Effective Online Marketing for Realtors

An essential component of a real estate professional's marketing strategy is having an online presence. Today's consumers want accurate information quickly and conveniently, therefore, real estate professionals must employ the features, resources and opportunities of online marketing to meet these ever-increasing customer demands.  This includes effectively using e-mail, blogging and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zillow, Trulia, and Active Rain.  The Internet is steadily growing into the world's largest real estate resource, with thousands of pages containing listings, community information, photographs, and multimedia tours. This is a resource that must be utilized if a real estate group wants to succeed in today's market.

According to the National Association of Realtors:

• 87% of homebuyers used the Internet as an information source
• 77% of Internet homebuyers drove by or viewed a home they saw online
• 32% of buyers first found their home on the Internet
• 25% of FSBOs used the Internet to help sell their home

An online presence is a relatively affordable way for realtors to share their products and knowledge with countless prospective clients. It also allows them to take a proactive approach to their work while the market struggles.  As a realtor starting out online, selecting a domain name and creating an effective homepage are the two most important first steps to take.

Your domain name choice will be the foundation of all that you do over the Internet in the future.  It becomes your brand on the internet and attaches an image to your products and services.  It should be very clear in what it represents as well as address a benefit that is provided by your services.  Miamiproperty.com may not be as clever as propertyboutique.com but the image it represents is very clear.  Additionally, using luxurymiamiproperties.com adds the benefit that you are offering high quality properties and services.  It’s also important to know many desirable names you generate will not be available with the “.com” extension, but you may be able to find it with other extensions such as “.net”, “.info”, “.biz” and “.us”.  These work just as well if a particular name is really important to you. Just make sure the one you choose works well with your brand.  You may also want to consider registering several domain names for future use such as miamicondos.com and miamiwaterfrontproperties.com.  They may be gone by the time you get around to using them.

Your homepage should be a tease.  You have to grab your prospects’ attention instantly before they move onto the next of hundreds of competitor sites.  It should have a little something for everyone so that no one is instantly discouraged from exploring the rest of your site to see what you have.  Chances are you have homes in a wide array of price ranges, locations, and styles.  Showcase the variety for everyone to see.  It should briefly mention your credentials, to show them that you are a reputable real estate professional worth looking into.  It should demonstrate that your website and your services are useful, showcasing what you have for buyers and what you have for sellers.  This will prompt them to look deeper into what you are specifically offering them.  Lastly, your homepage should be fresh and exciting.  Avoid tacky graphics and never leave expired listings or dated information.  You need to prove that you are on top of your work as well as your website.  New listings should be posted as they come in and expired listings marked as sold or removed completely.  Add new headlines as often as possible.

If you need help getting your real estate business going online, or increasing the effectiveness of an existing website, please contact Boca Web Design.