Win Your Share of Online Consumers

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), more homebuyers find their agent on the Internet than in all traditional marketing channels (newspaper ads, direct mail, refrigerator magnets, phone directories, etc.) combined. In fact, the Internet has forever changed the way people buy and sell homes, making “the way it used to be” unlikely to ever be again.

As a group, online consumers have higher incomes, spend more money on their homes, do much of their own research and take up less of your time before initiating a transaction. Another study suggests that most Internet-savvy prospects also prefer to work with Internet-savvy agents. So if you want to capture your share of today’s home buyers and sellers, here’s how to put the power of online marketing to work for you:

1. Create a business Web site that reflects your practice, area, specialties and current listings—including a number of different pictures of each property. Include some photos of yourself and enough personal information to help prospects get to know you, but don’t overload your business site with too much detail about hobbies, pets, celebrations, etc.

2. Keep your site organized so visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. Information that isn’t organized clearly and logically will cause many prospects to quickly lose patience and move on to another agent’s site.

3. Make it easy to reach you by clearly posting your email address, office phone, mobile phone, pager and/or fax number on your site. Include your office address, directions and hours if walk-ins are welcome. And always add your Web address to business cards, emails, signage, newspaper ads, etc.

4. Keep information up-to-date to avoid misleading prospects and missing opportunities to win their business. If an offer is pending, the asking price or other key information has changed, make sure the new information is reflected on your Web site right away.

5. Let your system do the work so you have more time to spend with actual clients. With 74% of homeowners listing with the first agent they talk to, you need to be the first point of contact and then stay in regular touch with prospects until they’re ready to make a move. The most successful agents use a Web-based contact management system to build long-term prospect relationships and automatically send out new listings by email to increase their chances of winning more clients.


Why it pays to market your business online

• 77% of homebuyers consider detailed property information to be “extremely valuable.”
• Baby boomers and seniors are the fastest growing segments of the Internet population.
• As a result of using an Internet site, 72% of buyers drove by and viewed a home
• Buyers who use the internet work with an agent only two weeks on average to purchase their home, compared with six weeks for traditional homebuyers.
• NAR confirms that 70% of homebuyers now use the Internet to shop for homes.
• A 2003 California Real Estate magazine survey noted that the volume of Internet homebuyers jumped 61% in only one year.
• The wealthiest Americans ($100K or higher annual incomes) are the largest group of online users.
• Nearly three out of four people surveyed reported that convenience and being able to research properties before talking to an agent were the top reasons to search for a new home online.