Cracking the Real Estate Code: 

SEO Content Marketing Strategies for the Savvy Agent

You're no newcomer to real estate. You know that the industry's lifeblood is in online searches. Homes, realtors, neighborhoods - every day, countless potential buyers hit the internet to start their home buying journey.

But with the economy flagging and interest rates skyrocketing, website traffic is stalling. Worse, the lion's share goes to the industry giants like Zillow, Realtor, and Redfin, along with a few corporate behemoths like ReMax.

What does the average agent get? Scraps. The few leads that Zillow deigns to share are used and reused until they're practically worthless.

It feels like the whole game is rigged in favor of the big guys. The Davids of real estate are left to battle the Goliaths with little more than a slingshot.

But not everywhere. And not for everyone.

Take my own story. Not too long ago, I worked as an SEO provider for a traditional, large real estate agency. We were considered industry giants, yet a newcomer was nipping at our heels. This wasn't some grizzled real estate vet, but a former tech guy. But he had something most didn't: a deep understanding of SEO and content marketing.

In very short order, he was nudging the quarter billion-dollar mark in revenue in the Raleigh real estate market. He consistently ranked on page one of search results for popular terms like "Homes in Raleigh", occasionally even surpassing Zillow.

So, how did he do it? And more importantly, how can you do it too?"

The Power of Content: An Unexpected Advantage in the Real Estate Game

Content, that's the key. It's the backbone of a winning SEO strategy. And it doesn't have to be a decade-long marathon.

Take the tech-turned-realtor. In 2020, he launched a content-creation frenzy. On average, he put out one post a day. This might sound daunting, but it’s not impossible. With determination and strategy, it’s achievable.

Here's the kicker: it paid off.

Even amidst the pandemic chaos, he reaped the rewards of his labor, saving a whopping $90,000 per month in pay-per-click ad costs alone. He had effectively created his own lead generation engine, one that wasn't dependent on the whims of big corporations or the ever-rising costs of ads.

Meanwhile, my own client, “competing” in the same market, chose to take a different path. His strategy was primarily reliant on backlinks, and let's face it, as a well seasoned SEO, I'm pretty darn good at getting them. However, Google continued to change the rules of the game, making backlinks alone an increasingly ineffective strategy.

Big sites like Zillow may get a pass with their mountain of backlinks and a flood of traffic since 2006, but for the rest of us, Google demands content.

It may not seem fair, and honestly, it isn't. But this is the game we're playing, and we must adapt to its rules.

Content creation is no longer optional. It's a necessity if you want to make it in today's competitive real estate landscape. Are you ready to rise to the challenge?"