How to... Write Great Content

Writing content is a great way of communicating with clients and potential home buyers and sellers. And you don't have to be a journalist to write compelling content either!

There are some simple steps you can take when writing content that will help improve your real estate newsletters, blog posts, custom web pages and any other copy you write. This will in turn help build your brand and hopefully make your real estate business more successful. Here are some simple things to try and build into your content:

1: Come up with a great idea for content. One of the best ways to do this is to browse around online to find ideas - in particular look at local blogs. Disprove a myth, discuss something that just happened in the local news, offer tips and advice, home improvement information, review local restaurants/venues, interview a local famous person. These are all great ideas for creating content.

2: Come up with a great 'hook' for your headline. If you don't have a good 'hook', people might not even read the rest of your article, let alone take action on it. Experts often go as far to say that you should spend just as much time creating the headline as writing the actual content! Here is a great article about writing good headlines and offers some very useful ideas.

3: Remember, short is sweet on the internet. Don't go writing a 3 page article. Make it concise and to the point, and where possible make use of bullet points, and remember that a good relevant image is worth a thousand words.

4: Create a personality for your writing. Come up with a style of writing and be consistent - brand yourself! Above all, don't be dry and write like corporations often do for press releases. People want to know the real you! Use humor and try and relate to your target audience. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers, and think of the best way to relate to them.

5: Keep it engaging and conversational. Always leave the reader thinking 'hmmm, that was very interesting - I am going to act on that'. This is particularly true for blog posts - always ask what the reader thinks and ask them questions towards the end that they can comment on. When you write engaging copy you also increase the chance that someone will also read your next content piece.

So next time you sit down to write your new content, stop and think through these simple things. Trust me. This stuff works. And for those who want to read more about how to write great copy and content, visit CopyBlogger and subscribe - it's invaluable!