Online Marketing & Social Media

Online Topics Website Search engine optimization (SEO) Advertising sites Blogging Social media Video

Prefaces I am not an expert but have been successful at many online techniques. The internet and technology is everevolving. Online covers a broad spectrum so there is plenty to pick & choose from. Over 40% of buyers are searching online before contacting a Realtor. Over 90% of buyer leads come from online searches. Over 30% of sellers found their agent online.

Website Design Only about half of all Realtors have their own website. Ok to have a biography page but don t make the whole site about you. IDX property search where you can capture their contact information first. Needs to be mobile device friendly. Needs something to make your site stand out so people will stay on it.

Website SEO Basics Domain name is important. Title, meta tags, image names, keywords, and content rich. Constantly updating with new info. Back linking. Pay per clicks. Free adword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/key wordtoolexternal

Website SEO Advanced Translate the site into Spanish or another foreign language. Think blogging. Multiple sites and pages pointing back to you. Work a niche. Don t try to be all things to all people. Be cautious in hiring anyone to do SEO for you.

Classified Ads Craigslist is not as friendly to Realtors as it used to be. But it still generates calls. Ebay has a lot of potential customers on it. Especially bulk investors and foreign nationals. Zillow and Trulia. Their ads are not cheap but they have over 80% of all non-mls real estate traffic.

Other Internet Advertising Online ads most are free or cheap Google, Yahoo, Bing are the main search engine sites Google Places Merchant Circle Yelp, Where, Kudzu Plenty of I-phone and Android Apps Ratings/reviews are becoming more important

- WordPress. Blogging - Blogger (Google owns). - Activerain (Trulia owns). - RSS Feed these onto your website. - Great SEO. You can write articles about your niche and publish them all over these sites.

Social Media Facebook. You can create multiple business pages. # Hashtags are trending. Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumblr, etc. You can have some of these auto-feed onto each other. Don t get involved on any blogging, social media, etc. and then not occasionally update. Nothing looks worse than a site that has not been updated in years.

Video Sites YouTube is the leader. (Google owns) Other sites: Dailymotion, Metacafe, Vimeo. Keep videos no more than 3 minutes unless they are teaching. Video all your listings if possible. Smart phone apps allow for easy uploading.

Keys with advertising Do it for a reasonable period of time. SEO takes time to build up. Use multiple sites and pages to generate leads. Work a niche less competition. Don t give away the goods before you get their contact information. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up.

Converting leads 1 Always try to get their phone number and real email address. With an email address you can put them on an email drip of property leads or an occasional newsletter. With a phone number you can speak with them and get a feel on their motivation. Be patient. Some people are just feeling out the market but will eventually be ready.

Converting Leads 2 Offer them something for free in return for real contact information. - For buyers you can give them the IDX property search. - For sellers you can give them a free price analysis and marketing tips.

Finding a niche / specialty Farm specific neighborhoods / complexes. Be a property type expert waterfront, commercial, horse owners. Situations short sale, probate, relocation. Certain customers 1 st time buyers, international, seniors, (fair housing). Get a designation ABR, CDPE, GRI, CIPS, CRS. You must do something to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Plan of action Get a website. Create some social media presence. Develop a niche / specialty. Be consistent with your marketing.