Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock since the dawn of Y2K will know technology plays a starring role in the real estate market today. The National Association of Realtors reports that in 2016, online listings were the very first place nearly half of house hunters looked for their dream home, 89 percent of folks who searched for a home on the internet considered images very useful. So when you plan to sell, make sure potential buyers will find your house online and like what they see once they get there. Here's how.

What You’ll Need To Get Started

Curb appeal. The internet is a visual medium. The first step is to get your house exterior in shape so it will look its best on the Web. What’s the project with the best return on investment? You may be surprised but the NAR states that lawn care by a landscaping professional (average cost: approximately $330) tends to reap a 303 percent ROI!

Clean, clean, clean. Once you’ve taken care of the great outdoors, give the inside of your home a little love. Clean and take care of minor repairs. BONUS: Your goal is to get serious homebuyers who see your property online to take the next step – coming to view it in person. The work you put into this step will pay off at show time.

Images. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and photos and videos seen on the Net can make or break it. Don’t cheap out by snapping pictures with your phone. It’s worth shelling out a few hundred dollars for a pro to handle this essential social media tool. Costs start at under $200 and vary widely, depending on your location, size of your home, number of shots, and options such as 3D.

Photographic technology. Take advantage of the best in photographic technology. Capture a feeling of spaciousness with a wide-angle lens (not a fisheye!). HDR or high-dynamic-range imaging combines several versions of an image for the richest, most luminous effect. Drone photography is a fantastic way to showcase impressive outdoor space.

How To Present Your Home Online 

Real estate website. Your real estate broker’s listing is the online gateway to your property. Make sure that the information is accurate and complete, and that all signage and print materials contain a QR code leading to the listing. In addition, you might want to set up a microsite page on WordPress – it’s free, professional looking, and offers a handy tool called Yoast to simplify SEO.

Real estate blog. In order to stand out from the crowd, ask your Realtor to describe your house for sale in a detailed blog post. Storytelling is an important form of communication, especially when reaching out to millennials, so include your own personal narrative about positive features of the property and the neighborhood, as well.

Facebook. Successful home sellers claim that a standalone Facebook page – with its lonely little list of 3 or 4 followers -- doesn’t do much to promote your property. Instead, they recommend targeted ads. While you will have to pay a smallish sum, you will get great exposure to the market segment you most want to reach.

YouTube. If future buyers love real estate photos, they absolutely adore videos, which are less static and show greater detail. Post a short film of your property, linking it to your real estate broker’s listing.

Beyond FB and YouTube. Be creative and come up with other social media where you can promote your home, like Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, and Snapchat, using compelling photos and a couple of cleverly chosen teasers. If you live in a multicultural urban hub, consider translating your pitch and posting on multilingual social sites, such as WeChat.

Social media dashboard. By now, you should be getting very busy. Streamline the management of all your social media profiles with a one-stop online dashboard -- for example, Hootsuite or Buffer.

Localized social media. Hometown social media such as community e-bulletin boards have far few followers than the biggies – but a higher percentage of intrested buyers in your area.

Laura Firszt writes for networx.com.