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Times are changing and if a real estate pro wants to be keep with them, he or she needs to change, too. Nowadays you can’t be successful in business, if you don’t employ online marketing tactics. Here are some tips how to use online marketing for success in real estate.

1. Create a Professional Site for Your Business
Your site is your business card online and you can’t afford a poorly-looking site. The easiest way to a professional site is to get a WordPress real estate theme – there are dozens of them, free and paid – and install it.

These themes can be used right out of the box and the only changes you need to make are to put your logo and to upload your pictures and texts. You can make additional customizations, too, so that your site becomes really one of a kind.

Installing a WordPress real estate theme does require some technical skills but basically even an advanced user can do it. If you fear you won’t be able to do it on your own, you can always hire somebody to do it for you.

When picking a real estate theme, you need to know what you are looking for. For instance, some themes allow to publish listings, while others are just a website with no extra features. Check the link in my byline for more information about the good WordPress real estate themes and their types.

2. Start a Blog
Blogging is great for everybody in every business and real estate isn’t an exception. You don’t need to post every day – once a week or even once in two weeks is more than fine. You can post about cool deals, real estate trends, local news, etc. If your posts are interesting and useful, you can become a local celebrity pretty soon.

If you are using WordPress to power your site, then a blog is a very natural addition. You just need to write the posts and publish them – no need to mess with technical stuff because WordPress takes care of the rest. However, if you write your posts in Word and then post them to WordPress, this is only wise because this way you do have a backup, so in case something goes wrong with your blog, you do have a copy of what you have posted.

3. Go on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus
Your blog will certainly bring you new clients but if you want to extend your reach, join the most popular social networks. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and recently Google Plus attract many users, who are your potential clients. It is true that being active on social sites, especially on many of them, is very time-consuming but if the benefits outweigh the cons, it is viable to do it.

Concentrate on local users only because this will improve your efficiency while taking you less time. Search for local groups to join, enter your location in your profile data (or even better, in your nickname on Twitter because the other services make it mandatory to use your real name), participate in discussions of local interest, and this should make you easily identifiable as a local real estate pro.

4. Submit Your Site and Contact Info to Local Directories
Local directories are one more way to boost your local presence. Depending on where you live, there might be dozens of local directories or none of them. Search what Yellow Pages and other local business directories are available in your area and submit your site, together with contact info, to them.

Go to Google and search for “web directories YOUR LOCATION”, where YOUR LOCATION is the city you operate in and see what you will find. You can also check the Local directory on Yahoo, navigate to your city, and submit your site there, too.

You can also submit to global real estate directories, though they are less targeted. Search with Google for good real estate directories, find the most appropriate category for your site, and submit your site. Needless to say, you need to include your location in your listing because this is the most important criteria for you.

5. Include Testimonials on Your Site
Satisfied clients are the best promotional tool. When you have a section on your site with user testimonials how you helped them find the best deal, this boosts your credibility enormously. It might be hard to find clients who want to testify but there will always be people who would voice their opinion about your services.

If you can’t find volunteers, you might consider offering them a small incentive. Money isn’t a wise choice but reduced fees or other small goodies are acceptable. The only thing you must do under no circumstances is to use fake testimonials because when the truth is discovered this can literally blow you out of business.

New technologies offer many new exciting opportunities to real estate pros. If you aren’t technically-savvy, it might look very hard to keep pace. However, even small steps count. Once you try all the tips I am recommending you will wonder how you could have done business without them!