The Blogging Basics: Making the Most of Your Real Estate Blog Part III
Today's post is the third in the series, and we're going to talk about two things that are crucial to a successful blog. Those things are headlines and keywords. If you don't have good ones, or you're not using them right, it will only hurt you in the end.
5. I'll Think of a Good Title Later
A good headline (or title, or whatever you want to call it) is critical to your blog posts. Basically, if you have a title that's not interesting, nobody wants to read the post. But you also don't want to make up a title so weird and out there that nobody gets it either. There's a fine line. Read this post on Copyblogger.com. It's about this very topic. The key to writing a good title is simple. Make sure it says something to get attention, and also tells the reader what the post is about. For example, if you wrote a post on the Stanley Cup and your opinion of the Penguins, but title it "Hockey is a Great Way to Lose Your Teeth", that isn't very helpful. It's funny, I suppose, but not helpful. A better title would be "Stanley Cup Recap: Penguins Waddle Away Empty Handed". For the record, I am neither a Penguins fan or a Red Wings fan. I'll keep you guessing on this one. Now, the reason the second title is so much better is that it tells the reader briefly what the post is about, but its also interesting enough that the reader thinks it will probably be somewhat witty and informative, so they might read it. But keep in mind that if you are writing about the Stanley Cup, you should probably not be doing it on a real estate blog! Which brings us to tip #6...
6. Got Keywords?
Your keywords are by far the most important part of your blog. Think of them as the "About Me" section of your blog's personality profile. The way keywords work is that when you use them repetitively, that tells Google that your site is about that topic. For instance, lets say your site is about Custom Real Estate Web Design (because that's what my site is geared towards, so that's what we're going with for this example!). Now, you'll want to use those terms as frequently as you can within your site and/or blog in order to convince Google that that really is what your site is about. For me, using Custom Real Estate Web Design in a blog gets a little difficult, so I have backup keywords too. My favorites are Real Estate Blog and Real Estate Design. They're easier to incorporate, and it doesn't seem too obvious when I use those. So make sure you keep it short and sweet. A long phrase that you keep repeating over and over in your Real Estate Blog (see that?) gets really annoying to the reader. Also, don't capitalize the first letter in each of your keyword phrase, that makes it really obvious! For more in-depth reasoning on the topic, check out what Lorelle has to say. She's a smart cookie!
Well that was week three for this series, which sadly means it is drawing to an end soon. Only two more posts left. That's okay, there will be a new series to take it's place. If anyone has any ideas for a new series, I'm open to them, by the way!
5. I'll Think of a Good Title Later
A good headline (or title, or whatever you want to call it) is critical to your blog posts. Basically, if you have a title that's not interesting, nobody wants to read the post. But you also don't want to make up a title so weird and out there that nobody gets it either. There's a fine line. Read this post on Copyblogger.com. It's about this very topic. The key to writing a good title is simple. Make sure it says something to get attention, and also tells the reader what the post is about. For example, if you wrote a post on the Stanley Cup and your opinion of the Penguins, but title it "Hockey is a Great Way to Lose Your Teeth", that isn't very helpful. It's funny, I suppose, but not helpful. A better title would be "Stanley Cup Recap: Penguins Waddle Away Empty Handed". For the record, I am neither a Penguins fan or a Red Wings fan. I'll keep you guessing on this one. Now, the reason the second title is so much better is that it tells the reader briefly what the post is about, but its also interesting enough that the reader thinks it will probably be somewhat witty and informative, so they might read it. But keep in mind that if you are writing about the Stanley Cup, you should probably not be doing it on a real estate blog! Which brings us to tip #6...
6. Got Keywords?
Your keywords are by far the most important part of your blog. Think of them as the "About Me" section of your blog's personality profile. The way keywords work is that when you use them repetitively, that tells Google that your site is about that topic. For instance, lets say your site is about Custom Real Estate Web Design (because that's what my site is geared towards, so that's what we're going with for this example!). Now, you'll want to use those terms as frequently as you can within your site and/or blog in order to convince Google that that really is what your site is about. For me, using Custom Real Estate Web Design in a blog gets a little difficult, so I have backup keywords too. My favorites are Real Estate Blog and Real Estate Design. They're easier to incorporate, and it doesn't seem too obvious when I use those. So make sure you keep it short and sweet. A long phrase that you keep repeating over and over in your Real Estate Blog (see that?) gets really annoying to the reader. Also, don't capitalize the first letter in each of your keyword phrase, that makes it really obvious! For more in-depth reasoning on the topic, check out what Lorelle has to say. She's a smart cookie!
Well that was week three for this series, which sadly means it is drawing to an end soon. Only two more posts left. That's okay, there will be a new series to take it's place. If anyone has any ideas for a new series, I'm open to them, by the way!
Labels: Blogging Ideas, Making the Most, Real Estate Blog
posted by Erin Fogarty at
3:34 PM
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