How to Sell a Utah Home Online

How to Sell a Utah Home OnlineMarch 31st, 2009

Ivory Homes and BlueRoof share their web secrets to selling a home online

By Leo Dirr

houses ut. That's all you really need to know to sell your Utah home online.

Not really, but remember this secret keyword and I'll tell you why later in the story. But I wanted to start with that juicy, little tip for selling a home online.

Utah Economic Sumit Panel Discussion
Clark Ivory CEO Ivory Homes pictured right

Clark Ivory, of Ivory Homes, moderated a panel discussion at the Utah Economic Summit on Monday called "Thriving in Challenging Times - Get Real, Believe, Execute!" Utah Stories seized the opportunity to talk to the Ivory team and other business leaders about tips for selling a home online in a sluggish market.

Ivory Homes uses the Web to brand its business and make meaningful connections with customers online. The company has a presence on many social networking platforms, including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

But Ivory's most famous marketing campaign involves Miss Utah Jill Stevens. It uses Jill to tell a story about why now is such a good time to buy a home. Its Web site, www.MyIvoryStory.com, does what all good online marketing strives to do: It helps the company build a personal relationship with potential customers.

"Our main focus was to deliver a positive message that was real" during a time when so much media attention on the housing market screamed doom and gloom, Clark Ivory says.

And the company's efforts seem to be paying off. It has sold more than 230 homes so far this year.

Hot Tips for Selling a Utah Home Online

You can't really sell a home online, points out Nate Packer, Ivory project manager. Your goal should be to get your customers to contact you so they can come see your home in more detail.

But you definitely want them to see enough of it on the Internet to pique their interest. Packer's No. 1 tip for advertising your home online is to use good photographs.

Greg Tracy, president of BlueRoof.com in Utah, seconds that and then some.

"Good photos are imperative and video can be great if the quality is there. Homes need good photos of every room and space and the important rooms, such as kitchens and baths, should have multiple photos.
"If someone is going to sell on their own, make sure they hire a good photographer such as Spotlight Home Tours to shoot the tour, and have contact info easily found on your home's website."

He adds that homeowners should make it a top priority to respond to all inquiries as soon as possible because "online consumers are not patient."

Bret Peterson, owner of Spotlight Home Tours, also thinks it's important to have your home photographs or videos professionally produced. He says he's seen a lot of shoddy shots and footage online that do more harm than good.

"If a photo or video is exposed wrong, taken from an awkward angle, or has poor composition, the homebuyer won't visit the home for a sale," he says.

Now let's see, I promised to reveal the secret behind houses ut. If that's what you've been waiting for, you're going to enjoy this next section immensely:

Sell your Utah home online: Think like a search engine

Internet marketing professionals know that if they want to sell real estate or anything else online, they need to think like a search engine. That means sprinkling your Web page with exactly the right keywords that people are searching for, such as houses ut. Here is a list of a few of the hottest keywords for Utah homes online:

houses ut
utah homes
utah property
salt lake homes
utah house

Another useful tip is to be specific about what buyers might also be searching for. Results for Utah house in Google produce 24,000,000 results, but "holladay utah house" only a mere 54,000. What about "holladay utah house 3 bedroom rambler" only 368. That's the ticket, be specific in your keywords and the buyers might just find you!

So cast a wide net using common keywords and a fishing line with bait for picky buyers, this way you maximize your chances of buyers finding you!

See there, aren't you glad you read this story? Now you can try your hand at selling your Utah home online.

You can read more home-selling tips on the Blue Roof Blog at http://blueroof.wordpress.com/.