Real estate is big business. You don’t need me to tell you that. Not just online but offline as well. Many real estate agencies fail to use the internet to their advantage. Yes, having a website is great. You can have people browse real estate listings whether buying a home or renting an apartment.
Real estate, being the billion dollar industry it is, can make for difficult optimization.
An real estate agency has a substantially better chance of increasing traffic to it's website by focusing it's optimization efforts toward a specific geographical area. Doing so will help in establishing a presence for the site while eliminating the need to compete based on standard industry termed content that will not differentiate an agency in Seattle from an agency in Sarasota. A Blog is a great way to begin achieving results by sticking to this formula. The idea behind a blog is that you can create optimized content that your potential clients would find useful and bring them to your site. Simply include your geographically related keywords and phrases in the content. For example, if you have listings for apartments in NY, a good posting for a blog might be "What to Look For When Apartment Shopping in NYC". You could discuss what a renter should look for when shopping for an apartment in NYC, the necessity of renter’s insurance in NYC, overpriced areas of NYC, etc... Try to keep the content fresh and exciting to read. Remember, people may come across your article on a search engine and consequently decide to visit your site and use your services.
One thing that has made a blog a valuable tool is RSS. RSS lets us announce information as soon as it happens. How does this help a realtor? Let’s say I am hunting for an apartment. I may not have the time to check your site every few hours for updated listings. If I have a “my yahoo page”, my MSN or any RSS reader set up, I would know instantly that a listing became available.
With RSS, you won't have to worry about spam filters blocking your emails. It's beneficial for both clients and agents.
The point is to stand out from your competition. Setting up a blog and utilizing RSS are two ways that can be achieved. Also, try to set the goal of becoming the most valuable resource for information pertaining to your market and specialty.
Whether buying or renting, people need a place to turn to for information. If you can provide it, you will have plenty of traffic and clients to match.