“Go ahead and create some real estate content. Then you can optimize your real estate content to get found online by your ideal client. Don’t forget the call to action at the end and make sure it speaks to the value you provide or the problem you solve”  

Real Estate Content

If you have been creating real estate content for any period of time you already know: Content Is King. Let me rephrase that: GREAT Real Estate Content Is King. Real Estate Content is what consumers [home buyers and sellers, investors, short sale candidates etc] are looking for when they go to the internet. Without content, a website is just an electronic business card taking up space.

I have always been a sales guy, I understand people, I understand my ideal client, I know what they [REALTORS, Real Estate Agents, real estate peeps] would look for when they have a need. To me – creating real estate content for this website [blog posts, videos, pictures, e-books etc] is not only easy, it’s fun, even therapeutic.

That’s me though.

Real Estate Content: Is Not About You

For many real estate peeps starting out in the real estate internet marketing space, my opening paragraph sounded like this: blah - blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah - blah – blah – blah . 

I can’t tell you how many real estate peeps call, email, fill out a form on my website or tweet me with frustration over creating this thing called real estate content. One of the things that many people do is assume others know what we are talking about. For a long time I would tell real estate agents: “getting found online starts and ends with the content you create”. I would assume my message was received. It wasn’t. For many, a switch needs to go on first before they really understand what real estate content is and is not and more importantly – how to create it.

I hope this post will help you to “flip that switch”.

Real Estate Content: What Is It?

Real estate content is what consumers are looking for. It’s the information that is of value to them. Consumers go to the internet for 2 reasons 1) Gather Information 2) Solve a problem. When a consumer asks a search engine a question you can bet it is related to one or both of these. Real Estate Content is:

• homes for sale
• short sale process
• bank owned homes in Glendale
• Short sale homes in Chandler
• Germann Country Estates
• Val Vista Lakes
• Property Taxes In Arizona
• How To Sell Your Home
• How NOT To Sell Your Home
• Local Market Data
• Tax Credits
• Renting Vs Buying Phoenix
• Types of mortgages
• FSBO advice
• Final walk through process
• and on and on and on

Real Estate Content: The Problem With Most Of It

The problem with most real estate content, and while we are at it – let’s address most real estate websites too is –  it’s horrible. Actually, horrible really doesn’t convey how bad it really is – IT IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!!! – !!!!!!! – !!!!!!

The problem with most real estate content

• There is none
• it’s weak real estate content
• it’s duplicate content [the exact same content is posted on other websites [Inman, NY Times, REALTOR dot com etc]
• it’s boring/uninteresting or about YOU
• it’s pitchy [I'm the best REALTOR in the whole world etc...]
• it’s not helpful to the consumer
• it waste’s your visitors time
• it is overall just plain SUCKISH: something that is overly horrible or sometimes, horribly funny in a creepy sort of way. Thank you Urban Dictionary  

If there is no valuable real estate content on your real estate website, there is no incentive for anyone –and I do mean anyone – to visit your website.

Goals Of Real Estate Content

The goal of great content, great real estate content is confusing to many real estate peeps. The reason is actually pretty simple, many REALTORS have been conditioned to believe THEY are the product. You may have been to see real estate guru’s that have told you to talk about YOU and  your experience and your knowledge etc. While this worked  [better] with print marketing [direct mail] it fails miserably when it comes to creating content for the internet. That is because the goals of your content have changed. No consumer is scouring the internet for a REALTOR with 25 years experience, lots of knowledge and great testimonials. The new goals of your real estate content are to:

• educate
• establish trust
• build and convey confidence
• drive action [to do something] call, email, tweet, fill out the form below

Real Estate Content Is not about keyword stuffing

I know plenty of real estate peeps that create horrible real estate content. They don’t know it though. The reason: they are clearly writing for search engines instead of humans. By writing for search engines I mean Keyword Stuffing: From Google’s Webmaster Tools

“Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google’s search results. Filling pages with keywords results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site’s ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.

Takeaway:

Great content is the most important aspect of real estate marketing – great real estate content is what consumers are looking for. Focus on making engaging, valuable, educational content that builds trust, builds and conveys confidence and drives action. While keywords are certainly important they are not the end all be all and are certainly not the most important aspect of your real estate content. The reason is simple: you can get consumers to your website by keyword stuffing but what happens when they get there?  Remember you are writing for humans. It’s people that take action [call, email, fill out a form, request more info etc] – not GOOGLE

Want help with your real estate marketing? Please fill out the form below. My Phoenix Real Estate Marketing Classes can help you grow your Arizona real estate business. I teach 16 classes here in Phoenix, 16 HOW TO real estate marketing classes. In response to the need for great real estate marketing content I have added another: Creating Engaging Content For REALTORS.  Want more content ideas? Fill out the form below [select 60 real estate content ideas] and I will send you 60 additional real estate marketing content ideas you can use for blog posts, videos, ebooks, pictures, podcasts and more.