Over 90% of home buyers and sellers start their search online.
They need to find you easily, and before your competition.
This is why your SEO (search engine optimization) will help you stand out online.
It’s the range of techniques and methods you use to have search engines rank you higher with certain words that are relevant to your business.
Chances are you’ve heard of it or used it before. It’s the process of finding out the most searched terms in relevance to you and your business.
It’s easy to use a few simple ideas and tools to get ranked.
For every single-property site, blog and your own site, you need to go through these steps to take advantage of this process. It’s going to make it easier for potential clients to find you.
Since so many buyers and sellers start their process on the internet, this is a valuable tool.
For any page, optimize your keywords. You can research and discover what the most searched ones are online.
Measure your site's statistics and the page's statistics to see what’s working. Here's a look at how to optimize this and use it to your best ability.
The best strategy is to tailor your SEO around your local area.
This is the first step.
The Google "Keyword Planner" is a great tool for getting suggestions and estimates on how some will perform. If they are set up locally when people search your specific location that’s what comes up.
When promoting yourself, “real estate agent in xxx” and variations like that will work. But being unique is a big part of being found online.
Optimizing for a more specific keyword increases the odds of your visitors converting into clients because the searcher is further along in the buying cycle than in the case of general keywords.
Of course, sites like Zillow and Trulia are going to dominate a lot of those searches, but you and your personal sites can benefit from that.
Your profile on those places that links back to your own site will help your search ranking.
Having locally-related content is huge for your ranking as well.
Be specific and do your keyword research.
This is a part people overlook and how you can differentiate yourself. Here are some tools to do this with.
There is a free and paid version of this. It can analyze your pages and their SEO and keywords.
You can also research keywords and topics and export a report. Then you formulate your pages and website around the most popular keywords that subject has.
- Google Keyword Planner or Google Analytics/Webmasters
Use the keyword planner to research what specific words to use.
You could even just use Google to find the "long-tailed keywords."
With Google Analytics and Webmasters you can sign your website up, and it will give you the ability to see what keywords brought in visitors.
They are also useful for tracking monthly and weekly visitors to help you determine how well your online presence is doing.
Along with keywords that describe your location and what you do, make sure they keywords represent the action the searcher is taking (or would be.)
Great headlines and titles will make a difference.
Each page title, while it may not be visible always on the page, is the first thing that appears in the search engine results. Make sure that the titles, while having popular keywords, are unique enough to stand out.
Don’t make them over 70 characters, because Google only takes that many into consideration.
Each page on your site should be optimized with a primary keyword phrase that is unique.
You should put your most important keyword at the beginning of the page title. The closer to the beginning, the better it ranks.
Content is going to get you ranked higher.
This is because the longer someone stays on your page, the higher it's ranked.
Local content is one of the best ways to get found by owners and potential buyers.
Posting content on your site is not prospecting for leads; it’s about establishing yourself in your market.
And it will bring in leads. When people google things about a particular area, you hope that this comes up.
Then they see you're an agent.
It can also allow you to present your expertise in real estate and your knowledge in the area.
One of our members, John Occhi, is a veteran agent and has been found through Google thanks to his blogs many times.
"I’ve had a lot of community blogging. I’ve had a lot of consumer information on the things you must know before you buy a house, how to choose a loan. That type of stuff, I’ve taken a lot of generic reports that realtors have been known to use and I’ve made them my own, and I’ve blogged them and made them relevant to my local market,” he said.
There are a seemingly endless number of subjects you can write about in the buying and selling process.
Mortgages, title insurance, appraisals, the subjects for real estate are almost endless. Then when you give this or send it to a lead, you a validated.
But you don't need to do the work yourself.
You can curate content from community blogs or other sources. Just work with them.
Stay on top of this and keep your entire website up to date.
If you aren't consistently updating or checking your SEO success or your website the rankings are going to completely fall off.
It's something that needs monthly attention.
Social shares benefit SEO.
The more action your website gets on a social media platform, the more legitimate it looks to Google.
A lot of these searches start on mobile devices, so your site and pages need to be mobile compatible. 89 percent of new home shoppers search using a mobile device during the home buying process.
Make sure that your website is optimized to work well for smartphone viewing. It can’t be glitchy or slow loading on the mobile browser. If it is the viewer will probably give up on the site.
SEO leads have nearly a 15% close rate.
That means that about 1 out of 7 viewers who are also potential buyers could be the next purchase of your home.
That's how lucrative it can be.
SEO is a huge tool that can make your entire online presence.
It isn't that hard to learn and keep up with.
Make sure your keywords are ranked high and you’ll start seeing leads from search engines.
When one of these leads finds you and reaches out to you, you need to be ready with a proven presentation.
One of the most important ways to become and stay successful is to prepare for every interaction you have with leads or clients.
We have a pre-built listing presentation that you can modify to fit you and your marketing plan.
You can get this entire presentation for $97. You can customize it to how you do business… and your marketplace.
If you’d like to get your own copy of my listing presentation, then just go to:
www.InstantListingPresentation.com
It includes:
The complete “Instant Real Estate Listing Presentation” system and training.
- Step-by-step training on How To Present The Listing Presentation so you get realistically priced listings without looking like the bad guy.
- Training on How To Customize The Listing Presentation To You And Your Market.
- A 163 Page Jam Packed Book With Over a 100 Long-Lost Sales Strategies to help you close more sales and make more money.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
