I am often reminded of the importance (if you have never done it before), of googling yourself. Actually sit down, open up google and search your name on google and look at what you see or worse, what you don’t see.
So let me ask you a question. When you google yourself, how do you rank?
When you google yourself, what else came up during your search? Anything? Nothing?
When I google myself I gratefully rank on the whole first page of the search but I found a solar company by the name “Wade Solar” and a judge in the mid-west with the name “Wade” in the search.
Now more importantly, how many results were about your business and would they make you want to work with you if you were a buyer or seller looking for an agent online? In February of this year, Inman reported that businesses with 10 or more reviews get 3.5x the attention and 6.5x the inquiries. Client reviews and testimonials help boost your incredibility with leads like crazy. They also help boost your credibility with Google.
So, if you’re not getting the results you want when you Google yourself and your business, that means Google doesn’t quite trust you yet. There are really only 3 ways to get traffic to your real estate website (Ads, SEO, and Social). This week we’re going to explore how your social media pages can help you rank better and higher in Google searches.
While Google may or may not use signals on Facebook or Twitter such as the number of followers you have to boost your placement, it’s clear that each platform still ranks and ranks well, at least for broad searches. If your content performs well and is widely shared, it can help drive more traffic and qualified leads your way for years to come. But let’s get back to social media. Social profiles are often among the top results in search listings for individuals and brand names. While your Pinterest page may not have the same impact as a 5-star Yelp review, it’s still a great place to start.
Think about it. If a lead only knows your name, they may start with that as a way to find out more about you and let’s be real – social media platforms are becoming just as much of a search engine as Google is. It’s likely future clients are going to want to learn more about you and the quickest way to connect is through social networks. If you’ve got a stellar Pinterest presence with several well-crafted boards full of useful information and a decent number of followers, you’re well on your way to making a great first impression and achieving your goal of gaining trust with your viewers and Google.
Whether you’re active on two or 12 social sites, here are a few practices that will easily increase your SEO and help push you to the first page of Google. Whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers on any given network, the way in which they engage with you will help establish you as a credible source. Growing your follower base is one way to do this, but they’ve got to be high-quality fans. What does this mean?
Well, for one, that they’re not bought. Buying Likes/followers will do absolutely nothing for you. Do Not Buy Fans. It’s not worth it and will ultimately decrease your chances of ranking on Google. As I said before though, there’s still a lot of conversation happening around whether your sheer number of followers even influences your Google ranking and whether it does or it doesn’t, how you interact with your audience totally matters. When thinking about increasing your reach, I want you to keep these three words in mind – Resonate, Relevant and Reach... let’s quickly break these down.
The way you will resonate with your target audience is by producing relevant content and these two things will increase your reach. Listen to what your viewers are saying. This could be one person or 10. It doesn’t matter. Because if you can help one person solve a problem, chances are there are many more people looking for answers to the same question. Help them solve it to increase your reach.
Optimize Your Posts - Again, this all comes back to content. To make the most of your updates, make sure you’re sharing strong, valuable content consistently. A detailed blog post, video or infographic will help you accomplish this the fastest. Make sure to also say something about the content you’re sharing in the post description and try and include a keyword or term relevant to that search.
You can also focus on optimizing your posts for your local community and having them show up in big search engines. Hint: This is how you can start to compete with portal giants such as Zillow and Truila. It is impossible for you to be a local expert like them, so get out there and make it happen. An easy way to get started on this, aside from making sure your actual profile is up-to-date with your location and services..etc., is to engage other local players. Try Googling “best pizza (your area)” and see what comes up.
Choose the top 3 and then check out their social media profiles. Try out each one for lunch or dinner over the next few weeks and write your own guide for newcomers. You can then tag each place across social media and begin engaging them on a more regular basis.
Whether you work with a team or are a one-agent show, you are your brand. The best way you can increase your brand awareness and authority is by publishing quality content regularly. Your online reputation is essentially built upon your social media presence. In order to generate and maintain a credible image, you’ve got to keep active. Your social media presence, though important, is really just a way to give you more visibility online and drive traffic to your site. That’s where the real action happens.
Strength and courage,
Wade
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