The principals of establishing a relationship with home buyers and sellers online are really no different from meeting with them in person for the first time. Most clients will decide to work with someone as long as they trust them, like them and feel they are competent.
When it comes to online marketing, I believe a website should help build that trust by demonstrating exceptional value to the consumer.
Most home buyers begin their online search well before they decide to talk to a REALTOR®. Thanks to the internet, it’s much easier for consumers to search homes for sale in their preferred neighbourhood(s).
And while it’s important that real estate websites provide this listing information, I feel it’s equally important to offer even more.
In my experience, consumers are also looking to answer questions like: is this neighbourhood going to be a good fit for my lifestyle or an acceptable place to raise my family?
A great way to help answer these important questions is with a “community” page. A thoroughly-prepared community page will help portray you, the owner of the site, as a local real estate expert plus it will improve your site’s SEO and make it appear higher in search engine results for local community keywords.
For example, on my website, JoeSamson.com, I have a “Communities” section that lists over a hundred different distinct neighbourhoods across Calgary. Each of these communities has its own page, where I provide an overview of the area, describe local recreation opportunities and amenities as well as provide a map of current listings.
These community pages have become the cornerstone of my website. Most visitors who find their way to my community pages can quickly tell that I am up to speed on the local real estate market and without any hesitation they identify me as the community expert because of the amount of knowledge that I made available to them.
Anticipating the type of information a new person to the area may want or need to know and providing it in an easy and intuitive way could just be the difference between someone coming to your site to look at a property and someone reaching out to show them their new home.
Do you use community pages on your website to provide added value? Share your tips in the Comments section below.
