Selling homes is your thing. Showing up on the first page of Google? Not so much. Is that a good reason to neglect your organic leads? Not at all. With digital marketing, you can easily put your agency on the map and earn yourself more leads.

The key to getting qualified traffic is to use real estate SEO services as part of an integrated marketing strategy. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can take your website from the 5th page on Google to the first in a matter of months.

Why is this important? Because 44% of home buyers begin their search for a house online. This is why you should invest heavily in optimizing your site and its content for search engines.

Of course, it’ll require some research, commitment, and know how. If you’d like to learn more about how SEO can help your real estate business, then continue reading!

Let’s review some of the ways you can streamline your real estate SEO efforts.

Make Use of Those Local Keywords

Chances are, you’re only selling properties in very specific areas. And while this may seem to limit to your business (especially for non-popular destinations), it’s a goldmine in the world of SEO.

This is because local keywords help drive specific traffic to your site (but only if you optimize for them). For instance, if you’re selling residential properties in Portland, OR, then you should include terms like “Portland OR homes for sale,” in your site.

But don’t just guess as to what search terms your leads are using. Use tools to research which keywords get the most searches every month. You’ll need to find keywords that are relevant to your prospects and don’t have a lot of competition. If too many other businesses are ranking for those words, then it’ll be a lot harder to make it to page 1.

As a rule of thumb, you should use your target keywords throughout your site. For instance, you can create a page called “Why Hire a Portland, OR Real Estate Agent?”

The primary keyword here is “Portland OR real estate agent.” Include the keywords of your choice in the title, first paragraph, a subheading, and in the conclusion.

Keep in mind though: Google is getting smarter and more human every day. Don’t ever stuff your keywords into your page over and over, and make sure to keep everything natural. The example above is great as it sounds fairly natural yet still hits the localized target keyword. More on this later!

Boost Business with Your Blog

In today’s consumer-centric world, it’s all about content. While ads can still be helpful in getting leads, it won’t offer the consistent traffic flow like SEO can. And the best way to streamline your SEO efforts is with a content strategy.

If you don’t already have a blog, it’s time to build one. You can do this easily with WordPress. They offer a variety of templates to choose from. Or you can hire a web designer to implement one on your existing site.

As for the content you put on your blog, you want to write pieces that will attract your audience. What better way to do this than to blog about the properties you have available? You can create an engaging piece with lots of details, photos, and maybe even walk-through videos.

Make sure to include your keywords inside your title and throughout the page. It’s also recommended that you put your target keyword in the meta description, alt tag for photos, title tag, and file name of photos.

Make Use of Images and Videos

There’s nothing more engaging on the web than images and video. In real estate, these two tools are your best friend. As you’d imagine, home buyers are looking for actual footage of the houses they’re interested in.

Besides placing this type of media in your blog posts, you can also feature them on their own section of your website. For example, you can have a page of available properties that prospects can browse through.

In fact, you can use your blog posts to promote the listings on that page to drive traffic and get folks looking around. Of course, you’ll need to optimize these photos and videos using your target keywords.

Just make sure that all of your videos are shot professionally (or at least with a steady hand). If your videos are low quality and have poor production, then you’ll only run prospects away. Capture tours of your properties, as well as testimonials from your past clients.

All of this can help convert more leads.

Everyone loves looking at pictures of well-presented homes. Use this to your advantage in your SEO marketing efforts!

Ensure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly

Google and other search engines are very keen about sites that are mobile-optimized. In other words, if your real estate site isn’t quick-loading and easy to use on a mobile device, then it’s going to lose ranking.

On that note, it’s very important to ensure that your website is responsive to any device visitors are using. The best way to do that is to adopt a responsive web design. You can hire a web designer to build one from scratch or you can buy a template.

The reason this is important for your real estate SEO is because it’ll negatively impact your ranking in Google if you ignore it. It’s also important to point out that most home shoppers are using mobile devices to find property listings.

So it makes sense to make your site easy to find and use by your mobile visitors. Also, when mobile users conduct searches on Google, guess what pops up first: local listings.

By targeting local keywords, it’ll help your website show up first in their search results.

Claim and Create Business Directories

Here’s another great example of the power of search engine optimization. When local search results pop up, business directories are among the top. It makes sense to claim all of your listings in these directories or create them if there are none.

This includes directories like Google My Business, Yelp, Zillow, Trulia, and RedFin. The more directories you’re on, the better. Just make sure all of the information you provide is accurate and identical across all listings.

Your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) should be consistent with what’s on your website as well. If there are discrepancies, it can alert the search engine that your data is out of date and will hurt your organic visibility

Make Sure Your Bio’s Optimized

Home buyers aren’t just looking for homes to buy, they’re looking for an agent that’ll help them find the house of their dreams. That’s you!

While an incredible bio detailing all your achievements and client satisfaction rates is great, it won’t account for much if it’s not found. Optimizing your bio not only brings traffic to your bio page, but to your website.

Every page of your site is a tool in your SEO arsenal. If your name is your brand, then make sure to optimize it with that.

If you don’t already have a name for yourself and your business (meaning popularity), then this next tip may help.

Grow Visibility Using Social Media

Social media platforms are another clever way of driving organic traffic to your business. You can use them to gain a following and grow your visibility as a personal or business brand. It’s also an incredible method for starting and building relationships, both with prospects and influencers.

Your social media pages are the perfect place to advertise your blog posts and home listings. It’ll drive traffic to these locations and tell Google these pages are relevant and good quality (further boosting your SEO ranking).

A social media strategy is important to have and is often included as a recommended strategy alongside real estate SEO services. If you decide to do it on your own, ensure to add photos and videos in your posts to increase engagement and shares.

Get involved in the conversations on your posts to show you’re human and that you care. Answer questions in a timely fashion, especially your direct messages. Facebook showcases your responsiveness, so if your score is good, more people are likely to reach out to you via social media.

Don’t Overstuff Pages with Keywords

Now that you understand the importance of keywords (especially local key phrases), it’s essential to point out density limits. In this case, it’s not “the more, the merrier,” it’s “the more natural, the better.”

Google and other search engines care about the quality and readability of your content. And if you’re stuffing your pages with search terms with the hopes of getting a higher ranking, you’re sadly mistaken.

In fact, this will drop your site to the back of the bus and you may even get penalized. Bouncing back from a Google penalty is no joke so avoid it at all costs.

So what is a good amount of keywords to use? Well, as a rule of thumb, the bare minimum is to have the keyword in your title, intro, subheading, and conclusion. You can sprinkle it throughout the content wherever it fits naturally.

It’s also a good idea to use related secondary keywords so you don’t feel compelled to keep using the same version of the key phrase. For example, you can have Los Angeles realtor as your primary, then your secondaries can be: LA realtor, Los Angeles real estate agent, and LA home seller.

Hiring Real Estate SEO Services

Now that you have a hefty list of real estate SEO tips, it’s time to start putting it to use. But if you’re a busy realtor (which is always good news), you may need a little help.

In this case, it’s a good idea to invest in real estate SEO services. There’s a lot to SEO, which you may not have the time to learn about. By hiring an SEO expert, you can get the traffic you need for your business to excel.

At Midas, we have professional digital marketing experts that can help build you a solid strategy. We offer SEO, copywriting, web design, and other services. Get in touch with us today to learn more!

The post Getting More Organic Leads with Real Estate SEO Services appeared first on Midas Marketing.

As a homebuilder, you can’t let online marketing be an afterthought. Once you have completed the heavy lifting on a project, starting with renderings, land surveys, permits, on through the entire scope of a project, do not think that with the Certificate of Occupancy in hand, your job is done. Remember that in today’s arena, digital marketing for homebuilders is an essential lifeline to remaining competitive, gaining new clients and selling homes.

What Does Internet Marketing for Home Builders Entail?

A simple 411 would be to break it down as follows; Website, Blog, Email Capture, Social Media and an effective CRM. Will this expenditure just be another line item expense? The answer is no. On the contrary, it will add to your bottom line when done right. Internet marketing for homebuilders is a radical must.

Start with a website. Write a weekly blog and post it on your site in a prominent space. Use keywords in your blog posts in order for search engines to pick you up. You might be feeling like you are not a writer, so why should you have a blog? Write about what you know! Remember that your audience is looking to you for insider information. You have insight to offer into such things as the local real estate market, the manner in which best to work with contractors, interior designers that you can personally recommend, the sturdiest surface for kitchen counter-tops. The list goes on! Make the blog succinct.

Capture emails. One way to do so is to create a “learn more” or “sign up” call to action on your website or your Facebook page. Voilà, you have captured a lead. Linking to this email capture page from each blog post is a good way to turn interested browsers into potential buyers. This strategy should be an ongoing effort as a business owner.

Next, post your blogs onto your social media. While the list of choices for social media is growing, it would benefit you, as a homebuilder, to have at least a Facebook business page and a Twitter account.  Daily active users on Facebook in June 2016 were 1.13 billion. Using Twitter as a B2C platform ranks second behind Facebook, worldwide, to generate business leads.

SEO for Home Builders 

Now you’re on a roll. Visibility is the goal. To make the exposure to your site and blogs most effective, you must employ SEO (search engine optimization) in order for Google and other search engines to index your site and rank you high in “organic” search results. This is “free,” even though you have to pay with time or money to develop a good campaign strategy. To achieve this, research the most relevant keywords in your industry. Employ them not only embedded within the content you write, but more importantly you should write around them. In other words, create content based on what your consumer would be searching for. Get to know your customer and put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what you are offering and make a list. If your niche is high-end luxury condominiums in Miami Beach, keywords might be “spacious,” “amenities,” “concierge,” “luxury,” “rooftop pool.” To validate your research, there are free keyword search tools such as Wordtracker, Google AdWords, Wordstream, among others. Back check your list, modify as necessary, and start to write.

For further reading on homebuilder marketing, download our free homebuilder marketing guide below!

The post SEO for Home Builders: Getting New Leads Through Organic Search appeared first on Midas Marketing.

It is no secret that most people are exploring the internet for almost everything they need via smartphones and other handheld devices. Today, almost everyone connected to the internet logs on via a mobile device. These are people who are shopping for new homes, looking for places to eat and even trying to find business opportunities in the homebuilding industry. If your homebuilding business does not have a mobile-friendly website, there is a good chance you are missing out on all this traffic that could bring in more sales.

In recent years, Google has expanded its website ranking factors. On that list, which includes relevant, high-quality traffic, videos, backlinks and so on, they added on ‘mobile-friendliness’ as an important ranking factor. What this means is that Google now pays special attention to websites that are mobile friendly and those that aren’t will slowly get ignored or ranked lower by the search engines. No matter how well your website is doing now, if it is not mobile-friendly, soon you will start ranking lower on search engines and losing valuable organic traffic. Aside from that very crucial aspect, there are other benefits that having a mobile-friendly website brings to the table.

How to make your home builder web site design sales driven

Make it mobile friendly

Smartphones are becoming more popular and cheaper by the day. According to research, about 187 million Americans own smartphones today. That number jumps into the billions when you take the rest of the world into consideration. Market research shows that about 40% of these people use their mobile phones to find out information and make ‘buying’ decisions. This is a big opportunity for those with mobile friendly sites and a huge loss for those who do not have responsive websites.

Design it with “SEO for Homebuilders” in mind

For your new homebuilder’s website to be more sales oriented, you need to have it designed with SEO in mind. This means that it has to be aesthetically pleasing, load quickly, include nice images, and it has to have high quality and relevant content. Long gone are the days when you could just load your website with keywords and hope for it to rank in Google for search term “homebuilders.” Now you have to include social media plugins and other elements such as videos and meaningful text. Additionally, you should pay close attention to various digital marketing techniques that have worked well for other homebuilders.

Create landing pages for your buyers

Nobody is going to purchase a home from you on the spot through your website, but they will provide their information for a phone call or consultation meeting if your website is laid out accordingly. Build a landing page (or multiple landing pages!) targeted towards your ideal customer. Offer an incentive to download, such as a free PDF or homebuilder interview checklist. Assuming you set up your website analytics correctly, you’ll be able to eventually learn the value of every visitor that comes to that page based on your conversion rates.

Want to learn more? Download our free homebuilder marketing guide below for more specific homebuilder marketing strategies!

The post Home Builder Web Site Design: How to Make Your Site Sales-Driven appeared first on Midas Marketing.

Internet marketing is crucial in today’s business world. Every homebuilder wants to compete effectively and stay ahead of the game in the industry, so embracing these new marketing techniques is non-negotiable. Generating leads online and starting discussions with potential buyers through digital mediums is increasing every year, and ROI off marketing spends is becoming better and better along with it.

This process starts because someone who wants to build a house or construct a new commercial building will probably search for local construction companies online in the initial discovery phase of their journey. That’s where search engine optimization comes into play. Search engine optimization or SEO for homebuilders is crucial because most people turn to the internet to find solutions to their needs, even building a home.

You may see the importance of online marketing, but why exactly do you need it as a home builder?

Home Builder Marketing: Digital Marketing to Reach More Buyers

Helps you know exactly what you want

Having a marketing system in place will help you understand that you need to have an SEO strategy to rank well in online search, a strong social media presence to start conversations, and a strong, lead-generating website to measure ROI. Having a blog and making videos are crucial too and support all of the aforementioned activities. The main thing that a building company must do is to create a website that will clearly focus on the services that they provide. This will serve as the conversion piece of your marketing efforts, turning your browsers into leads.

To give you direction and focus

A marketing system will give you direction and focus once you understand that people need to see the type of work that was completed by your company. Finished structures should be showcased in pictures or videos. A homebuilding company should use real-life examples of houses that they built or neighborhoods that they have designed. This way potential clients can get a good idea about the kind of home they will get if they decide to go with your particular company. It also gives you a chance to show off your best work, or the kind of work you are looking to secure.

To stand out from the crowd

Since the era of the digital marketing is in full effect, many businesses already have a digital presence in place. Any homebuilder with an online presence should make sure that they brand themselves with a great logo, slogan, and catchphrase. Having a personable brand will make you stand out from the competition and build relational equity right form the start.

Whenever you consider online marketing as a homebuilder, be sure to keep your company relevant. You should make sure that you’re using the latest internet strategies and marketing techniques for younger buyers, who are entering the market and use the internet as an integral part of all major purchasing decisions.

Conclusion

Homebuilding companies that want to stay relevant in the market should have a marketing system in place to help them attract new clients. It’s undoubted that those looking to build a house will certainly search online for reputable companies that can assist them with the building. Digital marketing for homebuilders is something that every construction company should be doing, plain and simple.

If you are a homebuilder and need help with your digital marketing, we have experience in this specific industry and can help your business grow. For further reading, download our free homebuilder marketing guide below:

The post Home Builder Marketing: Building a Digital Marketing Strategy appeared first on Midas Marketing.

In the old days, only the biggest, most well-funded homebuilders could afford to advertise on TV, radio and various prestigious print outlets. This meant that small homebuilders, or those who were just starting out, had an incredibly difficult time garnering any kind of brand recognition. Essentially, they were being choked out of the market by the big companies.

Today, however, the marketing atmosphere has completely changed. Thanks to the internet and SEO for homebuilders, small homebuilders can now level the playing field, and in many cases, out-market the big companies. Here are some successful online marketing ideas small homebuilders can use to compete with the big companies.

Online Marketing for Home Builders

Build and optimize a world class website

If you do not have a website for your business in this day and age, you are at a significant disadvantage. Over 90%% of your potential clients are going online to look for builders they can hire to construct their luxury custom homes. The very first thing you can do as a small homebuilder is to have a professional, responsive website designed for your brand. This website should:

• Be well designed and responsive
• Be full of high quality and relevant content
• Showcase your skills and expertise
• Be a gateway for you to fluidly communicate with your clients
• Easy to navigate and find

Become a resource for your clients

Most companies are so focused on promoting their agenda that they forget to listen to their clients. As a small homebuilder, one of the best ways to ensure that people know who you are is to become an invaluable resource to them.

This can be done through:

• Being active on home builder forums where clients go to ask construction related questions
• Be friendly with most building material suppliers so you know who you can recommend should any of your potential clients ask
• Hold community outreach programs to try and show people good homebuilding practices to build trust and rapport
• Have a blog that gives practical advice on homebuilding related topics

Once people start associating your brand with practical and useful information as well as homebuilding based solutions, you’re only one step away from their hiring you to build their next home.

Be active on social media

When it comes to digital marketing for home builders, you simply cannot ignore social media. From Facebook to Twitter, LinkedIn and even Instagram, you simply must find ways to connect with your audience. You can start thought-provoking discussions on Facebook to increase user engagement; you can post beautiful pictures of finished houses on Instagram, and you can give professional advice on LinkedIn. You can also use social media as an avenue to resolve any client complaints or answer any pertinent questions.

Showcase customer case studies

One of the best ways to rank in Google for homebuilders and get your brand associated with professionalism and expertise is to showcase various case studies. These have to be successful projects that your company has undertaken. Give people a clear picture from start to finish. This way, they become familiar with your process and start seeing you as a development partner instead of just another company. The best thing about this is that it will give your potential clients an opportunity to visualize themselves as the home buyer in question. They will start thinking about building their own homes, and they will start seeing you as their home builder of choice.

Today, various online marketing methods have made it exceptionally easy for small homebuilders to compete with the big companies. Now the playing field is leveled! For further reading, download our free homebuilder marketing guide below:

The post How Small Home Builders Can Use Online Marketing to Grow appeared first on Midas Marketing.