How to Optimize Your Zillow Page

Guide to Using Zillow for Realtors and Homeowners

People do business with those they know, like, and trust. The Internet has provided an amazing opportunity to gain more exposure and establish opportunities to be known, liked, and trusted. Zillow is an excellent site to help build your personal brand as a realtor but if you don’t optimize your page and use the features they provide, you’re missing an opportunity to connect with your target audience.

Ways to Optimize Your Zillow Profile

Use a Professional Photo

The picture should be of you, not your business logo or your building. People need to form a connection with you. They do that through a face, not a logo. For this, you’ll need a professional photo. A professional photo is comprised of several things:

• Good quality, not blurry or difficult to make out.
• Recognizable as you (not too far away and should be recent). It should look like you.
• Shouldn’t have others cropped out of it/should only be of you.
• Present you as a professional.

This is not a time to show off a picture of you and your kids or your pets, unless that’s part of your marketing, such as a UVP of “I’ll help you find the ideal home for you and your dog.”

Fill out the Description

The next area to help you make a connection with potential buyers and sellers is the description. Don’t list your many titles or coursework. They mean very little to a buyer. Speak to how you can help the customer; this might include advanced market knowledge or your average sale time or ability to get the top asking price.

Let Others Do the Talking

If you have a website, most likely you’ve included some testimonials. You can link to your website and/or testimonials page from the description. Linking testimonials when using Zillow is a smart thing to do because it not only drives traffic to your site, but it gets people off of the larger site and focused on you.

Don’t Forget Manual Adds

Zillow pulls from public record. If you were listed in a sale, that sale will be attributed to you and be credited on your profile automatically as a past sale. However, sometimes buyer’s agents aren’t listed. In these cases you’ll need to add the information manually.

Keeping this list up-to-date is important because some buyers and sellers want realtors who have experience in particular neighborhoods, or they want to see indicators of recent activity and sales.

Monitor (and Respond to) Reviews

The Zillow community thrives on reviews. It’s important your clients are reviewing your work. If they aren’t, feel free to ask them to do so. Whether you receive good, bad, or mediocre reviews, respond to all of them. The friendliness of your replies will be appreciated by people looking to work with you. Most people understand reviews must be taken lightly in some cases, especially those that are extreme. If you answer courteously and professionally, it looks good on you.

Using Trulia instead? Here’s a guide to optimize your Trulia profile.

Personal branding is important to attracting clients in today’s competitive market but so is reputation. You don’t want to work with a title company you’re unsure of. Bay National Title Company puts your clients first. Call us today to find out how we can work together and assure a smooth transaction.