How to Write a Real Estate Ad, Part 2

How to Write a Real Estate Ad - Magazine Ad Writing 101 by Brandon Cornett

Giving Your Ad a Strong Call to Action
So now your real estate ad has a strong headline, an eye-catching supporting image, and some body copy that expands on the headline and moves the reader forward.
Now what?
Now you integrate the most important part of your real estate magazine ad -- the offer plus the call to action. What reason do people have to respond to the real estate ad? In the example used earlier (the online real estate forum), the forum itself is a good reason for people to respond to your ad, in this case by visiting the forum and registering to participate.
But why not give them even more reason to respond? For example, maybe you'll create a homeowner's guide to avoiding foreclosure -- a hot topic at the moment, wouldn't you say -- and offer that guide to people who register. Maybe the sign up for the forum and the auto-responder email sends them a link to download the "foreclosure avoidance manual" in PDF format.
I'm just brainstorming some ideas here. The point is, this would be a way to strengthen the offer and thereby increase response rates to your real estate ad message.
Having a strong offer is the first part. But having a clear offer that people can understand is equally important. Continuing our forum example ... if people didn't understand the value of registering for the forum, or the value of the foreclosure-avoidance manual, they would be less likely to respond in any way.
Resources to Help You Write a Real Estate Ad
This article is only a primer on writing real estate ads. If you're serious about running ads in magazines (and you're going to spend your hard-earned money to do so), you should do as much research as possible on the subject of writing ads. Here are some resources to get you started.
• Advertising Your Listings
• Writing a Successful Classified Ad
• Writing Effective Headlines
• Making Good Headlines Even Better
• On Target Advertising
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial on writing real estate ads effectively. More importantly, I hope it helps you write the kind of newspaper or magazine ad that gets a good response from readers!
Brandon Cornett is a professional web copywriter from Austin, Texas.