Writing the Best Web Real Estate Ads - The Title

You Have Just Seconds to Catch the Interest of the Reader

Just when many of us thought we had a plan for our real estate advertisement titles, along came the Internet. All of our best practices aren't out the window though. We still need a headline that catches the attention of the reader or prospect. We probably have limited space in which to place it as well. The Internet makes our job a bit harder because of the syndication of our listings.

Just take a look at Realtor.com, as it gets our listings from local MLS's and re-formats them for the site. Everything becomes a linked address. Sorry, but an address isn't my idea of an attention-grabbing headline or title. It creates a uniform display, but uniformity only means your home ad disappears into the pile.

Other listing aggregation sites do the same, so what is one to do in order to stand out? In looking through Realtor.com, Trulia and some others, one solution presents itself. Most of the sites show the first sentence or two, or even a paragraph of the listing description. Even if they won't let you bold it, perhaps you can set it off with asterisks or another character and make it your title headline.

Don't just start into your description with location, bedrooms, baths, etc. Make the very first description sentence an eye-catching title. This usually will show up in the aggregate display of listing search results, and surely will be the first thing they read in the detail view screen on just about any site.