As more and more real estate business is handled online, brokerages and franchises have begun offering their agents a website (or dedicated webpage) under their branding and URL.
Regardless of who these agents are, the area they serve, or what they specialize in, the sites and pages all look the same. Maybe it’s not the best thing, but at least it’s free, right? How could you beat that? While there’s certainly nothing wrong with taking advantage of extra exposure, relying solely on your current company or brokerage for your web presence is a huge mistake.
Here are four reasons why.
1. Moving around is common (and frequent)
How many times have you switched companies or brokerages during your time in real estate? Do you think it might ever happen again?
Many agents find themselves in search of greener pastures at multiple times throughout their career. Whatever your reason for leaving, the fact remains that if your only web presence is housed under your now former employer’s name, branding, and URLs, you’re going to be forced to leave it all behind and start over.
Do you really have time for that?
2. You’ll lose your SEO progress
SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.
Gaining traction and credibility on the Internet takes significant time and substantial work. Through helpful content, inbound links, and a myriad of other efforts, your ranking on Google and other search engines can gradually improve until you reach number one.
But, guess what?
All of that work is tied to your URL. Those visitors you’ve been bringing in and all of that work you’ve been doing all go away when you leave one web address for another.
Bummer, huh?
3. People won’t know where to find you
One of the most important factors in making the Internet work for you is ensuring that it’s incredibly easy to find you and your contact information. People don’t use the web to work hard – they use it because it’s fast and convenient.
As you spend time with one brokerage or company and send people to the website you’ve been provided, you establish that page as the norm. It’s where they expect to find you.
What happens when a repeat customer, a current lead, or a referral tries that web address and receives an error message because you’ve left?
They use someone else.
Maybe it’s a different person at that same company. Maybe it’s whoever comes up first on Google. No matter which route they go, it likely won’t favor you.
4. It’s more difficult to establish a personal brand
There are a LOT of real estate agents out there.
One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is establishing a recognizable and well-respected personal brand.
And while there are a lot of things that go into establishing the brand itself (check out our free eBook on the subject), a great place to display and exhibit much of what you create is on your website.
Your logo and colors, for example, might be different than that of whatever company you’ve previously worked for (or even currently work for). For your brand to be strong, it can’t play second fiddle to the far more extensive (and expensive) branding of larger franchises. If you’re using their website, though, you don’t have a choice but to just be another agent in the crowd. And we all know that isn’t a recipe for success.
When it comes down to it, your own standalone, branded website is critical to your business. It’s the only way you can stand out from the crowd, be easy to find, continually improve your search engine ranking, and maintain control no matter where you go.
We’ve even compiled a helpful website checklist that details everything you need to get your new site off the ground and working for your business.
Be independent. Get started creating your own standalone website today.
At Pipeline ROI, we take pride in providing real estate pros with the tools they need to market their services and get more leads. From a beautiful, mobile-responsive website to lead management, e-mail drip marketing, and social marketing tools, it’s all here. Click below to learn more and get a free demo.