One of the biggest things our title agency website builder customers ask us after we launch their shiny new website is “how to be found online.”
What they are really asking here is how do we use this website to bring in more business with their website.
Although TitleTap website templates come search engine optimized out of the box, when a new website is launched, oftentimes the domain and website is new. As a result it can take Google some time to index the website and start ranking it. This can take months because Google doesn’t yet know if you are a legitimate business or not. So in a lot of cases it is just a waiting game.
However, here are a 5 tips you can do to expedite the process to attract more Realtors, Lenders, and Homebuyers right away.
Tip #1 Submit a sitemap
Ask your web designer for a sitemap of your website and submit it to Google and Bing. Google’s Free Search Console and Bing’s Webmaster Tools are both an invaluable tool for getting your site crawled and listed quickly.
Tip #2 Complete your company listing on the popular directory sites
This is called off-page SEO because it occurs off of your website.
There is an old rule in marketing that you should go where the people are. This is what we are doing here by getting a presence on very busy websites – the equivalent of putting up a billboard on a busy interstate, for example.
These sites include Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, Zillow (service providers section), YellowPages.com, BBB, and by building out your Facebook page.
Each of these websites have a ton of traffic individually and often rank higher than even your own website because they are so large and popular. Make sure you include graphics and fill in the profile details completely including address, phone, website, and hours.
Claiming your listings isn’t the only step though. Next, focus your energy on getting a few 5 star ratings from your regular customers – get a handful on each site. These will all link back to your website and tell Google that you are legit to speed up step 1.
Tip #3 Use Video Liberally
YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine for a reason. Also 78% of people watch at least one video online every week. Bottom line: most people would rather watch a video then to read if given the option. Video can be created or purchased and is a fantastic tool to market.
Most TitleTap websites come with 100 video blog posts that you can modify and publish in minutes to create original blog content.
Think about it this way…Most people are looking for answers to their questions like “what is title insurance?” and “how much down payment do I need?” not specifically for your company. Having these common questions answered as individual video blog posts makes it much more likely that your prospects will find you online.
Tip #4 Content Marketing / Blogging
If you don’t have content available like the the previous example, the next best use of time is by creating unique and useful content for your website. Search engines reward unique content by ranking the websites that produce it high in the search results. After all, as I already mentioned information is what people are ultimately looking for on the internet anyway!
There are a few ways you can do this:
Option A: Buying or utilizing existing content like in the previous example. This is a great option for real estate because time is often a valuable resource and this is the fastest way to get great content.
Option B: Summarize and provide commentary on other news content. Perhaps you don’t agree with the new CFPB ruling, or have an opinion on homebuyer awareness of title insurance. Take an existing article, link to it and provide commentary.
Option C: Write 100% unique content. This is the best option but is very time consuming as you must be very consistent to see a return on investment.
To reduce the amount of time this takes you, I’ve known people to hire writers on an hourly basis to interview a subject matter expert (i.e. you) once per week on a specific topic, then write an article based on the interview. This is a great way to streamline the process and consistently publish.
Tip #5 Use Advertisements For Immediate Results
Due to the Internet becoming such a popular space for every industry, these days you often need to pay to play to get noticed online. Ads are the fastest way to get found online while you are waiting for some of the long term, organic methods listed above to work.
In fact, even Facebook requires you to pay a small fee to boost a post so that it reaches everyone that has liked your page.
Google Ads: Still a market leader, but due to the number of advertisers has gotten more expensive the past few years. For this, simply setup an Adwords account and purchase the keywords people use in Google when you’d want someone to find you. Google will even give you an account manager free of additional charge to help you get it setup.
Facebook Ads: A fantastic, emerging, and still cost effective ad platform. Instead of targeting people by what they search like Google Ads, you can display your ads by things like income, age, and likelihood to buy or sell a home.
Remarketing: Another emerging platform that allows your ads to appear around the web after someone leaves your website. This is a great tool to stay on Realtors’ minds for their next deal after they’ve been to your website once. It is cost effective in a sense that you are only marketing to people who are most familiar with you.
In summary
So for a short answer, if you are on a tight budget I’d recommend having someone on your staff spend time on tips 1 through 4. But if you want to get the best results and really drive more business I’d suggest considering adding 5 as well.
Are your marketing people and staff busy managing relationships and files? If so, schedule a demo today to see how TitleTap can help you out with social marketing – created specifically to help title agents and real estate law firms get ROI from social media.