Real Estate

4 Tips for Selling any Property Online

By  | 

Selling a website online isn’t easy, there is a lot of competition. Having said that, combined with other more traditional forms of real estate marketing, a website can be an important point of contact and can generate dozens of leads per month.

To do this, however, the website must be relatively easy to find via search engines, it must provide a good user experience and above all, it must look trustworthy and professional.

  1. Professional Website

The foundation of generating leads online and selling properties is to have a professional website. The site must represent you and your brand in a highly trustworthy and professional manner. With huge amounts of money being exchanged during the purchase of a property, it is important that above all, the website generates a feeling of trustworthiness.

This can be achieved with a slick and professional design and a customised logo. The site should also feature ‘trust signals’ including case studies, reviews and any relevant icons and logos from relevant institutional qualifications, awards and/or memberships.

Having a “contact us” page a local address and telephone number, can also create a feeling of trust within the website’s visitors. 

You should also make sure that the website loads quickly and that it uses SSL encryption. Website hosts such as Blue Host now offer free SSL certificates with most of their packages (at the time of writing). The SSL creates a padlock icon in the left hand of the address bar – essential for inspiring enough trust to submit personal contact details!

If a website loads slowly, it is often because the images need resizes or compressing. You could often do this online, using photography software, or – if you are using a WordPress website, consider using a plugin such as WP Smush.

  1. Photography

Investing in a high-quality camera and a tripod is essential to ensure that the photographs on your website will encourage a potential buyer to inquire. Poor quality photos not only deter people from inquiring about a specific house, but they also make the website that they’re on look unprofessional and shoddy.

A good photograph is often the starting point, people will only read the descriptions and click to read more information if they like the look of the photography. Many modern mobile phones are can provide a high enough quality of image, although you may have to touch them up using Photoshop or even a free online editor such as BeFunky.com

Some other photography tips include:

  • Take exterior photos at dusk AKA ‘magic hour’
  • Tidy all the rooms & remove personal items
  • Choose a sunny day for photography if possible
  • Tidy children’s bedrooms but leave 1 or 2 toys visible
  • Arrange furniture to create as much space as possible
  • Be consistent with the style and orientation of the photo
  1. Google My Business

For your website to be found via Google, you should always register your business with Google My Business. By registering with Google My Business, your real estate company and website should appear on Google Maps. If somebody local to you searches for “Real Estate Business”, there’s also an increased chance that your business will show in the results – but this depends on other factors such as the number of positive reviews you have.

 

 

You should also complete and register your social media profiles, with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to schedule some posts using an app such as Buffer which can be used with Google Chrome and/or your mobile phone.

Creating a YouTube account is also a great way to gain a presence on the first page of Google. Because of the power of the Youtube.com domain and Google’s tendency to rank videos in the search results, creating several high-quality videos can give you the edge against your competitors.

Adding your business to a number of the higher quality business directories is also a good idea. For example, Yelp, Foursquare and YellowPages.com

Having a blog can also help you to rank on search engines such as Google. Having a blog can also provide a way to showcase your knowledge and expertise. Look to write a low volume of high-quality blog posts, rather than lots of lower quality, short blog posts. Include images and if possible infographics and videos.

All of this is, unfortunately, very time-consuming. This is why many business owners choose to hire a marketing agency or use a freelancer from a website such as PeoplePerHour.com

  1. Don’t Forget Interpersonal Skills

Despite the digital age of marketing and lead generation, the ability to build a rapport with a potential client is extremely important. You can have the best website available, that generates dozens of leads, but you will still struggle to close a sale if a buyer or seller does not like you!

The psychology behind building relationships is quite complex, however, a few tips include:

– Asking open questions and listening to responses

 – Smiling more – even on the phone

 – Make eye contact

 – Using open body language e.g. not crossing your arms

Responding to inquiries promptly is also essential for capitalizing on the leads generated by your website. Consider using a phone answering service to ensure that you can capture all inquiries, 24/7.

avatar

My wit is my power. Writing is my life. I'm from this often stereotyped place called Mississippi. I like green eggs with my ham and pancakes without bacon. I enjoy cups of green tea and James Patterson books. I'm ultimately here to share my gift. The rest is still unwritten.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply