Are you a real estate agent looking for a way to promote your real estate business?
If you are, you may want to consider using QR codes. QR codes are a type of barcode that can be scanned using a smartphone or tablet. When scanned, a QR code can provide your customers with information about your business, such as your website, your contact information, or a special offer. You can create QR codes for free using a QR code generator. When creating your QR code, you will need to decide what information you want to include. Once you have created your QR code, you can promote it by including it on your business cards, flyers, or any other marketing materials.
What is a QR code?
Are you a real estate agent and unaware of what a QR code is?
Whether you’ve heard of them or not, QR (quick response) codes are a form of matrix barcodes that can hold around 245 bytes of data. While they were invented in 1994 by Masahiro Hara of the Japanese automotive company Denso Wave. However, they didn’t become mainstream until around 2010, when they were used extensively in Japan for ticketing and navigation.
QR codes are a type of two-dimensional barcode, machine-readable codes consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information.
QR codes are becoming increasingly popular, and most smartphones now have built-in QR code scanning features in their native camera apps.
Static QR Codes – why should a real estate agent care?
What are Static QR codes?
Static QR codes are fixed, meaning that all the data is directly embedded into the QR code. Once generated and printed for real-world usage, it can’t be changed. However, they are fully customizable, and there is no scan limit.
Most real estate businesses have made it a priority to ensure a user’s experience is seamless and memorable. A static QR code is a great way to do this. Sure, there are a few drawbacks, namely, not being able to change the target location after adding a QR code to a piece of marketing material.
A static QR code may adequately suit your needs. However, a dynamic QR code may be just the thing you’re looking for to use on those “luxury” marketing pieces.
Dynamic QR Codes – why should a real estate agent care?
What are Dynamic QR codes?
Dynamic QR codes are super handy because they can redirect users to a destination URL, even if that URL changes after the QR code has been generated. That’s because the short URL embedded in the code remains the same, even if the destination URL changes. So if you need to update the URL for whatever reason, you can do so without having to update the QR code itself.
Imagine reprinting new business cards every time you make minor changes to your contact information, or reprinting all of your expensive marketing materials if you switch website providers.
Dynamic QR codes offer additional benefits to real estate marketing, namely:
Advanced scan statistics
Scheduling,
Expiration limits,
A/B Rotation,
Password protection, and also
Country, device & language re-targeting
How do QR codes work?
The QR code Scanner Decodes…
As we mentioned earlier Quick Response Codes, or QR Codes, are a popular type of two-dimensional barcode. They’re machine-readable codes usually consisting of an array of black and white squares. However, they can contain colors, as well as logos, and pictures.
The QR code scanner decodes the encoded message designed into the QR code. It moves along the QR code two data modules at a time in a right-to-left, up-then-down zig-zag pattern until every data module is covered.
Let’s take a look a the basics of how the QR code scanning process works.
Aim the mobile device of choice at a QR code.
The QR code scanner in your mobile device’s camera uses the three position markers in the code to figure out where the edges of the code are. With a sufficient quiet area, your scanner will be able to identify the edges of the QR code.
The scanner usually starts at the bottom right, where it will find the mode indicator. These four data modules tell the scanner what kind of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte, or kanji) is encoded in the rest of the QR code.
The next thing the scanner sees is the character count indicator. This is made up of 8 data modules and it tells the scanner how long the encoded message is.
Now that it knows what kind of data it is and how long the message is, the scanner carries on zig-zagging along the data modules until it picks up all the information that has been encoded. The very last data module the scanner comes to is called the end indicator.
After reading the final character, the scanner proceeds to the error correction data modules. These modules contain information that can help repair damage to the QR code. There are four levels of error correction, which determine how much of the QR code’s data is backed up. This helps ensure that the code can still be read even if it is damaged.
What are the benefits of using QR codes for a real estate agent?
The benefits of using QR codes include being able to provide your customers with information about your business, promoting your business, and increasing brand awareness.
QR codes are a great way to promote your business.
QR codes are a great way to promote your real estate company. You can use them to promote your website, and your real estate team, or advertise the services that you provide. You can also use them to promote special landing pages for your featured listings. You can use QR codes to promote your business in a variety of ways.
QR codes are a great way to increase brand awareness.
QR codes are a great way to increase brand awareness. You can use them to promote your website on your business cards, your open house events, or your featured listings. You can also use them to promote your buyer and seller guides, or that “FSBO” guide that you’re especially proud of, your social media pages, or your email signature. You can use QR codes to increase your brand awareness in a variety of ways.
Top 10 ways to use a QR code in your real estate marketing
If you’re a real estate professional and you’re not using QR codes as part of your marketing strategy, you’re missing out! QR codes are a great way to streamline your marketing efforts and make things more convenient for your employees and clients.
Here are 10 ways to use QR codes in your real estate marketing
Text – Simple and clear text embedded into a QR code.
URL – Send someone to a link.
Phone – Get calls from people by scanning the QR code.
SMS – Get custom SMS messages from people by scanning the QR code.
Email – Get custom Emails from people by scanning the QR code.
Whatsapp – Get custom Whatsapp messages from people by scanning the QR code.
Facetime – Get Facetime calls from people by scanning the QR code.
Location – Embed location coordinates for people to get directions more easily.
WiFi – Create WiFi QR codes and let people connect to your WiFi more easily.
Event – Generate a custom life calendar event and embed it into a QR code.
Pro Tip – A QR Code’s usage is limited mostly by the real estate agent’s imagination.
Can we talk about your brand’s image?
Okay, let’s get into it, instead of passing out sticky notes with your company’s wifi login information every time you change the access information, you could update the destination URL of a Dynamic QR code that’s prominently posted in the employee lounge or the waiting area. Not only would this be more convenient for everyone involved, but it would also look a lot more professional than those sheets of paper with dirty, curled edges taped to the receptionist’s desk area!
Before the great health crisis of 2020
Before the great health crisis of 2020, QR codes had a bit of a fall from grace since their peak, leading many to consider them irrelevant or outdated – Now, you can see them on every store window and in every restaurant. We think that they have a great deal of value and can be used profitably by any real estate business.
According to Statista – In 2021, 75.8 million smartphone users in the United States scanned a QR code on their mobile devices, up by 15.3 percent compared to 2020. Usage of mobile QR code scanners is projected to experience constant growth, reaching approximately 99.5 million users in the U.S. by 2025. According to a survey of U.S. shoppers conducted in June 2021, 45 percent of respondents reported using aQR code to access marketing or promotional offers.
Conclusion
QR codes are a great way to promote your business. You can use them to provide your customers with information about your business, such as your website, your contact information, or a special offer. You can create QR codes for free using a QR code generator. And if you want to convert more relationships into real estate clients, we have a solution for you – we offer a great service, Etch Encoder is the perfect place to create and manage all of your quick response code marketing materials.
During a June 2021 survey, it was found that 59 percent of responding shoppers from the United States believed that QR codes would be a permanent part of using their mobile phone in the future; 11 percent disagreed with that statement. Additionally, it was found thatQR codes were most popularamong 18 to 29 years-olds, according to Statista.
Don’t forget that when promoting your QR code, you can include it on your business cards, flyers, or inside your real estate office.
We hope this article has helped shed some light on the benefits of using QR codes to market your real estate business. We know that this technology can help real estate agents to improve their website’s conversion rate, drive more leads to their business, and help them to find new clients. If you’d like to learn more about how you can use text-to-speech technology in your real estate business, we encourage you to stay tuned to our website at www.TitusMediaSolutions.com. We have a lot of great content on our blog and we’re always excited to see what new topics we can discuss. If you have any questions or comments about how you can use text-to-speech technology to improve your real estate business, please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime. Thank you for reading!
Text-To-Speech Synthesis is one of those technologies that has been around for over a decade. It has been used in the classroom and in the home with limited success. Recently, the quality of text-to-speech has improved and it has found its way into the business world.
If you’re looking to employ text-to-speech synthesis to enhance your real estate website, there are a few easy ways to get text-to-speech up and running on your website and improve your real estate business.
How can real estate agents add text-to-speech to their websites?
There are a number of ways to add text to speech to your website. The easiest way is to use a service like BarkBoxTTS. BarkBoxTTS is a text-to-speech synthesis generator with over 80 languages and 660 voices. By the way, BarkBoxTTS offers a free trial, so you can try it out before you commit to anything.
Another way to add text to speech to your website is to use a plug-in like WP Audio Podcast. WP Audio Podcast is a Word Press plug-in that allows you to add text to speech to your website.
Another way to add text to speech to your website is by using the Text to Speech API powered by Google. Their API allows you to create a simple text-to-speech player on your website with just a few lines of code. To learn more about this API, check out the documentation provided by Google.
What is Text-to-Speech (TTS), and why a real estate agent should care?
Text-To-Speech (TTS) voices are machine learning models trained from actual human voice data, and by using this data, these machines can then be taught to replicate a synthesized audio version of the same text that was originally used for the model. TTS has been used in customer service and SMART computer models like Apple’s Siri or the Alexa assistant.
You can become an industry leader by using TTS to convert the articles on your blog into audio format, allowing people the option of listening to the content whenever they have time. This helps them catch up on updates and news quickly so they don’t have to rely entirely on social media updates for information about your real estate blog and consequentially spend less time reading and more time doing something much better – listening!
What good is Text-to-Speech (TTS), and why you a real estate agent should care?
There are many benefits to adding text to speech to your website. For one, it can help make your website more accessible for people with disabilities. Additionally, it can make your website more engaging and user-friendly. Text-to-speech can also help you reach a wider audience, as it can be used to translate your website into multiple languages. If you have a website that is not yet accessible to everyone, consider adding text to speech today.
TTS helps publishers meet the guidelines for making their content accessible to those who are less able physically. Website accessibility has become a big priority for companies around the world as the internet is being used by governments far more frequently than ever before to help spread information and statistics such as interest rates, census data, etc., and how families can better access other governmental publications more readily. Many countries have decided to base their policies around the World Wide Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) framework. Adding speech versions to your real estate blog posts will instantly help you conform to these guidelines and boost your website’s rating against the current standards.
Are there creative ways a real estate agent can incorporate Text-to-Speech (TTS) into a website?
There are a number of ways you can use TTS to increase traffic to your website. For example,
You can use TTS to create audio versions of your blog posts. This will allow website visitors to listen to the content while they are performing other tasks.
You can share it on popular podcasting platforms. This will give potential buyers the ability to learn more about your listings without having to visit your website.
You can also use TTS to create video versions of your content, which can be shared on social media and video hosting platforms.
You can use TTS to create audio versions of your listings. This can be a great way to provide potential buyers with an overview of the property without them having to visit the site in person.
You can use TTS for YouTube videos, e-Learning content, and courses – a virtually endless list of benefits.
Wrapping things up!
Overall, adding Text-To-Speech (TTS) to your website is a pretty easy process. This can be a great way to increase accessibility, which in turn can increase usability and user satisfaction on your site. Using Text-To-Speech (TTS) is a great way to supplement your content with a personality of its own. It makes it more interesting and easier for your real estate fans to enjoy your content.
We hope this blog post has helped you discover how you can use Text-To-Speech (TTS) services to enhance your real estate website. Whether you’re a real estate agent or a website developer, Text-To-Speech (TTS) services like BarkBox can be a great tool to help you engage your visitors while providing them with an enjoyable experience. If you want to learn more about how BarkBox can help you with your real estate website, please contact us today! Thanks for reading, we are always excited when one of our posts is able to provide useful information on a topic like this!
Real estate is a social business. It’s about relationships, and you must have a robust online presence to succeed in this industry. Agents should be active on all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google My Business.
Social Media In Marketing: The Power and Possibilities
Social media is a must-have tool for real estate agents these days. It can help you reach out to new clients, connect with potential buyers and sellers, and build your brand. However, it can be tricky to navigate if you don’t know where to start. In this post, we’ll give you tips on how to get started with social media for your real estate business. We’ll discuss popular social media networks, offer some suggestions for content creation, and ways to get started on the right foot. Stay tuned – by the end of this post, you’ll be ready to take social media by storm!
Why get started with social media?
Did you know that over four and a half billion people worldwide use social media? Every real estate agent should be thinking about social media marketing. Moreover, they need to have an active presence on social media. It’s where your current clients are, along with many homeowners and future homeowners searching for guidance.
If you are an agent and you are not on social media, you are leaving behind a lot of opportunities. Don’t ignore the multitude of consumers that use social media when searching for companies for the goods and services that they desire, especially when it comes to real estate. A vast audience of potential clients passes you by simply because you didn’t take the time to be social.
Don’t be a Secret Agent – with that said, the logical course of action would be to take the initiative – get started with social media.
How do you get started with social media? Keep reading:
To get started with social media, create a profile on the platform of your choice and start engaging. The best way to begin is by starting with the forum you are most comfortable on and then slowly working your way around to the others.
Choose the best social media platform or platforms for your real estate business
Social media should be a critical element of any company’s marketing strategy, and for a real estate business, it can be even more critical. The best social media platform for you as a real estate agent depends on your target audience, the demographics of your area, and the needs you have for that platform. What are the best social media marketing platforms for business?
Over the past few years, social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have become increasingly popular with consumers. However, while their capabilities to connect with users across the country may be different, their usefulness for marketing, sales, and customer service is undeniable.
These are the four leading social media platforms that every creative real estate agent should participate in:
Facebook – Almost every demographic is active on Facebook. So, it’s a great place to find prospects.
Instagram – This platform is ideal for posting beautiful pictures of homes for sale, which you can use to reach more of your potential clients.
LinkedIn – Use LinkedIn as a place for networking with other realtors and prospective clients in your location.
YouTube – This platform (technically a search engine) helps your business increase its reach, build brand awareness and engage more with prospective clients.
Once you decide which social media platforms you want to use. The next steps would be to create objectives and goals for each social media platform.
What steps should I take to achieve my goals for each social media platform? Keep reading:
Here is an example of an objective and a goal to spark your thought process:
Facebook –
Your objective could be, “we will use our Facebook page to have one-on-one conversations with our clients by providing feedback to the questions they ask.”
Your goal could be, “we will maintain a 100% reply rate with customers interacting on Facebook.”
Pro-Tip– Set up your social media profile section with a high-quality photo of yourself or a logo and an optimized social bio complete with contact information. Create a strategy that will help guide your content creation process and help you determine whether or not the platform is working for you.
How should I go about developing my content strategy? Keep reading:
What is your current activity level? Can you manage multiple platforms, or will you outsource it?
·What are your goals on each platform?
·How will you measure them?
·What is your target audience?
·What is the most effective way to engage with the target audience on each platform?
·What content should you share on each platform to reach your goals?
·How will you measure the success of each social media platform?
Get to know your audience
Social media trends can help you know what your audience wants to see from you – identifying what your target audience wants to see on social media is critical. This knowledge will help you understand what content will attract your target audience, which is a crucial step in content optimization. For example, your audience may appreciate interior design tips, knowledge about renovating a home to increase its value, or whether or not they should hire an inspector for an independent home inspection.
To post the most relevant content, think about your target audience (current clients, as well as your “ideal client”) marry that with the following criteria:
·The age group and gender of the target audience. For example, are they millennials, Gen X, military, executive professionals, etc.?
·How do you want them to feel when viewing your content?
·What is the message you want to convey to your audience?
·What are the lifestyle and the interests of your target audience?
·For example, are you selling to high-end buyers or the upwardly mobile community who prefer condos nearer the city?
·The location of your target audience is.
·Stay consistent
·Don’t just post—participate
·Use content creation tools
·Repurpose, repost, recycle
·Curate your feed
Study your competitor’s social media pages
There is a high possibility that your competitors are already on social media. Not to worry, social media is a “long game,” and you will catch up quickly by using your social media platforms correctly from the start. Your competitor’s platforms can provide you with several key lessons. What they are doing correctly and what areas can be improved. You can genuinely benefit from observing the methods they use in their social media marketing strategy.
Therefore, do a simple competitive analysis and visit their pages to learn the following:
·Which social media platforms are they using actively?
·How often do they post?
·What type of content do they post?
·What type of engagement did they receive?
·Do they use paid advertising?
All the information you collect will help you discover “what works?” and “what doesn’t?” helping you identify the gaps in your competitor’s content strategy – and fill it! For example, your competitors may have a solid following on Instagram but have devoted less effort to Facebook. This information will help you see that opportunity and, through data, drive your decisions, ensuring you place an increased focus on your Facebook social media marketing strategy.
Create a social media posting schedule
A social media posting schedule, also known as a content calendar, is a schedule of posts for a specific period. You can easily manage social media posts with a content calendar. A well-thought-out social media posting schedule can help brands, public figures, organizations, and even solo real estate agents build a solid social media presence. Think in terms of “campaigns.” Making sure your posts are associated with specific campaigns will help you track and correlate the results of those campaigns more effectively and make them more seamless.
Plan out what you will post with all the collected information about your target audience and competitors. You can create the content or have it done for you by social media experts. Whichever you decide, don’t forget – a schedule helps you think ahead about promotions you may have in mind, any special events or holidays coming up. A content calendar also helps to stay consistent and avoid panicking when you have “Creator’s Block.” Elevated Agent has a fantastic assortment of marketing materials that can help you effectively build your brand.
Do some detective work. Research the internet for the best times to post, then identify the time, day, week, or month to post your content, and schedule accordingly to get the feedback you desire.
What should I put in my content calendar? Keep reading.
Ensure your content aligns with the objectives of the platform you are using. So as not to compromise your goal achievement. For example, you should post more blog-style content on LinkedIn and more pictures and videos on Instagram.
Include – the time and the date that you intend to post your content to yield the desired impact.
Include – the type of content you post should contain a mix of good-quality images and videos.
It’s time to start posting!
Well, not so fast. A key concept to keep in mind is the 80/20 rule. When posting on social media, 80% of your content should be informative, educative, and entertaining to your audience, while 20% of what you post should promote your brand.
Post moderately, three to five times a week. If you can sustain more, go ahead, but three times is usually the sweet spot.
Create compelling content
What kind of content should you post?
It’s a bad idea to post only house listings, “For Sale” this, “Open House” that – who wants to see that, not even you would be interested in only promotional material. Mix it up with a few of the following ideas:
·Post about what you do as a real estate agent on a day-to-day basis. For example, …you at work during an open house, touring a new home, during a meeting with the team, etc.
·Post about the location or city where you work. Highlight the unique aspects of your city – the landmarks, the schools, the amenities, the best coffee shop, the best place to grab some garlic wings, etc.
·Post testimonials from happy customers (in video or photos). Show off your success to build credibility.
·Post about yourself as a person. It’s essential to show your human side, so share pictures of you going to the gym, volunteering, or some cute shots of your furry family members.
·Post news and updates about the real estate market in your area, which helps build your credibility as a leader in the industry.
·Use the video features of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram LIVE to create short videos. These are easy to share and get more views than standard posts. You can go LIVE and hold quick Question and Answer “Ask Me Anything” sessions with your audience. You can also share tips on the most common challenges your clients have. These greatly help to build the credibility of your business and brand.
·Have fun with posting content and be yourself. It is your personality that will get you, customers, and clients.
Keep an eye on your analytics
When setting out to analyze your social media stats, it’s essential to understand what the “expected norm” is for the real estate industry. What are the “expected norms” for an agent such as yourself? Once you have that figured out, set some goals to surpass them.
Once you have implemented your posting plans on social media, monitor the engagement to see how it changes over time. You can utilize a different solution to monitor your analytics. However, using the analytics page on your social media platform is an easy way to determine what kind of audience you are attracting and what content they react to the most. What you find may surprise you!
Plan your editorial content around the analytics you review to stay ahead of changing popularity trends.
Experiment, experiment, experiment
Social media involves a lot of trial and error. Spend some time learning more about each social media platform you use and the different features you can employ. There are many ways to learn about social media: YouTube videos or blogs.
You may also visit the social media pages of successful businesses in your industry to get a few good ideas and inspirations of what else you can do to improve your real estate presence.
Try different ways to engage your audience. For example, hold a poll question, runs a quiz campaign, or a competition with an attractive prize.
Do an audit of your social media platforms
By auditing the different social media platforms, you can decide where to spend your advertising budget. Ideally, the platform where you get the most engagement is where you should advertise. Alternatively, you can dedicate an advertising budget to build a more substantial presence in a poor-performing platform. The best advice we can give is to consult with a social media marketing expert to help you understand the best place to spend your advertising dollars so that you get the most return on your investment.
Final take away
Social media or social media marketing is how people interact when they share their stories and thoughts with other people interested in what they have to say. That said, because of how appealing these platforms can be for marketing brands and businesses who want to convey the story behind the products and services they offer – whether through something like Facebook, Instagram, or even Pinterest! – If you’re interested in sharing your opinions on social media for your business and using it as an effective marketing method, you should get started TODAY!
Web Accessibility or e-Accessibility is the inclusive practice of ensuring no barriers prevent interaction with or access websites on the World Wide Web by people with physical disabilities, situational disabilities, and socio-economic restrictions on bandwidth and speed. When sites are correctly designed, developed, and edited, more users have equal access to information and functionality (according to Wikipedia).
Why does it matter to my real estate business?
Imagine you’re showing a potential buyer around a property you think will be perfect for them. It’s got curb appeal in spades, and it’s in precisely the right location and right on budget. Everything is going great, but they ask about the single upstairs shower room. Grandma needs one on the ground floor when she visits; two teenage daughters will never share; dad likes a bath to stretch out in – and you’ve just lost the sale.
Just like a house, your website is prime real estate, and it doesn’t matter how good it looks or how great the content is – if your customers can’t use it in the way they need to, you’re going to lose them.
And that could be as many as 15% of them if your site isn’t accessible. That’s the estimated percentage of web users who have some form of physical or neurological barrier to interacting with websites. That’s a lot of people, with a lot of spending power – $490 billion, to be exact.
Those barriers could be anything from blindness or paralysis to conditions like ADHD, color blindness, dyslexia, and epilepsy. It could be someone with a permanent condition or who broke their wrist playing football and can’t use a mouse for the next month. It could even be someone who wants to browse your online videos silently on their phone while their partner watches their favorite TV show.
Breaking Down Web Accessibility?
Web Accessibility, or e-Accessibility, is about precisely what you think it should be, just as the name implies: it’s about making your website accessible to everyone; however they need – or choose – to interact with it. That will automatically increase the number of people who can use your site.
Bonus
Almost everything you do to improve the accessibility of your website for those who need it will also enhance the online experience of other users.
How do I know if my website is accessible?
Luckily, there’s a set of rules to help with that. From the early days of the internet, a consortium of experts from businesses, non-profits, universities, and governments created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WGAC). These are regularly updated and are now the global template for best practices in web accessibility.
The latest version of their guidelines, WGAC 2.1, is the gold standard for web accessibility. It’s a pretty complex document, but in a nutshell, it says your site should meet four criteria:
Let all people access your content regardless of sensory disability. For example, giving access to automatic screen readers; making fonts editable to be easier to read; options for changing colors and contrast; text on video for the hearing impaired, etc.
Let all people operate your site. For example, you could provide options for people to navigate your website without using a mouse, provide sight-assisted navigation, etc.
Make it understandable. Avoid using complex jargon or confusing navigation structure. Keep it simple and consistent.
Keep it robust. Good quality code that meets recognized standards will make it easier for everyone to use your site and keep it compatible with assistive tools people with disabilities use.
WGAC 2.1 has three grades to show how accessible a website is, from A for the most basic to AAA for the most thorough. Unless you explicitly provide a service for disabled people, AA is a comfortable middle ground covering the essential elements.
As well as keeping to WGAC 2.1 standards, it’s strongly recommended that your site meets any legal requirements for disability access in your country of operation. In the United States, that means complying with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Your real estate company could be fined up to $55,000 if your website is found to exclude people with disabilities. Luckily, if your site meets WGAC AA standards, it is doubtful it will ever cause you problems with the ADA.
There are online tools such as the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool or my favorite accessiBethat can help give you an idea of how well your site is performing regarding accessibility. Completing an accessibility review of your website should give you a snapshot of any issues you might need to address and a good idea of how much work is required to get that vital AA certification.
My site isn’t accessible. What can I do?
Unfortunately, making a website fully accessible is not a straightforward task. Usually, it’s something you’ll need to leave to the professionals. You can talk to your current website provider or in-house tech team, and they should be able to work with the WGAC guidelines to make sure all the right boxes get checked, the “T’s” are crossed, and the “I’s” get dotted.
Sometimes it can be something as simple as ensuring you’ve correctly labeled all images for screen-readers. Other times the whole structure of the website’s code might need to be addressed. With multi-platform performance and constantly evolving web technology to consider, keeping your site accessible can be a long-term project.
Think about it like this, you get a new listing, and you immediately add those lovely pictures and videos to your website. Unfortunately, some of those “fantastic” listing photos are without alternate text, and your video home tour is without captioning. This routine step could cost you a ton in developer fees and potential fines.
Are there any simply solutions available?
Fortunately, for the busy real estate agent, there are now third-party options that can make the process a lot more seamless and a lot less painful. Platforms like accessiBe, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan and improve your site’s accessibility, can give you full ADA/WGAC compliance in less than 48 hours. Once you installaccessiBe on to your website, it will monitor your site’s performance; from now on, you can deal with any issues before they happen, and without the time and expense of a website developer.
AccessiBe provides the website visitor with custom options to tailor a site’s performance to their particular needs. Integrating these kinds of plug-ins to improve a website’s usability can be easy and provide value beyond the basic requirements of WGAC, making interaction with your business online not just compliant but more rewarding for the user and potentially converting a visitor into a client.
Summing Things Up
Making your website accessible to all potential users could involve a lot of work and investment, but the rewards are tangible. Not only do you instantly increase your online client base, but you make working with you easier for all your clients, not just those with disabilities.
You’ll also avoid running afoul of any potential legal action that might tie up your valuable time and resources. And, of course, you’ll have the personal satisfaction and business kudos of being an inclusive and welcoming company that looks after all its customers.
Starting a YouTube channel could be the best decision you make to build your career as a real estate agent. Successful real estate YouTube channels don’t have to compete with the most prominent national websites. They’re all about getting leads for your area, listings, and buyers. Whether you’re featuring a home as the listing agent or showing a buyer the home of their dreams, a YouTube channel can bring in dozens of leads a week — maybe even more!
Read this step-by-step guide, as it will help you get your YouTube real estate agent channel up and going. You will find no-nonsense tips for starting a YouTube channel inside this article. Read on for our advice and how-to secrets, including using TubeBuddy, a plug-in that makes managing your YouTube channel a lot easier.
Getting Started With Your Real Estate YouTube Channel
Before you start, take some time to look around and search for successful YouTube real estate channels. Look for ones in areas that have a bit in common with yours or ones where you like the agent’s style or the videos they created. Take some notes about the essential features from their channels to see:
What kind of videos do they make?
How often do they publish?
How long are their videos?
What does their branding look like?
Create a Publishing Plan
Now that you have a good idea of the type of channel and schedule you want in your head – write it down. Create a plan for videos and publishing; Airtable is a fantastic tool for tracking and publishing content of all types. Pick one or two days a week you’ll film, and one or two days a week you’ll publish your videos. Having a consistent time and day to post will help you optimize your real estate YouTube channel.
Setting up Your YouTube Real Estate Channel
This next step is where your note-taking from the other real estate YouTube channels will come in handy. You’ll need to include the following elements when you start your channel:
Channel Customization
Layout –
A Channel Trailer – a one – to a two-minute trailer that introduces people to your channel and encourages them to subscribe.
A Featured Video – a trailer that greets returning subscribers.
Branding –
Picture – use a good headshot, not a logo.
Banner Image – create a powerful and informative image and ensure it displays what a subscriber can expect from your channel.
Video Watermark – appears on your videos in the right-hand corner.
Basic Info –
A Channel Name – name your channel something that clarifies to your visitors what type of content they should expect to see. Be sure to include your name.
Channel Description – include facts and information, don’t forget to include keywords like your area’s name and type of real estate you service, and any special links you want to be included.
How to Choose Which Videos to Create
You should have at least three types of videos on your YouTube channel.
1.The first type should be educational – showing the benefit that homeowners and future homeowners can receive from homeownership.
2.The second type should be general – videos that introduce people to your area.
3.The third type should be videos featuring properties that you’re listing.
4.You can also have other videos presenting a “lifestyle,” covering the advantages of moving to your area, or perhaps videos about travel, food, history, or recreation.
Follow these steps when deciding how to put content on your YouTube channel:
Conduct Keyword Research: Use a keyword tool to identify keywords that bring people to your channel. TubeBuddy is an exceptional tool for YouTube videos. It offers a browser extension keyed into YouTube, bringing you dynamic data on topics that people are searching for on YouTube. Don’t forget to download the TubeBuddy mobile app.
After you have your keywords chosen, ensure you place them into the title, as well as the body of your blog posts.
Don’t forget, most of your searches will be from mobile devices and often use voice, not text. You can start by putting your city or town’s name and then adding words to see which ones have a high volume. Here are some examples:
Potomac Shores homes for sale
Homes for sale in Port Potomac
Woodbridge, Virginia homes with pools
Homes with pools in Woodbridge, Virginia
When It’s Time To Film
YouTube videos are just like any other content you create: you have a short time to hook your viewer and let them know what to expect in the rest of the video. Make sure that your intro informs the viewer about what they can expect during the rest of the video.
Make sure you have the following elements in your videos, whether they’re about a specific property or features of your local area or any other topic you choose:
Hook with a preview of the content to come: 15 seconds
Introduction: 15 to 30 seconds explaining the purpose of video and viewer takeaways
Content: create anywhere between 6 to 12 minutes of content
Offer: conclude the video with a call to action like subscribing to your channel or calling you about a property
Editing and Uploading Your Real Estate YouTube Video
Video and audio editing can quickly become complicated. Not to fear, you can choose a free or paid service such as Fiverr or UpWork to edit your video. However, Spoke and Descript are two excellent tools that turn out accurate transcripts from your videos. There is a whole range of services, including ones that work on your phone or tablet.
After you’re satisfied with the video, you should upload it to YouTube. Every time, you’ll need to:
Write a good title and description with keywords and searchable terms
Add tags that fit the video’s topic and your goals for leads
Create a thumbnail and add a visual hook
Create captions (YouTube has its caption function. However, Fiverr offers white glove services.)
Schedule the video for publishing
Your description should include your main keywords as well as a call to action. You can also have your contact information and even links to other videos on your channel.
Best Practices to Promote Your Video
YouTube shows videos to a broader audience based on engagement. If you’re making YouTube videos, you also want to send them to your contact in your email list and post them on social media channels. Be sure to promote your videos when they’re published and encourage your current audience to like and watch the video to the end. Missinglettr is an excellent resource for getting your blog post seen and shared by additional people. If you have comments on your video, be sure to respond and be courteous and professional.
Using Analytics For Your Real Estate YouTube Channel
You might be discouraged by seeing only a few views for each of your first videos – don’t be. You should create a solid number of videos together, at least 12 or more, before you start focusing too intensely on a “trend” in your analytics. To learn more, read an article about the Basics of Analytics. Gaining insight into the success of your videos can be tricky.
YouTube divides channel analytics into 4-sections:
Overview – gives you a quick overview of your channel and videos’ performance.
Reach – is a summary of how your audience is accessing your content.
Engagement – represents how long your audience was engaged (watched your video).
Audience – is a summary of the type of viewers watching your videos.
Although many people appreciate shorter no-frills content, your audience will ultimately determine whether or not they would rather have a video with content that provides more in-depth information or rather have a briefer version. Ultimately what your audience wants is up to them, so make sure you take the time to get their feedback on where they stand in their preferences!
Summing Things Up
Starting a YouTube Channel for Real Estate Agents: a Smart Move That Will Pay Off
With more people deciding to buy or sell a home than ever before and using their mobile devices to search for properties, you want to use all the tools available to generate leads and close as many sales as possible. Given the number of videos on YouTube, one could assume it is being “saturated” with content, but the truth is, local areas and communities aren’t. You can start a YouTube channel and have an excellent lead generator for your real estate career.
YouTube or Video Marketing, in general, can be a potent lead generation tool for real estate agents. If you want success from YouTube, keep these tips in mind to help you get started with this powerful tool – it’ll help you generate new leads and give your real estate business consistent traffic and interest.
I hope this article has helped shed some light on the benefits of using YouTube in your marketing. At Titus Media Solutions, LLC, we are always excited when one of our posts can provide helpful information on topics like this. Our mission is to provide you with valuable resources while at the same time, we also hope to make every blog post interesting for you, our readers.
Please feel free to comment below; feedback keeps us on our toes. Thank you for your time!
As a real estate agent, the greatest challenge facing real estate agents is perhaps keeping in touch with customers and providing excellent personalized service to every customer. Sometimes, the demand of potential buyers constantly calling, texting, and emailing can make things feel complicated.
You may find it challenging to keep up with scheduling viewings, greeting potential new customers, and answering questions from current ones. The thought of lost commissions may haunt you because you didn’t read that one text in time or missed an important call. Perhaps you have a recurrent dream about a multimillion-dollar sale that got away because you missed a call from that golden client. Stop panicking 😱
Here’s something that may be the answer to your real estate marketing nightmare: a real estate chatbot.
Chatbots work 24/7 and they never get tired. You can off-load the repetitive tasks that infringe on your time. Delegating as many jobs as possible will allow you to focus on what makes you successful in the real estate business: building in-depth relationships with your clients.
What Is A Real Estate Chatbot?
Just about everyone has had an interaction with a chatbot in one form or another. You’ve likely encountered those tiny windows that pop up on your screen when you visit a website that asks you “…do you have any questions” or “…what can I help you with?”, etc. Sometimes they’re simple options {tree structures} on one’s phone menu, but most have some level of AI so they can bring a little nuance to interpreting and answering questions.
A real estate chatbot is a conversational interface that allows users to interact with and automate finding properties, renting or selling their current property, etc. The user interacts with the chatbot through text-based conversations, where the bot responds with appropriate replies. A real estate chatbot is built specifically for real estate marketing challenges. They can carry on virtual conversations with leads and clients. They can collect information and figure out how best to help the customers.
Real estate agents respond to the high number of phone calls from prospective clients they receive daily by integrating chatbots into their marketing strategy. The chatbot’s primary goal is to provide clients with an efficient experience through text or voice messaging. It allows a real estate agent to connect with potential clients (homeowners and future homeowners) and current clients. A chatbot can provide quick answers to various service requests, including financial planning advice regarding mortgages, contracts, and open houses. It can even recommend local establishments of interest, such as providing names, and directions for restaurants, dry cleaners, and even the best hiking trails.
What Can Chatbots Do For Real Estate Agents?
Why do I need one?
There are so many options for real estate chatbot software. If you’re a real estate agent, you know how important it is to be available 24/7. But the truth is that no one can do this. Real estate agents are human, and they need sleep. One of the main things chatbots accomplish is being available at all hours of the day and night, especially when you’re resting up for the next day’s challenges. Any time you can’t respond, you risk losing a client. So often, customers who don’t get a response move on to the next agent. A chatbot can be your eyes, ears, hands, and feet when you’re not available to help a potential client. For example:
Chatbots can:
Answer customer questions even when you’re busy.
Collect vital customer contact details and other information.
Save data in a customer relationship management (CRM) database.
Promote rental and sales listings.
Discourage internet users from leaving your site. You put a lot of effort into getting them there in the first place, and a chatbot can help keep them engaged.
Qualify leads.
Screen out prospects who aren’t a good fit for what you have to offer.
Ask users what types of property they’re interested in and present relevant listings.
Customer follow-up.
Schedule meetings and tours.
Save conversation details in an archive to facilitate your follow-up
Alert you that it’s an excellent time to join the conversation if you’re available.
Ask if the customer is open to receiving information by email or text.
Fill out forms. A bot can help a customer by prompting the correct information that answers the form’s questions. They don’t have to fill in any form data by hand, which is especially useful when filling out a multi-page document.
Connect with younger customers. Many people prefer online chatting to phone conversations, and they’re becoming a more important segment of real estate buyers every year.
These tasks are essential, but they don’t necessarily require your expertise as a real estate agent. Your chatbot may become your hardest-working assistant for taking care of these details, giving you the freedom you’ve been looking for.
Getting Started with Chatbots
Real estate agents are taking advantage of recent technology trends in their industry to provide a better customer experience.
A chatbot is a computer program that mimics human conversation and uses natural language processing (NLP) to interact with humans. Chatbots can accomplish various tasks, including automatic customer support, marketing products, or entertaining people with funny responses. If you’re as pressed for time as most agents, you’re probably ready to start using chatbots today.
However, before you put the first smiling chatbot on your website, there are a few decisions you have to make. The most common forms of chatbots are Facebook Messenger bots, computer-based customer service agents, and virtual assistants.
What platform should you choose?
The two most common places real estate agents deploy their chatbots are on their websites and Facebook. If you are active on Facebook, you might want to use the platform’s chatbot facilities.
A Website
Website – Real estate agents can deploy their chatbots on their websites.
Creating a quick and easy chatbot for your company’s website is easier than ever, thanks to ManyChat. It only takes minutes to get set up with step-by-step instructions on their website that are so easy that even a newbie can understand them!
Once you’ve added ManyChat to your site, you can let it do most of the work for you – creating leads, growing your email list, and keeping in touch with customers through real-time messaging!
Social Media
Social Media – Real estate agents can deploy their chatbots on Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and even Instagram.
Facebook Messenger’s API has instructions on how your business can configure a bot to answer specific questions relating to real estate. There’s also the option of dishing out informative content in the form of links or images (e.g., “click through to see another photo” or “click to arrange a private showing”) and even dynamic updates from other users on the page itself.
ManyChat is arguably one of the most advanced chatbot platforms on the web, with a strong focus on easing customers into conversations by “encouraging” them through CTAs to click over for more information.
Through rich media messages such as tailored photos and videos, you can quickly draw attention and keep people engaged with content flowing through ManyChat all on its own!
This system is particularly effective when customers are waiting in line at businesses’ outlets – they’re more than likely looking down at their phones, so opting in to receive notifications via social media will undoubtedly get them engaging sooner rather than later!
Although not social media, you can also design a ManyChat chatbot to send automated emails, and SMS text messages – effective ways for connecting with clients and potential clients, as well.
Which software should you choose?
You can put together a simple real estate chatbot with ManyChat or other chatbot software if you want to get up and running with minimum expense. If your website is WordPress, there are plenty of free plug-ins to get you going.
There are plenty of ways you can implement chatbots on your website. However, suppose you want something particularly custom. In that case, it might take a bit more customization to do so and possibly an investment in a special chatbot building software like ManyChat or their integration partners!
However, the more sophisticated chatbot solutions come with a price tag. These have more robust AI and will integrate with customer databases and lead generation sites. The cost is not huge, anywhere from $100 to a few hundred per month. Not a bad deal for a virtual assistant that works 700+ hours a month!
There are products such as Structurely and Brivity built specifically for the real estate industry. However, products such as ManyChat, and MobileMonkey, are more robust. They each support webchats, Facebook Messenger, and text messaging. ManyChat is an excellent option if you have a lot of Instagram followers and want to use the power of Direct Messaging to reach your followers. Even though the ManyChat software is not designed explicitly for the real estate industry.
You may find that ManyChat‘s flexibility makes it a perfect fit for your real estate business, especially for the busy real estate agent. Another example of a “Specialty Bot” is ReadyChat, which focuses on lead qualification. Curious for more, well, a casual internet search will turn up dozens of chatbot solutions, each with advantages and disadvantages. that might work well for you and your real estate business.
Tips for Real Estate Agents New To Chatbots
Whatever solution you choose, remember that the chatbot is an assistant that works for you and supports your business. It’s important not to get sucked in by the technology and do flashy things with the bot just because you can. Here are a few pointers.
Don’t overload new prospects with questions. Figure out what they’re looking for and answer a few of their questions first.
Configure appropriately for the platform. People on your website usually know more about you, and their questions are different from those coming from Facebook.
Identify the FAQs and make it a priority to have answers for those.
Humanize your bot a little, and maybe even give it a name. But don’t try to hide the fact that it’s a chatbot. That’s a sure way to upset people.
Write a catchy opening message.
Add some visual components such as images and emojis🎆🎈🎊.
Include a call to action. Invite the client to leave contact information, schedule a meeting, or look at property descriptions.
From time to time, test it yourself. Put yourself in the customer’s “shoes” and go through the experience to see if it feels like a natural conversation or not.
Wrapping Things Up
There are many ways chatbots can work with your real estate business. Chatbots (Artificial Intelligence) can better navigate the complexities of real estate business operations and improve efficiency all around. As we mentioned earlier, a chatbot can be your 24/7 “Go-To,” “Can’t live without” assistant.
Perhaps most important, be aware of a chatbot’s limitations. Even though people want answers right this minute, many resent non-human interactions. Ensure they have a way to contact you by some other method. However, don’t let that scare you away from a breakthrough. Without a chatbot, it may continue to be a tall task to keep on top of everything.
Chatbots have many uses in the realm of technology. Those who plan to implement these technological tools into their business will most likely find them helpful with increased sales, effective delivery, and an improvement in their customer service experience!
A video is a powerful tool in every marketer’s tool belt—and if you’re in the real estate game, you’re a marketer, whether you realize it or not. Creating real estate videos and engaging in real estate video marketing can help you stand out from other realtors, make connections, and sell more.
Video is exploding across the digital landscape and has become available to an astonishing degree of convenience. With apps like Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat Discover – video has become a massive part of people’s online lives. Video is being prioritized more and more by digital algorithms. So perhaps if you are not currently using video for your marketing strategy, it might be a suitable time for you to consider doing so.
You should be aware that the most popular social media platforms prioritize video content. As it turns out, Google also believes in video’s importance, as they have announced that they will be placing video content at the top of organic search results pages.
Are you a Real Estate Agent, and you’re not using video? If so, prepare to lose your digital audiences!
The New Rule – Video Reigns Supreme!
In this modern world, we, as realtors, are always looking for new ways to connect with people. Let’s face it; our job is to connect with people and help them buy and sell homes. Therefore, capitalizing on the power of video makes sense.
So much of our work helping people buy and sell their homes is visual work, and 90 percent of information transmitted to our mind is visual. For real estate agents, videos also allow us to serve, connect with and paint a picture for our clients. Using video as part of your marketing strategy makes sense.
Why is video content so popular?
Video has been tremendously beneficial to businesses.
Especially when their videos are quick, easy to follow, and entertaining. You could say that video is a top advertising metric because of the engagement and attention you gain from your audience or customers. And why is that?
Well, relationships are built on trust, and when you see someone you know on the other side of the screen, it’s like you’re hanging out together despite being apart – in a sense, anyway.
Videos also make it easy for us to stay up-to-date as a company, share helpful information with our followers/audience or clients, and get people to interact with each other and come back for more videos content. “Unlisted” videos on YouTube offer a great place to store updates and staff training videos, or you can embed them onto a private server for later use.
As people increasingly rely on video to get information about their topics of choice, companies need to offer more video content to maintain their audience and keep up with the competition.
Some words of wisdom
When using videos in your real estate marketing: Toss your stage fright.
Fear not; videos can help you appeal to a much larger audience. Studies show that over 85% of people would like to see more videos from brands. So what are you waiting for? If there’s one thing we know about making them, you don’t need a fancy set or a team of AV support. Not at first anyway, because when it comes time for your customers to see behind the scenes into exactly how you can help them with buying and selling real estate, less is more!
Sometimes creating marketing videos can feel like an audition in front of a demanding audience, which can be nerve-wracking if it’s new territory. Of course, your first few attempts on camera may feel unnatural, but keep going!
Don’t forget
Practice, practice, practice,
Training – “uhs” and “ahhs” will dissipate, and you’ll feel more like yourself,
Speak as you would typically,
Over time – trust your “first-take” and let it fly,
Less is more – Don’t make things unnecessarily complicated or formal, and before you know it, you’ll begin to enjoy video marketing.
-Bonus- you’ll also be mastering your face-to-face delivery skills, and soon that won’t feel so unnatural to you either.
Pro tip: Be yourself. Speak as you usually would and let your voice, body language, and inflection play out naturally. Videos are a chance to share who you are with the world. There’s no need to try and be anyone else.
Say something important
What you include in your video is up to you, but make it count. Videos are a chance to share who you are with the world.
Ask yourself: “How will going on camera serve my clients and prospects?”; “What would I ask or say to a prospect if I called them on the telephone?”; “How would I respond to a future homeowner during a home tour?”; “What would I put in a follow-up email to a homeowner after a pre-listing interview?”
A video can capture complex information that can make a buying decision more straightforward. A video reaches out powerfully, and it humanizes you. Let that work for you!
Videos Marketing Ideas For Real Estate Agents
Speaking of marketing ideas for real estate agents, software such as TubeBuddy, Peppertype.ai, or even Content Bot are excellent resources for generating video topics. However, the list below should inspire you.
You could use video to:
Talk about – “What is your favorite part of real estate?”
Talk about – “What types of content would you want from your real estate agent?”
Talk about – the type of video content you would watch.
Talk about – the kind of questions do you get asked the most.
Record – Introductory videos
Record – Listing videos
Record – Open House videos
Educate – with bite-sized market reports
Educate – with national industry trends
Educate – with what’s going on in the neighborhood
Educate and re-engage – cold leads
Record – Community videos
Talk about – Nearby Parks and restaurants
Talk about – New businesses
Talk about – Favorite businesses
Talk about – Upcoming events
-Bonus- you can save a ton of time by “batch” creating – schedule a block of time to record several videos at one time, keep shooting until you can’t anymore!
Invest in professional videographer
Be amazing
It’s so wonderful to stumble upon a video with someone passionate without sounding like they’re reading off of a script. A video marketing piece can be both surprising and quirky all at the same time. Still, it’s the unpredictable magic behind videos made by people who know how to interact with the camera. Stay true to yourself and don’t overthink things – that’s when things start to get unnatural. The best thing you can do is make this process fun for you; keep yourselves entertained on set! It will pay off big in the long run for your audience to love what they see or hear from you. Let them take part in this wild ride by treating them with respect, honesty, and authenticity by just being yourselves in front of that camera! Investing in video marketing can be beneficial in more ways than one.
Be resourceful
As you know, it’s hard to answer every new lead with a personal phone call, and time spent on a professional videographer can be a replacement for cold-calling, as well. Videos that look like they’re coming from a real-live person can be refreshing in a world of manicured videos, and with today’s technology, a great video can be found with the tools inside your pocket.
Be forewarned, it’s not professional video or, Do-it-Yourself, it’s both. A professional video creator will quickly know the ins and outs of producing videos, they’re called “PRO – fessionals” for a reason.
Please don’t forget to give your website some love – tools like WarmWelcome provides an opportunity to add interactive videos, and video chat bubbles to pages on your website that greet visitors, and potential clients.
Pro tip: Consider adding captions to your videos for people who are deaf and hard of hearing or people in places where they aren’t able to access their volume.
Keep it short
Brevity is critical here. Keep most of your videos – SHORT. Short videos perform so much better than their longer and more drawn-out counterparts. Five percent of viewers will stop watching videos after one minute, and 60 percent drop off after two minutes. People will likely be watching these videos from a smartphone, so be brief, and capture the audience’s attention early!
Once you get to the point of creating longer-form content, it’s a good idea to use the short-form videos or clips you’ve made to drive users to your longer, more in-depth content. For example, a video that features an interview or testimonial-style interviews.
Maximize your content. Complete the circle by repurposing your long-form content, too. Use a tool like SPOKEor DESCRIPT to help you capture the highlights of long videos, and magically crank out “bite-sized” social media content morsels to post on places like Facebook video cards, or YouTube Shorts!
Pro tip: Think of one or two concepts you could share via a video with your clients today? (If you’re overflowing with ideas, take note of them so you can tap into those ideas for another video on another day.)
Press Record, already
Creating videos is a necessary skill in the modern age of digitized media. Coming across as a pro when you produce videos depends on many factors. Still, it’s simply down to getting your message across as concisely as possible and creating a video that’s relevant, engaging – and overall of high quality. However, there are occasions when using a professional videographer might be overkill. For example, when recording quick VLOGs while traveling or holding a brief Q&A session with your fans and followers who want to see you live because they know how engaging and energetic you are!
Real estate is about building relationships, and marketing with video is a great tool to achieve that goal for new and established real estate agents. You’re right; client recognition might not happen with the first video you publish; strong bonds take time. Stay consistent in your marketing strategy, and don’t let perfectionism ruin your attempts at getting started.
Pro tip: If you’re working with couples, consider adding each of their email addresses to your customer relationship manager. That way, they will each have a chance to read your emails (and watch your videos) to discuss together later, and potentially share with friends.
Wrapping it up
Let’s take advantage of the data by adding video today!
Real estate is all about the people. You can use videos to showcase your business’s effectiveness and value in advertisements, even promoting new listings. In particular, videos offer an excellent opportunity to build a solid and personal brand in the prospect’s mind. With the number of options available today for content creators, it’s easier to create videos than ever before. If you run your own business, I suggest you start using video. Not only does a video get preferential treatment on most channels, but also in search engine results. Videos are critical for getting exposure. If used correctly, it can create a lot of traffic and attract free new customers. Adding video to your marketing strategy could be the best decision you can make.
Social media has allowed companies to expand their reach and promote themselves in new dimensions. Videos are instrumental in helping people feel like they know a company or product more than just from the information provided. Videos are helpful for brands in building trust, and the relationship between them and their consumers are undeniably deepened – so don’t be afraid, hit record, and share who you are!
It’s simple to execute as long as you just get started. Use these tips and let us know what other video marketing tips work for you!
Starting a podcast can be easy. Aspiring podcasters need only know some essential software and basic visuals and find a manner of production and post-production that works for their needs. Not to fear, starting a podcast for real estate agents is easy and requires little in the way of equipment. The same goes for getting your podcast onto major platforms and finding listeners, and putting all this together should hopefully bring in some dedicated listeners in addition to those who stumble upon their podcasts naturally!
Are There Too Many Competing Podcasts?
Podcasting as a real estate agent is a great marketing idea and a fun way to generate leads in your local city or town. However, there are over 1,000,000 podcasts on iTunes, according to Apple.com. Is the competition too stiff for a REALTOR® to start a show and drive real estate leads from podcasts hosted by newer agents? We created the following blog post as a guide to answer that very question for real estate agents that want to know how to start real estate podcasting and why it’s a good idea to start your channel TODAY!
How do I start a real estate podcast?
You probably heard about “Making Money” as an agent, but I’m sure no one mentioned the “Costs.” Not to worry, this won’t break the bank because you don’t have to spend a lot of money on equipment and software to start podcasting.
How does this whole podcasting thing work?
Grab your laptop, tablet, or smartphone – one that you’re already using. Then, purchase a quality microphone like the NT-USB Mini RØDEMicrophone for $99, and its software RØDE Connect is completely free. Depending on the type of microphone you select, you may need to get a windscreen of some kind to use with your microphone to dampen pops, whistles, and breathing noises.
Download RØDE Connect, install, then load. Plugin your microphone, click on RØDE Connect’s record button and start talking. You want to get used to the idea of talking into a microphone and get comfortable doing so. Say whatever you want, watch the recording meter, and ensure to set the gain on your microphone correctly. You can adjust these settings later.
After you’ve gotten comfortable with what you’re doing, it’s time to work on starting a podcast. You can pull a topic from your blog or create an entirely new idea, whichever works best for you. Next, create a script or an outline for you to follow and keep yourself on topic. It’s okay to have a topic drift, but it’s always a good idea to stick to your main point. Start a new recording in RØDE Connect, hit record, and start talking!
RØDE Connect saves files in multiple formats that you can upload directly into your podcasting platform. After you save the file in a folder for safekeeping, export the .mp3 file to your favorite podcasting platform.
One of the best ways to stand out in the real estate podcasting crowd is to have an interesting perspective, commentary, or keep it honest with the listener. Listening to other real estate podcasters can help inform you about what topics aren’t covered. You might want to switch back and forth between popular issues and ones that don’t get a lot of air time. If you have a lot of experience as a real estate agent, you might want to have a podcast for beginner real estate agents and help them get their footing in the industry. It’s entirely up to you what you want to talk about on the show. So, have fun with it!
Edit Before You Upload
It’s essential to clean up your audio before uploading the file to a platform. You might not like the idea of listening to the sound of your voice, but do your best to set aside your discomfort. Many people have difficulty listening to themselves, and I expect you might feel the same way. Your podcast benefits from having verbal hesitations eliminated and pauses kept short unless it’s for emphasis. Listeners appreciate a podcaster who takes the time to edit their audio and make listening to the podcast a pleasure. Many solutions exist to solve your editing dilemma.
Another option would be to hire it out. In case you haven’t heard of it – FIVERR is a platform that connects you to a ton of “Done For You” solutions. You have the opportunity to research and select a PRO that you can upload your file and let them perform the edits, helping you save time and potential frustration. Once you receive the edited recording from your selected PRO, you can then upload the recording to your podcast distribution solution of choice.
Why Should You Distribute Your Real Estate Podcast?
The easiest way to get your podcast out to multiple platforms is to use a platform like Anchor FM that does the distribution to major platforms for you. You will need to create an account for your podcasts, and you’re also going to need an image to create the cover art for your show and a brief bio to introduce the listener to who you are and what your podcast is all about. The beauty of using a podcast distributor is that it does the heavy lifting for you in that you don’t have to keep re-uploading the file to each major podcast platform – upload it to Anchor FM, and it does the rest. Podcasting with the Anchor FM platform makes it is easy to blend high-tech and high-touch real estate marketing? Oh yeah, don’t forget to tag your podcast and categorize it properly. Use as many relevant tags as possible to broaden the reach of your real estate podcast. Anchor FM also provides a website to host your podcast episodes, and it has a mobile app that allows you to record, add music, edit, and upload directly to your podcast channel.
Do You Want Listener Interactions?
Of course, you do! A podcast has to have a compelling website with an easy-to-navigate layout, making it easy for your potential subscribers or listeners to listen back through your library of episodes online. It needs to provide exciting messages and different perspectives on relevant topics that people are interested in and keep them engaged throughout the episode. And finally, it must allow people the opportunity to subscribe to future content from you and alert them when you’ve released new content. You can easily leverage your podcast platform to reach more people and generate real estate customers.
How Are Podcasts And YouTube Related?
Uploading your podcast to YouTube is a great way to further your reach to prospective clients and connect with others in the real estate industry. Websites like Castos convert your .mp3 files and podcast image into a YouTube-ready file. All you have to do is create your channel on YouTube and upload your file when ready.
The benefit of putting your podcast on YouTube is that users don’t have to do much to follow your channel. They can subscribe and get notified when you have a new video without thinking about it. Users also don’t have to chase you down on different platforms to listen to your latest episode. And if you already have a YouTube channel for virtual tours, you can add your podcasts as another category, create a separate playlist, and Voila!
There’s a lot of benefit to taking the time to start a real estate podcast and putting it online for listeners. It builds your brand, helps position you as an effective real estate agent, and brings people to your real estate office that might not have found you otherwise. Podcasting is a type of free advertising, but it’s also a way to get your voice heard and raise your profile while improving your career potential.
Don’t forget about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). After all, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world, according to globalreach.com. And if you want your podcast to stand out, primarily through YouTube. SEO can help you make sure that people who have never heard of your channel find it when they’re searching for something related to the topics or concepts covered on the channel or in the clip itself. TubeBuddy is a powerful tool that you can use to manage, optimize, and grow your YouTube channel. It helps you maximize SEO for your channel, further enhancing the reach of your podcast.
Blogging Before Podcasting
PRO TIP:
If you haven’t started a blog from your point of view as a real estate agent, now is the time to get cracking. You can check out the blog The Basics: A Beginner’s Guide To Blogging For Real Estate Agents for inspiration. The more content and media formats you give people to read or listen to, the better. You may already be doing video walkthroughs of the homes and properties you’re selling, and that’s great. Still, potential buyers might want more information about you, the market you’re working in, the benefits, and, yes, a little of the downsides of buying and selling real estate. Discussing more than one point of view in a blog demonstrates that you’re putting your client’s best interests first. Thoroughly discussing a topic also provides you with a baseline of podcast topics and allows a reader to delve deeper into your work as a real estate agent.
Maintaining a blog also gives rise to an opportunity to run a chatbot for interactions with readers in a messaging app. Chatbots are a type of AI that offers a way to interact with customers in real-time. The better a chatbot can handle conversations, the better the experience for the human on the other side of the screen.A chatbot can also be programmed to answer “frequently asked questions” from potential clients. The best part, a chatbot works 24/7, collecting information from your visitors, enabling you to have a better, more informed conversation with potential clients even at 2 am when you’re resting up for the next days’ challenges. In turn, the people visiting your site receive a good experience and information that aligns with their needs. If you’re thinking about getting a chatbot for your marketing needs, I recommend ManyChat, the #1 bot platform for Facebook Messenger, and if you’re looking for some detailed training on how to build and implement a successful bot interface, then I would check out the School of Bots™
Wrapping things up
Yes, you can create a podcast and be a successful real estate agent!
Podcasting is a great way to grow your audience and promote yourself as an expert in the field. There are a lot of things that go into making a podcast. It has to have:
A website – a way to promote the show and post your episodes,
Subscribers – a simple way for people to subscribe and receive alerts when you publish new content,
Interest – compelling topics with unique perspectives,
Engagement – interesting messages with relevant issues that keep people engaged.
I get it, adding a podcast to your marketing strategy can seem completely overwhelming. By utilizing these essential tips, you will be able to create a successful show. One that will be informative for your audience and provide you with the opportunity to grow.
However, we want you to know there are many different places where you can find assistance creating a fantastic podcast channel and designing systems to make this process smooth and efficient even beyond this article – I learned a TON from Pat Flynn and the team over at Smart Passive Income {SPI}. Podcasting may seem too tricky, but I believe you can do it, too.
Today, there is more competition for real estate agents than ever before. Therefore, a real estate agent needs to do everything he or she can to stand out from the crowd. This includes using a blog as a way to disseminate information to potential and current prospects. According to information that was published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 97 percent of buyers use the internet to search for a home. Therefore, there is a large market for real estate agents who launch a blog to share information with prospective clients. This can make a significant difference in helping real estate agents stand out from those who do not have a strong online presence. How can you get the most out of your real estate agent blog content? Read below and learn more about how you can build a successful real estate blog that will attract traffic and earn conversions.
How To Write a Blog for Real Estate Agents: A Guide
If you are wondering how to blog for real estate agents, this starts with a website. When you are showing a house to a client, you want to show a place that has a solid foundation. Your blog needs a strong foundation as well, which is your website. You need to take a close look at your web design tools and ensure you access search engine optimization (SEO). It doesn’t matter how good your blog post ideas for real estate agents might be if nobody can find your website. SEO will help your website get spotted by current and future clients. You should also ensure you have good terms with your web hosting company, so you don’t have to worry about losing your web traffic if they switch the terms on you.
You might want to take advantage of a web design tool called WordPress, which is excellent for blogging in various industries, including real estate. SiteGround is a great hosting platform, and when paired with WordPress, it’s like having a nice merlot alongside a piping hot ribeye. It also provides site optimization so that your visitors can quickly access each and every post you publish.
Once you have your new blog, it is vital to go through several steps to maximize your content.
Get Traction with Your Real Estate Blog
First, you need to get some traction with your blog. A few steps to follow:
Create a Google Analytics account and submit your sitemap so Google can accurately categorize your blog.
Look for guest posting opportunities on other sites so you can generate backlinks for your content and raise your domain authority.
Pro Tip:
Postaga is a fantastic platform that reaches out to other bloggers that might find it mutually beneficial for cross-linking collaboration.
Missinglettr does a great job of positioning your blog post so that it can be shared with the followers of numerous creators worldwide.
Shout out the news about your real estate blog, share on social media.
Update your Google My Business account (or create one if you haven’t).
Start building citations in local business directors, ensuring your name, address, and phone number are current, so you show up in local searches.
Once you complete these steps, it is time to do keyword research.
Target the Right Keywords
Now that your blog is up and running, it is time to find topics to write about. While this can be a challenge, your content should be guided by keyword research. This is the pillar of SEO. You need to follow SEO best practices so your website will rank highly for relevant Google searches. Peppertype.ai is a great tool for SERP and SEO research and you’ll want to focus on the terms that your target market is using when searching the internet for solutions – it’s how your competition is frequently found on the first page of Google search results, and your goal is to land there, as well.
A few tips for targeting keywords include:
Target terms that potential clients will use so you target the right market.
Target long-tail keywords with lower volume but more relevant to your content to increase conversion rates.
Target local keywords so you find the right clients while eliminating national competition.
Targeting keywords will always be a balance of volume and competition. The more people search a certain keyword, such as “homes for sale,” the more traffic you stand to gain; however, it will be harder to rank highly for high-volume terms because there is more competition among websites trying to rank for those terms.
Once you figure out what terms you want to target, it is time to build content around those terms. This will be the foundation of your blog posts.
Consider Ideas To Write About
Now, it is time to construct articles that are relevant to the needs of your visitors while simultaneously targeting the right terms. A few ideas for articles you might want to write about on your real estate blog include:
The top neighborhoods in the area
The top builders in the area
Recent news on the housing market
Key information for local real estate investors
Contract terms and pitfalls to watch for
Niches in real estate such as pools, condos, HOA fees, and more
Local events taking place in certain communities
Important steps in real estate transactions
The benefits of working with a local real estate agent
The above list of topics should be enough to keep most real estate blogs busy. If not, or you’re stuck with a severe case of “writer’s block” – ContentBot.ai is an amazing tool that generates blog topic ideas, outlines, and even content to get those “creative juices” flowing again.
Remember, you need to make sure you write attractive copy not only for search engines but for your visitors as well.
Writing Strong Copy
As you write blog posts for your website, you need to use a strong marketing formula to grab and hold the attention of your visitors. This is where the AIDA copywriting formula can be helpful. (AIDA) stands for:
Attention: Grab the attention of your visitors and make sure you hold it throughout the visit.
Interest: Focus on a specific point of interest to make sure they keep reading.
Desire: Explain the benefit of reading through the post to create desire.
Action: End the post with a call to action.
If you follow this formula, your blog posts should reduce the bounce rate of your website, improving your search results rankings. Furthermore, a good blog should convince more people to email, call, or message your real estate agency, creating more business for your firm.
Measure Your Success
Finally, you need to see how your blog is performing. You need to learn what is working, what is not, and what you can do to improve your blog moving forward. Fortunately, measuring your progress is free using Google Analytics. There, you can see which pages are the most popular, where your traffic is coming from, and what your conversion rate is. You can also track organic traffic, the number of visitors coming from search engines. When looking at the numbers, don’t overthink them. Google wants to find the most relevant content for its users. If you have good content, your site should rank well.
Measure your results with Google Analytics for real estate blog success.
Create a Real Estate Agent Success Blog
A strong blog can deliver more business to your real estate firm. A few tips include:
Track your results regularly. You need to understand your website well to stay ahead of your competitors.
SEO is essential, but not at the expense of the quality of your content. Write for your visitors.
Longer content is better. The more information you share, the better your ranking will be.
Don’t neglect off-page SEO. Build solid links and citations for your blog to raise your visibility.
Use social media to drive more traffic to your blog.
As a real estate agent, SEO is important for your real estate blog to be successful.
A real estate agent has always had to do whatever they could to attract other people’s attention. This means standing out from the crowd at all times.
As a real estate agent, you’re like an artist, which means that you have to find ways to make yourself likable among potential and current clients. A blog is a critical tool for standing out from the crowd. Because the competition will only get more challenging and demanding, your real estate blog should be your “Library of Real Estate Knowledge,” the very foundation for disseminating information that can be useful for people looking to purchase or sell homes.
Since the competition is more demanding than ever before, I hope this blog post helps you on your way through to success.
If you have questions or concerns about starting a real estate agent blog, reach out to a professional who can help you. Social Bluebook offers some great webinars and coaching that can make any creator shine like a “Pro.”
It’s about helping people buy homes they love and sell their homes when they want to or need to. Right?. So, why all of a sudden is there so much talk about “content creation” and why is content creation so important? Content is simply another way to engage with your audience, your clients, and your potential clients via the digital realm. If you’re a newer real estate agent or even a seasoned agent here are some tips and tricks to get you started and headed in the right direction.
What exactly is “content”?
Content is all the stuff you write, shoot, and share – Content Creation. It’s what you use to build trust and it’s all the information you’re pushing out to people. Here are some examples of real estate content:
Evergreen content (information that will always be useful to homeowners and future homeowners)
Content could be drone aerial footage or a 360-degree video that you post to your YouTube channel, funny memes you share on Facebook, or Instagram, as well as a tweet about a new listing on Twitter. It could be you in front of the camera introducing yourself, factual updates about the state of the real estate industry Market Updates, or testimonials from clients who loved working with you. People can wade through all of your “content” to get a sense of who you are, where you’re located, what kind of homes you specialize in, and whether or not they’d like to work with you.
Why does content matter so much, now?
In the old days, people connected with a real estate agent through recommendations from their family and friends. Or, they lugged out a phone book – remember those – and searched under “real estate companies,” then they picked the phone up from the wall and phoned the first company listed. My how, things have changed since then.
Don’t get me wrong, people still find real estate agents through word of mouth and personal connections, but the internet has changed how we play the “game.” The internet has become an incredible tool and resource, especially for real estate agents. There’s now this new potential for anyone in the world to search, find, and easily connect with you. You want to make sure you’re easy to find, your content is easy to share, and you want your content to be a reflection of who you are. Okay, consider the following:
We work in the realm of physical spaces—utilize the power of video!
As real estate agents, we deal with physical locations. Properties. Homes. Neighborhoods. Backyards. Consider sharing more than just photos of a home that’s on the market. What about a property tour walk-through, narrated by the best agent you can find? Yes, you! What about highlighting some local shops, or the local library? How about asking the barista at a local coffee shop why he or she loves the neighborhood?
Where should I start?
First, start with a website. Before you start animating videos, creating a social media content calendar or building chat bots – {my favorite platform is ManyChat}. I recommend you start plain and simple with your very own website. Consider your real estate website to be like a digital business card, a hub, or a dashboard. It should be simple, professional, easy to navigate, and easy for other people to share.
Once you’ve created some amazing content – Don’t forget to share it.
Get creative, and have some fun, or try sharing your content on platforms like Missinglettr, and Quuu. By the way, podcasting is another great way to share content. Which can be as simple or as advanced as you’d like it to be. Warm Welcome is a platform that makes it easy to share what you love across the entire customer experience.
Never underestimate the power of praise.
As a new agent, you may only have a handful of positive client testimonials, but you should compile those testimonials! Consider positive feedback from past or present clients to be worth their weight in gold. Every agent should showcase their client testimonials (interviews, quotes, etc.) on social media channels, in short videos, and especially on your website!
What’s the best way to begin creating content, you ask?
Just get started. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so also don’t be afraid to follow some of the “pros” you know and see how they do things. How often do they post? What kind of content are they sharing? How are they engaging with people who comment, like, or share? The goal of content creation is to grow your real estate business. When it works, content is not only fun and useful, it’s a surefire way to virtually introduce yourself to an endless amount of potential leads and clients.
I hope this article has helped shed some light on the benefits of using content creation in your marketing. We at Titus Media Solutions, LLC are always excited when one of our posts can provide useful information on topics like this. It is our mission to provide you with valuable resources while at the same time, we also hope to make every blog post interesting for you, our readers.
Please feel free to comment below, feedback keeps us on our toes. Thank you for your time!
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