There area million posts out there about how to game the system and get more views. Or how to use social media to drive traffic, or how to grow your subscribers.
But I found that the really “secret” way to get more views on your real estate blog or videos was much more basic and started right at the beginning with picking something popular in the world to talk about in the first place!
Here are my best tips and ideas for picking popular real estate topics right from the start!
Just to let you know this works in any industry, last year I doubled my blog traffic just by writing the same stuff just for a different, more interested audience… more about that later.
Why We Re-See So Many Old Sitcoms
Before we dig in, let's talk about popularity and how it relates to content and sales. Your blog posts and videos are content and you are trying to “sell” them to a viewer to get views either on your site or to your video. (later you will try to sell them a house or your services, but today we are just talking about how to get them to notice you in the first place!)
So let' take a look at some of the “old sitcoms” that are coming back to television … according to Variety there are a number of different shows getting “reboots” like Will and Grace, Charmed, Dynasty, The Gong Show and even Battle of the Network Stars which was a mildly popular show from my childhood (1976-1988 according to Wikipedia).
Seriously? Why do we see all these old shows come back around every decade or so? BECAUSE THEY WERE POPULAR!
Network executives only get to keep their jobs if they put programming on TV that people watch and those were watchable shows!
Video: Picking Popular Posts For Real Estate Agents
What Are “Popular” Things?
So one of the first questions that you might ask is, “what are popular things and who gets to pick them?” We know about TV shows because of ratings, but who gets to say that short skirts or long skirts are “in” this year? And how the heck does this apply to you if you are a real estate agent just trying to get some more people to read your damn blog or watch a video for goodness sake?
Picking Topics
There are things in the country/world that are universally in the zeitgeist right now. I have found that TrendHunter is the best place to see overall what is going on right now! They have ideas, lists, videos and more.
So if we take a peek at this some things jump out at me in relation to picking things to write or create videos about! For example, if we look at a the main Realtor audiences we could pick
- Curation
- Nostalgia
- Experience
So if I was going to make a Venn diagram of these things in relation to what real estate agents could be talking about it would look like this…
TrendHunter also has lists of popular things so lets find out what other cool things are out there!
Okay, so this gets us Modern Cottages, Digital Homes and Self Sufficient Retreats. Depending on your location you could start to talk about these kinds of feature and amenities of homes in your area!
This is a good start but now let's dig down some more and think about who we are going to be talking to!
Picking Marketing Audiences
I told you I doubled my blog traffic last year… I did it by picking a different audience for my posts. In the past I wrote a lot of posts about Real Estate Marketing, but last year added Etsy Sellers to the mix.
You could do this same thing too! Say you generally have been talking about topics that would appeal to first time homebuyers, start talking to luxury sellers or pick a new farm and start creating content for those new potential clients.
Additional resource: Real Estate Farming Videos – 16 Ways To Use A Neighborhood Video
You could also pick a KIND of buyer or seller.
For example, say you are a crunchy, granola kind of real estate agent. You decide to find every home with ecologically desirable upgrades in your MLS. You could write blog posts and videos about why tankless water heaters and solar panels are a must for today's savvy homebuyer.
You could be the go-to listing agent if someone has a carbon neutral listing. Heck, you could even be the top real estate agent for people who want to move off the grid and focus on all self sustaining houses.
Or say your fondest wish is to work with million dollar buyers, all of your content should be focused on upscale neighborhoods, amenities and local fancy hot spots your perfect customer would like to move into.
The beauty of this kind of marketing is that you will wind up working with people who are a perfect match for you and your interests!
What Should You Talk About?
Let's head on over Quora and find out what kinds of questions people are asking about real estate topics!
You could pick either “real estate” or “residential real estate”. Let's do residential and see what we can see…hmmm not great, I did better looking for “homes”…
Okay, let's talk about that middle one! I see those kinds of articles all the time on popular websites like Huffington Post
Today there is one about the 7 most amazing houses for $1 Million. This tells us that this kind of post is popular!
Places To Find Popular Topics To Get More Views
There are hundreds of websites to find topics, but here are some to get your wheels turning!
- Huffington Post Real Estate Section
- Realtor.com Real Estate News
- Forbes Real Estate
- US News Real Estate
- Entrepreneur Real Estate
- CNBC Real Estate
- New York Times Real Estate
- Inman Real Estate (most articles you have to have a subscription, but we just need to have the titles/concept)
Additional Resource : How To Make SUPER EASY Real Estate Agent Videos For Facebook!
Why You Should Write Popular Real Estate Posts or Do Popular Videos
Remember way back up there at the beginning when we talked about why they are rebooting popular TV shows from the past? That is because people like popular things!
I KNOW, it can feel weird to do the 10th, or 100th video about your farm subdivision. Or doing that 20th video about what you can get for $200K in Clearwater, or the blog post about how to stage your curb appeal.
It can feel like doing this is just throwing another thing out there and hoping it sticks. But it is different for your area, and your focus and the kinds of customers you are prospecting for!
So let's go back to Venn diagram of popular things and fill in your interests. If I was doing real estate in Boulder Colorado, this is what MY focus would be (yours would be different because you are interested in different things that I am!)
So I could create real estate blog posts and videos like this:
- Buying Homes In Your 50s, What To Look For In Boulder
- Using Vintage Decorating To Make Your Mountain Home Cozy
- Boulder Homes Available For $500K
- 5 Ways To Make Your Mountain Home More Energy Efficient
- 3 Upgrades That Will Make Your Mountain Home Easier To Sell
How Is This Different From Just Picking Real Estate Topics Randomly?
Now that you are all the way down here, it is easy to ask, “how is this different from picking things randomly?”
I have found across almost every industry that people just don't think like this. You wake up in the morning and think, “I should make a video today” and hop in your car. Then you record the street next to your house and talk about the homes there and call it “Dunedin, FL Real Estate”.
But what if you had a handy, dandy worksheet with you and knew that “Cottages” or “Tiny Houses” were popular now. You could record that same video, but focus on tiny house living!
You could name that video … 5 Cutest Waterfront Tiny Homes In Dunedin, FL. Or you could do a blog post about how to market your small house as a tiny home. The possibilities are endless.
I even fall into this trap! I was going to write a post about popular topics and try to cover all my peeps, real estate agents, etsy sellers, etc.
But then I remembered that giving rock solid examples in the real estate niche is much different than good ones for Etsy sellers. Darn it! Now I have to write two posts, but I guarantee, you were much more likely to read this as a real estate marketing post than you were if it were just general information and you didn't have relevant examples.
Popular Posts and Videos Worksheet
I admit it, I am worksheet junky! If I have one things go well… if I don't then I sort of devolve back into where ever I started before. Since I needed a worksheet to find popular topics to get more views, I figured you might like one too. Simply click the banner and get your free worksheet (no email required!)
