Realtor Marketing On The Internet

Technorati Tags: internet business, internet marketing, online real estate marketing, real estate business

As a Realtor, lead generation is always on your mind.  Where is my next sale coming from?  You know the pipeline has to be fat and full.  Constantly filling your pipeline funnel with fresh leads is necessary for consistent paydays.  Internet marketing is the only medium I’ve ever used where you can generate leads on demand.  Becoming an accomplished internet marketer is a worthy goal.

A traditional marketing constant in a realtor’s business has been the flyer.  During it’s hay day, it was a great piece of information that could be churned out on the fly or in advance and it might work for an immediate sale depending on where it was cast, how often and the willingness of the recipient to read it upon receipt and act now.  Unfortunately, those days are gone.

Fortunately, though, the Internet replaces the flyer with something better.  Something that can impact the realtor’s business not for days, not weeks, not even months, but years and years.

The flyer replacement is called a Blog.  That’s short for web log. 

A great aspect of real estate Blogging is the fact that you can do it  anywhere, anytime, and you can use it to not only generate leads – you can use it to send traffic to your website.

When you have a real estate blog that generates leads and sends people to your website you can dominate the Internet in your area of expertise. In addition,  you can also dominate the Internet for people outside your area looking to move in.

Ho! Comes now Digital Farming

You can think about real estate blogging as the ultimate digital farm where every  post  (formerly the flyer) that you write stays alive and in front of a potential client forever.  The blog capacity to archive your posts into date categories makes your post entries available for years and years.  A viewer happening upon your blog can review your content written over a period of time and really get to know you in a short space of time.  If your post themes appeal to the viewer, you’ve got a customer.

Preselling, building trust and rapport doesn’t get any better.

Critical to the success of your blog:

• Provide fresh useful content
• Post two times weekly minimum
• Provide access to your comparative market analysis form
• Provide free access to your MLS
• Display your phone number prominently

Starting your digital farm blog today allows you to dominate in your area of expertise in just a few months.  There is no outlay of cash for printed materials and it will work for you 24/7.  There is no  middle man to pay between you, your blog and your prospects.   Your prospects will comment on your blog and this feed back is 100% free to use as you see fit.  This helps you  learn who is reading your blog.  They will call you.  Internet magic!  You won’t spend nearly as much time making “hot” calls.

A blog is the easiest to set up of all the sites one can use on the internet.  It is best to host your own blog.  It is tempting to use the free WordPress or Blogger blogs but, the blog is an asset and if you host your own, you’ll always know where it is.  Coming over the next few days are more details on digital farming for Realtors.  Thanks for stopping by.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, digital farming, flyer, flyers, internet marketing, Realtor lead generation, realtor of choice

As a realtor marketing online, you are familiar with your own industry language  There is significant terminology to learn in internet marketing.  The terminology applies to all businesses that operate online.  What I present here is not exclusive to realtors or real estate business.

So, let’s get started:

Web site:

• you will see it website and web site.  I learned from an old timer on the internet that it is two words.
• Can be static HTML or a content manager such as a blog – the easiest to start with is WordPress – it’s designed for publishers.  There are lots of free WordPress Themes available and you take your chances with them being unstable. There is no one to help you if that is the case. If you take moving your real estate business online seriously, buy a WordPress Theme – they range in price from $49 up.
• You can develop a WordPress or static HTML site yourself or outsource the build to a site developer

HTML:

• hypertext markup language – when a web site is built with static HTML once it’s done, it’s done.  This type of site works well for an “authority” site.  Your beginning efforts may lead to becoming an authority site. When you write your business plan, you should consider what you really want your online business to be – this will determine how you establish your site.

Blog:

• As stated previously, WordPress is the easiest to begin with.  There are other formats of blogs and many free ones.  Google loves blogs.  Blogs have fresh content.  Blogs attract a lot of traffic.

Things you must know about web sites:

• SEO – search engine optimization – occurs both “onpage” and “offpage.”  Good SEO helps your site receive natural search engine traffic.  If you use “targeted” keywords, you’ll get serious people coming to your site to do business with you.  I recommend you pay attention closely to this subject even if you don’t plan to build your own sites.  It’s important to find the right people to outsource to.  If you don’t know the subject thoroughly yourself, you can fall prey to vendors that will sell you services that look good on paper, but don’t work online.
• Web 2.0 – Social Media – you must become familiar with social media and work it to your advantage.  This is how you create your reputation online and find your target niche.  Web 2.0 provides the venue to become acquainted with people and build relationships – not to sell. But, selling does happen.
• Video – Presenting your business via video is mandatory.  More than a property showcase, the video medium presents a plethora of opportunities for you to expand your explanation of what, where, how and why in your corner of the world.  A picture is worth a thousand words and video is worth 10 times more.  It combines, image, sound and movement. Video is story telling – Facts tell and stories sell.
• Traffic – visitors that will buy from you.  Organic traffic creates pay days without costing you anything.  There are also paid traffic strategies that will get you up and running quickly.  Either way, you need to know both kinds.  Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a ton of traffic to make sales.  You need the right traffic.  You want to focus on targeted keywords that buyers use to find you in search engines.  For instance, if you work in Tallahassee, FL, you can use this keyword to bring traffic to your site:  Tallahassee Realtor Specializing in $_________ homes, or whatever your specialty is.  People searching for real estate in Tallahassee will see those words and click your site.  If you are selling a particular neighborhood, you can use the name of the neighborhood as your keyword.  If you are leasing – same thing.  If you are in commercial sales, you can use the same tactic.
• Outsourcing – let the experts do it for you.  There’s an old saying that applies here:  “Work on your business not in your business.” Personally, I like to know the bones of things.  If I can do things myself, then I understand better how to give the work away to the expert.  So, get some training from experts, then, give your mundane tasks away.  You can hire experts for a monthly fee or by-the-job.  There are several online companies that act as networks for freelancers.  Elance.com and ODesk.com are two that come to mind.  As you become familiar with the internet community, you’ll find many worthwhile people to work with that can help your real estate business bottom line.

That’s enough for today.  I’ll be back with more.  Come back and see me.  In fact, hit the orange RSS button at the top right of my site and get my feed.  You can stay in my loop.

Technorati Tags: html, internet marketing, outsourcing, realtor marketing, seo, traffic, web 2.0, web 3.0, wordpress