Last modified on April 23rd, 2018
By Aimee Miller

The Internet is a very useful tool and resource that can be used to facilitate day-to-day business. Property management businesses need to adapt and create not only a local presence in the community, but an online presence as well. Not only will an online presence allow renters from outside your local area hear about you, but for many local renters an online search is now the first step to finding a new home in their own area.

Develop A Website
Your property management website is your headquarters online. This website should have a page with current and upcoming listings, along with links to individual pages for each property. These pages should be complete with pictures, prices and contact information. It should also have a separate page for testimonials from satisfied tenants that live in your property currently and others who resided there in the past. It also may help to have a links page with links to community events, school webpages and anything else possible tenants may want to know about the area.

List Your Vacancies Across The Web
There are plenty of free classified websites for specific cities that offer housing sections. Make sure to include links back to your website so that they can learn more about who you are and what you have available. Traffic on these free classified sites is high, and this will help to increase web traffic to your page. If you are managing properties in a city with a college or university and are willing to rent to students, you should look into the off-campus housing services, as many of these schools offer rental listings for the surrounding area. You can also easily post your vacancies using AppFolio Property Manager from the vacancy postings tab.

Become Active On Social Media
You can also create a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Linkedn page for your property management business. These give you another place to post updates about listings. Of course, you should also have a link back to your main website. Your social media pages can be used to point traffic to your website. Social media platforms, including Facebook, can also be used for many other aspects of your property management business. Check out our webinar on Facebook for property managers.

You should make good use of anything that increases the traffic to your main site and establishes your reputation. If you can establish a solid presence and reputation online, it will do wonders for your business.