The World is moving towards a digital age, If you are not using technology in your industry think again. If you are a real estate agent and have worked based on traditional methods of referrals, Please think again, you are missing a great opportunity, let me share some thoughts According to the National Association of Realtors, Most of the People looking online for properties that were available for rent or sale 17 percent contacted real estate agents through online portals, you are losing this great potential. So exactly what you should think to do? “If you can’t beat them, join them” In this modern age buyer or tenants are more educated about market conditions, they know everything about the property even before in contact with a real estate agent. You can educate them with your website Setting up a real estate website is not difficult, You’ll need a domain name and hosting, and website builder like WordPress. Download Website Templates here
Setting Up: Domain, Hosting, Website Builder
The Domain name is the address of your website, People can find you online through this address, Most the people hardly think about it, but, it needs to matter to you. Your Domain name must be something simple and related to your business so that clients can see it and remember it.
Take for example these two domain names;
The First domain means many things, but second is good, the second one also adds your identity as an agent to your business
The first step before buying the domain is domain name availability lookup, use godadddy tool to check domain vacancy.
Click on the following link
Enter your desired name in the search bar and take it for a spin, the tool will show you a list of available options.
When you choose a domain name that you like, click add to cart button.
Complete the payment, you will be redirected to the Control panel. Where you can set up your domain with hosting.
Web hosting is a place where you keep website files, every one access website through a domain name. There is a lot of web hosting service provider, just browse and fee out a web hosting provider that’s good for your business.
The First thing you will need to do is choose the right CMS, there are a lot of free or affordable site builders available, they are not same, so before choosing to weigh the pros and cons.these Cms is website builder, today website builder is very advanced, you can build your website within minutes, in most of the cases these website builders are free.
You can use building blocks to design your website. Choose the website builder from the following :
Highly recommend option is WordPress.org. WordPress comes with tons of themes. WordPress ecosystem has a massive number of plugins that you can use to perform additional functions of your site.
Wordpress also has a content management system, which helps you to grow your website traffic using the content.
As a real estate agent you know that the first impression is the last impression, so if you want to impress the client, show properties in a beautiful manner on your site.
Most property buyers are in a sort of dreamy mood when they are looking for a home. Can you be able to fulfill it? Of course, the investors are different from these homebuyers but who knows?
According to the National Association of Realtors, Buyers who use the internet to search home, most of them see photos of properties. So add good quality photos about properties on the website, it generates more leads.
Pictures tell a whole story, Professionals are expensive but consider it an investment into your properties.
How most users search in real life, it is not about a simple search box. Search boxes only use to scan the whole websites.
When User looking for properties, they search in specific areas, between certain price ranges or even with a certain bedroom, bathrooms. make it easy for them, so they can find what they are looking for.
Dropdown boxes or search bar have key choice elements like Area, Property Type, and price. Don’t inundate your visitors with a lot of options to choose from.
Maybe you have experienced surfing to a website through your mobile phone and finding that it looks very ugly or terrible, why this happened because the site likely is not for mobile. Most of the websites often do not play well with mobile phones. These sites are not mobile-friendly.
When you are building website remember this thing, your website must have responsive design. 50% of Users open website on mobile devices. If your website is not mobile-friendly it will alienate half of your penitential clients.
Word Press has responsive themes that automatically help make your website mobile-friendly
As a real estate agent, you know the needs of your clients who look for properties. So remember Sales pitches you have had to run?
Apart from just providing information about the property itself, Provide or transfer knowledge to your website, Provide supporting information, such as nearby amenities, schools, shopping malls, highways, neighbourhood
If your website if for real estate investors provide market statistics
Providing information and having a responsive design is good, but Always have an easy way for clients to get in touch with your
For this most of website use contact form, or some website use Call now, some use live chat.
Use these call to actions near where a client might be standing on the edge of deciding.
Provide Buyers the information needed to make good buying decisions, if your Prospective buyers are not connected with you, you can be sure he is connected with someone else.
Prove Buyers the complete information about the property, for example, this house is near shopping mall, highway or anything else that helps him.
Make sure your prospective buyers know about you, tell them what you are doing and that others have acknowledged this.
Include everything about yourself, awards, and testimonials. Create trust between you and your clients.
After building a website next step is to market your website, just because you have a website does not mean visitor come flooding in.
Social media marketing has been revolutionized over the past few years, Millions of people using social media on a daily basis, it has taken over so much advertising space. Use social media to promote your website and interact with prospects.
Use the Real Estate Hashtags to Optimize Your Content on social media
Generic Real Estate Hashtags #realestate #realtor #justlisted #broker #forsale #homesale #newhome #househunting #dreamhome #properties #homelisting #oldhousecharm #property #housing #mortgage #homesforsale #openhouse #homeinspection #homesweethome #foreclosure #renovated #justlisted #reo #fixandfliphouses #homeevaluation
Real Estate Agent Hashtags #investmentsales #realestate #commercialrealestate #realestatebroker #realestateagent #realestatelife #listingagent #homebuyers #homebuyer #realestateinvestment #propertyforsale #businessbrokerage #commercialboardofrealtors #business #realtoroffice #banking #invest
Customized Real Estate Hashtags #[Target Neighbourhood] #[Real Estate Team Name] #[Brokerage Name] #[Target City]homes #[Target City]property
Use Realtor Quotes
Real Estate Sayings
Use Testimonials:
Use Social Media Tools
Infographics are a great way to engage with your clients.
InfoGraphics Example
Build Free infographics:
Use this too: Canva
Buffer and Hootsuite are great tools to schedule social media posts.
For more information click here
The Easiest way to get traffic on your website is that your website must be submitted in the search engine directory. Make sure all page of your website index-able. When people search about buying a home or selling home Google and Bing show them your website. These listing are free.
To rank your website on the first page of Google, it is very important, to focus on search engine optimization.
When you are writing the content of your website or writing a blog make sure you are using a keyword related to real estate for example Real Estate, Property, or other similar terms
Use SEMRush to gain strategic information on trends and keyword, some other tools are also available:
Submit your website to Google Local Business it's free, they will guide you on how to promote your business.
Create a Registration Form, make the registration process easy and smooth, build your potential customer database. This will help you with marketing.
You have a lot of information on your site, this thing attracts a variety of customers, and this is where email marketing comes.
Targeted email marketing helps you to promote your properties through organizing campaigns
Use Email Marketing Tools for AB testing and Organizing your campaigns,
Read More: 21 Rules of Email Etiquette to Make a Perfect Impression on Anyone