Location, location, location… we have all heard these words from savvy property investors but many real estate agents do not realise that it is just as crucial when promoting property sales online. When optimising a real estate website, it is important to target your specific geographic location i.e. Johannesburg = Sandton. People are searching the internet on a daily basis for properties for sale and when they search, they are predominantly searching for location-specific keywords. Many real estate websites do not take advantage of geographic keywords in their web pages and waste money on a perfectly designed website which receives no traffic.

With the economy on a downwards trend and nearing recession (if not already in recession), property sales naturally slow down and prices will begin to drop. Another interest rate hike (boosting prime lending rate to 15.5%) is looking as if it is on the cards and Eskom’s need to increase electricity by 53c is making many single property owners (and investors) weary of purchasing property in these current economic conditions.

However, with current market conditions there are still plenty of property sales; Pam Golding Properties recorded a R21bn turnover for the previous financial year, when there was a revised Credit Act in June 2007, increasing interest rates, South Africa’s power crisis and political instability in the final quarter of the financial year.

This juicy number was achieved thanks largely to the company growing market share, according to its chief executive officer Dr Andrew Golding. He also added that sales in the R1m and above category were strong but the R1m and below has weakened. Is this because only high income earners can afford property in today’s market?

In my opinion, Pam Golding’s increased market share is due to smaller real estate agencies being unable to compete with such a developed brand (in terms of traditional media), especially in the current market conditions. The smaller real estate agencies do not have the capital to advertise in traditional media i.e. newspapers, magazines, radio etc and if a real estate agency does not advertise their portfolio of properties they do not receive additional mandates to sell property and slowly their portfolio of sole mandates dwindles. It is a catch-22 situation.

Smaller real estate agencies need an online marketing strategy to compete against the larger well-known real estate agencies. An online strategy is not as expensive as the traditional media (traditional advertising) so the barrier of entry is much broader. However, more skill is needed for a successful SEO campaign, thus the need to outsource a credible SEO consultant. A SEO specialist will edit the title tags, Meta descriptions, optimise page content and incoming links. This is an ongoing process and monthly analysis is required to achieve the best possible results.

8 steps to start an effective online marketing strategy for a Real Estate Agency:

• - Find a reputable SEO specialist with a proven track record in SEO and a professional portfolio of optimised websites (success on Google is very important). It is best to sign a 6 to 12 month contract as successful SEO does not happen overnight.
• - Find a reputable website designer and request a quotation (if you do not already have a website). Ask for a portfolio of previous website designs. It is good practice to let your chosen SEO specialist have a look at the web designer’s portfolio as the SEO specialist will be optimising the website on a monthly basis. The SEO specialist will need to know if the web designer’s programming ability is suitable for SEO. In some instances, websites need to be redesigned from scratch because of poor web design layout and programming.
• - Once the website design is completed, the web designer should hand over the site to the SEO specialist for optimisation.
• - Identify your market niche (residential, commercial, golf estates etc).
• - Identify your geographic area, i.e. suburb, town, city and/or province.
• - Communicate with your contracted SEO specialist what your market niche and geographic market is.
• - Start a blog. A professionally optimised blog helps get your website noticed quicker by the public while you are waiting for your website to get out Google’s sandbox.
• - Be patient. Let the SEO specialist work in the background while you focus on at least one blog entry a week. Get advice about effective blogging from your SEO consultant.