#3: Website Hacks for real estate

How to build a massive profile using your personal website

Your website is the foundation for your real estate career.

Your website is the control centre of your profile.

Your website is you..

My advice is to have a personally branded website as soon as you can. What I mean by that is a website in your own personal name.

Because.. Your online profile is your online resume.

It’s what people will search to find out more about you.

What should you have on your Personal Website?

Remember this website is about you! Not the company or the properties you sell… as such…

So… the keywords need to be about you, real estate and your prospecting area/farm area.

Things you should have on your website –

A page called

About Me

What do people want and need to know about you?

Include all of your past experience and achievements. You can also have a video bio. Use your keywords in your bio

Who are you – what you have done in real estate?

Do you have a great story?

What you can offer?

Why should someone list with you?

Give people an insight into your personality – what do you like to do?

What football teams do you follow etc/ what do you love to do?
Testimonials

Both video and written – create a page on your website where you can put the embed codes from your videos that you have loaded to your YouTube channel. Add to your testimonials continuously. also take screenshots of anything people say great about you on social media
Blogs

A place where you can talk about real estate in your area – keep your blogs relevant. Some suggestions you can write about — your successes, the area you work in, properties in your area, businesses in your area..

Add videos or articles you do with local celebrities, business owners, other related expert’s.

Market updates
Suburb Profiles –

Have pages on your website where you review and write stories about all the suburbs in your area. Create a link from your Home Page that people can click on.

Contact Us –

Your name – The company that you work for.

Have a link to your contact us page on your Home Page.

Make sure that customers can email you or phone you immediately. Make sure that visitors to your website can call you by pressing your phone number on their mobile phone or send an email by clicking on your email address. Have your phone number on every single page with a clickable link.

Include your phone number at the top of your website in the header. Many people search for real estate agents on their smartphones. Your clients want the phone number to be accessible, EASY and FAST.

So yes… Make sure that your phone number can be clicked through from a mobile phone. If your phone number forms part of a graphic, users will not be able to click on it and call you. You will then be relying on them to find a pen, write your number down and then dial your number.

It is in your best interest to make it as easy as you can for them to contact you. You want to cut out any steps you can. If it is too hard to call you, it could stop a potential client calling. With mobile phones being such a big part of our lives now, you need to make sure that you have this functionality.
Social Media Links –

Have links to all of the social media pages you have elected to join.
Create an opt in.

7 things you absolutely must know before you buy or sell in your area.

THEN once you have all that set up…

You can use social media to drive traffic to your site.

Some other optional things you can have…

Podcasts

This is a way to build your credibility fast!!

Have you written a book?

Promote your book

Your website should be about you.. But if you want to ..
You can have….

Your Listings – create a link from your website to your current listings for sale. Send people to YOUR real estate website, NOT a third-party website (never send traffic to the real estate portals – EVER!)

You don’t need to add properties to your personal site; a link will suffice. This website is about YOU.

Your Sold Properties – have a link to the properties you have sold. Again, divert to YOUR real estate agency website, not to the real estate portals.

Test

Test your website on different devices. For example, check your website on an iPhone, iPad, PC, Android, and so on. Test it on any devices you can. Check that the pages look the same everywhere and make sure the content appears correctly. Again, also check that when you land on a website page on your phone, you can click on a phone number and the number will dial.

Test your website in different web browsers. Put your domain name into Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox to start with. Mac users, be sure to put the domain name into Safari. Make sure it looks okay and it functions properly in all browsers.

Then Install Google Analytics on your website.

Do not wait until you have your website perfect before you launch it. Put the basics into place and remember that your website is NEVER going to be finished. It will always going to be a work in progress.

So…. Does your website have an offer and a strong call to action? Why should a seller list with you?

More information about wesbites –

When we talk about building a profile using a personal website, ideally I would recommend for you to have a www.wordpress.org website. i.e www.yourname.com.au.

With a wordpress.org website, you will own the content and you can customise the site. The only expenses you will have is for your hosting each month. Hosting can be arranged for a minimal charge through www.godaddy.com or there are plenty of other cheap hosting companies.

If you want a website set up quickly or you are on a tight budget, you can create one yourself. There are free and very cheap options available online. Check out www.wordpress.com

Advantages of www.wordpress.org – You only have to pay for hosting. You own the content. It’s easy to use. It’s easy to get others to work on the site. It’s very flexible.

Advantages of www.wordpress.com – It’s free. It’s easy to use. You can create it yourself.

Disadvantages of www.wordpress.com – You don’t own your site, they do.

With wordpress…

You can buy your domain name separately, eg. www.yourname.com.au and www.yourname.com and use your .com.au domain name as your web address instead of the site name wordpress.com gives you. That way, later on down the track you can change the platform of the website and keep the same domain names.

Why have your own website?

Your personal website should empower you to take control of your profile. Your website is you. It’s your personality. It’s your resume. It’s your life. It’s there for you to add onto and keep.

And… Lets think about google for a minute…

Google’s algorithms check who you are. Your credibility.. Who you hang out with..

Point everything back to your base pages for your online credibility.

You should treat your website how a tradesman should treat their tool box. Your website is YOUR ‘toolbox’ in that you ‘sharpen’ it, improving and adding to it always.

From your website, you will build a list of people that you can market to.

Your website will show potential customers who you are and what you stand for.

Having Control Of Your Website

Your website needs to give you the freedom to make changes yourself and to add any content to the site. The website must be flexible in design.

Some more tips.

Do you show on your website that you are the expert in your area, do you have clear positioning? If I was to look at your website now, what would lead me to think that you were the expert?

Do you actively market and promote your website? Where? Always promote your website. Don’t promote Real Estate Portals – they don’t need your help.

Are you using any form of pay per click? If you are not on Page One Of Google – You should look at doing this now. Always have a budget.

Do you have strategies to get on page one of google? Have a plan and work the plan.
You can offer more than one opt in – If you already have your buyer alert you can also offer a special report. eg 7 Things you must know about buying in (your suburb) Make it specific to your area, I would include this in your buyer alert as an enticement.

Is your website mobile friendly? Google will punish you with poor results if your website is not mobile friendly.

Do you use your iphone, ipad or tablet in your presentations – Show potential vendors your website, show them your database. You can also use your device at open houses to add on subscribers to your database.