Writing Original Real Estate Content

I work with many real estate agents and their websites, and all of them are very aware of the need to have good content on their sites if they’d like to have a valuable, well-ranked internet presence that has the potential for garnering leads. In some form or another, they all have blogs on their sites, and for good reason.

Recently though, I became aware of an agent that ran into a problem that I’d thought I’d touch on, because not only is it an important lesson in real estate, but also when running any kind of website open to the public. I won’t go too far into details, but this agent essentially published some information on their blog that had some problems. First off, it was taken from other sites around the web, and not original content written by the agent. Second, the information wasn’t really relevant to the client base they were targeting, and could have been considered misleading based on current market situations and conditions.

Now typically, this wouldn’t be a problem. Millions of sites lift content from the web, and there’s a gray line when it comes to the legality of it all. Also, as an agent, how many people actually read your blog? You could probably write about aliens coming down and putting an offer on your listing and pass it off as non-fiction given the clout users give an agents’ writings. Most agents could get away with this, and of course most have. It’s almost an accepted practice to provide as much mindless, keyword-rich content within your site simply to appease the search engine gods and their sacred algorithm, in hopes of getting that one extra email address. What’s the harm?

In this case, that neglect came back to bite the agent. The information this agent posted was found by a high-profile politician / writer with a very popular blog, and the agent was taken to town with a very scornful post and subsequent lynching by the followers of this popular writer. Sure, there were other factors in this example, but it goes to show that sometimes you may be held accountable for what has your name on it. Personally, I think this case was simply an example of an agent needing to invest a little more thought into what is on their site, and it got blown way out of proportion, but the whiplash was not an experience anyone wants to go through.

What’s the moral? Don’t assume you’re not writing for an audience. Consider them interested, and provide content that is original, valuable, and relevant. Adding regular content to your site through a blog can be one of the best ways to connect with an audience and gain additional exposure through the engines, but don’t forget about your readers. Do some research, and make sure what you write will benefit them. If it’s too much work, write about the community, local events, or your personal opinions on real estate, or hire someone to write original content for you. Bottom line, every word you publish online needs to be thought out, because we never know who might be reading your blog.