Online Ad Copy That Sells – Part I

A great photo is fine, but if your property descriptions don’t grab online home searchers, they’ll click away from your listing. Internet users read; research shows that because images are so over-abundant on the Web, users will often ignore them in favor of written content. That means you need to bone up on your writing skills if you want to capture homebuyers and buyers’ agents, and here’s how to do just that:

Get help from AIDA.
That’s not the name of a copyeditor; it’s an acronym for your process of reeling in an inquiry from a prospective buyer, or showing from a cooperating agent. It stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. Let’s look at each point.

Attention
This is the “grab ‘em” stage; sometimes call the hook. Don’t be stuffy here. Make your opening line lively and intriguing. If your MLS has separate sections for cooperating agents and homebuyers, you might speak differently to each. For example:

To agents: “Show your buyer a secret treasure.”
To consumers: “You’ll find a secret treasure in this home.”

Interest
Now create word pictures with rich details to draw in the reader. Instead of “natural woodwork,” try…

To agents: “Your buyers will love the original hand-crafted oak woodwork.”
To consumers: “You’ll love the original hand-crafted oak woodwork.”

Desire
Make the reader consider wanting your property. You want the reader to think, “Gee that sounds like a good offer!”

To agents: “Seller will include basement freezer for offers before end of month.”
To consumers: “Get a bonus! Sellers will give you their food-saving freezer.”

Action
Tell the reader what to do next. If your ad copy has done its job, you have the best chance at this point to get a showing or inquiry, but you have to ask for it.

To agents: “Call for a short-notice preview or showing today!”
To consumers: “Call now to see this home today!”

Next month we’ll explore more techniques for creating riveting ad copy that will reward you with inquiries and showings of your listings.