Prospective clients don’t decide to make a purchase from residential builders on a whim. It's a large investment and the decision they make is done after many hours of research. The online locations they use for research include Google, Houzz, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and they're also apt to read regional home improvement magazines like “Boston Home,” “Chicago Home and Garden” and "Sunset."

It is also likely that they will ask their peers for their recommendations.

Prospective home improvement buyers often imagine themselves being surrounded by top amenities and romanticize about the way of life that they will live before taking the next step in the buying process. Google calls this period the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). This is the moment when you have to be aware that the shop is always open and that the buyer is in control.

Residential builders and remodelers must be intentional with the key messages they convey and the keywords they use so that they attract the right prospects out of the millions of people searching for their services online. The most practical method of doing this is to start writing a residential builders contractors blog.

Businesses that blog increase visitors to their websites by 55% and that they generate up to 70% more leads than small to medium sized businesses who do not. With more web traffic comes more leads and more leads equal more of the clients you want to work with. Those figures alone illustrate why blogging is the most important marketing technique for contractors and residential builders.

What Should a Residential Builder Blog About?

Blog content can take many forms, but merely posting information about your business capabilities or recent building projects won or completed is not a good option. These are known as "Post & Boast" blogs and frankly, people want answers to their questions more than they want to hear you talk about how great the new kitchen and bath remodel came out. A post & boast blog has an equal chance of turning potential prospects away as it does of attracting new clients.

The most successful blogs are those which the target audience you want, for the work you most like to do and answers the question your prospects have. This allows you to demonstrate your expertise as a residential builder and connect with the reader on a level that they currently need. If you successfully answer their questions they will come back for more.

Other forms of content marketing that attract prospects to your website include:

Comment on articles on blogs by other interior designers and architects. These blogs have visitors that are interested in the built environment and may just be seeking your construction services
Comment on residential builders related social media such as Linkedin Professional Remodeler groups and use hashtags such as #designbuild or #renovation when posting your blog on Twitter or Facebook
Answering questions when visitors comment on your previous blog topics or your Houzz account

How Often Should a Residential Builder Post Blog Articles?

The frequency in which you blog will impact on how many leads it develops. More blogs equals more customers. Research has found that small businesses who blog 16 or more times a month or 4 times a week receive 70% more leads than those that blog only once a week or even once a month. So, that's a lot of writing. How do you keep up? Treat blogging like any other part of your business and subcontract out your blogging to a professional marketer.

Writing frequent blog posts, three or more a week,  can have several benefits. For instance a blog about different materials used in a kitchen remodel will allow you to show up under more long tail keywords and improve your search engine optimization (SEO) for kitchen remodeling. Think about the choices you have to make on a job site and blog about different aspects of your industry. This will demonstrate a wide variety of skills in a short amount of time and get those all important keywords online.

Remember, the biggest advantage to your construction firm is that organizations with a high number of archived blog posts also generate more web traffic and a larger number of leads. Therefore getting to your goal quickly means writing lots of blog posts sooner than later.

It is important that residential builders and remodelers be consistent and post at regular intervals. If possible once a day for two months is an excellent beginning, but if you get too busy and miss a few days, your readers will quickly ignore you. Make sure that you have a schedule, and you stick to it if you want to have a large amount of archived material and the resulting leads.

Blogging is a low-cost, high-impact marketing tool that you can utilize today. With this short guide, you should have some tips on successful blogging and how it will attract the high quality of clients that your residential builders business requires.

About Michael Conway

I'm the owner and strategist at Means-of-Production. My firm builds Squarespace websites, Houzz profiles, and content marketing and advertising solutions for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Our all-in-one marketing tactics attract the right clients with exceptional architectural photography and brand messaging that sets you apart from the competition.