4 Easy Ways to Establish Your Online Brand

Your online brand should be an extension of your real estate business, but it must adapt to the confines and nuances of the Internet.

In real estate, your brand is everything. If clients do not trust your brand, and the professionalism and work ethic it attempts to communicate, you’ll have a tough time making it in real estate, an industry where perception and competence are both paramount for success.

But how do you extend that brand to the Internet? How do you show yourself to be trustworthy, hardworking and charismatic when you do not have a handshake, lively anecdotes or other personal touches to rely upon? It’s not an easy thing to do, but by following these three tips, you’ll be off to a great start:

1. Write a Compelling, Succinct Biography – There’s a reason that every personal website since the dawn of time features an “About Me” page. If someone is visiting your website, chances are they want to have a better idea about who you are and what you stand for, and the About Me page, complete with a compelling, succinct biography, will be the best way to communicate to prospective clients what you are all about. Notice, though, that we use the word “succinct”! Though surely you could go on and on and on about how wonderful you are, Web users have notoriously short attention spans, so you’ll want to cover the gist of what makes you so awesome in 300 words or less.

2. Design an Attractive Logo – We’ll admit from the outset, the brokerage you work for will have a huge influence on your success with this strategy. We won’t name any names, but there are definitely some brokerages out there that do not take kindly to agents designing their own logos, especially if those logos are more prominent than the corporate brokerage logo. That being said, should you have the capabilities, your own personal logo can be a fabulous touch to your website and online brand. A colorful, dynamic logo not only complements your brand – it completes it, and offers a compelling visual component to who you are as a real estate professional. We should mention, though, that your logo should be original to your brand, and not stolen; as the most unfortunate case of Tracy Glesby demonstrates, there will always be watchdogs out there searching for logo piracy, and the penalties for such transgressions can be fierce.

3. Make Your Site Mobile Ready – Within the next year (if not sooner), we anticipate this point being as important as having your own website. As we’ve covered before, 89 percent of consumers shopping for new residences utilized mobile devices at some point in their home search, and 40 percent went mobile throughout their entire home shopping process! Mobile searches are gradually becoming the norm for how consumers shop for real estate, and you’ll need to ensure that your website is mobile-ready – or risk being left behind.

4. Adapt Your Message – And finally, you’ll want to adapt your brand and its central message across various mediums, especially Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, sites that comprise nearly a quarter of all real estate-related Web traffic. The more people who see your brand, the more your brand develops, and of course, if your brand is featured in a number of different avenues, your versatility and reach will both become integral parts of your brand.

 Article courtesy of Chicago Agent Magazine