Since today’s average real estate client starts their journey online, it’s critical for real estate agents who want to build a sustainable career and business to build an online presence. A key first-step to building that presence is setting up a Google My Business for real estate agents.
If you’re not familiar with how Google My Business works and how it can help your real estate career, then no problem. That’s what we’re talking about in today’s post.
In this post, we’ll cover what Google My Business (GMB) is, why you should set one up, and how to use it to get more clients.
What Is Google My Business?
Have you been wondering how to get your real estate business on Google Maps and in their search results? Well, Google My Business (GMB) is one way.
GMB is a tool that allows real estate agents to build and manage their business profiles. Think of it like a modern YellowPages for the internet.
You take your business information and build a listing that shows up in Google Maps and Google search results for various keywords, like “real estate agents near me”, “[your city] + realtor”, and so many more.
Here’s an example of our own business ranking locally for the keyword “Probate realtor”.
Your GMB listing is more than just a listing with contact information, though. It’s a platform that enables clients to leave reviews, add photos and ask questions. As the business owner, you can add photos, answer questions, and create posts to update and inform potential leads.
How To Use Google My Business For Real Estate Agents
So we have a good idea of what Google My Business is, now let’s shift our focus on why every real estate agent needs to build a GMB listing.
Rank To Get Leads And Clients
The most obvious reason to build a GMB listing is to get more leads, and ultimately, more clients. The leads that will come from your GMB are organic, have almost no cost to them, and are deeper down the conversion funnel.
All of this means, Google My Business is a low-cost marketing channel with a high return on investment (ROI) that generates leads that are ready to buy or sell a home, and generally, ready to work with only you.
At least, that’s been my experience…
You can generate these kinds of leads and clients by building your Google profile, collecting reviews, and making sure your profile and website are SEO optimized. These efforts will put your Google My Business in top search results for relevant real estate related keywords.
As far as marketing channels go, Google My Business out performs FSBO sales letters, Zillow leads, floor time, and prospecting — at least as far as cost and return on investment are considered.
Over the years, Google My Business has generated five to ten closed transactions every year. It’s not a huge amount, but if you’re an individual real estate agent, it makes it easier to hit 30 to 40 transactions per year.
Plus, all of these clients didn’t cost me a dime and a majority of them came to me predetermined to work with me. I don’t have to sell them on hiring me.
Often these clients and leads did their own research, browsed my website, and liked what I had to say.
Win More Leads
To get a real estate client, you need two things: to generate the lead and convert them. If nothing else, you need to build out your Google My Business profile to convert more leads into clients.
You’re probably losing clients every day, and you don’t even realize it.
Let me give you a perfect example of how you’re losing clients. Assume you’re doing open houses or handling Zillow leads.
These leads don’t seem to be engaging with you. They’re not answering their phones or responding to text messages. So, you think they must not be serious.
Part of that might be true. But, there is another portion of your leads that are getting your messages and then going to Google to look you and your business up.
Prospective home buyers and sellers will do this to determine if you’re even worth talking to.
I’m willing to bet you do the same thing. I do. Every day I’m pitched by real estate marketing companies, and a majority of the time I Google the company before deciding to respond or not.
I promise you that a portion or majority of your leads are doing the same thing.
And when they Google you, what are they going to find? At a minimum, hopefully your listing profiles on sites like Zillow and Realtor.com.
This is even more important if you operate a real estate team. Leads will Google your team name and you need to show up on Google.
Gain Market Insights
Lastly, your Google My Business dashboard provides you with some insights on your audience and your search performance. In other words, you can see how many people called you or visited your site, and the kinds of keywords your GMB listing is showing up for.
You can also see how your page compares to your competitors. So, if you’re trying to rank your GMB listing, you have an idea of what you might need to do to beat out your competitors.
Keep in mind that it doesn’t take large numbers to produce results. Since these leads are often highly qualified, all it takes is one phone call, for example, to make a sale. So, if you can get one person to call you off your GMB listing every month, you stand a strong chance of generating multiple sales per year from your listing.
How To Set Up Google My Business For Real Estate Agents
Okay, now that we’ve made the case for GMB, getting set up with Google My Business for real estate agents is a relatively simple process. To create your account, visit google.com/business.
Next, click the “Manage Now” button which will take you through steps for creating an account. If you have been in business for some time, it’s possible your business was already added to Google and you may just need to claim it.
If you’re new, you won’t have a listing and will need to create a new one. Simply follow the steps to create your account. All of it is fairly self explanatory. But, here are some common questions and tips we recommend.
What Category Should I Use For A Real Estate Company In Google My Business?
If you’re a real estate agent, then we recommend you select the category real estate agents. On the other hand, if you’re a real estate team, I would recommend selecting the category real estate agency.
You can later go back and select both of them, but you will need to pick one category as your primary category.
Write Your Description
When you go to write your Google My Business description, it’s wise to add in some keywords the description. Now, don’t go overboard and stuff it with keywords. However, if you’re looking to target specific areas, neighborhoods, or a niche, you should naturally include those keywords into your description.
You could say something as simple as, “I’m a real estate agent in Downriver servicing cities like Trenton, Riverview, Woodhaven, and more”.
There is a 750 character limitation so you have to be concise and mindful while still trying to place keywords into your description.
Getting The Most of GMB
To get the most from Google My Business, real estate agents need to be intentional about collecting reviews. It’s not enough to just create your profile and leave it. Sure, it helps some, but it’s not going to drive leads and customers into your business.
For that, you need to collect reviews. I know it can be hard to get reviews and if you need to know how to get more real estate reviews, check out our latest article on our blog.
That’s because reviews are a strong factor in ranking profiles inside the “snack pack”. Take a look at the keyword “realtors near me”. In my case, the three top results have 13, 39, and 17 reviews, respectively.
So, if you don’t have a large number of reviews, it’s safe to say you won’t get up there in the results. There is more that goes into it than just reviews, but reviews are often the easy thing for agents to do rather than learning more about SEO.
That’s how I became ranked higher than several listings that have a higher number of reviews than me.
Final Words On Google My Business For Real Estate Agents
GMB offers a great opportunity to generate leads and clients at a high ROI. Make no mistake about it, this is a powerful marketing channel that every real estate agent needs to add to their marketing plan.
However, there are some downsides to it. First, it’s a passive channel and you can’t really predict what actions will lead to clients. So, if you’re a new real estate agent, I would build this profile and get reviews, but don’t expect it to be a large difference maker in your real estate business.
It’s a long term play. If you don’t feel like you have enough clients, then I encourage you to focus on more direct marketing channels or sales methods, such as floor time, Zillow leads, open houses, and other ideas.
These are marketing channels where you can often tie an activity to an output. For example, if you hold 20 open houses, you will make one sale. If you get 10 Zillow leads from your broker, you will net one sale. Sit on floor time for 40 hours, you will make a sale.
It’s unclear the activities that will directly result in a client. Partly because the Google algorithm is unknown and partly because real estate SEO has a large learning curve.
Either way, if you haven’t already, add Google My Business to your real estate marketing plan in a way that makes sense for the stage of business you’re in.
