Your real estate website is a tool in your real estate agent tool box. It should offer valuable information for your clients.
If you don't know where to start with your website marketing, we recommend you take one step at a time.
- Start with adding your website address to any place you currently advertise your phone number!
- Next read our Marketing 101 tips.
Marketing 101
Know Your Web Site
Spend some time going through your web site. Make sure you understand how consumers navigate your site, try to see what they see. Pretend you are home buyer or seller in the market for an agent. Does the text on your home page highlight your areas of expertise? Are there any links on your site that don't work? Information on the web can change locations at any time. Check your web site links regularly to make sure they point to relevant information. How about the look and feel? Are you using a color scheme, and do the images on your site match the theme of your business? Avoid clutter and clashing colors... people who are looking for information aren't likely to be impressed by a busy, colorful site. Use your slogan and company logo so that your web site carries the same brand as your other marketing materials.
Build Your Web Site
Add customized content to your site. Add pages and links to your website. Add photos and virtual tours to your listings. Give potential clients a reason to revisit your site. Make it a one-stop source for home buyers and sellers... after all, you're the expert on living in your community, and when people start out in their quest to buy or sell, they often have no idea where to start looking for information. If you point them to the information they need, you've made an important first step to building a relationship before you've even spoken to that person.
Market Your Web Site
- Business Cards: Do you know that the general public expects you to have a web site? When you hand your card to someone, they immediately have the impression that you are "up with technology" just by the fact that you have a web site. Having a web site gives you credibility.
- Fax Cover Sheet
- Voice Mail Greeting: This is especially useful when prospects call you after hours. Now they can go to your website to get more information!
- Business Letterhead
- For Sale Signs
- Brochures
- Flyers
- Postcards
Anywhere you advertise, make sure your web site address is as prominently displayed as your phone number. Many times, people will be want to visit your web site before they call you. Put your web site address on your print, radio, television, and mailer ads.
Collect Email Addresses
Contact all your current and past clients and prospects and get their email addresses. Email all your clients on a regular basis. Email useful information such as:
- Newsletter
- New Listings
- News and trends
- Seasonal tips like gardening, weatherizing, or winter driving
- Community events like fundraisers, parades, or concerts
Develop an email signature. Include your slogan and all your contact information -- phone numbers, mailing address, web site address, and email address.
Follow Up
Check your email every 2-3 business hours. Time is everything on the Internet. If you do not respond to your clients and prospects quickly, someone else will.
Network
Trade links with anyone you can whose website is relevant to the home buying or selling process. If you work with a particular mortgage broker, insurance agent, remodeler, or landscaper, ask for a link from their web site to yours, and place a link on your site to theirs. This is called reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking can give you the edge in search engines by building Internet doorways to your website that will be used both by people and by web crawlers. It's a long-term strategy that will benefit you over months and years, and not only improve the amount of traffic your web site gets, but the quality of traffic as well.
Advertise Online
Check the online real estate section of your newspaper for potential advertising opportunities. Research other real estate sites you can advertise on by surfing the Internet. Take a look at the major events and organizations in your area. Many of them offer advertising space on their web sites. Don't forget to get a link on your local Chamber of Commerce web site.
Myers also offers a Search Engine class called Search Engine Marketing. It focuses on ways to be seen on Search Engines. Our clients can also take advantage of our Search Engine Optimization tool set to get their sites ready for the search engines and automatically submit them to the search engines.
Do you have any questions? Please contact me.
Comments(1)