CREATING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE ... REAL ESTATE AGENT EDITION
Here's the deal: the Toronto Real Estate market is saturated. There are lots of GREAT agents in the city. But there are also some duds… and, for better or worse, the internet has enough space for everyone.
So... how can you rise above the other, roughly 40,000 agents, and spread the word about your awesomeness?
If you're talking old-school (and nothing beats old-school), you gotta GET OUT THERE: knock on doors, call friends, call family, call strangers... let everyone know why you should be their real estate agent of choice.
The human touch will ALWAYS be the best way to get business
You also have to keep track of everyone you talk to about real estate. And then you have to STAY IN TOUCH WITH THEM so that they don't forget about you when they decide to actually jump into the real estate market.
But those are two totally other blog posts (tune in for upcoming posts about LEAD GENERATION and WORKING WITH A DATABASE). You're here for SEO, right?
So, with that in mind, here are some simple Search Engine Optimization strategies to help make your business look legit online, and maybe even get some leads.
Create a Google Business Page
It's pretty easy. You can actually just Google how to do it (funny, right?). But, HERE is a great instruction page showing you all the steps. Or you can try this VIDEO if you prefer.
Just make sure that you format your name correctly. Your name should be formatted like so:
AGENT NAME/TEAM/GROUP, designation - Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty, Brokerage
or Joe Smith, Sales Representative - Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty, Brokerage)
And that's that. Once you have your Google Business Page up and running, reach out to family and friends and clients to like and review your page. Google responds to this kind of activity and the more reviews and ratings, the higher your page will rank.
You should also check your profile occasionally and consider using the Google posts feature to create content and communicate with folks who are searching for your business.
Create a Facebook Business Page
Have you heard of Facebook? It's this really fun little startup company, but I really think it's going places.
No matter what you feel about social media in general, it can't be denied that it's here to stay. And if your business is here to stay, then you're going to want to get on board. If you do want to 'get on board,' then a Facebook Business Page is the way to go.
Again, no need to reinvent the wheel. HERE are some VERY easy instructions for setting up your Facebook Business Page.
And don't forget... the same naming rules apply.
AGENT NAME/TEAM/GROUP, designation - Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty, Brokerage
ie Joe Smith, Sales Representative - Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty, Brokerage
As with the Google page, once you have your Facebook Business Page up and running, reach out to family, friends and clients to like and review your page. It's one of the best ways to get noticed.
Maintain Your Website
This one is a bit trickier. As you can imaging there are hundreds of thousands of real estate sites out there. Millions, most likely. Sooooo many agents have a site... or two or three sites. Some have sites they once used, but have since abandoned. In addition, there are lots of what we call 'aggregator sites' which will try to collect your information, create a fake profile and then try to make you PAY to get access to edit that information. It's pretty gross.
All this to say that it's a jungle out there on the internet... especially for a real estate agent.
The best way to avoid getting lost in the swamp of lost sorrows (and abandoned real estate sites) is to keep your site up to date and post regularly.
If you have a blog, write on it. If you make YouTube videos, put them on your site. Make landing pages for each of your listings. Make sure your Facebook page is mentioned on your website and vice versa. Think of it as creating a web of content. The more you link your many online worlds together, the more it will help to legitimise you (as a valid business... not as a human... you're on your own for that).
Chances are you will never come up first if someone googles 'real estate' or even 'real estate Toronto.' But what you CAN hope for is that you have a chance of coming out on top when someone types in your brokerage, your name, or even one of your properties.
And like so many other things, consistency is going to be key in this process... and it IS a process. Keep pushing people to visit, like, review and rate your pages... and add content whenever possible.