As a real estate agency, having a strong online presence is essential in today's digital world. Customers are doing more and more of their shopping and research online, so if you want to attract prospects and generate leads, you need to be where your target audience is spending time - on the internet.
In this article, we will outline some key steps you can take to build and strengthen your real estate digital marketing agency's online presence. Following these strategies will help connect you with potential homebuyers and sellers in your area and position your business as an industry leader.
Optimize Your Website
Your website is the primary foundation of your digital marketing efforts and online footprint. Make sure your site loads quickly on all devices, has clean and easy-to-navigate pages and answers people's most common questions.
Some specific optimizations you should focus on include:
Adding key search terms and phrases to your page titles, meta descriptions, headers, and content increases your chances of ranking in search engine results.
Creating compelling profiles and listing pages for your agents that highlight their experience, expertise, and accomplishments.
Incorporating high-quality, professionally-shot property photos on your listings to visually attract prospective buyers.
Collecting email addresses on your site through signup forms, downloads, and consultations to build your mailing list.
Implementing call-to-action buttons prominently on pages for contact, free valuation, listing alert signups, etc.
Ensuring your website is mobile-responsive for easy viewing and interaction on smartphones and tablets.
A well-optimized site helps search engines understand what you do, builds trust with visitors, and facilitates online leads. Investing in its continuous improvement pays off long-term.
Claim and Verify Social Profiles
Along with your website, be visibly active on major social networks like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. Populate your brand profiles with relevant, values-based posts about local real estate market happenings and lifestyle content focused on the places you serve.
Some best practices for social media marketing in real estate include:
Posting a mix of profiles, listings, open houses, tips, and resources 3-5 times per week on Facebook and Instagram.
Sharing informative video tours, advice videos, customer testimonials, and regional guides on YouTube monthly.
Engaging other users and businesses in your area by commenting on and sharing their posts.
Leveraging hashtags in captions to reach wider audiences and join relevant conversations.
Directing followers to your website call-to-actions and online lead forms for lead generation.
Active engagement builds your expertise, and community presence, and helps qualify prospects digitally before they contact your agency. Don't underestimate social's importance in real estate today.
Rank High in Local Search Results
Local SEO, or optimizing your internet presence for local searches, should be a primary part of your digital strategy as well. Around 90% of all searches conducted on Google are for local terms, so driving traffic from these queries is critical for real estate businesses.
Here are some tips for achieving top local search rankings:
Completing accurate business profiles on Google, Bing, and other search engines.
Regularly claiming and updating your Google My Business and Bing Places for Business profiles with complete information.
Getting high-quality citations of your agency name, address, phone number, and other details listed across reputable citation directories.
Optimizing local keyword phrases related to your geographic areas of coverage, agent services, specialties, etc.
Encouraging reviews from past clients on your profiles to enhance the online reputation and credibility signals.
Marking your office location as a point of interest on Google Maps.
Local SEO done correctly can generate a flood of highly qualified prospects right to your doorstep from someone searching "Realtors near me" or related geo-intent queries nearby. Don't ignore the local search channel.
Use Paid Advertising Strategically
While organic visibility should remain a long-term priority, paid ads through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Bing Ads can deliver results more immediately. Well-targeted ads allow you to reach precisely the right buyers and sellers based on location, demographics, interests, and more.
When running paid promotions, keep in mind:
Start small with a monthly budget of $250-500 for testing and learning your best-performing ad types, formats, audiences, and creativity.
Geotarget ads in zip codes around your desired territories and properties for a listings boost.
Retarget website visitors who haven't converted yet with CTAs to contact you.
Experiment with multiple ad formats like image, video, link, carousel, and collection.
Continuously optimize poor-performing ads and bids based on metrics for maximum ROI.
Smart paid campaigns, when paired with organic optimizations, multiply your reach exponentially and turn casual visitors into qualifying leads. Just be strategic and data-driven with spend.
FAQ
Q: How often should a real estate website be updated?
A real estate website needs regular updates to stay fresh and engaging. At a minimum, aim to add new blog posts, listings, and other content every 1-2 weeks. Major site redesigns are usually only needed annually.
Q: What is the best social media platform for real estate agents?
While all major networks have value, according to studies, Facebook remains the top social platform real estate agents use to connect with clients and prospects, publish listings, and share local market insights. It provides the largest audience reach and the most effective lead-generation capabilities.
Q: How important is local SEO for real estate agents?
Local SEO is essential for real estate agents, as the vast majority of home searches and real estate research starts locally on Google Maps and search results. Agents who properly optimize their online local listings see a big boost in leads directly from these queries.
Q: Can small real estate agencies afford Facebook ads?
Yes, even smaller independent real estate agencies can benefit tremendously from running targeted Facebook ads. With a modest monthly budget of just $100-250, they can gain visibility in their local markets, drive website traffic, and collect qualified leads - all at a low cost per acquisition. Testing is key to refining successful ad strategies on any budget.
Conclusion
There is no single silver bullet for achieving success with digital marketing - it requires a holistic, multi-channel approach sustained over time. But by focusing on optimizing your online presence through your website, social profiles, local search listings, and targeted paid ads as outlined above, you lay the foundation for strong lead generation and sales in today's digital real estate landscape.
The keys are consistency in freshening up your content and profiles regularly, data-driven optimization of efforts, a long-term mindset, and making it easy for prospects to connect with your agency online. Building genuine expertise, authority, and trust in the process will establish you as a market leader for the long haul. Commit to these best practices, and your real estate business will reap the rewards through increased business and a continually growing online reach.
