Capitalize On One-of-a-Kind Content…While You Can!
As portals and top trafficked real estate websites continue to expand and improve upon their hyper local neighborhood content, it is important to make sure your brokerage is positioned to capitalize with extremely specific, one of a kind content. This means utilizing every aspect of your real estate neighborhood pages and diving deep into neighborhood and sub-division specific data.
You may be wondering how exactly do you go about creating a successful real estate neighborhood page. Fortunately, there are several different variables that lead to a successful real estate neighborhood page, and it is fairly simple to source this information from internal resources as well as accessible external data. Below are the basic elements of a successful real estate neighborhood page and how to acquire the data necessary to build out or expand upon these pages:
Overview
The real estate neighborhood page overview is one of the most critical elements that should be present on each page. This typically consists of high level information that can give visitors a quick glance into the neighborhood and what to expect. This includes neighborhood specific demographics, culture, history, population, average home price, lifestyle attributes, appeals and drawbacks.
The real estate neighborhood page overview should entice the visitor to keep engaging or bounce to the next neighborhood that will align more with what they are looking for. This is usually the ‘meat and potatoes’ of a real estate neighborhood page so there should be a good amount of time resourced to put this content together.
Media
Photos and video provide a great opportunity to provide visitors with visual elements while also providing one of a kind content. It is strongly encouraged to source or hire a local photographer that can take pictures of each neighborhood through out the year. This way, a neighborhood can be portrayed with every season in mind and visitors can see different events and attractions through out the year. Video is also a great resource for a real estate neighborhood page.
There are several different types of videos that can be shot and publish on your neighborhood pages. A few examples would be drone footage, resident interviews, agent interviews and team videos for specific neighborhoods. Video continues to dominate and increase engagement across all platforms so it is a great time to start investing in any efforts related to video to beef up your real estate neighborhood pages. Again, it is strongly encouraged to develop a relationship with a videographer to understands the area and also your video goals.
Maps
Maps are another example of how your brokerage can provide one of a kind value and give visitors an interactive piece to showcase a neighborhood. Maps should consist of several different places and allow the user to search based on a number of different criteria. The most common use of maps on a real estate neighborhood page would be outlining the neighborhood, providing filterable data (shops, restaurants, attractions, etc.) and pre populated data. You can also use maps to showcase drive times between two different locations in a neighborhood to give the visitor an idea of what driving conditions look like within the neighborhood.
Crime
Everyone is always curious of crime rates and what to expect when moving into a new neighborhood. Although not every neighborhood is going to be 100% safe, it is important to display this data and be transparent about crime within the given area. Showcasing this type of data will once again lend credibility to your brokerage and make the visitor feel that you are a trusted source within the particular neighborhood. This is also another great way to provide one of a kind value as most brokerage websites will not offer this type of data to their website visitors.
However, this feature may be tricky to pull onto your website. Portals such as Trulia have added a crime tab on their listing pages, the data is pulled from two main sources, spotcrime.com and crimereports.com. It is not advised your brokerage or agents write any content around the crime ratings on any neighborhood page.
Schools
Schools are a very important factor to consider populating on a real estate neighborhood page, as many home buyers will base their buying decision on the schools surrounding a particular area. It is vital to have this data present on your website as an added value proposition so visitors can quickly decide whether or not a certain neighborhood will be a good fit for their family. Furthermore, school related data such as parent reviews, overall school rating, and number of students at the school will give your visitors information that they will likely not find elsewhere, all in one place.
Testimonials
Client reviews or testimonials are a great way to showcase local knowledge and expertise within a neighborhood. Displaying these testimonials through out each neighborhood will show visitors that past clients have been happy working with your brokerage while also boasting about the details of the neighborhood and the home they have purchased. It’s a win win for your brokerage as there is no other way to get this type of data as it is typically gathered through your agents or past transactions. Make sure if you use a testimonial from a past client to get their permission to use their testimonial on your website. Better yet, ask for a picture or a video testimonial to provide even more value for your website visitors.