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Easy Ways To Create Content For Your Real Estate Website

One of the best ways to meet the demands of consumers and the search engines is through the creation of new content for your website. New content for your real estate website is a pivotal part of your overall online marketing strategy as it can help you with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts.

 The thought of “writing” pages about neighborhoods, architecture styles, or local events is one where many real estate professionals would rather go to the dentist than write new material.  While this might be the thought process, the reality is that creating content for your website (or blog) doesn’t have to be painful and it can be much easier when you have the right approach.

There are many great sources on the internet to discover more about writing styles, here I wanted to share some quick tips to make writing easier so you can increase your rankings in the search engines and have happy visitors.

  1. Write like you speak – This didn’t help me much in school but writing like you speak is just fine for writing online.  There aren’t any major awards, like the Pulitzer, for copy on real estate websites, so have fun and just write like you were speaking with someone who is totally new to the area.  Share with them your insights on good neighborhoods, quiet streets, etc and you will have pages of great content for your website.
  2. If you don’t like typing, don’t type – Too often people don’t write new material for their real estate websites because they don’t type quickly.  If you don’t type quickly, then simply don’t type the information!  The important part about content creation is you, since you are the subject matter expert.  You can write the information about the area and have someone else type it, or you could even record your voice and then send that off for transcription.  Having your handwriting typed or your voice transcribed is very affordable these days as there are many services that will do it online.
  3. AI Based Copywriting – Technology continues to advance in the areas of artificial intelligence.  While companies such as ChatGPT have grabbed headlines due to their advanced AI technology that can write entire essays there are other competitors such as Copy.ai that can help you to write longer and more detailed posts with greater speed.  While the AI technologies are advanced, don’t let the technology run away with your unique knowledge.  You can use these tools to create a good foundation and you can improve upon that foundation with your personality and specialty knowledge of your market.
  4. Create an Outline of Topics – Many real estate professionals give up on their content creation efforts because they get “writers’ block”.  With real estate writing you shouldn’t have to worry about writers’ block as you aren’t crafting a novel like Jurassic Park; you are writing information that you are sharing on a regular basis with your buyers and sellers.  To help you avoid staring at an empty word document, write out 50 topics before you ever write your first article.  With 50 topics in hand you can comfortably write a page or post a week and even have 2 weeks off in a year!  When you think about the questions buyers and sellers ask you; you will easily have 50 topics to write down which will help to fill your website with quality content.
  5. Start slow – Just like when you start the gym for the first time in years, try to pace yourself when you are creating new content.  Don’t start off trying to create a new page every day for your website as that will be too overwhelming.  Start with the goal of just 1 new page a week and when you find out how easy it can be you can slowly increase the number of new pages you add.  The important part is to stick with it as your visitors and search engines like regular updates.

Writing that first page for your real estate website may take you a few hours, but it will get easier the more pages you create.  Take time to set a goal of how many pages you will create in your first month and hand that goal to someone so they can check in on you.  Fresh content for your website is an essential element to a well rounded real estate marketing strategy and sticking with it will help you to increase your rankings and get more customers to your website every day.

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Give Customers a Reason to Give You Their Information

When you are first creating your real estate website and thinking about your overall online marketing strategy, often one of the farthest things from your mind is simply why someone would want to contact you.  Having a powerful marketing message is a great start, but what else could you offer someone that would encourage them to fill out your contact forms?

Putting an array of “Free reports” on your website in the hopes that someone will fill out a form with their valuable name and e-mail address is a colossal waste of time.  Most of the traditional free reports in real estate are so widely circulated that anyone can find them.  To get an online visitor to provide you with their contact information now requires being different and providing them information that isn’t that easily available.

Unique Offers Can Transform Traffic Into Leads

Consider the following ideas for compelling a visitor to give you their information:

  • A 10+ Page Report on Buying a Home – Creating a report of this length demonstrates real value to a prospective client.  Try to not make it a “fluff” report that speaks about your awards or service.  Write it from an objective standpoint that will allow them to get real value from it.  Put information in the report that helps them to see how they could purchase a property in the areas you operate.  Point out items to consider that are specific to your area and they will infer your expertise.  This can be a “living” report meaning you could make the back few pages of the report about the current market activity and then update it quarterly or semi-annually with the latest market trends.  On your landing page let prospective buyers know that your 10+ page (yes give them the actual number) is a report that not only gives them unique guidance about buying in your market areas it also gives unbiased market data that will help them to decide IF now is the right time to buy for them.
  • A 3 Day Course on Preparing a Home For Sale – Many people provide a small one page document for preparing a home for sale, so be different!  Create a 3 day email course on items a seller should consider when preparing a home to sell.  You can even provide information on how they would select a listing agent.  This course should be packed with so much information that the prospective seller has enough information to choose ANY agent they want in the marketplace but they will be compelled to select you because of the information you provide.  As you could do in a buyer report you can add a section on market activity to help seller’s determine IF it is the right time to sell.  The agents that do the best aren’t afraid to tell a seller “you know if you can wait, it might be a good idea”.  Be bold and be different with your course and you can attract great prospects daily.
  • A Targeted List of Properties or Off-Market Properties – Take advantage of market conditions and place a form that allows people to get the homes in a specific area and condition.  For example if Bank Owned properties are abundant in your area, you could create a form that allows someone to get a list of Bank Owned/Foreclosure homes in your neighborhood.  With the apps from Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, and more the curated lists are harder to create that are truly unique.  If you belong to a larger office, give prospective visitors to your site the opportunity to get the “first look” at properties before they hit the market.  Let a prospect know that you understand they can get any set of listings from the MLS or the variety of Real Estate Apps, but you want to get them a truly first look at properties BEFORE they hit the market to help them get the edge.

Getting people to give up their information takes a focus on what is most important to those searching online and it can change as markets change.  People searching for real estate help online want to get information and they want it on their terms.  Providing them multiple opportunities to get the help they desire will have visitors opting in daily for great information.