Michelle Shurtleff is a real estate agent and founder of The Miami Real Estate Team at Keller Williams Coral Gables working in Coral Gables.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Michelle Shurtleff , CEO and founder of The Miami Real Estate Team at Keller Williams Coral Gables, who shared her strategies for marketing luxury properties. 

Marketing luxury homes in Miami requires aggressive marketing, networking, being informed, constant follow up with leads and customers, and knowing the agents that are selling in the area. The reason all of the above are necessary is to know which market to target for each listing. Each home is different depending on its location. Since we cannot market all houses equally, it is imperative to know your audience.

7. Search Optimization Basics – First, SEO is constantly changing and will continue to change due to clients’ demands in terms of what they consider to be valuable material.

For this reason, I suggest starting off by creating an overall strategy to maximize SEO, because it’s the best way to funnel Internet users to your website. SEO traffic can really increase the value of your marketing, and it typically costs quite a bit less than pay-per-click campaigns. You need to identify your target market first, and the best way to start is by doing demographic research on your ideal clients.

SEO Blogging keeps your targeted market informed and organic traffic geared towards your website. You can start by making a list of 100 key words that are relevant to your area. Start by going to Google.com and your local newspaper website. Search for articles on real estate tips. Select top articles that were of most interest in your particular city, or in Miami, in general. Read these articles and select 8-12 articles. Use “Key Word Planner ” and input your title Articles to find out what words or long-tail searches are most popular; for example: “Best homes in Miami.” This gives you a basic guide as to what content you can blog about. You can ask your clients what their interests are, as well. Be sure to post using a plugin like ‘All In One’ SEO, which will promote your site on search engines (this plugin is only for WordPress websites, and is one example of many that will help you fill out the necessary meta data for your post).

6. Use social media: LinkedIn, Twitter (use hashtags), Facebook, and Pinterest (according to Hubspot, Pinterest is the No. 1 driver of social traffic to websites). Use backlinks to aid your SEO on articles you blog about that are then posted on social media. Another tip is to use links to trustworthy websites in your community – call and offer to sponsor charity sites in your community, or help your community’s local restaurants and ask if you can sponsor their sites to help them drive traffic to their business.

5. Lead cultivating is another key element to matching buyers to sellers. You can use a sellers site, a buyers site, and a valuation site that help you keep buyers separate from sellers, thus giving you the opportunity to pair buyers and sellers. These sites are specifically designed to generate leads that, in turn, you convert to clients. One example of where to get these sites that have worked for us is Brivity Valuations (brivityvaluations.com or email support@brivity.com). They have a variety of products. Start with one if you can’t afford more and move your way up. There are many others, and the Internet has ample information regarding these types of sites.

4. Press releases are important, as well. You can use a PR company that promotes your team, or you as an agent, nationally and internationally by strategically promoting all materials (articles, blogs, special posts of luxury homes sold or just listed), leading readers to your website and marketing your listings, thereby giving your clients greater-than-average exposure in global markets. If you can’t afford a PR company, use HARO (Help A Reporter). It is a free service where agents are sought out by reporters about 3 times a week, on average. Take the time to help inform peers and clients of market conditions. This gives you and your clients more exposure.

3. Contact top realtors that are selling in the area and email them the just-listed, open houses, and flyers. We are all one big team of professionals collaborating with each other on how to help our clients purchase a property at the best price, or sell their properties in the least amount of time at the highest price possible.

2. Promote listings on global sites, like LuxuryRealEsate.com, referral sites and Active Rain are some of the many currently available.

1. Use print and electronic brochures across multiple networks, both in the U.S. and internationally.

In conclusion, to successfully market luxury real estate in Miami, you need to slowly but surely secure three sources: a PR company, a great webmaster and an SEO campaign. Follow up with clients using drip campaigns and a CRM (we use a great tool soon to be a CRM – Brivity.com), and be involved in your community and network. We are always looking for ways to improve, and the Internet is an excellent source to research and learn for free. Start at one and work your way toward conquering all of these tips via communication to market your luxury property with the best results. At the end, the most important part of our job is to build trust with our clients, which means SEO, yes, but most importantly, meeting face-to-face.

Since 1999, Michelle Shurtleff has been working in the luxury real estate market, helping to sell more than $550 million in real estate. She was recently recognized as a leading Power House Agent in the Key Biscayne magazine.

For a free, no-obligation consultation, contact The Miami Real Estate Team!