More people than ever are using the internet for at least a part of their real estate dealings. Whether it’s a homeowner trying to figure out how much their property is worth, or a buyer searching for the perfect home for their budget, most everyone looks online first. If you don’t fully appreciate the capabilities of the internet to rev up your marketing efforts, a good deal of leads is passing you right by. Creating a web presence for attracting leads is vital to any real estate investor.
Here are five great tips to ensure you get as much out of your website as possible:
Split Up Your Different Brands: If you’re involved in multiple types of real estate transactions but only have a single website, you’re making a mistake. A savvy investor will have different websites for all of their different brands. This can mean one aimed at sellers, one for buyers, and another for wholesaling with other investors. Separating your brands gives you an “air of expertise” in each specific area, and can go a long way in building credibility for your real estate investing business.
Choose Relevant Domain Names: After you’ve created a list of the different websites that you’re going to need, it’s important to choose domain names that will be effective. Stay away from anything too complicated – while some unique names may be easier than others, simpler is usually better. You want to aim for things people will remember.
You also want them to associate your website with the function it serves. If you’re selling properties, trying to include some version of “selling” in the name. When buying, do the same. Including your location in the name can help even further. For example, an investor purchasing properties in Twin Cities, Minnesota could use something like “Best Real Estate Agents in Twin Cities Minnesota”. That still of a name will be taken in most locales, but with a little creativity, it’s easy to come up with great alternatives.
Be Optimized for the Search Engines: Making it easy for people seeing your signs and other marketing efforts to find your websites isn’t enough. You need to optimize your web presence for the search engines too. This makes it easier for them to classify and rank your sites for different keywords that are relevant to your business. Search engine optimization (SEO) entails a variety of measures, including using your keywords and related phrases throughout your text, headers, meta tags and links. For WordPress websites, there are a number of plugins like WordPress SEO by Yoast that can simplify the process.
Prove You’re Real: Very few people take buying and selling a home lightly. Because of the importance of real estate transactions, most people want to know who they’re going to be dealing with. Be sure to create a page on each of your websites that talk about you and your company, your experience with real estate and multiple ways to contact you. Providing links to your social media accounts can be a great way to add legitimacy and credibility to your online presence.
Double-Check Everything: Before you launch your websites or begin sharing them with potential clients, make sure everything is right. Verify that all of your links work and the pages display properly in multiple browsers and on different devices. You’d be surprised how often a feature may work for you on your computer but doesn’t show up right on another platform or on a mobile device.
Having your website set up for mobile users is key if you’re using bandit signs or any other type of marketing where people will be exposed to your brand on the go. Also, don’t forget to double-check your spelling and grammar. Misspellings and punctuation errors are an easy way to scare off potential business from the get-go.
With a great online presence, the possibilities for generating valuable leads for your investment are nearly endless. Underestimating how important the internet is, however, can cause you to miss out on tons of opportunities. By using these five tips to improve your websites, you can start seeing more traffic and better results than the more traditional methods of marketing.
