SEVEN DEADLY CONTENT SINS: ARE YOU GUILTY?
Have you ever wondered what makes a good blog, what makes a bad one, and how you can get more people to read yours?
Of course you have!
Writing great content is essential if you want to be seen as the go-to property expert and number-one neighbourhood choice, so read on for 7 DEADLY SINS TO AVOID when you sit down to write a blog.
SIN NUMBER ONE: Tacky stock images
A surefire way to cheapen your blog is to use free stock images of corporate teams, plastic couples and cheesy wooden keyrings. Use your own images from your best listings for an arresting hero shot, or go and take pictures of your neighbourhood on your phone. We license the images for our content from a top London property photographer – it might cost a few grand a year, but the pictures are stunning!
REMEMBER! Your blog isn’t only there to be read, it’s there to create an impression. Use it to show off the kinds of homes you sell, and the kinds of listings you want to win. Most people won’t look at the words if the presentation is boring, so add some spice by repurposing your best images from your best listings, or buy some images that reflect the marketplace you want to attract.
SIN NUMBER TWO: Only having one photo
1,000ish words are the perfect length for a good insightful blog, but they can look like a huge wall of text on a screen. Break things up by adding extra images every couple of hundred words or so with some pull quotes from your article the way magazines do. We divide our articles for estate agents into five sections, each with its own accompanying image. Every blog becomes more readable, more beautiful and easy to split into multiple social media posts. Take a look at this example.
I recommended having a beautiful whole-room shot as your hero image that you can use for your blog, your Facebook cover and as an intro to your article on every social media channel. Then use close-ups of features and soft furnishings for your images with text overlaid.
SIN NUMBER THREE: Going off-topic
People aren’t looking at your blog for the latest addition to your team or tips for Valentine’s Day. They are ABSOLUTELY PERFECT SUBJECTS for social media, but your blog is the place to show off your knowledge and talent and value to local sellers and landlords – don’t squander its potential.
For every blog you write, ask yourself what a local seller or landlord can take away from it. Can they add value to their property or overcome a challenge? Do they get an insight into your world? Or can they simply make their experience easier when it comes to selling or letting?
SIN NUMBER FOUR: Timebound content
There are two types of content: timebound and evergreen. Sometimes, a timebound piece might be useful (moving home in lockdown, for instance), but nobody will ever search for it again once the moment is over. Blogs build your SEO and visibility over the longer term, so write articles that remain valid forever (hence the term ‘evergreen’) by reflecting the experience and challenges of selling or letting.
SIN NUMBER FIVE: Fluff and nonsense
It’s only through being an estate agent that anyone can know what it’s really like, so that’s your superpower. What do buyers really need to see on viewings? What are the fears of homeowners that you encounter and need to address? What myths can you bust? Any old soul can advise painting a room magnolia and hiding picture frames, but from 25 years as an agent, I can say that magnolia paint was never a selling point or a request!
Too much content suggests that people who buy and rent property are somehow mentally incapable of deciding if they like a home unless there are no photographs, no bold colours and nothing out of place. Of course you can and should help sellers and landlords to present their homes well, but not every home needs to be vanilla, and nor does your content.
SIN NUMBER SIX: Errors and clumsiness
Spelling mistakes are not easily forgiven, and neither are sentences that are hard to read: they make the reader’s life difficult and make the writer look sloppy. I run all mine through Grammarly, then read them out loud to find the sticky sentences. I aim to sound conversational rather than writery, so once I’m done I give it to Patrik to reads; then to Jayne; then I have a final fidget.
SIN NUMBER SEVEN: Posting and hoping
Unfortunately, most of your neighbourhood will never read your blog if you don’t tell them it’s there. Facebook and Instagram have throttled the organic reach of your posts, so you need to take your words to the people. Our clients repurpose their articles into all sorts of things, including video scripts, canvassing letters, e-guides, printed newsletters, lead generation campaigns and more.
When your blog contains really good stuff with deep estate agency insight and beautiful imagery, you can turn it into all manner of things to give you more reach, more impact and more listings.
If you’d like any help in writing your content or getting through more doors, book a rendezvous here and let’s get talking!