The days when buyers needed to set foot in a house to fall in love with it are long gone, thanks to all of the online resources now available to shop for homes. Many buyers spend countless hours browsing listings, analyzing photos, taking virtual tours, and finding reasons to fall in love before they even consider going to an open house or showing. Are you doing everything that you can to inspire confidence in buyers who discover properties on your website?
Properly showcasing your properties online is an essential step in generating interest, inspiring action, and standing out from the competition. Here's how to make your properties shine on your website and help modern buyers fall in love with your listings.
Start with Great Listing Photos
While buyers spend significant time checking listings specs, descriptions, and agent comments, there's no doubt that they focus on listing photos above all else. Professional, high-quality listing photos are one of the most reliable ingredients for generating interest in properties online, so it's critical to have a real estate photographer you can count on to make properties look their best.
There are a few key factors to remember for producing great listing photos. Ideally, the home will be staged in advance in order to highlight its best features. Every photo should be well-lit, and everything in the image should be clearly visible. Of course, you also want to make each room look as large as possible. These are just a few of the many factors that a professional photographer will consider when presenting a home in its best light.
Be Descriptive and Take Advantage of SEO
You want buyers to be able to easily find your properties when they're searching for homes in your markets and be able to learn as much as possible about the property when they arrive. Taking advantage of real estate SEO by conducting keyword research and integrating the right keywords will help your properties stand out from the crowd online.
The listing description is your opportunity to use creative content to highlight anything that's not captured in listing photos and go in-depth on the features that appeal to buyers the most. Sending a draft of the listing description to the seller before you publish is a great idea because they can point out any features that you might have missed. Lastly, make sure that your listing title is catchy, captivating, and highlights the best features of the home.
Showcase Features that Make the Home Special
When describing a listing on your real estate website, try to capture all of the things that make the home unique. If the kitchen is loaded with high-end appliances, include the brand names. If there's a beautiful breakfast nook, a great place to enjoy a morning coffee with a view, or a well-equipped outdoor living/entertaining space, describe it in detail. When a buyer is considering two similar homes, these features can make all the difference in their decision.
Never Forget that Location Matters
For the overwhelming majority of buyers, location is a critical factor in choosing a home. So if you want to make your properties shine, it's worth pointing out all of the perks of where the home is located. Is it a walkable neighborhood with great parks and restaurants? Is the home located in an excellent school district, with ample attractions for families to enjoy? Just as with the home itself, you want to point out all of the things that make the neighborhood special.
Share Your Listings in All of the Right Places
SEO isn't the only tool for helping buyers find your properties. If you've been keeping up with your social media marketing, then you already have a built-in audience on the biggest social platforms. Make sure that you're sharing your best listings on any social platform where you've built up a presence.
Enhance the Online Shopping Experience with Virtual Tours, Showings, and Open Houses
Not every buyer who's interested in a home will be able to drop everything and come visit it in person. Virtual tours are great for helping buyers fall in love with homes, while tools like virtual open houses and showings can help encourage buyers to take the next step by making an offer or traveling to visit the home in person.
The Bottom Line for Making Your Properties Shine
There's no one magic tool or solution to guarantee that properties shine on your website. Instead, it's a combination of all of the little things that you do to present a property in its best light. Start with great listing photos, captivating descriptions, and a focus on all of the things that make the home/neighborhood special. Mix in the right promotional strategies, and you have the recipe for generating maximum interest in your properties online.
If you're in real estate, you can't do without a real estate website.
Millennials are aging into homeownership, and Generation Z is starting far earlier than analysts guessed. With the numbers of younger buyers (and first-time sellers) surging, it's crucial to be where they are.
And "where they are" is overwhelmingly online. The vast majority of first-time buyers 40 and younger go online to start their home search. They check out dozens or even hundreds of properties before looking at local real estate agents. And they research those agents in detail before reaching out to just a few.
In fact, the greatest predictor of whether or not you'll be able to welcome a new customer is whether they choose to reach out to you before anyone else. While many would-be customers write a short list of local agents, they often end up going with the very first person they interview.
What does it all mean?
You can only succeed if you:
It's not an exaggeration to say that digital marketing is the only way to do that. And for digital marketing techniques to work, you need something that ties them all together. That "something" is your website, a reflection of your brand that represents you across the internet.
An effective website is an absolute must-have for real estate agents and brokers at any career stage. Done right, your website draws leads to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter if you're awake or asleep. That means proportionately less time spent chasing business down.
And that's a crucial shift.
Just about everyone in real estate spends the first year learning the ropes and, yes, chasing down leads. But staying in that mode is a recipe for burnout. Because your website is always working for you, it's the very foundation of developing a practice that offers you a healthy work-life balance.
But not everyone is getting all the value they could from their website.
In any industry, the majority of businesses aren't making a dent with their website. It's not getting any traffic, and so it's not converting traffic into leads. This is a disappointing situation, especially for those entrepreneurs who spend lots of time on social media with nothing to show for it.
So, how can you avoid the same fate – and reap all the benefits a website can offer?
Seven "Must Have" Features for Your Real Estate Website
Contact us to learn more about putting your website to work for you.
Quick — what's the most powerful form of marketing for real estate agents?
These days, the first thing that comes to mind might be something like social media. And it's true that of all the professionals active on Instagram, Facebook, and the rest, real estate pros have the best shot at transforming all that time spent scrolling their feed into real business value.
Next, you might think of email marketing. And it is the best in at least one way: Experts estimate it has the highest ROI of any digital marketing technique. After all, it only costs a few cents to send emails all month long. And each one could help you close a transaction valued at $50,000 or more.
But neither of these is the best option.
In fact, there isn't one.
Over the last few years, digital marketing has made a big impact on the world of real estate. Millennials are stepping up as the biggest group of homebuyers, and Generation Z is just one step behind them. In both cases, these younger buyers look to the internet when it's time to launch a home search.
It's crucial to be where they are since they might be deep into that search before they reach out to local real estate agents. But, despite all of the techniques that can reach your audience, there isn't a surefire approach that definitely will. It's crucial to have a variety of methods at your disposal.
"Doing It All" Versus Doing a Few Things Well
Whether online or off, effective real estate marketing helps you do two things:
Both these functions are crucial to growing your real estate practice. Buyers of any age or background can take weeks or even months before they decide to enter the market – with marketing, you can be sure they're on your radar. As you communicate with them, they're more likely to choose you.
Likewise, you can motivate and inspire prospects to become leads who are ready to take action. Yes, you can't get someone to buy a house when they aren't ready, but you don't have to. Education is the key — as a real estate expert, you can highlight when it might be the right time for them to make their move.
The question then becomes, "How do you do it?"
There are dozens of different marketing tactics that can help your business grow. The challenge is to apply a variety of skills but practice them consistently. Inconsistent marketing usually fails to make a difference. At the same time, it leads to frustration and disappointment.
Getting reliable ROI from marketing also has a few easily identified planks:
An AI-driven center of excellence for marketing is the secret behind some of today's fastest-growing real estate agencies and brokerages. Using an all-in-one real estate solution like DeltaNET®6, you can ensure that you are in constant contact with leads through a full range of digital channels — while spending minutes a week.
What should your marketing toolbox look like?
These are some of the most potent marketing moves around:
Contact us to learn more about marketing automation for real estate professionals and teams.
The real estate industry is always innovating, and new technology often alters the way that agents serve clients. Today's real estate clients are typically much better informed than they would have been in years past, but that doesn't change the fact that they still rely heavily on their agent throughout the process. So while your role may have changed due to technology, that same technology also holds the key to putting people first and generating a steady pipeline of referrals from satisfied clients.
Putting people first starts with providing easy access to the information they need to make informed decisions when they're buying or selling a home. This is one of the key ways that the role of an agent has evolved due to technology. In the past, the agent was the primary, direct source of information for clients. Today, you can provide much of that data through your real estate website and other online resources, which frees up more time to put your clients first in other ways.
Leverage Technology to Be Responsive and Share Your Expertise
Providing all of that data, information and market analysis, up front leads to more informed clients, but that doesn't mean that they won't still rely on your expertise. Technology also makes it much easier to communicate with modern real estate clients who expect speed and responsiveness from their agents. Whether you're communicating through SMS text messaging, instant messaging apps, social media, email, or video calls, being available to clients is still a key part of the job description. Clients have questions, you have answers, and technology makes it easier to handle those communications in a quick, convenient manner.
Technology Unlocks Time to Be the Trusted Advisor Your Clients Need
While technology has changed the real estate industry, it doesn't change the fact that buying or selling a home is a monumental, potentially life-changing experience for your clients. They don't just want an agent who will provide them with the facts and then get out of the way. They want someone who understands where they're coming from, values their time, and advocates for them at every step of the process.
By taking advantage of the time-saving benefits of real estate technology, you have more time to be the trusted advisor that clients need in order to buy or sell a home with full confidence that they're making informed choices. They count on you to help them negotiate, navigate the closing process, and handle the key details from the start of the process to the day that they sign the paperwork. Technology makes it easier to focus on providing the best possible experience for your clients, and that's truly what it means to put people first.
Does Your Real Estate Tech Make It Easy to Put People First?
If you're still devoting too much time to tedious tasks that could easily be handled by the latest real estate technology, there's a better way. DeltaNET®6, our all-in-one real estate solution, puts at your fingertips all of the tools you need so you can put people first. Make life easier for everyone by choosing the best real estate tech for the job.
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a sci-fi fantasy, a dream of data scientists, or a catchy buzzword. The technology for AI has developed so much in recent years that it's quickly making an impact on — and potentially reshaping — nearly every major industry. Real estate is certainly no exception, with AI already making its presence felt in both subtle and obvious ways.
Does that mean that agents will soon be largely replaced by AI, with little work left for humans to do? Fortunately, you can take a deep breath, exhale, and know that your job is not in danger from AI. The truth is that AI in real estate can save you tremendous time on monotonous, repetitive tasks, allowing you to spend more of your working hours on the things that matter most.
Let's start with the basics. When we talk about AI in the present day, we're not talking about an all-seeing, all-knowing computer like you've seen in movies or read about in novels. Today's AI is designed to handle specific tasks in a fast, reliable, consistent way. Here are some of the ways that AI can lighten your workload on repetitive tasks and create more time for you to serve your clients:
How Will You Invest the Time Saved by AI?
The examples above are just a few of the ways that AI can make life easier for real estate agents and dramatically speed up tasks that once took up far too much time. That means less work on the tasks that you probably didn't want to be doing anyway, but not less work overall.
Ultimately, the promise of AI in real estate is that you'll have more time to focus on the work that really matters. Think about every day that you've wished that there were just a few more hours to get done everything you needed to do. AI helps make that dream a reality without compromising on productivity or sacrificing your free time. All you have to decide is how to invest those hours that once went to tasks that can now be handled by AI.
The Future Is Bright for AI in Real Estate
One of the exciting things about AI is that despite the significant progress that's been made, we're still only scratching the surface of what the technology can do. The future is bright for AI integration in real estate, and we'll be sure to continue bringing you the best, most modern tech to help you thrive as a real estate agent.
It was only a few decades ago when many experts believed that, due to the rapidly accelerating pace of productivity, technology would render the five-day workweek obsolete in a few generations. There were several visions of how it might happen, including a three-hour, four-day week.
Amazingly, while productivity has continued to rise, most people are working even longer hours. What's more, wages have stagnated in relation to productivity, meaning that earners in many industries are going home with less. Luckily, real estate pros are positioned to reverse both these trends.
Unlike so many others, the nature of your business means you really can have it all:
Where workers once relied on muscle, your stock in trade is concentration — and even that can be stretched to the limit. Good technology investment is something that allows you to do more in less time while focusing more of your attention on things that matter to you.
All machines have one major purpose: To save labor. That hasn't changed at all even though we're now using artificial intelligence and machine learning instead of windmills that grind flour. And by unlocking the labor-saving power of modern technology, you can achieve more in a day than some do in a week.
Let's look at some of the best technologies for a smooth, seamless increase in productivity:
The secrets of productivity are no mystery. Contact us at Delta Media Group to get inside information on how our suite of reliable, AI-driven tools can help you achieve more in less time in the coming year.
Virtual tours took center stage in 2021 when agents from coast to coast needed to find new, more effective ways to protect their clients. But even as restrictions on travel and gathering draw to an end, they are still in high demand.
Virtual tours are convenient for buyers and sellers alike. Sellers no longer need to worry about inviting large groups of people into a home that's still occupied. Buyers have the opportunity to greatly expand the radius of their search without doing a lot of extra travel as a result.
Virtual tours were already starting to take hold prior to the pandemic, but they skyrocketed more than 750% in the month after shelter in place orders were enacted across the United States. Since then, they have seen steady adoption at agencies and brokerages of all sizes.
Now, virtual tours have been a regular part of doing business for more than a year. Time has taught the industry a lot. Homes with virtual tours get substantially more engagement than those without. In fact, visitors spend up to 10x more time on listings with virtual tours than those without.
What's more:
But virtual tours can have a steep learning curve for agents.
How can you use them to the best advantage in your listings?
Six Ways to Make a Virtual Tour Easier and More Effective than Ever Before
It seems like there are new tech skills for agents to tackle every day — and let's face it, few people came to this industry from a past career as a videographer. But you can get a strong start with virtual tours by keeping a few simple ideas in mind. Even if you're already using virtual tours with some success, you can continue to improve by making sure the right fundamentals are in place.
Here's how:
Contact us at Delta Media Group to discover just how easy good virtual tours can be.
As the pandemic spread, few industries changed as quickly or as completely as real estate. In many areas, public safety protocols meant real estate was effectively on pause for several weeks. During that time, agents and brokers all over the country worked around the clock to figure out safe and effective ways to continue serving clients. Never before had there been so much risk.
And those professionals rose to the occasion. Real estate transactions have continued at a brisk pace, giving buyers the chance to access historically low interest rates. At the same time, sellers have benefited from rising home prices in some of the most desirable markets. Now, at last, there are optimistic signs of coming out the other end of the pandemic. But things won't simply go back to the way they were.
Many of the real estate trends accelerated by the pandemic were already percolating in the background. Virtual home tours and showings, remote work, marketing automation, and more have gained traction faster than anyone predicted. The benefits of these fresh approaches remain very attractive. Real estate experts often thrive on face-to-face interactions. It will be a relief to see clients in person more frequently. But the top pandemic trends have unlocked ways to get more done and serve more people — all without having to sacrifice the personal touch that makes relationships work.
Let's look at some game-changing real estate trends that have staying power:
Real Estate Is Undergoing a Digital Revolution: The Right Technologies Are Essential to Success
The pandemic has been a challenging time for everyone. It will pass, but the lessons learned will endure.
Today's most effective real estate agents are using technology to adapt, overcome challenges, and add value to their communities. Modern real estate technology is the key to building a practice that lets you deliver sterling customer care while making space for the work-life balance you want in the long term.
To learn more from the real estate digital marketing experts, contact Delta Media Group today.
Vaccination is underway, but virtual tours are definitely here to stay. It may be months before travel restrictions and social distancing rules are relaxed throughout the United States, and in that time, virtual home tours are continuing to gain traction. Although they started as a safety precaution, buyers and sellers alike are realizing the benefits.
Open houses have long been among the most effective ways to show off any home. They generate excitement and provide opportunities to meet qualified buyers. Virtual open houses have the potential to be just as effective. Plus, they have some advantages all their own:
Agents Open the Door to Success When They Master Virtual Open Houses
The virtual open house has been an unexpected hit with agents, too.
Giving a virtual tour draws on the skills you already have, but it also calls on you to grow and stretch. More agents are getting comfortable both in front of and behind the camera. This, in turn, equips them with more fluency in video marketing, one of the most powerful methods for promoting any practice.
While there are a few different ways to set up a virtual open house, live streaming video has become more popular than video filmed ahead of time. While static video offers more control and a strong environment for practice, live streaming video is the gold standard thanks to its interactivity and personal touch.
But how can you overcome the learning curve quickly? Use these tips to get it done the right way:
Contact us to learn more about virtual open house success from the real estate marketing experts.
When the coronavirus hit, real estate faced a turning point.
The pandemic creates challenges for everyone––none of them being particularly easy. In the real estate industry, old ways of doing business became outdated overnight. Just consider the average day: Until March, sales associates spent hours on face-to-face contact. A home showing was the centerpiece of most transactions.
In those first weeks of shelter-in-place, millions of real estate experts came together to find new ways of doing things, knowing their professional community depended on it. Virtual showings and open houses are emblematic of that effort. They've become some of the most popular real estate marketing tools.
Let's take a closer look at virtual showings and open houses and how this technology shapes the future of the real estate industry
Virtual open houses have become the norm in real estate markets across the country, allowing clients to practice social distancing while still marketing their property or shopping for their next home. As communities reopen, many clients prefer the safety, security, and convenience of virtual open houses. As all top-performing REALTORS® know, adapting to an ever-changing industry is key to a successful career in real estate. So now is the time to make sure that you're bringing your "A" game with virtual open houses, and we've got some tips to help you do just that.
I'm going to level with you. I hate supporting third party software--I really do.
I don't work for Facebook or YouTube. I barely have a Facebook account. When it came to making guides to set up live streams and uploading videos to YouTube and Facebook, I knew they were necessary, but I was going to be in for a rough time. After all, the most challenging part here is going to be the technical side of things, right?.
Well, as it turns out, not so much. Many of you already had some expertise there. When COVID-19 made words and phrases like "quarantine," "stay-at-home order," and "essential businesses" part of our daily vocabulary, you took the creation and uploading of video in stride. These days, the questions we get aren't about the actual act of getting these videos recorded and posted, but rather, what kind of content should be in them and what the difference is between the different types of videos you can make to market your listing and yourself. I'm hoping I can shed some light on that and maybe simplify your life in doing so.
With the coronavirus pandemic hitting its stride this spring selling year, it comes as no surprise the real estate industry has seen an enormous spike in demand for virtual home showings—some in the triple digits.
Sales associates with a mindset of adapting to change and adopting new technologies—like virtual open houses and showings—are paving their ways to future success.
Shelter-in-place orders and social distancing haven't necessarily lessened the interest of would-be buyers to shop for a home or sellers wanting to keep the ball rolling toward the sale of their homes.
Consequently, sales associates embracing today's real estate market are incorporating virtual open houses to keep their businesses growing and provide more modern service to their clients.
Scott Hannaman of Coldwell Banker Bain Offers Valuable Insights Into How To Run Successful Virtual Showings & Open Houses
As a real estate professional, staying ahead of the curve and discovering new ways to make your business profitable is the secret to success.
Adopting modern real estate technology is essential to keep your business moving forward when life's challenges get in the way.
While COVID-19 has changed the real estate industry, it has not brought it to a screeching halt. Using technology and marketing, your sellers can show their property to buyers without them physically entering the home using Virtual Open Houses.
Previously, sales associates used Virtual Open Houses as an online marketing tool. Today, virtual open houses posted to social media sites like Facebook and Youtube are the sweetheart of the real estate industry for targeting the needs of sellers, buyers, and you.
Working from home as a sales associate presents its share of unique challenges, but as an industry, real estate has quickly found ways to adjust to this new normal. We're seeing more associates than ever embracing the marketing tools in DeltaNET 6 while relying on our CRM to coordinate business from home. Real estate technology has become more critical than ever, and embracing technology is the key to keeping business running as smoothly as possible during these unusual times. Get started with our guide to generating leads with real estate technology while working from home.
Video marketing has become a more vital tool for real estate sales associates than ever before, as the coronavirus disrupts how the real estate industry normally does business. But speaking on camera can also be intimidating, especially if you haven't done it before. Nobody handles video marketing flawlessly the first time they try, and that's okay! With the right tips and a bit of practice, your intelligence, integrity, and honesty will shine through for your audience to see.
We live in a different world, but that has not stopped buyers and sellers from wanting to engage with the real estate market. The economic realities of the COVID-19 crisis are giving some sellers reason to close the deal, and many buyers see "shelter in place" orders as motivation to find a home that they truly love. While coronavirus precautions have made it impossible to conduct business in the traditional way in many markets, innovative sales associates are pivoting to virtual showings and open houses to keep business moving.
After conducting a few webinars over the past week and getting feedback from our wonderful attendees, we recognize some of you are intimidated, so we are showing how easy this is and providing useful tips on how to create Virtual Open House Videos, including recommended iPhone and Android settings.
On this webinar, we will take you step by step on how to create a video from your iPhone or Android and upload it to Facebook Premieres. Whether you are a broker or an agent, this is a must-watch webinar!
We all need to learn, grow, and step out of our comfort zone! We are all in this together! It's easy. You can do it!