Jun
30
20 real estate blogging topics for when you’re stumped for ideas
Filed Under Online Marketing | 1 Comment
The dreaded bloggers’ block - it happens to all, sooner or later. But the next time you feel it coming, this list of ideas should be enough to jumpstart your creativity and get your real estate blog back on track.
And of course, each idea below can be tackled from so many different angles in different blog posts. So enjoy!
1. Your neighbourhood
Write about the area, shops, schools, day-care, medical facilities etc.
2. Home improvement ideas
As an estate agent, you have surely seen the result of many an excellent home improvement project you can talk about, and a good few botched ones too! Share your wisdom with your readers.
3. Inheritance and wills
Discuss local inheritance laws, how to make a will, taxes, and everything a property owner should know so that they protect their investment and the best interests of their loved ones.
4. Town council projects
What’s cooking at the local town hall? Blog about the facelift that is in store for your area, those new facilities being built, and even the latest cultural offerings.
5. Home insurance
Discuss different types of home insurance policy, how to get the best deal, making claims, and everything a home owner should be told about home insurance, but isn’t.
6. Mortgages
There’s so much to cover here, from general tips and do’s and don’ts, to how to negotiate the best mortgage, to remortgaging options available as a last resort for those who cannot cope.
7. Property laws
Different places have different laws, and your foreign clients will be very grateful for a good, down-to-earth explanation of how things work in your area.
8. Things to do in your neighbourhood
Blog about the local attractions, beaches, theme parks, sporting facilities, and so on.
9. Things property buyers should look out for
It’s said that the seller knows what he’s selling, but they buyer is in the dark. Give your clients some tips on how to evaluate a property for their needs and what things they should be looking out for.
10. Furnishing a property on the cheap
Blog about the best furniture deals and ideas on how to source good second-hand furniture for that holiday home or buy-to-let venture.
11. Renting out property
Renting out a property is another area where most property owners feel lost. Blog about client experiences, give tips, and discuss the local rent laws.
12. Building trends
Write about the latest in building practices, materials, environmentally-friendly options, design trends and so on.
13. Interview someone
Get hold of some outside input and advice to share with your readers. This will make a good change, whether you find an expert lawyer or lender, or even a client willing to share their experiences.
14. Moving advice
Moving home is always a huge headache and tips, tricks, advice and reviews of local moving companies will always be a welcome feature with prospective property buyers and sellers alike.
15. New developments
What’s happening on the construction front? Talk about the latest projects, bargains builds and construction news.
16. How to prepare a house for selling
You know that putting a property on the market is much more than putting up a ‘For Sale’ sign. Share with your clients the best tips for maximising their chances for making a good sale.
17. Pet friendly properties
Discuss the needs of pets and their owners, and point out ideal properties for animal lovers in your area.
18. How to find the best investment opportunities
Some properties are better investments than others. Blog about your best tips for finding those great deals.
19. Restaurants and nightlife
Write about the ‘in’ places in your area and offer your readers some enticing reviews of the best eating and party spots.
20. Saving energy in the home
There has been a huge trend towards increasing energy efficiency in properties and any tips on how to care for the environment and save some money in the process are sure to be a big hit.
So, say goodbye to all that wasted brainstorming time. Be sure to bookmark this post and check back to it the next time you’re in need of ideas for your real estate blog!
Jun
26
Paul is going to be sorely missed’
Filed Under General Stuff | Leave a Comment
Well Tuesday saw the “last supper” at Zig Zag´s for one of our programmers´ Paul Clucas, the glasses of coke were overflowing and the chips were in abundance, well Paul´s plate anyway! Since joining Sorted Sites two years ago, our gentle giant certainly knew how to charm the best out of everyone and will be missed by the team in Tenerife. Good luck to Paul and his family in their new adventure, wherever it may take them.
Jun
19
We are pleased to announce the redesign of poulsauto.com. Good luck to Mikael and Petra and we hope that you get lots of enquiries from your new site!
Jun
18
How to improve your real estate website using Google Analytics
Filed Under Online Marketing, Web Design Tips | Leave a Comment
Have you ever wondered which are your most popular property blog posts? Or which search engine keywords are sending most visitors to your website? Or even what you could do to get more blog subscribers or enquiries from your real estate web site?
These are just some of the questions that you should be asking if you want to make the most of your real estate website and blog, and the good news is that by setting up Google Analytics on your website, you can find out all that and much more. The better news is that Google Analytics is 100% free!
Google analytics can also be integrated with your Pay-Per-Click campaigns so you can compare your PPC performance with your other site visits.
We’ve all wished to be a fly on the wall while visitors are browsing our websites, to see what they like and what they don’t, which pages attract their attention and which ones they close as soon as they load up, which properties people are most interested in and so on. The thing is that running a business website without knowing what’s going on is like dangling any old fishing bait in the hope that something will bite - untapped potential at best and at worst a complete waste of time. Fortunately, Google Analytics saves the day!
How does Google Analytics work?
When you sign up for Google Analytics, you get a few lines of HTML code that your web master will add to your property website (usually a couple of minutes’ job). From then on, your website will keep track of every time someone visits a new page and will send usage data to Google in an anonymous way that protects the privacy of your visitors.
By logging into your Google Analytics account from your web browser you will be able to see detailed statistics for your web site and generate fully customisable reports. You will be able to easily find out things like how popular your pages are, which sites send you most traffic, how much time visitors spend viewing each page, and what parts of the world they come from. But that’s just the beginning.
The really interesting part of Google Analytics is where you define specific goals that you want your visitors to achieve (like running a property search, filling in an enquiry form or subscribing to your property blog). This will allow you to not only monitor how often these goals are achieved, but also to follow the paths leading up to the action so that you can figure out what’s up with those visitors who don’t follow through to the end.
Practical examples: Using Google Analytics to improve your property website
Let me illustrate with a couple of examples. If Google Analytics shows that you are getting a good amount of traffic to your real estate website, but very few property searches, you can use the data to troubleshoot and find out what’s wrong.
Maybe your search box is in the wrong place, or it’s not attractive enough, or the form is too complicated and is scaring people away. You just have to make some changes to your website, wait for some more data to come into Google Analytics, and see if things have improved. And you can do this over and over again, building upon what works best to increase your conversions and your ROI.
Another example: let’s say you’re only getting few readers subscribing to your blog. It could be that your subscribe button needs a makeover. Or you could try adding a note and a link at the bottom of each post asking users to subscribe if they liked it (you can even try asking in different ways, to see which works best).Or maybe you could test the effects of dangling a carrot by offering a free property market report or other giveaway exclusively to readers who subscribe to your property blog. Every time you make a change you just need to wait a few days to gather enough data to see what effect it has had and go on from there.
Once you discover the kind of insight that software like Google Analytics can give you into what’s right and wrong with your real estate web site, you’ll never look back! If you’re not using analytics already, check out analytics.google.com, or contact us at Sorted Sites if you need help getting started.
If you are already one of the enlightened real estate website owners using Google Analytics, you might want to get in touch with us anyway to find out how to make the most of your website’s data and use it to your best advantage!
Jun
10
Blog of the Week goes to Cardenas Real Estate in Gran Canaria
Filed Under Blog of the Week | Leave a Comment
Well done to the team at Cardenas Real Estate and Carolina and Ramon for running an outstanding blog for real estate in Gran Canaria. Carolina is at the helm of the Sales Department and is fluent in several languages with Ramon overseeing their IT Department. We also see that they have a Flickr account with some fab photos of Gran Canaria and Monte Leon.
Well done guys……. keep blogging!!!
http://www.cardenas-grancanaria.info/
Jun
5
Facing the property slump head on
Filed Under General Stuff | 2 Comments
Let’s not beat around the bush. This is a difficult time for the real estate industry in many parts of the world, from the US to the UK to here in Spain. The causes of the current property market downturn are complex and varied, ranging from the weak dollar and the US subprime credit crunch (both of which have a knock-on effect on the European market) to sky-rocketing interest rates in Europe and diminished confidence among buyers.
Many property hunters have adopted a ‘watch and wait’ approach as they try to figure out if property prices will keep on falling,  and they are looking for signs of the market’s recovery before they decide to take the plunge and invest.
Of course, this situation will not last forever, and the real estate market is sure to rebound sooner or later as it has done time and again in the past. But in the meantime, it’s a fight to stay afloat for many property developers and real estate agents that are now finding themselves under an immense pressure to shift to more competitive and efficient business practices. So…
How is your real estate business riding out the storm?
If you’re involved in real estate in any way we would like to hear from you about how the current situation has affected your business, and what you are doing about it. Feel free to use the following questions as a guide:
- How has your company changed to become more competitive?
- Have you had to take any drastic measures to make sure you remain in business?
- Did you modify your marketing and advertising practices, and in what way?
- Are you offering any added incentives to attract more clients?
So post a comment, join in the debate and check back to our blog to swap your real estate survival tips with your colleagues. We look forward to hearing from you!
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