Location, location, location!
It’s been said that location is the main driving force behind any good sale or real estate deal. While, yes, this is true to a degree, it’s not necessarily the entire story (anymore).
In today’s digitally-focused world, a lot of what used to take place in person is now conducted online. The image created online has become the triumphant one, regardless of what the “location” may look like.
Please don’t take us literally here — obviously, location matters. However, there’s more that matters now.
We’re saying that in our new world of online media and marketing, your presence online as a real estate agent can be a deal-breaker or a deal-maker when it comes to someone using you to sell or buy a property.
A solid social media and online presence with easy accessibility to information is a major plus point for anyone looking to secure new clients in the real estate industry. One way that this is achieved is through search engine optimisation (SEO).
What is SEO?
SEO is essentially the process of intentionally putting certain things in place to help a website or piece of content rank higher on Google searches. The whole goal of SEO is to be one of the first (if not the first) results to show up when someone searches for something on the internet.
As a real estate agent, you may not have a website, and that’s okay. What you do have is Google My Business. If you don’t, you can talk to us about that.
How SEO Works
The first thing you need to do if you’re wanting to optimise your brand online is research. Ask yourself these questions.
- What are my clients searching for?
- What are their questions and needs?
- How can I add relevant value to these needs?
While researching, begin formulating a picture of these needs and work your online content toward them. Be it Facebook posts, YouTube videos, or updates on Google; by using relevant keywords and providing value to your audience, you can use SEO to elevate your profile on search rankings. Give the people what they want!
It’s not only about research, however.
Google knows the difference between a traffic hoarder who is keyword stuffing and a quality piece of content that provides value and is relevant to a need. Bill Gates once stated that “content is king”, and boy, was he right. Don’t make the error of doing all the right things to increase your brand, but lose the good quality and relevance of your content in the process.
While you may see some immediate gains in the short term by implementing these quick tactics, you’ll suffer in the long term because quality and relevance always win.
The best ways to achieve good SEO are through high-quality content with relevant keywords and links that will provide unique value to your human audience. It’s helpful to remember that you want real people to engage with you and reach out for assistance with their property, not robots.
The Benefits of SEO for Real Estate Agents
Good SEO can provide a plethora of benefits to real estate agents and has completely changed the way digital marketing is done today. So much so that we think you’d be hard-pressed to find businesses and brands not using SEO practices to market themselves these days. This is why you should jump onto this SEO train as a real estate agent!
Targeted Reach
One of the best things about good SEO is that it can be utilised to reach the type of clients you’re looking for. By using keywords that relate to your clientele’s needs and search habits, your content can be found organically by these exact audiences.
There’s also a paid media option available where you can advertise your services through Google ads. That’s a topic for another day, though!
Brand Awareness
As SEO increases your visibility on search pages, your overall brand awareness and profile as an estate agent will also increase. Even if people don’t contact you immediately, they’ll still associate you and your service with a solution because you appear in the search. When they need a real estate agent, they’ll call you!
There’s So Much More
So, that’s SEO in a nutshell. However, we’ve only just scratched the surface! There’s a lot more to discuss and talk about when it comes to utilising SEO practices to enhance your profile as a real estate agent.
If you’re in the real estate industry and looking to bolster your brand and market yourself better, we at BRBD would love to talk to you!