Blogging – The Top Way to Nab More Search Traffic

Blogging – The Top Way to Nab More Search Traffic

The best way to get more search traffic to your website: Blogging. That said, it takes a lot of blogging to see results.

HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales software company, reviewed the blogging frequency and website traffic of 13,500-plus of its customers. They found that you don’t tend to see any significant boost to traffic if you publish just four times a month. Instead, companies had to publish 5-10 blog posts a month to see noticeable results. Further, the biggest traffic patterns were evident from companies that published more than 11 posts a month.

Most companies don’t typically publish that much. Indeed, about 54 percent of businesses with blogs say they publish once a week or less, according to the 2016 Orbit Media blogging study. After all, it takes time to create and publish blog content. The Orbit survey shows that it takes, on average, two-and-a-half hours to write the average blog post, which is about 800 words in length. As such, small-business owners would need to add 5 hours to their day for two blog posts per week or 7.5 hours for three posts.

But for those who invest in a more robust blogging schedule, they stand to benefit, if they do it smartly. They’ll also need to take some effort into converting that extra traffic with effective lead generation too, Forbes.com notes in its report. Also, you shouldn’t just offer up weak content to boost your posting frequency.

“You’ve got to be delivering value to your audience or they won’t bother to read your blog,” columnist Brian Sutter with Forbes.com notes in the article.

To increase frequency of blog posting, Forbes.com recommends some other ideas besides just writing new content. For example, you could republish or refresh older still-pertinent posts (update it when needed) or look for a way to convert every post you publish into at least one other format (such as into a short video, quiz, or infographic).

Also, study experts note, don’t just focus on one traffic-building tactic. Blogging can be a traffic generator but page search engine optimization, link building, and mobile-friendly sites are also important strategies to implement too.

Source: “The Easiest Way to Get More Search Traffic,” Forbes.com (Feb. 17, 2017)

Mortgage Rates: Is It a ‘Year Full of Surprises’?

Mortgage Rates: Is It a ‘Year Full of Surprises’?

Mortgage rates fell slightly for the second consecutive week, taking a path that many economists haven’t expected.

“For the last 46 years, the 30-year mortgage rate has been almost perfectly correlated with the yield on the 10-year Treasury, but not this year,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “From Dec. 29, 2016, through today, the 30-year mortgage rate fell 17 basis points to this week’s reading of 4.15 percent. In contrast, the 10-year Treasury yield began and ended the same period at 2.49 percent. While we expect mortgage rates to fall into line with Treasury yields shortly, this just may be a year full of surprises.”

Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Feb. 16:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.15 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week’s 4.17 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.65 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.35 percent, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 3.39 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.95 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.18 percent, with an average 0.4 point, falling from last week’s 3.21 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.85 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac

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Modified Loans Re-defaulting at Faster Rates

Modified Loans Re-defaulting at Faster Rates

Loans that have been modified since 2014 are re-defaulting at faster rates than those that were modified in prior years, according to a new report.

Seventy-five percent of the loans that re-defaulted did so within the first two years after receiving a loan modification, according to analysis of Fannie Mae loan data.

“Relative to prior years, recent trends indicate more modifications made to borrowers that have prior failed loan modifications, lower payment reductions, and lower credit scores,” says Samuel So, Fitch Ratings director.

Fitch analyzed about 700,000 loans, with cumulative unpaid principal balances of $135 billion, that had been permanently modified between 2010 and 2015.

Fitch’s study found that loans modified more recently had lower average FICO scores and a higher number of prior modifications, which appeared to be related to higher re-default risk.

In 2009, the average FICO score was 655 and only 1 percent of loans had multiple modifications. By 2015, the average FICO score was 592, and 34 percent of the loans had multiple modifications, the Fitch Ratings study showed.

Source: “Recently Modified Loans Redefault at a Faster Pace,” National Mortgage News (Feb. 9, 2017)

Gap Grows Between Owners and Appraisers

Gap Grows Between Owners and Appraisers

The disconnect between homeowner estimates and appraiser opinions when it comes to home values grew for the second consecutive month, according to Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index. The average appraisal value was 1.47 percent below what owners expected in January.

The shift comes after a six-month stretch where homeowner and appraisal value perceptions were moving closer to equilibrium.

“Having a good understanding of the conditions in their local housing market can be a valuable tool for consumers as they prepare for the home buying or mortgage process,” says Bob Walters, Quicken Loans’ chief economist. “Accurate expectations at the onset of the mortgage process not only makes it smoother, but can prevent unexpected changes in the amount of funds to bring to the closing table if the appraised value comes in lower than initially estimated.”

The perceptions of home prices between owners and appraisers differs greatly across the country. For example, appraisals in Western cities tended to outpace owner expectations. In Denver, appraised values were 2.98 percent higher than homeowners’ expectations. On the other hand, estimates in many eastern cities tended to be higher than appraised values. For instance, in Philadelphia, appraisals were 2.94 percent lower than homeowners’ estimates.

Source: Quicken Loans

Luxury Owners Rethink How They Use Space

Luxury Owners Rethink How They Use Space

Some luxury owners are scaling back the number of bedrooms in a home to leave more space for hobby rooms and other amenities that can raise the property’s value, The Wall Street Journal reports.

But some real estate experts warn that fewer bedrooms could turn into a risk at resale.

“There’s always going to be a narrower market” for a home with fewer bedrooms, Javier Vivas, economic research manager for realtor.com®, told The Wall Street Journal.

In a recent analysis, realtor.com® found that luxury homes with more living space and fewer bedrooms often were listed at higher sales prices than comparable listings in those markets. However, those homes tended to take longer to sell. (The analysis factored in homes valued in the top 10 percent of a region’s market in the 50 largest cities.)

In 2016, the median size of a luxury home for sale was 4,706 square feet with five bedrooms (or about one bedroom per every 1,000 square feet).

Homes that boasted an increase in living space to bedroom ratio (more than 1,500 square feet per bedroom), on average, spent 117 days on the market. That is 15 percent longer than a standard home.

Homes with less than 750 square feet per bedroom, which often meant there also were more bedrooms in the home, tended to sell the fastest at 91 days on the market, the realtor.com® analysis showed.

Still, homes that offset bedroom counts with desirable amenities, such as larger entertainment spaces, can sell for higher amounts, Vivas says. Larger spaces to fewer bedrooms sold, on average, for $1.42 million, 31 percent higher than a luxury home with a standard number of bedrooms at $1.08 million. That is also 55 percent higher than luxury homes that had extra bedrooms ($915,000).

Source: “Some Luxury Homeowners Scale Back on Extra Bedrooms,” The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 9, 2017) [Log-in required.]