5 Simple Ways To Build Your Online Presence
One of the questions I get asked most often when I’m speaking to students is “what kind of digital marketing should I be doing to promote my real estate business?”
It’s a great question. I personally love online advertising – especially social media, and if you’ve seen either my Instagram or Facebook accounts you would know!
But there’s a lot more to having an effective digital marketing strategy than just tweeting, posting or liking!
When Tarek and I started out our real estate business, we didn’t have much of a clue about online marketing – it was basically a system of trial and error. Today that’s no longer the case – we know what works online and we’re happy to share some of our strategies.
- Make sure that you have a modern looking website that makes a great first impression.
It needs to have appealing graphics, be easy to navigate and should instantly make visitors feel welcome from the first second they click on it. Take a look at our real estate training website at www.SuccessPathEducation.com for an example of a simple yet highly effective website that draws visitors in.
- Incorporate a blog that you update frequently (at least once a week) – and make sure to post interesting articles that can be easily shared.
As an example go check out one of our blogs that seems to be a hot topic at the moment – you’ll see that we keep things simple; simple graphics and simple message.
- SEO or search engine optimization is an essential component of any online marketing strategy.
Admittedly this area is a bit fuzzy thanks to Google changing their criteria for ranking websites in their search engines, but it’s a powerful way to ensure that your website is one of the first that comes up when your prospects are searching for certain key words. There are a lot of SEO specialists available –
pick one you feel comfortable with who has a proven track record and give them 3-6 months to prove themselves (unfortunately SEO is not a quick strategy!)
- Consider investing in a Google Adwords campaign.
Google Adwords (also known as Pay-Per-Click advertising) is that tiny set of ads that pop up on your browser when you’re search for something. Here’s the real genius of this advertising platform, when you advertise on AdWords you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad.
At the same time, because it’s keyword-based, your ads will only show up for people performing searches closely related to your chosen keywords! You’re not paying for impressions – only for clicks! This is a very complex area of digital marketing and unless you’re going to put aside your day job to study and become a PPC expert, I recommend you find a professional to build your campaigns for you and run your ads.
- Social media. I’ve saved the best for last. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay, so you may as well put it to work for you.
First it’s important that you have a strong social media profile (because this is what your prospective clients are going to be checking out first).
Make sure your posts are relevant, interesting and are in no way a “pitch-fest.” Be sure to acknowledge and interact with every person who takes an action on your pages – whether it’s liking a photo or posting a comment.
Secondly look to run ad campaigns on the social media platform that’s best suited to your target market – for example LinkedIn is a great platform to reach white-collar business professionals through, Facebook is great to reach Moms (and plenty of other demographics as well), Instagram is excellent to reach people 18-25 and so on.
About the Author – Christina El Moussa
Christina El Moussa is an experienced real estate investor and the co-star of a popular real estate reality TV show along with her husband and business partner Tarek El Moussa. The couple started Success Path Education to teach real estate investment education to students from all over the country. Please visit www.SuccessPathEducation.com for more details.
