Online real estate marketing is a fiercely competitive field as realtors fight for consumer attention. As a real estate agent, your digital marketing approach must be strategic and thorough in order to distinguish yourself from the competition. We recommend these steps to give your business an edge in the real estate sphere.

Boost Your Real Estate Marketing in 3 Ways

1. Set up ads and track conversions.

It is not enough to drop your business online and hope people will find it. Online ads, whether on Facebook, Google Ads, or both, drive customers directly to your website where you may have valuable listings, compelling information on why someone should work with you specifically, and contact information.

To measure ad success, set up conversion tracking via Google Tag Manager and count sign-ups, phone calls, and other valuable leads occurring from your ads. Conversion tracking is extremely important; if you do not track conversions you are essentially paying for an ad and not knowing whether it is successful in promoting the actions you desire.

Two platforms to consider setting up conversion tracking are Facebook and Google Ads. The advantage of Facebook is its ability to sort customers by demographic: age, gender, location, and anything else on their public profiles. This provides the unique ability to cater ads to specific audiences. Google Ads has the valuable ability to display carefully created ads based on customer searches in Google. In this format, you can deliver exactly what customers are asking for e.g. “how to select a real estate agent,” making a sale that much more likely.

2. Discern the lead sources that are most valuable to you.

Look at the data and your personal experience to determine the source of your best leads. Perhaps your Zillow account brings in the most potential customers, or maybe your Facebook page helps get the conversation started. Whatever source it is, you want to highlight it in your marketing efforts.

Consider how you convert leads to sales on each platform, and streamline this process. When a client comes to you from Zillow, what questions do they have? What makes them more likely to back out or complete the transaction? How can you adjust your Zillow listings in order to close more sales?

If customers are drawn to your website, what about it do they find valuable? Do they trust you based on your online profile? Is the layout informative and refreshingly easy to use? What has worked in the past to drive clients to your website, and what haven’t you tried yet?

Focus on reaching out to potential clients and keeping up with communication and branding through the sources deemed most successful to you. Keep the site up-to-date and full of relevant information and landing pages that attract potential clients. You may also want to work on your personal branding to showcase your personality and specialties to clients.

3. Network your brand.

Recognize the value of brick & mortar networking. What are you getting out of the networking you do? Can you do more?

Involvement with other local businesses creates powerful connections that can help in more ways than you may expect. After all, word of mouth, whether through reviews or referrals, remains the most trusted resource for customers.

Don’t forget to reach out to your customer base as well. Adding a personal component to each interaction will emphasize your involvement and personability to clients and distinguish yourself from bigger firms. Ultimately, make sure you are involved in your community and in your online branding. Donating to a cause you believe in has the potential to set you apart from the commercialism of real estate at large.

On the SEO side, every backlink brings value to your website. Whenever you work with another company, help a customer, or participate in a charity event, request others to provide a link to your site. These links demonstrate value to Google, as they indicate that something on your website is worth looking at. As you network, always remember to seal the deal with a link.

For more digital marketing tips, see Intellitonic’s Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Online Presence.

Post Author Maxine Katz works in digital marketing at Bellingham Real Estate firm the Rick Moore Group