Is your online presence doing more harm than good?

Fall is a busy season in real estate. In between listings, showings, meetings, are you missing something important?

Chances are, you are.

Your online presence needs to be continually monitored and updated, said Sherry McCormack, real estate technology trainer. Many Realtors® create profiles on sites and then never revisit them to update the content.

Take some time now to search for yourself on Google and see what comes up. Old profiles on sites you have forgotten about? Oops! McCormack offers a few tips to get your online presence updated.

• Make sure all of the information is completed. Just having your name and photo on a site doesn’t help much. Have your contact information, links to social media, some information about you and anything else relevant up-to-date.
• Make sure your photo is not dated.
• Check your links to make sure they all still work.
• Your agent website should have searchable MLS links, as well as a personalized domain name.
• Check your Facebook page. Do you update it consistently with timely posts? Is it consumer-focused? Are your photos appropriate and updated? The answers should be yes.
• On any networking sites, like LinkedIn, search for your name and make sure you have just one complete, updated profile.
• Check your realtor.com® profile to ensure that it is complete, integrated with current listings, connected to your social medial accounts and has all of the information complete and current.

Valeria Garcia, director of training at RE/MAX Integra, told McCormack, “I think that agents – historically – haven’t paid enough attention to their online profiles. Many of them don’t ever Google themselves the way the public does. They are missing out on a ton of business because it’s so darn difficult to find them, and when you do, contact info is missing. A few minutes spent updating your online profiles (social sites, website “about me” page, branded sites, etc.) can lead to so much more business than you’d even imagine.”

Now that all your information is up-to-date, don’t forget to keep it that way. McCormack suggests setting a reminder to re-check at least every six months.

“It is time to put out those fires in your online presence that may just be harming your business,” she said.