M/I Homes won the 2021
Market Proof Award for Best Written Content Series.
Savannah Paver, SEO and Web Content Strategist with M/I Homes, was the driving force behind their written content strategy. In her role, she trains team members across their 15 divisions on content best practices. Through her efforts, they’ve successfully produced written content that has great storytelling, reaps SEO benefits, and leads people through the sales funnel.
Savannah submitted their blog post
Six Reasons You Will Love Living in Sarasota, Florida, for the award. The post works as a resource for people early in their new home search and for people who have recently moved to the area and are looking for ways to get involved in the community. M/I Homes wanted their written content to focus on things that help potential homebuyers take the next step in their home buying process.
The post started with keyword research, and then, they created content that supported those keywords. They utilized experts living in the area to give them the most authentic and accurate information, including data about the great schools, reasons families enjoy the area, and things to do on the weekends.
Savannah and the M/I team have been excited about the results of the blog post. It has been one of their top-performing posts and continues to generate traffic for their website. Because of their in-depth keyword research, they’ve been able to rank in search results for high-demand keywords such as Sarasota, Florida. They also saw excellent engagement metrics, including high retention on the page and visits to additional web pages. They accomplished this through internal linking that made it easy for readers of the post to find website pages showcasing their homes for sale in that area.
Savannah says that creating great written content is a team effort. She utilizes the people on the front lines of their divisions such as marketing managers and salespeople to provide feedback on what customers in the area are looking for. Whether it’s what corporate centers are near a community or what activities are in the area, they want the content they provide to answer customer questions and cover the things that matter most to them. Ultimately, this leads to customers trusting what the company has to say.
Because of the success of the blog post, they’ve gone on to apply the idea for different markets, and they’ve had success using it for both main city hubs and additional outlying cities. It has helped the company provide more resources to supplement the product pages on the site.
For great written content, Savannah recommends placing yourself in the customers' shoes to create the best experience possible. Asking yourself how you feel consuming the content, if it’s answering the right questions, what their next questions will be, and how they can interact with the brand after reading it, can all help you evaluate how well your written content will serve your audience. In the end, M/I’s commitment to their customer is what comes through in their content.
