Whenever my life gets too overwhelming and stressful, I like to browse real estate listings. Let me be clear, I am a happy homeowner and not a prospective home buyer. However, picking an unexplored area and perusing listings, from monolithic mansions to fixer-upper foreclosures, gives me a thrill. Real-estate is about more than property, it represents the lives, stories, and dreams of people and communities. A good listing communicates some of that unique history.
. In our overly accessible consumer culture, browsing Real Estate listings feels pretty safe. There is no ‘Buy Now’ button beckoning my independent fingers. Prowling through someone else’s rooms feels like trying on their reality, just long enough to ensure I appreciate my home a little more when I am done. . A Real- Estate Listing May Be Your First Contact With a Client Even when house-hunting to relax, I am still a prospective client and as a writer, I can’t help but browse with a critical eye. Someday I might decide to sell my home and I will select a realtor based on the professional presentation and dynamic content of their listings. While I do value a realtor who comes highly referred, their online content represents their work ethic and values and this will ultimately sway my decision to hire them. . In today’s attention economy, we don’t have much time to make a good first impression. When our credibility is damaged because of inaccurate or flawed communication, we may not get a second chance. As a consumer, advertisements clamor for my attention from the moment I wake up. When I look at real estate listings I want to be dazzled with informative images, interesting descriptions and an enthusiastic voice. I want to feel welcome and invited in because if I don’t, I am already moving on. . So What Makes For Successful Real Estate Content? 1. A Solid Strategy: With any kind of professional writing, it is all about research and developing a plan. Ask yourself: . What is the goal? Gaining new clients, establishing a relationship based on trust so clients refer you to others, and successfully meeting client needs will ensure sales and repeat business. . What Content Will Best Achieve Your Goals? Content that you design to meet your audience’s goals will help you achieve your goals. Consider how your customers will access content. Will it be through a mobile device or a computer? Do they want to watch a video or read an article? What are they trying to learn and how? . What Keywords Are Potential Clients Using? Consider what keywords your clients are using to search for information and incorporate those words into your content. These are not the words you find important but instead the words your client finds most important. However, make sure you also provide interesting content, a long list of unrelated keywords is not going to impress anybody. . How Will You Monitor the Success of Your Content? Being able to monitor what kind of content is attracting the most attention and the motivated buyers is important. There are a lot of tools, which help monitor these site statistics and one which is pretty user friendly is Google Analytics . 2. A Vivid, Well-Composed, Informative Image Is Worth a Thousand Words Technology has made it easier to communicate but made it harder for people to decide what to pay attention to. Time is at a premium and often people will skip text in favor of images. When there are photos of dark rooms with drawn shades, out of focus shower stalls, or piles of dirty laundry, I can’t help but feel disappointed. . You want your visitor to be able to visualize themselves in a space, not want to bolt out the door. Even if your seller has not given you much to work with, take the time to make sure your property photographs show to best advantage. Also, the best and most important images should come up first. Don’t assume your visitor will take the time to look at all of the pictures. . 3. Creative and Interesting Content: Repetition is a killer to creativity and it is easy, when composing online content, to get jaded and follow a set pattern when it comes to writing. Don’t just seek to answer your client’s unasked questions but look for new ways to hold their attention. Think outside of the box, make the information you are providing insightful and personal, while staying honest and accurate. . Consider providing a link to a video property tour to give viewers a sense of the space, or a brief video neighborhood tour to give them a sense of the community. Make sure your content is simple, uses plenty of white space, avoiding unnecessary animation or other features which may distract your site visitors. Also, make your content easy to share because success is also about extending your network and building relationships. . Beware Blocks of Text Your audience wants to skim information. Break up your information into small, related chunks and, when possible, use descriptive headings. . BEWARE ALL CAPS A prospective buyer does not want to be shouted at and while you might be trying to communicate your enthusiasm for a listing by capitalizing the entire description, it actually makes it harder to read. Capitalize words sparingly, a little goes a long way. . Beware too much information Yes, there is such a thing as too much. Whet your viewer’s appetite by covering the main points but hint at more. When it comes to a property listing, the goal is for a prospective buyer to get in touch with you to ask questions. . Beware selfish writing The biggest pitfalls to content are when a writer, writes solely to the needs of their employer and not to the needs of the intended audience. A real estate listing is an advertisement that is appealing to someone who is probably wading through a lot of advertisements and is looking for something specific. Addressing that person’s central questions before they have to ask, will ensure they stay and browse the information you provide. . 4. An Attention-Grabbing Title With Emotional Appeal A good title is tough, you probably have limited space and coming up with something unique that directly speaks to your site visitor may cause you to thump your head against your desk in frustration. However, consider the fact that your title is what is going to pop up in search results and it needs to resonate powerfully enough that the visitor chooses to open your link and read your content. Put Some Heart Into Your Work! Blurry pictures, vague terminology, a missing listing description, misspellings, poor grammar reflects on you professionally and suggests a lack of pride in your work. Keep in mind, strong, unique content is something you have control over and helps you stand out in a crowd of similar content. Need Some Help? Let me write your content for you! Contact me and I will get right back to you with current availability and pricing! Some Good Resources Price, Seth. (2012). “Guide to Creating Killer Content for Real Estate Marketing.” Placester. Web. https://placester.com/real-estate-marketing-academy/guide-to-creating-killer-content-for-real-estate-marketing/ Kimmons, James. (2016). “Unique Real Estate Web Site Content is Critical.” The Balance. Web. https://www.thebalance.com/unique-real-estate-web-site-content-is-critical-2867454 Price, Seth. (2017). “Content marketing for real estate: a beginner’s guide to building trust in your brand and turning engagement into profit.” Inman. Web. https://www.inman.com/next/content-marketing-for-real-estate-is-meaningless-without-understanding-your-business-goals/
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