Developing a website is only the first step in your online marketing campaign. You also have the task of ensuring that your site is visible, which includes strategies and techniques applied to drive traffic to your site. This is an essential part of your online campaign and deserves a lot of attention. In this article I will explain some ways to market your real estate website online:
Submit Your Site
Find the best web directories and submit your site. This is the first step every web owner should take and also the easiest of these techniques. Directories will only accept your site if you have good content and a likable design.
Optimize It
Search Engine Optimization refers to the process of increasing the volume and quality of traffic to your website. This can be done in many ways but one will start by showing the Search Engines what your site is about. You do this by entering keywords, titles and descriptions regarding the content of your site. This way your website will come up on the search engine results page when people search a query related to the content of your site.
Start Blogging
Blogging refers to a space on the web that individuals use to write about industry related topics. A property website owner will typically blog about the property market and other topics concerning property. This is a great way to advertise your site, generate leads and also brings you in contact with other players in the industry.
Write Articles
Write articles on topics relating to your website or industry and submit them to article submission sites – much like I am doing now. This will improve your online visibility.
Make Your Site Appealing
Design is still one of the most important aspects to get users to stay on your site or to make your site “sticky”. Your home page should be informative with minimal distractions. Also, avoid misuse of pop up windows or flash introduction. Use fast loading graphics and remember that users will leave your site if your design does not draw their attention.
Link It
Link building is an essentially part of Search Engine Optimisation – so important that it deserves its own introduction. Linking the pages of your site to each other and getting links from other websites are extremely important if you want to do well on the search engines’ rankings. A link from another site is like a vote and the more votes you have the more important the search engines will see you, and the more traffic they will send to your site. It would therefore be wise to spend some time on link building. Links can be paid for in the form of Pay Per Click Ads or banner advertising or you can think of creative ways of persuading other sites to publish a free link to your site.
Engage in Social Media
Real estate is an inherently social enterprise. Agent client relationships stemming from real estate deals can mature as personal friendships, and personal friendships can become business relationships. Because of this it is important for agents to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. These online communities should be used to network rather than advertise your listings but it can also be an effective way to drive traffic to your site.
Author Resource:
Elizabeth works for SA Hometraders - South Africa's leading online property portal that advertises a wide range of property for sale in all areas of South Africa. Visit http://www.sahometraders.co.za for more information.
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