5 Ways to Market Your Listings More Effectively Without Spending a Dime!

1. Do some research in Google AdWords to locate keyword ideas that will make your property description more ‘searchable’
It is no secret that the vast majority of potential home buyers begin their searches online. With this being the new reality, making your listings and property descriptions as searchable as possible for online buyers is key– the buyers are out there and you want to be sure that it is your listings they are finding. There are tactics you can apply to help with this, like applying searchable keywords, that won’t dip into any of your marketing budget.

Check out the below link to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. You can enter in different phrases and keywords to see what is searched most often.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

2. Create a Blog
Going along with our #1 tip on the list, the goal is to make your listings very searchable and easily found by the large number of potential online buyers. A terrifc way to optimize your brand and your listings is to create a blog. The good news is that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of easy to use blog templates out there…many of which are free!

Here is an few example/source with information on creating your blog:
http://www.blogger.com/template-editor.g?blogID=4010125631613458355

3. Posting your Listings on Social Networking Sites and on YouTube
You may be sensing a theme here– online optimization of your listings is critical. With so many free options to help you accomplish this, it’s becoming more and more accessible to successfully market your properties online. You just need to take advantage of the tools that are available.

We’ve discussed posting your listings to your social networking sites, and posting your video tours to YouTube, in a couple of our RE Marketing Revolution Newsletter articles. Please click the below links to read those articles.

Will Posting Listings to YouTube Really Attract More Buyers?

‘Liking’ and ‘Sharing’ Your Way to Online Optimization

 

4. Create a Single Property Web site
For our final tip regarding online optimization of your listings, we recommend creating a single property website, and using this in conjunction with the first 3 tips. Make sure your text is searchable, link this to your blog, and post it on your social networking sites. Some of the single property sites have built in tools to help with linking your property site to your blog and social networks.

Again, there are number of sites you can use to create a property Web site. But here is one example to get you started. This site is free when using for your listing presentations, and then when you get the listing and want to make it live, they charge a very small monthly fee (we recommend to further assist in online optimization, to also think about adding the custom domain name if it’s still being offered): http://www.singlepropertysites.com. We tested this site when a team member had their home up for sale and we thought it worked well– fairly easy to use. It also has a gallery of pre-branded templates for a number of national brokerage firms.

 

5. Learn and apply light staging techniques
Mastering light staging will not only help attract more buyers to those all too important online photographs (after all, you’ve just done some great optimization tactics to help buyers find your listing… now it needs to look the part and motivate them to call for a showing)– it also helps create an enjoyable (and hopefully memorable) in-person viewing experience.

We liked this AOL Real Estate article regarding staging, it has some helpful tips and suggestions: http://realestate.aol.com/article/improve/_a/styled-to-sell/20070404104909990001

 

This article was originally posted in the July edition of our RE Marketing Revolution e-Newsletter.  If you would like to sign up to receive this free e-Newsletter, please click here.  You can unsubscribe at any time.