From zeroing in on the best neighbourhoods and choosing the best materials for your homes to finding the best contractors and ensuring customer satisfaction, you have a lot to think about as a home builder.
But in order to run a successful company, you must also spend time marketing it. You have to set yourself apart from your competitors and remind prospective clients you exist - and one of the best ways to do that is to start a company blog.
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- Establishing your goals for writing a blog
- Determining your blog's purpose
- Choosing how often you'll create new content
- Find the best writers
- Know your niche market
- Identifying and develop your brand
- Creating great content
- Figure out the best keywords to use in your company blog
- Make use of internal and external links
- Don't forget to include visuals
- Always end with a call to action
- Get on social media
- Consider using social media advertising
- Set up a posting schedule on social media
- Establish an email list
A company blog is a valuable tool for getting your brand out there - especially if you build homes. These tips will help you run a successful blog alongside your home builder website and learn the skills you need to stand out from the competition.
Establish Your Goals for Writing the Blog
Before you even get started on writing your company blog, sit down and establish your goals. If you know why you're writing a blog and what you want to get out of it, those become measurable goals. You can then determine at a later date if you're actually reaching them.
Don't forget to factor in your audience and what their expectations might be. You're not writing a blog for you. You're writing a blog so you can attract new customers.
You're looking to utilize more SEO on your website which will help increase your search engine rankings and make it easier for people to find and buy a home from you.
Determine the Purpose of Your Blog
Ask yourself why your audience will want to read your blog. Your goal is to attract people. Determine what types of content will make what you're writing seem so special they'll want to keep coming back time and again to read your posts.
While you do want people to visit your company blog because they want to do business with you, that's not really what it's for. Instead, it's for connecting with new people and sharing your expertise. Keep this in mind when you're writing and you'll find greater success.
Choose How Often You'll Create New Content
Create a working plan for when and how often you'll create new content. Otherwise, it's too easy to get caught up in the daily grind where you might forget to write and lose any readers who were connecting with you.
Instead, set up a calendar for when you'll create new content and, while you're at it, create a calendar for when you plan to share your content. Determine the best time to post your blog where your niche audience is most likely to read it and then commit.
Find the Best Writers
You might know how to build a great home, but that doesn't mean you have the ability to put that knowledge and expertise into writing that's engaging.
That's okay!
If you have people inside your company who have a knack for writing, have them write the blog. Otherwise, hire a few outside writers/bloggers or look to an agency for support. Worry less about the money and more about their skills as a writer. Keep in mind, working with guest bloggers is a great way to collaborate with reputable writers.
Know Your Niche Market
Identify and know who you're writing for. Most people who will be attracted to your company blog are the same type of people who are your current customers. Ask them what information they'd like to know more about and/or try to determine their needs. Figure out what they're looking to get from you and what questions they tend to ask you the most. You'll also want to visit your competitor's sites and see who they're writing for.
Identify and Develop Your Brand
Good online branding is instrumental in doing business in today's competitive homebuilder industry. It sets you apart from your competition.
Think of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. They both sell similar products. Yet, because they have branded themselves differently (and strongly!), they both have die-hard fans who are fiercely loyal to one or the other.
Your branding also becomes a way for customers to identify with you, builds trust and helps you determine the values you and your employees all share - creating a stronger, healthier business. Everything you do, including your logo, how you dress for work, and your company blog should be a reflection of your brand.
Create Great Content
Content is king.
For this reason, creating great content for your blog should be your primary goal or no one will read it.
This also includes using headlines to attract visitors and entices them to read further. Remember, "News About Our Homes" isn't exciting. "Homes You Should Never Buy", on the other hand, is more likely to capture a visitor's interest and encourage them to start reading.
You'll also want to write content people can learn from in a way that's easy for them to understand. While you may know all the home builder lingo, your readers most likely won't. You want to be sure to share your expertise as it establishes professionalism, authority and trust with the reader, just make sure you're doing that in a language they understand.
Lastly, remember that great content is also part of your marketing strategy. Incorporate this strategy into every blog article you write.
Figure Out the Best Keywords to Use In Your Company Blog
Good keywords are an important part of writing a company blog. They help your search engines rankings, allowing people find your company and your company blog that much faster.
Try to think like a home buyer. Determine what keywords or keyword phrases you think they'll tend to use to locate a home building company like yours. You can always use a keyword search tool if you need help, and be sure to check out which keywords your competition is using.
Don't forget to use your keyword or keyword phrase several times on your blog. It should be used in the first paragraph at least once, one of your headers and then a few times throughout the blog itself. Just avoid keyword stuffing!
Make sure your keyword(s) look natural, not forced and overused. How often you use your them should depend on the total word count of your article.
Make Use of Internal and External Links
Making use of links helps on a few levels. For starters, search engines such as Google love links. Keep in mind, however, you'll be penalized by Google if you use the wrong ones. Make sure your links are always in good standing. A 404 link should be corrected.
Link to sites that help bring home the point you're making in your article and help set you up as an expert. Link to other expert sites. Don't forget to include internal links, as well. These are links to your website and can include pages that don't usually get a lot of viewing. They can also be other articles that can help educate your customer without you having to repeat yourself.
Never link to a competitor's site and if you do link to an outside source, especially one you admire, go ahead and let them know. It's a great way to build connections with other like-minded companies who can help yours.
Don't Forget to Include Visuals
Any company blog should include pictures - but this is especially true if you build homes. People want to see your work and see examples of what you're discussing in your article. Visuals also help people retain the information more readily and make your work look more appealing overall.
You have a few choices when it comes to choosing images for your blog. You can hire a professional photographer or take them yourself and upload them. There's also photo stock you can purchase - be careful with this, though, your competition may be using the exact same stock photos.
Don't forget to add meta titles to all your images to help you with search engine ranking!
Always End With a Call to Action
At the end of each article you write on your company blog, there should be a call to action telling your readers exactly what you want them to do.
For example, you can tell them to contact you for more information or encourage them to visit other sections of your site. If you're trying to capture e-mail addresses to build up your e-mail list, you can ask them to fill out an online form in exchange for another piece of great content.
Try not to always use the same call to action after every blog post. Offer your audience a variety!
Get On Social Media
Social media is a great way for you to get more people to find and read your company blog. Figure out which sites your readers and customers are most likely to spend time on, then create a profile on each one.
Instagram is a great marketing tool and a wonderful place to post your blog articles. People especially love viewing photos there, so use this to your advantage by sharing the amazing pictures of your homes. Facebook is also a great way to easily find your niche target market.
Don't forget to utilize your branding on your social media profiles. Your goal is to get people to identify with your brand so they remember and want to connect with you.
Consider Using Social Media Advertising
Paid advertising is a great way to get more people to find out about your company blog. It's also really affordable.
Facebook advertising costs as little as $1 per day. You can target exactly the type of people who are most likely to read your blog and even narrow down your search according to location, age, gender, interests, and even education levels.
Take a little time to set up an advertising profile and let the social media do the rest!
Set Up a Posting Schedule on Social Media
Social media can eat up a lot of your time if you let it. But this doesn't have to be the case!
You can have your social media marketing done in 30 minutes if you devise a schedule ahead of time. Do this by determining when your target audience is most likely to read your posts and learn how to read and understand the analytics your company blog is receiving. That will help you determine which strategies are working, and which aren't. You'll then be able to make the changes necessary to start getting more traffic to your blog.
Don't forget to make it easy for people to share your content with their friends and followers on their social media pages.
Establish an Email List
One easy way to gain an audience for your company blog is to grow your email list. That way, when a new blog post is written, those who love what you're sharing will know immediately.
Personalize the email list so it looks as though it was delivered specifically to that person. Much like regular mail, people are more likely to open your email if their name is on it than if it looks like spam.
It's easy to set up a way to gather email addresses on your website. Once it's set up, you can just sit back and watch the number of names and addresses grow.
Blogging is a process and no one gets it right immediately. Rules sometimes change regarding what works and what doesn't. But that doesn't mean you should give up. Keep learning
Our site is dedicated to helping companies attract and convert home buyers to homeowners. We welcome you to peruse our homebuilder marketing resources and learn for yourself.
