As a Realtor, you know that you need to utilize the internet to remain competitive in your market. But do you know how? Real estate marketing is evolving and every Realtor needs to adapt, retire or start looking for a new career. Gone are the days of plopping your picture along with a few key listings in the local newspaper to generate calls. When I opened up my local real estate section this past Sunday, there was only one page of listings where there used to be eight pages. The internet has changed how people shop and is the key to identifying, attracting and capturing new listings and active buyers in the future. The problem is that many Realtors have no idea how to effectively use the internet their website or a blog, to market and grow their business.
At the center of any internet marketing effort is your core web presence. In the past that represented a static website that did little more than acting like an online Yellow pages ad. If that is you than you need to rethink your core web presence and how it will work for you and not just sit their alone in cyber-space.
What every Realtor needs to understand is that a website is “sizzle” that looks good if found, but a blog is the “steak” that is going to attract the search engine spiders and get you listed in a search. I am a firm believer in the effective use of both a keyword content rich blog to create page ranking, traffic and link energy and a core static website to drive traffic to in order to connect with and capture buyers, sellers and future prospects.
Real Estate Website
Many Realtors I have spoken to have spent thousands of dollars with a talented web designer to create a great looking website, full of Flash video, the latest graphics and beautiful images of homes and happy buyers. The problem is no one will ever see it unless it attracts the attention of the search engine spiders and gets listed high enough to be found. To do this your site needs to be search engine optimized “SEO” with keywords and content that will attract and be indexed by the search spiders and most static websites I evaluate are not search engine optimized to attract the people they want visiting their site.
This does not mean scrap your site. It does mean that you need to understand, develop and implement a web marketing strategy that takes advantage of your website as part of an overall marketing campaign for your business.
Most Realtors have neither the time nor the knowledge to create an effective and useful website on their own. Here are five essentials that your core website should include to make it an effective part of your overall marketing strategy, which should be to capture the contract information of prospective buyers and sellers. Remember, you have less than 4 seconds for someone to decide to stay at your site of leave:
Main Home Page
- You need a professional look with a theme that matches your target market.
- Your main home page should be about solutions and ideas for buyers and sellers, not how great you are. Give them something to make them stop searching!
- Always offer something of value (Guide to Buying, Financing Ideas, Guide to Selling) that people can register to receive by email (need form to capture them)
- Make sure that you have your address, phone and support email address at the bottom of every page.
- Links to Blog, About the Company Page, Contact Us Page, Team Page and Target Market/Community Page
Other Key Website Pages
- About Us – This page should promote your business, highlight your achievements and establish who and what your target market is. Use keywords!
- Contact Us – Make it easy for a site visitor to find phone, fax, email, address and map to your office or offices. Make sure you set up a ‘More Information” form as well as a direct email form to help establish communication.
- Team Page – Highlight your real estate and support team with images and biographies (do not list phone numbers). Drive traffic to one phone number and one email address and set a procedure to capture information and then distribute and track leads.
- Target Market and Community Page – This page should focus on the communities you cover and the types of homes you market. Great place for links for school information, community demographics and other helpful information.
You can set up other pages on your core site, but it is your blog that we want to use to generate content “steak” and your website as the “sizzle’ and conduit to capture visitors.
Real Estate Blog
Recently I read a post “If I Were a Realtor” by Chris Brogan, where he talked about the Social Media tools he would use to differentiate and grow his real estate business. At the top of his list was the development of a blog and that is what I want to focus on in this article.
Once set up your blog is the internet tool that can separate you from the rest of the pack and get found in a virtual sea of competition. An effective blog can be a dynamic marketing tool that will attract the search spiders and create link energy that you can then pass along to your core website.
Write or have written short posts on a consistent basis, focusing on content and keywords that you want indexed by the search engines. The key is to think like your target buyer or seller and create content using words or phrases they may use in a search. Some examples of post content might be:
- Content about your target community.
- Post pictures and keyword content about events of interest within your target community.
- Create posts with keyword content about your listings. Add images and video of the homes and neighborhoods.
- Establish links to other related sites in community for closing attorneys and lenders (have them do the same)
- Write or post articles that you find that bring value to your target buyer of seller.
- Always have a form to register for more information or give away something to capture the prospects contact information.
Pieces of the Puzzle
The development of an effective website and blog creates the core of your internet marketing matrix that you can then implement your marketing strategy upon. With these pieces in place you can utilize social networking, social medial marketing, online advertising, organic keyword search and a variety of other tools and strategies to drive traffic and link energy to your core website/blog. To learn more about marketing your real estate business and establishing an effective web presence you can visit Bssential Small Business Solutions at www.bssentials.com or email me directly at RealtorSolutions@bssentials.com to answer any questions you might have or to begin a discussion of how I can help you establish and grow your web presence as part of your overall marketing and sales strategy.
Bill Sifflard - With over thirty years experience as an entrepreneur, an executive, an author and as a business consultant, Bill Sifflard has a long history of experience bringing innovation, efficiency and success to large and small businesses adapting to evolving markets.
As a premiere Sales and Marketing Innovator, Bill is changing how business integrates traditional marketing strategy with the power and potential of the internet utilizing his "Velocity for Success" matrix.
To learn more about Bill and Bssential Small Business Solutions you can visit http://www.bssentials.com and register for his Free eNewsletter or follow all of his blog posts by clicking on the RSS feed button above. 
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