During your career as a realtor, you probably encountered many marketing opportunities, strategies and practices that pay off. From offline advertisements through open houses and community events that introduce you to the neighborhood, living in today’s online society requires an active online presence. As a real estate agent in 2022, one of the most accessible marketing strategies and tools are available in the cyber world.
Nowadays, without an online presence, whether it be through personal social media accounts or professional online campaigns, it’s like you don’t exist. While living off the grid is always an option, real estate professionals have more advantages if they keep up with technological opportunities. Their target audience spends a lot of time searching for properties online, and so should real estate agents.
Online Facts for Real Estate Agents
There’s no point in beating around the bush. Most people are going online even for the most basic of needs like groceries, and the search of every home begins online way before they go to any house showings.
The truth of the matter is that around 94% of the Millennial prospects, 84% of the Baby Boomers and over 50% of the Silent Generation browse websites at one point during their home hunt according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR)’s report. Any real estate agent who does not implement online marketing strategies will fall behind in the game.
Whether you’re at the beginning of your career, in a rebranding campaign or restructuring their existing online marketing strategy, staying ahead of the competition doesn’t have to be a struggle. The following guide is meant to provide you with all the necessary information and tools to get your real estate agent website on point.
Stay ahead of the curb by applying consistency, seriosity, while saving time and money overall.
Know how to use a Website
As the goal of your online marketing strategy is to grow your business and your revenue, you need to focus on the service you offer and not on yourself. Living in the age of individualism does not mean that the way you look will gain you clients. Prospects aren’t browsing online, scrolling through house listings, and trying to find a real estate agent to work with based on how they look. Being easy on the eye might matter in your daily life, but it will not make a potential client choose you. Your abilities will.
People are going online in search of houses so make sure your website gives them what they are looking for. The precious space available on your website should highlight feature properties, hot listings and homes that appeal to your targeted demographic. Create an “About” page for your headshot and any personal information you want to divulge including, and most importantly, your contact information. Your name, phone number and email address, however, should be available throughout the website. The best practice would be to place it at the bottom of every page, and yes, even throughout the various pages within the content if possible. Your face, still, is meant for the “About” page.
Select Mobile-friendly Platforms
Looking at the population from the US, around 64% of the adults own a smartphone. These prospective clients have a high probability of using those devices when they begin their real estate search, either for properties or for agents. While having a professional looking website for the desktop users is essential, the platform that you use needs to be easy to load and navigate from mobile devices as well.
Potential clients don’t have a lot of time to waste, and you can easily lose real estate customers if it takes a while for your website to load on a smartphone. Having a mobile-friendly and mobile-ready website can make the difference between leads and contracts that are falling through. The platforms available right now give the opportunity to design your website with a built in mobile technology from the start. Adding it later on can be more difficult so be mobile from the get go.
Appealing Visuals
We should be aware of it by now, but humans are attracted to beautiful things. When we look at the population statistics, research shows that 65% of the global population are visual learners. Furthermore, 90% of the data that our brains receive comes in the form of visuals. If what we look at is not appealing to the eye, we lose interest fast.. First impressions matter both in the online world and in real life, but this translates to clutter free space in online and clean aspects in real life. Make sure that the first impression your clients get from your website is a positive one. Visual appeal can come in many shapes and forms but it is always easy to use and navigate, simple yet sophisticated, and never crowded.
Any image that is featured on your website should come in a high resolution format, with a high visual appeal. In other words, images, slideshows, videos and interactive maps need to look good. If your budget allows you, hire a professional or get some high quality equipment for yourself. While websites like Zillow and Trulia have different budgets to work with, matching that level can come through that little extra that you can give them. Offer your clients a sense of connectivity to the community through which you won’t only give them something they can’t get elsewhere, but also a way to truly showcase your properties.
Search Engine Optimization
For any real estate agents who want to be at the top of their game through online marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial. Getting your website to be at the top of any local real estate online search is how you achieve an online presence that actually works for your target audience. While paid ads and promotions on search engines and social media platforms is always an option, your budget will suffer. Being able to do it organically is much more financially friendly for a small real estate company. Through SEO you can ensure that your target audience (online users in search of real estate) is actually targeted. There are many real estate agents and businesses online already, but SEO gives you the opportunity to be the first one in everyone’s search result.
SEO is a process through which you can improve your website’s visibility in search engines for people who seek your services. This can be applied not only to Google but Bing as well as other search engines. Those two, however, are the most commonly used in the US. Better visibility on any of the pages from your website will increase the amount of traffic to your website through clicks and time spent on the page. This will attract new prospective buyers and sellers to your business and help your company grow.
Conclusion
In case you already have your own website, or maybe you’re just planning to design one now, either way, the above mentioned ideas need to be implemented. Those steps will ensure that you’re giving your audience a pleasant experience on your platform that will have them returning. But more importantly, they will give you the opportunity to appeal to a wider audience in your area of activity.
The amount of time you dedicate to this venture will pay off in the long run, but if you are unable to allot time, RealEstateAgent.com provides this and so much more that is ripe and ready for the picking. These tools will serve you well into the future while your real estate business continues to grow.