The Renewed Importance of High-Quality Website Copy in the Multifamily Industry

As websites for multifamily communities continue to evolve and showcase the latest in immersive content offerings, many have interpreted this progression as a move away from the impact of copy on apartment marketing. Some might think you can just slap a few known keywords on the page to help Google find your website and then expect the visual assets to really sell your property, right? Not so much.

Rather than shifting priorities, potential renters and search-engine algorithms alike have broadened their expectations. Your site needs to fire on all cylinders, and that includes engaging, informative copy.

Here are just a few reasons why high-quality copy is here to stay:

SEO

While slick new sites dedicate more page real estate to hi-res photos, videos, and virtual tours, prospects don’t find your apartment website by Googling a picture. In other words, copy has always been the necessary driver of web traffic, and no successful SEO strategy treats written content as an afterthought.

Of equal importance, quality matters. Search engines have grown smart enough to recognize poorly written site content that’s stuffed to the gills with keywords but not much else. Generic copy will read as lazy filler to both your prospects and search engines, and neither will generate the leases your apartment community needs.

Context & consistency

Professional pictures of your community may be worth a thousand words, but the images alone are often disconnected and removed from the bigger picture. Expertly written copy complements your visual assets by providing context and consistency to your property’s narrative. Are your building’s historic roots a core aspect of your brand? Or maybe your neighborhood’s growing popularity, with a range of local businesses and attractions? Is your apartment complex pet-friendly? Strong copy communicates the feel of your community —and the key takeaway for your audience—in a way that’s difficult for pictures to distill. From there, clear, encouraging calls to action instruct prospects regarding the next step they should take in the leasing process.

Efficiency

How much time does your leasing office spend answering the following (or similar) questions:

• Are those real stone countertops or fake?
• Is your fitness center open 24 hours?
• Is your pool heated or seasonal?
• Do all apartment units come with the wood-style flooring or just some?

By providing more information on your website, you preemptively answer the preliminary questions prospects have about the apartment community. The less time your leasing team spends returning calls regarding basic questions, the more time they have for community tours, following up with qualified leads and preparing for resident move-in days.

If your community utilizes an online leasing platform, then truly effective copy can instill the confidence a prospect needs to begin the application process based on your website alone.

The bottom line

Good copy turns searches into traffic, traffic into prospects, and prospects into applicants. If your current site copy lacks the necessary punch to deliver on any of the above, it’s time for an update.

At PropertyPhotos, we specialize in full-service content creation, including homepage copy written by professionals in the multifamily industry. Contact us today to learn more about how our site copy and other skilled writing services can improve your apartment marketing strategy.