Nothing drives traffic and subscribers better than a good tutorial post. Why? It certainly isn’t because we want to learn anything new.   We all have more than enough to do already. It’s because tutorials promise to make our lives easier, faster, richer, etc. So what sets a linkbait tutorial apart from the run of the mill tutorial?

Shout out of the day goes to this post on Copyblogger, How to write a killer how to article that gets attention

1. A catchy headline

A good headline can increase website conversion rates by 73% according to this Marketing Experiments study. The best titles are very specific and promise to make life easier for the reader.

Do

How to buy a house at $50,000 under value

See how that title tells you what you can expect specifically. It expressly promises to save the reader money. That’s the kind of headline you need- something very specific that explicitly spells out the benefit to the reader.

Don’t

How to buy a house in Cape Coral, FL

Way too generic. You don’t promise the reader anything that will make their life better.

Example: Boost traffic by 40% in less than 1 hour per day

Read also: How to write catchy real estate blog titles

2. Stresses the benefits of reading the tutorial

I’ve said it before but explicit benefits far out weigh implied ones. So, remind the reader throughout your post how what the article will help them achieve the promise you made in the post’s title. The word “because” is always valuable when expressing benefits. 

Do

Make sure that you are not present during your open house because people feel more comfortable stating their opinion to your Realtor when they do not feel as though they are offending you, the home owner.

See how that sentence clearly states why a home owner shouldn’t be home during an open house. People like to know the reason for something. So, tell them. Telling people why you want them to do something a certain way builds your credibility as an expert. It shows that you have specific knowledge that will result in a predictable outcome that will ultimately benefit the them. And that, my dear friends, is the key to building trust.

Don’t

Make sure that you are not present during your open house.

This kind of statement really doesn’t tell you anything. It is simply an instruction and it begs the question “why?” It is way too generic to offer any value to the reader.

Example: Ultimate guide to blog marketing

Read also: The two most important words in blogging by CopyBlogger

3. Easy to scan text

People like to be able to scan over large bodies of text quickly to find what they are looking for. Make the copy easy to read by breaking it up with numbered lists or bullet points. Use a bolder font for topic headings and always include lots of white space. The easier your posts are to read, the more reads they will get. Visitors feel overwhelmed when they are faced with text that seems to go on and on forever, so use formatting techniques to break up the text into easily digestible chunks.

Do

In order to influence people into contacting you and feeling compelled to use your service over every other real estate agent in your area, you must establish 3 things:

• you are like them

(people like people they can relate to)

• you understand them

(people like people that uniquely understand their problem)

• you are an expert in your field and can solve their problem

(people trust people that they consider authorities)

See how easy that was to read and understand. Bullet points and numbered lists help people prioritize content. Tutorials are meant to be scanned and followed in a step by step fashion so breaking them out into numbered or bulleted steps makes your tutorials more useful and easier to follow.

Don’t

In order to influence people into contacting you and feeling compelled to use your service over every other real estate agent in your area, you must establish that you are like them, you understand them and you are an expert in your field and can solve their problem.

Not quite as easy to scan through, huh? The power of bullet points is that they keep you moving quickly through text and act as bookmarks so you can easily find exactly what you are looking for without re-reading the entire tutorial.

4. Lots of examples

Use very specific examples in your tutorials. If you want people to get the most out of your tutorials, show them what you are talking about instead of just telling them. You want to do all the “thinking” work for the reader. Spark their creativity with specific examples don’t make them guess at what you are talking about.

Do:

Ideas for real estate blog tutorial titles:

• How to buy a home in Cape Coral for $50,000 under value
• A Realtor’s secrets to selling your home for top dollar
• How I qualified for a great mortgage with bad credit

See how I complimented my instruction of how to write a good tutorial title with very specific examples? It takes all the mystery out what you are talking about and clearly shows how to do it. Examples build your credibility as a bona fide expert on the topic.

Don’t:

Buying or selling a home is a major life decision. People like to know what to expect. Prove your authority on the matter by guiding readers through the different processes of buying and selling homes with step by step tutorials. 

See how telling you what to do isn’t quite as effective as showing you how it’s done? 

Read also: Killing me softly with your blog

5. Solves problems

As a Realtor, you solve problems everyday. People want to readily identify you with the problems you can solve. So, tell them. Write posts in Problem/Solution format. Show them that you have encountered the very same problem they are having and solved it for another client.

Do

Problem: Your appraisal came in low

Solution:

• Ask for another appraisal.
• Protest the appraisal with documentation of your upgraded expenses.
• Have the buyers make a larger down payment.

See how that clearly laid out what the problem was and the possible solutions to it? That’s what you want to do. You want to show a reader that you know the specific problems they face and you know how to solve them.

Don’t

When you sell or buy real estate, remember that the certified appraisal is just one person's opinion of the value of your home. The opinion that counts for you is the buyer's: you want to be sure the buyer values your home above all others.

While that sounds good, it means nothing in terms of being a problem solver. You haven’t really solved anything, you’ve only re-stated the problem. Providing a clear solution that is easy to read and understand would go a lot farther in establishing your credibility as an expert on the topic.

Example: Is toothpaste holding your blog together

Read also: How to write a blog that generates leads

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