3 steps to getting more real estate website traffic

Once you get the wheels in motion, it makes getting clients much easier - BY CHARLES MUOTOH (Inman)

Key Takeaways

• Use good SEO strategies, paid traffic and organic content production via document sharing, slidesharing, guest blogging and repurposing content on social media to get consistent website traffic.​

The internet is a powerful way to get new clients for your real estate business. Unfortunately, some real estate agents are using internet strategies that do more harm than good.

Moreover, there is so much conflicting information out there. Therefore, I decided to show you a breakdown of the common misconceptions and strategies that work.

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Google continues to modify its search engine so that it is better at delivering the right content. Unfortunately, some agents believe that there are certain “tricks” for easily getting to page 1.

Here are some examples of terrible SEO strategies that will get your site pushed down the rankings:

1. Repeating the same keyword multiple times in a post. This is otherwise known as “keyword stuffing.”
2. Paying sites to link to your content.
3. Copying/plagiarizing content from other websites to grow your site.
4. Having low value content on your site.
5. Submitting your site to multiple link directories — or worse, using a bot.

Here is what good SEO looks like. Consistent use of these strategies will get your site pushed up the rankings:

1. Create great content for your target client that delivers value, interlinks with other pages on your site and causes people to spend longer time on your site. Time spent on your site is a search engine ranking factor.
2. Reach out to top sites/writers in your real estate niche, and show them how your site fits into the rest of their content. The more value your content provides, the higher the chance that they will link to it. The more links you have from top sites, the higher your ranking.
3. Ensure that your site loads quickly, is easy to navigate and is mobile friendly.
4. Offer a free piece of content in exchange for a visitor’s email address. For example, if you target first-time homebuyers, create a short e-book (five-eight pages) on a topic like “How to choose the right real estate agent.” This enables you to communicate with visitors at a later date and drive traffic to blog posts. Repeated visits to your site can have an effect on your site’s rankings.

2. Paid traffic
Due to the nature of the real estate industry, thousands of website unique visitors does not equate to an increasing number of leads. Ideally, you want the right people to visit your site.

For instance, an agent who receives 100 visitors a day and is able to close three leads from the visits will do better than an agent who gets thousands of visitors but doesn’t get any leads.

Paid traffic enables you to target your ideal clients and deliver a message that engages them to take action. Below are some paid traffic strategies, and how to apply them to your real estate business.

Video
Videos are a powerful way to engage with prospective clients. Fortunately, you can use Facebook ads to get it to the right people.

For instance, if your past clients primarily consisted of couples, create a Facebook video ad targeted toward married people living in your area. Here is what your video should include:

• A phone number and email address as a watermark in the top left hand corner
• Look professional
• Short clips and/or images of houses
• An introduction of who you are — and let your audience know how you can help them

If you are shy, use a tool such as Animatron or Videoscribe. You don’t need to spend thousands on a professional video if you can’t afford it. A stable video shot with a smartphone would still work. Just make sure that it has the elements above.

Notably, you can also create YouTube ads to get your video in front of the right people. Here is an in-depth guide from Youtube on how to get started.

3. Organic content promotion
There is no point in creating a great blog post, video or podcast if your target audience doesn’t see it.

You need traffic for testing your strategy, so that you have a better chance of shooting up the search rankings.

Here are a few ways to raise your rankings:

Utilize document sharing and slidesharing sites
Repurpose your content for document sharing sites. Some of them get really good organic reach and might rank higher than the posts on your site.

Make sure that your content is watermarked with a link to your website. That way when your target client reads your awesome content, they want to reach out.

It is worth noting that some agents make a very good living by consulting for clients thousands of miles away. Slidesharing sites are one of the ways to keep their client pipeline full.

Slidesharing sites:

• Slideshare
• SlideRocket
• Authorstream
• Brainshark
• SpeakerDeck

Repurpose your content on social media 

Besides those, you can also repurpose your content for social media sites such as LinkedIn.

Social media sites are great platforms to organically promote content, especially when promoting to specific groups.

LinkedIn and Facebook have groups for just about any topic. The key is not to spam people and also to ask the admin for permission before posting content (infographic, text or video). The more useful it is, the higher your chances of getting it approved.

Guest blogging 
In a similar vein, guest blogging is a powerful way to get traffic. Guest blogging is when you post unique content on top ranking sites. This enables you to gain authority, get speaking engagements and convert leads into sales more easily.

Think about it from a potential clients perspective: would you rather work with an agent with a strong brand or one doing the bare minimum?

In conclusion, so long as you put the needs of your target client first by creating and promoting great content, you will stand out among your peers and get traffic.

It won’t happen overnight. Like with anything good, it takes consistent action. However, the wonderful thing about content marketing is that once you get the wheels in motion, it makes getting clients much easier.
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Charles Muotoh is the owner of dcrealestateguru.com, a full service real estate firm focused on leveraging digital marketing to serve Washington, D.C., area real estate buyers and sellers.