Anyone who manages a business…anywhere…has heard that having a blog is essential for website search rankings and social media presence. However, the thought of stopping day-to-day activities to write thoughtful and interesting blog posts seems frankly too much to handle.
Some businesses are at a disadvantage when it comes to creating content their customers want to read, however apartment communities are not one of them!
Below we have laid out some key points to writing a Community Blog for Your Apartment Community!
Platforms: Before you get started, you are going to want to set up your blog. Many bloggers choose to go with WordPress because it is very user friendly and integrates with websites easily. It is also social media compatible. You will want your blog to live on your website and you want to make sure that the posts are text heavy (at least 300 words) so that the search engine spiders can grab onto key words and improve your website’s rank.
Frequency: The ideal posting frequency is one time a week. This promises that you are not struggling to come up with more content than you can handle.
Schedule: The one mistake that most amateur bloggers make is not having a monthly schedule. This is crucial to making sure that you are covering diverse and relevant topics. At the beginning of every month, you should decide what your four posts for that month will be. You can decide on these posts by looking at the calendar of events for that time frame and also what issues your residents are asking about.
Content: Now we come to the most important part: What you will write about. Apartment communities are full of people, therefore full of interests and stories! Content on an apartment community blog can range from resident focus to city focus, and everything in between.
Some great topics are:
– A highlight on an upcoming city event
– Restaurant reviews (from residents and staff members)
– Apartment maintenance issues
– Apartment gardening
– Apartment decorating
– Local activities
The list goes on forever! You can also encourage your residents to submit blog posts in exchange for gift cards or rent incentives. Don’t be afraid to get creative!
The most important part of blogging is consistency. It is vital to always hit your weekly post goals to help gain readers and improve your website’s search ranking. If you are too stretched in the office, there are freelance bloggers you can hire that will do the work for you for an average of $100 a post.
Don’t forget key words that potential residents will be searching for. If possible, try to make one of the weekly posts around a key word that you have settled on. Also be sure to have at least one image in the post to make it more visually appealing and check for typos!
Happy blogging!