Did you know that most online searches are for information?
For example, did you realise that there are more than 1,900 searches per month in the UK for the term ‘moving house with cats’?
Or that 2,900 searches a month are for ‘van for moving’ and another 1,300 searches specifically for ‘luton 3.5 tonne van.’
As an estate or lettings agent the chances are that you’re probably not much of a writer. I appreciate that’s quite a sweeping statement and it’s not meant as an insult, it’s just that your skills probably lie elsewhere. That’s why you have chosen to be an estate agent, rather than a journalist, copywriter or any other role in the creative industry!
Nine out of 10 of you will have sat down to write a blog post, news piece or local area guide at some point during your estate agency career and found yourself still looking at a blank screen two hours later. And as you curse and get more frustrated, the harder it is to make the words flow!
Although I’m a light sleeper, I usually manage to fall asleep fairly quickly. But last night my mind was racing. So many thoughts were running through my head that although I dropped off easily, I awoke in the early hours, my brain whizzing, working overtime.
I awoke at around 3.30am and it took me over two hours before I finally got back to sleep. When my alarm clock went off at 7am, I felt like I had only shut my eyes for a couple of minutes!
I was thinking about my work, which I adore, but a long list of things to do was forming, swirling around in my mind, and before I knew it, I felt a sense of crippling uncertainty overwhelm me that I just couldn’t shake.
Did you know that a fruit fly only lives for between 40 and 50 days? Imagine!
And did you know that for most estate and lettings agencies who start writing a blog, the lifespan of that blog is similar?
Let’s put this into perspective. That’s just over 7 weeks at best.
A fruit fly dies at just 7 weeks old because that’s what they do – it loves rotting fruit and lays several batches of eggs in that time, it’s sole aim to continue the fruit fly cycle. But they are pesky little things that don’t really serve any other purpose, apart from to be annoying (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!)
But your blog on the other hand – well, not only does it serve a purpose, but unlike a fruit fly, it’s lifespan can be infinite if you allow it.
If you already create your own blog content, you’ll know that it’s not a task which can be completed in 10 minutes flat.
You need to decide on a topic
Do your research
Fire up your creative juices
Write your piece
Edit and upload
The best piece of advice I have ever received was from someone I really looked up to many years ago when my children were small. I was juggling full-time employment and a part-time job alongside all the usual parental and household responsibilities!
This insightful piece of advice helped me leave my job, start my own business and over the past 15 years or so has stopped me wasting countless hours of my life going around in circles.
Looking back, it’s amazing how this piece of advice positively affected me. But it really did!
I chat with Ebs Turner from Prop Media about content for estate agents and my property pet peeves!
The biggest business risk I took was when I ditched the direction my business had been going in for almost 15 years and chose to start a completely new business, from scratch.
It was either I choose to take the risk or choose to stay safe. Two reasonably straightforward options on the surface, I suppose. But staying safe would have involved winding up my original business and going to work for someone else.
That scenario filled me so much horror, I can’t even tell you!
Following on from last weeks blog post, I want to share with you three of the biggest marketing mistakes you absolutely must avoid if you want your estate agency to succeed. Becoming the go-to estate agent in your area is crucial and winning more instructions is within your reach!
I have helped hundreds of estate agents understand why content is key and in the process of doing so I have noticed that the SAME three mistakes crop up time and again.
So, the best thing you can do now is save yourself from wasting another minute by learning from the past mistakes of those other estate agents!
I wanted to bring to light a mistake that many estate agents have been making, despite trying their best not to!
I see so many estate agents running into problems when it comes to creating and publishing content because of this one grave mistake.
I know that you read my blog posts because you are interested in learning how to get organic leads and win more instructions, so I felt that I had to write this to ensure that you do not do this at all costs.
As you will know if you follow me on social media, I spent £1,209 on a new MacBook Pro last week!
I know it’s ridiculously expensive for what is essentially just a laptop, but let me say first of all, I don’t usually go around wasting my money on just anything.
However, when it came to this, I had to purchase it… and I have zero regrets!
Here’s why…
From my frequent conversations with property professionals, I know you may be one of many estate agents who have issues creating content for your blog, newsletter or social media that actually engages with your target audience and makes you stand out as an expert.
The truth is, it’s just not as easy as it looks!
I was thinking about this over the weekend and so I thought I would help you out by giving you my seven best tips for creating genuinely engaging and interesting content for your target audience – home movers!
I lost five subscribers last week. Here’s why.
I send my weekly newsletter to my list every Tuesday. It always contains a helpful tip, a relevant little story or some piece of information that I feel will benefit subscribers in some way. There’s never a huge amount of waffle. It’s always an important message written to make the reader sit up, take notice and make them think. Sometimes, I hope my emails may even provide a little entertainment on a dull day!
Anyway, last Tuesday, I sent my newsletter out with the subject line…
So many estate agents do not follow the very simple content marketing strategy that they profess to know all about.
What’s stopping you?
I have a theory that you’re not actually entirely uneducated or lazy, there’s another factor in play too.
And, that is patience.
Am I right?
Watch my recent chat on this topic with UK Property Journalist Christopher Watkin and then tell me your excuses – I’m interested to know!
I recently regaled you with the sorry saga of my recent encounter with a local estate agent during our quest to purchase a buy to let property.
Last week I regaled you with the sorry saga of my recent encounter with a local estate agent during our quest to purchase a buy to let property.
Secondly, I am genuinely sad to report that the whole buy to let debacle continued to unfold…
My husband and I (oooh I sound like the Queen!) are currently looking to purchase a property in our local area which we intend to rent out.
We’ve been keeping a keen eye on what’s coming to market, and I must say, it’s fantastic that there are so many potential properties around at the moment. Pretty much every estate agent I have spoken to recently tells me they are flat out, and I am genuinely delighted for the industry after what has been a pretty hairy few months!
As you can imagine, my inbox is pretty busy with questions and requests from estate agents. Creating content for estate agents is my niche, and I like to stick to giving help and advice on what I’m good at!
Since Covid-19 rampaged through our lives, a considerable number of estate agents have woken up to the power of marketing their agency through online content, in fact, I would go so far as to say that Covid-19 has actually dragged a few estate agents into the 21st century at last. Not without some kicking and screaming though.
Last week I received an email from an estate agent which contained a very important question.
The agent simply asked me why I send emails to him, but never explain in those emails what my services are or how much I charge?
So, I thought I would explain that there’s a very good reason why I don’t ram my services down my subscribers throats every week. If I did, I’m pretty sure they would hit the unsubscribe link without hesitation.
At last, there has been some good news for the estate agency industry, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak announcing a Stamp Duty holiday on residential purchases of £500,000 or less in England and Northern Ireland until March 2021.
So, being in the property industry, how do you feel about this?
If lockdown has done one thing, it has highlighted the necessity for estate agents to increase their online presence. In fact, this has been underlined not just for estate agents, but for every business that until these last few strange months may have been lacking somewhat when it came to their digital arsenal.
I’m not just talking about having a website though. Any estate agency can have a website.
Actually, I’ll rephrase that. Any estate agency can have a pretty website.
No, that’s still not quite right. I’ll try again. Any estate agency can have a pretty invisible website.
Just because you have a website showcasing your listings, this doesn’t automatically guarantee your visibility online.
How attractive are you? How interesting are you?
I bet you’d give yourself a solid 8 out of 10, maybe even more?
Now, how did you actually reach that score?
It was most likely based on how you see yourself when you look in the mirror along with how you think your friends and relations see you. You will also have taken into account how interesting you think you are based on the number and type of friends you have and how often they want to hang out with you.
But do you notice one thing here?
How helpful have you been to your clients these past few months? No, really, I mean if you take a proper good, long look at yourself and your agency, have you been, and do you continue to be as helpful as you can possibly be when it comes to your clients?
I’m interested to know because there was an article that caught my eye in the Property Reporter newsletter last week which stated:
“According to new research by home setup service, Just Move In, an overwhelming 69% of the nation feel that estate agents should do more to help them during the stressful process of moving between homes.”
Woah! 69% is not a small percentage…
You’re a fantastic estate agent, right? Of course you are. Or, you think you are.
But how does your target audience see you? Or, do they see you at all?
Each day you show up, and you run your agency. You collect leads from property portals, and you duly go to booked valuations.
Depending on your workload you work early, you work late, you work weekends, you add your market share stats and data to your website so that everyone can see how amazing you are. You give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back at the end of the week for all the hard work and the hours you are putting in.
I was chatting with a long-standing client recently. She runs a very successful estate agency in the South East, and we generally enjoy a bit of chit-chat before we talk business! This recent catch-up was no exception, and she was obviously desperate to tell me ‘a funny story’ about how one of her competitors had quite recently tried to sabotage her reputation by publicly bringing her credentials into question.
I mean, I wouldn’t say that’s funny – more rude and disrespectful!