This great article by Bill Gassett recently appeared on the Placester Real Estate Marketing Academy, an online resource for real estate agents. This is an excerpt is from the full article.

Priority #1: Blog

The more useful information you contribute to your buyer and seller audience through your blog, the more they will think of you as a go-to resource for everything real estate–related. When the time comes for them to buy or sell a home, your name will be the first they think of.

You can blog on pretty much anything, including local news, real estate basics, current market trends, local events and more. You are only limited by your imagination. Make sure to infuse the blog with your personality and enough valuable information to attract readers.

Priority #2: Create Community Pages

Another effective online marketing tool every agent should employ is real estate community pages. Featuring community pages on your website draws visitors that are looking for information on specific areas or neighborhoods, and there is a good chance that you have a lot of quality information about the communities you work in.

By sharing this information through community pages, including topics like community history, neighborhoods, housing supply, local attractions, and commuting options, you can easily attract visitors to your site.

Priority #3: Use Social Media

Unfortunately, most real estate agents think “promotion” when using social media and this is why they get no traction. What real estate agents seem to forget is that social media is about being “social.”

You have to remember that people don’t want to be sold on social media sites. Blasting your listings out across these networks does not cause people to pick up the phone and want to hire you.

Priority #4: Learn the Basics of SEO

You want Google to lead internet searchers to your doorstep, but it can only help you if you optimize your site and your content. You need to understand what keywords people are using when they are looking for content like yours, and you will need to include those keywords in your work. Having a basic understanding of both on-site and off-site SEO is very important. You can have the best site going, but if nobody finds you in search it won’t get you very far.

Priority #5: Create a Content Marketing Plan

Creating great content is only half the battle. You also have to figure out ways to get that content in front of a bigger audience. You also need to figure out a way to keep up a steady stream of content, even if you don’t have time to write it all yourself. While your blog and community pages are a good start, you will need to accumulate more content than you reasonably have time to create on your own.

There are sites that you can use to help you curate content and get it out to a larger audience. Sites like Scoop.it, Storify, and Bundlr all allow you to gather content quickly and easily from a variety of sources. These are additional places to share content and reach a different set of eyeballs that you otherwise might not reach.

The author, Bill Gassett, is a REALTOR® in Boston’s metrowest area with 28 years of experience. His website is http://www.maxrealestateexposure.com/ and the full text of this article may be found at https://placester.com/real-estate-marketing-academy/5-marketing-tips-successful-real-estate-agent/.