The value proposition for BayWatch was simple: hot babes in skimpy bathing suits running on a beach + David Hasslehoff = men tune in every Wednesday at 8PM.  Talk about being called to action!  Now that is exactly the response you want to generate on your real estate blog.  You want all the eyeballs visiting your site to immediately be attracted by the shiny object at the top or side of each page that dumps them directly into your lead generator.

Your property search and CMA are the Pamela Anderson and David Hasslehoff of your blog

Yes, I know you probably don't hot chicks in bathingsuits and I sure hope you don't have David Hasslehoff, but what you likely do have is a property search and a CMA.  And believe it or not, those two things are very sexy to someone coming to your site to buy or sell property, so use them!  When I say use them, I don't mean burry them in some text link on the side, I mean, hire a graphics designer (or do it yourself if you can) and have high impact graphical buttons created for those links.

Common Mistake

One of the biggest mistakes I see real estate blogs making is placing a text link in the blog sidebar to the front page of the Realtors website.  What's wrong with this?  The reader doesn't know that that link is where they need to click to search for properties or get a home value. 

Solution

What your blog needs is a graphical button that clearly spells out the value (home search or home value) and links directly to the search page or CMA on the website. 

How to write calls to action

Calls to action should be as sexy as Pam and answer What's In It For Me (WIFM). 

Property Search Call to Action

Your property search should have a picture of a house, a search icon (like a magnifying glass) and clearly say- "Click here to: Search all Lake Park, FL Homes."  Try to avoid the term MLS since not every consumer knows what that is.

Newsletter or RSS Feed Call to Action

You can also turn your newsletter or subscription list into a call to action, just see how this foreclosure blog is doing it, www.SanDiegoForeclosureConnection.com.

CMA Call to Action

For your CMA call to action, try to avoid the term CMA, use terminology like "what's my home worth?" or "home value." 

Where to place a Call to Action

There should be multiple calls to action on your site.  You MUST have a call to action on the top of every page of your blog.  This makes your lead generator and the most useful tool for visitors easily and readily accessabel on every single page of your blog. 

Example:

You should also include lesser lead generator calls to action in the sidebar.  These should include a button for your CMA, newsletter, contact form and featured properties. 

Example:

In the footer or below the content of your blog you should also include a text based call to action that should read something like: To begin your search for the perfect home or to sell your home in the Lake Park, FL area, begin your journey by calling Mary McKnight at (239) 214-2272.

Example:

Hot Tip

When you have your graphic designer make a large, unavoidable, super sexy button for the top of your blog tat calls readers to go and search for listings, you might also want to ask him to create a set of about 5 smaller buttons for search, home value, featured listings and contact similar to those on www.longbeachrealestatehome.com.   These smaller buttons can be used in the sidebar of your blog or on posts you publish to ActiveRain, WannaNetwork, Zolve, Realtor.com, etc so you can start using those posts to directly generate leads.