Welcome back for another round of helping real estate agents get their web marketing acts together. This is the 4th post in this series so be sure to read the other 3:
3 Ways Realtors Can Spread The Word For New properties Online
3 Web Development Needs Of Rural Real Estate Agents
Mobile Web Marketing Tactics That Realtors Should Use
Picking up where I left off, I want to chat about a couple of features that all realtors' websites should have:
- Video Tours
- Property Mapping
Video Tours Of Properties
We discussed online video in previous posts, but I think it's worth covering again with a focus on real estate. Rural real estate agent websites tend to have very unprofessional photos and no video at all. Both are a mistake and do the seller a disservice.
Photography of the properties should be a given. Crappy pictures leave to crappy offers, and no inquiries or scheduled visits. Plain and simple.
Video is an area that lacks completely on most realtors' websites. All a realtor needs is a VERY basic video camera like the Flip shown to the right, and a basic tripod. The flip shoots HD video making for very high quality footage. The flip camera comes with an application that allows you to make some minor edits and upload the video to YouTube. Once on YouTube, the realtor can copy the embed code provided and paste it into their own site.
Video ads what photography misses. Photos never really give the viewer the correct perception of the depth and size of a room. The potential buyer is forced to guess what is on the side of the room behind the photographer. With a tripod, the realtor can do simple 360 degree rotations to show the entire room.
Maps Of Available Properties
With tools like Google Maps readily and FREEly available for integration with your website, it is a no-brainer to put one together that shows all of the properties you have for sale as a real estate agent. That way, when a family hops in their car to look around for prospective homes to view, all they have to do is visit your website on their smartphone, and they can find all of the locations of your homes, plus directions via google maps.
If you recall, my first post focused on rural real estate agent websites pushed for the use of a property management database. Using a database would allow for dynamically generating the maps so there would be no need to create them manually. An example of this can be found here.
Including local landmarks like such Hospitals, Schools, Restaurants, Banks, etc... would really help potential buyers to see what's happening around the homes they are looking at.
Real Estate Agents Have Low Hanging Fruit To Pick
Overall, my last few posts coupled with this one show that rural real estate agent websites have a lot of room for improvement. The nice thing is, most of the improvements that can be made are very cost effective and would substantially improve the experience for potential buyers.
If you are in the Real Estate industry and would like to explore these or any other options available online, please contact us for an initial consultation.
How to Audit your Online Marketing
If you are executing digital marketing, congratulations! You are most likely already one step ahead of your competition, and making strides to meaningfully connect with prospects online. But, how do you know if you’re seeing continual success year over year, and improving your metrics?
Without the tools in place to analyze and benchmark your efforts, it is impossible to scale your online marketing and ensure continuous success.
