Real estate agents benefit greatly by having seller’s guides at the ready. These handy pamphlets (or booklets) highlight an agent’s expertise and offer helpful information for clientele. When published to an agent’s website, the guide’s fresh content can even boost the site’s SEO value.
A Seller’s Guide: Defined
A real estate seller’s guide is defined as a helpful guide to selling real estate. These guides are valuable resources for sellers, as they answer common questions about the selling process, alleviate stress, and act as a text-based introduction to the agent themselves.
In addition to simply covering the selling process, seller’s guides can also cover an array of related topics. These topics may include:
- Tips for selling your home in a certain season
- Tips for first-time sellers
- How to sell a home in need of repairs
- Tips for negotiating with buyer’s agents
- Detailing the value of additions and remodels
When an agent includes a seller’s guide on their website, they wield a weapon that sets them apart from a sea of seller’s agents. These guides act as a powerful showcase that highlights their skills and expertise – the likes of which other agents may not have.
What Is the Purpose of a Seller’s Guide?
The purpose of a seller’s guide is threefold: to answer common (and important) questions, to outline an agent’s knowledge base, and to detail the real estate selling process. These guides:
- Inform the seller of the necessary steps one must take in selling real estate
- Educate the seller of important real estate terminology (as-is condition, short sale, etc.)
- Highlight the agent’s terms and conditions
- Alleviate stress by walking the seller through the process and providing key information
- Mitigate stress and boost excitement through content that inspires possibility
As briefly mentioned, another crucial purpose of real estate seller’s guides is showcasing the listing agent. Sellers, and potential sellers, can learn a lot about an agent through these guides when they are written correctly. For example, an agent can convince clients to trust their expertise and ability to stand for the seller’s best interests – thus proving that they are the right person to hire for the selling journey.
Seller’s guides convince clientele by detailing the listing agent’s:
- Experience, credentials, specialties, and knowledge base
- Ability to represent and protect the seller’s best interests
- Negotiation skills
- Ability to ensure that nothing is overlooked in the selling process
What a Seller’s Guide Includes
The most important factors included in a seller’s guide are the steps in the selling process. Ideally, the seller’s guide not only lists the steps but thoroughly explains the steps in a way that is easy for the seller to understand. An example of the steps that should be included in a seller’s guide are:
- Beautify and repair: Apply a fresh coat of paint, professionally fix a mold problem, upgrade the HVAC unit, replace light fixtures – make the house a home people will want to purchase.
- Enlist a real estate seller’s agent: Choose an agent that you trust, as they will be your go-to source in your selling journey. Start by asking friends and families for references, or perform a Google search and compare ratings.
- Price your home to sell: Obtain a CMA, or comparative market analysis form, from your agent. Have your agent help you price your home in a way that is advantageous to you and fair to the buyer.
- Market your home: Market your home in such a way that it will be found quickly and easily by buyers. Keep in mind that the internet is the most popular method buyers use when searching for their next home.
- Make (and keep!) your home showing-ready: Cleanse each room, eliminate clutter, and remove personal belongings from plain sight. Remember, you want the buyer to easily be able to imagine themselves in the home.
- Negotiate: Now is an especially great time to utilize your listing agent. Have them step in on your behalf and negotiate a fair price with the buyer – without sacrificing your best interests.
- Close: Once you have accepted an offer, paperwork is in order, and all transactions are complete, you will be able to hand over the keys to the new homeowner.
Benefits of Including a Seller’s Guide on Your Website
Aside from adding SEO value (which is incredibly important for your business), the benefits of publishing a seller’s guide on an agent’s website are numerous. The benefits include:
- Setting the listing agent apart from the crowd
- Reinforcing the agent’s skill set, experience, and expertise
- Enriching clientele experience by providing an invaluable resource
- Drawing more traffic to the website
- Helping to expand the agent’s client base
How to Write a Seller’s Guide
There are a variety of best practices agents should keep in mind when drafting a seller’s guide. These aspects include tone, helpful content, researched keywords, and more.
Tone
When a client, or potential client, reads a seller’s guide, they expect material that is professional enough to establish trust and friendly enough to instill a sense of ease.
Composition
A listing agent should not hold back in highlighting their expertise when writing a seller’s guide. These guides should detail the agent’s expertise by:
- Outlining and explaining each step of the selling process
- Describing what the seller can expect
- Providing the meaning of various industry terms
- Advising the seller with helpful do’s and dont’s
Potential clients and existing clientele will appreciate the glimpse inside the agent’s knowledge base.
When drafting the seller’s guide, the agent should ensure that the content includes:
Quality Format, Wording, and Grammar
Clients expect quality and professionalism. Do not let them down with content that is irregularly formatted and/or peppered with spelling and grammatical errors.
Uplifting Content
Selling real estate can be a stressful endeavor. A seller’s guide should alleviate some of that stress not only with helpful information but with encouraging content. The right words can do a number in putting a client at ease or convincing a seller to hire the agent and start their selling adventure.
Facts
Avoid including fictional content in the seller’s guide. Instead, incorporate concrete facts as well as reliable bits of advice based on the agent’s experience.
Researched Keywords
Maximize the return in SEO value by incorporating researched keywords into the seller’s guide. When published on the agent’s website, the keyword-rich guide will prove to be a valuable asset. Just be sure not to stuff keywords.
Scannable Format
Readers, especially online readers, adore content that is easily digestible. Scannable content features succinct sentences, short paragraphs, and strictly important and relevant information.
Media
Images add visual interest, break up the monotony of mere text, and can help the agent more effectively drive a point home.
Mobile-Friendly
With the majority of sellers preferring to use their phones over computers, agents should ensure that their seller’s guide (and entire website) is mobile-friendly. Google has an easy-to-use Mobile-Friendly Test that agents can use after their content is published on their site.
Downloadable
A downloadable file allows clients and researchers to easily download the seller’s guide and save the information for later. This convenience is undoubtedly one that clients will enjoy.
When an agent follows these best practices, they will certainly create a product that benefits their clientele, future clients, and themselves. From providing trustworthy facts to ensuring a pleasant reading experience, following these guidelines will help an agent write a successful seller’s guide that can be used for years to come.
