Real Estate Websites
I have worked with real estate sites for close to 10 years now and things have changed drastically since then. Years ago agents would carry around a MLS book. This was a book that came out monthly and it had all of the properties for sale in the area and the information about it. Now I have had agents tell me that they miss this to some degree, since they used it as a weapon. Yes, they would slam it down on the coffee table and scare the stew out of the buyer – some intimidation technique.
Today, there is a slightly better way of getting home and property information — the Internet. What a tool, every home listed in your area is most likely able to be viewed on a Realtor’s website. Every property listing will be there, not just that agents’ listings, but everyone’s listings. This is called IDX. IDX is basically a format that allows everyone to show most everyone’s listings (as long as you agree to the rules) on their web site. The catch is a small disclaimer (in most cases) that states who listed the property or what office listed it. This now provides Real Estate Brokers and Agents the tools to connect buyers with sellers more efficiently.
With this in mind, you can probably understand why real estate on the Internet is the #1 legitimate searched for product. I say legitimate since Porn is actually number one and I personally don’t call that legitimate. Over 80% of the home buyers last year searched for properties on the Internet – OVER 80%! That is huge.
Real Estate agents need to embrace this tool called the Internet. After years of training agents I have found that there is still a large number of REALTORS that still don’t understand the basics of using the Internet for their business. Utilizing email, websites, blogs, and marketing can be a daunting task, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to understand how a computer works to be able to use these tools, just learn how the tools work.
Blogging: If you are not blogging in real estate then you should be. This is a simple way to post messages, preferably yours, and letting people know what you think or how to do something. It is easy to do and there are many sites out there that offer blogs for free (with some ads showing).
E-Mail: If nothing else you need to effectively use your email. I recommend using a professional looking one for real estate and not the free ones. Most of the free email accounts have strict spam blockers and you may not be getting all of the emails you think you are, plus it looks much more professional to have yourname@yourname.com than it does if you use someone7731@aol.com.
Websites: Your website should have the ability to search the entire MLS in your area for your potential client. That is the number one reason they came to your site – to find properties to buy. Keeping this in mind, the second reason is for information. Content is important and the more the better, as long as it is relevant and organized. The last thing you should have is a way to capture contact information.
Marketing: Just because you have a website doesn’t mean that Google, Yahoo, and all of the other search engines know about it. Even more, they probably could care less. This means you have to tell them you are there. That is where marketing comes in to play – it’s not check and it is not for the faint at heart, so use an expert to get the best results.
I will go into more detail about these later.
