Most real estate professionals know that it can be an extremely competitive industry to work in, and doing all you can to stay relevant and get yourself in front of consumers is key. Taking advantage of any and all marketing opportunities will put you that much further ahead of the competition. In addition to the marketing efforts of your brokerage, there are many things you can do to help your own business. One simple thing you can do is create a Google My Business page for yourself. If you’re not familiar with Google My Business, it’s an extremely important tool for online marketing, and particularly local businesses. This article will walk you through what a Google My Business page is, why you should use it, and best practices for Realtors to make the post of their page!
What is Google My Business for Real Estate Agents?
Google My Business is essentially a directory; Think of it as an old school phone book, or yellow pages. As a real estate agent, you should be taking advantage of the benefits that a Google My Business page has to offer. Although your brokerage may have its own page, as a real estate agent, you should have your own separate page for potential clients to find you. The brokerage page will likely link to their website and their contact information. A separate Google My Business page for yourself gives you a chance to link to your personal website and contact information. This allows you to separate yourself and gain more leads on your own, rather than through the brokerage.
WARNING: If you do decide to make them, please be sure to download our step-by-step instructions by clicking here. Otherwise, you could end up doing more harm then good.
Which Features To Use on Google My Business
When creating your Google My Business page, there are a few specific things that as a REALTOR® you’ll need to remember. The important thing to keep in mind when creating your page is that you cannot use the brokerage’s address as your own. Below we have some tips on how to successfully create your REALTOR® page.
Name of Business- The first thing you’ll do to create your page is go to business.google.com/create. Then, you’ll want to name your business according to your name, title, and your brokerage. For example: “Bob Smith, Realtor- Lamacchia Realty.”
Business Category- For the business category, select real estate agents.
Physical Location- The next screen that pops up will ask if you want to add a physical location, such as a store or office. Here you’ll want to select “No.” As mentioned, you do NOT want to use your brokerage’s address, as their Google My Business listing will already use this address, and this would make it flagged as a duplicate.
Service Area- Next, you can choose which areas your offer your real estate services. This helps to tell Google where you’re willing to work and therefore will allow you to start showing up for local searches in the towns you select. You can select up to 20 service areas by town name.
Contact Information- Under contact information, again, you do not want to use your office’s phone number or their website. This is where your personal phone number and REALTOR® website should go. It’ll also ask for a home address, but don’t worry, this will not be public. It is only used for Google to verify your page. This will never show to users in the Google Search results page.
Services- Next, you’ll want to add your real estate services. We recommend adding “Buying Real Estate” and “Selling Real Estate.”
Business Description- This is great area to add a quick bio about yourself! If you have one that’s already on your website, you can simply copy and paste that here. Just keep in mind in needs to be less than 750 characters.
Google Posts- Once you have the main sections of your Google My Business page filled out and optimized, Google Posts is a section that you continue to use regularly to post any new updates or events! For example, if you have new listings, open house events, etc., this is the spot to list them. They’ll be live for 7 days on Google, and then will become archived for users to see.
WARNING: If you do decide to make them, please be sure to download our step-by-step instructions by clicking here. Otherwise, you could end up doing more harm then good.
Contact Crush It In Real Estate
Need assistance creating your Google My Business realtor page or looking for other advice on growing your business as a real estate agent? Contact Crush It In Real Estate today! We offer a variety of real estate training courses to help take your business to the next level. View some of our courses here and fill out a contact form to get started.