Big estate agent marketing mistakes: blogs
As estate agent marketing tools go, a blog is right up there with the greats, but it’s remarkably easy to blog about entirely the wrong thing. So don’t feel bad if you’re doing it as well.
Most estate agents I speak to are not yet running a blog. Or, if they are, the regularity of their posts is a bit hit and miss. That is a mistake in itself, in that blogs are an excellent estate agent marketing tool, but more about that in a later post.
This property blog is about the biggest mistake of all: using your blog as a sales pitch, either for your estate agency or for the properties you are marketing.
“But why is that wrong?” you might wonder. Surely if your job is to win instructions and then sell as many homes as you can by promoting them as widely as possible, then is your blog not a part of that? Well, no. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
Here are three reasons why using your blog as a sales pitch doesn’t work, and what you can do to correct your crimes.
1) You already have sales pages.
Whatever your estate agent website looks like, I’m sure you’ve got an About Us page. You probably have another one about your Services, and maybe some others as well. If somebody wants to know about your company or the estate agent services you offer, they will head to your About Us and Services pages. And that’s where they should find EVERYTHING they are looking for.
Hiding (yes, hiding!) your estate agent services in your blog risks your message being lost. Leaving the good stuff out of your company pages tells a property owner that you do less than you actually do. And that could mean they leave your website and move on to another estate agent.
ADVICE: if the pages about your estate agency are not telling the whole story of why someone should use you to sell or let their property, you need to rewrite those pages.
2) Google knows what you’re doing.
If you are repeating your sales pitch inside your blog, Google (and Bing) will notice. I know. It’s not fair, is it? There really is no privacy anymore!
Not only do Google and Bing recognise identically written content, but also identically meaning content. So by effectively duplicating content across the pages of your website, you lower the value of each of those pages. That could mean they don’t get indexed at all, or it could send them down the search results. Do you want your estate agent marketing to languish on Page 5? Of course you don’t.
ADVICE: take a look at your blog. Are there any articles that effectively repeat what is already written in your About Us and Services pages? If so, delete them.
3) Blogs should inspire, inform and engage.
Ask yourself this question: is it inspiring, informing or enlightening that your estate agent has properties for sale and to let? Is that really news to anyone, living or dead?
While you should definitely use your blog as a tool to win more instructions, more clients, more awareness and more sales, it is your insights and daily adventures that potential clients will find most engaging. Your blog is for stories, advice and a glimpse into your world. It’s the place to be generous with suggestions and open about your experiences.
Imagine you had a difficult sale and managed to get it through despite all the odds. Or perhaps a letting fell through because of problems that people should look out for in future? If you won an award, that is a story. And if someone in your team did something particularly heroic, that is a story too.
ADVICE: think about all the good and bad stuff that’s happened this week, this month or over the last year. Look for the drama, the joy and the tears. Those are the tales that will get you discovered, so those are the tales you should tell. And if some of the stuff is too short to blog about, read my articles on social media content, including Seven Deadly Instagram Wins For Estate Agents and How To Build An Excellent Facebook Page For Your Estate Agency.
Remember: you already have all you need for a unique and informative blog, because no other estate agency has the same experiences as yours.
If you’d like to stick around for even more suggestions, why not read my blog on how to fill your estate agent’s blog with sparkling content – fast!