Creating content takes too long. You spend time, money, and energy on each piece, hoping – praying – that it offers a return. And far too often, in the beginning, the return is negligible.
So you quit producing.
Fortunately, content is one of the best marketing methods – conversion rates are six times higher for content marketing adopters than non-adopters. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most time-consuming methods.
As if building a significant content repertoire doesn’t require enough energy, ensuring that repertoire is full of valuable information is even more daunting. Because of that lofty commitment, few real estate investors and agents do it at all.
What you need is audience-tested content that takes very little time to create.
The answer? Q&A.
You already spend time answering client’s questions. Turning your answers into valuable pieces of content is the next obvious step.
But what type of content should you use (written, video, audio)? And what’s a good system for creating this curiosity-based value?
5 Time-Saving Ways to Create Real Estate Q&A Content
1. FAQ Web Page
The most obvious application of Q&A content that’s worth discussing is the FAQ web page. A Frequently Asked Question’s page is a must for any serious real estate business. Give your visitors a place to find answers and they’ll spend less time calling you with low-commitment inquiries.
Of course, you want them to call you. But questions about what a mortgage broker is, how someone determines the value of their home, and what kind of credit score is needed to purchase a house are questions better answered online.
In fact, many people won’t be comfortable calling you until they have a general understanding of how the process works. No one wants to look stupid. Your FAQ page is where prospects get educated so that they are comfortable calling you.
Ultimately, FAQ is a sales page.
Which means that you need a CTA at the bottom.
For example:
And to give investors an idea of what questions your FAQ page should answer, here’s what the same site has on theirs:
- Will you be listing my house on the MLS or actually buying it?
- Do you pay fair prices for properties?
- How do you determine the price to offer on my house?
- Are there any fees or commissions to work with you?
- How are you different from a real estate agent?
- Is there any obligation when I submit my info?
As a real estate agent, here are questions to consider, taken from Kyle Hiscock’s extensive list of house-buyer questions.
- Should I buy or continue to rent?
- Do I really need a Realtor when buying a home?
- Who pays the Realtor fees when buying a home?
- How long does the seller have to respond to my offer?
- What if my offer is rejected?
FAQ will increase how much visitors trust you. And they’ll start calling you with higher-commitment questions:
How do I start working with you? Can we meet and talk about selling my home? I think I’d like to buy/sell. What should I do?
2. Single Answer Content
Once your FAQ page is live, use it as the foundation for more content. For most investors and agents, the curiosity-based content ends at the FAQ page. But all those questions can easily be turned into audience-tested blog posts.
In other words, since you know what questions prospective clients are asking, then it’s safe to assume they are googling them as well. Why not create a single blog post around each question so that you can rank for exactly the kind of questions that prospects are asking?
Real estate agents, for example, could write a full blog post – between 500 and 1,000 words – pitting real estate agents against for-sale-by-owner. Much like this piece by Michael Alan, where he discusses the pros of using an agent and the risks of doing it alone.
Real estate investors could write an FAQ style post on how house buyers are different than real estate agents or on how a fair price is determined.
Also consider this video we made here at Carrot, showing our clients how to make testimonials that build trust and credibility.
We anticipated the kind of questions our clients ask, and then we created a video to help them accomplish their goals. You can do the same. Once you determine what your audience is asking, answer those questions with individual blog posts and you’ll be more likely to rank in Google.
Social Media Video
This is the pinnacle of Q&A content. Videos are personal, intriguing, and statistically, more likely to be viewed than written content. Animoto reports that
“Four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.”
These videos won’t just help you continue to build a following on Social Media, if you transcribe the content and put it on your blog, they’ll even help you rank in search engines. Carrot customers can use VideoPost to quickly transcribe their videos.
There are three ways you can approach videos.
- The first is for the camera-shy.
- The second for the brave.
- And, the third for those of us who fall somewhere in the middle.
3. Traditional Content Marketing for Real Estate
Traditional videos are the record-edit-and-then-publish type.
The benefit to using traditional video is if you make a mistake, you can delete and re-record. If you’re uncomfortable with the camera, this option is for you. It will place an editing barrier between you and the audience.
Hit record, do your best, watch it, and redo if needed.
At the very least, this will help you get comfortable with that digital eye.
Real estate content marketing champion, Judy Weiniger, uses her youtube channel to answer questions with traditional videos:
What is a pre-home inspection?
Denny Kruse from G. Stiles Realty, a local Douglas County real estate company, spent years in farming. Therefore, he can answer questions and share his insights with people who are looking to purchase farm or agricultural land.
What do I need to consider when buying farmland?
8 Real Estate Marketing Tools to Save you 10+ Hours Per Week
4. Live Content Marketing for Real Estate
These real estate videos are for the camera-bold. When you go live, mistakes will be noticed and if you run out of things to say, you’d better be prepared.
The confident person might jump onto a Facebook Live video at the scheduled time without any notes, trusting for people to type questions as they record. The obvious risk is that no one will ask any questions and they’ll be left without anything to say.
Thus, we recommend doing this type of free-flow live video only if you have a significant following and they are likely to interact.
As an example and bold as ever, real estate investor, Colin Kirk, posted a Live Q&A session on Facebook in April.
5. Live/Low-Risk
MediaKix explains that…
“Facebook live videos are watched three times longer than normal videos.”
This stat can partly be explained by Facebook’s notifications that are sent out when someone goes live, but more so because of the authenticity that live video promises. The person being recorded can’t fake it.
If you want to reap those benefits, but you don’t want to risk being left without questions to answer, here’s what you should do.
Go to your FAQ page. Write down 5 questions that you could easily answer on a video. Then go live on Facebook, telling people that you’re going to answer some questions, so if they have any, they can feel free to throw them in the comments.
Start by answering one of the questions you wrote down. And if you don’t get any more in the comments, simply continue answering your prep questions. If you do receive inquiries (which you likely will), answer them.
This allows you to go live with all of the added benefits, but with a safety net in tow.
Much like Thomas Cady did.
3 Real Estate Sales Questions You Should Start Asking Right Now
You already answer questions…
Since you’re already spending a huge portion of your time answering questions, the best thing you can do is turn those questions into content that can rank in Google as part of your real estate SEO campaign. Combined with some linkbuilding like HARO outreach, your website will gain authority, win more rankings, and most importantly, generate more leads!
By creating an FAQ page, and then, one-by-one, turning each question into a complete blog post and/or video, you’ll generate truly useful content and spend little time doing it.
Content creation made easy?
Yes, please.