How to Sell Your Home - Marketing a Listing

These days, selling a home is about a lot more than just posting it in a newspaper or one place online. With the rise of intelligent search engines and social media platforms, selling a listing has become so much more than just stating a property is for sale.

Of course, the most important part of a listing will always be the price. A well-priced home is way more important than a well-marketed or well-photographed home. But once the price is figured out, the next steps will decide how fast it sells and how much ‘hype’ it gets.

Almost every buyer these days starts their home search online. So online marketing is key here! Let’s get into it.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO, in short, means choosing words that will be picked up by search engines like google. There’s a bit of science behind it, like how many times to use a word, and where the word should be featured. But what’s most important to understand is HOW people search for things they are looking for, so that you can create content that is easy to find. For example, plenty of people will start their home search by simply hopping on Google and looking for “2 Bedroom Condos, Ottawa.” So, when describing that home on a web page, you’d want to avoid describing it as an “apartment with a bedroom on either side of the home” or a “home with multiple bedrooms.” Being descriptive is very important when describing a home, but in today’s market, it is also crucial to use words that people will be actively searching for first. You can provide more context once you’re sure you’ve covered the bases.

Using Webpages

SEO is great for the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), also known as the website on which all listings are put on. But there are ways we can get even more eyes on your property! The more websites your home is featured on, the more chances it has of being seen or showing up in a search. The MLS also has a 1000-character limit, meaning descriptions must be short and to the point. There is no character limit if you create your own custom webpage to feature a home! At New Purveyors, we use two separate web pages to feature your home, video and photo content, maps, and a long and detailed description that Google can pick up easily. This provides each listing with a unique advantage to getting noticed. The MLS only allows 1000 characters, low-quality photos, and there’s a limit on how many photos you can choose. When we put a listing on our own website, we’re able to tailor it to include just the most important information - visually - and upload as much high-quality photo and video content as we see fit.

High-Quality Photography and Videography

Great photographs and video won’t sell your house - of course. But they will bring more people in the door, which is just as good! With the sheer number of houses on the market, and the simplicity of being able to view them all online, plenty of buyers are being more cautious about which houses they go to see. Everyone is busy these days! So your home needs to stand out online so that buyers think it’s worth it to book a showing and check it out in person.

In order to do this, you’re going to want high-quality photographs and an interesting video to accompany them. The better your house is set up for the photos, the cleaner and clearer it looks, the better response you are going to get from interested buyers.

Social Media

The final piece of the puzzle is putting those amazing photos, videos, and written content to good use on one more set of platforms! Facebook and Instagram both feature “Reels” which are vertical videos that range from 10 seconds to around a minute. Reels can reach a huge variety of audiences because they are made to be shown to people who DON’T follow your page, rather than people who do! Social media is a great way to hit a large number of people with content in a short amount of time, building excitement around a property.