Food For Fodder – 101 Real Estate Blog Topics

Teresa Boardman, in response to comments in her most recent article, has whipped up a tasty treat for all real estate bloggers.  Grab a fork, and enjoy.

Food For Fodder – 101 Real Estate Blog Topics
By Teresa Boardman

In my last post on the Tomato I wrote about writing being the biggest obstacle for real estate professionals who want to have a blog.   

Some of  our readers commented that figuring out what to write about poses the greatest challenge. 

It is hard for many to come up with topics so I wrote a list of 101 topic ideas for real estate professionals who want to have a blog to expand their internet presence and to meet the home buyers and sellers who live inside their computer. 

Potential clients are in your computer right now and are looking for great agents and lenders to work with.  The idea is to build enough rapport so they will stop hiding and give us a call or send an email.  Lets face it, consumers believe we all have horns and a tail and we need to put them at ease and establish a little credibility before we can earn their trust and their business.

The best posts come from the every day life of a real estate professional.  There is also what I call “the real estate bloggers conundrum”:  If we spend too much time writing, we don't have time to sell real estate, if we don't sell real estate, we don't have those experiences to write about.  Our day-to-day lives and experiences in the real estate industry are filled with blog food, look for it, find it and start typing. 

Here are 101 ideas:

1. A story about your neighborhood
2. Local business, and send them a copy.
3. Your pet
4. Go through your email, is there a question or comment from one of your clients that can be made into a post?
5. Listen  to your buyers, they give you blog food.
6. Listen to your sellers, they give you blog food
7. Conversations with other agents can be a source of great content
8. Architecture or housing styles in your area
9. Historic buildings
10. Market statistics for your area, including average prices and absorption rates
11. Read the blogs and look for ideas to build on or spin a new idea from..
12. Take a picture write a post.
13. Home maintenance
14. Take a walk
15. Senior housing
16. Pet  friendly housing
17. Staging ideas
18. local events
19. Your hobby
20. A closing
21. A lender who did a great job
22. Things that go wrong with real estate sales
23. Home owners insurance
24. Gardening and landscaping
25. Your city council
26. A new development
27. Lofts
28. Decorating ideas
29. Real estate industry news - with your own unique commentary
30. Mortgages news
31. Interest Rates
32. Credit scores
33. Consumer hoaxes and scams
34. First time home buyer programs
35. Working with seniors
36. Working with Baby Boomers
37. Second homes
38. Investment properties
39. Foreclosure
40. Property flipping
41. "Rehabbing" a home
42. Home energy conservation
43. Final walk through
44. Equity stripping scams
45. Agency
46. Real estate companies
47. Transportation & Parking
48. Schools
49. Churches
50. Day Care
51. Paint and painting
52. Pest control
53. Good neighbors
54. Bad neighbors
55. Over priced homes
56. The home buying process
57. The home selling process
58. Book review of a real estate related book.
59. Real Estate Laws
60. Real estate terms
61. Moving with children
62. Moving
63. Moving with pets
64. Places to eat
65. Places to shop
66. Commentary on local news stories
67. Commentary on local public policy
68. Tell a story about a client who was fun to work with
69. Write about what it is like to be  a Realtor
70. When taking classes find something you learned that could be used as a post.
71. Write off topic humor
72. Environmental issues
73. Land lord or tenant issues
74. How to sell a house
75. How not to sell a house
76. Building trends
77. Parks
78. Art
79. Home safety
80. Review web sites on local or real estate related topics
81. Property taxes
82. Crime
83. Open houses
84. Trends in kitchen design
85. Area events for children
86. The local zoo
87. Where to play golf
88. Coffee shops
89. Women home buyers
90. Advice for FSBO's
91. Interview some one
92. Local  real estate market trends and observations
93. Furniture
94. Investment scams
95. Mortgage fraud
96. Types of mortgages
97. Home owners associations
98. Attend a public meeting and write about it.
99. Week end getaways
100. Credit repair
101. Fair housing issues

They may look kind of dry and boring in this list but the trick is to take every day experiences, based on these topics and weave them into a post. There are times for most of us when we just can't write but there are some work-arounds.  Find a photo and write about it, have a guest write a post or take a break from it for a couple of days. 

 

It also helps to have a system. 

I have three days of the week that I have topics for, and four days where I have to find them. 

 

I once wrote an entire post about socks, and not only got by with it but got a great response from it.   Those posts help show our human side and make the horns and tail less obvious.
__

Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.  

Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

—

Thank you Teresa.  As always, it’s a pleasure having you 'on the Vine'.

Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

Related Must Reads
What Is The Biggest Barrier To Real Estate Blogging?
Your Audience Is A Moving Target - 4 Ways To Pin Them Down
7 Crucial Tips To Developing Real Estate Blog Copy That Gets Read
Stop Acting Like Blogging Is Rocket Science
Of Blogs And Bricks
Blogger Burnout And The Steps To Avoiding It

Tags:  real+estate+blogging, teresa+boardman, blog+topics, blogging+advice

Comments

[James Eberhard]

What a great resource, Thanks!

[MN_Jake]

Great food for thought. Can you now give me a 26 hour day so that I can accomplish my next "great" post?

[Mary De Luca]

Teresa- you are an inspiration to someone who's just starting this whole blogging adventure. Thank you.

[Jennifer Klaussen]

cool, cool list! Thanks for sharing. Hey, gotta run, you've given me an idea! :P
Jennifer

[sam casuncad]

I like the tomato. I love the canned image better. Maybe i should consider putting some juice to my blog also by using the same technique that you have.

Thanks for awakening my brain.

[Kristal Kraft]

Pest control is an excellent topic! :)

[Cyndee Haydon]

Teresa - great list - thanks for all the ideas!

[Teresa Boardman]

KK - I was thinking about you, and Jim too when I came up with that one.

[Brian Miller]

Teresa,
as always, a great post. Your article provides not only great ideas, but it inspires as well. Hearing that pro-bloggers like you struggle with topics, and aren't afraid to write about the "off-beat" breathes new life into my writings...

[Julia Huntsman]

That's a great list of ideas, and good to take a look at when you think you're coming up blank.

[James Crandall]

Teresa,

I am new to the Blog world and I thought this was a great post to get me started. I am really looking foward to blogging not that you have given me some real food for thought.

[Joanne Hanson]

Hi Teresa,
do you think that writing about lifestyles, recreation and the like is not too off topic? (the topic being real estate) My SEO person told me that it waters down my keywords and makes them less important. I have incoming traffic that find some of those posts as people search for things like ski pass prices etc. I think that finding my website accidentally is probably not bad, but I would rather have people find it who are looking for real estate. My initial thought was that anything about my area (the mountains of Colorado) would be good, including hiking, wildflowers etc. What do you think? Are they too off topic?

[Chris Lengquist]

Teresa - nice list.

[Eric Ransom]

Great ideas here. I am interested in your thoughts in response to James Crandall's comment as well. Can we get too far off topic?

Thanks for the list!

[Teresa Boardman]

Joanne - I think blogs are the easiest to write and work the best if you write about something you have a passion for. You SEO person is most likely right about watering things down with keywords. but . . . I am finding that if I can tie things I am interested in to real estate it can work. I also find that off topic posts can be the best for building relationships with the buyer and sellers who live inside my computer. I hate to give this advice because many will dissagre but the only way I have found to make this work is to find my own rhythm with it and to do what comes naturally. Experiment a little bit. if you tie real estate to a hobby or interest maybe people with the same interests will want to work with you. People prefer to work with people like themselves, friends and people they can related to.
Eric - I think it is Joannes comment that interested you. The one asking about off topic content? I can never figure out which comment goes with which name of Jim's blog. I think he is trying to confuse me. This would be a great topic for a post. I'll see if the fruity guy has some space for it. You notice he is writing about golf these days and weaving it into blogs which is an excellent example of off topic that is on topic. Nice post Jim.

[John Schroeder - Waunakee RE/MAX Preferred Realtor]

Terrific post. Sometimes all someone needs is inspiration...and the desire to succeed.

[Dave Rosenmarkle]

Teresa, thanks for the post. I have passed it on to all my agents and another 25 or so that I keep on my recruiting list. Hope all is well.

[Sharon Simms]

Teresa - thanks for the ideas for writers block.
I, too, argue with myself over sticking to a topic vs random thoughts of interest (which may establish a bond with a client or future client).

[J B]

Propertyshark.com has some good market stats too for bloggers, but only in about 20 cities. Like these foreclosure stats ran yesterday http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/nyregion/12mbrfs-FORECLOSE.html

[Real Estate Investments]

I found your website that captures my interest while searching the internet for particular keywords related to real estates. This is a very informative blog of yours. Keep up the good work. You may also check Real Estate Investments and TIC Investments if it interest you for additional information's. Thank You...

[Jim Gatos]

Beaitiful article... I hope to become a better blogger now...
Jim

[Jim Gatos]

Beaitiful article... I hope to become a better blogger now...
Jim

[Janis Gagliardi/PortOrangeJuice.com]

This is definitely high on my bookmarks! I hope I am as good at squeezing out the juicy Port Orange FL info and news as you have grown the tomato!!!

[Jack Payne]

As for topics right now, that should not be a challenge. The sub-prime mess is so menacing that it begs for exhaustive investigation, shaking out, and clarificataion.

I write on scams of all kinds, but find this present state of the RE market to be about as threatening and unstable as any market I've seen in years.

[Justin Rague]

Teresa-just wanted to say thanks for this article. I am just starting to venture into unknown blogging territory and this offered a great insight into where to start and where to go. Thanks again!!!

[Alex - Portland Real Estate]

I'm not the best writer. But I do have skill taking pictures and making video's. I suggest to add local photos and video's of events, neighborhoods, for your blogs. Just my 2 cents.

[Elmo the expert real estate marketing Guy]

Hey, I just wanted to say Happy New Year and thanks for an excellent real estate blog. Please don't stop writing this stuff it is excellent.

God Bless!
Real Estate Professional Websites and Marketing

[L.A. Real Estate Guy]

Thanks for all the info. The relevent information I get here is simple and easy to understand. Keep up the good work!

[Jill Wente]

Great list of topics to write about. Sometimes when I have a bloggers block I read the latest posts of my favorite bloggers and do a twist on one of their ideas.

[Alan Daniels]

Thanks for feeding the mind on blog topics. I should be good to go for keeping up for the next couple of years.