How Many Hits Does It Take To Get To The Center Of Real Estate Blog Lead?

As I attempted to bring clarity to the commonly asked question:
How many hits should I expect to my real estate blog? the theme that has percolated to the top of the discussion both here and on ActiveRain was all too clear.

"It's business, not hits that I want from my blogging."  "What correlation is there between traffic and leads through blogging?"

Teresa Boardman is passionate about the subject, knowing too well that it is the business that she garners from her blogging efforts, not the readership, that makes it so worth it.  So, after a quick email exchange with her, we aimed to tackle the topic together. 

My point of view comes from hundreds of hours of blogging, geared to be enjoyed by Realtors, and Teresa’s, from twice as many hours of real estate blogging directed towards the consumer.

Jim’s Perspective

What we learned from the last article:
#1. When someone is referring to website “hits”, they mean human visits.  End of discussion.
#2. Hits, unless you are being paid for them (Elizabeth), do not equal income.

So is it possible to make a correlation between hits and business that can be considered universal enough to set the expectation of the novice blogger?

Yes and No.

Yes, because without traffic, there are no leads.
No, because all traffic is not created equal, and it would be reckless to try and pin down a number of hits corresponding to a number of leads.

Blogging works, many of us have the proof.  For us, it is more than an addiction or a hobby.  It is a marketing strategy, that, like any other, when executed well, will continue to generate business.
It works because the more you are able to produce content that your prospective client wants to read, the greater the trust you build in them, leading to their desire to work with you.  It also works because the more content you create that attracts your prospective client the more prospective clients you reach.  Unfortunately it's virtually impossible to come up with a formula that breaks down the ratio between content, frequency and leads.  Why? 

Quality. Luck. Perception. 
All three of which are slippery concepts to work into a formula.

In a perfect world, on a perfect blog, more writing would equal more readers and more leads.  In reality, we write, trying to anticipate what our audience wants (not actually knowing), and hope for the best. 

If you happen to uncover a formula that is lead generating, great - stick with it... until it dries up.  If not, just keep writing, you just might be one article from gold.

My best shot at the Numbers Game Formula for Generating Leads Through Blogging:

Blog your brains out for 1-3 months: You might get some leads
Blog your brains out for 3-9 months: You might get some leads
Blog your brains out for 9-18 months: You might get some leads
And so on...

Or

10 visitors a day: You might get some leads
100 visitors a day: You might get some leads
1000 visitors a day: You might get some leads
And so on…

If you do get leads, then you are uncovering what a potential client base is looking to learn from you.  If you get the hang of that understanding, and you blog your brains out, keeping that understanding in your efforts, I am willing to bet that you will generate more and more leads.

Teresa’s Perspective:
(After reading the above, she added the following)

1.  The type of content published will determine the type of leads.
2.  The number of readers is not as important as who the readers are.
3.  Visits to my site go up when there are more people interested in buying or selling homes.  Here in Minnesota that means the months of March through June.  My web sites also get more visits during that time period and I get more sales right along with the other agents in the area.
4.  My visits go up when I write something that other blog writers link to.  So far no business because of those visits.
5.  One of the posts that gets the most readers is the virtual pumpkin carving contest item I wrote last October.  To my knowledge I have not gotten any business because of that post.

As for who reads my blog:

1. I ask a lot of questions and my content is aimed at a particular audience. 
2. I get some help from hittail. 

I hear people talk about keyword rich content.  Great point, but which keywords? 
I have a group of keywords that I never would have imagined would work but they do. Most bloggers go for the big words.  I go into the longtail.   
To some my blog looks random, but it is not.  There is a system to it. 
Some would say that I am writing to Google.  I am not.  I am writing to the people who use Google.

In my humble opinion it isn't about how many people read me.  It is about who reads me and why.  It is about speaking directly to the clients you prefer working with.  A ton of leads can mean a ton of work and little business.  Some of my blog readers are exactly the kind of person I want as a client and others are not.  Not all leads are equal.  The type and quality of the content does have an impact on the type of leads a blogger attracts.
__

Thanks Teresa.
PS – Teresa is the author of StPaulRealEstateBlog.com

Related Must Reads:
How Does Real Estate Blogging Actually Generate Leads?
How To Generate Leads Through Real Estate Blogging
Your Real Estate Blog Is Bait
"If You Write It They Will Come!" - The Long Tail In Real Estate

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Tags:  real+estate+blog, blogging+leads, blog+traffic, blogging+advice

Comments

[Jeff Turner]

Great stuff. And right on target, in my humble opinion.

[Rob Saxe]

Great, great article. Can't traffic be quantified by conversion rates? Hit to lead to closing? or am I off base here? Also, aren't there many reasons people blog? good mind food...

[Steven Groves]

Excellent! The natural SEO function of the blog is a perfect topic and one that I am seeing much much more written about.

BTW - next workshop for real estate blogging in Phoenix is this Thursday. Talk to you soon!

[Jim Cronin]

Rob,
You are right, there is more likely than not a metric that can be created: hits to leads leads to sales... but the challenge is that everyone's will be different. Blogging is so subjective and the content is what drives the audience to your site, so by trying to contain it in an objective formula would be difficult.

Setting the expectation that if you write it, they will come and those that come will become leads after so many 'hits' is just a recipe for disappointment.

If you do uncover what works and are able to capitalize on it, then you can begin to work towards a personal formula that has a metric.

[Mary De Luca]

I think this article really starts the conversation. I agree that its the quality of the people that read your blog and not the quantity. But that's with everything you do to generate leads.

I think its important to also compare blogging as a lead generator to traditional ways that real estate agents use to generate leads. Is it better or worse than sending direct mail, making cold calls or any other vehicle people use?

Is it just about the same? And just more fun?

It is harder, more time consuming & takes a little more thought than sending out a bunch of post cards.

Translating leads to sales is an art not a science. Some are better at it than others. So whatever methods you use to get your leads, how that person deals with the lead will determine whether they- themselves can make that lead a client. IMHO of course.

My dog loves to chases squirrels. Until one day he caught a squirrel- then realized he didn't know what to do with it once he caught it. He still chases squirrels - but has never caught another one.

[Sharon Simms]

Great points, Jim and Teresa. Perhaps instead of trying to compare hits to lead generation tools we should compare them to networking. Both are about building relationships, establishing trust, demonstrating knowledge, professionalism, caring ...

We don't know which post was the tipping point any more than we know which conversation with someone or which comment made the impression.

[Sharon Simms]

Great points, Jim and Teresa. Perhaps instead of trying to compare hits to lead generation tools we should compare them to networking. Both are about building relationships, establishing trust, demonstrating knowledge, professionalism, caring ...

We don't know which post was the tipping point any more than we know which conversation with someone or which comment made the impression.

[Chris Lengquist]

Teresa, I've been trying to say what you said for so long now...but you just summed it up perfectly. I'm going to steal it without asking your permission. :)

"In my humble opinion it isn't about how many people read me. It is about who reads me and why. It is about speaking directly to the clients you prefer working with."

Again, that sums it all up for me! Thanks! Are both of you speaking at MegaCamp? Either way, I look forward to meeting you there!

[cindy@staged4more]

simply brilliant. you gave me a lot to think about. thanks!

[Teresa Boardman]

Jeff - I track my conversion. You are off base there is no relationship between hits, leads and closed business. My conversion rates from my blog are higher than the rates from my web sites. - - there are many reasons people write blogs which is why I have three of them. St. Paul Re is for business. If I every leave the real estate business I sell the domain name and the blog.

[Justin Smith]

I think you guys have hit upon a trap that many fledgling real estate bloggers are falling into... somewhere along the path there is a disconnect, and agents seem to forget that their blog is about lead generation and closings; not traffic!

I love SEM, but I often wonder if it's too much of a distraction for beginner bloggers. Just write for conversions, and the rest will follow.

[Sacramento Real Estate]

Tomato, again...good discussion and Teres'a input to the discussion on topic is equally good. It takes time to develop a relationship whether it be in person or on the Internet. So, your advice to keep writing and write for the consumer that you want to target is great advice. I don't think it happens over night...at least it didn't for me. But, it does work. And I am thrilled that I have had the opportunity to learn from "The Juice!"

-Gena Riede

[Charles Turner]

Jim and I sat on the same discussion panel at Bloggers Connect a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. One point that I would add to the discussion is that the number of hits depends on your target market. My www.PortlandRealEstateBlog.com has ranked in the top 3 results for the Google search "Portland Real Estate" for the last few months. Now it has moved to #1. The leads and hits have both increased. 300 hits in a day is a good day. If I was in Portland, Texas, 30 hits a day would probably be equally successful.

One other item to note is that leads generally don't comment, they contact me directly so make sure they can easily find you.

[Todd Carpenter]

When I started lenderama two and half years ago. My hope was that 27 people would regularly read it. 27 is half of 54. 54 is the number of clients I had as an Account Executive with National City Mortgage. So long as I could keep in touch of half of them, it would be worth it.

Today, I gave Laurie Manny a platform to share how she runs her blog. It's not how I would do it. But, I don't have the same audience, goals, or business model that Laurie has.

For me, Teresa's comment that "The number of readers is not as important as who the readers are." couldn't ring any more true. Even if I was an RE Agent, I would concentrate on gaining readership among each and every household in my prospect farm. Whatever results I got from Google would be icing on the cake.

[John Schroeder]

One thing to keep in mind for anyone considering starting a real estate blog is that a post that you write today has a lot of longevity. As long as you keep true to your particular style of writing and as long as you keep a regular posting pace you will see results.

I agree with most of the previous comments. 100 posts do not equal one lead. 1000 posts do not equal one lead. But maybe just maybe one post written today will be seen by one potential client someday who will contact you sometime.

Isn't blogging fun!!!

[Mariana Wagner]

Thank you for putting into words what I have been trying to get across for awhile now. Again ... it boils down to QUALITY over QUANTITY. I would rather have 5 people who actively WANT to interact with me/ do business with me, than 500 clicks.

[Eric Ransom]

Good thoughts here. Thanks as always. When my lack of leads frustrates me I try to write a post. Blogging is certainly not a "quick hit" approach and focusing on the long term networking and relationship building seems to be key.

[Malok]

Great title and graphic for the article by the way. And I agree completely. Quality wins out over quantity every time.

[Oahu Real Estate]

The better the information you provide, the higher your conversion ration of hits to leads will become.

[Tim O'Keefe]

I guess I should be flattered:
http://www.houseblogger.com/houseblogger/2006/12/real_estate_opt.html ; Anyway,
I believe the way we coined the term is "How Many visitors to get to a lead?" as the tootsie roll pop ratio. This ratio: vitiors:leads will tell you many visitors it takes to get to a lead. It tells you your well your site converts.Change or tweek something it goes up or down, then you are able to track it.
Another article that may be of interest is http://houseblogger.typepad.com/houseblogger/2005/09/when_mike_kehoe.html

I think where most get lost is in process however. I maintain that it isn't how many read you (albeit that is a nice metric to know), as in the end it is how many buy or sell thru you. Unless you have a new business model in which case lets talk.

So often times it isn't about brute force traffic. Over optimizing and getting traffic you will never use. It wastes your time and money and your visitors.

So less traffic may be ok as long as your ratio gets better.

I love your blog your brains out advise as the more your write the better you get at not just writing, but writing for traffic, leads, and sales. Basically, your marketing message expands with each post.

[Carlsbad Real Estate]

Jim: Thanks to the Tomato, I have learned some really interesting stuff about my long tail and gotten lots of advice on how to improve my short tail.

Someday, it will be quite a tale.

[Barry Preusz]

Another important part of the equation is weather the lead is ready, willing and able. Too many web leads are not qualified to get any financing for purchasing a property. Can the topic of what you blog about weed out unqualified buyers?