Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Are you looking for new ways to market your high-end real estate listings? Sure, you can continue to hold open houses, hand out business cards, and blog about each listing you have, but there’s also another step you can take that may worth consideration. Although it sounds like a lot of work and a lot of money, the suggestion I have is both effective, and more importantly, affordable.
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What I’m talking about is starting a stand-alone website for a single property you have listed. But instead of buying a domain name using the address or something specific for that property, use a broader URL such as MyFeaturedListingForSale.com that will enable you to re-use the domain once each property is sold.
To make starting a single-property website as easy as possible, build out the framework of the site to be somewhat generic. Use page names such as “Floor Plans”, “Photos,” and “Listing Details” as this will make the pages much less time consuming to change-out once each listing has sold. Obviously using generic page titles in this way isn’t the best search engine optimization strategy, but the main purpose of this site isn’t to get results organically. Instead, it will be up to you to distribute the link through e-mail, social media, blogging, and other forms of marketing you regularly use to sell homes.
Along with floor plans, photos, and written copy about your home listing, also include video tours, an open-house calendar, and a map with the home’s location. Finding relevant information to put on the site about each property should never be a problem. Another suggestion for a single property website is to include a blog feature that allows you to inform the site’s viewers (aka-potential buyers) of all the latest updates on the home. Talk about things like the latest showing you had, upcoming open houses, and price reductions. Again, finding topics to discuss should never be that difficult.
Having a single property website is beneficial in more ways than just marketing a home you’re trying to sell. As long as you build a site out that looks and feels professional, it should automatically impress the seller and let them know that you’re doing everything possible to get their home sold. Consequently, this should also build up your reputation as a premier listing agent in your market and get you even more listings down the road. And if you’re worried about cost, don’t. If you’re even just a little bit web savvy, creating a site for a single property shouldn’t take too long, and if you want to have it done for you, I’ve built out similar sites for clients for between only $500 and $600. This type of minimal investment can go a long way in building your real estate brand, so it's something every real estate agent should look into right away.
Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.
