If you want to create a powerful, lead generating real estate blog, then you need to create targeted content that pulls readers in.
That means creating content that answers your prospects’ everyday buying or selling questions and concerns …
Content that addresses their fears about the homeownership process …
Content that speaks about the joys of living in a specific market area …
The more content you create that speaks to your target customer, the more they’ll start to know, like and trust you. And next thing you know, you’ve established yourself as the local market authority.
But what’s the right content mix?
How do you create content that engages, informs, and converts!
Here’s how you do it …
1. Cornerstone content
When you’re launching a new real estate website you need to take the time to create some solid cornerstone (a.k.a. evergreen) content.
This is the type of content that doesn’t change over time. You can use it over and over again. It’s consists of things like:
- Neighborhood profile pages,
- “How To” articles for buyers and sellers,
Let’s take a look at some examples …
In this example, M Squared Realty has created a dedicated landing page on their website titled “Real Estate Learning Center.” Here, they link to evergreen articles that teach consumers all about the buying process and all about understanding the selling process.
Then, they’ve taken it a step further … In addition to providing useful information on the buying and selling process for beginners, they also talk about the M Squared Realty selling proposition.
So first they give you a step-by-step education on the process involved in buying a home, and then they say, “here’s how we at MSQRealty.com will help you.”
Scott Schang is a Branch Manager with Broadview Mortgage and author of FindMyWayHome.com. Over the years he’s written tons of content about financing programs for school teachers, downpayment assistance programs, articles on credit repair, how to buy a home after foreclosure, and so much more.
He’s hosted dozens of webinars, written hundreds of articles, and to date, has well over 13,000+ subscribers and generates over 150+ leads per month, every month.
When you visit his website you’ll see that he’s organized some of those educational materials onto a single page so that new site visitors can easily find it:
- Access Home Ownership University Online – Here you can view some of Scott’s previous webinars where he talks about credit repair and improvement, or access his 2014 guide to California buyer assistance loans and grants.
- Access Home Loan Programs – here you can read all about the various loan programs available, qualifying guidelines, and more.
Here’s what you should do next …
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Who specifically am I trying to reach? Buyers or sellers?
- What questions do they have about the buying or selling process? Each question deserves it’s own answer and each answer should be it’s own blog post.
- What are they interested in learning about the community? Then, create a neighborhood landing page for each community that you specialize in. Write about the history of the community, the geography, the schools, and last but certainly not list, integrate your IDX listings onto each of those community pages. Here’s a great tutorial on how to do this: How To Create a Community Landing Page That Converts.
If you’ve already created this content over the years, great! All you have to do is organize it onto a central landing page on your website like the examples I showed you above.
2. Connection content
Not everyone who visits your website is a hot lead.
Not everyone is going to be in the market to buy or sell something right now but you still want to earn their trust and attention over the long-term so that when they are ready to buy or sell, they think of you.
That’s where your “connection content” comes in!
Connection content is the stuff that connects you to your readers and the community.
Arron Sweeney is a Realtor Associate with King Realty Group in Berkeley, CA. We designed and launched YourBerkeley.com for him back in April of 2014. Since then, Arron’s been busy writing, publishing, recruiting writers and promoting his content.
To date, he has generated 2 buyer leads and 2 listing leads as a result of his content creation and promotion efforts.
How?
He writes all about the local community to get readers interested:
- Local Road Cycling Routes – Right Here in Berkeley
- Easy Mountain Bike Trails Right Here in Berkeley
- Things to Do In Berkeley This Weekend – September 5 – 7
Then, he also throws in a dash of real estate writing and commentary:
- Tips for getting a non-cash offer accepted
- He writes about his “coming soon” listings: Coming Soon: 1516 7th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
- Updating Your Front Entry Adds Tremendous Value To Berkeley Homes
If you want to draw prospects into your orbit you need to write and talk about the community …
- What makes living here unique?
- Why is this such a great place to live?
- What are some fun things to do?
- Where are the best places to eat?
Understanding how to put an offer together is great. Understanding the local market is great. But being able to talk about the community in a way that makes people feel like this is a place to call home is also a great way to generate interest.
3. Conversion content
Last but not least, you need to create some solid conversion content.
Conversion content is all of the real estate statistics, landing page copy, etc. that brings people to your website, captures their attention, and converts them into a subscriber.
This includes things like:
- Home buyer reports,
- Home seller reports,
- Local market reports,
- Home valuation pages,
Let’s take a look at some examples …
Home Buyer Reports – TheVillagesFloridaBook.com
In this example Ryan Erisman has written a 150+ page PDF guide on everything you need to know about buying a home and moving to the Villages, a retirement community in Florida.
You’ll learn all about …
- The cost of living in the Villages,
- How your CDD Assessments are calculated,
- How to save on your homeowner’s insurance in the Villages,
- The history of the Villages,
- The best places to dine, shop, and go out in the Villages,
… and so much more!
Here’s what you should do next …
Apply this strategy to your own marketing.
Is there a specific community that you work in and specialize in?
A few years ago, I lived in San Diego for a year. My first week there I kept driving around looking and asking about things to do. Activities, places to visit, etc.
That’s when I came across Real Estate Broker Carol Farrar’s website: 1850 Realty. Every month she wrote about things to do in San Diego – it was just what I was looking for!
Think about how often consumers are relocating to the area that you specialize in.
What they want:
- Information about the community. Local market statistics, things to do, etc.
What you want:
- Their email. You want them to download your free “[Insert Area] Living Guide.”
Can you create an ebook the way Ryan did out of the content that you’ve been producing about your local community?
Home Valuation Landing Pages – 3:16 Team Realty
There’s an old adage in real estate that you have to “List to Last.”
Listings are a great opportunity to build your brand in your local market, reach new buyers, and ultimately, take charge of your business.
That begs the question, what are you doing to generate new listing leads?
3:16 Team Realty uses a free home valuation landing page to capture potential sellers information …
Once you have your free home valuation landing page, the next step is to drive traffic to that page! You can do this any number of ways …
- Just Sold flyers that link to your free home valuation page on your website,
- Run a pay-per-click campaign to drive traffic to this page on your website (though a PPC campaign here is often expensive),
- Run a Facebook ad through your Facebook Business Page to drive traffic to this page on your website (this is becoming more and more common in the real estate industry),
Run a test ad …
Try running a Facebook Ad for a “Free [Insert Area] Home Valuation.” Give yourself a hundred dollar budget and run the ad from 5:00pm to 11:00am the next morning.
How many click-throughs did you generate?
How long (on average) did people stay on that page of your website?
How many visitors converted into a lead? In other words, how many people entered their info?
Here’s another great home valuation landing page example from Anthony Gilbert with Realfx.com …
Local Market Statistics – AngeloDavisRealtor.com
Last but not least, don’t forget your local weekly (or monthly) market reports!
This is where you showcase your expertise on the local market to the consumer …
- Are we in a buyer’s or seller’s market?
- How will this affect your offer price?
- How quickly can I sell my home in this market? How will this affect my pricing?
- What’s the average days-on-market for homes?
- Has the average sales price gone up or down?
- How many homes are currently on the market?
Consumers who are interested in buying or selling right now are more than definitely interested in this type of information!
And if you continue to provide this information on a weekly/monthly basis for the communities that you specialize in, you’ll definitely stand out as the authoritative expert in your local marketplace!
Over to you …
What other strategies have you implemented to stand out as the local market expert? Do you have any experience hiring and managing writers to create content for you?
What type of content and/or landing pages convert best on your real estate website?
Look forward to hearing what works for you!
Great article, thanks for the shout out Ricardo!
Great article Ricardo, you given quite a lot to think about as we develop our website and blog about buying real estate in the Bahamas.
Looking forward to reading more of your articles and tips.