While the notion of a blog for landlords is far from unheard of, it remains an underserved niche that could use more unique, high-quality content. If you’re a real estate content marketing professional, this is a great audience to address in your next blogging project.
As always, there are a few important guidelines you should be following:
• Launch with at least five posts of 500 words or more.
• Use a solid, responsive page format.
• Avoid bricks of text — short, succinct paragraphs only.
• Have your SEO ducks in a row, including current and evergreen keywords.
• Post regularly and promote all new content effectively.
Those are the basics. If you want more information on any of the above, especially as they relate to SEO for bloggers, our blog has an extensive library of subjects in that area you are sure to find useful. For now, let’s have a look at some effective topics and subject areas for initially populating and continuously generating good content for your readers.
Vetting School Districts and Local Services
If you are launching or creating content for a family-centered housing blog, this is a huge consideration for potential renters. Good landlords should be able to answer common questions about the property location and the town in which it is situated. Some landlords may not think of everything, which is where you come in.
The more that property managers know about the area and the types of details with which they should be familiar, the easier it will be to find residents who won’t pack up and leave when the lease period runs out. Long-term renters can be very cost-effective. Less turnaround means less money spent on renovations and repairs over time.
Resident Retention
What makes a good landlord? What makes people want to remain in a property past the terms of an initial lease? Again, long-term renters equal higher profits and less overhead. People tend to stay put when the landlord operates with retention in mind. Come up with topics that help landlords become better landlords. Research topics that motivate renters to leave rental properties and blog about ways good landlords can avoid them.
Landlord Liability Issues
Do your research on local laws and guidelines that limit and reduce liability issues for landlords. The law sides with the renter in a vast majority of instances. For this reason, it is important to educate landlords about the pitfalls that surround things like upkeep and maintenance as well as resident relations issues that can create unnecessary liabilities.
Do remember that you aren’t running a legal blog, so try not to delve into heavy legal topics. Incorporate legal considerations into the advice you include, but steer clear of giving direct legal advice. The goal here is to show how to avoid legal entanglements, and this can, and should, be done by teaching best practices as a preventive measure.
Property Management Horror Stories
This one can be incorporated into a number of the other landlord blog topics on this list. Stories and vignettes can augment the engagement potential of your blog and keep people reading longer. You can experiment with both a humorous and cautionary tone and see which approach yields better engagement among your readers.
Ethical Tenant Screening Practices
This is another area of potential liability. Far too many landlords make decisions about renting to specific tenants that lead to legal action. This is another area where knowing a bit about the law is helpful.
Keep the tone of the messaging neutral and steer clear of statements that deal directly with race, religion, and other common reasons why some landlords might decide not to rent to a specific tenant. Instead, steer your messaging around the positives. What are the qualities of a good renter? If there are red flags, how do you approach the subject with a potential renter that keeps the legal powers that be at bay?
Closing Loopholes in Leases and Rental Agreements
Even though most rental agreements are developed by legal professionals, renters always find loopholes that allow them an out if they want to skip out on a lease. Research some of the common loopholes and show landlords how to adjust the language of their rental agreements to ensure that expectations are clear, concise, and understandable.
Most renters who want out of a lease will never bother to read the lease agreement until a problem surfaces. When that happens, solutions to those conflicts should already be thought-out. This is where you come in: spotlight the problems and fix them before the renter starts looking for an out.
Ethical Collections Practices
Dealing with difficult renters and those who don’t pay rent or pay it on time often necessitate more aggressive tactics to secure the funds needed to continue running a property smoothly. Provide your readers with information on best practices for collections and how to avoid overstepping legal and ethical lines when attempting to settle debts.
Eviction is a costly process that most landlords would rather avoid. Use your blog to educate them about the alternatives. Think conflict resolution, not strongarm collections tactics. A step too far in the wrong direction can significantly complicate eviction efforts, so that makes this topic one that can really save a landlord significantly in both dollars and expense of effort dealing with a tenant who doesn’t pay.
All of the above can be expanded into their own blogs or incorporated into a single blog for landlords. If this is a new area of real estate content for you, a little help getting started or giving your existing blog a boost could be just what you need to make your blog more successful.
At BeezContent, we specialize in delivering high-quality real estate copywriting services. Our experienced and talented team of writers is ready, right now, to assist you with all your content creation needs, both within the real estate niche and beyond. Need blog posts, social media, or email sequences to support your efforts? Talk to us. We are here to help!
