How to Create Community Webpages that Sell

When you're looking to highlight the uniqueness of a neighborhood, community-focused content can be your best friend. Community content is used to showcase the most attractive features and benefits of a local community, while also displaying your personal knowledge of the area's history and amenities.

But how can you build community pages that truly sell? What is it that prospective buyers are really looking for?

Give Specific, Highly Local Details

Think about what others are reporting about the community. They likely have things such as crime rates, market data, and school districts. When you create your community websites, you want to have highly detailed information that is specific to the area.

Don't talk about statistics. Instead, talk about schools, things to do, entertainment venues, family events, and cultural events. Think about it from the angle of a resident. What are the things they would say make their community special?

Not only does this build your authority, but it's also vital for search engine optimization. The more locally inclined your information is, the more likely those who are truly interested in the area will find it.

Remember: you're competing with a number of different real estate agencies and real estate professionals. They are all going to give general information about the community. It's up to you to get specific.

Jazz Up Community Pages Using Media

From professional photography to video, adding visual media to your community content is a great way to improve engagement and build trust. Many people learn and retain information better through visual aides.

Reading about a community is one thing; seeing it is quite another.

Investing a little in professional photography and video can pay off in dividends later on. Community pages are "evergreen" pages; they are pages that are going to be the cornerstones of your content.

Though they may be updated from time-to-time, these communities are always going to exist. Investing in the content for these communities is a long-term investment.

Think about making it personal, by taking videos of your team members at local events. If your team goes out on a retreat in the area, goes to celebrate a milestone at a restaurant there, or simply goes on an outing to one of the local parks, consider it a photo opportunity.

This shows that you're engaged and active within the community, apart from being a real estate expert.

Invest in Professionally Written Content

It isn't always enough to know facts about a real estate market; you also need to know the best ways in which to discuss it. Through professionally written content, you can engage readers creatively while also putting forth the image that you want to depict.

A professional writer will consider your buyer persona, the market, and your own company culture, while carefully crafting community content that is going to hit all of your important speaking points.

In addition to appealing to individuals, your written content also has to appeal to search engines.

A professional writer well-versed in search engine optimization will be able to get you higher rankings on Google, Bing, and other search engines. This will increase overall exposure to your site.

Include Relevant Marketing Data

Understanding more about the community is only one of a buyer's goals. The buyer also needs to understand the local market.

Buyers want to know whether their property is going to appreciate and if so, by how much. They want to know whether now is a good time to buy and whether they're going to be facing other competing offers.

Buyers have a lot of questions about the market, which can be addressed through the use of carefully compiled and analyzed marketing data. MarketVideos.com can be used to create personally branded, professional marketing videos that are designed to update buyers on the market information they need.

You can encourage buyers to sign up for email blasts and blog updates, which will give them the information they need to make an informed decision about their purchase.

When it comes to real estate, every contact with the buyer matters. The more connections you make with the buyer, the more authority you build, and the more likely they are to work with you.

Through marketing data, you can establish a clear chain of communication and begin building a relationship.

Gather Resident Testimonials

What do the members of the community think about their neighborhood? What do they love most about the neighborhood? What are they looking forward to in the future?

Resident testimonials speak to potential buyers on an extremely authentic, relatable level. Buyers want to hear from people like them; people who were looking for a place to call home and chose to buy into the market.

Resident testimonials are often more persuasive than facts or statistics because they show a truly personal relationship with the community.

Give Multiple Methods of Contact

At every stage, you want to encourage customers to continue to engage with you by any means necessary. A live chat widget, embedded contact form, "follow me" button — all of these options give the customer the ability to connect with you further on the platform that they want.

Multiple methods of contact can be used to capture buyers who are at any stage of their buyer journey. Those who are just now considering the purchase of a home may simply want to follow your newsletter for more market information, whereas someone who is seriously looking to buy may want to live chat with you now.

Customers want to be given options in terms of contact. More and more, customers are shying away from the telephone and preferring instant messenger or email.

Have a Clear Call-to-Action

At the end of every community website page, you should have a clear call-to-action that is based on your sales funnel. Community content can lead directly into signing up for a newsletter or even connecting with a real estate professional directly.

Prospective buyers need to know exactly what action they should take next to progress upon their journey.

Take the time to conduct some testing based on which call-to-action is most effective. It may be that your buyers are more receptive to newsletters or marketing information, or it may be that your buyers are more likely to engage you directly on social media.

Either way, it is the engagement that is important: continued engagement ultimately leads to sales.

Give Your Content a Boost

Once your content has been completed, give it a boost by sharing it throughout your social media accounts. After it has been shared, take the time to respond to any comments that are received to further engage potential buyers.

Being personable and professional through your social media accounts can have a tremendous impact on how your firm is perceived.

It may take some time for new content to build influence in search rankings, but it takes no time at all for it to be seen by your followers on your social media accounts.

As you continue posting content such as community website pages, you'll gather additional followers and be able to expand your reach.

Remember: when it comes to community web pages, selling the community itself is secondary. Your primary goal is to establish yourself as an authority, urging readers to contact you whether they are interested in this particular community or not.

Though you may be discussing the community's unique benefits and amenities, what you're truly displaying is your own expertise. Consider what you know and have learned about the community, what you have experienced, and what your personal expertise tells you. Your knowledge and value will show through.

To view the original article, visit the VScreen blog.