Being successful online isn’t easy. It can be a minefield, especially when you don’t know where to start. Our digital marketing checklist for estate agents helps to break things down a little bit. We talk about 5 different ways you can help your estate agency become successful in the real industry.
By visiting our digital marketing checklist, you have come to the right place! Here are our top 5 tips to get your website seen in Google and other major search engines…
Before creating a digital marketing strategy you need to assess your existing presence. How well are you positioned in Google? Is there room for improvement? Follow our digital marketing checklist to ensure that you are ranking well in the major search engines.
No matter what digital marketing path you follow, keep your target audience in mind. Doing so will steer your digital strategy in the right direction, make sure you stay focused, create relevant content to get seen by more of your target audience. Many estate agencies create their own digital strategy targeting anyone and everyone, with little ROI, it is very important to focus your efforts on your potential customers.
Once upon a time writing high-quality content would be enough to contribute to a good digital marketing strategy. These days it’s more important to create content that will engage with the reader, ensuring that you gain a competitive advantage
Engaging content examples can include:
Your website has got to be responsive, this should be at the top of every digital marketing strategy. When it comes to Google ranking factors, having a website that works on your desktop, mobile and tablet will be favoured over those that don’t. Accessibility is key!
Did you know 52% of buyers/renters search properties using their smart phone.
Technological developments are being introduced into the property industry which could have a significant impact on how estate agents market properties in the near future. Now is the time to get ahead of the competition.
It’s simple enough to take high-quality photos of the properties you’re selling to be displayed on your site, but why stop there when you could add 360-degree images to your listings? A virtual tour will give the feeling of what an entire room looks like without even being there, making it easier for potential buyers to make that crucial decision. These 360-degree images can be put together to create a virtual tour of the property, meaning buyers don’t even have to go out to view a property, saving time.
Drones can help market a property from above the treetops, this will give prospective buyers an incredible view of a property as well as showing them what the local area looks like. Some questions that drone videos can answer are; Is the property in a good location? Is the neighbourhood safe? Do the neighbours look after their property?
Live Youtube broadcasting or Facebook live videos are just some examples of how an estate agent could showcase a property for sale. With the busy lives we lead, it can be difficult to be in two places at once. Live broadcasting allows potential buyers to see a property even if they can’t be there in person, providing a cheaper alternative to virtual tours.
Optimise your content for mobile and list properties on popular mobile apps. An average of 600 million homes are viewed on mobiles per month.
For any modern estate agent, it’s important to embrace social media and everything it offers in terms of marketing your brand and selling properties.
Social media is huge these days and impressively free to use allowing estate agents to showcase their services to the right audience with ease. If an estate agent is regularly active on popular social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, this will increase brand awareness through increased follower interests, shares and hashtags at a low cost.
TOP TIP: Adding an image to your social media post can boost your clicks by up to 18% more than a post without!
Social media allows estate agents to effectively engage with everyone in the property industry. By connecting to your current and past clients, you can ask followers to share updates with those who are looking for a new house, this is a great way to generate new business.
71% of consumers who have had a good social media experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. Reviews by followers on social media can go a long way, this will improve your brand’s reputation, meaning people are more likely to contact you when looking to buy a property. Your followers can see what you’re up to on a day-to-day basis, this allows you to interact in real time, providing quick answers keeping all potential buyers satisfied.
Although many people use social media these days, it can be surprising to hear that a lot of companies don’t use social media to its full potential. If your rivals are not using social media you have a real opportunity to capitalise when advertising your properties to more people but if your competitors are using social media and you are not, they will have the advantage.
Did you know there are 2.3 billion active social media users worldwide?
Email marketing is an effective way to keep in contact with existing clients, there are over 269 billion emails being sent every day, so to get the most out of this excellent marketing tool, check out these top tips.
Unlike traditional forms of advertising, email marketing is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to advertise your latest properties, services or special offers to a targeted audience. To create an effective email campaign, use customisable websites that offer free ready-made templates such as MailChimp. It’s quick and easy to set up.
Encourage subscribers to share emails with friends and family who may be interested in what you’re offering. You can do this by including social media sharing links in the email, this will allow customers to share your content at the simple click of a button. When a subscriber shares an email with friends and family, it will gain more brand exposure and credibility.
A responsive email template enables subscribers to open your newsletter from any device. Whether that is a desktop, mobile or tablet! Don’t restrict your customers’ ability to view your great newsletter content.
Personalisation in digital marketing has come a long way, providing personalised emails to your target audience is an excellent way to engage with customers and receive a high conversion rate. 96% of people asked in a study said email personalisation is an effective marketing tool that is increasing year on year.
Splitting your mailing group into smaller, manageable lists will allow you to customise email campaigns that are more related to your target audience. If you advertise property in various locations, create different email campaigns for each location you’re targeting.
There are over 269 billion emails being sent every day.
A ‘local business listing’ is your company’s online profile found on local business directories such as Google My Business, Yellow Pages, Bing Places and Yelp. The purpose of creating local listings are to increase the online presence of your company in local search results. The more trusted local directories that you are listed on, the more likely a customer will find you.
Google is the biggest search engine in the world. Worldwide, Google has a huge market share of 72.48%. Bing comes in second place with a mere 10.39% share. Needless to say, if you follow Google’s rules you should be on the right path.
Did you know that 42% of local businesses don’t have their business information claimed online?
An estate agents job is never finished. Once you have a Google My Business profile, it’s time to look at the others. Continue to create profiles on all recognised directories by making sure all information is consistent, unique and that you are appearing in the right directory categories.
Your business profile isn’t going to generate leads without quality content. Write at least 3 to 5 paragraphs of detailed information about your company. The more time you spend on creating your listing, the better results you will receive.
Give Google proof that you’re a quality estate agency, encourage people to leave reviews on your Google My Business profile, Yelp profile, Bing profile etc. Genuine reviews can be hard to obtain so Google will improve your search rankings based on your efforts to achieve these.
We would recommend creating a ‘company info’ document to keep handy which will contain all the information you will need to add on all directory listings. This will make the process much quicker while maintaining a high level of quality.
Here at Property Webmasters, we have over 25 years experience in the online world of property so we know what works!
This digital marketing checklist is just the tip of the iceberg, we can add much more potential to your existing online presence and ultimately get your company seen.
We WILL help you generate more leads!
By Adam Jennings
By Ben Spowart
By Ben Spowart