101 real estate content marketing ideas

How to win at real estate content marketing

Creating a blog that people actually want to read and share is a challenge that every online marketer faces, day in and day out. The mediums evolve, the customers grow up, and the industry changes on a daily basis.

When folks come to us for blogging advice, we generally direct them to start out by focusing on who their target audience is. You could call this demographic information, but to me it’s much more than that. It’s about getting to know your audience on a personal level: who they are, what movies they watch, what social platforms they gravitate towards, what makes them laugh and, most importantly, how can you help them, entertain them, and just plain be real with them.

Like most marketers, I struggle with content creation on a regular basis. Not because of a lack of commitment or the allocation of time, but because I want each piece to be relevant and extraordinarily useful to you and to build positive awareness for our business. I also need every piece to provide some value from a discovery perspective –  think SEO and shareability. It’s a tall order, I know – like finding the perfect mate on a dating site.

This list is one I’ve compiled over the years to help our team during brainstorm sessions. I’ve tailored this edition to the real estate industry, but you’ll find most of it applicable to almost any business. Some of these ideas are great for establishing subject matter expertise; others are great for driving engagement and traffic, while others are great for attracting leads.

Whatever your goals, feel free to think of these ideas as starting points and alter them as you see fit. Let me know what works for you and your business. We love feedback, so leave comments below to let us know what’s working and what’s not. Here’s the list of amazing blog post ideas for your real estate website:

101 real estate content marketing ideas

1. Imagine the future of real estate and discuss how current trending issues might evolve.
2. Create a slideshow of the most expensive homes sold in the last 30 days.
3. Make a list of the most beautiful properties on the market today.
4. List 20 best apps for people preparing to sell their home, searching for a place to live, or a rental. Curation is the key here.
5. Explain why anybody should care about real estate sales being handled by professionals.
6. Make a list of famous people who have bought or sold property in your market.
7. Shoot video interviews of every city councilor in your area about why their district and city is fantastic.
8. List 30 or more online resources for people relocating to your area.
9. Make a list of the top myths about real estate and debunk them.
10. List the most expensive homes on the market in your area. Include the best images you can find.
11. Compare your market to the national market and highlight advantages of the current market.
12. Do a roundup of the best blog posts about your city, town, or neighborhood.
13. Make a list of the best websites for your market. This doesn’t have to be about buying or selling real estate. It could be about travel, dining, or working in your area.
14. List the most popular restaurants in your town and how to get a coveted reservation.
15. Write the ultimate list of private and public schools in your area.
16. Create a list with google map links and photos of the best parks in your area.
17. List the cheapest condos on the market today and include beautiful photos.
18. Create a mission statement and code of ethics for your business.
19. Write a review of the best places for brunch and include the list on foursquare or google+.
20. Make a list of the Twitter, emails or phone numbers of the top politicos in your town.

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“60% of the buyer journey is complete before prospects reach out to vendors.”

— B2B MARKETING INSIDER

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21. Make a list of the best agents and brokers in a neighboring area, link to them, and let them know you included them.
22. List the most spectacular pools on the market and include awesome photos.
23. Do a roundup of your favorite speakers at a conference, take photos of them, and share what you learned.
24. Disagree with a high level personality in your business and prove her or him wrong.
25. Interview attendees at a conference and make a round-up of their most important takeaways.
26. Write about the best waterfront properties in your area under a specific price point. e.g under 500K.
27. Transform the industry by writing about how you imagine the ideal buying or selling experience.
28. Write about why you love living and working in your town.
29. Do an exposé on your most interesting clients, why they moved to the area, and how they value the area.
30. Make a list of your favorite local charities, why you like them, and who you donate to.
31. Analyze the current climate in your market and explain the ramifications.
32. Identify popular bloggers in your area and ask them to guest post for you. Or, ask to post on their blog.
33. Write about the competition. Make a list of the top five you would recommend if someone couldn’t work with you.
34. Highlight the fastest growing businesses in your area and how someone might get a job there.
35. Make a comparison of old vs. new ways of doing business in real estate.
36. Highlight the most powerful women in your town or city. You can get more specific: think like a journalist.
37. Thank your 10 favorite customers and illustrate what you learned from them.
38. Highlight a fantastic well-known company in your town and use it as an example of customer service or business best practices vs. mistakes.
39. List the homes with amazing views in your market. Great photos are a must on these posts.
40. Create short videos of you talking about the neighborhoods in your area.

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“Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads.”

— DEMAND METRIC

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41. Make a list of your favorite local authors.
42. Write about your personal views on a hotly debated topic in your area, but avoid anything that would conflict with fair housing regulations.
43. Write about the best customer service experiences you’ve had in your town and what you love about those businesses.
44. List 10 fixer-uppers in your market right now, including images and links to listings.
45. Make a list of the software you can’t live without.
46. Make an ebook for buyers in your market and give it away for free.
47. Make an ebook for sellers in your market and give it away for free.
48. Make an ebook on the tax advantages of 1031 exchanges.
49. Make a list of the best dry-cleaners in town.
50. Write a post about the most innovative agents and brokers around the country and discuss why they made your list.
51. Make a list of the best swimming holes in your area. Include images and directions.
52. Join a business trade group and discuss why you got involved.
53. Make an ultimate list of summer camps in your area.
54. List the 12 largest houses on the market in your area. Be sure to include images.
55. Write about the 10 best burgers in your town. Make sure you actually try them, take photos, write reviews, post on yelp, foursquare and Google+.
56. Write about modern homes in your town. Include pictures, maps, and links.
57. Create a post about how technology has changed the process of buying and selling real estate, and explain your value in the process.
58. Make a list of the best happy hours in your city. Make sure this is a list you would happily give to any friend or out of town guest.
59. List the top 10 antique shops in your area
60. List the top dentists in your town. Include links to them online: their website, Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook, or Google+ presence.

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“87% of B2B buyers say content has an impact on vendor selection.”

— SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY

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61. Write about the best (or most affordable) yoga studios, cross fit gyms, or health clubs in your city.
62. Write 10 tips for getting the most out of selling your home.
63. Write about 10 historic homes on the market right now.
64. Make a list of the oldest homes in your town, including pictures.
65. Interview your customers about their experience working with you. Video is the best format here.
66. Have your most popular videos transcribed and turn them into blog posts.
67. List your favorite day hikes within a 30 minute drive from the city.
68. Make a list of the best ice cream shops in your town. Make sure you actually know what you’re talking about here. People take ice cream very seriously.
69. Make a list of the 20 most relevant blogs for your audience.
70. Create staff testimonials. Make sure they cover why they choose to work with you and how they bring value to their clients. Video is the best format here.
71. Create a neighborhood walking tour, using your video camera to record your favorite places or most scenic spots.
72. Make a list of top residential painters or interior designers.
73. Outline the process of getting the best deal on a mortgage.
74. Make the ultimate list of day care options in your area.
75. Listen to what your customers are consistently asking about and write about how you’d answer them.
76. Review your Google Analytics to find out which posts have received the most traffic, then write an update post on the topic.
77. Write a post that showcases some of the secret sauce that you use to get the best value for your customers.
78. Write a post about the homes of the rich and famous in your city.
79. Do an exposé on a kitchen renovation, the cost, the materials, and the time it takes. Interview some high end contractors to gain access to beautiful kitchens in progress.
80. Make a comparison of moving companies in your local market. Include costs, coverage, and reputation.

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“Posts with videos attract 3x more inbound links than plain text posts.”

— MOZ

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81. Write an article about the most sought after interior decorators in your market.
82. Outline the closing process from the buyer’s perspective.
83. Outline the closing process from the seller’s perspective. Be sure to highlight pitfalls and how you might address them.
84. Showcase your favorite playlist on spotify, iTunes, or any other popular music streaming service you use.
85. Make a list of the top Golf Courses in your area. Include tee times, membership costs, and drop-in fees. Beautiful images always help.
86. Make a list of the best Airbnb listings in your area. Remember that you have local expertise that the average person doesn’t have, so share what you know.
87. Do a post about the must-see museums in your area. Make sure you mean it.
88. List the best title attorneys in your market.
89. Hire a professional to do a video tour of your most valuable listing and document the process behind the scenes to demonstrate how well you understand online marketing.
90. Trade with the best photographer you can find to take a ton of photos of a beautiful listing, including neighborhood shots, lifestyle shots, and favorite restaurants. Make an exhaustive blogpost highlighting every photo. Upload the best photos to Flickr, Instagram or Pinterest.
91. Ask your seller to write 10 favorite things about their neighborhood.
92. Interview the Mayor about the top 10 reasons to live in their city.
93. Make a list of the last few places on earth to hear live music in town.
94. List the most expensive houses ever sold in your area.
95. Ask your seller to write about the most special moments they’ve had in their home; ask them to include whatever photos they are willing to share publicly.
96. Ask the sellers to write a welcome letter to the new homeowners titled “Why you might want to live here by people who have,” including what’s special about their house, neighborhood, and town and what they would like the new owners to know when they move in.
97. If you’re a coffee lover, make a list of the best coffee shops/espresso bars in town. I would avoid including Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts because people already know about those brands.
98. Write about the best place for a bikini wax. I only know this is important because of the women I’ve heard discussing all the attributes of a good wax job.
99. Make a list of the best sporting goods or fish & tackle shops in town.
100. Create an insider’s guide for any important festival or scheduled major event in your city.
101. Brainstorm a list of the top 50 questions that your customers ask on a regular basis and write a post addressing each and every one.

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“10% of website’s content drives 90% of the traffic.”

— INBOUND WRITER

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UPDATE: We started sharing this with our friends in the industry and came up with a few more. We’ll continue to update this list as we get more feedback. If you have an idea that isn’t on this list, please leave a comment below and will be sure to take a look.

102. Make a sellers guide to home inspections.
103. Make a buyers guide to home inspections.
104. List the best places to get you hair done. I clearly don’t know the correct lingo for this but if it’s important to you and your audience, you’ll know how to put it in the right words.
105. Write a post about the listings on the market the longest, why it’s taking so long for them to sell, and how to avoid the same fate.
106. Create a how to guide to staging your home.
107. Make a list of the top 10 reasons not to become a homeowner. I know this seems counter intuitive, but it got you to pay attention, and it will do the same for your readers. Make it honest and build trust in the process.
108. Create a quarterly report of the current market conditions.
109. Make a list of listing stats broken down by neighborhoods that are important to your audience.
110. Curate a weekly list of open houses in your market.
111. Make a list of price drops and price increases in your target market.
112. Make the ultimate emergency contact list that every homeowner in your town should have on their fridge.
113. List the most amazing places to pop the question in your city.
114. Write about a new a new hire, why you hired them, what they will bring to your team and how it will help your customers.
115. Make an annual top 10 list of the best pizza shops in your city.

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