Think You’re the Online Marketing Master – Think Again! Check Out These 5 Points and See How You Measure Up

Are you the “master” of Internet Marketing? Check out these 5 points and see if you’re doing all you can to get your name, business and services out into the ever evolving world of Real Estate online marketing!

1. Write a marketing plan and budget – creating and keeping up with all the website, blogging and social networking hype can be time-consuming and expensive. Take 15 to 30 minutes every month to sit down and figure out how much time a week you can devote to updating your Facebook pages, Tweeting, writing blog posts and editing your website content. If you find it is significantly less than you would have hoped, see what services are available to help you further your business.

2. Target at LEAST one niche market – Realtor.com says 80% of consumers would prefer to work with a real estate professional that specializes in a particular area. Creating hyper local content in your blog and website content will, without a doubt, show your potential clients that you ARE the REALTOR® for them. By focusing on specific buyer or selling areas you portray a level of expertise that will exceed many of your colleagues. For more information on Hyper Local Content check out our other RE/Advantage posts!

3. Create community through blogging – by this I mean comment back when your readers post responses or questions. Leaving comments on other blogs that have similar content is another way to boost the SEO of your blog as well. Be enthusiastic, don’t be discouraged with negative comments (not everyone is going to agree with you!) and most of all don’t think of blogging as a job because that is a sure-fire way to fail with blogging. By being an INTERACTIVE blogger you will keep your readers interested in the information you are supplying them as well as pull new readers in.

4. Update your personal website at LEAST once a month – hopefully you had a web design company develop your website with a content management system so you can access your website content without paying to have somebody do it for you! As the title reads, you should update your website at least once a month (I’d advise you to do this even more!) It does not have to be a complete revamp of all your content but you could at least update community information pages, your home page a bit and your personal bio if included in your site. You can also add videos and photos of open houses you will be having or had, include your featured listings on your home page for added exposure and include “secrets and tips” for the new home buyers and sellers that will use your services.

5. Belong to at LEAST three social networking sites – this should go without saying! There are hundreds of social networking sites on the Internet and joining too many can be time-consuming for most REALTORS® but in my opinion it is important to have a presence on Facebook, ActiveRain, and LinkedIn so you can create relationships with current, past and future clients. Twitter is a great way to announce upcoming open houses and listing information quick and easily! YouTube and Flickr are great social platforms for videos and photos that you’d like to include in your blogs and websites.

How did you score? RE/Advantage offers unique custom designed websites for the Real Estate professionals and provides a comprehensive listing services as well as one-on-one solutions and training for social networking and blogging. Please contact us today with any questions!