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Ask An Ambassador: How To Write Evergreen Content

By
Real Estate Agent with Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.WarrenCountyOhioRealEstate.com SAL.2002007747

Buckle up, this one is going to be a bit longer than normal.

The leaves on the trees around our home fall off every fall.  They're gorgeous when the colors change, but soon they're on the ground, and brown, and soon broken into bits and returning to the soil.

Many blog posts are the same way.  They shine for a short time, serve their purpose, but lose their ability to attract consumers quickly.  Once the parade is over, the fireworks gone, the grand opening in the rear view mirror, there's not much reason for that post to be on the end of a consumer search.

So how do you make sure your blog and website stay leaved out year long, year after year, aka EVERGREEN?

It starts with topic selection.  What information will your potential clients seek year after year?

For us, we know that buyers will continue to look for low maintenance housing this year, and the next, and the next, and long after we've decided to stop being real estate agents.  There are always people that need to downsize, need a home with fewer stairs, want to live on a golf course, spend less time in the yard, etc.  Anything I write the fills those needs has a good start on being at the end of a web search.

Part of that topic evaluation includes understanding the competition for the same topics.  If you go after the exact same audience as MSN, Yahoo, Zillow, R.com, etc. their mega-budgets are going to kick your rear.  They dominate the search terms that are considered short tail, e.g. the most common search terms that aren't too specific (e.g. homes for sale in Cincinnati is pretty broad and high competition).

If you move away from short tail and further away from the main search terms and get more specific, you're in long tail search country, and that's where the bread and butter are for the typical agent.  E.g. Patio homes for sale in Mason Ohio gives me two splits from the short tail search.  Patio homes is a specific type of home and Mason Ohio is a bedroom community of Cincinnati.  If I want to move even further into long tail, adding another keyword phrase (with full basements, with 2 car garage, new construction). take me further into the long tail territory and even further away from the 800 pound gorillas of real estate marketing.

So now I know topics that give me potential long tail search terms, but just because something is long tail doesn't make it good to write.  For example, short sales might be long tail, but the short and the long of it is I personally hate working them and never want to work them again, so why write about them?  I'm also not a fan of rentals or the lowest priced homes in our market.  I've only got so many hours to give clients, and I want those hours to give me a decent return on my time.

So once you identify long tail topics that suit your business, what's next?

Writing your post with content that doesn't become out of date is a critical part of evergreen posts.
If I am writing about new construction, sooner or later that community will finish building.  Links to builder floor plans will be broken.  If you mentioned pricing, buyers will be calling you 10 years later and disappointed that they can no longer buy a new construction patio home for $250,000...and their budget can't manage the $500,000 price that it takes today.

When I write about a subdivision, I'll include as much factual information as I can, since most facts will never change.  The builder, the home styles, square footage, age, lot sizes, etc.   Those are fixed data.  I can add in what is appealing about the community:  close to X, amenities, etc.

Other information I may include, but is subject to change.  E.g. our favorite area restaurant may go out of business or change its name.  The HOA management company may change.  The monthly charges may change (I can mitigate that somewhat with "approximately" $300/month).

To stay evergreen, any links you use would be best used going to the home page vs. further into a website.  E.g. a school district's home page will stay the same, but they may change the remaining structure of their site.

Any pictures you use should be stored where they won't go away, or have the URL link change.  No one likes a white box where a picture is supposed to be.

For us, our best use of evergreen is an IDX search page.  A blog post is static (it never changes).  Home listings are dynamic (they change regularly).  Combine a blog post with an IDX search and you get the best of both worlds, evergreen static content and dynamic home search results.

Our best IDX search page has over 44,000 views and 8 closings (to date).   That page (and other similar pages) on our Wordpress site keeps working for us year after year. 

Do the work ONCE. 

Update as needed (which shouldn't be too often, if at all, unless your MLS changes and fouls up your IDX search pages...been there, done that!).

Repeat.

Follow up when contacted.

It's pure pull marketing.  You keep doing the other things that bring you business and take up more of your time, while the evergreen posts are out there ready to go the next time the right long tail search term goes into Google.

Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!

Bill & Liz aka BLiz

Posted by

Serving Warren County Ohio & Adjacent Areas

The Liz Spear Team of Transaction Alliance
Elizabeth Spear, ABR, Ohio License SAL.2002007747

William (Bill) Spear, Ohio License SAL.2004011109  Kentucky 77938
Ask for us by name if you visit the office!

EHO
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Liz Direct: 513-265-3004     
Fax: 866-302-8418

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Comments(16)

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Doug Rogers
RE/MAX Coastal Properties - Destin, FL
Your Real Estate Resource!

One of the best things. I have read on AR in a long time! 

Feb 04, 2025 06:04 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

I tried to make it practical.   I recently had our Wordpress site overhauled so I'm going through our 249 IDX search pages and realizing a) things I could have done better b) mistakes other agents have made with their listings and c) that I need to make even MORE pages :)

Feb 04, 2025 06:12 AM
Jeffrey DiMuria 321.223.6253 Waves Realty
Waves Realty - Melbourne, FL
Florida Space Coast Homes

Our MLS did a total change. They screw up every IDX search (and also the new search leaves out about 20% of the old info). It is awful.

Feb 04, 2025 06:23 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

We've had some back and forth in systems over the last couple of years.  I'm finding most of my school district based searches dropped the school district and went to just the city name.  That's not an exact alignment, so I'm having to reestablish my fields.  A few custom searches the custom term went POOF, so I just had a general search.   I've got about 30 more pages to revise over the next couple of days to have them all back to where I normally want them.

Feb 04, 2025 06:30 AM
Candice A. Donofrio
Next Wave RE Investments LLC Bullhead City AZ Commercial RE Broker - Fort Mohave, AZ
928-201-4BHC (4242) call/text

Evergreen = timeless.

It's always amazing when someone remembers you from a post from YEARS back! 

Feb 04, 2025 07:03 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

Some of my best performing posts/pages have entered double digit years.

Feb 04, 2025 07:23 AM
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hello Bill (and Liz too) - longer for a reason, can make for excellent reading.  And when that reading is put into thoughtful posts can certainly pay off.  

Feb 04, 2025 07:24 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

I personally don't mind reading longer, if there's a payoff in what I'm reading.  I've never been a big fan of the gurus providing a "set number of words approach".  Some topics need a little, others need a lot.  As long as a post/page is giving me pertinent info to what brought me there in the first place, go for it!

Feb 04, 2025 07:29 AM
Carol Williams
Although I'm retired, I love sharing my knowledge and learning from other real estate industry professionals. - Wenatchee, WA
Retired Agent / Broker / Prop. Mgr, Wenatchee, WA

This post is pure gold, Bill.

Feb 04, 2025 10:45 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

Amazing what one can do with the right can of spray paint :)

Feb 04, 2025 02:42 PM
Anna "Banana" Kruchten
Retired Broker/Owner - Phoenix, AZ
602-380-4886

Bill you are the king of writing 'evergreen' posts!  And you make it sound easy but I know all to well it's not, until you have a solid plan and system in place.

 

Featured in BananaTude!

 

Feb 04, 2025 03:54 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

It's the eating an elephant approach.  Break it down into small bites and vary the recipe a bit :)

Feb 04, 2025 07:19 PM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Hi Bill- well it wasn't THAT long! LOL  I say that because it read "short" I remember when Bob Stewart had the Long-tail post challenge. You've explained well how to write these so much so this should be an ActiveRain Tutorial. 

Feb 04, 2025 04:52 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

I skipped over some key stuff from an SEO standpoint (titles help, URL helps, what type of outgoing links help, keywords/phrases), but that's another day and another post :)

Feb 04, 2025 07:21 PM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good evening Bill,

I agree with Kathy Streib ..your post could be a tutorial. I had a call from someone who wants to move to my farm area and needs to sell before they can buy. I'm meeting them next week. She has read so many of my posts and market reports on Canyon Creek she said she felt she had to call me!

Feb 04, 2025 05:09 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

And to me that is the beauty of blogging and website content creation.  They potential clients have already interviewed us without ever directly talking to us.  All we have to do is confirm and communicate and we should be hired.

Feb 04, 2025 07:22 PM
Jeff Dowler, CRS
eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA
The Southern California Relocation Dude

Hi Bill:

You are the Champion of writing evergreen posts. This is a terrific, easy to understand tutorial on why we should write them and the key issues to consider to be maximally effective when doing so. It's great reading for newbies in particular but excellent for more seasoned writers, too.

Jeff

Feb 04, 2025 05:29 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

Once an agent understands how to make the building blocks, there is a lot that can be done, either by the agent or a hired hand.

Feb 04, 2025 07:23 PM
Brian England
Ambrose Realty Management LLC - Gilbert, AZ
MBA, GRI, REALTOR® Real Estate in East Valley AZ

Hmm, I haven't really heard of Evergreen before reading your post, other than the tree, haha.  I don't think I keep my stuff Evergreen, but maybe I got lucky, haha.

Feb 05, 2025 05:35 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

Brian, I think sometimes a post can be evergreen even without intent.  If there's little competition for a topic, a post will stick around in the search results.  The challenge is who is looking, and how often, and when they find it are they who you want to have as clients?  Assuming the post isn't a PSA type as you do with highlighting charities, and in that case you just want it to be found by the people that can help or need the help, and not necessarily having a need for them to be potential clients.  It all works out as it should.

Feb 05, 2025 05:53 AM
Wayne Martin
Wayne M Martin - Oswego, IL
Real Estate Broker - Retired

Good morning Bill. As I continue on the retirement road never tire of your sage advice on expanding my knowledge base. This post was a great one. Thanks. Enjoy your day.

Feb 05, 2025 05:45 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

Wayne,I know what I know because others taught me, so just passing it along.

Feb 05, 2025 05:54 AM
Patricia Feager
Flower Mound, TX

Bill, being in the real estate business is a very unique and rewarding experience. Only you can control your business to make it profitable. Understanding the competition, long-tail evergreen posts, and IDX search can make or break the business. 

Excellent!

Feb 05, 2025 05:53 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

There are a lot of factors to consider in our real estate business. For me, part of that is understanding my ideal clients and giving them what they need to find at the end of that Google query.

Feb 05, 2025 06:22 AM
Kat Palmiotti
eXp Commercial, Referral Divison - Kalispell, MT
Helping your Montana dreams take root

Excellent overview of how to write a post that lasts. I probably have old links on things and should really spend some time updating.

On a related note (but not real estate related), I received an email recently from a successful British podcast (they have 500K listeners) who wanted to include me in a podcast about my grandparents. They knew to reach out to me because of a post I wrote many years ago. Once information is out there, it's out there.

Feb 05, 2025 06:07 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

It's not unusual for me to have a contact and for me to realize it's initiated from a post or IDX page I created 10+ years ago.  All kind of stuff out there with staying power on the Internet, might even find some vintage children's book covers :)

Feb 05, 2025 06:23 AM
Kat Palmiotti

Haha, Indeed!

Feb 05, 2025 06:27 AM
Hannah Williams

Very impressive indeed Kat Palmiotti 

Feb 07, 2025 09:58 AM
Randy Mitchelson,APR
Marketing Advisor & Squeeze Mortgage - Bonita Springs, FL
First Impressions are made at First Click

I coach my clients in a similar way for their video projects. Distinguishing between evergreen and disposable content helps determine where to invest in professional videography vs using a smart phone to create content.

Feb 05, 2025 09:24 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

A time and a place, right?  Smart use of $$ gives us more to use later on other projects.

Feb 07, 2025 06:49 AM
Hannah Williams
HomeStarr Realty - Philadelphia, PA
Expertise NE Philadelphia & Bucks 215-820-3376

Liz and Bill Spear  Great post! Thank you for the info on condo fees. I was putting them recently. Luckily, I had never done that before, but you are right.  They are escalating with the rising costs like everything else. Until next week 

Feb 07, 2025 10:01 AM
Liz and Bill Spear

After a few calls from residents letting me know my post was wrong, the fees were now $x+ $10 or whatever the change was, I started dropping in approximately to provide some wiggle room.  Confirming the latest dollar amount regularly isn't an ideal use of time.

Feb 07, 2025 10:17 AM
Hannah Williams

Liz and Bill Spear I never received a call and would like to see the changes just as groceries escalate, . They must rise. Remarkably, they call you as you establish communication, which may result in a relationship ?

Feb 08, 2025 08:49 AM
John Juarez
The Medford Real Estate Team - Fremont, CA
ePRO, SRES, GRI, PMN

What an educational post!

I don't post often and when I do, the posts are mostly about a listing. So, not an opportunity for a evergreen post.

Feb 08, 2025 03:20 PM
Liz and Bill Spear

Maybe not evergreen, but a solid reason to post.  And you never know when someone will look up information and find your old post.

Feb 08, 2025 07:17 PM