If you’re in the real estate business, there is one statistic that can encapsulate the importance of digital marketing for real estate agents. In 2020, most homebuyers – around 97% – searched online for their dream home. For a realty business that wants to get noticed in such a vast digital space, it means going further than simply offering high-quality services and good customer support. A strong online presence will help your website stand out in the US market worth $47 trillion, and our Made Online team can help you achieve that.
Why Is Digital Marketing for Real Estate Agents Necessary?
The real estate market of today is facing many challenges. Most of the problems that broker companies face nowadays are caused by things like unstable markets, changing customer needs and goals, changes in the environment, and shifting political climates. There’s also one factor that shouldn’t be overlooked, and it’s evolving technology trends.
If we look at recent home buyers, 41% began their search for a dream home online, and almost all of them, 95%, used some type of search tool to help them in their home-buying journey.
It’s not necessary to add that this only emphasizes a need for any real estate agent or their company to have a platform where they can showcase their listings. Or why that platform needs to follow all the latest trends in digital marketing. In essence – to stand out among the crowd, you’ll need to handle every aspect of your online presence and not leave anything to chance.
An Insight Into the US Real Estate Market
One of the key factors in choosing the right digital marketing strategies for the housing market lies in understanding its dynamics and fluctuations. The table below shows some important changes in the US housing market with statistics published on Redfin.
| Timeframe | Percentage of change | Value change | Context |
| June 2023, compared to 2022 | +0.4% | +$166.2 billion | Annual increase in value |
| Compared to 2021 | +19.1% | +$7.5 trillion | Significant recovery in market value |
| June 2022 to February 2023 | – | -$2.9 trillion | Decrease in market value due to rising mortgage rates |
The Benefits of Hiring a Digital Content Agency for Business Growth
Managing digital marketing is easier said than done, not to mention that most realtors have never really deep-dived into the topic. Having an in-house team that handles some of the marketing may seem like a good idea. However, digital advertising isn’t as simple as a paid position on Google Ads.
The simpler route would be to hire a digital marketing agency for real estate agents. Here is why that is important:
- Experienced online advertising agency team knows how to segment the right customer pool. They can help you get to know the target audience in no time and understand their needs and wants in order to meet them.
- An experienced digital marketing team can help you reach buyers in various parts of the homebuying journey. They can aid in turning website visitors into paying clients with the right tools and strategies.
- Professional marketers understand how important it is to impress clients with powerful visuals, a smooth website, and the right content.
- In the end, where an SEO services agency such as Made Online is your best pick, professionals know how to analyze campaign data and insights to improve your marketing efforts.
Above all, it’s important to mention that all these segments help build your brand and find its voice. Nurturing relationships with potential clients through powerful, consistent, and unified messaging helps turn leads into paying clients.
What Are the Essential Digital Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Agents?
There are 1,554,604 realtors who are licensed to work in the United States. There are also 106,548 real estate brokerages, which means that about 14.6 realtors are working for each brokerage. It’s a highly competitive environment, and with all the fluctuations in the housing market, each client makes a difference.
There are several strategies offered by digital marketing agencies that can benefit your business and help you stand out from the competition:
- Build a website because it’s a staple in today’s business world. Since many buyers start their home-buying journey online, owning a website and listing properties on it should be the building blocks of your digital marketing efforts.
- Incorporate SEO practices because Search Engine Optimization can help you get to that first page of Google.
- Include engaging content, as it can do wonders for your brand voice and for building relationships with clients.
- Create a social media presence because if you’re not present on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms, you’re missing out on a giant client pool.
- Launch paid campaigns, as pay-per-click advertising offers instant access to new and potential clients that would otherwise miss out on your offer.
Start Your Branding With a Great Website
Business cards were once a staple of realtors, and they needed to be memorable—easy to read, eye-catching, and with a good design. Well, it’s the same with a website—it’s also important to be easy to read (navigate), eye-catching, and with a good design. It must load quickly and display well on both computers and mobile devices, as potential clients often explore options on the go.
It Needs to Be Optimized
58% of all hits to real estate websites come from phones or tablets. This is why optimization for each device is a crucial part of the website build. Website speed is also important because when a web page takes 1 to 5 seconds to load, the probability of people leaving right away jumps to 90%. Intuitive navigation, optimized images, videos (an essential part of a real estate website’s content), and incorporated SEO when a website development agency is building your pages all make a good web presence brick by brick.
Invest In SEO to Get Ranked
Ever heard of keywords, SERP, or SEO (not particularly in that order)? Keywords are relevant phrases that people search when online, and what an organic SEO agency does is find the ones related to your industry. For example, our team would research keywords that potential property buyers frequently use when searching for listings. We then use it to incorporate it into content, metadata, and other marketing materials, and that is SEO – Search Engine Optimization.
Another effective SEO strategy is to build backlinks from reputable websites. Search engines view these links as endorsements, which improves your site’s credibility and rankings on SERP (Results Page). Our team can help you secure links relevant to your industry.
Don’t Skip YouTube SEO, It Matters
High-quality videos and photographs are an essential part of the real estate business, but why not bring your video content to YouTube? The Digital 2024 Global Overview Report says that 2.49 billion people use YouTube every month. So, why not place your business on this platform, too, and try to reach new clients?
A report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in 2022 indicated that the typical age of first-time homebuyers was 36. People in the 25–34 age bracket make up the biggest demographic of YouTube users, constituting 21.3% of the total. People in the 35–44 age bracket make up the second biggest demographic. It might be possible that a lot of future clients are using this platform daily, so why not target them? However, to rank on YouTube, you’ll need YouTube SEO, and Made Online can help.
Incorporate Local SEO to Be Noticed in Your Area
When a property buyer searches for a home, it’s always location-specific, so why not leverage this to your advantage with local SEO? And now you’re wondering – how does this work? Local SEO is precisely what it sounds like – an optimization for local search engines specifically related to your industry and, more crucially, your specific area. This means that we will optimize your real estate site for local search to make you easily discoverable by people looking for such services near you.
Include Engaging Content to Build a Voice of Authority
There are many topics a real estate agent’s website can cover, that can help establish your brand voice and authority and inspire trust in clients. Listings on a realty website are important, but they should be kept as a minority, while you should let different blog topics prevail.
According to research, almost 50% of consumers read three or more bits of content before contacting a salesperson. Our content marketing agency can help you stand out with engaging content that talks about picking the right neighborhood, how to review a contract, how to save up to buy, and many more.
Don’t worry if you’re the farthest thing from a skilled writer, your proficiency is being a mediator on the housing market. The Made Online team has some of the best writers who know how to do research and are experienced in all topics concerning real estate. We will help you nurture client relationships.
Use the Power of Social Media
Building a social media presence in today’s competitive market shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, social networking is a lead-generation tool for 51% of real estate agents and brokers. Platforms like Facebook, for example, provide extensive reach and support diverse content, and for these reasons, it is the most popular platform for realtors. With 89% of realtors using it, Facebook is still the most popular platform.
On the other hand, platforms like TikTok and Instagram (used by almost 60% of realtors) attract a younger demographic and are ideal for dynamic video content. For commercial real estate, your best choice would be to build a strong presence on LinkedIn. 57% of real estate agents advertise their services on social media at least once a day, and as it may seem excessive, keep in mind that in 2022, 38% of new homebuyers found their agent through social media.
Real estate agents can boost sales through social media by showcasing properties, posting customer testimonials, and sharing useful content. So, if you want to attract more visitors to your listings and create more sales opportunities, you should post often and interact with users.
Our Facebook advertising agency offers social media agency services on this platform and others. We can help you connect with your clients through powerful visuals and other forms of social media content.
Build a Budget for Paid Campaigns
In the end, paid advertising is an additional tool for getting seen among the crowd. We can work together to launch an effective advertising campaign for different platforms. We can create pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on search engines and social media, where you only pay when someone engages with your ads.
As we can handle the majority of platforms, including creating and optimizing your Google Business Profile, we can tailor each campaign to that platform’s requirements and trends. Combining persuasive copywriting skills with high-quality visuals will get visible results. We give your ad campaigns clear goals and use conversion tracking and analytics to see how well they’re doing. It’s all done to make sure that the money you spend on advertising actually gets results.
How Made Online Transformed a Realty’s Business
When a mid-sized realty business partnered with Made Online, they were struggling with low online visibility, an outdated website, and minimal social media presence. Despite offering excellent services, their website wasn’t ranking well, and their social media following was limited.
Made Online crafted a digital marketing strategy. We redesigned their website to be mobile-friendly and fast-loading, added high-quality images and videos, and implemented SEO best practices to improve search engine rankings. Engaging blog posts and neighborhood guides were published regularly, and a consistent social media posting schedule was developed. Paid campaigns were launched to boost visibility and attract followers. Within six months, the business saw significant improvements.
Stand out From the Competitors With an Experienced SEO Marketing Agency
Having a strong online presence isn’t easy, but Made Online is your best bet. As the best SEO agency for your real estate business, we can empower you with carefully created strategies and SEO marketing services that drive results. Our experienced team specializes in elevating your online presence, and we will strive to ensure your brand is built, noticed, and engaged with.
The team behind our professional SEO agency is experienced in SEO, content writing, social media, website development, and other specialized marketing techniques you might need in your journey. Get noticed now, get made online, and contact us to get a clear path toward the first page of SERP.