We've worked with some of the top agents and brokers in the country to consult, advise, and build marketing programs for them that work. In fact, real estate is near my heart in that while college I worked for RE/MAX and my family is comprised of real estate agents and appraisers. Real estate has been, well, ingrained in my blood. Recently this conversation came up, so I decided to put together a list that I thought may be very helpful from a marketing prospective. Let's face it, as with many business and real estate is definitely no exception, marketing is key.

Here are some tips that should prove to be very useful:

1. Host Community Events

Host community events and have registration on your site! Simple. Holidays are great places to start with Easter egg hunts, Halloween parties, or Fourth of July BBQs. These are awesome ways to build relationships and meet new people. Be the community leader!

2. Provide Something For Free

Provide Comparative Market Analysis (CMAs) or Home Evaluations for free, and just ask for basic contact info in a form. Newsletters are another option, but these days most people look away from them so unless you are capable of creating REALLY compelling and unique content, skip it.

3. Have Great Calls To Action

Be clear how you want to have someone reach out. Phone call, contact form, email? These are all good examples, but make sure they are clear, legible and enticing. No one is going to fill out a form to have you contact them. Why? Because they fear you're going to spam them. Instead, have calls to action with titles such as "How Much Is My Home Worth?" so the user feels like they're getting something of value in exchange for their email or phone number.

4. Use Tools and Search Widgets

Let's face it, the main reason anyone is coming to your website is to search home availability, check price, or learn more about a neighborhood. So having this information readily available and easily to use is key! The good news is there are lots of FREE tools out there to do this. For example, Zillow offers free real estate widgets and mortgage calculators to help people search for homes and once they've found they're dream home - what is it going to cost? If you don't like branded tools/widgets, there are inexpensive ones out there that you can customize and brand on your own. The key to this is to look for tools that are IDX compatible. IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and allows for connectivity to an MLS.

5. Educate On… Well, Everything!

The more information you can provide, the better. Local community information is great especially on schools, shopping and entertainment. It's also important to explain your process step by step so the first time buyer or seller understands what to expect from you. This will benefit even the most seasoned customer that has never worked with you before. The key is to educate them as much as possible and inject personality. You are the product you are selling, so make sure to tell them your story, and get personable without getting personal. You'll know when not to take it too far. The more information you can provide, the easier it is for someone to bookmark your site for them to do further research, so when the time comes to actually speak to an agent, your obviously the one they'll call first.

6. Get A Unique Website Design

Nothing is worse than a real estate template, and everyone can tell when you're using one. These designs look like every other realtor in the area. Just pop in a photo, logo and some contact details and presto – a new website! Boring. These sites may be more affordable, but a little bit more of an investment into your brand (which is you) will pay off. It helps differentiate you from your competitors and they can tell which looks like a better agent or brokerage. First impressions count – so make the best of yours!

7. PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE!

This one I can’t emphasize enough – if your website isn’t built properly, not only will people leave your site, Google will too! It's important your site is “Responsive” and “Mobile Friendly”. There is an amazing tool that every website owner should look at and bookmark is Google's PageSpeed Insights. This tool will do a complete analysis of your site, for everything but aesthetics and assign you a score from 0-100, with the goal of getting as high a score as possible. It will completely outline everything right and wrong with your site and give you tips to resolve them. One thing is for certain – higher scores translate to more traffic!

8. Selecting The Right Website Designer

Work with someone that has done this before. They should have a portfolio. These days it's a lot easier to build websites, but working with marketing professionals, especially ones that have worked in your industry, are the ones to key in on. They understand the challenges you face and have been there before. Another important one is can you meet them? Are they local? If not, have them explain how it is that they will be able to effectively communicate throughout the project. Having some tools to help manage the project like TeamWork or Basecamp are great ways to see the website's progress and allow a central communication area.