Let’s talk about blogs in dollars and cents. How much income can you generate blogging about real estate? I’ve heard social media pundits tell real estate agents they should measure their benefits in online exposure and the trust they build online. I agree there are numerous qualitative benefits to blogging and online engagement, but I believe revenue is a more important benefit.

Many agents tell me, “I get lots of business from my blog.” When pressed for more specific marketing metrics relative to lead generation and sales conversion, the same agents often say, “I don’t really know.”

A real estate practitioner runs a business. The value of that business is determined in large measure by sales volume.  A real estate agent with a keen understanding of basic marketing metrics can leverage the value her business when she negotiates a role in a team and when she decides to sell her business.

Your blog is an important lead generation tool. It becomes a valuable asset that can be measured in dollars and cents when you apply a set of metrics.

• How many monthly unique visitors does your blog have?
• How many convert to clicks on a lead capture form (or pick up the phone and call you)?
• How many clicks convert to clients?
• How many clicks convert to referrals?

Web traffic is a highly important factor in generating leads. Google Analytics is free, it is easy to install and it offers comprehensive information about blog traffic.  The number of unique visitors (UV) who visit your blog each month is an important metric. Each visitor has a dollar value in your business (DPV – dollar per visitor). Each visitor who makes a request for more information is counted as a “lead” and each lead has a dollar value ((DPL – dollar per lead).

Assume that an average sale in your real estate business $5,000. That would assign a dollar-per-client (DPC) value of $5,000.

Calculate your lead conversion rate:

Traffic ÷ Responses = Lead Conversion Rate

500 Visitors + 10 Responses

2% Conversion

Assume that you close 50% of your leads. That converts to 5 sales x $5,000 = $25,000 (sales volume). Calculate the value of each lead in your blog sales funnel.

Sales Volume ÷ Number of Leads = DPL  (Dollar Per Lead)

                $25,000 ÷ 10 = $2,500 DPL

Ultimately, each website visitor has a corresponding dollar value in your business. Calculate the value of each unique visitor to your blog.

Sales Volume ÷  Number of Unique Visitors = DPV  (Dollar Per Visitor)

                $25,000 ÷ 500 = $50 DPV

Real estate agents can use these numbers to tweak their website traffic, lead conversion rates, and sales volume. Sometimes just making a lead capture form more visible on a blog can increase lead generation drastically, without a corresponding increase in web traffic.

Bottom line: Your blog is a serious business tool. Build a good, solid blog and fill it with engaging content and reap the benefits of a bigger sales funnel. Happy Blogging!

(The video is part of a multi-video series about blogging that precedes the launch of No Blogger Left Behind with Denise Lones and Frances Flynn Thorsen. Click here for more information.)