Online branding, automation, and figuring out a good work/life balance with Natalie Sutton Balaban.
This week I sat down with Natalie Sutton Balaban, a manager with Sutton Group Associates, Over A Pint. Natalie grew up in a real estate family and has been active in the industry for eight years. She began her career filling in for an administrator and moved her way up to manager. Some of her tasks include training, events, marketing, and online branding.
Online Branding
One of the topics we covered was the importance of branding online and through events. Some don’t find it to be a valuable asset because it doesn’t usually translate to profit right away. Those who see the value understand that you have to play the long game when it comes to building an online presence.
Building your brand and remaining consistent online is time consuming. You have to create and update:
– Your profile in a way that will help with SEO
– Produce top quality content
– Dedicate time to planning and scheduling your content to remain consistent
Organic social media growth can be frustrating. Often taking up to 6 months before seeing a noticeable change. Remember, you’re building a brand culture online and consistently showing up on your followers’ feeds. People get an inside look at your business and can see themselves being a part of it.
You’re accumulating new connections through your online listings and social accounts – time for a new system! It’s easy to casually go back and forth with prospective clients on social media. It’s also easy to lose track of who’s information you’ve actually collected. That can get tricky when it’s time to give them a call or send them an email.
Automation
Advertising your services and listings online is a great way to put your business in front of people. It also means you can find yourself with a large amount of people opting in. This can leave you overwhelmed and make it difficult to figure out which are serious leads and which aren’t.
Though I wouldn’t recommend automation as a main form of contact, it can be a great way to sift out the solid leads. When people opt in, they receive an automated message asking them a question. There are two great outcomes from this simple system:
You’re given information before making direct contact with them,
Those who are serious will take the time to answer the question, those who aren’t won’t bother. You’re left with a shorter list of leads to contact.
Work / Life Balance
Creating a work/life balance that works for you – the age-old struggle.
In the real estate industry it isn’t uncommon to miss certain events. To have to excuse yourself during dinner with the family to take a call. Knowing where to draw the line when it comes to your availability can be difficult. Every individual has their own lifestyle, so there isn’t one work-life-balance-fits-all.
One of your goals is to allow for more uninterrupted time with family and friends. Take the time to analyze your tasks. Figure out where you add the most value and narrow down the tasks that are taking up time and causing stress. The hardest part is letting go of some control and delegating tasks to others. Doing so will help your business grow and help you achieve the sought after work/life balance.
Give Us A Call
You can book your free consultation here. We’ll discuss your goals and figure out the best way we can help you succeed online.
Got any topics you’d like us to cover in a future episode or a guest you’d like us to sit down with? Let us know in the comments below! You can also reach us on Facebook and Instagram.
For the sake of simplifying Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for real estate —and to take the edge off an otherwise intimidating task — we’ll liken your website to a cozy cabin in the woods.
You’ve converted said cabin into a bed and breakfast and now you need to fill it with customers (stay with me here). But much like the real estate industry, your badass B&B faces steep competition. Fortunately, you’re about to learn simple SEO principles that’ll kickstart your ranking quest and give you the edge over competitors.
So what exactly does Google look for in a high ranking website?
High Quality Content
Google has one goal for their users: To serve them the best possible answer to their search or ‘query‘. If your real estate website lacks quality content that people will find valuable, you’ll never be a blip on Google’s radar.
How can Google tell if people like your content? One determining factor is your bounce rate. If website visitors don’t see a reason to stick around, they’ll quickly bail — or “bounce” — signaling Google that your content wasn’t useful.
So if your B&B cabin was rundown and riddled with cockroaches, most sane people would u-turn and leave. I mean, if you saw a bunch of people running out, would you spend your money there?
Same concept.
💡The takeaway: Above all, focus on creating content that potential clients will find valuable. Keeping them engaged and coming back for more is key for successful real estate SEO.
High Quality Backlinks
After some reno love, your B&B cabin hits 5-star status. But just because you built it, doesn’t mean they’ll come. If you want people to come to your cabin, you need a boost.
Wait —what’s this? Oprah just raved about your hot new five-star B&B during Super Soul Sunday. You just hit the instant credibility jackpot. People start to flock.
In the other corner, Mr. Sketchy on the street is incoherently rambling about this ‘killer cabin in the woods.’ In this case, one might think meth shack over cozy cabin. Bottom line: No one is going —at least not the caliber of customer you’re shooting for.
That’s the idea behind backlinks —one of the most potent techniques to showcase your value to Google and drive traffic to your website. When another website links to yours, it validates the quality of your website to Google. But you don’t want just any website linking to yours. Untrustworthy websites with bad content won’t help.
💡Just a Tip: So how do you earn links from high end website in your niche? Make a list of 5 well respected, authoritative websites in your niche and pitch them with an idea for a guest blog post. In your article, weave in a link or two that directs traffic to relevant content on your site. Sidenote: Some sites don’t allow backlinks in guest posts so be sure to clear it with them first.
As a real estate pro, you know how powerful word of mouth can be. Why not leverage it online?
Keywords
When it comes to SEO for real estate, you’ll need to know the keywords you want to rank for. When someone searches specific words and terms in Google, these words signal Google that your content is a match.
For example, someone searches “Toronto Homes for Sale.” If your website doesn’t once mention “Toronto Homes for Sale,” Google won’t once mention you.
What are your potential clients searching for? Consult Google’s free keyword planner to figure it out. Be warned though, to rank for the top terms, competition is stiff. And rather pricey.
Companies like Zillow, RE/MAX, and Royal LePage spend a LOT of money to get their site ranking —more than you’d ever feasibly spend. So trying to outrank them for the keywords “homes for sale in Toronto” is a pipe dream.
So how do you compete with the big guys? Well. Your random “bed and breakfast cabin in the woods” search term won’t make the cut. But “bed and breakfast cabin in the woods for people with Chihuahua’s,” will surge your odds of ranking high.
Aim to start ranking for terms that those big sites don’t target. This means in-depth, specific and local.
Think of a buyer’s linear path —what’s the earliest you can hook them? For example, someone searching for “homes for sale” is already in house hunting mode and pretty late in the process.
You want to nab them information gathering mode.
Think of hot topic questions people might search. To illustrate, everyone was talking about bully offers a few years ago. So I created a blog post entitled “What is a bully offer?”. That post single handedly brought hundreds of people to my website every week.
Visitors will come to your website for something like that, and stay for the great information. That’s when you swoop in and start building relationships with them. By the time they’re ready to start looking for homes, it doesn’t matter if they end up on Zillow or Realtor.ca — you’re already working with them!
The more niche you can go the better, too. If you rank for “bungalows for sale in Leslieville with pools within walking distance of the 501 streetcar” you won’t have much competition. Those are long-tail keywords.
💡Just a tip: If you farm a specific neighbourhood, create an in-depth page on your website about every single street. Add a new street every week. Over time, any time someone Googles a street in your area, they’ll end up on your site.
Low volume but high value traffic!
Header Tags
Header tags are valuable for real estate SEO. They point Google to what’s important.
Think of headers as the ‘Turn Here‘ and ‘Exit here for 5 Star Bed and Breakfast Cabin’ highway signs that help people navigate to you.
Use header tags in an H1, H2, H3, etc. format to emphasize specific text. Your H1 tag should only be used once on a page to highlight the keyword you’re trying to rank for. H2, H3, and so on should highlight other pieces you want to emphasize.
Headers also improve your content’s readability. People skim blog posts online so using headers to break up the content into sections makes for a better reader experience overall.
Internal Links
While backlinks are important, so are internal links or links that connect to other pages on your website. They make it easy for Google to find more content on your site and better understand it’s structure.
As a top notch B&B, you provide each guest with a welcome packet that includes a list of on-site activities, available amenities and instructions on how to get to their room.
Internal links serve the same purpose —not only to guide Google but encourage your guests to spend more time on your site. The more time spent on your website, the more likely they are to do business with you.
Site Speed
Whether it’s SEO for real estate or a cabin in the woods, speed matters. You’re likely to get more business if your cabin is 10 minutes from the customer source versus 5 hours. The longer it takes to get there, the harder it will be to attract people.
The same goes for your website. The longer it takes to load, the less likely they are to use it or ever come back.
Large images, heavy graphics, or too many plugins can reduce your sites load time. The slower it is, the lower Google will want to rank your site in search results.
Mobile Responsiveness
Ninety percent or more of your traffic will likely come from a mobile device. That means if your site isn’t mobile friendly, your Google rank will plummet.
To milk the cabin analogy — because there’s nothing like beating a dead horse — if that area was a dead zone and people couldn’t use their phones, your customers would be miffed. Not having a mobile friendly website is a quick way to tank your traffic volume and your relationship with Google.
Now that we’ve unpacked your basic SEO elements, we’ll touch on some best practices.
What is White Hat & Black Hat SEO?
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it SEO for real estate. Ever heard of the terms “white hat” or “black hat SEO?”
White hat SEOis the right way. It’s what Google wants. It’s optimizing your site to help Google learn where it should rank online. Black hat SEO —spoiler alert — is the opposite. It’s trying to game the system, find loopholes and exploit them.
It would be like putting up 1,000 open house signs all over town when town by-laws state only 4. They may work in the short term but will catch up with you. Google could de-list you entirely.
💡The takeaway: Do what it takes to please the Google Gods and play fair.
Getting Results From SEO
It’s worth mentioning that once you start creating great content and implementing SEO, it could take 6 months or more to start seeing measurable results. Sure, you won’t reap the rewards overnight. But keep it up. It’s worth it.
We’ve barely scratched the surface of SEO for Real Estate. It’s a complex and in depth practice with cutthroat competition. But this simplified guide is enough to help kickstart your ranking quest.
Tired of second guessing whether you’re doing SEO right? Or maybe you’re just getting started with digital marketing and need timely advice from pros while you implement…That’s what the Wheel House Elite is for.
Andrew Fogliato sits down with Bradley Mayer-Harman Over A Pint and discuss the hustle it takes going from being a real estate agent to managing a team and running your own business.
Got any topic ideas you’d like us to cover in a future episode? Let us know in the comments below!
Andrew Fogliato sits down with John DiMichele, CEO of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), over a pint. Andrew asks the questions many agents have on their minds and John gives us his honest answers and thoughts.
Jodi Gilmour, owner of RE/MAX Realty Enterprises Inc., Brokerage and star of HGTV’s For Rent, sits down with Andrew Fogliato to discuss topics like how she got started in the business, working with her family, tips for realtors with young children, tips on how to be a leader, and much, much more!
And BONUS! We get a behind-the-scenes look at how Jodi became the star of For Rent! You definitely won’t want to miss this one. 🤩
Have you considered the consumer experience? Just because something works for you, doesn’t mean it works for your consumer.
Many real estate agents struggle when designing their consumer experience system. This graphic is the perfect example for it. They’re only looking at it from THEIR point of view.
You want to consider the home buyers and sellers’ point of view when designing the experience. How does what you want to put in place impact them?
When filming Over A Pint, I have the opportunity to spend a great amount of time with top producing agents. Something I’ve found to be consistent is their devoted attention to detail when it comes to consumer experience.
The most important thing to focus on when creating this experience is that it is for your client. You may feel that your system is good the way it is, but put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Look at it from their perspective.
Ask yourself the following: “If I was the consumer looking in, what would it be like?”
“Would this experience be indicative of how I want people to experience working with me?”
Doing so will give you new insights and help you maximize your client’s experience.
For example, in Disney’s “Be Our Guest”, they explain how they had executives walk through the park on their knees. This put them in the perspective of a child walking through the park.
This new perspective lead them to lowering their store windows. This allowed the children to get a better view of what’s inside.
Added bonus of that? It also lead to increased sales as parents are purchasing the items the kids see through the window.
People refer because they want to be a hero to their friends. As a real estate agent, the best way you can increase your referral business is by improving your client’s experience.
How can they do that? Referring someone who provides a great experience to their friends and family.
I had the opportunity to sit downwith Ralph Ciancio, a phenomenal team leader, Over A Pint. We discussed the tremendous thought Ralph and his team put into every interaction with their clients.
For more information on how you can create a unique client experience, we recommended reading:
Be Our Guest by The Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni
