Websites have become a fundamental tool in real estate as home buyers favor the internet over person-to-person interaction.
To stay current, it is essential for real estate professionals to ensure that their website is optimized, both for users and search engines. One proven way to do so is to add high-quality, SEO-friendly content to each webpage.
The good news is that real estate experts do not also have to be professional copywriters to generate this specialized content. Basic SEO knowledge and content writing skills are all that is needed to make an impact.
We have compiled three powerful copywriting tips to teach you the essentials and, in turn, help you boost your website’s SEO value.
1. Know the Basics of SEO
When writing quality copy for your website, it is critical to have at least a basic understanding of SEO.
According to Moz, an esteemed software company for marketers, SEO is defined as:
“Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.”
The quality of traffic refers to users that match your target audience. When your website fulfills the needs of a user, you are more likely to secure conversion.
Conversions can be virtually anything and are custom to your business or agency. A conversion can be a home buyer signing up for a tour tomorrow evening or a first-time house hunter spending more than 15 seconds reading your educational blog.
Contributing Factors to Successful SEO:
There are a variety of factors that contribute to a successfully SEO-optimized website. Some factors are technical, such as crawlability. This element refers to the ease with which search engines can find, crawl, and index your website. Other factors are related to content and include titles, descriptions, and the copy itself. For our purposes, we will focus on the content-related aspects of prosperous SEO.
1. Titles and Descriptions
A website cannot be successfully optimized for search engines (and users) without quality titles and descriptions, or meta. Quality titles and descriptions are:
- Relevant: excellent meta sums up, or is related to, the content on the corresponding webpage
- Error-free: titles and descriptions are free from grammatical and spelling errors
- Keyword-focused: meta includes a researched keyword or two
- Interesting: titles and descriptions pique a user’s interest and attract them to the website
2. Content
In addition to technical SEO factors, high-quality content is the lifeblood of a successful website. The following attributes elevate content from good to great:
- Quality: content is free from grammatical and spelling errors
- Keyword-focused: content includes keywords that attract both users and crawlers
- Shareable: content is helpful, well-written, and formatted in an easily digestible way
2. Know What Makes Content Great
We cannot stress the importance of quality content enough. When it comes to boosting SEO value, 57% of marketing professionals agree that generating quality content is the most effective approach.
Having understood how critical great copy is, it is worth considering where great copy starts.
Think about the last good book you read. More than likely, the first sentence acted as a hook and drew you in. You were sold, and so was the book.
Just as the first sentence in a book is central to the book’s sale, so is the first sentence on each webpage. These first sentences do not have to be mind-blowing. They can simply be intriguing or answer an important question.
In addition to an intriguing first sentence, high-quality content is:
- Cohesive
- Relevant
- Error-Free
- Easily Digestible
- Unique
Great content also includes well-researched keywords and helpful backlinks.
Quality Content is Cohesive
As you write beyond the first sentence’s hook, there are a variety of factors to keep in mind. The first is cohesion.
Cohesive content is trustworthy content. Copy that consists of cohesive topics and ideas eliminates confusion for both users and web crawlers. Because cohesive content is trustworthy, clear, and easy to read, your website will likely have more traffic that turns to you for expertise, home listings, and other resources.
In addition, this increased traffic is more likely to share your website. The more your website is shared, the more backlinks are created. The more backlinks there are to your website, the higher your website will rank in the SERPs (search engine result pages).
Quality Content is Relevant
Another important factor to keep in mind while copywriting is relevance. The ideas in your content must relate to each other and your website as a whole.
For example, you do not want half of your website geared toward the benefits of vegan leather and half of your website an educational resource for new real estate agents.
Quality Content is Error-Free
Once you have successfully attracted a user to your website, you want to keep them there. Creating quality, error-free content is an easy way to achieve this goal. Simply be mindful of spelling and grammatical errors while you write.
To ensure accuracy (and alleviate undue stress), run your copy through an online editing tool, such as the Hemingway App.
Quality Content is Easily Digestible
Web users demand easy-to-read content. Scannable copy is free from long sentences, difficult words, and large paragraphs. Hefty blocks of text tend to intimidate and/or exhaust web users, and most will bounce from the page without even reading your content.
Avoid reader exhaustion and high bounce rates by giving your content a quick once-over when you are done writing. Simplify any lengthy sentences and see if you can break up large paragraphs into smaller, more scannable ones.
Quality Content is Unique
Unique content is vital on the web, both in the eyes of users and search engines. Not only will your followers and clientele thank you for your original ideas – Google will, too.
It is important to understand that plagiarized content is a punishable offense from a legal standpoint. Users will also be disappointed in your content if parts of it are duplicated or copied from another webpage.
Quality Content Features Researched Keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases a user searches to find specific content, be it the answer to a home buying question, more information about foreclosures, or home listings in their area. When added to your content, these keywords will help bring traffic to your website. You will want to find out which keywords searchers are using to find your website and be sure to incorporate them in your content.
There are a variety of online tools you can use to discover these keywords, including Google’s Keyword Planner and SEMRush.
Because Google is focusing more and more on organic content, there is no longer a need to include keywords a certain number of times in your content. Just be sure to include one or two researched keywords in your content in a way that reads naturally.
Quality Content Includes Helpful Backlinks
Backlinks are created when someone links to your website in their content. Backlinks are valuable because they show search engines, and other users, that your content is popular (and therefore trustworthy).
The more search engines determine that your content is authoritative and worth linking to, the more your website will move up in the SERPs.
3. Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is another crucial aspect to consider when writing optimized content for your website. Determine whom you are writing to: is it first time homebuyers? Experienced flippers? Investors, interior designers, or other real estate professionals?
Appeal to your target audience through tone and style. Do your readers expect polished and formal content or something more casual?
Once you have digested each piece of advice, try a practice round before you begin writing the copy that will go on your website. As you write, remember that the first draft is never perfect, and the second draft is almost always much better. Consider asking for a fresh set of eyes to scan your content before you publish to catch any missed mistakes. And last but not least, take advantage of online resources to finetune your hard work. After your optimized content is published and indexed, you will likely see the results in no time!
