Creating content for the first time is tough. Trust me, we totally understand. But, as Babe Ruth once said, “never let the fear of striking out get in your way”. You know your brand, your clients and your market better than anyone; with practice and a little coaching, you can gain the confidence you need to step up to the plate. Below are some of my best beginner tips to help you transform your knowledge into great content for your website.

Start small – target your most important audiences

The first step to creating quality content is to have a targeted strategy. This means identifying and understanding your audience. Many of you are probably thinking “that’s easy! I know my audience inside and out.” and that’s great. However, keep in mind that your offline audience  may differ from your online audience. How so? Out in the real world, your target audience is probably pretty broad – in an ideal world everyone is a potential customer, right?

In the digital world, it can be beneficial to narrow your focus. With the internet you have the entire world at your fingertips, which is why it is extremely important not to let your brand get lost. The easiest way to get lost is by casting too large a net right off the bat. It will be more beneficial to your brand if you focus on creating quality content for a smaller audience and then grow your audience once you have established your basic foundation. Remember, Google’s search engine is getting better and better every day and can detect when people are trying to cut corners. The key is to include relevant, useful information. Quality over quantity – you want your page to be filled with substance, not a bunch of keyword fillers.

Know the importance of diversified content

Do you know the difference between your copy and your content? Copy is just the text on a page. Content includes a mix of copy, images, videos, widgets, etc. Your goal should be to create quality content that will engage your audience; to put it simply, text is not enough. While it is important to have interesting, highly relevant copy on your site, today’s users are being conditioned to expect a range of content including pictures, graphics and videos, as well as text. You want to encourage your consumers to take actions on your page – this will steer people closer to the point of sale. Diverse content brings together well-written copy with engaging images or videos. When creating quality content, balance is key. This is especially true for real estate clients.

According to Virtuets’ 45 Video Marketing Statistics article: 85% of home buyers prefer web pages with photos, and real estate listings with video are estimated to receive about 400% more inquiries than those without. Google understands these user preferences and, therefore, tends to give more authority to sites with a balance of videos, images and copy.

Your social voice vs. your business voice

When you’re creating content for the first time, finding your voice can be difficult. It is easy to assume that your brand needs to keep one voice across all platforms – but that is not the case. When you start creating your voice, you should always be thinking about the user’s expectations. Our best advice is to think: What information is the user expecting to find on this page? How can I meet and exceed their expectations? The answer to these questions should steer your narrative. Always remember: brands can have “personalities” too. Social media is about being just that – social. This means that while it’s important to post information pertaining to your business, you can also experiment with posts that resonate with your audience, even if the topic might not be directly related to your product, service or industry.

Like any conversation, interaction on social media shouldn’t be dominated by one side or the other. Use Facebook to get a sense of what your target market is talking about and then join the conversation! This isn’t to say that you should avoid posting about open houses, new properties for sale and real estate news – keep doing these things; but don’t be afraid to branch out once in awhile when an opportunity presents itself. Take on a similar mindset for blogging, and always share your blog posts on Facebook! Blogs and social media are a powerful duo when it comes to building brand awareness.

Practice makes perfect…

Greatness takes time. The more content you create, the better you will get. Finding your audience, balance and voice requires experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t – figuring out your best recipe for engagement. These tips are meant to help guide you in the right direction but, in the end, you are the only one that truly know what works best for your business. The most important thing you can do is not get discouraged….even Babe Ruth didn’t hit a home run his first time at bat.