More than ever potential home buyers are starting and continuing their house hunt online.
According to the Real Estate in a Digital Age 2017 Report, more than 75% of home buyers use the internet in their home search (including nearly 100% of Millennials).
As a new agent, if you want to reach these many potential clients online, you need to optimize your website to get the most traffic you can.
Follow these steps to improve your SEO.
1. Utilize local keyword phrases
Most home buyers start their research with local keyword phrases like "Fort Myers real estate."
Although over time you may expand your business to include multiple regions, when you build your website at the start of your career, you’ll want to focus on a single area.
Once you’ve established yourself as a market expert in the first area, you can then expand to target other surrounding areas.
To optimize your website, blog, and articles you should choose search phrases like the following:
- Fort Myers real estate
- Fort myers realtor
- Fort Myers real estate agent
- Fort Myers homes for sale
The more targeted and specific your website can be, the better.
As a new agent your goal is to capture local internet traffic, not traffic from all over the state or region.
At the start, avoid key phrases such as “Florida real state agent,” since you’ll be too small to compete for that kind of keyword.
Make your website a resource for potential home buyers with relevant blogs, articles, images, and videos that all provide value and are keyword optimized.
2. Write blog posts about premium homes
Although you may list dozens or even hundreds of listings at a time, you will certainly have a select few properties that you really want to sell.
Writing a blog post about one of those properties could do wonders for securing more prospects.
For this kind of blog post, the optimized keyword would be the property’s address. Be sure to include the address in the following places:
- The meta descriptions
- The file names of the photos
- The alt tags on the photos (which you can usually edit once you have uploaded the photo into your blog/website)
- URL
- Title
Create about 200-350 words of unique writing that describes the home features using the best practices for home listings along with the standard description.
Note: for other blog posts not targeted for a specific property, there is no perfect number of words. However, longer content tends to be more helpful for users, and will therefore be rewarded more in Google’s search rankings.
You will also want to get as many backlinks from trusted websites as you can.
3. Off page SEO
You can establish authority in Google’s algorithm by submitting your website and business info to directories such as the Better Business Bureau, Yellowbook.com, Local.com, YP.com, and more.
Also, be sure to claim your business on Google (don’t forget about Yahoo and Bing, which both receive more traffic than most people realize).
By claiming your business, Google will see you as a trusted website, meaning they’ll put your site in front of more potential clients.
Get on the following sites:
- Trulia
- Zillow
- Redfin.
- Pinterest (with images of your listings)
- Youtube (with video tours of listings, which can be huge for gaining traffic)
- Instagram (with quality images of homes)
Your website doesn't have to be perfect: the main point is getting started. Creating quality content consistently is the best and most efficient way to be found.
Perhaps you don’t have any skills with video creation but you enjoy writing—then write incredible content. Maybe you have excellent photos—utilize them. Anything you can do to create valuable content will help you sell homes.
About Larson Educational Services:
Utilizing 40 years of real estate training and professional education experience, Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services is the premier provider of Florida real estate licensing, exam preparation, post-licensing, CAM licensing, mortgage loan originator licensing, and continuing education in Southwest Florida. Classes are available in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota, and online. We are an approved Florida Real Estate School (License #ZH1002299), Florida CAM School (License #PRE31), Florida Insurance School (License # 370501) and NMLS Approved Course Provider.
Larson Educational Services
1400 Colonial Blvd. #44,
Fort Myers, Florida
33907
239-344-7510
