So you just launched your new real estate website, awesome!
Whilst this is a great milestone and one that you should celebrate, it is far from job complete. I see too many agency owners treat their website like a static brochure. It gets built and updated once every 3 years, and that’s it.
Your website is an asset to your business. It requires an investment of time and money to ensure that you see a return on your investment.
The first investment required…time. Time is required to ensure that your website is set up as required and gets as much exposure as possible.
We have put together a comprehensive list of things to check off as soon as your website goes live. Check off the items in this list to ensure that your website performs as well as possible from day one.
Set up & activate Google Search Console
Google Search Console gives you a suite of tools and reports. These tools help you measure your site’s search traffic & performance and fix issues. It is an absolute necessity for any website owner.
Set up & install Google Analytics
Google Analytics gives you the free tools you need to analyse data for your business in one place. These tools help you make smarter website & marketing decisions. Once you have this setup, check out our other post 3 simple reports you should be monitoring.
Set up & install your Facebook pixel
A Facebook pixel monitors visitor activity on your website. It also allows you to run targeted ads on the Facebook. Even if you have no plans to run a targeted marketing campaign right now, this little tool is a must-have. It will ensure that you have enough data collected when the time comes to launch your first ad.
Create your Business and Map accounts
Make sure people can find you by setting up your business profile on popular directories. Google My Business, Apple Maps & Bing Places are the main ones to tick off. Make sure to link your profile back to your new website during the setup.
Setup Google My Business
Setup Apple Maps Connect
Setup Bing Places
Generate, upload & submit your sitemap
A sitemap is a map for the content on your website. It ensures that your pages, listings and posts get crawled and indexed by search engines.
There are 3 steps to ticking this item off:
Generate your sitemap
Use a free sitemap generator like XML sitemaps to create your sitemap. Simply enter your website address and it will spit out your new XML file.
Upload sitemap
Now that you have a sitemap, you need to upload it to your website URL/server. In most cases your website provider will have a dedicated area for uploading this. Once completed, the sitemap should site on your root domain name EG yourdomain.com.au/sitemap.xml
Submit sitemap
The last step is to submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. This speeds up the process and ensures that they find your sitemap. Yoast has a great article showing you the steps to complete this process.
Add your website URL to social media accounts
If this is your agency’s first website, chances are you haven’t added your domain name to your social accounts yet. This is an important step to take. It ensures that social media users can click straight through to your website.
Login to your social media accounts and paste your new website URL in to the relevant spot.
Review your content and metadata
It can get a little crazy as the launch date approaches, so sometimes things might have been missed. Take a few minutes to tick off the items below;
- Click through every page and make sure all content shows and everything is where it should be
- Make sure your metadata is written for all key pages
- Check that all listings, recent sales and staff profiles are showing
- Make sure your contact details are correct
- Submit an enquiry form and make sure you get notified.
Announce it!
Let the world (of social media) know you have a new website. Post on your business Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other accounts. Be sure to include a link back to the website!
Need help?
If all of this sounds a little too complicated or technical (or if you simply don’t have the time), don’t stress. Make sure to check out our Digital Basics package if this is the case. By getting this basic setup package, you won’t have to worry about any of these steps – we’ll simply complete all of them for you to give your business the start it needs online! Click on the button below to learn more about this package or give us a call to discuss.
