Now more than ever, searching for a home is digital. Nearly 60% of home buyers use online tools to search for properties and research the home buying experience. You probably aren’t surprised to hear that the 10 largest real estate listing portals, including Zillow and Trulia, are capturing nearly half of all non-mobile traffic in the US.
Instead of trying to compete against the giants, capitalize on any of these innovative real estate business ideas to bring your business online and get maximum ROI.
1. Make a Great Impression with a Great Looking Website
Invest in creating a website for your real estate business that is easy to navigate and shares details about your properties, services, and stories from happy clients. A beautifully designed site will keep potential clients engaged for longer and more likely to shoot you an email or reach out to start working with your business.
Increasing leads with a bright and shiny new site is just the first step. Good looks aren’t everything, make sure that your website is also mobile optimized. 58% of all buyers found their home on a mobile device and if your site is mobile friendly, you are much more likely to capture new clients.
A well-designed website will,
- Be SEO optimized to draw more traffic from your local community
- Be easy to navigate on any device for clients of all demographics
- Show off your business’ best features
- Include great photographs of properties
Top real estate agents Josh Flagg and Allison James have enviable (and effective!) sites you can aim to emulate.
2. Build your company’s social media presence
Your social media profile will be one of the first things your client checks out. Make sure each post is relevant and personal by posting photos and statuses that let viewers see inside your business and see how it operates.
Avoid running your Facebook or LinkedIn like an ad campaign. Instead, respond and interact with all of your page visitors to keep things personalized.
Using humor and telling interesting stories is a great way to increase your followers and get more referrals. Imagine posting a story about walking into a birthday party at the wrong home instead of the right location for an open house! It will get real laughs and likely be shared with your followers’ friends and family. Personal stories about your business help clients’ envision you as another friend at their table and more likely to recommend you to other people in their network.
3. Create a website for listing properties that are for sale, lease and rent
An easy way to make more money with your real estate knowledge is to develop a website where people can sign up to list their properties that are for sale, for lease, or for rent. You will only be responsible for the initial web setup and answering questions from visitors who sign up to post about a property.
Even before the website traffic begins to grow, you can charge an administrative fee per post on the property board. This income stream will run on autopilot and you will have the opportunity to send the web address out local publications and media outlets to earn good money from advertising your innovative online real estate business.
4. Become a real estate blogger
Using your expertise and knowledge about your local area, you can create content that is helpful for homebuyers and sellers on a real estate blog. Linked directly from your business home page, a blog will help keep visitors looking and listening to you as well as direct new traffic to your business from prospective homebuyers who are looking for advice and insight.
In addition to covering the basics of looking for a home, you can share
- Fun facts and statistics
- School and neighborhood information
- Local events
- Exciting local business openings
Update your blog regularly to continue to attract traffic. This will build trust with clients and they will turn to you as an expert on real estate and more! Clients will spread the word about you while your content grows and more visitors read your posts. You can then easily secure good advertising deals from other businesses in your blog.
5. Start a credit repair service and close more deals
Sometimes it isn’t finding the right home, but helping people get into the home of their dreams that will most positively impact your business and leave a great impression with the community.
A client’s inability to get a decent mortgage because of a poor credit history is the major setback that leaves a home stuck in their dreams and your business without a sale. Provide a credit repair service that will help clients improve their financial health and help them close on a great home.
Improving a client’s credit score can make all the difference in their home buying experience and give you a steady secondary income stream. Starting a credit repair business is an easy, low investment strategy to add to your online real estate business. It will bring joy to struggling clients who are in the process of buying, increase the number of homes you sell, establish a reliable source of secondary income for your business, and make for happier return clients.
Once someone sees the success of your credit repair services, they are more likely to turn to you for their home buying needs!
For more business ideas, read this real estate agent's guide to qualifying more leads and selling more homes.
