Your Website
- Make sure each page of your website has its own distinct key phrase. The key phrase should appear in the content, title meta tag and description meta tag of each page.
- Your contents should include any conceivable information a home buyer or seller may need, in order to keep them on your website.
- Your website should be mobile friendly and include one click phone dial-up?
- Display your social network buttons for likes, +1s, pins, etc.
- List your website in the following directories: Yahoo, Best of the Web, About Us and Open Directory Project. Those directories won't bring much traffic, but they will help with your seo/rankings. Oh, and don't forget to get a free directory listing at Bocazo.com. Just click the "List Your Business on Bocazo.com" link.
- Your website should look modern and uncluttered.
- Make sure to have a call to action and your contact information is visible above the fold on every page.
- More and more people are using their smart phones to find local businesses through online maps. Optimize for local search in order to get the proper visibility with online maps.
- Add video testimonials from satisfied clients.
- Offer a free home evaluation, with no strings attached.
- Use high quality images and videos on your site.
Media Advertising
- Run campaigns in print media, include local newspapers, magazines and church bulletins. While your competitors are concentrating on the internet, you stand out on print media.
- Start pay per click campaigns with Google Adwords and Bing Adcenter. This can cost some real money, but the results can be worthwhile. Start slow and increase the size of your campaigns over time. Do not get sucked into any of the other PPC programs, as you are guaranteed to lose money.
- Online classified sites such as CraigsList, Kijiji, Oodle and BackPage have provided some great results in the past. Even though recent changes may have rendered some of these sites less effective, you can still get some good results.
- Online, yellow pages ads should also be considered. But just like PPC advertising, they can get costly. Once again start slow and expand your campaigns as you gain confidence.
- Advertise your brand on banners, billboards and signs.
- You may want to buy some air time from your local radio or television stations, assuming the cost is not prohibitive.
- Write a free weekly or monthly real estate column for your local community newspaper.
- Sign-up with HelpAReporter.com, a free service that introduces industry experts to reporters. Reporters will contact you for your knowledge and expertise to be used in news articles. Getting quoted in an article will enhance your credibility, get you great exposure and may also get you a link back to your site.
Referrals
- Your clients, friends and family can be a great source of business referrals. If permitted by law, offer a financial incentive for referrals they send your way. Alternatively, you can offer to donate to the charity of their choice in their name.
- Establish a close business relationship with other Realtors and mortgage brokers. Try to arrange a reciprocal referral system that will benefit everyone concerned.
Cold Prospecting
- Knock on doors and introduce yourself. Hand out market information, fridge magnets, sticky pads, key chain tags, etc. They all should have your contact information clearly visible on them.
- Cold calling can be effective if you have what it takes. Make sure your calls are structured with specific goals in mind. The nice thing about cold calling is that sometimes results are immediate.
Snail Mail and Email
- Create snail mail and email lists to send out birthday and holiday wishes, market reports, information on recently sold homes, community calendars, etc.
Social Media
- Blog at least once a week and make sure to have your Google authoring tags properly set up.
- Don't use a blue head as your profile picture. Use a picture of yourself as a first choice or a logo as a second choice. If you are using an image of yourself, it should be of good quality and tagged with your name. This will ensure that social media platforms such as Google+ and FaceBook can use their facial recognition system in processing your profile.
- Use the same profile picture and name (preferably your own) on all social media sites. Include as much details as you can about yourself in the bio sections. A completed bio makes you look more serious.
- Interact, interact, interact with others. The more attention you garner, the more you become a credible authority in front of potential clients, your piers and the social media sites who seem to be using it to rank you and your posts.
- Only, if you are pressed for time, you may want to consider using automaton apps to schedule posts and to perform other tasks on multiple social media platforms. There may be a downside to this, though, if you are found to be automating. It could get you banned.
Networking
- Volunteer your time or sponsor fund raising events for local charities. That will help you meet and develop strong bonds with other community members and business owners.
- Join the chambers of commerce, where many networking events are hosted to bring businesses and people together. These events are attended by a lot of sales people who are looking for the same things you are, getting more business. Offer free help whenever you can and you'll be surprised at how others will reciprocate.
- Joining the school board provides a great opportunity to meet and develop relationships with many parents and teachers.
- Sponsor your community's police and fire departments. Create relationships with police officers and firemen who are part of a large social network within the community.
- Attend community meetings and get noticed by getting involved in discussions.
- Set up Google Alerts to notify you of any networking events being planned in your community.
- Host open houses to meet neighbors and potential clients.
If you have any ideas of your own to add to this list, please feel free to comment below.
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