Your elevated new website is ready to go live. Now, how do you ensure everyone sees it?
Much of the time nowadays, our first impression of someone doesn’t happen when we initially meet them in person—it’s when we first interact with them online. It’s no secret that a polished, high-end real estate website can set an agent apart from the crowd. But after you’ve invested in custom real estate website design, how can you make sure your current and future contacts actually see it? Choose tactics that align with your personal brand and combine strategies for a full launch plan.
Use Social Media
Your first step is to turn to your social media content calendar and make some room! Post on all of your professional social media accounts (including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), letting your followers know about your exciting new website to come! Start at least a couple of weeks out and check back in periodically with updates about what people can expect on your site and why they should be excited about it.
You should also utilize all of your social and business accounts like Yelp, Zillow, Google Business, and Realtor.com to link back to your new website. When it comes to driving traffic and boosting your rankings, anything helps!
When creating posts about your website for social media, keep it interesting and value-based. What will your site have to offer your contacts regardless of their homebuying status? How will it help them?
Tease special features
Will your new site include a nifty mortgage calculator tool, a helpful home renovation blog, or regular market updates? Any and all of these features add value for your followers and will keep them visiting your site again and again. Let them know what’s coming up as you craft those social posts, and watch your traffic soar!
Create a video series
Snag extra attention by formatting your teasers and announcements as quick video updates! Video feels more personal and grabs attention more quickly than simple text. You can use the same value-focused content, just in a different format.
If you like reaching out to your followers more frequently or informally, Instagram or Facebook Live are great spots to push out videos of you getting excited about your upcoming launch! Joy and anticipation are contagious, and sharing your enthusiasm about your new website is sure to drive your network to your page.
Be sure to include captions in each video since experts estimate that between 70 and 85 percent of viewers choose to watch videos with the sound off. Don’t let your message get lost! It’s worth the extra few minutes to get your captions edited.
Send an Email Campaign
One of the quickest and most direct ways to get the word out about your new site (or really anything else) is via email! 78 percent of marketers report an increase in email engagement over the last year, so now is a great time to leverage the power of email marketing.
Similar to your strategy on social media, you can start teasing your website and its awesome upcoming features a few weeks before it actually launches. You can even repurpose some of the material you use on social media and send those video updates directly to your email list!
The beauty of both email and social is how seamlessly they can drive people to your site—just one click, and they’re there to take in its beauty and enjoy your resources! Be sure to track your links so that you know exactly where your traffic is coming from.
Host an Event or Giveaway
Despite all the magic of today’s technology, there’s still no better way to connect than face-to-face. Rent a small space for a get-together in celebration of your new site, or offer a small but thoughtful giveaway: a pie before Thanksgiving, a set of sparklers before the 4th of July (depending on your local firework guidelines), or any little something that will make people’s lives easier.
Use the time to check in and catch up, and you’ll come away with fodder for your next conversation with each guest, plus you’ll reestablish yourself in the front of everyone’s mind as their luxury realtor of choice. Building some enthusiasm around your site and showing off your favorite features in real-time will also prompt your contacts to think of it more often and check back on your helpful resources!
Leverage Your Business Card
Before launching your new website, make sure your current business cards reference it! Include the URL (or a shortened or vanity URL, if necessary) on your business card to give new potential clients a way to get to know you before spending their extra time reaching out. Be ready to pass these out at any events and formal meetings, but also out and about in your everyday life. You never know when you’ll meet someone who just decided to buy or sell their home!
The weeks and months leading up to your launch are a great time to give a bit of extra time to networking and conferences. Make sure your name is out there and aligned with the image you’re establishing for yourself—the image your website is reinforcing. You might also be able to post your card in local businesses and garner more traffic and attention from passersby.
Issue a Press Release
To branch outside of your direct network and create a bit of extra local buzz, issue a press release announcing your website launch. Media attention is a low-cost way to get your name in front of new eyes and change up your audience, which is especially helpful if your new site is coming with a rebranding or reimaging effort.
Unlike a blog post or long-form email, press releases should be quick and to the point since you’re looking to capture the attention of busy journalists and writers. Keep the formatting easy to follow and include a couple of high-interest quotes to stand out and give your announcement the best chance at getting published.
If you haven’t pitched to media outlets before, spend a bit of time reading up on best practices and which publications you want to target. Press releases sent early in the week tend to perform better, but pitch whenever it makes the most sense for you. If there’s a publication in your area you have a great relationship with, you can send the press release directly to them. Otherwise, an effective way to push your announcement out to multiple outlets is by publishing with a wire service like Cision. You’ll just have to allocate some budget to press releases if you decide to go that route!
Once your announcement has been picked up, you may be able to provide tracked links to online publications so that you know just how many people visited your new website based on that press. Especially if you chose the paid route or spent lots of time pitching, keeping tabs on performance will be an important step in deciding whether to keep employing this strategy for any future announcements.
Pay to Advertise
There are plenty of free options for promoting your new site, but if you’ve got a budget and are looking to really skyrocket in web traffic and rankings, it will help to put a few dollars behind your efforts by taking out some advertisements. Local newspapers or newsletters are a fast and effective way to get eyes on your announcement. Some neighborhood communities even put out newsletters that don’t require much of a budget for featured ads.
Get even more targeted by placing ads on Facebook, Instagram, or using Google Business. You can set your own budget and narrow down your target audience based on age, location, interests, and more so that you get the most bang for your buck. Another huge perk of online advertisements is that it’s very easy to go from a social media or website ad to a new site, so your conversion rates as far as traffic goes are bound to be nice and high!
Include It in Your Newsletter
Use your regularly-scheduled email or mail newsletter to preview your website with your current contacts and build excitement for your launch! This is an audience that expects and looks forward to hearing from you periodically, so they’re a great subset of your network to target as you prepare to go live. Let them know what features they can expect, and even poll them for input on what they’d love to see from your site!
Once You’ve Launched
After your site is live, keep promoting it! Use relevant keywords in your website copy and publish new content on your blog to keep your site ranking high. Ideally, when someone types “luxury real estate agent + (your area),” yours should be the first site that pops up! Keep an eye on your traffic, and continue to track those links so that you know what’s driving those visits.
