Why More Photos of Listings are Valuable to Realtors

Consumers love photos of just about everything on the internet. Just look at the amount of photos on people's Facebook posts, their dreams and inspirations on Pinterest, the number of photos you look at when researching vacation hotels, and even the number of photos of used cars on automobile listing sites.

For Realtors, how many photos is enough to show on your listings? Some take the less is more strategy with the hopes of generating a lead by withholding photos. But this is counter to what consumers want from listening to many home buyer panels and it is also counter to the growing online transparency trend in every other industry that targets consumers.

How can more photos in your listing or on property specific websites benefit you in your business? Below is a list of 10 different reasons why more photos can help your business. They may not apply in every situation, but you can probably identify with a number of them.

1. Differentiate your online marketing strategy. If you compete for sellers at listing presentations, you could differentiate yourself from other agents by explaining how you will take and use more photos of all the interior and exterior features in the online marketing strategy for selling the home.

2. Sellers will value the work and effort. Even with referrals or repeat business that you did not have to compete for in a listing presentation, sellers will notice and appreciate you taking more time to take more photos of the home, and use that in trying to maximize the value of the home in the shortest time.

3. Qualify initial leads to determine their interest. Most initial leads are not qualified, so sending them more photos of the home will help determine if they really want to see the home. This eliminates wasting your time with appointments with prospects not qualified.

4. Engage buyers on an emotional level. Buying a home is an emotional experience and by providing people a great online user experience viewing many photos of the home, you can connect with these buyers. This can increase the likelihood of them making an offer.

5. Build confidence with potential buyers. Consumers are demanding more data to evaluate before deciding to make large purchases. A listing with more data via photos can build greater confidence in the home itself with buyers.

6. Help buyers remember your listing. If a buyer visits 4 to 5 homes in one day, how does your listing stay top of mind at the end of the day, or even the following week? A great user experience with more photos provides buyers a place to go to remind them of all the great features of your listing.

7. Improve the SEO rankings. A listing with more photos and data about the property is more likely to rise to the top of the natural search results when people search for the specific address. Search engines tend to reward sites that have more and better content that matches the search terms.

8. Improve your service and reputation. As you use more photos in all of your listings, you will start to build a reputation as a trusted advisor because of your consultative sales approach by providing more info about the home.

9. Provide the buyer a copy of the photos. Detailed photos of the property including all the rooms. Interior and exterior features are useful to the new homeowner for both a home inventory for insurance purposes as well as for future home maintenance and remodel purposes.

10. Become a trusted advisor. Agents who demonstrate the ability to be creative in their marketing, to deliver more transparency in the process, and who realize that people need to manage their home after the sale will develop long term client loyalty and more referrals as a result.

Many Realtors are frustrated with leads that are fake names or who never respond. Buyers report that they are just looking for more information and they don't want to be bombarded by agents to try and turn them into a lead when they are not ready yet. Agents and buyers are also often times frustrated wasting time physically visiting houses that just don't meet their needs. Sharing the most number of photos about a listing on various sites can help serve the needs of sellers, buyers and the time efficiency of all the agents involved.

To view the original article, visit John Bodrozic's LinkedIn profile.