Today’s home buyers are much more reliant on online tools to find the perfect home for them. Especially since the pandemic occurred, buyers’ primary method of connecting with real estate agents is through websites and social media platforms.
Agents who have little presence online lose a big chunk of their potential market all because buyers are unaware of them. Being unable to reach target markets makes you unable to make sales and reach monthly quotas.
To stand your ground well against fellow tech-savvy competitors, you must have a solid online presence that consumers cannot miss. This involves using a combination of platforms and attention-grabbing visuals and copy.
Here is a guide on how to accomplish this for your own real estate business.
Five Steps for Boosting Your Online Presence
Boosting your online presence is not a simple act of creating accounts on social media. You need to entice buyers to give your sites a click. These steps help you do this.
1. Put up a solid website
There are many factors involved in creating a website that potential buyers would willingly explore. One of the most important ones is its overall design.
The design of your website is the first thing a visitor notices and helps them decide to keep browsing or go look for properties elsewhere. There will be numerous other agents out there who have websites with user-friendly UI. Keep your design modern and minimal and make the text easy to read.
Aside from the standard needs, such as your contact information and the properties you have up for sale, supplement your website with blog posts that are helpful and shareable for real estate buyers. Firstly, this lets you assert your expertise in the area. Blog posts also allow you to go the extra mile and refer visitors to trusted affiliates such as furniture shops and home insurance websites.
When setting up the pages on your website, make sure they also follow SEO practices for your line of work—real estate, in this case. Use SEO tools to help you with optimization or hire an SEO expert to accomplish this on your behalf.
2. Use relevant social media channels
Social media is necessary, but presence on every existing social media channel is not. Your prospective clients will find you first on social media, so go where the clients are and make your basic information available on these pages.
Facebook has a great range of users you can reach with posts that mix from appealing visuals to text posts that detail the best features of certain homes. Instagram, on the other hand, is a great place for eye-catching content. YouTube is also a great platform for posting house tour videos to further showcase the features of your properties.
Take advantage of targeted ads and hashtags that help you capture specific markets.
3. Take good pictures and videos
These should be a given for your websites and social media pages, but it must be emphasized that professionally taken photos and videos add a layer of credibility to your business. They also generate more clicks.
In addition to well-shot photos and videos of your properties, add photos of nearby landmarks and the neighborhood to emphasize an experience to buyers, not just a house. These also help buyers gain a better mental picture of what living in a particular home will be like, making them more emotionally invested in a home.
4. Write copy that speaks to buyers
In addition to appealing visuals that immerse buyers in your properties, accompany these with copy that appeals to the emotions of buyers. Do not just try to explain the features of a home. Highlight a specific experience that guides buyers’ perception of a home.
Good copy showcases the best parts of a house in a way that is relevant to the market you are trying to capture. Think about what makes your property unique and spin it in such a way that it responds to a particular need of a buyer. Some of these are more obvious, such as proximity to a school or supermarket; while others are more niche, such as historical relevance.
5. Make your pages mobile user-friendly
Digital accessibility plays a big part in how well you are able to market to consumers online. An easy solution for accessibility is to simply make your sites friendly for mobile users, as they make up 90% of Internet users worldwide.
In building your online presence in real estate, know that ease of use is at the top of the list in what keeps buyers on your platforms. Keep it simple, while enriching their browsing experience with quality content.