Which Real Estate Blogging Platform Is Right For You?

What to consider when real estate blogging to bring awareness to your business and expertise.

Blogging provides a vehicle into which you can pour all of your knowledge and unique expertise with real estate, property listings, and the business of connecting people with the right properties. The value of blogging isn’t limited just to increased traffic and exposure. Still, if done correctly, it can help you grow a deeper relationship with your audience, aka prospective buyers and sellers. So, you want to find the best platforms that allow you to do this, specifically, which is the best real estate blogging platform for you?

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some popular blogging platforms used in real estate to help you figure out which one is right for you. Broadly speaking, we’ve broken our suggestions into three main categories. The first is for agents whose brokerage has a built-in blogging platform; the second is for agents who don’t have a blog function already supplied by their Content Management System (CMS), and the third is for agents who are already blogging but are looking to expand their content’s reach.

Create A Blog on Your Existing Website

If you’ve got a website already, chances are it’s got the ability to make a blog section. You may need to do a bit of digging but most sites provided by brokerages have a blog/news capability. Here’s why you should consider using it if you have that option available. If not, please skip to the next section, where we outline other options available to you. 

Pros:

• It’s a website and it’s already published for the world to discover!
• Typically it’s free of charge, as a courtesy from your brokerage or team
• Usually meets a baseline of functionality, design, and general professionalism
• Can operate as a digital base of operations for the rest of your marketing strategy

Cons:

• If you’re using your broker/team site you probably can’t take the domain and audience with you very easily if you ever part ways. Now hopefully you are happy with each other for the long haul but you never know and you may not want to invest too much unless you can some of the value with you.
• Little control over your design, as your broker/team most likely has all this picked out and flexibility may be limited
• Audience not guaranteed: if a killer blog post gets published and no one is around to read it, does it even exist? What we mean is you may need to work for your readers

If you already have a website that has a blog capability, then this is worth a look purely from a short start-up time standpoint. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the best move for your situation. Read on for more ideas. 

Don’t Have a Site Yet? Don’t Worry!

If your broker/team doesn’t have a site created for you, it’s not the end of the world. We have two great options for you to consider. They both provide the same basic function, so which one you go with will come down to a matter of personal preference for which one you use as a real estate blogging platform

WordPress

Ask most people online for a good place to blog, and you’re likely to hear WordPress mentioned. It’s where much of the blogging world began, although now it’s so much more than that–it’s one of the most popular CMSs in the world. As a result of its evolution, it may feel less intuitive to use if you’re not used to its interface, but it’s one of the most popular blogging platforms around, and YouTube is full of tutorials. Additionally, it has various plug-ins to punch up your blogging platform into something entirely customizable and multiple design templates for you to choose from to make your blog stand out. 

Let’s take a closer look.

Pros:

• It’s a straightforward tool to use once you get going
• It’s designed for blogging, which means it has the tools and functionality you’ll need built-in
• It’s versatile and can be adapted to help you reach a range of goals–whatever your needs, there’s probably a template that already exists for it. If not, there are a lot of WordPress designers out there who can execute it for you

Cons:

• Some maintenance may be required, including keeping plug-ins updated and templates fresh
• You are your own IT support so you may need to take crash courses in digital marketing, SEO strategy, content production, and publication
• You may need to hire an outsider designer to get your blog to look the way you want it
• Some costs to consider (URL, premium themes, plugins, etc.)

No matter what way you choose to display your content or how big your audience is, WordPress is going to give you the layout you need and the ability to use it right away without too much fuss. That flexibility comes at a learning curve and with a cost, though, so if you’re looking for something more straightforward, our next option may be more your speed.

Wix

Suppose WordPress’s unlimited variety and varying costs seem like too much. In that case, a variety of other blog hosting services offers a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) approach to design, where you can drag and drop design elements onto the page, giving you complete control over your design.  Wix is our top option, but there are others, like Squarespace.

Pros:

• Simple pricing. Additional add-on costs are marked and easy to obtain and relatively inexpensive. There are even free options
• Wix has better nice designs to start with (though this is always subjective)
• No need for plugins. Wix manages everything
• WYSIWYG editor (this is a huge bonus!)

Cons:

• You’re locked into one service, so if it turns out you don’t like who you went with, migrating your blog can be a headache
• Limited design options–unlike WordPress, which is entirely customizable, you’re at the mercy of the service to determine what blog layouts they offer 
• Free options typically force hosting branding on your footer, you’ll have to upgrade your service to get it taken off
• Tracking and analytics usually come at a paid price point

If you’re looking for simplicity and don’t have specific design needs, Wix is a fantastic option, and you can set up your real estate blog in a matter of minutes. 

Blogging Platforms To Boost Distribution of Real Estate Content

What if you want to start posting your real estate blog content in front of new audiences? Or if you don’t want to bother with setting up a website blog? There are many platforms to choose from that address both these needs but here are two great platforms for real estate blogging content.

Medium

More and more people are beginning to discover the power of blogging on Medium. Part publisher, part blogging platform, with a built-in diverse audience of readers and contributors alike, and a powerful SEO reach and influence, there’s a lot to love with blogging on Medium. 

That said, there are some things you should consider.

Pros:

• Medium is built for blogging, and in fact, it’s the site’s sole function
• It’s easy to use
• It has an audience built into it, and audiences for a range of niches and topics
• It is a powerful tool to combine with the rest of your marketing strategy
• It has SEO influence because of the dominance of its domain and gets preferential treatment from Google and Bing

Cons:

• Medium owns the platform and can change its terms of service at any time, restricting access to your content by putting it behind a paywall
• Medium has rules in place about what you can post, how you can advertise and promote your business
• It takes some time to grow on Medium

In addition to being an option as a primary blogging platform, Medium can also serve as a secondary platform where you post your blog content to reach Medium’s built-in audience. If you do this, make sure you’re well versed in SEO tactics so that your main blog site gets the credit for the post. 

LinkedIn

Now, we know what you’re thinking, isn’t this social media? It is, but LinkedIn is on the list because it has some interesting advantages to consider. Is it a traditional real estate blogging platform? No. Should it replace your other efforts? Probably not. Is it a powerful tool to supplement your overall marketing strategy? Yes.

Check this out.

Pros:

• Brand yourself as an expert in your niche
• Your blog can be a hub of valuable information for your contacts and clients
• Build relationships with potential clients
• Share ideas and network with other real estate professionals
• Stay updated on industry news

Cons:

• It’s a social media platform first, and only a supplement to your marketing and blogging strategies second
• The algorithm will dictate who sees your content and how much of it they discover

LinkedIn is an unconventional choice, but if you create enough content to be consistent in your posting, like Medium, it’s a great blogging platform to utilize. Best yet, you can post your content on both platforms (plus your blog!) and really expand your reach. 

Real Estate Blogging Platform Takeaways

There are so many options for real estate blogging so there’s bound to be a combination that meets your needs and abilities. The best advice we can offer is to utilize what you’ve got currently and then supplement with new technologies and platforms as needed. That’s where Medium or LinkedIn can give you an added boost in exposure because they expand your audience reach further. Remember that your real estate blog is set up to help your business and get information out to the world, so content is king.