Real estate agents work hard — we become jugglers, time management experts and multitaskers naturally in this career.
Content marketing allows us to interact with clients before meeting them. It’s one of our first impressions to potential homebuyers and sellers, and everyone has access to it via the web.
So it’s crucial you do it right. Learn about four critical content marketing mistakes and how to fix them before catastrophe below.
4 content marketing mistakes and their fixes
1. Forgetting to repurpose content
You know that blog post you wrote last year that still gets a lot of page views? It could be a great candidate to turn into a downloadable PDF.
Get greater efficiency by repurposing the best content you already have. You can turn articles and other data into:
- Downloadable content for lead capture. Turn your best blog post into an e-book, and offer it to site visitors in exchange for their email addresses. You can also create neighborhood guides or compile public data about local school districts.
- If an article you wrote took a lot of time because it covered a topic that is hard to explain, it’s very likely a good video candidate.
- Public data about schools or the local real estate market make for great infographics.
2. Targeting topics too far down the funnel
If you’re new to blogging and content creation, there are plenty of topics you can write about before you get to posts about the closing process or final walkthrough.
Start with topics like first-time homebuyer programs or how to buy a home. You want to attract visitors who’ve been searching for keywords at the top of the real estate sales funnel. Catch them before they already have an agent.
3. Veering off topic
Articles about jewelry cleaning and how to make DIY candles have been spotted on a few real estate blogs. Seriously. Those topics do not fall anywhere near the real estate marketing funnel. Writing them is a waste of your time.
Real estate affords some of the widest latitudes when it comes to blog topics. Not many industries can cover as many subjects that still fall within a well-defined real estate marketing funnel. But make sure you stay on course.
How wide? Try topics such as local kid-friendly parks, or do a deep-dive on the best schools. You can even target homebuyers interested in moving to your city with articles such as “Moving to [your city]” and “Living in [your city].” Each of these can quickly generate high-quality, targeted web traffic for agents.
4. Grammar and spelling errors
A few anecdotes have been passed around real estate forums (and Facebook groups) about lost prospects because an agent’s website had spelling errors. Spelling and grammatical errors destroy one’s credibility. Here are some key offenders:
- Grammar
- Spelling
- Punctuation
- Run-on sentences
- Passive verbs
The easiest way to circumvent errors is to write all your drafts in Word (or Pages if you’re on a Mac). Grammar and spell checkers are your best friends. They won’t catch everything, but you’ll get closer to error-free content if you take this approach. It also never hurts to find someone in your office or a friend to read each draft before you publish.
You can even set your calendar to read “Elements of Style” once a year. It’s short and makes for good summer reading.
