Tips for Using a Neighborhood Page to Grow Your Real Estate Business
Creating a website is a great way to build awareness for your real estate business. But it’s not enough to just create a website with a contact page and a list of properties for sale. To attract quality leads, you should create a profile page for each of the neighborhoods that you represent.
Why?
Think about it: When a buyer is interested in relocating to a new neighborhood, they want to learn as much about that area as possible. They’ll likely start their research with a good ‘ole Google search. You can accommodate their needs and drum up leads for your real estate service at the same time by adding a neighborhood profile page to your website.
A neighborhood profile is simply a page on your website where you showcase a specific area. In this post, we’ll help you create a neighborhood page from scratch.
Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of creating a neighborhood page, let’s discuss exactly how neighborhood profile pages help to grow your business.
Showcase your neighborhood and local market Use your profile page to provide an in-depth look at your neighborhood. Visitors can explore what makes the neighborhood interesting and see photos of the area to help them decide whether this is the right place for their next move. Take this opportunity to educate house hunters about a neighborhood.
Build your reputation as a neighborhood expert You can say that you’re a neighborhood expert, or you can show that you are. With a profile page, you’re showing that you know a lot about a particular area.
Differentiate yourself from other real estate agents Creating neighborhood profile pages takes time and effort, which means that not a lot of people will actually do it. By adding these pages to your website, you’ll provide a unique resource that house hunters won’t be able to find on other real estate sites.
Generate real estate leads Of course, you can also generate leads through your neighborhood profile page. People who are searching for information about the area are motivated to move there, and they’ll need someone to help them. At the end of your profile page, be sure to offer a call to action for your services as a real estate agent.
Provide valuable info to people who are searching for houses It can be difficult for house hunters to find out information about a neighborhood. This is particularly true for people who aren’t familiar with the area.
Improve your own knowledge of the area Lastly, one of the biggest benefits of creating a neighborhood profile page is that you’ll learn more about the neighborhood, too. In the process of researching for your page, it’s impossible not to find out more than you already know. This can solidify your status as a neighborhood expert.
Now, let’s discuss how to create a profile page for your real estate website.
Creating a page is relatively simple. Whether you’re using WordPress or Squarespace or some other website maker, add a new page (not post) to your website.
A page is different than a post because it’s “static” or stationary. A page is part of the main structure of a website.
A post is part of a blog and is organized by the publish date.
You want to create a neighborhood profile page because it’s a stationary part of your website and not a blog post. While you may update this page from time to time, it will still be part of the main structure of your site.
Make a list of which neighborhoods you’d like to profile on your website. You can start off with a neighborhood that you already know well. Continue adding neighborhood profiles to your site at a frequency of one per month. Within a year, you’ll have 12 new neighborhood profiles, and you may not even need that many if you’d like to focus on a particular area of your city.
Another strategy is to consider profiling the most popular neighborhood first. If you know that buyers are excited about a particular area, go for this neighborhood as a start.
What topics should you include on your profile page? There are tons of things you can highlight in any neighborhood. Here’s a list of ideas to get you started:
Consider partnering with local businesses for special mentions in exchange for their referrals to your business.
One major component to add to your neighborhood profile page is a list of properties that are for sale in the neighborhood. Buyers are definitely interested in seeing listings, especially after reading about a neighborhood. Don’t forget to add listings with a call to action where you offer your services.
Photos are absolutely necessary for any neighborhood profile page. People want to get a feel for the neighborhood, and the easiest way to do that is with imagery.
While you can use stock images on your profile pages, it’s not the best idea. Stock images don’t seem as authentic to a website visitor and they can be expensive to purchase.
Instead of buying stock images, consider snapping a few pics on your own. It may not look as professional and polished, but that’s a benefit here, because it shows the website visitor that you’ve actually done the footwork and your content is original.
If you create multiple profile pages (and I highly recommend that you do), don’t forget to link to them. Once a buyer has viewed one profile page, it’s highly likely that they’ll want to see another, especially if the neighborhood is adjacent. At the end of the profile, invite the visitor to explore your other profile pages, and give them an incentive to do so by highlighting one major benefit of the next neighborhood (i.e. great restaurants or beautiful hiking trails).
Speaking of links, don’t forget to add a link to your profile pages on your website’s main menu navigation. This allows visitors to easily access your profile pages if they arrive on your home page or some other page of your website.
Last, but certainly not least, don’t forget to update your profile pages periodically. You don’t want your neighborhood pages to go stale because they’ll no longer be useful to your target audience.
New restaurants open, old businesses close, big employers come to town, population numbers change, and your profile page should continue to be a reliable resource for buyers.
Update your pages at least once a year, but you can update more often for hotter neighborhoods.
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