I think many people skip the content on real estate websites. Many times, the content isn't there for the sake of site visitors... it's there for the sake of SEO.

Have you ever read content like:

"Hello, thank you for visiting my Texas Real Estate website. You will find this Texas Real Estate website to be your one stop shop for Texas Real Estate. At www,mysite,com, you can search for Texas Real Estate properties for sale. Common misspellings of Texas Real Estate are: texas reaL Estate, tecsas Real Estate, Texas Reel Estate..." etc. etc. etc.

Now that's some spammy crapola! The site that ranks #1 for many of my key terms is pretty bad, but not that bad.

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Dylan Darling
Search for Bend Oregon real estate and all Central Oregon homes for sale. Bend OR homes for sale.

I agree yoyo, total unprofessionalism.

i too have found that there's a number of real estate websites out there with craptastic content. there's also those that have good content that, unfortunately, doesn't get read.

you know this as well as i do, the inside of a home could be gorgeous but if the outside is ugly or even just non-plus then no one will venture in. same thing can be said for your content...

the key to getting your content read is by writing compelling and persuasive headlines. i'm sure you've been at the store and walked past a magazine or newspaper then did a double-take because the headline caught your attention... same thing for your website content.

you may have good content but unless you're compelling and peak interest then, well, it ain't gettin' read.

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Mark Eckenrode

* Are Most Realtors Idiots When It Comes To This?
* The Top Relationship Building Mistakes In Email Marketing
* The James Bond Guide To Twitter and Real Estate Marketing

-- HomeStomper.com

People from outide your area will read tons of your content if they are researchers. There aren't a lot of these people, but the feel like they already know and trust you when the end up contacing you. That is primarily why lots of good content is needed. Having said that, having a great idx search link in an easy to locate place on each page is absolutely critical.

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Sam Chapman
Austin, Texas
Austin, TX Real Estate |Austin Luxury Homes |Austin Real Estate Blog

It must be true that most visitors to an agent's site are only interested in listings. That's just a factor of how many people go online to find an agent as opposed to properties.

But, out of the users which ARE looking for an agent (the users we usually care about most, unless we're relying on our drip campaigns etc), how many do you think are reading the content? If I was looking for a realtor, YOU CAN BET that I'd read their content.

If they've done a half-assed job, with filler like what yoyo mentioned above, I would leave in disgust.
Spelling/grammar mistakes? If you won't hire a copy editor for twenty bucks an hour, you probably won't be very thorough in selling my house.

An agent with real info about their areas-of-service, demonstrates an engagement with that area. When the writer is interested in their area, that will show. Not a writer yourself? It's okay - if you give your hired writer enough information, they should still be able to "bring it out".

Many of my IDX registrants are from potential relocation clients thinking about moving to the city. They definitely read some of the content, but when it's all said and done I'm pretty sure I get more pageviews for IDX listings than anything else. Of course, there's lots of content that I've yet to develop, so maybe the more good content you have, the more likely people are to read it.

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Portland Real Estate | Portland MLS | Portland General Contractor
Milan Cole, Broker
Oregon First
(503) 953-3416