Tips to Drive Natural Traffic to Your Real Estate Website

How many individual realtors in your area have websites? How many real estate firms have websites? And what about the MLS website?

There is virtually a sea of websites you are competing with, and you have to find ways to drive people to yours.

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This is a tall order, and if you are serious about increasing your traffic, then you have some work to do.

Your Work Can Be Divided into 3 categories.

Category 1: Website Design

Here is where you simply cannot scrimp to save some bucks. Every realtor with a website has either designed his/her own through a content management system or has spent a small amount on a freelance designer picked up from a job board like Fiverr.

The problem is, all of these real estate websites look rather the same, and nothing “pops” when visitors access them.

You need a website that “pops.”

And the one way to get this is to use a design company that specializes in real estate websites. In this way, you get a sleek, modern design that is unique, that honors user needs for speed and ease of navigation, and that generally gives buyers and sellers a great experience.

Category 2: Content and SEO

Here’s the thing about content. There’s an ocean of it out there, and the chances of buyers and sellers finding yours is mighty slim unless you make that content really valuable and attractive to search engines.

All of this means that you will have to create real estate content on your site and your blog that is:

• Relevant
• Current
• Unique
• Keyword-rich content
• On topics that visitors will find engaging, informative, and entertaining
• It must a be related to the local market

Here are some tips to do just that: 

• Use Keyword Research Tools:

  There are any number of tools you can use to find real estate keywords – Google Adwords is a great source, along with sites like Moz, Google Correlate, and more. Many are free, and several will allow you to put keywords together to get those long-tail phrases that are now more commonly used by searchers. If you have the very best and most current included in your website and blog content, the potential for search engines to index and rank you higher is much greater.

• Find the Most Trending Topics in Real Estate:

  This is another key part of being found by searchers. The content you produce has to be popular, has to address issues, questions, and problems that buyers and sellers face right now. There are tools to find these trending topics too. You can use sites like Buzzsumo, type in relevant real estate keywords, and find the most relevant and current topics in your niche. You can access the content itself and use it as a springboard to craft content that is better.

• Use Wider, Relevant Content:

  What is newsworthy in real estate? What are current and forecasted interest rates? How much are homes expected to appreciate in value over the next five and 10 years? How can people get their homes paid off before retirement?

• Widen the reach of your audience:

  There may be good-sized segments of your local population whose native languages are not English. While most real estate agents do not think of this, you can widen your reach and gain a greater following by translating your website and your other content into those languages, providing options for foreign-speaking natives. You can find a good translation service for this purpose at Pick Writers, a site that features top translation agencies.

• Re-Publish Research of Others:

  The Real Estate Research Institute is a treasure trove of research on real estate, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Take the time to read these research articles, choose those that are most relevant to your audience, and write articles that summarize that research, providing links to the actual studies.

  While your audience may not want to read academic-type research studies, it will be interested in the results. This helps to show you as an expert in real estate matters, search engines like this, and, if you market your content well, your audience will grow.

• Post Content Often:

  It’s easy to slack off. You get busy; you are seeking listings, trying to market properties on all of the online resources, and making appointments for showings. Yes, your life is busy, but growth of an audience, which ultimately means more clients, is the only way you grow your reputation and your clientele.

  You don’t want one-time visitors to your site – you want them to return often because you have new stuff for them to read all the time. And part of website SEO is frequent new and unique content.

Category 3: Social Media Marketing

Every real estate firm and numerous agents have their own accounts on social media sites. In fact, social media marketing can be highly effective, if it is done right.

Here are some tips to ensure that you maximize your potential.

I have often asked the question…

The Competition is Tough Out There

Real estate is a highly competitive industry. It is also obviously highly localized. Making a name for yourself in the online world is especially tough, because of the sheer amount of content that is out there.

Here are some additional tips that should help a bit as well:

1. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Trying to post blog content on a regular basis is a challenging task. But you can re-post amazing content of others, with permission, and still look like an expert.
2. In terms of social media platforms, you really do need to do the analytics and find out which platforms and types of posts are working best. Then, you can focus just on that without just throwing stuff against a wall hoping some will stick.
3. Ask readers to subscribe to your blog or newsletter. And offer a free report or ebook if they will do so. Having these email addresses will help grow your email marketing campaign. Even though recipients may not be ready to buy or sell now, if you stay in touch they will think of you when it is time.
4. Consider some automated posting tools, such as Hootsuite. In this way, you can create a lot of content during down times and schedule it for publishing without the need to remember yourself.
5. Be patient. It takes time to develop a presence, to become a “go-to” person for all thing real-estate related, and to develop those long-term relationships that will become a client base in the future.