Inglewood Business Magazine October 2018

Inglewood Business Magazine | real estate
Tips for
Owning
Your Online
Presence
By: Inglewood Business Magazine
The average U.S. adult spends 11 hours each day in front of a
screen. This number is increasing year-over-year, and with every
rising generation.
Why does this staggering statistic matter for real estate agents?
Reaching out to clients where they are is essential for success.
With soon-to-be home sellers living on the web, bolstering your
brand digitally is key. Here are some ways you can make your
online presence powerful and build business in the digital age.
OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE
At this point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a real estate professional
without a website. Once your page is visually appealing and easy
to navigate, consider these two factors that impact online traffic:
search engine optimization (SEO) and mobile responsiveness.
SEO involves adjusting a webpage’s construction or content to
increase search results. This can be tricky and time-consuming,
but tools like Google PageSpeed Insights investigate the speed and
searchability of your site, and provide suggestions for improvement.
It’s necessary to note that optimization applies differently
for computers than phones or tablets. Ensuring that your webpage
is effective and efficient on mobile devices is important, too.
CONCENTRATE ON SOCIAL CONTENT
In 2017, 95 percent of buyers looked online for homes, with 72
percent using mobile sites or apps. Social media experts agree
that visual material (pictures and videos) is the first thing that will
entice searchers to stop and engage.
However, posting unfocused photos or noisy clips isn’t the solution.
Making the most of social media requires investing time in
quality content. Only one in seven real estate agents currently uses
Instagram for professional purposes, so opportunity awaits for
properties to be shared on this platform, joining realtors like this
one that know the value of photography in selling homes.
TARGET YOUR ADS
Realty has relied on advertising since its inception—but, with the
aid of technology, digital ads now offer an alternative to expensive
billboards and ineffective postcards.
The beauty of online advertising is in the ability to choose and
communicate with a much more selective segment of the market.
Companies like Adwerx exist for real estate agents to market
themselves, targeting a specific zip code or even a select list of
email contacts. This ensures that your ad dollars are well spent on
interested audiences.
Whichever of these techniques you choose to tackle next, taking
ownership of your online presence will help you stay top-of-mind
in the market. IBM
16 Inglewood Business Magazine Oct - Nov 2018