The real estate industry can fluctuate as it moves with other factors like the economy and buyer/seller behaviors. One of the best ways to hedge these sometimes fickle factors and provide more stability for agents is to position themselves as a go-to listing agent in their area. Fortunately, advancements in technology have made it easier for real estate professionals to attract homeowners who are ready to sell. Here’s how agents can leverage technology to generate more listings and expand their seller base.

Branding and Reputation

Reputation is everything. According to the National Association of Realtors, an agent’s reputation is one of the top factors sellers consider when choosing a listing agent. Building a strong reputation starts with defining how you want to be perceived and reinforcing that image through consistent branding and marketing.

In today’s increasingly digital world your real estate website is your business card. With more than 90% of an agent’s prospective clients beginning their process online, you want your online presence to give off the right impression to capture more leads.

When sellers are looking for an agent to list with, they want a professional with local market expertise. A modern website loaded with tools for both buyers and sellers, stacked with informative content, and complete with thousands of landing pages displaying thorough inventory will present a powerful show of force to prospective sellers that you are the hyperlocal expert they have been looking for and will highlight your market knowledge to encourage trust. Even better, a site that allows you full control of managing content so you can add things like client testimonials easily will give you the power to show sellers that they should list with you.

Offer Home Valuation Tools on Your Website

Arguably the single greatest tool in your seller lead generation toolbox is a home valuation tool. Most homeowners want to know their home’s worth before they list, and even those not sure on selling can be persuaded to list if the price is right. Having a home valuation tool on your site is a great way to capture these new seller leads. Even better is having a home valuation landing page for each community that you farm, as these hyperlocal pages show niche expertise - exactly what most sellers are looking for. Offering an online home valuation tool can generate listing leads by:

• Encouraging homeowners to submit their contact information
• Providing a home value estimate to spark interest
• Following up with a personalized CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) report.

Market Knowledge and Expertise

Being knowledgeable about the market is a crucial factor when sellers are looking for a listing agent. Most sellers want an agent that knows their neighborhood and market better than anyone else so they can market their property effectively and negotiate for the highest market value on their behalf.  Spotlighting your expertise comes down to two elements:

1. Blogging
2. Auto-Generated Market Reports

Having an integrated blog on your real estate agent website allows agents to blog about topics that can help buyers and sellers understand common questions, market conditions and trends, and other various informative subjects related to real estate. The more you blog, the more it shows that you know your stuff - helping to further your reputation as a local ace in your market. Furthermore, blogging on topics related to the selling process and answering questions that sellers commonly search for will establish trust with prospective clients before you even meet them. Give yourself an SEO boost by ensuring that your blog is integrated into your platform so that all content lives on your domain and helps boosts your organic traffic - ultimately helping generate more listing leads.

Ai-Powered Email Follow Up and SMS Marketing

Email and text messaging are effective ways to stay in touch with potential sellers, and even turn past buyer clients into future seller leads. A robust real estate CRM system can help agents manage and nurture these leads effectively to maximize conversion potential. Strategies include:

• Automated Listing Recommendations: Sending market insights, listing recommendations personalized and adaptive to user behaviors, and home valuation reports keeps your name top of mind
• Personalized Follow-Ups: AI-driven CRMs can suggest when and how to follow up with leads
• Instant Notifications: Sending homeowners updates on recent sales or newly listed homes in their area encourages them to consider selling
• Automate lead nurturing with CRM software
• Keeping track of homeowner interactions
• Segmenting potential sellers based on their level of interest

Optimize Your Website for SEO to Attract Sellers

A well-optimized website can drive organic traffic from homeowners looking to sell. Your real estate web platform should be designed with SEO in mind, and allow you to add optimized content throughout the site, including on an integrated blog. Key strategies include:

• Load landing pages with keyword optimized content related and geared toward sellers
• Blog often and consistently on an integrated blog - blogging off-site on a platform like WordPress will not boost your SEO rankings, as that content resides on a completely different domain than your primary site where you are looking to drive traffic. Instead, you need a platform that comes equipped with an integrated blog so that all the great content you create works for your SEO and marketing efforts
• Ensure mobile usability to enhance user experience 
• Choose a platform that allows you to optimize enhanced SEO features like page title, meta description, etc.

For agents looking to grow their number of listings, technology is key. Choosing the right platform can transform an agent’s business by helping to position them as the go-to listing agent in their area.