Choosing to become a licensed realtor can be one of the best career choices of your life. Essentially, you get to be your own boss, set your own schedule, and you are directly in control of your earnings.
However, this requires a lot of internal motivation, no short supply of work ethic. You will be in charge of marketing and advertising for yourself. If you want to generate listings, you've got to put in the work.
Initially, figuring out the marketing world can be a little confusing. But don't worry, we've got you covered. Please keep reading for our top six ways to generate listings through digital marketing for your real estate business.
1. Start With an Amazing Website
First, to make an impact in today's business world, you must have a formidable online presence. The best place to start is with a website.
Keep in mind; your website will essentially serve as the face of your business. People will use it to judge your credibility and whether or not they want to work with you. It has to be highly-functional, user-friendly, and properly representative of your brand.
User-Friendliness
To make your website user-friendly, you must ensure it operates intuitively – people shouldn't be getting lost on your website or have trouble finding what they're looking for. It must also be aesthetically pleasing, using appealing colors, images, fonts, etc. However, keep it neat, clean, and conservative, so you don't overwhelm your users' senses or slow down the loading times.
SEO
Next, you need to make sure potential clients can easily found your website. This is where SEO comes in. Search engine optimization refers to the complex algorithm used by search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc.) to find relevant websites based on keyword searches.
Your website's internal SEO significantly affects your business. If someone searches for “Realtors near me,” and your website doesn't come up near the top of the results page, you're unlikely to get much business.
Work on improving your SEO by adding a blog to your website full of relevant articles embedded with keywords and other SEO content. Ensure you're using multiple forms of media (embedded with metadata) and internal and external links. Pay special attention to your local SEO rating to help generate listings in your community.
2. Become a Social Media Pro
To further strengthen your online presence, you need to dive headfirst into social media. Seventy percent of American adults have a Facebook profile. That means the majority of your potential clientele can easily be found in one place.
However, using Facebook or Instagram successfully isn't as easy as simply creating a profile. While it certainly helps to know how to create a professional profile, your success will depend on how you run it once it's been created. To generate listings using social media, your account must stand out to consumers.
Here's how:
- Post regularly (once a day or every other day)
- Stay active (scroll through your feed, comment, like, share, etc.)
- Post engaging content that encourages interactions
- Post content that links back to your website
- Post contests and raffles that reward followers for spreading the word
- Engage back (always respond to comments, messages, etc.)
3. Start an Email Campaign
Through your website, social media, and landing page advertisements, start encouraging people to subscribe to your email list. Email lists are a great way to generate listings because they specifically target people who have already shown an interest in what you have to offer.
You can incentivize people by offering exclusive content, promotional deals, or free stuff (eBooks, a house selling checklist, how-to videos for prepping a house for the market, etc.) for joining.
Once someone subscribes, there should be a series of automated emails already created and ready to go. The first email should be “thanks for joining; here's what we promised you.” Then, you can send more information about yourself and your brand.
Keep the emails topical, and most importantly, valuable. You want people opening your emails, not ignoring them – so keep the good stuff coming. This is where you start advertising more and pushing people towards your services and/or encouraging them to promote you to their contacts. Offer incentives for referrals in the form of everyone's favorite thing – cold hard cash.
4. Start Networking
Next, learning how to use digital marketing to generate listings means learning how to play well with others. Start networking with other local businesses through their websites.
You can build appropriate affiliate relationships with contractors, lenders, insurance companies, and more. Use their website for advertising your business and doing the same for them. You can also offer incentives, like a finder's fee, for companies who refer clients to you.
The more people you reach out to and affiliate with, the more powerful your online presence will be. You can also use your affiliate relationships to strengthen your SEO by linking to their websites in your blog and having them do the same for you.
5. Use Pay Per Click Advertising
Pay per click or PPC advertising is a common tactic small business owners use to help generate leads both locally and nationally, depending on their business and who they're advertising through. PPC advertising allows you to place ads on other websites, paying an agreed-upon amount to the host for any clicks your ad receives.
As a realtor, you can use PPC advertising in three main ways.
- Posting your ad on popular national real estate websites like Zillow
- Posting your ad on local business websites
- Paying search engines to put you at the top of the results page for certain keyword searches
6. Host Virtual Tours
Finally, in the digital world, we're all about immediate gratification. In the real estate business, you can help generate listings by hosting virtual tours of any homes you sell.
Studies show that 87 percent of consumers start researching products online before they buy, including real estate. Make a good impression by having high-quality photos and virtual tours posted on your website and social media pages. This will encourage other people to list their homes through you.
While searching for real estate, most people won't look twice at home with only one or two pictures or pictures that are blurry, dark, etc.
Looking for More Ways to Generate Listings?
Learning to become a successful realtor can be difficult, especially if digital marketing is new to you. However, people like us out there specialize in helping people just like you to generate listings and grow your business. Take a look at some of our digital marketing services and let us know how we can help you.
Need more local marketing tips? Check out The Essential Marketing Guide for Real Estate Professionals
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