Real estate professionals find value in content marketing to attract potential buyers and sellers
Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in a local coffee shop typing away at my laptop, when a couple of professionals dressed in business casual attire sat at the table next to me. They immediately started talking about real estate (both turned out to be agents) and how they were hard at work preparing for the busy spring season.
The conversation turned to marketing, with both realtors speaking to the fact that they were struggling to think of topics for their real estate blogs.
This is a problem I’ve heard many real estate professionals speak to over the years. In general, realtors and brokers go big on marketing this time of year, whether it’s in the form of print ads, billboards or trade publications, or online through the use of content marketing. In fact, real estate agencies, like most other types of businesses, can set themselves apart online by creating informative content on a consistent basis—and a good foundation for these efforts is a real estate blog.
The following are some tips for ramping up your real estate blog content to help set the stage for a record busy season this year:
Write about a mix of local and national topics
The bulk of your readers are going to be local, especially if you compete on a local or regional level. However, there are also some national topics your readers might find interesting, even if they are not generally looking to buy or sell property outside of their local area.
Subjects to cover might include housing industry and tax issues, the state of the local real estate market and any homes you have available for sale at the moment. You may also choose to provide helpful tips to readers, covering issues like how to prepare for a home inspection and how to find the right realtor or broker to meet their needs. Delivering useful information to your readers can help set your firm apart from others in your market.
Answer common real estate questions
Many people looking for answers to their real estate-related questions take to Google for help. To that end, you can address these frequently asked questions in your real estate blog content, providing complete answers for your readers. If done right, this can help your blog appear higher up in search results for people looking for answers to these questions.
Aim to be a local authority
There may be a number of other real estate agents in your area writing blog content of their own. You can begin to stand out from the crowd, however, by becoming a known expert on specific neighborhoods and communities near you. You could create specific pages for these communities, or have specific “in focus” blog posts talking about events happening in communities around the area and homes for sale in those locations.
Here again, providing localized content boosts your search engine rankings, especially if people are searching for answers to questions or listings in your geographical area.
Make the most of social media
Twitter and Facebook are an absolute must for realtors and brokers, as these platforms allow you to provide sound content and images showcasing your expertise and the listings you have available. However, don’t discount the power of another popular social media network: Pinterest. You can create real estate blog content on specific listings and pin them to your “Listings” Pinterest board to attract some additional attention to your firm and its services.
Keep these tips in mind as you work to market your real estate agency before, during and after the spring busy season. And if you need assistance developing content, consider working with a professional real estate copywriter to help carry the load.
Steve Bailey is president of ProPRcopy, a company that assists real estate agencies and a wide range of other businesses with their content writing and digital marketing needs.