How real estate agents boost traffic to their website over 700% (and ranked #1 on Google). This actionable guide teaches you how to drive more traffic to your business.

There is no better time as a real estate agent to take a step back and evaluate your website through a critical lens. Does the content and information on your website contribute real value to your community and reflect the true commitment and quality of service that you are striving for? If not, let’s take a look at some strategies you can do to improve your website and establish the trust and authority that presents you as your area’s trusted real estate professional.

The power of community pages

We know there is no shortage of websites online where homebuyers can go to find homes for sale in their area. It can be discouraging to see the first page in Google dominated by national players like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin. This can make it very difficult, or impossible, to rank your website for high traffic keywords like “St. Louis homes for sale”. But where these websites may excel nationally, real estate agents can have the edge locally.

Taking back the advantage

No one knows your community like you do. Given your profession, you probably know more about the different communities in your area than you may think. Put together a list of communities, cities, or neighborhoods where you serve and start piecing together information that would be valuable to people looking to move to the area. Then, create a page for each of these communities on your website. 

Be sure to include anything of interest that applies to the community page you’re working on. Things like area schools, city links, styles of homes, and average prices are all important to people looking to move. Don’t forget to add area listings, attractive photos, and common hotspots that make that specific community unique and interesting.

Not only are community pages a great way to show your expertise and knowledge of the area, but they also provide an excellent opportunity to rank on search engines for area-specific keywords. Community pages can feature areas as large as a county to as small as a couple of blocks in a neighborhood. This gives you plenty of room to create pages chock-full of valuable information that betters your chances of ranking on Google.

When it comes to adding community pages, be unique, and be creative. These pages are one of the best opportunities to showcase why you are a trusted, knowledgeable agent and the time you spend adding valuable content to these pages will not go unnoticed to search engines and by the people around you.

Start a blog – create incredible content

I’ve talked with many business owners over the last decade and there seems to be a common misconception around what I mean when I suggest they consider starting a blog. One of the major roadblocks they have is not having anything to write about. If there is one piece of advice I would give to a real estate agent, or any business owner for the matter, who asks me about starting a blog, it would be this:

Think outside the box

All of the possibilities surrounding what to write about do not have to start and end with what you currently know about real estate in general. Yes, you can write about common selling tips or the best ways to increase the value of your home. These can be useful topics and show that you know what you’re talking about, but I’m afraid if we only write about topics that can be found just about everywhere online, we are missing the true potential of what a blog can do for someone who is an expert in their local community.

You don’t have to write about topics that only have to do with real estate. Transition your community’s perspective of you from someone who simply walks through houses with them and helps them sign papers to someone who is in the real estate business because they love their community. What are some local restaurants or businesses that just opened up in the area? Are there any upcoming events or community activities? Are there any non-profits or fundraisers you can help spread the word on? Exploring topics like these will give you no shortage of things to write about and can easily position you as someone who has a clear passion for their community and the people living in it.

Starting a blog is one of the best ways to increase your rankings in search engines and stay connected with people, even when they’re not currently in the market for a home. Position yourself as a “community expert” more than just an average real estate agent and start creating relationships with people before they’re looking to buy or sell their home.

A property search that visitors will actually use

A couple in your community have decided to buy a home. They find themselves on your website either through a lead on social media, a high-ranking community page, or a simple referral from a friend. They are more than happy to have you as their trusted real estate agent, but will they be able to find their dream home on your website? Moreover, will their experience be as user-friendly and modern as the other options that are readily available for them to use? If the answer is no, then it may be time to seriously consider how many of your leads may be falling through the cracks to a platform that is more intuitive. One of the major components of a successful real estate website is ensuring you have a property search that reflects the credibility and professionalism you want for your name.

People in your community know what tools are available to them in the year 2020. They expect a user-friendly interface, interactive maps, a parametric search, and new listing information instantly. Meet them at their expectations. Don’t spend all of your time creating valuable content, establishing trust, and creating shareable social media posts when you know, ultimately, the homebuyer will be searching for their new home on a platform that won’t send you the lead.

Client case studies

Client case studies are an excellent way to showcase specifics on how you excel at what you do. They also provide a great opportunity to dive deeper into your one-on-one relationships, connecting to your community on a more personal level. 

To get started, find a handful of past clients you stay connected with and ask if they are willing to be featured on your website as a success story. Start piecing together the story in an “Introduction > Challenge > Solution > Happy Ending” format. Show how you were able to identify what your client was looking for and how you confronted their situation with your unique expertise and knowledge of the market.

Case studies can help connect a friendly, professional, and confident persona to your name. Keep it simple, don’t overcomplicate the process and remember to bring to light your unique set of skills. Your readers will be much more likely to choose an agent they are comfortable with and are convinced they can use their abilities to make them the next happily-ever-after story on your website.

Better website images

As a real estate agent, you know that the quality of the images used for a property can make or break the entire listing. The same is true for your website. Nothing says “I couldn’t be less interested” than uploading a blurry, poorly cropped, tiny photo from 15 years ago. If you have spent any time comparing real estate agent’s websites you know the surprising number of them that use images that are just too small or not positioned well for where they’re placed on the website. If your website has images that aren’t ideal, it’s time to change that now.

Images for your website should be just large enough to ensure they are not blurry on any device and small enough to load as fast as possible. A quick search for “compress images” on Google will reveal several free services where you can easily upload your photo and it will do the optimization work for you. 

High-quality stock images are also a great option and can add more professionalism to your pages. There are many paid, and some great free (pixabay, Unsplash), resources online where you can find that perfect image for your website header, slider, or background.

Get a friend to help take your picture, spend some time finding that perfect stock image, or even hire a photographer if you need to, but don’t ruin the credibility of your entire website due to an image that looks like it came from 1998. Show the person that is looking for an agent to sell their beautiful home that good, quality images are important to you.

Clear the clutter

The vast majority of visitors to your website are looking for a single piece of information or to accomplish a task. If they can’t do this quickly and easily, they’ll leave. This is why your website should be organized, easy to read, and clear of any distractions that aren’t absolutely necessary to your two primary objectives; establishing trust and acquiring leads. Anything that doesn’t aid to one of these two objectives should get the ax.

It can be tempting to add tools, information, or widgets to your website that someone at some point may have a use for but, let’s be honest, most of these resources are easy to find online, they aren’t why your visitor came to your site, and they don’t lend themselves to making the most out of the valuable space you have to make the best first impression. 

Each page on your website is telling a story and/or working toward a single goal. Keep the visitor focused and leave out distractions that lead them away from your most wanted response.

Know your website statistics – take action

Knowing how well your website is performing and why is key to understanding the best way to spend your time marketing and how to better convert your website visitors into leads. For this, a great tool for a real estate agent is Google Analytics and Google Search Console to get insight on your website performance, overall site health, and how your website looks in the eyes of search engines. 

Are you able to answer the following questions about your website? 

• What sources are sending the most traffic to your website?
• What pages are getting the most visitors on your website?
• What keywords are you ranking best for on Google? Are these pages converting?
• How long are visitors staying on your site once they arrive?
• What is the bounce rate for your overall site and individual pages?
• What devices are people using when accessing your website?

Spend some time finding answers to these questions and going over your website statistics. Constantly strive to improve your content, provide what people are looking for, and increase the conversion rate across your site. The more information you have, the more informed decisions you will be able to make for your website, and your business, going forward. 

Conclusion

We often have the tendency to view and treat our website as an item on our marketing checklist. We set it up, throw some generic content together, and cross it off our list.

However, owning your website is owning your piece of online real estate. You are in control. You make the decisions. You are able to shape the perspective of how your community and the rest of the world see you as a real estate professional. How will you make the most of it?

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The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Showcase IDX.

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Robert Brock is Owner of Brock Creative Projects, one of the Top Real Estate Marketing Agencies in the United States and a Showcase IDX Certified Partner.

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Many agents make the wrong moves during an economic downturn, and it costs many of them their business. In this article, learn what wise Realtors and small businesses have done to not only thrive during a market slow down but thrive on the other side.

Are we going into an economic slowdown? I can’t answer that, but I can give you some guidance and data on what you should do during one.

This infographic below gives you a quick summary of what you need to know. Keep reading below it for more information.

Marketing based on or in spite of your feelings

As I write this, we are several weeks into the COVID-19 outbreak. I’ve spoken with about two dozen agents in the past few days, interacted with hundreds of Realtors in some of our private groups online, and spoken to half a dozen of our Certified Partners.

Many of them have gone through regional and domestic slowdowns/crashes in the past. For others, it’s their first time while marketing/selling in real estate.

What I love about these conversations is this tribe’s willingness to share their past experiences and share strategies with each other.

Whether it’s a global pandemic (e.g. Coronavirus, H1N1, etc.), a domestic recession, or a regional pull-back in your housing market, it’s scary. At the beginning, we often do not know how long the slow down will take to turn around.

The good news is that things always turn around, hopefully with as little loss of life as possible. I am encouraged by many of the work-from-home initiatives so many businesses have taken in the past few days. Only time will tell how these measures help.

I’ve been a marketer for many years and given some of my roles in the industry, I’ve been able to work directly with dozens of companies across industries and coach thousands of business owners and marketers. This gives me solid insights into what has worked well and what to avoid. Plus, I believe that we all become better with wise council.

In the past few days, as worked on this infographic and list, I’ve reached out to some of my friends in real estate marketing and the wider marketing landscape. They all agree.

Use your concerns of a potential slow down to take inventory of your business and make wise decisions for you how spend your time. This is the time to focus on your real estate website, adding a modern IDX plugin, the content you know will help your clients, and ways to automate your business in the future.

Rand Fishkin’s quote from the 2009 bust holds true today and has been backed up by the data.

“Sales might drop, conversion rates might falter a bit but raw search traffic isn’t going anywhere. A recession doesn’t mean that people stop searching the web, and with broadband adoption rates, Internet penetration and searches per users consistently rising, search is no fad – it’s here for the long haul.” – Rand Fishkin

So what should you do? Keep reading to learn the action to take in the coming weeks and (perhaps) months.

What could an effective digital marketing strategy do during an economic crisis?

• increasing the visibility of your personal brand;
• increasing the number of visitors to your site;
• increasing your credibility and market share;
• increasing the number of returning clients;
• increasing sales;
• generate profit growth.

You should remember that your marketing budget is an investment, not an expense!

The 7 steps you can take:

1. Work smart to retain your existing client base
2. Get even more visible in front of your target niche(s) 
3. Invest time in improving your real estate website and making it the hub of your marketing
4. Focus on driving conversions
5. Set aside time to write 1 -2 valuable hyperlocal articles per week and schedule for future release
6. Build meaningful hyperlocal community pages with 400 – 1500 words of content on each
7. Measure, test, learn, test

The importance of marketing during an economic slowdown

Organic traffic and content marketing outperform other channels and get more powerful over time.

Plus, wise marketers know that sitting around during downturns does not help grow your business, today or next year.

You may not be showing or listing as many houses, and open houses may have fewer than normal visitors. The great news is that you have more time during a downturn to reshape your marketing strategy and do the work that will grow your business.

Over the previous year, I’ve helped analyze over 100,000 real estate websites and have seen hundreds of individual agents do the work to grow their businesses, and the data backs up why online marketing is so important.

49% of real estate agents feel their top marketing challenge is generating enough high-quality leads

The Made in America Movement, 2020 Real Estate Report

79% of sellers are more likely to list their home with an agent who has their own website with MLS property search

The Made in America Movement, 2020 Real Estate Report

95% of home buyers visit real estate agents’ websites during their home search

The National Association of REALTORS®, 2018 Report.

Think about that. That means if you do not have a website, you are fighting for only 5% of home buyers.

This investment is critical to SEO (organic traffic from Google) and re-engaging past clients. The good news is that you can do this yourself. Yes, a Certified Partner can help you go faster, but you are capable of doing this yourself.

Digital Marketing keeps your personal brand awareness high in the community. Customers are more likely to turn to the brands they readily remember.

Our conclusion: Keep investing in marketing during a recession!

A good marketing strategy and focus on implementation is always the best response to an economic crisis situation!

You’ll be ahead of your competition. You’ll be able to continue to run your real estate business at a rate that will ensure profitability during the economic recession. You’ll survive the recession like no other!

When times are good you should be selling not doing SEO. But when things are slow, don’t just complain and goof off — use this time to invest in your future!

What advice do you have for agents to focus on during a downturn in their market? Leave a comment below.

Next steps:

==> Read our success guide on the features driving the 24 most successful real estate websites

==> Take a free course in the Grow Your Real Estate Business Academy (and get access to 200+ free pieces of social media content)

This guide will walk you through how to set up processes and automate parts of your marketing to let you double or triple your business with less effort.

As a real estate agent, your time is valuable and following up with leads is critical to success.

You’re using Showcase IDX as the hub to your marketing because it’s one of the best real estate tools available and the only home search consistently chosen over Zillow, but chances are you’re using other tools or copying and pasting client information to help you close a deal.

Let’s show you how you can spend a little time and use a free tool called Zapier to connect your IDX and website to give you an INSANE ROI and help you over the long-term.

Already familiar with Zapier? Scroll down to find 60+ ways to automate your marketing including 1) our featured integrations 2) ways to add leads to your newsletter 3) add people to your CRM 4) add them on your marketing automation platform 5) other ways to improve your marketing.

What is Zapier? How does it work?

Zapier is a web-based service that takes data from one service and sends it to another service or tool.

When a lead signs up on your websites, using one of 9 types of lead generation from Showcase IDX, that triggers an “event” that will automatically execute your predefined orders. And, the best part is that this all happens automatically.

Terms to know: A “zap” is basically an automated task that you want run over and over again between two online apps.

Zapier integration is included in all IDX accounts, and Zapier has a FREE Forever plan that will work for most people.

Want your leads to magically appear in another application? To save you time and highlight some of the best uses for automating your business with Showcase IDX, keep reading.

Note: You need to be signed into your Zapier account to access each of the 60+ zap templates linked below. No worries if you do not have an account yet, they’ll prompt you to set one up.

You can use Zapier to connect Showcase IDX to hundreds of different tools. We have created Zap templates to make this even easier for you by matching up things like “first name”, “last name”, and “email” field in each connection.

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Featured integrations to try

Send new Showcase IDX contacts to Google Contacts

Create Microsoft Outlook Contacts from new Showcase IDX Contacts

Send new Showcase IDX contacts to Microsoft Office 365 Contacts

Send new Showcase IDX leads an email from Gmail

Get Slack direct message for new Showcase IDX leads

Post a message to a Slack channel for new Showcase IDX leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to BombBomb

Add new Showcase IDX leads to BombBomb contact list

Send new Showcase IDX contacts to BombBomb drip

Receive an SMS when you get new Showcase IDX lead

Note: The text alert from Zapier may come from a different number each time. The template is set up to let you know the message is from a new client and will contain the person’s contact info.

Add new Showcase IDX leads to a HelloAlex account

If you respond to a lead inquiry within the first 5 minutes of their request you are 71% more likely to do business with that lead business! HelloAlex helps Real Estate agents say Hello! Their Automated Income Assistant “Alex” uses conversational A.I. to start conversations with your clients and leads 24/7

Add new Showcase IDX leads as new rows on Google Sheets

You always want to have ready access to your leads. Want to try a new marketing automation or email tool but need a CSV of your leads? Change brokerages and want to move your contact database? A Google Sheet gives you a quick way to access your leads

Set up a Bonjoro task when you get new Showcase IDX lead

Use the Bonjoro mobile app or web recorder to send an engaging video to each contact. Think BombBomb but more personal and easy to do from your phone.

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Easily integrate with your newsletters

You know you need to send a newsletter to your clients. I’ve heard from thousands of agents that sometimes they can feel overwhelmed thinking about all of the little things that need to be done to send an email blast and make it perfect.

Let’s make it a little easier by making sure that your leads and clients are already in your MailChimp, Aweber, or Constant Contact accounts.

Add new Showcase IDX leads to AWeber as subscribers

Create contacts on Constant Contact for new Showcase IDX leads

Subscribe new Showcase IDX leads to a MailChimp list

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Easily integrate with your CRM

Showcase IDX contains some great CRM tools that many of our clients use, but we understand you may need a more full-featured CRM. Perhaps your brokerage gives you a CRM that you’re required to use.

We want to make that super simple for you. Through our integration with Zapier, you can easily connect Showcase IDX to Contactually, TRIBUS CRM, Keller Williams Command, Realty Executives Prime Agent, Kunversion, Agent Legend, Agile CRM, BoomTown, Cloze, Copper, Follow Up Boss, Freshsales, HighLevel, Hubspot CRM, LeadSimple, LionDesk, Mojo, Pro Agent Solutions, Realvolve, Streak, Surefire CRM, Wise Agent CRM, and dozens of other CRMS.

Note: With Showcase IDX’s Premium plan and premium integrations, you can send over additional lead data such as real-time updates, messages, all the lead’s search activity on your website, property information, website activities, and more data. With Real Synch, which we’ll cover in another guide, even more IDX integrations are available.

Scroll down to the next section see more integrations for marketing automation, workflow management tools (e.g. Trello), and others.

Add new Showcase IDX leads to a campaign in Agent Legend

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Agile CRM

Add new Showcase IDX leads to BoomTown as leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Cloze

Add new Showcase IDX leads as contacts to Contactually

Send new Showcase IDX contacts to Copper as new leads

Create Follow Up Boss contacts for new Showcase IDX leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Freshsales

Send new Showcase IDX contacts to HighLevel campaign

Send new Showcase IDX leads to HubSpot

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Keller Williams Command as leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Kunversion

Add leads on LeadSimple for new Showcase IDX leads

Copy new Showcase IDX contacts to LionDesk

Create Mojo contacts from new Showcase IDX leads

Add new Showcase IDX contacts to Pro Agent Solutions as contacts

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Realty Executives Prime Agent as leads

Create Realvolve contacts from new Showcase IDX contacts

Create boxes on Streak for new contacts on Showcase IDX

Create Surefire contacts from new Showcase IDX leads

Add leads to TRIBUS CRM when new contacts are created in Showcase IDX

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Wise Agent CRM as leads

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Easily integrate with your workflow management

Successful agents know that generating leads and building a brand are critical but you have to deliver on each and every transaction. That’s where good workflow management or project management tools can help.

They let you keep up with all the little tasks that need to be completed to close each deal and increase your GCI. Here are some easy integrations with a few of my favorite ones.

Scroll down to the next section see more integrations for marketing automation tools.

Create new Trello card for each Showcase IDX lead

Create a new Pulse on monday.com for each Showcase IDX lead

Create Podio items for new Showcase IDX contacts

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Easily integrate with your favorite marketing automation tool with the only IDX consumers choose over Zillow

Whether a new client is ready to buy or sell right away or they’re just starting the relationship, you need to stay in touch and a great marketing automation tool will let you send drip emails, text messages, and more over the coming weeks, months, and even years.

Showcase IDX’s 9 avenues of lead generation are an easy way to gather information from people, and one of the best pieces of information to gather is their email address. These tools will help automate and personalize your campaigns.

Add or update ActiveCampaign contacts with new Showcase IDX leads

Add deals to ActiveCampaign when new leads are generated with Showcase IDX

Add new Showcase IDX leads to Campaign Monitor as contacts

Create ClickFunnels contact profiles from new Showcase IDX leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to a ClickFunnels list

Add new Showcase IDX lead to a ConvertKit sequence

Add new leads from Showcase IDX to a ConvertKit form

Add Showcase IDX entries to a ConvertKit tag

Create or update Drip subscriber from new lead on Showcase IDX

Create or update Infusionsoft contacts from new Showcase IDX leads

Create Insightly contacts for new Showcase IDX contacts

Add new leads from Showcase IDX to lemlist as leads

Add new Showcase IDX leads to lemlist Buddies-to-be campaign

Add new Showcase IDX leads to GetResponse as new contacts

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Bonus: A few additional integrations to consider

Here are a few additional Zaps to consider.

Add new Showcase IDX leads as new record in Airtable

Create a loop in Dotloop for each new Showcase IDX lead

Add new Showcase IDX leads to REIPro as buyer leads

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You’ve now learned how to follow up with new leads quickly, add new leads to your CRM, schedule showings instantly, and more. No need to set them all up at once.

I recommend picking one or two IDX integrations to start with.

Learn more

• Our 2020 Success Guide walks through how smart agents define success at different stages of growing their business and shows you the features and settings of our 24 most successful websites.
  • Download Success Guide
  • Take as a free course
• Take the Effective Social Media Content course
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