Residents vs Owners: Target the Right Audience with Your Website Content
When you’re building your property management website, it’s important to remember that you’ll have a variety of visitor types coming across it. Prospective residents will come looking for listings and amenities you offer; owners will look for information to help them decide if they want you to manage their properties for them or not. Here are some tips on catering to two different, but equally important, audiences.
Writing a Resident Page
To create a resident page, ask yourself the following questions to get started:
- Who are my typical renters? (Think demographics: age, gender, single, married, kids, etc.)
- What do my renters complain about? What do they rave about?
- What lessons have I learned from my renters?
- What percentage of my renters have renewed their leases over the past year, three years, and five years?
The list of questions could continue on, but these four are a good starting point. The common element with all of these questions is that they focus on specifics. The key to writing a successful (i.e. useful) tenant page is providing good detail. Don’t simply state that you’ll “provide open communication with all residents.” Instead, explain exactly what type of communication you’ll provide. Do you offer text messaging services, portals for easy rent payments, simple maintenance request processes. Highlight how you address the typical frustrations that may be reasons why a person is looking for a new place to live.
Put yourself in the renter’s shoes and think about what you would be looking for in a potential home. Go a step further than boasting about your “recreational areas” and spell out what you’ve got to offer—is it a pool, fire pit, barbecue area, children’s playground?
Do you have really good statistics on renewal rates? If so, brag about it. It shows people that your property is well-liked. Add some quotes from real residents on why they keep renewing their leases. (Ask their permission first, of course.)
Include links to your social media profiles, photo albums of any community events you’ve hosted, and positive reviews from current or former residents. Remember, you’re trying to build a buzz about your property by speaking and relating to potential residents.
Writing an Owner Page
With owners, you are trying to show transparency, trustworthiness, and the ability to successfully turn a home into a lucrative Real Estate investment, so you need to try on a completely different pair of shoes in this scenario. Preferably a less flashy, more reliable pair. Your owners page should show why they should use your services. It shouldn’t be a sales pitch. It should clearly show what services you offer and how you can turn a home into an investment property. Possible areas that you’ll want to explore include:
- How will you market a home?
- How do you communicate information with owners? Do you off an owner portal?
- What type of screening process do you use for potential tenants?
- How will you maintain the home?
- How are rent prices set?
- When and how will you collect rents and security deposits?
- How and when will the owner receive their payments?
By including the answers to some of these important questions that owners ask, you’ll provide them with what they need to pick up the phone to start a conversation. Websites are the door to get people interested, and catering to different audiences is vital to grabbing and keeping their interest.
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AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money. Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more. |