Increase Your Sales By Writing Effective Content

I had the honor of being part of the panel at the Dallas RainCamp event this last week. A question was asked that I thought would be valuable to share with everyone on ActiveRain. The question was, "How do you come up with content for your website and blog?". What a wonderful question ActiveBrad, thank you for asking it. I would like to share my answer and expand on it a little more.

I am a big believer in SEO and writing with purpose. The purpose of writing content for your website should consist of one goal and one goal only... closing more deals and increasing your bottom line. Why else would you spend time writing when you could spend time on more effective income producing activities or, more importantly, spending more time with your family?

Am I suggesting that writing about personal issues on your real estate site is a waste of time? Not just no, but heck no! I see great value in showing your personal side in your blog. In fact, I'd highly suggest you also allow your personality to shine through when writing about real estate. Be candid, personable and not only will your content read better, your readers will find it easier to relate to you.

The time you spend writing should meet the following objectives; increase your rankings within the search engines for the keywords that are relevant to your business; and provide true value while establishing a relationship between you and your readers.

So, how do I come up with content for my website or blog? I first look inward and determine where my business needs expanding and then I decide how my article can accomplish that task. For example, if I want to work with buyers looking for new construction homes, then I will write an article about a local builder and their neighborhoods. I will focus on the keywords that will drive those website visitors looking for more information on that builder to my article. I will then optimize the content and keywords in an attempt to outrank that builder on their own name. If they are a small to medium size builder, that's a pretty easy task! Lastly, I ensure there is a value proposition. E.g., Fill out this form for a list on homes available for immediate move-in.

When you sit down to write your next blog post or page of content for your site, I want you to ask yourself the following questions;

• "How will this article (or page of content) help me capture a new client?"
• "Will this article be relevant to potential buyers or sellers?"
• If the article is not specific to real estate, then ask, "Will this article build trust and increase my readership?"

Here are some additional, and more specific, tips on how to accomplish your goals.

1. Make sure you have a "call to action" within the post or have some type of lead capture on the page. Afterall, if you drive traffic to your website without having a way to capture it as potential business then it's like pouring water into a bucket full of holes.
2. If you are writing content that is real estate related, pay attention to keywords to ensure your article will rank well for those keywords.
3. When writing a blog post, make sure your keywords are in the blog's title which should automatically show up in the page title.
4. When writing a page of content for your site, make sure your keywords show up in the page title and also consider framing them in a "H1" tag which tells the search engine that these keywords are the main "thought" for that page.
5. If possible, and without making the content look spammy, pay attention to "keyword density" by placing the keywords 2 to 4 times for every 100 words. Be consistent with the keyword phrase (e.g., when using "Stonebridge Ranch homes", don't switch it up and use "homes in Stonebridge Ranch" as those are considered two different long-tail keywords).
6. If you add a picture to the blog post or page, use the keyword for that image's Alt tag and Title tag. This will help the search engine index the image for that keyword.
7. Take advantage of the content you've just written to link to inner pages of your website. This will help some of your other pages you want to rank well. For example, if you are writing an article on new FHA guidelines, and happen to mention McKinney Real Estate, be sure to use the words "McKinney Real Estate" as the link text and link it to an inner page. Specifically one that you have already created to rank well for McKinney Real Estate. If you remain cognizant of this throughout your site, then you will help the search engines do a better job of indexing your site. If you haven't been doing this and already have a lot of content, consider going back through your site and past articles to add these inner links.
8. Don't be afraid to link out to outside websites. If you are writing about a new IRS tax code, link the words "IRS tax code" back to the IRS.gov website on the exact page discussing those tax codes. Pointing your readers out to trusted "authority" websites is beneficial in your own rankings. One point of advice, use the target="_blank" tag for the hyperlink to make sure the outside site opens in a new tab and does NOT drive them away from your site.
9. Be personable, funny, candid, transparent, etc. If the reader can relate to you, they will be more likely to bookmark your site for future reading and more importantly, more likely to call on you when the time comes to buy, sell or refer a friend.

Ultimately, like you, your blog should be goal oriented. It should be used to increase your bottom line unless, of course, you simply have nothing better to do. How do you come up with content for your blog and what goals are you trying to achieve?

Article originally posted on Josh Harley's Real Estate By The Book - Increase Your Sales By Writing Effective Content