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The realty industry has reached a point at which digital marketing is no longer a novelty – it’s now a necessity. Increasingly potential home buyers are turning to online outlets to find the information they need and real estate agents that aren’t willing to adapt will find themselves left behind. There are some common strategies that can help agencies successfully make the transition to the digital age.

How important is it for a realtor to have an online presence? Consider this. There are literally hundreds of thousands of real estate agents in the US and most of them have a strong online presence. Agencies that don’t follow suit will find themselves falling behind. Potential clients expect to be able to find a realtor online whenever they need one.

Start with a Professional Website

It starts with a professional website. One of the biggest mistakes companies make is choosing to go it alone at this point. There may be somebody on staff that has a bit of knowledge when it comes to creating web pages, but this isn’t an area to take shortcuts. The first thing a potential client will search for is a good website. If it isn’t crisp, clean, and professional they’ll keep looking.

Mobile Friendly

Realty agencies can’t be content with a site that works well on traditional computing platforms either. In today’s mobile friendly world, it’s important to have a site that works well on all possible platforms. The site needs to look just as good on a laptop as it does on a smartphone. According to the National Association of Realtors, most potential buyers that search for a realtor online do so using a mobile platform. Real estate agencies must make sure their site is mobile friendly.

Embedded Video

It’s also important to make sure that the content on the site isn’t static. Today’s potential home buyers are used to interactive content that paints a clear picture in their mind. A good idea is to create a YouTube channel that showcases the agency and the agents. These YouTube videos can then be embedded from the channel right on the website. Videos shouldn’t be very long as people tend to have short attention spans, but they don’t really need to be to get an effective message across.

SEO Optimization

Most readers of this article have probably heard the term SEO, but what does it really mean? It stands for search engine optimization and it refers to the things that can be done to drive traffic to a site. How search engines such as Google determine the placing of a site in its search listings involves a complicated formula, but there are some things that can be done to increase the chances a site will be found in a search. Creating lots of relevant, fresh, and interactive content in the realty niche is a good place to start for a real estate agency trying to establish a solid online presence.

Social Media Accounts

It isn’t enough just to create a great website though. In our social media driven world, it’s become expected that any business worth its salt will have a strong social media presence as well. At a minimum, real estate agencies should have a Facebook business page, a Twitter account, and a LinkedIn account. Each individual agent should have an account on each of these platforms as well.