Real estate firms that do well in the search results must earn unique links from trusted sources that set them apart from the competition.
But the real estate industry faces unique challenges when it comes to building links.
An effective link building strategy for this industry requires a creative approach that takes into account:
The semi-local nature of the subject matter. The quirks of the target audiences in question. The difficulties of avoiding “sameness” around the topic at hand. In this post, we’ll:
Discuss how to approach outreach in this space. Recommend some specific link building tactics to help you boost your search engine visibility. How to Approach Outreach in the Real Estate Industry Real estate firms inhabit a somewhat unique space in the online marketplace.
The location-centric nature of the business means that tactics developed for online businesses don’t necessarily apply.
At the same time, standard local SEO tactics aren’t necessarily the best fit for the industry either. This is because the locations in question are in constant motion and you are primarily marketing to promote to a specific region without your efforts centering around a specific address.
In your outreach and promotional efforts, you will need to earn links from a wide variety of sources.
Regional links will help your pages turn up for local queries from homeowners and those looking to buy or rent. National and global links from topic-centric sites will help build authority for your brand around topics related to real estate and any secondary topics that are important to your target audience. Successful outreach in the real estate industry should be built in large part around long-term business partnerships.
Most of the authoritative links you earn will be coming from clients and business partners who link to you naturally as part of broader cross-promotional campaigns.
There will generally be less of a focus on picking up links from cold outreach and more of a focus on making sure that your firm’s name gets associated with as many projects and campaigns as possible. You want to be listed as a partner or sponsor that helped make things in your region possible.
This isn’t to say that content can’t or shouldn’t still play a big part in your link building strategy. However, your content strategy must be very carefully devised to target a unique and regional audience in a way that helps you stand out from other real estate firms.
Focus on developing a strong unique selling proposition for your content strategy in order to earn links and build a following.
Original Research
Publishing original research is a powerful way to earn links. This is as true for the real estate industry as it is for most others.
Consider, for example, this original research published by OnCarrot. The real estate SaaS company ran a study on their clients and used it to make marketing recommendations to their audience of real estate agents:
Real Estate Link Building: 3 of the Best Tactics
As a real estate firm, copying this strategy too directly wouldn’t generally be a good fit, since your goal should be to cultivate an audience of buyers and sellers, not other real estate agents.
Nevertheless, it serves as an example of the power of original research to capture links and attention.
In approaching your own original research, you will need to consider:
What proprietary data you have access to as a real estate firm. What data yields interesting insights that others would find interesting enough to link to. What target audiences would be a good fit for both the data and your brand.
Bear in mind that the data you have access to isn’t necessarily going to appeal to your bottom of the funnel target audience. This is OK.
The goal of releasing original research isn’t to target those ready to buy and sell right away, it is to boost brand exposure and attract the attention of people who have audiences of their own.
Put another way, the primary target audience of your original research should be a group of bloggers, webmasters, and other influencers with the power to send you links and traffic.
Precisely who this target audience is will depend heavily on your brand’s USP and how you hope to differentiate yourself from other real estate agents.
To maximize the impact of your original research, be sure to reach out to influencers who would find the data interesting and who would be likely to use it in their own content.
Be careful to provide unique context and personalization in your outreach efforts so that your recipients know you are addressing them specifically and why you chose them.
Real Estate Blogs (& More)
Guest editorials have been a mainstay of SEO for a long time. As long as you are focussing on high profile blogs with real audiences and the potential for brand exposure, writing guest posts will help your rankings in the long term.
We recommend starting by reach out to HubSpot’s 29 recommended real estate blogs, especially the blogs that target homeowners and homebuyers.
You should also search for queries related to selling, buying, and renting homes and identify any other sites that publish content on the topic, even if it isn’t the primary focus of the entire blog.
To avoid cultivating an audience of other real estate firms:
Be selective about what topics you choose to cover in your guest posts. Put the focus on topics that will attract sellers, buyers, and renters, and those who are likely to join those audiences soon. Some topics to consider aside from the obvious include:
Home and garden. Topics related to moving. Things to do in the region your real estate firm operates in. Personal finance.
It’s a good idea to get creative with the types of blogs you consider working with.
The number of blogs that cover real estate topics specifically is limited, many of them are run by other real estate firms, and the subject matter often concerns real estate agents more than your actual target audience.
Rental Listings & Directories
Rental listings sites like Trulia often allow you to link back to your site. Trulia, in particular, allows you to do so with a followed link.
Rental listings make up an important part of your promotional strategy, so be sure to include a link back to your site from any rental listings you post.
In addition to rental listings, take advantage of directories and various other listings that people use in your area, such as:
CitySearch Yellow Pages Chamber of Commerce Yelp Angie’s List Google Maps Listings Google My Business Nextdoor Facebook
What’s important is that the listings you use for link building are also used by real people for reasons that make sense for your firm. An approach that aims for variety is especially helpful here.
Conclusion
The real estate industry presents unique challenges when it comes to building links, owing to:
A mix of online and local attributes that most SEO approaches aren’t designed to handle. And an industry that tends to repeat the same topics ad nauseam for audiences that mostly include other real estate agents. With the right outreach mindset, business partnerships, a creative content strategy, intelligent editorial placement, and skilled use of listings, you will be able to capture links your competitors won’t and place closer to the top of the search results. We buy houses Desoto Tx.
As a realtor, you may have experienced a major shift in the last ten years. Clients are beginning to buy houses in a different way, often beginning with online market research and a clear vision of precisely what they want out of their future home.
For best-in-class realtors, digital marketing has come to the forefront of their marketing efforts. From generating new leads to completing successful sales, the real estate industry is now reliant on digital marketing.
Real Estate and the Importance of Digital Marketing
Social media was one of the first game changes for realtors seeking ways to get noticed online. From purchasing Facebook Business Ads to sharing photo albums of new listings, various social media platforms allowed real estate professionals to build a brand and a booming business.
With 84% of real estate professionals using social media platforms, how can modern real estate brokerages and realtors in the United States further differentiate themselves in a saturated market? Your digital marketing strategy can have a much greater impact than traditional marketing strategies.
To jump-start your real estate digital marketing strategy, use the following 8 tips and tricks to get the results you’re seeking:
Develop an Email Campaign
No matter the industry, an email nurture campaign is a valuable tool in connecting with new leads and staying relevant with past clients. Ideally, a well-rounded campaign will funnel potential clients through predetermined actions based on their buyer profile and previous engagements with you.
According to Smart Insights, the average open rate of emails for real estate businesses is around 27% with a click-through rate (CTR) of 3%. However, the more relevant your content is to a client, the more likely they will be interested in opening the email to see what you have to say.
Create a User-Friendly Website
How many times have you opened a website only to close it because it wouldn’t load fast enough? With so many photos and links, realtor websites can sometimes be a web developer’s nightmare. However, with the help of a professional web designer and a knowledge of what your clients are looking for, real estate professionals can develop a responsive website that is optimized for mobile browsing.
Almost half of all web browsing is completed on a mobile device, so if your website is not designed to be responsive, your clients will not be able to browse your site comfortably. Your mobile-friendly website should include the following content in order to give your clients the best experience:
In addition, consider implementing a live chat feature on your website. Your real estate business is extremely people-centric, meaning that it’s important to be available when they need to ask questions. Investing in a live chat software allows people to connect 24/7 and schedule appointments without necessarily speaking directly to you.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-Per-Click – also known as PPC – advertising is an excellent strategy for realtors looking to generate new leads based on ads that they pay for every time the ad gets clicked on.
PPC is a great digital marketing option for real estate professionals seeking potential clients who may genuinely be interested in their offering, as they only pay when someone clicks through their ad.
Often, PPC ads can be targeted toward individuals who have searched for correlated keywords in Google or another search engine.
Continuously update your content and skills with our membership platform.
Create and Post Valuable Blog Content
Responsive websites that have a blog often have 434% more indexed pages, helping real estate professionals achieve better SEO.
A blog is a fantastic way to level-up your SEO, build a positive reputation online, and provide your clients with actionable advice on buying or selling a home or piece of property. A real estate professional’s digital marketing strategy is nothing without valuable content, whether it’s shared on your website or social media.
In addition to your responsive website, make sure that you regularly write content that buyers and sellers can come back to for answers to their most pressing real estate questions.
Host Virtual Tours
Virtual tours of a home are incredible pieces of content in a successful digital marketing strategy. Not only do these tours share video content – which generates revenue 49% faster for marketers than non-video users – but a potential client can get an idea of what a home really has to offer them. Purchasing a home can be difficult, and as a real estate expert, your job is to make the home buying journey as easy as possible for your clients. Andrew J Carr shared some of the more critical qualities realtors should try to include in successful virtual tours, such as:
Using real footage of the home, as compared to digital illustrations
Ensuring the video of the tour is interactive and responsive across all viewing methods (mobile and desktop)
Making the virtual tour 3D and user-friendly
Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
It’s one thing to post real estate-related content on your Facebook account every once in a while, but a full-fledged social media marketing strategy is what truly yields the results you’re looking for. Some ideas of useful content to post on your social media channels include:
If you’re experienced in digital marketing, you may realize just how difficult it can be to create a social media strategy and to post regularly across all channels. However, tools like Buffer are designed to help make social media content development and scheduling simple and clear.
The most important rule of thumb for developing a social media strategy for your real estate business is to share varied content. Although sharing listings is an important factor of your digital strategy, you want to make sure that your content is useful for a broad audience, not just leads in the market for a new home.
Host a Webinar
Sharing all your expertise as a real estate professional is vital for successful digital marketing. Thankfully, techniques such as webinars and online workshops make it easy to reach a large audience and stay relevant in the industry.
GoToWebinar is a webinar hosting tool designed to make creating and hosting webinar events easy, and it is extremely user-friendly from both ends of the operation.
Digital marketing for real estate professionals relies highly on generating inbound leads, so getting your name and expertise out there is vital for a successful digital marketing campaign.
Ensure You Spend Time on SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a critical technique to drive leads to your website. When done correctly, your website and web pages will show up higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) during relevant searches.
However, Google and other search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, so it’s critical to focus on your SEO more than one time. Keywords are a basic aspect of SEO that can make a significant difference. To include keywords in your SEO strategy, make sure that you include high-ranking keywords such as your location and your industry throughout your blog content and website.
Because content is such a valuable asset to a good SEO strategy, make sure that you update your blog regularly. Typically, the material that is ranked highest on Google is between 1,140 words and 1,285 words, so it may be a good idea to write high-value, long-form content on a regular basis.
As a realtor, you may have experienced a major shift in the last ten years. Clients are beginning to buy houses in a different way, often beginning with online market research and a clear vision of precisely what they want out of their future home.
For best-in-class realtors, digital marketing has come to the forefront of their marketing efforts. From generating new leads to completing successful sales, the real estate industry is now reliant on digital marketing.
Real Estate and the Importance of Digital Marketing
Social media was one of the first game changes for realtors seeking ways to get noticed online. From purchasing Facebook Business Ads to sharing photo albums of new listings, various social media platforms allowed real estate professionals to build a brand and a booming business.
With 84% of real estate professionals using social media platforms, how can modern real estate brokerages and realtors in the United States further differentiate themselves in a saturated market? Your digital marketing strategy can have a much greater impact than traditional marketing strategies.
To jump-start your real estate digital marketing strategy, use the following 8 tips and tricks to get the results you’re seeking:
Develop an Email Campaign
No matter the industry, an email nurture campaign is a valuable tool in connecting with new leads and staying relevant with past clients. Ideally, a well-rounded campaign will funnel potential clients through predetermined actions based on their buyer profile and previous engagements with you.
According to Smart Insights, the average open rate of emails for real estate businesses is around 27% with a click-through rate (CTR) of 3%. However, the more relevant your content is to a client, the more likely they will be interested in opening the email to see what you have to say.
Create a User-Friendly Website
How many times have you opened a website only to close it because it wouldn’t load fast enough? With so many photos and links, realtor websites can sometimes be a web developer’s nightmare. However, with the help of a professional web designer and a knowledge of what your clients are looking for, real estate professionals can develop a responsive website that is optimized for mobile browsing.
Almost half of all web browsing is completed on a mobile device, so if your website is not designed to be responsive, your clients will not be able to browse your site comfortably. Your mobile-friendly website should include the following content in order to give your clients the best experience:
A list of all new listings
Content that will guide them throughout the home buying process
Links to relevant moving-related services such as lawyers, movers, and home inspectors
In addition, consider implementing a live chat feature on your website. Your real estate business is extremely people-centric, meaning that it’s important to be available when they need to ask questions. Investing in a live chat software allows people to connect 24/7 and schedule appointments without necessarily speaking directly to you.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-Per-Click – also known as PPC – advertising is an excellent strategy for realtors looking to generate new leads based on ads that they pay for every time the ad gets clicked on.
PPC is a great digital marketing option for real estate professionals seeking potential clients who may genuinely be interested in their offering, as they only pay when someone clicks through their ad.
Often, PPC ads can be targeted toward individuals who have searched for correlated keywords in Google or another search engine.
Continuously update your content and skills with our membership platform.
Create and Post Valuable Blog Content
Responsive websites that have a blog often have 434% more indexed pages, helping real estate professionals achieve better SEO.
A blog is a fantastic way to level-up your SEO, build a positive reputation online, and provide your clients with actionable advice on buying or selling a home or piece of property. A real estate professional’s digital marketing strategy is nothing without valuable content, whether it’s shared on your website or social media.
In addition to your responsive website, make sure that you regularly write content that buyers and sellers can come back to for answers to their most pressing real estate questions.
Host Virtual Tours
Virtual tours of a home are incredible pieces of content in a successful digital marketing strategy. Not only do these tours share video content – which generates revenue 49% faster for marketers than non-video users – but a potential client can get an idea of what a home really has to offer them.
Purchasing a home can be difficult, and as a real estate expert, your job is to make the home buying journey as easy as possible for your clients. Andrew J Carr shared some of the more critical qualities realtors should try to include in successful virtual tours, such as:
Using real footage of the home, as compared to digital illustrations Ensuring the video of the tour is interactive and responsive across all viewing methods (mobile and desktop) Making the virtual tour 3D and user-friendly
Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
It’s one thing to post real estate-related content on your Facebook account every once in a while, but a full-fledged social media marketing strategy is what truly yields the results you’re looking for. Some ideas of useful content to post on your social media channels include:
If you’re experienced in digital marketing, you may realize just how difficult it can be to create a social media strategy and to post regularly across all channels. However, tools like Buffer are designed to help make social media content development and scheduling simple and clear.
The most important rule of thumb for developing a social media strategy for your real estate business is to share varied content. Although sharing listings is an important factor of your digital strategy, you want to make sure that your content is useful for a broad audience, not just leads in the market for a new home.
Host a Webinar
Sharing all your expertise as a real estate professional is vital for successful digital marketing. Thankfully, techniques such as webinars and online workshops make it easy to reach a large audience and stay relevant in the industry.
GoToWebinar is a webinar hosting tool designed to make creating and hosting webinar events easy, and it is extremely user-friendly from both ends of the operation.
Digital marketing for real estate professionals relies highly on generating inbound leads, so getting your name and expertise out there is vital for a successful digital marketing campaign.
Ensure You Spend Time on SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a critical technique to drive leads to your website. When done correctly, your website and web pages will show up higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) during relevant searches.
However, Google and other search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, so it’s critical to focus on your SEO more than one time. Keywords are a basic aspect of SEO that can make a significant difference. To include keywords in your SEO strategy, make sure that you include high-ranking keywords such as your location and your industry throughout your blog content and website.
Because content is such a valuable asset to a good SEO strategy, make sure that you update your blog regularly. Typically, the material that is ranked highest on Google is between 1,140 words and 1,285 words, so it may be a good idea to write high-value, long-form content on a regular basis.
Digital Marketing Improvements You Can Make Today
Develop buyer profiles: Buyer profiles are the ideal clients that you are trying to target through your content. From new homeowners to existing agents, take time to map out who your audience is, what they do, their average salary, and other characteristics that might impact their decision-making processes.
Start posting relevant content: Whether it’s from your blog or another trusted real estate professional in your brokerage, high-value content is what attracts readers and builds your reputation for being a well-informed expert online. Try to update your company blog once a week, and include valuable content for a variety of buyer profiles.
Work on improving your SEO: Increasing your rankings on the search engine results pages of sites like Google and Bing isn’t as hard as you may think. Take a couple of minutes weekly to review popular and industry-related keywords on Google Ads and make sure to include them throughout any copy you develop.
Invest in digital marketing training: In the modern marketplace, digital marketing skills are becoming ever more important in running a successful business. By choosing to invest in digital marketing training, you can ensure that you have the skillset necessary to stand out from your competition.
