Selling land: Agricultural land, meadow, acre & Co.

You may have already read our great guide on selling land, or perhaps you have read more specific guides, for example on selling woodland land.

For those who are dealing with the matter of land sale for the first time, the question surely arises:

• How do I sell my agricultural land?
• Which step do I start with?
• Who advises me, prepares expert opinions & Co.

Here are a few pointers for selling farmland, agricultural land and other, more specific land. You can also read more about the process, mistakes and risks, as well as taxes when selling land.

Sell privately or with a professional?

The question is answered relatively quickly. There are various parameters that influence the selling price. These include, for example, the property valuation, as well as a solid and capital-strong buyer network, but also negotiating skills. After all, it is not “only” about a condominium, but about more complex, agricultural usable areas, with all the addition around soil expertise, forecasts and development possibilities.

Minimize effort, maximize profit

Selling agricultural land privately, for example through real estate portals, not the best idea.

1. What do you do with all the requests?
2. What documents, papers and expert opinions do you need?
3. Who sends info and makes phone calls for questions?
4. Who really has the credit rating and willingness to buy?
5. How many surveys do you want / need to do?
6. Who prepares and conducts the negotiations?
7. …

From credit rating (creditworthiness) to viewing appointments and negotiations: Time is money. Therefore, in this country 70% + sell with the help of professionals, such as an estate agent.

Sell privately?! Risk private sale

Time is of the essence. If you are not under pressure to sell, excellent. Then you may be able to make a mistake or two. But who wants to do that? Here is a recent example of a client who wanted to sell his property in Berlin. Private.

Example of agricultural land in the Berlin hinterland

Here is an example of a client who approached us, a typical case. It was an area in the Berlin area that was to be sold. The mistake in brief: private sale without sufficient credit check or financing confirmation from a bank. The result: months of delay and abandonment.

The seller has advertised privately on a known portal. Promptly came many messages, but almost all conversations ran into the void. Weeks passed.

Error: Insufficient creditworthiness and verification

After months, finally found a person who had the will and the credit rating – supposedly. So after the site visit talk about checking the financing, by the buyer’s bank and wait. Again, a few weeks pass.

Then you get after further weeks a feedback from the buyer and/or prospective customer that the financing was rejected with the first bank, therefore now with a second house bank one inquires. You wait.

After another few weeks passed, he still had no confirmation of financing from a bank, no preliminary purchase agreement, and no notary appointment.

Conclusion – pressure and frustration:

Suddenly there is more and more pressure to sell, and at the same time frustration rises.

You wouldn’t believe how many private sellers have this exact story happen to them.

That’s why over 2/3 of the properties are sold with professionals on the side (brokers and the like).

Professional land trading for agricultural land

Preparation is the key so that you do not lose months in the sale of A and B locations, and even years in C locations.

Preparation is the key: even with agricultural land

However, the work starts much earlier, which is another reason why working with a broker is advantageous.

Tip on the broker’s commission! Privately, the law currently provides that 50/50 is shared (buyer, seller). In commercial trade you can also put 100% on the buyer.

So, in principle, in the commercial trade it does not even cost you money. For this you get the network when it comes to a reputable real estate dealer.

• What documents and papers do you need?
• Which groups of buyers are you addressing with this particular property?
• Do you want everyone to know you want to sell your farmland?
• Should everyone know the value (your asset growth)?

Discretion: neighbours, envy and competition

In addition to the time factor (= money), for many sellers of agricultural land is also important that your property is made discreet, anonymous. From competition in the region to family, the neighbors or even receiving large sums of money. There are several reasons why a majority of sellers want to sell anonymously and discreetly.

Personal network: buyers and investors

Professional property trading looks quite different, of course. Here it is not about marketing in real estate portals, personal buyers are adressed, investors, funds but also foreign investors groups.

Investors from abroad: Profitable business

Foreign investors for a farmland? Yes! Many are looking for good returns and capital investment in this country. Due to the attractive returns in this country, but also the good soil quality and water quality (groundwater and water sources) in general, there are also very many investors from near and far abroad looking for land.

The big advantage for you as a seller, here the money sits a little looser than in the country – simply said.

Central for this is of course again a renowned real estate agency.

Exclusive is fast: supply and demand

Another strong advantage for you on the seller side:

Deals are being closed much faster.

Why? The properties are traded exclusively and the offers are made only to individuals. This exclusivity ensures the scarcity of supply and thus increases the demand on the customer side.

Time is money! Especially wealthy customers do not want to waste time

Wasting time, in which, for example, several interested parties are at one property. Business should be done quickly.

Find a real estate agent: Renowned office or from the region?

Therefore, consider working with a regional real estate agent who does what everyone does: Posting your farmland widely on all real estate portals. After that, hundreds of people will write, there will be many conversations, emails, plus phone calls. Very much time passes, few really have the creditworthiness, the will, as described before.

The process of finding a farmland takes months, sometimes even years.

Time is money! Addressing investors

Here is another psychological aspect that gives you advantages in off market trading:

When professional investors or their employees see that properties are listed on real estate portals, the question immediately arises: Why? Why has the property not found a buyer? No one would even continue to deal with this object. After all, there are thousands of advertisements. Who is supposed to see through all of them?

Family offices, real estate funds, etc.

Family offices, real estate funds and others therefore speak directly with renowned real estate offices and have only exclusive properties presented to them. Then everything goes very quickly.

In the off-market area, you will find the big family names, i.e. family offices, real estate funds, other institutions, which are approached individually and specifically, depending on the purchase profile.

This is all called off market trading.

Selling farmland: Procedure, taxes and tips

Would you like to learn more about selling agricultural land? Then take a look at our detailed guide on the subject of selling land. Here we talk about the concrete procedure, in all the individual phases of the sales process. You will learn more about the typical mistakes that are made when selling and of course everything about taxes when selling land.

• Sell land

Agricultural land / field with spring?

Selling a water well – appraisals, brokers, negotiations, process and taxes, there are also many questions when selling a water well. Is now the right time for you to sell? And if so, what is the most effective way to sell? Water is a scarce resource. Even though over 71% of our planet’s surface is water, there are fewer and fewer productive, clean water sources. Low supply, high demand: don’t just think regional buyers, think mutual funds and yes, food companies too. For that, you need a broker with an exclusive network. Whether a sole proprietor or a water cooperative, learn about the matter of selling here.

• Sell field with spring

GmbH & Co KG – formation, financing, liability & Co

The limited partnership – in short: Kommandite or KG – is one of the so-called complete companies and, as a partnership, is subject to the German Commercial Code (HGB). The formation process for this legal form of company is quite uncomplicated, as it can be formed informally and requires a minimum of only two founding members. It can be formed by both natural persons and legal entities. A maximum number of permissible shareholders is not specified by law.

If all general partners of a KG consist of limited liability companies (GmbH), they form a so-called Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung & Compagnie Kommanditgesellschaft – called GmbH & Co KG for short. Such a GmbH is sometimes also referred to as a general partner GmbH, but beware: the general partner GmbH is a corporation and part of the GmbH & Co KG, while the GmbH & Co KG by virtue of its legal form is always a partnership!

Other typical partnerships:

• Limited partnership (KG)
• General partnership (OHG)
• Limited Liability Company and Compagnie General Partnership(GmbH & Co OHG)

Foundation & Company Name

Two persons are required for the formation of a GmbH & Co KG: The GmbH as full partner – i.e. general partner – and a natural person as partial partner – called limited partner. If you are starting from scratch, you must first establish a limited liability company in preparation. To do this, you need the following in a nutshell: a natural person or legal entity as the founder of the company; a tax identification number (tax ID); the confirmation of registration from the trade office; the shareholders’ agreement aka articles of association together with notarial certification; 25,000 euros in share capital; and finally the entry in the commercial register.

You can find out how the process of setting up a GmbH works in detail here:

• Establishment of a limited liability company (GmbH)

You have successfuly founded your GmbH? The limited partner is ready to go? Then the next step is to set up a limited liability company (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung & Compagnie Kommanditgesellschaft). Since the GmbH & Co KG is a separate company, you again need a tax ID and must register the company with the trade office. The establishment of articles of association is also mandatory and of course your company needs a suitable company name including the company suffix “GmbH & Co KG”.

Management & power of representation

As a general partner, the GmbH basically has power of representation in the external relationship. However, since a GmbH is a legal entity, the management authority is entrusted to a natural person. This may be a shareholder of the general partner GmbH or the position may be assigned externally to a so-called third-party managing director. In this case, there is often talk of a third party board of directors or external board of directors.

Alternatively, limited partners may also act as managing directors, provided they are expressly appointed to this body. Since limited partners are generally excluded from management, their management authority in this case is, however, limited to the right of objection in the case of extraordinary transactions.

Profit distribution & loss sharing

With regard to the distribution of profits and the sharing of losses, either the statutory principles come into play or corresponding specifications have been anchored in the articles of association. Profits are generally distributed at 4 percent of the capital share plus additional profit “in reasonable proportion”. Losses are also shared appropriately.

It is possible to completely exclude the general partner GmbH from the distribution of profits by means of a declaration in the shareholders’ agreement, whereby higher profits can be distributed to the investors. Insofar as the GmbH has inherent management authority, it can be paid an appropriate remuneration to compensate for its role as managing director, whereby a managing director’s remuneration cannot be deducted in total as a business expense for tax purposes. However, the remuneration is paid irrespective of the profits generated and thereby has the effect, if applicable, that the entire company can save taxes.

General partner, partial partner & tax liability

Usually, the general partners of a limited partnership are liable without limitation and jointly and severally – i.e. with their business assets plus private assets. If, on the other hand, the general partner of a KG appears in the form of a limited liability company (GmbH), he is liable as a legal entity only to the extent of the GmbH’s capital contribution. Limited partners are liable – as in the case of a conventional KG – only to the extent of the mandatory sum that they paid in as a limited partner’s contribution when the GmbH & Co KG was founded.

Like all other legal forms of companies, the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung & Compagnie Kommanditgesellschaft is generally liable to pay taxes. First and foremost, they are subject to trade tax and – in the case of taxable turnover – turnover tax. A GmbH & Co KG is generally exempt from income tax and corporation tax… However, profit income is still subject to taxation: corporation tax is applied to the profit share of the general partner GmbH, whereas limited partners must pay income tax on their profit.

• Trade tax (GewSt)
• Value added tax (VAT)
• Income tax (ESt)
• Corporate income tax (KSt)

Tip. All taxes for companies in one list:

• Taxes in Germany

GmbH & Co KG – For whom is it worthwhile?

A significant advantage of a GmbH & Co KG is undoubtedly the limitation of liability to the business assets of the general partner GmbH. This means that founders do not directly risk the existence of their company if an investment turns out to be disadvantageous, and they can quickly increase their equity capital through the flexible and simple admission of new limited partners. They can confidently outsource the organisational effort and the management to an outside body or make deviating succession arrangements in order to maintain the GmbH & Co KG.

So who is the GmbH & Co KG suitable for? This legal form is worthwhile for start-ups who would like to set up their business as a partnership without having to forego the special liability restrictions of a GmbH. A GmbH & Co KG is also conceivable as an asset-managing company and for family businesses.

Alternatives to the GmbH & Co KG: Legal forms in Germany

Legal forms – What types of company are there? If you want to start your first company, then choosing the ideal legal form is one of the first steps in the process of setting up a company. Whether it’s a special real estate company or a start-up, I’ve summarized all the types of companies in Germany for you here.

• Legal forms: List

Company types in detail:

• Sole proprietorship
• Registered businessman / registered businesswoman (e. K.)
• Civil law partnership (GbR)
• General partnership (OHG)
• Limited partnership (KG)
• Entrepreneurial company (UG)
• GmbH: Limited liability company
• Real estate GmbH / Asset management GmbH
• Stock corporation (AG)
• Real estate stock corporation (REIT-AG)
• Societas Europaea (SE)
• Foundation / Family Foundation

Real estate agent website

Reading tip: Advertising agency real estate

Who works in the field of real estate listings, which must pay much more attention than usual to a high degree of seriousness. Seriousness not only plays a major role in the mediation of real estate, it is the figurehead. Finally, one invests as a tenant, especially of course as a buyer, relatively high amounts in relation to their own saved or income. Therefore one wants to be able to rely as prospective customers naturally from second one on on-line offer. The serious look of the advertising agency will therefore decide whether interested parties contact you or not.

Challenge technical quality and seriousness

Reference projects are so important for an advertising agency. The more references, or the more successful reference clients the company has, the more experience and expertise the advertising agency can also bring to your project. Therefore, you should ask for key figures that prove the success of previous projects.

However, an advertising agency should not only tell you about the successes, risks are also an important topic when it comes to investing in your own online media. Not all online media are suitable for every company, the selection, that is the media mix, also ensures success. Another factor is the planning, in which time frames does the agency calculate? Compare several offers and you will be able to identify your favourite more easily on the basis of the different coverings. Last but not least, you always need a concrete objective. Therefore, you should determine so-called KPIs together with the agency. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator, which means key factors for success. This includes, for example, the number of unique visits to your website, which are the individual visitors, e.g. per month, or the impressions in the search engine, do the rankings increase and show?

Let’s summarize, this is what an advertising agency should be able to present:

• List of reference customers or reference projects
• Key figures of success
• Honest assessment of risks
• Timetable and roadmap
• KPI, Key Performance Indicators

How is a website created?

When it comes to websites, many people think of a uniform product, the family home, so to speak. However, websites and real estate differ from each other. From the so-called landing page, a quickly built prefabricated house, to the massive property, with detailed block and its own wiki on the subject of real estate.

Concept and strategy: graphic design to online marketing

Basically, the website always starts with the concept and the strategy. Here, the advertising agency looks at exactly what your real estate agency provides services for your customers. From property management to shell construction to real estate agency. The construction industry is extremely diverse and many agents are not only active in brokerage but also in buying, selling, new construction or renovation. Some larger real estate companies also have their own subcontractors, e.g. services such as janitorial or the property management just mentioned. Some sides are thus smaller, describe e.g. only the brokerage, other sides bring in also various other aspects and firm components. They advertising agency takes up all these information and bundles them in a short and conclusive concept from, which can be opened the final strategy. In the further it concerns the organization of the Internet side.

The design of the website takes place in close consultation with you. At the beginning, all variables are summarized and clearly determined. From the exact size of the logo to the color scheme of the website. Of course, components also play a role, for example, contact forms or forms to house evaluation. All this is determined in the first screen design, as it is called in the technical language. As soon as you as a customer approve the first layout of the web design, it goes to the elaboration of the Internet page.

Content management system

After the layout, the content management system, CMS for short, is now set up. The best currently available content management system for your needs is WordPress. The open source software is completely free of charge and is thus not associated with monthly costs. Nevertheless, it is the world’s largest system and thus offers 100% flexibility if you want to expand your internet site. For example, you can build your own real estate portal for brokering properties, here brokers but also customers can pay directly with credit card or PayPal. You can offer your own books, but you can also have your own real estate listings enhanced by a very accurate search filter. Thousands of possibilities you have with your own content management system.

The advertising agency takes care of the construction and setup of the website. Next, the content is planned. Basically, the website always starts with the concept and the strategy. Here the advertising agency considers exactly which your real estate agency at the achievements and services for your customers furnishes. From the house management over the carcass up to the broker’s office. The contents of an Internet side differ extremely, depending upon how exactly you would like to work in the search machine optimization. For the real estate sector, however, it is worth investing in search engine optimization, because high profits can be made here, once you make it to page 1 of search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex or others, a lot of people visit you sustainably, every day. Once you manage to attract 500 or 1,000 visitors a day to your website, compare that to a local real estate agency. 500 to 1,000 visitors a day. Wouldn’t that be powerful? This is exactly why large real estate companies invest in their own internet sites. We also recommend for you, if you work locally and regionally, to invest in your own website with local search engine optimization.

Opportunities and advantages for your brokerage office

The own Internet site brings extremely many advantages in the competition, because it is not only a modern visiting card, it brings buyers, tenants and salesmen to your office. No matter which area of real estate you specialize in, the shell, renovation, sale, rental or even the classic brokerage business, for any form of business your own website is profitable. The investments, which are needed for the structure of the one Internet side, play themselves in the course of the time fast again in. Especially for high-priced business models the own website is profitable for gaining customers and interested parties.

The big secret behind success, good web design and search engine optimization. We also want to enter both points in this article on web design for real estate agents.

The advantages of having your own website at a glance:

• Modern business card and competitive advantage
• Permanent visitor source for buyers, sellers and tenants
• Always and everywhere retrievable
• Retrieval from computer, notebook, tablet or smartphone
• Interested parties have access to information even if you do not know it
• Placement of current offers

These are the most important details you should consider when booking an advertising agency. Now let’s take a look at all the services in detail.

• What does web design mean?
• What does Responsive Design mean and what advantages does it bring?
• What does content management mean?
• What is WordPress?
• What does search engine optimization mean?

All services at a glance.

Webdesign design of the website

Although performance factors in particular speak for the success of a website, the design, i.e. the graphic design, is of course usually important for the client. While websites in the first ten or fifteen years still contained many design elements, websites today have a very minimal structure. Why is that? With the increasing number of end devices and thus also different formats of screens, the science can be tuned less and less. In the past, a design had to be made for one screen, the computer. Today there are smartphones with 4K screen, 05many still use older models, whose pixel count is only on 10%. In addition, there are tablets, notebooks, smart TVs and many other end devices, e.g. also smartwatches, which offer more and more power and bring more security, also for accessing the Internet, into everyday life, directly on the wrist. Due to the many end devices, websites are built very functionally today. Nevertheless, the corporate design, e.g. the color scheme or the shapes, whether square, circle or triangle, plays a role in the design.

When it comes to design, however, the advertising agency is also concerned with the usability factor. Usability is an indicator for the user-friendliness of a website. Simply put, how many steps do your customers need until they reach their destination? Is it just a single click or does the visitor have to navigate through a multitude of pages? Can they find the right offers quickly and easily or are they hidden in a complicated way? This usability raises the performance of your website, in terms of satisfied visitors but also in search engine rankings.

• Minimal design due to the many end devices, from smartphone to 4K Smart TV in the living room.
• Functional design, more on this in the Responsive Design section.
• Usability as a success factor
• Relevance for search engine placement

Brand identity and corporate design

After the basics of functional design and usability have been discussed, we move on to the integration of your own brand identity or corporate design. Corporate design stands for a uniform appearance that allows prospects and customers to quickly recognize the own brand or project. Corporate design includes aspects such as colouring but also shapes, fonts and spacing. Everything that has to do with the design of media. Media does not only have to be digital, corporate design also exists for the printed company car. Where is the logo placed? At what height? And what about other car models?

The own brand identity plays a role in many aspects, from the outdoor advertising on the business premises, to the company car to the own website. Therefore, the advertising agency should of course also discuss and consider this aspect. After all, your identity is what makes you stand out to your customers. From your philosophy to your external image. So give the visitor a familiar feeling when he visits your new website.

Tip from our editorial team: Send the advertising agency a flyer, a brochure or a link to an existing website with the first briefing. So the agency can look directly at the current graphic design. Because not always an Internet side must be set up completely again, on it goes also only around modern Re Design.

Redesign

If you had your website programmed in 1995 or in the year 2000, you are of course completely outdated nowadays. At that time there was still screen resolution in the offices from 800 to 600 pixels. Who had a high-end device, which came already times on 1024 pixels. Today, smartphones already have 4k resolution, with almost 4000 pixels wide. In addition, there is no longer just the classic landscape screen, devices are rotated, screens are split, a website must adapt dynamically to every situation.

Therefore, many real estate companies have their website revised after a certain time. As a rule, it is advisable to have a constant companion on the subject of homepage and maintenance anyway. Because if you let your website lie fallow for years, you will lose valuable visitors who can ultimately be sellers of houses or buyers of houses and condominiums.

Re-design involves transferring the aforementioned aspects of corporate design into new systems. The most popular nowadays is WordPress. We come to this directly after the topic of Responsive Design.

Responsive Design

What is Responsive Design? As we have already mentioned above, the number of devices has multiplied extremely. Designs, i.e. the graphic design of a website, must be dynamically adapted accordingly.

When developing websites, advertising agencies therefore make sure that all elements are packaged in such a way that they can be accessed from all possible end devices. This is not only about the basic different end devices, also the models differ from each other. Just consider the Apple iPhone. Currently, the following models are commonly used:

• IPhone 6
• IPhone 7
• …
• IPhone X

Each terminal has its own screen format, not only each iPhone, of course, each tablet of the company, notebooks, computers. Then there is the fact that Apple does not even have the largest market share, currently leading is Samsung. Immediately, ten more models are added. This large variety of devices must take into account their advertising agency, and therefore in the first conversation should also talk about the topic of Responsive Design.

That’s going to be expensive! Fortunately, the costs are kept within limits, because advertising agencies resort to content management systems that already bring a large part of these functionalities with them. So your website doesn’t have to be developed completely from scratch, the foundation of the house, if you will, is delivered ready to go. So let’s take a look at content management systems and the most popular CMS, WordPress.

WordPress CMS Content Management System

Before we get into this topic, don’t worry, you as a real estate agent don’t have to deal with this on a day to day basis! We wanted to give you an overview, what is a content management system? After all, it is your foundation, for your modern business card to your own real estate portal.

Content management systems stand for dynamically generated content. Explaining it simply, in the past every single page of a homepage had to be programmed by the developer, using HTML and CSS. So every single blog post had to be written in a single HTML file. When there are changes, this HTML file has to be opened, edited and saved again one by one. Additionally, all other files have to be changed, e.g. if the link to the HTML file changes. A lot of effort!

With the possibilities of Web 2.0 came content management systems. Basically, all content is now no longer written in individual files but in a common, large database. Depending on what information the user wants, the page is created based on this database, e.g. a search form in your website. The user is interested in condominiums in Berlin, our system looks into the database and retrieves all entries on the subject of condominiums in Berlin. The search results are then dynamically compiled results from the database. The advantage: structure and content are now separated. The structure is HTML and CSS is the basis. HTML determines the individual elements, e.g. the upper area in the header, then comes the text, then comes a footer, e.g. with our contact details. CSS determines the design, e.g. whether the header is blue, green or white. It also determines the shape of the font, the width but also its color. This is how you build the interface of the website and the content, blog posts, search results or even real estate listings are then retrieved individually from the database and displayed within the specified places.

This is the basis on which 99% of websites currently function. Therefore, it is important to know the basics of the functionalities. So that you do not have to deal with such details in everyday life, but can fully concentrate on your real estate business, it is recommended to book a good advertising agency:

• Advertising agency real estate

Homepage maintenance and updates

The support includes not only the setup and installation of the website but of course also the maintenance and updates. From simple changes, which then affect your design, e.g. if an extension has been further developed, to attacks by hackers, who specifically look for vulnerabilities in outdated scripts. To eliminate all these vulnerabilities, your ad agency should not only take care of the one-time creation and setup, but also maintenance and updates. This includes not only the prevention from attacks, of course also the creation of backups, backup copies of your website.

To avoid falling into a cost trap, bring up the point of maintenance and updates early in the conversation. Imagine that the advertising agency of your choice ultimately does not offer the service and you have to switch to a third-party provider who then smells big business, after all, you need someone to take care of the job. Basically though, it’s not just about the content management system, it’s also about the domain and hosting.

Domain and hosting

What is a domain? In the meantime, there are no longer only the classic domains, e.g. ‘.de’ or ‘.com’, but a multitude of domains, e.g. also ‘.one’ and yes, even ‘.real estate’. In the meantime a whole jungle of domains has opened up, the competent and serious advice of an advertising agency is therefore worth a lot. Not only when choosing your own domain but also when finding a name. The older the domain, the more complicated is the name finding, because most of them have been sold over the decades, of course. Now there is the possibility to buy an older domain, for expensive money or to have a creative advertising agency that finds solutions, even for the old and competitive domains.

Do domains matter in search engine optimization? Yes! There is even a separate term for good domains, so-called keyword domains. A so-called keyword domain deals with what they do. For a social media agency, for example, this would be ‘socialmediaone.co.uk’. Here, the activity is directly linked to the agency name. Even better would be just ‘socialmediaagentur.co.uk’. Therefore, you should also try to have the word real estate or the word broker in your domain. This makes it easier for search engines but also for users to recognize what it is about and this will be noticeable in your successes.

You can make many mistakes when hosting domains and URLs. Even if it is ultimately only peanuts per month, some costs accumulate over the years.

50 € a month? Too much! When it comes to hosting and hosting providers, we trust our advertising agency and can recommend this article on the subject:

• Cheap hosting

Here you will not only learn how to book your webspace with the cheapest provider, the provider also offers German quality, with German data protection rules and of course server location in Germany. This in turn plays a role for the speed, the so-called pagespeed. In short, the faster a page loads, the better it will rank if the rest of the content is right. If domains are parked in the USA, but your visitors are mainly from Germany, all data packets have to be retrieved from the USA every time. Despite fiber optic cables, it costs a few seconds of time if, for example, images are still being loaded. Valuable fractions of a second, which ultimately plays into the hands of the competition with servers from Germany. So that they do not have to make a complete change of provider later, you should trust a good hosting provider right at the beginning.

Should it be something more than a real estate agent site? If you want to build your own real estate portal that contains listings from different districts, cities, then you need accordingly adapted content management systems but also hosting.

Advertisements for house and apartment

Depending on how many listings you want to present on your real estate website, it is a smaller or larger system. If you have less than 100 listings, the management is not a big task. However, if the number of your advertisements develops in the direction of 500, 1000, you will need something more.

Should you now consider booking an advertising agency, then this should be one of your most important aspects, already at the first briefing, or the first e-mail or the first phone call. Because the development of such a system requires much more time, which of course must also be planned in advance. Therefore, remember to estimate already at the beginning the development of your own website, in the next one, two or even three years. This will allow you to develop the system accordingly right at the beginning, or develop it in a certain direction, so that the extensions can be added later.

Search engine optimisation for estate agents & real estate: being found

Search engine optimization is the big sticking point for all websites! Page 1 on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGogo and many other search engine providers is comparable to the most popular shopping street in the big city. Everyone wants to be placed here, here walk the large crowds of visitors, tourists, constantly new people.

That’s the big secret of page 1, investing in ads brings one time visitors, if you want more visitors, you need to spend more money on advertising. Investing an internet site of your own, is a lasting investment, because once you make it to the top, you have to get past it. So if you create a great system with which you make it to page 1 for important keywords, for example property sell Frankfurt, then you have sustainably created something that must first be surpassed by your competition. Until your competition delivers a better offer, the search engine will give you preferential treatment.

With a little luck, this can be not only over months, but also over years and sometimes even decades. Nowadays, on page 1, there are sometimes still websites that were programmed in 1998. For certain topics, no one has ever created something new and greater. As long as no one provides a better source of information, the old page stays on top. If you now have not only one good keyword but maybe even 1000 good keywords, chances are that you will collect visitors for a long time, every hour, every day, every week and every month. Then so to speak, quasi for free, because your investment has already been made.

So that pages generally remain strong and of course also collect new keywords, so that they get even more visitors, so that even more interested parties, tenants, buyers or sellers, the constant care is important. The constant care is in relation to the structure, however, very uncomplicated, content is constantly supplemented, small optimizations are made to the design, keyword usability from the beginning. A website is like a real estate, the foundation, the construction, especially with new construction, requires a lot of work. If the house once stands, it is but mostly still beauty corrections to increase the value.

Just like in home building, there are two areas on websites. On the one hand, there is onpage optimization, which is, so to speak, all the changes you make to your property, and on the other hand, there is offpage optimization, which is, for example, all PR actions to make your property known. We just want to tell you briefly what it’s all about.

Onpage optimization on your website

Onpage optimization of internet pages deals with all the work that is done on one’s own internet page. This includes regular content, which is published in previously calculated length, to exactly certain keywords. In addition, there are various improvements, for example in pagespeed. As mentioned before, the faster an internet site loads, the better it is rated by search engines but also by users. The risk of users bouncing or search engines not ranking us well is low. Further it goes with design and usability, does the visitor feel comfortable and does he find the right offer fast and easy? Many aspects that ultimately result in a great overall concept, the constant and permanent onpage optimization, which must be considered at the beginning of the development of a website.

For the optimization one uses software, which can be different products, from free and free software, which is offered for example by Google itself, the so-called Google Analytics and the Google Search Console, up to software which is used in the market, e.g. Xovi. With these software products, editorial plans are created, from which the individual work steps are derived. From new content to the optimization of existing content, from extensions to changes in the design and so on.

Offpage optimization through link building

The offpage optimization includes all external steps that promote the success of the own website. A large part of this work is the so-called link building. Linkbuilding can be explained quite simply, imagine a bar, someone walks in the door and no one talks about him or her. Accordingly, no patron is going to reach out to him or her. If you specifically have two or three people pointing to you as you enter, for example by pointing or whispering and looking in their direction, you will draw the attention of other patrons. The classic public relations! You have a new product? Your PR agency places it in magazines, the more magazines talk about you, the more will take notice of you. It’s the same on the Internet!

On the Internet there are many blogs, for example, blogs that deal with the topic of crafts, decoration or even more specifically with the topic of making money with real estate. On all these blogs, you can usually buy so-called advertorials. These are paid blog posts that talk about a topic of your choice, you will be linked. If the craftsman blog reports, for example, on the topic of reputable real estate agents and refers to your website, very many users will follow this recommendation and visit your website. Through this targeted link building, the amount of referrals increases and so does the amount of clicks that occur because of this referral marketing.

Such and other off page optimization is also the focus of an advertising agency when it comes to search engine optimization.

Frequently asked questions and answers

Finally, we wanted to share a few common questions and answers lists that are often asked in regards to marketing real estate, especially if you are entering the agency world for the first time. When it comes to the differences in agency work, many ask the question, who does what? Our overview on the topic of advertising agencies:

What do you do in an advertising agency?

Advertising agencies are the full-service partner, they take care of both the very basic issues, such as corporate design but also simple forms, stationery, up to extensive websites. Their work also includes everything to do with marketing and public relations. If you turn to an advertising agency, you can and should expect them to take care of all your media and communication needs.

What is a marketing agency?

Marketing agencies specialize in sales. From the product to the price, packaging but also distribution channels, or promotion. When you turn to a marketing agency, then with the goal of optimizing your product and sales channels.

There are also different categories among the marketing agencies. On the one hand, the classic print marketing agencies, as well as sales agencies, e.g. for telephone acquisition and marketing campaigns, up to modern online marketing and of course social media marketing agencies. The higher the degree of specialization, the more precise the focus on a particular strategy. Depending on the company, it is recommended to either use a specialized agency, or a general active one. For example, if they want to increase sales through Facebook ads, they should go straight for a social media marketing agency. If they are undecided about which forms of marketing is best for you, you should contact a general online marketing agency, which will show you the various advantages and disadvantages of each way.

What do you do in a PR agency?

PR agencies are also a more accurate form of marketing agency. Public relations is the channel that helps products gain notoriety. Public relations means publicity that really bears fruit only when mentioned regularly. This means your brand or company needs to be placed in various relevant media outlets more frequently. For the regional estate agent, this can be the daily newspaper that is on your breakfast table on Sunday mornings, as well as the fashion magazine in which you can place articles as a luxury estate agent. However, the work of a PR agency goes even further, e.g. it ensures positive mentions for the right people, e.g. at events, through invitations or also through the event. PR agencies ensure that the own brand or product is in the right light and becomes better known.

So PR agencies ostensibly have the purpose of brand awareness, not sales. If they want to sell, you should turn to a marketing agency, because they also consider the sales channel, not just the channel of awareness.

How many agencies are there in Germany?

In Germany there are actually over 10,000 agencies from the field of advertising, marketing and PR. So the choice is huge and a recommendation that has so much value.

What is online marketing?

Online marketing in its special form deals with the marketing of products and services via digital channels. The concepts are extremely different. From funnel marketing that collects interested parties and visitors through targeted channels, to ad management on Google, to the placement of ads on other sites. Online marketing sets itself the goal of using digital media as a sales structure. This creates great advantages for customers, because unlike marketing methods that take place offline, the individual paths can be reconstructed very well. This means that you end up with extremely accurate sales figures. Each individual campaign or advertising action can be evaluated in the exact percentage range. So you don’t just hang a poster in the city centre and hope that it will generate more sales. You know exactly which person, based on which channel, ultimately made which purchase or not. This precise tracing of an individual channel allows extremely accurate conclusions to be drawn when data is collected. From this you optimize the individual campaigns and advertisements. This results in more sales. This is exactly the job of an online marketing agency. Digital sales and constant optimization of the sales channels.

What is SEO and SEA?

SEO means search engine optimization, this part deals with the work on your own website. The optimization of individual pages, blog posts or even real estate listings, up to improving the page load time and of course the basic structure.

SEA means search engine analysis, in this discipline you look at the developments of your own website in the search engines. How were the individual pages and blog posts ranked? What changes have there been since the previous month? What measures can be taken to improve the ranking even further? This is what search engine analysis is all about.

Tip. Real estate exposé with drone (recommendation)

What enhances a real estate exposé? Pictures say more than a thousand words and drones deliver the most beautiful pictures or videos that you can wish for as a real estate seller.

Buy a lightweight, fast and good drone with camera cheap online? Before buying a drone for photo and video shooting, you should definitely read reviews. Because, there are many drones in the market, but which one is really good in comparison? We have had in our years many drones in our offices and this, is our absolute favorite: Perfect images, easy to use and a drone under 1,000 euros, including all accessories, from propellers to hard case for the road. This is the ideal way to showcase houses, villas and land for the next real estate exposé. With the DJI Mini 2 drone videos or drone footage are created so quickly that you have learned the entire shoot around flight and production in one day.

• DJI Mini 2: Experiences