Google maps have been around for a while now, but there still aren’t very many real estate agents who use them on their personal or farm real estate website. Whether you’re focusing on a neighborhood or a subdivision, you can quickly and easily use Google maps to create a useful, local resource that you can provide to your farm or use to attract buyers interested in the area. Local, accurate information from a human, whether in the form of Google maps, single property websites, or hyper-local sites, is one of the best advantages we can provide as real estate agents, and it’s one of the hardest areas for national conglomerates and huge search sites to break into.
It’s easy to get started using Google maps. You can use the the place-mark pins as I have in this example, or you can draw shapes on the map for subdivisions or bigger buildings. You could make a “buyer’s tour” for out of town buyers, perhaps highlighting desirable (or especially undesirable) areas, and including points of interest with your own personal commentary. Why not have the first point start at your office?
1. To get started, sign in or create a Google account then Google “Google maps” and click the first result to go to their map section.
2. Then click “create new map” near the top left corner, and start plopping down points of interest. After you put down a point, you can add details into You can put in links to things such as your MLS listing, single property websites, etc.
3. Once you’ve created your map, you can then embed it on your site or link to it by clicking “Link” near the top right corner and cutting and pasting the code they provide. You could also add the same Google map to your single property websites for maximum exposure. Either way, they’re an easy and effective way to show you’re a local agent.
While there are more advanced ways to integrate google maps into your site, those methods usually involve the assistance of a professional web developer.
I’d suggest getting started with the above method first, to decide what aspects you like about google maps. Then, you can save more time and money when you decide to work with a professional web developer.
Along with google maps, don’t forget to also add plenty of high quality photos to the rest of your site, as this can also help buyers get a great sense of a local area.
Michael is an active real estate broker and writes frequently on real estate marketing. Michael is also the founder of Bold Virtual Tours, a web 2.0 marketing tool that lets real estate agents create stunning virtual tours and single property websites easily. He also writes on the Real Estate Marketing Blog there.
[tags]real estate, website, google maps, map, maps, listings, virtual tours, virtual tour[/tags]
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