5 Reasons Why People Can't Find Your Real Estate Website

Having a real estate website (that you own) is important, but driving consumer traffic to your site is MORE important. The issue I see with Realtors is that they need help learning how to use their website as the amazing weapon that it can be. One of the keys to making your website effective is to give consumers the ability to find your real estate website…but how? Avoiding the pitfalls many Realtors make with trying to generate website traffic can be the difference in promoting your value and “brand” to a large audience vs a small one. My job is to make sure my clients with Stewart Title don’t make these mistakes. What are they? Here are the 5 reasons why people can’t find your real estate website.

5. Your Website Platform…Stinks

Not all websites and platforms are created equally. Some are good…some are bad…some are horrible! The search engines (which rank your site/content) do have a preference. If your website is company template, $29.95 a month, controlled by someone else, basic set up with no content…that is bad. Google, Yahoo and Bing will have a much harder time ranking your content and people will struggle with being able to find your real estate website. We do know that Google loves WordPress as the SEO abilities this platform provides allows your site and content to rank in the search engine index…fast! Want people to find your real estate website? Dump the “pay as you go” or company website and brand your real estate business on a WordPress site.

4. Very Little Content on your Website

To make your website great, you need to add content. Content on your website is like gas to your car. You can have a Ferrari in the driveway, but without gas in the car, it isn’t going anywhere. If you don’t add content on your website (blogs, videos, listings, etc) your website will fall down the index and other websites that are adding content will pass you. How often do you go to the 2nd page of Google to look for something? This doesn’t mean you have to be a huge “blogger” but not adding relevant content to your site will hurt you in the long run. Also, by adding the “right” content that people interested in buying/selling real estate seek, it makes them smarter, and adds value to you. Thus leading to more leads, conversions, and clients.

3. No Website SEO/Plugins/Keyword Strategy

You have a website, have content, but still not ranking in the search engines? If you have a WordPress site you can install some great “plugins” (think apps on your phone) that can enhance your website’s visibility by optimizing your content. There are many of these SEO related plugins, but you don’t need them all. Find the ones that work best for you and try them out. Here are a few that I recommend. Click on the links to be directed to each plugins page.

Again, there are many more SEO Plugins, but installing the right ones and using them correctly will dramatically help a target audience find your real estate website. Then identify a “key-word strategy,” the words and phrases that you wish to be found for or rank and build your content around that. Need help? Check out Google Keyword Planner to develop a smart strategy.

2. Your Content Isn’t Syndicated Through Social Media Channels

One of the most important ways to have people find your real estate website and grow your audience is to syndicate (distribute) your content through your social media channels. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, and of course YouTube. On top of reaching an organic audience with your optimized content, you will now hit possibly thousands of other people by posting links to your blogs, videos, listings, and more to these channels. The power of sharing and re-tweeting is huge. Doing this on a regular basis will grow your website audience and traffic to your real estate website. Also, YouTube is owned by Google so having a video presence there is important. Have “calls to action” to drive traffic to your website and use their newly introduced “Cards” feature which will also drive traffic back to your website.

1. (Drum Roll…) Paralysis by Analysis…

Learning how make this all work can take time, and the return of business and “Leads” are not immediate when using content marketing strategies and driving traffic to your real estate website. This can be an issue for many, thus causing them to have paralysis by analysis…meaning that they do nothing instead of something. They leave their real estate website as a “business card online” and seek other marketing methods that are easier and have a faster rate of return. Not to mention that having a good WordPress site built costs money and the time commitment involved to create effective content is not that appealing to many.

That is the rub…do you do nothing an keep your monthly paid template site and be satisfied with just having something online that you can point traffic too, or do you want to grow and expand your brand so that your target audience can find you, learn your value before you ever meet them, establish a following, and do more business? The decision is yours…

If you want to learn…and your Title Company isn’t helping you

Then take a moment and fill out the form below. At Stewart Title, we HELP our clients and prospects with all facets of their real estate marketing. Tell me what you need and I will respond! Also, take a moment and Subscribe to my blog and YouTube Channel in sidebar to your upper-right. It is free, and lets you get notified every time I post new content that is helpful to you.

If you are on Twitter and Periscope…you can follow/add me @dctitleguy

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DCTitleWade1

Senior Vice President of Business Development at Pruitt Title

I'm the Senior Vice President of Business Development for Pruitt Title in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia area. I help my Realtor and Lender partners grow their businesses with offline and online marketing solutions. More eyes to them mean more business. I create the win/win!