Tip of the Week: Website SEO
You would be hard-pressed to find any real estate professional who would argue against the value of an strong online presence. A well-built business website can increase sales leads and build brand awareness.
Your site should play a vital role in assisting clients as they begin the buying or selling journey. For 44 percent of buyers, the first step taken in the home search is to look at properties for sale online, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2016 survey. The report also reveals that 86 percent of buyers found websites to be the most useful source of information while purchasing a home.
Whether you’re a new agent, a broker starting a new company, or a brokerage owner who’s considering giving your agents their own websites, online tools such as Placester—a REALTOR Benefits® Partner—offer free websites to members of NAR. Other companies like Wix or Weebly can help users create a real estate website for a relatively low cost. Or, you can work with a company that specializing in custom-designed websites. Real estate professionals can choose to connect to an IDX feed, which will display MLS listings, or you can choose to manually upload properties you’re listing on your website with beautiful photos and descriptions.
No matter which solution you choose, the most important aspect of maintaining a website is making sure your potential clients can find you online. So, a key component of your online marketing strategy is making your website easy to find. You need to effectively position your brand in search engine results like Google through search engine optimization.
Optimize Information on Your Real Estate Website
The content on your website contains vital information for letting Google and other search engines know your relevancy to a search query. You can optimize the following content on your website to make search engines happy and return your site in results:
- Choose a domain name that’s relevant to your business and location. For example: oregonrealestate.com.
- Use keywords strategically on each page of your website to identify your business, services, and location. Choose words or phrases your target clientele would use to find you.
- Include your contact information—your company name, address, and phone number—on every webpage, not just your homepage or contact page.
- Go beyond content that only focuses on your services and listings, and include information about the local area in your website copy. This will help search engines associate your business site with the local market, and more importantly, provide valuable information to your buyers, letting them know you’re an expert in the area.
Other SEO strategies include link building, guest blogging, social media marketing, and working with third-party review and listing sites. The more effort you put into your SEO strategy in the beginning, the more it will build over time so your website is the first solution your potential clients discover when they begin to looking for real estate properties in your area.