September 18 2019
According to NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, when asked what the deciding factor was in choosing their real estate professional, home sellers prioritized the agent's reputation over other factors.
As defined by Merriam Webster, reputation is your "overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general" and the "recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability," such as being clever or good at problem-solving.
In today's world, the impression of your reputation often begins online. Even with personal, word-of-mouth referrals, people are likely to hear good things about you and then go online to validate that impression.
So you have to ask yourself: What are the qualities I want to be recognized for and how do I make that part of the impression I give online?
To begin taking control of your online reputation, you must first understand what impression is already conveyed about you. And the only way to do that is to search for yourself!
In an incognito browser window, open up Google and type in your name and "real estate." As you scan through the results, consider the following questions:
If you don't like what you see, that's okay! Just follow our "Formula for Online Reputation Enhancement," described below.
In the FORE, you will create objectives to proactively improve each of the components of your online reputation. These components include:
To create a powerful online presence, you will need to do the following activities to enhance each of these components.
As you can see, the first component of FORE is to update your bio. Check out expert Jim Pruitt's bio-writing process below.
When Jim writes bios for his clients' websites, he has several items he makes sure to include. Check out the video above for the full list.
Following Jim's checklist will yield a long bio. This is something that you would put on your website under an "About Me" section. You'll then use a shortened version of this bio on your social media profiles and other web properties.
Properly named YouTube videos will trigger Google to display them as relevant search results when someone looks for you online.
Make sure your videos have descriptive titles and include your name and location in the description for each one. On your channel description itself, use a hefty segment of your updated bio.
Check out the Paperless Agent's Channel for an example.
Remember, consistency is key. If you're currently sharing the first page of search results with someone else who has your name, don't worry. Organized and consistent effort following the FORE checklist will soon win you that top spot.
To view the original article, visit the Paperless Agent blog.