8 Things to Do (this morning) to Fire Up Your Real Estate Marketing

Try these quick and easy techniques to tap into better digital marketing habits.

Got ten minutes? Sure you do. While your coffee cools, try one of these techniques to tap into better digital marketing habits.

1. Test your site’s speed.

Plugins, large images, and heavy technology can slow down your site. Use the scanner to see how quickly - or slowly - your website loads. Click here to scan your domain.

If your site is slow, click “Generate Report” in the top right corner and forward it to your webmaster. They may not be able to dramatically increase your site’s speed, but you can at least get a benchmark or suggestions for improvement.

2. Spot-check your website on a different browser.

Most of us have a favorite/default browser. For me, it’s Chrome. But before launching a client’s website, I make sure to test the site in Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and across mobile devices.

Pull up your website on a different browser than usual and make sure: 

• All images and text are loading. 
• Nothing is getting cut off. 
• Any plugins are working correctly.
• Everything is resizing or breaking down correctly.

If you notice that something is wrong, send a detailed description or screenshot to your web developer.

3. Grow your Facebook page.

Pull up your Facebook business page. On the right-hand side, below the cover photo, you should see a box that says “Invite Friends.”

A window will pop up, and you can invite as many of your personal connections as you’d like to follow your business page. Seal the deal with a sincere message like, “Hi! I’m working on growing my business, and your support would mean the world to me. You’ll get helpful real estate news and updates in return! Thanks for considering.”

Bonus: here’s my biggest Facebook secret. You can invite people you’re not friends with to follow your page. Go to a post, and click the number of reactions (likes, loves etc.) You’ll get a popup that says “Invite to Like (Your Page).” You can do this on each post - but Facebook does limit the number of invites you can send per day. If you hit the limit, have another page admin pick up where you left off, or wait 24 hours.

4. Engage with your neighborhood online.

Jump onto Instagram or Twitter. Search for a hashtag that’s popular in your neighborhood, community, or region. Leave genuine, sincere comments on the top 10 posts with that hashtag, even if it’s not real-estate related.

For example, if someone posted a picture of their order at a local coffee shop, comment on their post: “I was just in there last week and tried the new almond latte! Highly recommend.” Now this stranger - and all of their followers - have seen your name and branding. They see you as a real person - not a bot or a salesperson - so they’re more likely to have a favorable opinion of you.

5. Add a blog entry.

The more good, quality content your website has, the better its chances of being served up by Google. If your website has a blog, keep it up to date with fun, fresh, helpful content like: 

• A feature on your newest listing 
• A list of the top 10 restaurants in your service area 
• Your favorite tips for buying and selling 
• A recent success story

Keep the topics relevant to your industry and area. But don’t be afraid to get creative! People can find home staging tips on a million websites - but yours might be the only one with insights on what NOT to do based on a personal experience!

6. Request reviews.

Reviews are a huge ranking factor for Google - the better your reviews, the more likely you are to show up! Send an email to anyone you’ve closed or sold within the past few months. Include a link to your Google My Business listing, so they can easily give you a 5-star review!

If you already have dozens of Google reviews, send them a link to Yelp, Zillow, or Facebook instead. The more the merrier! Respond to all reviews with a quick “thank you” to keep the good vibes going.

7. Google yourself (and/or your agency).

Run a search for your own name or your agency’s name. Scan the first few results and... 

• Make sure your name, phone, email, address and hours are correct everywhere they appear. 
• Check for any news mentions. 
• See if any new reviews have been posted, and respond accordingly.

If you’re not seeing yourself (or your agency) at all, make sure you have a website and that it’s getting indexed with search engines! Then start requesting listings from places like Google, Yelp, Bing and Manta to improve your local SEO.

8. Look under the hood with Search Console.

Google’s Search Console tool helps measure your website’s performance and tracks issues. (If you don’t have search console, take this opportunity to set it up and connect it to your Google Analytics.)

Click here to access Search Console. Then: 

• Look at Overview to make sure there are no big drops in your site’s clicks or coverage. 
• Make sure you have a sitemap indexed under Sitemaps. (If not, add yours or talk to your webmaster.) 
• Check out your search performance (how many clicks you’ve gotten, total impressions, etc. on Google) by going to Performance. 

Now, you have a baseline for how your website plays with Google. If you’re missing data, or if you notice major spikes/drops in any of these charts, talk to your website manager. 

Bottom Line

Small, simple habits are the building blocks to better digital marketing. Use this checklist to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward, or preventing any issues.