Should a local newsletter have a real estate section?

We throw a fancy house in every issue just because people like to click on fancy houses. It's always one of the top clicks.

"People love real estate, even though they signed up for local media. It's Zillow spying."

What does the real estate section look like?

• A featured home with a photo-tour GIF.
• Key details and a link to the listing.
• Optional: in a realtor's own newsletter, market info and a couple more listings.

Which listings should you filter out?

These are the filters I set for a local newsletter's real estate feed:

• Homes already sold.
• Land for sale.
• An entire complex for sale.
• Rentals. That's the other big one.

Readers want to peek inside a house. A vacant lot or a whole apartment complex isn't that.

Should you run it if nobody pays for it?

Yes. I told a new operator: if you don't have anybody paying for it, offer it to a realtor for free and put it in anyway. You want to train your audience to know this newsletter has a real estate section and has ads. It's always there. They get used to it. That's how you justify charging for it later.

How should a realtor mix real estate with local content?

Half local newsletter, half real estate. Market info, a couple of listings, local events, and one news story or one restaurant.

"If all you talk about is real estate, I'm not in the market, so why do I want to look at it? But with local events, now you have a reason to look at it even if you're not in the market."

The only thing I need from the realtor each week is a short personal editorial. Listings come in through a standing form where they drop links. Calls to action go near the top, in the middle and at the end.

Weekly is the smart cadence for a realtor newsletter. Less than weekly isn't common enough.

Full breakdown in what a realtor or small business should put in a newsletter.