Use Your Website to Promote Your Real Estate Business

The competition is fierce, and these days you’ll need expert online and offline marketing skills to set yourself apart from the pack.  ~ Megan Marrs

A website is a vital tool that gives you a solid edge over the competition in the real estate market. However, many real estate agents are under using them, often to their detriment.

A survey from the REALTOR Technology Survey Report shows that:

• 21 percent of real estate agents rate their website success as fair
• Another 20 percent rates them as not good enough

They are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with leads they get from their sites as well.

If you’re working to make a name for yourself and your business is finally getting noticed, a website can help boost traffic and secure leads. However, like any tool, you get more when you spend time using it.

The above survey also shows that:

• Almost half of real estate professionals spend fewer than five hours per month on their sites
• Nearly one-third invest less than $100 per year

In other words, they pay for hosting costs and not much else. If you’re ready to use your website to your advantage, consider the following steps:

Find the Right Hosting Service

Luckily, today’s website technology is pretty easy to use. There are several website hosts that offer free and user-friendly web software that guides you through building a site and populating it with visuals and content.

You can have your WordPress CMS set up for free by most hosting companies.  We are strong advocates for a Premium WordPress hosting provider like WP Engine.  There are many hosting providers out there, just remember the old addage… “You get what you pay for.”

And since most people now visit sites through smartphones, most of the WordPress themes are mobile-friendly to ensure your potential clients aren’t struggling with resizing your site to their smaller screens.

Use the Visuals You Already Have

A real estate site must be heavy on visuals. These DIY websites let you easily upload photos and videos from your smartphone.

And if you find you need to fill some space, you can get high-quality stock video from vendors that take care of all the licensing and permissions for you.

These services are reasonably priced, and some include great soundtracks, too. (And you can always turn them off if you think they’re too distracting.)

Brag About Your Listings

Unlike some promotional sites, your personal real estate website doesn’t limit you to a certain number of words or characters to describe your listings. Go ahead and put in everything your professional experience tells you will help sell your properties.

So mention the:

• Brand-new school down the street
• The broad sidewalks
• The dog park a few blocks away

Don’t forget that you can easily build single property websites on your WordPress website using the WP Listings plugin.

Blog About Real Estate in Your Area

Blogging is one way to give your site some personality people will remember. There are no rules about blogging other than to make sure you write about topics relevant to your audience.

So talk about:

• First-time home buyer programs
• Population shifts
• How to prep a home for sale
• Whatever else interests your customers

If you’re worried that your writing isn’t great, hire a professional writer who can look over your work and give it some polish.