by When starting your real estate website you may start with the mindset that you will cover everything about real estate in your city. This is a big goal and if there are no true competitors in your area it may be one that you can achieve. Covering “everything” about real estate means thinking about every type of real estate product from condos, homes, multifamily, commercial, office, industrial, etc. Real estate is a big topic, which makes it appealing because the variety of real estate means there are a variety of buyers and sellers out there.
Of course, with competition and the variety of types of real estate it often becomes easier to dominate the search engines when you choose to focus on a specific niche. In fact choosing to dominate a smaller segment online with your real estate marketing efforts will often get you more business.
Choosing a Niche in Real Estate
The wonderful part about real estate is it allows you the opportunity to specialize. Many real estate agents are fearful of specialization because they fear they won’t get enough business, but in reality the specialization will actually bring you more business. After all, you wouldn’t go to a Dr. who was a brain surgeon, foot doctor, and a dermatologist would you? No! You go to a Dr. who is a specialist because they can help you solve a specific problem because that is all they deal with on a daily basis.
Before you choose a niche, take the time to consider the following:
- Passion – What type of real estate are you most passionate about? What can you speak about endlessly because you enjoy it and want to communicate the benefits to people?
- Volume – Selecting a niche is great, but you do want to ensure there is enough sales volume possible to make it worthwhile. Look at the past MLS sales data for a few years evaluating home sales, condo sales, and multifamily to see how many properties are being listed and sold. Take a deeper dive and see if there are specific developments or neighborhoods that have larger volumes where you could be the de facto expert.
This may go against what others tell you in your office, but think deeply about what you really enjoy and you will be able to really dominate when you feel most strongly about a particular area of real estate.
Let your Real Estate Marketing Shine in a Niche
Dominating a niche means taking the time to absolutely master it. This may be the most difficult part because you may already be close to absolute mastery (but your mastery might not be viewable to the world). The aspects that seem second nature to you are what people are looking for so you will have to dig deep and think back to a time before you knew anything about the niche.
For example, when you are in an area that has land, you probably know every aspect about how the land can be used, but in reality most people have no idea what they are doing when it comes to purchasing raw land. For example:
- Land Use – Write about the many uses of raw land in your area. There may be some parts that are good for farming and some that would be better for development. Write about the different uses of land in the many parts of your city.
- Utilities – Some people are unaware that utilities and services may not have been provided to some parcels. Share the aspect that you can add value to a parcel by bringing utilities to it. Give them an idea of what that process is like and how you can make it easier.
- Evaluation – Land has many different inspections that traditional homes and condos. Share with your visitors how soil or wells can be tested. Let them know that they may even want their land surveyed to verify the lot lines.
Remember you are the expert; share that expertise online. What is obvious to you is not obvious to many. When you share your expertise and your passion it will come to life in your writing.
Concentrating your writing efforts on a particular niche will not only help your visitors see that you are an expert; it will also help the search engines see that you are an expert. Communicating your expertise in a niche also means taking the time to communicate that expertise in different types of content. Consider a few of the following ideas when continuing the land expertise concept:
- Land Report – Write a 10 or 20+ page downloadable guide that speaks to land opportunities in your area. Take the time to explain, what you feel, might be the most basic concepts to the advanced because people searching for help are at all different levels.
- Videos on Land – Take the time to go out to a few parcels and record videos. Give people a taste of land that may need grading, land that has existing utilities, and more. The videos can be shot first person like you are talking to a prospective buyer to help them understand what they would be getting into.
- Pictures of Land – Your written content can be enhanced with pictures that you take of land where you mark up the images to show ideas of home positioning or even make comments on the proximity of nearby stores or schools to help people understand the opportunity without going to Google Maps.
When you take the time to write 100+ pages, about land, enhanced with reports, videos, and images then the search engines will identify you as a local expert and start sending traffic your way. It will take a bit of time, but it will be well worth your marketing efforts.
