Relieving the Real Estate Marketing Burden
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by Brandon Cornett
In my book about the Real Estate Web Presence, I explain that a major benefit of having a strong web presence is the way it lifts part of your marketing burden off your shoulders. Here's what I mean by that:
Real estate professionals feel a constant marketing burden, especially when they work independently as so many real estate agents do these days. Agents must constantly look to new marketing techniques to generate new business. This is especially true when it comes to online real estate marketing, as the Internet continues to evolve and incorporate more aspects of the real estate process.
Let's look at what has happened in just ten years:
Real Estate Marketing Online, Circa 1997
Ten years ago, it was enough for real estate agents to simply have a website that people could find. This, in conjunction with some other form of marketing such as direct mail, was often enough to provide a steady stream of new leads and business for the real estate agent. But things have changed a lot in ten years.
Real Estate Marketing Online, Circa 2007
Today, real estate marketing online requires more effort on the part of the individual agent. A number of factors account for this:
1. There are a lot more real estate websites today than there were ten years ago.
2. There are an ever-increasing number of "self serve" real estate search engines and portals that cater to the do-it-yourself home buyer or seller.
3. Consumers are more Internet savvy today than ten years ago, and as a result they are much more selective of the websites they visit.
4. The average consumer faces a level of "information overload" that wasn't present ten years ago. So it takes more of a web presence to stand out from all the noise.
Relieving the Online Marketing Burden
As a result of all these things, real estate agents must be more active online. They must use websites, blogs and online PR strategies to make themselves ever-present within the Internet search realm of their target audience. Like it or not, this is the reality of real estate marketing online today.
Being active online is the first step to being visible online. In turn, online visibility is a key ingredient in real estate Internet marketing success. When real estate agents have a highly visible web presence, a certain burden gets lifted from their shoulders. With good online visibility, their target audience can find them more easily, meaning the agent does not have to rely as heavily on traditional outbound marketing techniques.
This brings up the ever-popular topics of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), pay per click (PPC) and similar search engine visibility tactics. These are hot topics among real estate professionals, and with good reason. If more than 85% of your ideal prospects use the Internet for real estate research (and they do, by the way), you need to be visible online.
Another benefit to increasing your online activity and visibility is that you're tapping into something that's already taking place. Right now, there's plenty of online real estate research taking place ... right there in your market area. People are using the Internet and search engines to research towns and cities, look for home listings, screen real estate agents, learn about buying a home, and more.
So by increasing your online presence, you are taking advantage of Internet activity that is already taking place. You are plugging yourself into an existing online real estate marketplace.
Or maybe not. Maybe you're not doing anything to grow your web presence. Maybe you're still stuck with a static, five-page website that is all but invisible to your key audience, like a grain of sand on a very long beach. If this is the case, that marketing burden will remain on your shoulders, and it will only get heavier with time.
Which path will you choose?
If you choose to be active online, and to grow your web presence, this guide will give you the direction you need. In the pages of this e-book, I'll explain each part of the web presence I've been speaking of. I'll show you how these parts interact with and reinforce one another, and I'll point you toward some resources that can support each of the six parts.
