Online Real Estate Marketing

by James Bridges on February 9, 2023

Easy Ways To Create Content For Your Real Estate Website

One of the best ways to meet the demands of consumers and the search engines is through the creation of new content for your website. New content for your real estate website is a pivotal part of your overall online marketing strategy as it can help you with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts.

The thought of “writing” pages about neighborhoods, architecture styles, or local events is one where many real estate professionals would rather go to the dentist than write new material. While this might be the thought process, the reality is that creating content for your website (or blog) doesn’t have to be painful and it can be much easier when you have the right approach.

There are many great sources on the internet to discover more about writing styles, here I wanted to share some quick tips to make writing easier so you can increase your rankings in the search engines and have happy visitors.

Write like you speak – This didn’t help me much in school but writing like you speak is just fine for writing online. There aren’t any major awards, like the Pulitzer, for copy on real estate websites, so have fun and just write like you were speaking with someone who is totally new to the area. Share with them your insights on good neighborhoods, quiet streets, etc and you will have pages of great content for your website.
If you don’t like typing, don’t type – Too often people don’t write new material for their real estate websites because they don’t type quickly. If you don’t type quickly, then simply don’t type the information! The important part about content creation is you, since you are the subject matter expert. You can write the information about the area and have someone else type it, or you could even record your voice and then send that off for transcription. Having your handwriting typed or your voice transcribed is very affordable these days as there are many services that will do it online.
AI Based Copywriting – Technology continues to advance in the areas of artificial intelligence. While companies such as ChatGPT have grabbed headlines due to their advanced AI technology that can write entire essays there are other competitors such as Copy.ai that can help you to write longer and more detailed posts with greater speed. While the AI technologies are advanced, don’t let the technology run away with your unique knowledge. You can use these tools to create a good foundation and you can improve upon that foundation with your personality and specialty knowledge of your market.
Create an Outline of Topics – Many real estate professionals give up on their content creation efforts because they get “writers’ block”. With real estate writing you shouldn’t have to worry about writers’ block as you aren’t crafting a novel like Jurassic Park; you are writing information that you are sharing on a regular basis with your buyers and sellers. To help you avoid staring at an empty word document, write out 50 topics before you ever write your first article. With 50 topics in hand you can comfortably write a page or post a week and even have 2 weeks off in a year! When you think about the questions buyers and sellers ask you; you will easily have 50 topics to write down which will help to fill your website with quality content.
Start slow – Just like when you start the gym for the first time in years, try to pace yourself when you are creating new content. Don’t start off trying to create a new page every day for your website as that will be too overwhelming. Start with the goal of just 1 new page a week and when you find out how easy it can be you can slowly increase the number of new pages you add. The important part is to stick with it as your visitors and search engines like regular updates.

Writing that first page for your real estate website may take you a few hours, but it will get easier the more pages you create. Take time to set a goal of how many pages you will create in your first month and hand that goal to someone so they can check in on you. Fresh content for your website is an essential element to a well rounded real estate marketing strategy and sticking with it will help you to increase your rankings and get more customers to your website every day.

by James Bridges on February 7, 2023

Give Customers a Reason to Give You Their Information

When you are first creating your real estate website and thinking about your overall online marketing strategy, often one of the farthest things from your mind is simply why someone would want to contact you. Having a powerful marketing message is a great start, but what else could you offer someone that would encourage them to fill out your contact forms?

Putting an array of “Free reports” on your website in the hopes that someone will fill out a form with their valuable name and e-mail address is a colossal waste of time. Most of the traditional free reports in real estate are so widely circulated that anyone can find them. To get an online visitor to provide you with their contact information now requires being different and providing them information that isn’t that easily available.

Unique Offers Can Transform Traffic Into Leads

Consider the following ideas for compelling a visitor to give you their information:

A 10+ Page Report on Buying a Home – Creating a report of this length demonstrates real value to a prospective client. Try to not make it a “fluff” report that speaks about your awards or service. Write it from an objective standpoint that will allow them to get real value from it. Put information in the report that helps them to see how they could purchase a property in the areas you operate. Point out items to consider that are specific to your area and they will infer your expertise. This can be a “living” report meaning you could make the back few pages of the report about the current market activity and then update it quarterly or semi-annually with the latest market trends. On your landing page let prospective buyers know that your 10+ page (yes give them the actual number) is a report that not only gives them unique guidance about buying in your market areas it also gives unbiased market data that will help them to decide IF now is the right time to buy for them.
A 3 Day Course on Preparing a Home For Sale – Many people provide a small one page document for preparing a home for sale, so be different! Create a 3 day email course on items a seller should consider when preparing a home to sell. You can even provide information on how they would select a listing agent. This course should be packed with so much information that the prospective seller has enough information to choose ANY agent they want in the marketplace but they will be compelled to select you because of the information you provide. As you could do in a buyer report you can add a section on market activity to help seller’s determine IF it is the right time to sell. The agents that do the best aren’t afraid to tell a seller “you know if you can wait, it might be a good idea”. Be bold and be different with your course and you can attract great prospects daily.
A Targeted List of Properties or Off-Market Properties – Take advantage of market conditions and place a form that allows people to get the homes in a specific area and condition. For example if Bank Owned properties are abundant in your area, you could create a form that allows someone to get a list of Bank Owned/Foreclosure homes in your neighborhood. With the apps from Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, and more the curated lists are harder to create that are truly unique. If you belong to a larger office, give prospective visitors to your site the opportunity to get the “first look” at properties before they hit the market. Let a prospect know that you understand they can get any set of listings from the MLS or the variety of Real Estate Apps, but you want to get them a truly first look at properties BEFORE they hit the market to help them get the edge.

Getting people to give up their information takes a focus on what is most important to those searching online and it can change as markets change. People searching for real estate help online want to get information and they want it on their terms. Providing them multiple opportunities to get the help they desire will have visitors opting in daily for great information.

by jbridges on January 30, 2023

What is Your Approach to Using Social Media

In real estate we are constantly searching for more effective ways to meet the needs of our clients. This means trying methods that gain new customers as well as methods that increase your referral business. With social networking continuing to gain momentum many real estate professionals are struggling with why they should even start.

Social networking sounds like a good idea, but really, why would someone want to connect with or even follow me? After a recent seminar that my brother and I hosted a real estate agent approached me with a question on social networking. She asked one of the best questions when she simply asked the question:

“Why would someone use Twitter?”

I thought it was an awesome question. For many, especially in real estate, they are jumping onto social networks, like twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc. . with little thought of “why”. Let’s take a look at a few items to consider for those who have jumped into twitter and maybe those who haven’t yet got on board yet.

Why would someone want to follow your updates on Twitter?
How can you add value to those in your network with your updates?
Who are you going to follow?

I really don’t think that social networking will be for every real estate agent, especially for those that don’t answer the above questions. Or more specifically, it won’t be successful for every agent if they can’t answer the above questions. When considering the option of diving into social networks like Twitter (or any of the others for that matter) it’s important to consider your approach to social networking.

Is a Particular Social Media Platform Right For You?

While Twitter is just one example there are other platforms that might align closer to your personality. As you evaluate the different social networks try to find one that excites you as when you are excited you will stick with it. For example Instagram is known for the ability to share engaging photos and with the increased adoption of Reels on Instagram this might be a better match for you. Would you consider doing the following on Instagram:

Creating a content plan that would cover 3 months of posts to ensure you have a clear path of content creation
Share engaging neighborhood photos (not just listings)
Record Reels to help people understand the market
Educate through video and photos your audience to help them see if your neighborhood are right for them
Focus on hashtags that are relevant to your local neighborhoods
Comment back to anyone who posts a comment to keep discussions going

These are just a few items to consider with Instagram. You can take this approach to any platform and leverage the specific aspects to ensure you have on-going success.

Leveraging Social Media Means Implementing a Social Media Strategy

After all, you wouldn’t create a real estate website without a strategy would you? Just because getting onto social networks is easy doesn’t mean it’s something that you should do. It’s important to consider your approach to social networking for real estate before you ever start.

In addition to the above three questions consider the following:

How much time can you dedicate to your network?
How are you going to grow your network/audience?
What do you want to get from your network?

When you consider doing social networking for real estate it’s important to set goals and consider how you can add value to your network and how your network can help you. Even though it is incredibly easy to get started, take a few moments to consider how you can maximize your activities.

As real estate professionals we often have 100’s of things to do each and every day. Adding 1 more activity that isn’t going to bring us business or improve our business is just a waste of time. So really, what’s your plan with your social network?

by jbridges on January 23, 2023

Have Leads Pour In From Your Real Estate Blog

Many people in real estate are creating Blogs right now. Some have had theirs going for a few years, yet most aren’t getting any results from them. In order to get “real” results you need to avoid the common mistakes, be uncommon in some regards, and make it a priority to have your blog work hard for you.

Avoid the common Mistakes

One of the biggest problems with blogs in general is they are too easy to create. Yes, they are too easy, so very little thought is put into the planning that is necessary to have a successful blog. You can get your own blog up and running in minutes through places like WordPress and Blogger, so this whole “blogging” thing must be easy…right?

Wrong!

The first thing you to concentrate on when starting a blog is to have a plan. The most common mistake is not to have a plan before sitting in front of the computer, so be different and plan out what you are going to do. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but think about what you are going to write about. Outline the first 20 posts that you will write to make sure you have a true passion to write about real estate in your area. If you don’t, that’s ok, real estate blogging isn’t for everyone.

Be Uncommon

There are thousands upon thousands of blogs that speak about real estate. In fact, in your area, there are probably hundreds of blogs already online so how are you going to compete?

One of the best ways to compete is to stand out and be uncommon. Anyone can write a real estate blog so think about how you will be different. Think about aspects like taking a special niche, like a blog just dedicated to homes with Boat Slips. Maybe your blog could focus on the statistics of the real estate market in your area (days on market, average list price to sales price, etc.). The key is to be different by attacking an angle that is not common.

Make Your Blog Work Hard

Making your blog work hard for you, means you must make it a priority for it to generate leads for you each and every day. One of the best (and easiest) ways to make your blog deliver leads for you is to make it easy for people to contact you. Too often bloggers forget to provide easy methods of contact. Put a simple contact form and your phone number so people reading your great information can reach out to get help.

Don’t stop at just displaying your contact information! Building a blog that works hard means building a community that stays connected. Build a list of subscribers by using Free Tools like FeedBurner so you can keep as many people as possible in tune with your niche.

It is certainly possible to dominate with a blog in any market. The first step of planning is what will save you hundreds of hours and make it an online marketing activity that brings you business each and every month.

by jbridges on January 23, 2023

5 Online Real Estate Marketing Ideas

Marketing your real estate business online is a fun and exciting process. After all, you can implement new ideas for very little money and you can see near instant results (good or bad). One of the hardest aspects becomes what do you try next?

With internet marketing you don’t have to be crazy or extremely creative to implement an idea that captivates your audience, sometimes it just takes the right spark to get you going. Here are some internet marketing ideas that will shake up the “norm” and get some fresh activity from your online efforts. Give it a whirl and see which one catches your attention.

Change your homepage – I mean totally change it. For many real estate websites, the home page can be a source of 40% or more of the total traffic, but what kind of results are you getting from it? Go crazy, put some new pictures up, change the content, put up a new opt-in form, and just make major changes. Don’t just change the headline, go crazy and see what results you can get. If you are nervous about such a major change, just save a copy of your page first.
Record video – Too many people are scared of video so be bold and put some video on your website. You don’t have to be Stephen Spielberg, just grab a camera and start shooting some of the neighborhoods that you work in everyday. Be bold and create a series like “Walking through the Streets of MyNeighborhood” where you literally create videos of you walking different streets. You can narrate the video as you walk!
Grow that social network – Maybe you have been signed up with Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain, or one of the others for a while, but what have you done with it? Go login and start making some new connections. Don’t just ask someone to be your friend though, add real value, ask them how their business is going and maybe even share the latest tip you are using to generate leads online. Everyone enjoys a friendly new idea so start off your new relationship by sharing.
Guest post – Having a blog is great, but when was the last time you reached out to a fellow blogger and asked if you could write a guest post? As bloggers we are always looking for fresh new contributors so reach out to a city that has common relocations to your area and see if you can write a guest post about what’s going on in your area. You may even get the opportunity to establish a great referral connection with that other agent.
Host an online tele-class – Change that normal buyer seminar you do to an online version. There are some great products out there that even allow you to host free conference calls so you don’t have any excuse. Send a blast email to your database and share some of the latest challenges (and how you can be the solution) for buyers in the market and watch the leads pour in.

Real estate internet marketing ideas don’t have to be as big as creating Google to work, sometimes it just means making a change and seeing what happens. So you only have one question left to ask, which idea are you going to implement?