How to Establish Your Online Presence: A Guide to All the Places Where You Need to Have a Professional Profile
If you want to be a professional real estate agent, you need to look the part. Obviously, that includes the way you dress, the way you talk, and the way you conduct yourself in your business. But it also includes the way you present yourself online, because people are increasingly using the internet as an investigatory and vetting tool. They do Google searches before making a date, they look for reviews of restaurants and books before they make a purchase, and they do some due diligence before hiring a real estate agent.
So what are they going to find if they look you up? Are they going to find you? Are they going to find the information that YOU want out there about yourself. If not, you need to aggressively set up your online profiles to establish your professional credentials. Even if you’re not the most “techie†of agents, you can still establish a professional online presence with just a few simple steps.
Here’s why you need a strong online profile
- People can find you. The more you establish yourself online, the easier it is for people to look you up. You really want to control that first page of Google, so that anyone searching for you finds the links you want.
- You look more professional. When people do find you online, you want them seeing a nice picture, an informative profile that references your area of expertise, and your contact information. That’s what you want prospective clients to find when they look you up.
- Control and maintain your online reputation. Controlling that first page of Google is also a defensive maneuver, designed to bury any negative or frivolous information that might otherwise pop up
- Build relations. Your online presence allows you to establish connections to your sphere, and to potential clients. And if you start “publishing†through your online portals, you’re even providing a simple and cost-effective service to the
- It’s advertising! Basically, an online profile is an advertisement for your services, placed for free on any number of high-traffic sites. You don’t need to have an office in Richtown if you have an online presence that describes you as an expert on Richtown real estate. That’s how you generate online leads.
Ideally, you want to follow Amy Chorew’s philosophy of a “hub-and-spokes,†where your randrealty.com home page (or your own website) is the hub of your online presence and all your other profiles point to that home page. Not only will the hub-and-spokes approach build your search engine optimization, but it allows you to point people to the site where you have all your information, listings, and other credentials.
Here are ten simple steps that you can take to establish a strong online presence:
1. Create your Randrealty.com profile.
Go to Randcenter, and Webbuilder 2.0, and follow the instructions at the “How To†guide below: http://bit.ly/randcenterhowtocreateprofile
2. Create your BHGRealEstate.com Profile.
http://www.mybhggreenhouse.com
Log onto the Greenhouse, then “My Business Home,†then “Edit My Profile (under “My Profile and My Office Profile(s). Then just follow the instructions for filling out all the fields, including your personal profile.
3. Create Your Google+ Profile
If you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll have to set one up first at www.google.com/accounts. If you do, then go to the profile page, click on “Create My Profile,†and fill in the data with your personal profile information.
4. Create Your Yelp Personal Account
On the home page, click on the link on the top right for “Sign up for Yelp.†Fill in your personal information, then hit “Sign Up.â€Â Then write up five or six reviews of great restaurants in your home area.
5. Create your Yelp Business Account
Click on the “Create your free account now†link in the middle of page. Search for your name in the business section (it’s probably not there). Click the “Add your business to Yelp†link. Fill in the information of your business, choosing the category “real estate.†To publish your business to Yelp click the verification email that will be sent to your email account.
6. Create Your LinkedIn Account and Profile
Go to the home page, and click on the “Join Today†button. If you’ve already joined, then sign in. Once you’re in, fill out your profile. Identify yourself as a “Licensed Real Estate Salesperson†or a “Licensed Associate Broker.â€Â Start looking to add connections at the “Contact†link, and endorse your colleagues to start building up goodwill.
7. Create Your Trulia Profile.
http://www.trulia.com/business/sign_up
Go to www.trulia.com and either log in or set up a new account. Click on your name on the top right, and pull down “Profile.â€Â Paste in your profile, add your picture, and add all the other information. Now, pull down “contacts†and look to see if you have client contacts in Trulia. If so, contact them and ask them to review you!
8. Create Your Zillow Profile
Go to the home page and log in or register. Click the link at the top for “Agent Hub†and then click on “Profile.â€Â Click “edit†and fill in your information, and load up your picture.
9. Create Your Facebook Page
If you’re not alreaday on Facebook, then go to the site and click the “Sign Up†button and fill in all your information.
10. Create Your Facebook Business Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Click on the local business button, write in the name of your page (i.e., “Jane Smith, Orange County Real Estateâ€), and check off that you are the representative of that business. That will create the page, and then you can (a) upload your picture, (b) invite your friends to join the page, and otherwise edit the page. Try to create a business page that is about real estate, not about you, because people will be more interested if the page is about something informative.