Real Estate Stock Photos

I’ve been building custom real estate websites for many years now, and my clients know that I focus heavily on search engine performance. A lot of my job involves educating clients on the role that graphic design does – or does not – play in the overall success of their site. A wonderful graphic design is great once you have visitors to look at, but the most beautiful site in the world doesn’t produce leads if no one finds it.

More times than I can count, I’ve had to tell an unhappy real estate agent that the website company they just hired for thousands of dollars to do a beautiful real estate website produced a site that was virtually invisible to the search engines. I’ve seen tens of thousands of dollars wasted on bad sites that could never rank well on the search engines.

That’s because many graphic designers are not necessarily trained in search engine optimization, sales, and marketing. That said, everyone likes a nice looking site, and the pride of ownership factor should keep us all striving to produce visually compelling websites and blogs.

For the novice real estate agent/blogger, there is no easier way to spice of a real estate site than with some well-placed real state stock photos. To that end, I encourage all of my Real Estate Marketing Tips newsletter subscribers to invest in a small library of real estate stock photography.

In fact, it might surprise some to find out that studies have shown that relevant stock photography can improve the conversion rate of a site. As an author, you can hold the attention of your readership longer with some graphics to break up the text.

As a writer, I prefer more text than rather than less, but that’s not the norm. The right amount of graphics can dramatically increase the professionalism of your site and conversion rate.

You should experiment with what works in your market for your site. You may find that stock photos of homes get better response. Or you may find that stock photos of smiling happy couples standing in front of their house work better. There is no single rule. That’s why it’s best to have a variety of stock photos to choose from.

The way I personally manage my stock photo collection is I subscribe to a monthly service. That allows me to download 750 photos per month. I subscribe for one month at a time when I want to expand my collection. Then I have them on hand for future website, blog posts, flyers, and other marketing materials.

Kevin Harper is an experienced web developer and SEO consultant who builds Realtor websites utilizing real estate stock photos [http://realestatestockphotos.org]. He publishes a free Real Estate Marketing . Tips Newsletter and has a press release copywriting service delivering maximum SEO and media impact

Kevin Harper is an experienced web developer and SEO consultant who builds Realtor websites utilizing real estate stock photos [http://realestatestockphotos.org]. He publishes a free Real Estate Marketing. Tips Newsletter and has a press release copywriting service delivering maximum SEO and media impact.