Working with the housing market can be a real challenge at times. As a real estate agent, you likely understand the phrase “feast or famine” better than most business owners. While this can make finding success in the industry difficult, there are plenty of lessons we can learn from the previous year about how to better perform in the housing market.
According to Green Residential, 2015 showed that rentals are going up while homeownership is going down. However, 2015 also showed just how important having a solid SEO strategy can be for real estate agents – especially with the market becoming more competitive with new ideas like Airbnb. To help those working in the housing market gain better control over their businesses, here are three ways that real estate agents can make better use of their SEO in order to find more online success.
Get On All Relevant Directories
With the amount of directories out there for people to pull from, it can be extremely time consuming for a real estate agent to ensure their information is accessible to the right people, while also being as accurate as possible. But according to Tyler Zey of EasyAgentPro.com, there are really only four directories real estate agents should worry about having information on.
These directories include Acxiom, Localeze, Expressupdate, and Factual. By ensuring that all your contact information is on these sites and that they’re consistent and accurate, it will make your local SEO efforts that much easier to manage. As a real estate agent, your local SEO is really going to be your bread and butter.
Bolster Your Reviews
In the world of SEO, reviews hold a lot of weight. Having strong reviews can make your life a lot easier, especially if you’re a business that offers more of a service than a product. But just how do good or bad reviews affect the SEO of a real estate agent?
According to Graham Charlton, a contributor to Search Engine Watch, reviews are the social proof searchers look for when making purchase or loyalty decisions. This means that if you have good reviews to back up your business claims, people will likely be more drawn to your search result rather than a competing search result with less or poor reviews. For this reason, it’s vital to your SEO success that you do everything you can to encourage positive client reviews; and on the flip side, address any issues brought up in negative reviews.
Blog, Blog, Blog
Appropriate and effective blogging can also be a huge boost for your SEO efforts as a real estate agent. However, it can be difficult to set your blog apart from the other real estate blogs in your area. To make this differentiation easier, IDXCentral.com recommends that real estate agents create blogs that answer specific questions or break down common, confusing topics. By doing this, your blog will help your readers feel more prepared to take on the housing market with you, and will continue to come back to your blog for more information – getting you the online traffic you want and need.
If you’ve been blogging for a while but have experienced little success, IDXCentral also advises that you reach out to guest authors in order to bring some authority or interest to your blogs. This could be another great way to get a leg up on the competition in your area.
As a real estate agent and local business owner, understanding how to use SEO to your advantage can make a huge difference in your success both online and offline. Use the tips mentioned above to help take your real estate business to the next level this year.
