Real Estate Reviews: Why They Suck And Your Leads Don’t Trust You

In 2013 real estate related searches on Google had increased 253% over the last 4 years.

With searches continuing to grow, it’s safe to assume your leads are typing your name into Google.

Ok, no big deal, they’ll just find your website and business page on Facebook, right?

Or, they’ll find your terrible real estate reviews first and completely change their mind about working with you.

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Now, you currently sit in one of three categories here.

Either you just started building your digital presence and you have no reviews yet, you’re a seasoned pro and you have all star reviews, or you’re sitting in a one star hole and you need to dig yourself out.

If you’re not the seasoned pro in the examples I’m about to show you take some notes on how you can improve your current online standing.

There are two main review platforms you need to be monitoring, Google, and Yelp.

Both of these will be the first to pop up and display a 1-5 star rating system before the user even clicks on the website.

That means literally before they even click on the site to read the reviews they could see your 1 star and decide it’s a no go.  

Yelp Real Estate Reviews Matter For Agents

Yelp is always going to show up on the first page of Google when you’re being researched.

Here’s an example of what you don’t want coming up.

Without even seeing the full review in the meta description, 9/10 times this potential lead is gone forever.

Not entirely convinced of the power of Yelp just yet?

Let’s look at a study done by Harvard a few years back.

According to Harvard, a business that manages to increases its Yelp rating by one full star can see an increase in their overall revenue by up to 9%.

I honestly don’t think I need to cite many more numbers to express the power reviews will have on your business.

So let’s look at a positive real estate related yelp search now.

I searched for the phrase “Dave Hanson Realtor,” which I feel is a pretty common search a potential lead might make.

And this is what showed up for him.

That’s awesome, Dave!

“Working with Dave was a fantastic experience” and off to the right, the information on his business.

They only way to make this Google search look even better would be to have Google reviews added to the mix.

Not sure what that looks like?

First Page Reviews With Google and Facebook

Just search for my friend Dustin Brohm with searchsaltlake.com.

Now, in Dustin’s particular case Google displays his Google reviews and his Facebook reviews first.

His Yelp reviews are still found on the first page, but lower in the overall search results.

Those are the three platforms you need to focus on when attempting to grab positive review.

Yelp used to be the only review platform you needed to worry about, but that’s not the case anymore.

In fact, most agents I speak to didn’t even realize they could be reviewed on Facebook.

So how can you actually go about landing positive reviews?

I actually reached out to Dustin to see if he had done anything special to receive his diverse display of stars.

He told me initially he used a method that you all might currently be using.

He reached out to his clients after closing, sometimes out of the blue via email.

If you’re not using that method then that means you’re not reaching out for reviews at all.

Now, there are two problems with this method that he pointed out right away:

Lack of Urgency

The request for a review being so random and the lack of conviction this actually creates for your client.

Honestly, a week after closing they see an email pop up in their inbox they may not be too focused on writing a review.

The solution?

Create a sense of immediacy by asking for the review in person immediately following the closing.

“It’s been a real pleasure working with you, I’d love it if I could send you a link where you could leave me a review on your experience working with me?”

I can rarely imagine them saying no straight to your face.

It’s really that simple asking for those reviews will make a big difference in someone’s online impression of you.

You Already Have Bad Reviews  

Now, as I said earlier, you either have no reviews, you have quality reviews, or you have less than flattering reviews.

If you’re at the bottom of the totem poll here there is a way to do damage control.

Before working here at Easy Agent Pro I actually used to work with Yelp and I learned one very important thing.

Responding to your reviews is the best way to mitigate the damage that can be done by one bad review.

This wasn’t even a bad review and Dustin is taking the time to proactively respond to his client’s insight.

Responding to a bad review can reduce the potential damage. Responding to a quality review only furthers your potential for a positive impression.

Today an overwhelming amount of business will come from what people are searching for online, you can’t afford to not give these review platforms the attention they need.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

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Tyler Zey

Hey! I'm Tyler with Easy Agent Pro! We provide top notch marketing content for realtors... And we do it for FREE! I get excited about sharing tactics and strategies that can be implemented TODAY.

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