First National Real Estate Hervey Bay principal Jacqueline Farag believes Australian consumers should take a closer look at their real estate agents’ websites.
'While many homeowners understand that the Internet has long been a crucial component of marketing when selling, how many of them actually check an estate agency's website’s Google ranking before signing up' said Jacqueline.
It's a well-accepted fact that nine out of ten people start their search for a new home using the Internet. While the major real estate portals like realestate.com.au and domain.com.au may seem like a logical starting point to many consumers, most buyers start by entering the name of the suburb plus the words 'real estate' in a search engine.
'This is where the results get interesting' said Jacqueline.
'One prominent real estate brand markets itself to Australians with the promise that its brand is "searched more often than any other real estate brand" but the evidence shows that it just isn't being found. Consumers need to be wary of listing with agents who have an ineffective digital marketing strategy, as their home may not receive the exposure it needs to maximise its price’.
A common mistake is making the assumption that the agent with the most advertising in the local newspaper will achieve the best result. First National Real Estate's research shows nothing exceeds the importance of digital marketing and the ranking an agent's website receives when it comes to maximising price.
‘The vast majority of buyers find our listings online so agents must work to achieve superior search engine results for their website' said Jacqueline.
‘Once a high ranking has been achieved, agents must keep working on their website to maintain that status. Their website requires regular updates with useful content to ensure it remains highly visible to Google, and this is why we have just launched our new website’.
When Business Review Weekly listed Australia's top 30 real estate brands, the websites of those brands were then subjected to an independent assessment that found First National Real Estate was number one at marketing its listings in a way that attracts maximum exposure.
Those in the know refer to 'Inbound Marketing' as the Holy Grail of search engine optimisation. To the average person, 'Inbound Marketing' loosely translates to the steps an entity takes to attract 'views' or 'hits' to its website. The more hits for real estate agents, the more exposure for their clients. The major real estate brands are therefore locked in a pitchfork battle as they vie for supremacy, and the stakes are high.
'Newspaper advertising volumes once meant something but First National recognised long ago that print media was a battle of the past and that it had to revolutionise its digital marketing strategy if it were to deliver the greatest value to its customers' says Jacqueline.
'We listened to the best and brightest in the website design profession and we also consulted our own agents to craft the most flexible, user friendly, search engine visible websites in the profession. With the addition of Australia’s most advanced ‘hyperlocal’ digital marketing, our strategy is quite simply the most effective in Australia’.