How to Create Better Listings: Creating Content that Converts An e-book by Zillow Rentals
BEST PRACTICES IN RENTAL MARKETING ISSUE 02.02 FIVE (MORE) WAYS TO INCREASE LEADS FROM ONLINE RENTAL ADS! In our first publishing guide, you learned how to increase the number of views that your rental ads got. Things like when to publish listings and what types of subject lines to avoid. It s easily our most downloaded resource. Now, by popular demand, we ve developed a second guide that focuses on how to create better content within those actual ads.! Clicks don t matter when it comes to ads. Not as much as leads do. Effective online advertising principles spark the interest of renters and entice them to apply. Poor ads are skipped, compromise your credibility, or fail to interest your prospective renters. Create a winning ad with compelling and practical content to increase rental leads with these five ad publishing tips. Tip 1: Give all the information you can. Renters know what features they want in their ideal apartment; it s just about finding one that fits the bill. Show your price tag. Unless money isn t an issue (and let s not kid each other, it usually is), most people look at asking rents first. According to a Zillow Rentals study, 45 percent of renters judge a property by its asking rent. Renters want to apply for apartments they can afford, and skip ads that don t disclose this information up front. Post the real cost of rent. Don t post a deceptive lower rent price or a price range. Although renters may view the listing based the seemingly low cost of rent, they ll be reluctant to apply for an apartment that seems to waffle on or otherwise obfuscate the final cost of renting. Include the laundry list of features. Renters want to know everything you know about the unit. Give them the laundry list. Every amenity you have, and every one you don t. You ll do them and yourself a favor. When the property features are posted up front, you ll know that applicants are well-informed and are the most qualified. I first judge a rental property by its... 45% Asking Rent Quality of Neighborhood Commute to Work Amenities Proximity to Friends 31% 6.7% Data from research conducted by Zillow Rentals, 2011. [1]
Top Ranked Apartment Amenity Searches Washer and Dryer in Unit Air Conditioning Fitness Center Pool Parking Available 9% 6% 30% 39% There s nothing worse than having a showing fall flat based on information that should have been offered up front. Highlight the right amenities. Renters want washers and dryers in the unit. According to a Rent.com study, washer and dryer in unit was the most searched for amenity, comprising 39 percent of all searches. In contrast, washer and dryer was searched for 1 percent of the time. Highlight amenities most frequently searched for, including amenities demanded by your local market. For example, in colder regions, many renters use key phrases like central heat or insulated windows. Don t forget high-level information. A Zillow Rentals study uncovered that renters first scrutinize the amount of living space (4) available to them and the layout/ floorplan (35.8%) of an apartment. Including this information will improve your lead quality. Unqualified, uninterested renters will weed themselves out naturally, leaving the most qualified leads. Laundry Room 5% Tip 2: Use descriptions with substance. 4 Based on research conducted by Zillow Rentals. When I attend a showing, I am most interested in... Living Space Bathroom Natural Light in Unit Other 1.7%0.8% 35.9% Kitchen Layout/Floorplan Closet Space 6.7% Data from research conducted by Zillow Rentals, 2011. All properties for rent are the best on the market or a great deal. Prospective renters are numb to this type of language and look for the details that narrow down listings. Avoid filler words. According to a Zillow Rentals study of Craigslist apartment listings in Manhattan, words like gorgeous, beautiful, best, and fantastic appeared in over 1,000 listings. Anybody looking for a good-looking apartment will have a lot of listings to sift through. That s why renters don t use these words when apartment hunting. Write about concrete features. Try to imagine a black granite countertop. Then, try to imagine a beautiful countertop. It s a lot easier to paint a picture of a black granite countertop than a beautiful one. Avoid adjectives that don t help the imagination. Instead, write about features renters can see, such as stainless steel appliances, roof deck access, or dual vanity. Give them the location. Every neighborhood has its own characteristics and qualities. Well-researched renters will investigate the property s neighborhood. Include a [2]
Number of Occurrences in Search Results by Keyword Open floorplan 39 Gorgeous Bay Window 154 Category Title Starbucks Security Guard Beautiful Fantastic Best 39 270 Recessed Lighting 408 Grocery Store 164 Walk Score 19 0 250 500 750 1000 Data from research conducted by Zillow Rentals, 2012. map in your listing or include the cross streets in your ad so that renters know the exact property location. Rental marketing software with map integration abilities allow ads to incorporate interactive maps, so renters can better learn the property s location. Specific details reduce renters choices. According to an analysis of online listing search keywords, specific features that appeared significantly less were grocery store, recessed lighting, and security guard. Renters looking for specific features dramatically reduce the listing results when they use keyword-rich search terms. Feature renter benefits. Don t describe your property as cozy or fantastic, write about how a renter would benefit from living in your property. For example, instead of saying stores nearby, write that the apartment is a 10 minute walk from the grocery store. Writing about the benefits of features spells out the property advantages to prospective renters. Avoid sounding like an advertisement. Again, words that don t highlight a specific feature or benefit shouldn t be used in an apartment ad. Don t sound like you re selling something. Make your ad informative. Avoid selling words such as wow! special, and deal, because many prospective renters are turned off by advertising words. Ads with proper grammar improves credibility, because it make the ad writer sound educated. Tip 3: Write in proper English Rental professionals want to sound as personable as possible when talking to renters, so they use casual language. When speaking, there may be a few grammatical errors, because nobody speaks perfectly. However, when writing property ads, renters aren t forgiving to poorly written ones. Use proper grammar when writing ads. Otherwise, renters will be reluctant to apply for your property. According to Robert Lane Greene, author of You Are What You Speak, ads with proper grammar improve credibility, because it makes the ad writer sound educated. With the increase of rental scams across America, people are wary of who they trust. Judging a landlord or broker by the ad s level of professionalism can be a quick indicator of whether an ad is real, causing ads with poor English to be disregarded. Use a word processor to catch errors. Carefully craft ads so they re error-free. Write the content in a word [3]
processing software such as Microsoft Word to catch misspellings and grammatical errors. Then, copy and paste your content into your ad to publish. Tip 4: Post quality pictures Property images are critical to the success of your property listing. Studies found that people are seven times more likely to visit a property that uses pictures in its advertising. The National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) found that listings with missing photographs generate significantly fewer leads, producing fewer signed leases. Pictures get more views. With pictures, renters can see a property without getting out of their seats. That s why when you post pictures of your property, you need to make sure they re the highest quality possible. The Rent.com study found that 29 percent of renters first opened listings with photos. Additionally, a Zillow Rentals study found that ads with photos are opened 19.16 percent more than those that do not. Use photography principles for optimal photos. Taking unplanned photographs of your property won t do. Amateurish photos makes properties look dull and unappealing. Use professional photography principles to take the best pictures of your unit. Buy a quality camera. The best quality and resolution of a picture is derived from the type of camera used. Low-end cameras or camera phones don t have the capacity to take high-quality photos. Purchasing a DSLr camera or a pointand-shoot digital camera (at least 12.0-megapixels) will ensure that you get a high-quality image of your property every time. Take pictures away from the light source. To prevent your room from looking dark and cave-like, don t point the camera towards the light source. Avoid taking pictures of a window that has the sun shining through. Take photographs when the sun is on the opposite side of the Ads with photos are opened 19.16 percent more than those that do not. window you re shooting. If you re using lighting equipment, position yourself so that the light source is behind you. Both Photo: ResPres (Flickr) techniques will help produce photographs of rooms with balanced lighting. Take wide-angle shots. According to professional photographer Kaoru Kohashigawa, using the standard lens that most cameras come with can still make a room look small. A normal lens only gives you a limited scope of a room. When looking at a room, our peripheral vision allows us to see more than just that. For a more accurate and spacious-looking room, buy a wideangle lens. If you can t afford a wide-angle lens, many point-and-shoot cameras have picture stitching features that allow you to combine a series of pictures into one, making a panorama photo. Give your room dimension. When taking pictures of a room s focal point, such as a window or fireplace, don t take a picture of it straight-on. Pictures of items that create a horizontal line across your photo can make your space look small. Instead, have these objects cut across the photo diagonally. Not only will it make the space look visually interesting, but it will help make your room seem larger. Tip 5: Publish your rentals everywhere With so many rental websites and online listing sites on the internet, renters are looking on several websites online for the best deal. [4]
Renters aren t just searching Craigslist. According to a Zillow Rentals study of renter preferences, 87.5 percent of renters start their apartment search on Craigslist, followed by Apartments.com at 36.7 percent, and Rent.com at 28.3 percent. However, just because renters start their search on Craigslist, it doesn t mean that it s ending To kick off my apartment search, I use... Craigslist Apartments.com Rent.com Facebook Zillow PadMapper HotPads MyRentalSite RentJungle AOL Real Estate MyApartmentMap HelloRent Oodle Lycos RunClassifieds 87.5% 36.7% 28.3% 2 7.5% 5.8% 5.8% 4.2% 1.7% 1.7% 0.8% 0.8% Other (specify) 26.7% there. The NMHC found that the average apartment hunter uses two to three internet listing sources over several months. Assertively advertise. When posting a property to one or two listing sites, you re limiting your exposure to a few prospective renters. Renters aren t limiting themselves to a couple rental websites, and you shouldn t either. Post on as many online listing sites possible, increasing your reach to more potential renters. Make it easy to apply. Interested renters want to apply right away, so eliminate all roadblocks that may prevent them from doing so. Don t make them pick up a phone or send an e-mail. Integrate a form into your ad so they can apply straight from the ad. Use rental marketing software or third party applications to integrate lead forms into your ad. Use marketing software to post. To avoid manually posting and reposting each property listing to different listing sites, use a rental marketing software or application to help post listings to multiple sites simultaneously. It will be less work for you in the end. Get your rental marketing up to speed. Learn what s most important to renters. Gain more leads from your online listings. Click here to get our free guides! rentalpro.zillow.com/library Data from research conducted by Zillow Rentals, 2011. About Zillow Rentals Zillow Rentals is a branch of Zillow, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z), the leading real estate marketplace, and operates as part of Zillow's growing rentals marketplace. Zillow Rentals connects rental marketers to availabilities being shared by property managers in realtime. Thousands of leasing agents use Zillow Rentals daily to track and market their vacancies to prospective tenants. 225 Bush Street 1100 San Francisco, CA 94104 (877) 215-8423 [5]