Your real estate website gets even better with a content audit

What exactly is a content audit? Well, every time you promote one of your blog posts on social media, you are engaging in “content marketing.” And if that kind of marketing works for brands such as Procter & Gamble, Microsoft and Toshiba, it should work for any real estate agent, right?

If you’re still not convinced, consider this: Crowe Horwath, a major accounting firm, used content marketing to reach big financial institutions (those with at least $1 billion in assets).

“Their strategy consisted of generating nearly 50 different pieces of content centered around several topics of interest to their target customers,” according to Eric Siu, CEO of digital marketing agency Single Grain.

They formatted this content into case studies, infographics, video and executive briefs. It was one infographic in particular, though, that convinced the company of just how effective content marketing can be.

“This infographic generated nearly 800 new contacts, two of whom paid $250,000” for the accounting firm’s services, according to Siu.

When you decide to focus on creating relevant content, consistently, to attract real estate leads you must then also commit distributing or promoting that content.

Then, at some point, you’ll need to audit your content to determine, among other issues, if it remains relevant to your audience’s needs, that it’s still accurate, that it’s optimized for the current demands of search engines and, most importantly, that your “content is consistent with your business goals,” warns the pros at chainlinkmarketing.com. After all, neighborhoods change, advertising practices evolve… the world doesn’t stand still.

 What happens during a content audit

The first step in a content audit is to create an inventory of all of the content on your site. For some agents this won’t be difficult, for others, it may be quite time consuming.

If you’re a member of the latter group, do yourself a favor and hire help. You can find inexpensive freelance admin help on sites such as Upwork.com, Fiverr.com and Freelancer.com. Have everything put into a spreadsheet.

“This content is then analyzed against a variety of metrics and given one of three ‘Action’ determinations,” according to Everett Sizemore at Moz.com. He offers an example:

 

He goes on to say that there are a variety of “combinations of options between the ‘Action’ of WHAT to do and the ‘Details’ of HOW (and sometimes why) to do it.”

The gap analysis comes next. What content is still needed and which formats are lacking? Do you need more videos, podcasts perhaps, infographics?

Analytics will tell you which topics perform best, as well as those that don’t do so well. Produce more of the former and, obviously, less of the latter.

You’ll also want to take a look at your calls to action. How effective are they?

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Are your testimonials working as hard as they should?

Real estate agents, especially, should pay close attention to their testimonials during a content audit. As you go page-by-page, look for places to add them throughout the side, as well as more on a dedicated testimonials page.

For instance, an especially juicy testimonial from a listing client would do wonders for you if it’s placed on the main Selling page.

People generally don’t trust testimonials and reviews from anonymous sources, so get rid of them if you have any on your site. Yes, regardless of how glowing they are.

This includes those from clients who used their initials instead of their full name and their screen name (happens a lot with Zillow reviews) instead of their real name.

There’s a lot more to know about the content audit and if you want to more information, Marketingland.com has a walkthrough, Alexa.com offers a content audit template and Moz.com’s list of mistakes to avoid during the audit is quite valuable.

We get that you’re busy, but content audits can be done in bits and pieces. And you define its scope. Audit only the content from the past year if that’s easier for you.

Need some new marketing ideas to add content to your website? Check out these 200 ideas that are sure to add value to your site.

Ready for an easy-to-use website that still gives you a professional online presence? Be sure to see how a LeadSite can help!

Want to create engaging website content? We hosted a workshop all about content creation – take a look: