you want to make. Here are some possible goals that would work for a real estate company:

  • Build your brand
  • Increase your brand influence
  • Increase the number of leads
  • Increase the perception of you as a real estate expert
  • Be the voice of your real estate niche
  • Develop the perception as the superior local real estate resource

Your goals will shape your blogging strategy. Define your goals and then develop your blogging strategy and performance metrics and then blog to achieve them.

2.) Organize Your Resources

Identify your resources. Are all your agents expected to be a blog resource or just you? If you don’t have a blog yet, start small and test-run a blog for 6 months to see how your business benefits. Redefine your resources if you have to.

3.) Define Your Real Estate Blogging Niche

As with almost any business it is much better to be focused on a special niche. The same applies to your blog. Be targeted in your blog posts. The less targeted your message the less targeted your audience will be. Think about your target market and what they want. Think about their problems and how you can help to solve them.

4.) Listen to Your Clients – Listen to Your Customers

Blogging is one of the best ways to assert yourself as an expert in your real estate niche. Think about the problems of your clients and customers. Be an educator and help them to solve their problems. There are great “listening” tools such as Google Alerts and Google Trends or research RSS feeds on your niche real estate topic. After researching your blog topic make is relevant to your niche marketplace.

5.) Be Interesting

Many people (real estate agents and brokers included) are not really writers. The content of your blog may then reflect this. It may be worth bringing in some fresh perspective with younger agents. Interview them to see if they have an interest in writing and if so then ask for examples of their work. New young talent will help to stimulate interesting blog ideas and provide your company with different angles to blog about.

If you think about it stories are everywhere. Interacting with buyers and sellers can become insightful. A local sporting event can become a real estate story as well as a trip to the local market. You can lace in recent local news or news on a real estate market development. The more timely you are with these blog posts the better.

Develop a well defined and committed point of view. Use a great headline and then provide some key advice if you can.

6.) Use Your Voice – No Easy Republishing

Write in your voice and use genuine stories. I once visited a home with one of my areas prominent real estate brokers. The homes kitchen was very outdated but was clean and neat and well preserved. He explained that a kitchen such as this would be very hard to duplicate. He explained that to get appliances in the condition of the appliances was just not possible even on eBay. This is a story from the distant past about 10 years ago but I remember it well and have tremendous respect for this real estate broker.

When you are writing your blog tell a story. Be humorous. Speak from your experience and provide your insights. Your blog is not the place to a rewrite of a press release. Be creative. Be true to yourself. Remember client and customers prefer to work with “real” people.

7.) Develop A System

Consistent blogging is very important important. You will need a system. Start by monitoring relevant and trending topics. Organize materials into categories. Publish to your schedule (perhaps this was a stated goal) and then measure with your analytics software as to what is popular (and what isn’t) and provide your readers with more of what they want.

Block out time to do this well.

As you continue to blog you will become more efficient.

8.) Write a Strong Conclusion

Remember when your 10th Grade high school when your teacher told you to write a captivating conclusion. She was preparing you for your future blogging. Pull it all together and if you have a call-to-action then use it.

If you want to gain additional insights into how to blog for your real estate business then we invite you to download our free guide – Real Estate Blogging Guide. Blogging is a great way to gain more exposure. I believe that once you start you won’t want to stop!

 

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