We're all getting proficient with using our real estate sites to appeal to buyers -- generally by providing inventory in quick, useful, tailor-able ways. Most real estate Googlers certainly seem to be looking for homes.

But agents must also find ways to get hired by sellers.

Attracting sellers

(For attracting sellers, I'm only going to talk about using SEO.)

1) Find out what sellers might search for when they're looking for a realtor to hire. Do they look for a "sellers agent in (area)"? Or maybe just "(area) realtor"?

2) I know there are also zany searches for adjectives, like "best (area) realtor" and "(area)'s top-producing realtor". And there are also people typing in "gay (area) realtor" and "christian (area) realtor". This is why it's a good idea to be unique and honest in your bio. Playing up your professionalism and experience is all well and good, but it's a good idea to give your readers a mnemonic, a hook, to remember you by. Do you like mustard on crackers? Maybe it's worth a mention. Bad example? Perhaps.

3) I usually use the bio page for targeting realtor-related keywords. This just makes sense, since this page is probably REALLY going to be about a realtor or a team of them. Find a way to have "(area) realtor" as part (or all) of your main heading on that page. Then make sure you mention the keyword again at least once in the body.

4) One thing we've done in the past, to try to target "(area) realtor" AND "(area) real estate agent" on the same bio page, is to do this:
h1 - Your Spuzzum Real Estate Agent
p - blah blah blah
h2 - Working with a Spuzzum REALTOR(r)
p - Blah blah

So it's a matter of justifying the second heading (if you're the type who requires justification - as I am). One way is to use the second paragraph to talk about what it means for the agent to be an (area) REALTOR(r) as opposed to just an agent. One idea.

Converting Sellers

So if a seller DOES land on your site, what should you do with them? They're not going to be as keen on your super-promoted, in-their-face idx listings. Is there a similarly appealing product for them?

The golden bait for buyers is a display case with product -- listings with photos. It's exciting and safe. Window shopping. But what is the equivalent for a seller?

1) Perhaps it's a list of homes you've sold. They'll be interested in comparing those homes to their own, and cross-referencing the sale price with their own home's potential. The user is invited to imagine their own home on this list. I think there is a real lack of this kind of thing.

2) What else? The CMA option is good. Tantalizing. Motivating.

3) I just realized (actually this is Matt's input): sellers are also interested in your listings, because they want to see how you're going to market THEIR home. This raises a more general idea: You must convince sellers that you can market their home. So, be sure to explain (on the sellers page if you have one, and perhaps elesewhere - maybe on the home page) that your site is a high-profile locale for listings. We often mention that a seller's home will be "listed on this professionally optimized site"...however, I think most users won't realize what that even means...

4) Something more obvious: Tell them about your experience and qualifications relevant to selling homes.

5) Market info, especially as it relates to sellers, will be useful. Sometimes you'll get to say things like "it's a sellers' market right now" - anything else?

6) A lot of agent sites have articles with ideas about how to prepare one's home for sale. I think the web is saturated with these, and they shouldn't be bothered with unless they're written uniquely for you, or unless they have truly useful ideas. Some of these articles state the most obvious drivel....


I'm hoping to get some other ideas and feedback here. This isn't an article, or I would have made it better and published it to the blogs or something. This is meant to be the beginning of a brainstorm. C'mon people...