Real Estate and The Internet

[Las Vegas Homes]

Real estate marketing has changed over the last several years and is continuing to change at a very rapid rate. Today if a real estate agent wants to succeed, you need to have a plan of action. In todays real estate market, most consumers start their search when looking to buy or sell a home on the internet. Over 82% of those people start this search on the internet.

In todays marketing world for real estate, it no longer is just a print marketing option for an agent to successfully market to consumers. This is where Realtors need to expand their marketing to the intetnet. In my humble opinion within 5 years those real estate agents that dont have a internet presents, will find it more and more difficult to attract new consumers to their business model. The internet is a very powerful tool that can reach millions of people everyday.

Just like any other marketing, to have a presents on the internet is not cheap. On average a good website will cost on average somewhere between $5000 to $10000. It doesnt end there either. After you pay for the design, you need to be able to be found on the search engines. This is another very expensive cost to incur. Search engine optimizers can charge anywhere from $ 2000 to $ 5000 per month. This is an ongoing expense for years to come.

Well by now you are probably saying, that is very very expensive and I dont see it as being very productive pertaining to cost verse return. Well for someone who has been on the internet for several years I can testify that the ROI is very rewarding. If you look around the country you will see that almost 90% of your top producers have a strong internet presents for their real estate business.

This forum will help you understand how the internet will help you acquire the type of business that only very few real estate agents could ever dream about. We here at the National Real Estate Forum have built this forum specifically for you the real estate agent. We are Realtors ourselves, so you can trust that we understand the facets of your business.

We invite you to participate and interact with all our members. You will only get out of it, what you put into it. The more you visit and interact the more you will learn. One last question that may be on your mind, Why did we do this; well to be honest, the more Realtors we can help to become internet savvy marketers, the more real estate agents we have to network with, this benefits everyone. So please spend time on our forums and if you have any questions please post them. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

[Douglas Rasor]

Thanks for this information. It is amazing how un-knowledgable some succesful bussines people can be about what internet technology cost! I met with an office manager the other day and that person thought they could get web pages designed for around $20.00 a page!

If you have any resources that I could refer them to , so they can research what web sites cost and what kind of return on investment is probable please let me know. Specificly for real estate and the internet.

Thanks

[VegasMack]

Thanks for this information. It is amazing how un-knowledgable some succesful bussines people can be about what internet technology cost! I met with an office manager the other day and that person thought they could get web pages designed for around $20.00 a page!

If you have any resources that I could refer them to , so they can research what web sites cost and what kind of return on investment is probable please let me know. Specificly for real estate and the internet.

ThanksAnd what do they think they will get for $20 a page.

Real estate has gone hi-tech and the majority of sales originate on the web according to NAR.

I don’t touch a site for under $3,000 for building or optimizing, but what is a position in the Top 10 worth?

And trust me, at $3,000. with the work involved you only make wages.

~VegasMack

[sward]

Yeah gotta show my hubby this thread! He has no idea how much I save him every month. He thinks I just hang out on the computer all day for fun! He has over 110 first place spots and that's just the words I'm tracking! We could not afford to pay someone what I do. Who could? These forums are a big help in keeping up with the trends. I'm all for it :) Sward

[VegasMack]

Yeah gotta show my hubby this thread! He has no idea how much I save him every month. He thinks I just hang out on the computer all day for fun! He has over 110 first place spots and that's just the words I'm tracking! We could not afford to pay someone what I do. Who could? These forums are a big help in keeping up with the trends. I'm all for it :) SwardIt took a while to convince my better half about the time it takes to stay on top, but now if one of her sites (personal or Agency) drops in a SE, she knows it before I do LOL.

And then I get to hear about it (and boy do I hear about it :o ).

....sure hope she isn’t lurking about the forum. :eek:

~VegasMack

[frobn]

And what do they think they will get for $20 a page.

Real estate has gone hi-tech and the majority of sales originate on the web according to NAR.

I don’t touch a site for under $3,000 for building or optimizing, but what is a position in the Top 10 worth?

And trust me, at $3,000. with the work involved you only make wages.

~VegasMack
For good coding and good SEO $3000 is a bargain. However, with the right design and features $20 a page may actually be high. For example, a fully integrated IDX could generate a SE content rich page for every single listing in your MLS. At $20 per page a small MLS with 1000 listings would cost $20,000. Some MLSs have over 50,000 listings. Good web development need not be expensive, we are currently creating dynamically loading sites (6-10 pages) with a hand crafted master template for under $1000. Because the web sites are dynamic and css/xhtml based 100s or even 1000s of additional pages can be inexpensively added. SEO, which we are not currently providing, is not included, but each design has been optimized for SEs by using:

* accessibility web standards as recommended by w3c.com
* text driven navigation
* proper positioning of key page elements
* cross-browser validation
* css and xhtml validation

[HHI Golf Guy]

My wife works for a large real estate company here on the Island, and one of her agents asked me for a proposal for web design and SEO services. Because the agent worked with my wife, I offered the agent a HUGE discount and offered the whole ball of wax (with 1 year of SEO services) for only $4,400.

Keep in mind that this agent is not a pauper. The spouse earns a great living in the medical field, and they have an $800k+ home. Our market has over 900 licensed realtors and brokers, and the agent wants to have a prominent web presence. The agent does not have a client database or any prospects for buying or selling homes.

So, what decision was made? The agent decided to buy a portable monitor for a laptop so that the laptop did not have to be spun around during client presentations. Um, what clients?

Mant agents still believe in the "Field of Dreams" website philosophy - if you build it, they will come. IMHO, these agents will be left in the dust when it comes to annual sales. An agent that is willing to invest in a complete web marketing program and learns to integrate print media marketing with their web marketing will dominate their market. In fact, once the web marketing is in full swing (12-18 months) , most agents can eliminate 99% of their print media advertising.

Many real estate agents go into sticker shock when they receive an SEO / web design proposal. However, think about how much is spent in one year of print media advertising in newspapers and magazines - with most of the marketing in the local area and not on a regional or national campaign.

It's also important to note that newspaper advertising is a perishable item. People throw out the newspaper the next day. A properly executed web marketing campaign is a perpetual advertising program that will provide a far greater ROI over a much longer period of time than any print media campaign.

In most markets the potential for agent sales is huge. That's why I'm expanding my real estate SEO company (http://www.thekosloffgroup.com) to include a real estate brokerage. I want my piece of the pie!

[Las Vegas Homes]

Your market is a very good market. At one time I had considered moving there and working, but South Carloina has a state income tax of I believe 3.5% which would cost me and my wife a fortune. Plus for my wifes profession, which she is a Clinical pharmacist she would have had to take a $14 an hour pay cut, which is stupid.

Most real estate agents even those that make a very good living are CHEAP. They still dont understand that the internet is the biggest producing form of marketing you can do. Before I educated myself, I use to spend thousands and thousands of dollars. The ROI in very good markets are worth it. However $4400 to a real estate agent that is making 300k a year is a lot of money to them to spend on something they still dont have faith in.

As far as I am concerned, let them keep that same mindset. It just will mean more business for those of us that have a vision. Whenever I get ask about real estate and the internet and how a new agent can get involved, I tell them plan on spending about 20k your first year before you ever start to see any real results.

I forsee because of the number of Realtors that want to get involved on the internet and the money that can be made, more and more webmasters and seo's going to a pay by performance scale than a flat fee scale.

A top 5 ranking in a major real estate market on the internet can produce 7 figure income. Magazines are dead they are only meant to please your sellers. Newspapers dont produce a lot of leads. Since around 82% of the people loking to buy or sell a home start their search on the internet, this until something new comes along is the way of the future. Long Live the search engines for real estate business.

[ffang2]

Hey Mack, how much for your 3 top 5 yahoo listings? I have deep pockets! LOL :)

[Las Vegas Homes]

Hey back off lol we worked very hard to get those...we are talking high 7 figures per year lol with a 10 year contract... :D

[Jade456]

Its a huge amount of work. Not mention just trying to keep your content yours, updating with the latest information, then keeping your rankings! This is the way of the future. I never use the yellow pages or phone book any more, I always use the web. Businesses that embrace it are going to leave the others in the dust.

[Phoenix Realtor]

Yeah gotta show my hubby this thread! He has no idea how much I save him every month. He thinks I just hang out on the computer all day for fun! He has over 110 first place spots and that's just the words I'm tracking! We could not afford to pay someone what I do. Who could? These forums are a big help in keeping up with the trends. I'm all for it :) Sward

Hi Susan,

Glad to see mroe people over here that I know! :cool:

[San Diego Real Estate]

Its a huge amount of work. Not mention just trying to keep your content yours, updating with the latest information, then keeping your rankings! This is the way of the future. I never use the yellow pages or phone book any more, I always use the web. Businesses that embrace it are going to leave the others in the dust.Jade I couldn't agree more! ;)

[CoastalJacksonville]

Being a new realtor and having a website just coming on line I still feel a little lost. Understanding the terminology is challenging in the least. Would someone mind telling me in layman's terms how does a search engine actually work:confused:

[HHI Golf Guy]

In a nutshell, search engines find web pages on the internet and store them in a database. Each of the search engines uses a proprietary algorithm to rank the pages based up a given search query.

Of course, there's a bit more to it than that. Here's a good reference: http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2168031. It's good 4=page synopsis of search engine basics.

[CoastalJacksonville]

Thank you so much for the help and I somewhat understood that but will read the website you suggested. It's cool to see someone who's giving their advice and expertise. Thanks for being selfless.:)

[HHI Golf Guy]

You're welcome. That's what we're all her for - to help one another.

[zman]

I read this thread and though I would add my two cents. I am by most counts a new agent, just a little over a year in the business. I also thanks to a co-worker am now a novice webdisgner. I am split on the whole idea of paying tons of money for a website and then paying others to try to get me top page ranking.

I have 3 primary sites that I use now for lead capturing that I created using dreamweaver mx, and numerous other that I created using templates on websparrow.com that I give to clients and even certain prospects. They provide a tool they call website tonigh and throw in free hosting so it is real inexpensive.

For my clients I set up a site that I can post updates for them to read, I attach links to MLS listings they want to see and even set up email accounts for them to use when emailing me. It is mostly just a gimmick to get them to work with me and to insure they never forget me. The hosting, domain and web builder only cost me about $30 for two months. $130ish for a year. These sites are great lead generators and make me a good amount of comission for the small amount I pay for them.

On every site I have links back to one of my target sites (depending on the county they are targeting) as well as a bio page for me. The clients usually think this is the greatest thing ever and tell all their friends, family and so on, and they all visit it click around it and most importantly remember my name. Many cases they click over to my site and some even submit requst for me to work with them. This is the best type of word of mouth advertising I have plus generates a ton of traffic to my sites.

When the deal is done I either give the sites to them as a gift (leaving my links and info) or I let it sit out there until it expires. I was surprised to find out that even long after my clients stopped using it people would still come back to it and click over to me. With each site I set up I average about 1 sale from it. So in a worse case scenario I spend $130 for a new site but I make $5-10K in commission and my clients think I am the greatest because I gve them a website.

Good luck to all.

[Realestateguy]

anyone know anything about WLG?

[jennsellsfast]

Now this is an awesome thread!

[Ralph]

Great thread. It would be interesting to have a feel as to how much income an office or agent is actually generating from their site. I realize that this will be dependent on the size and type of the market one is in, among other factors.

One or two extra sales a year could really offset the start up and SEO cost.

We have try working with people who have been in a very overheated market for the last couple years, and would not take the time to even conceder developing a nice site. Now they are scrambling to find opportunities. Now it would be nice to have the good SERP to bring in that extra or any potential client. There is no time like the present to get a good site set up. Remember, you get what you pay for.

[Chief Tutor]

This is probably the toughest quetion to ask. The reason for these comes from a number of reasons:

Even if you have a website that is generating you leads, if you don't work the leads correctly, your conversion rate can be as low as 1%. If you work the leads correctly, the conversion rate can be as high as 20%. See the article printed in Florida Realtors Magazine.http://www.planetrealtor.com/Florida/FLRealtorMagazine/Convert0206.cfm


Second, at what stage in your website development are you talking about. When a website first launches, it is critical to integrate a PPC campaign so that you start generating leads. As the article above says, the internet buying process is anywhere from 10 to 20 weeks.
The true success of a proper custom website development and marketing process will not be clear until at least a year after the website has launched. At that time, you can look at Logs, Leads, organic rankings etc....
If done successfully after a year, you should see leads coming from organic and PPC.When we talk to people whom are serious about their online marketing and don't have the knowledge or resources to implement a full program, I tell them a good estimate for the year is $10,000. This is broken down as follows:

$3,000 - $4,000 for the development of a custom website
$500 - for a good third party IDX system
$700-$1,000 - for submission in good directories
$200-$300 per month for PPC in each search engine
$200-$500 per month for consulting / management of the website.Except for the initial start-up fees, The other costs are flexible depending on the current situation of the realtor.

This is not a short term project, however those who understand the value of making the investment, see a return which far exceeds the investment. More importantly, choosing the right company in which to make this happen is critical. The company should be focused on the real estate industry, should offer web design, development and online marketing as services to the client.

Trying to piece together one off programs from various companies selling you a product will cost you more money and in the end you will not be maximizing the money you are investing in your online marketing.

Hope this helps.

[frobn]

When we talk to people whom are serious about their online marketing and don't have the knowledge or resources to implement a full program, I tell them a good estimate for the year is $10,000. This is broken down as follows:

$3,000 - $4,000 for the development of a custom website
$500 - for a good third party IDX system
$700-$1,000 - for submission in good directories
$200-$300 per month for PPC in each search engine
$200-$500 per month for consulting / management of the website.Except for the initial start-up fees, The other costs are flexible depending on the current situation of the realtor. ...What pushes the initial cost of development so high?

[Chief Tutor]

We do not use any pre-written scripts. Everything is coded after the design is finalized. Although many designs have similiar aspects, there are no set designs.

Each site is customized based on the business needs of each client. For example, one client might be focused on real estate only. See our Coronado Real Estate (http://www.kathykoop.com) client or one may be focused on rent to own homes, see our Puyallup Rent To Own Homes (http://bestfithomes.com) client or may be offering both real estate and mortgage. See our san diego real estate and Home Loans (http://www.under1-roof.com) client.

Our focus is to build a search engine friendly website built to the needs of the client. We leave the tools to established third parties, because they are focused on providing a superior service and are always upgrading their product to stay competitive.

For Example, in San Diego, we use istrategy because they have a drip mail campaign built in, which can be customized and easily managed by the client. In addition, they charge the same as other third party idx solutions whom offer a fraction of the same services. (we have no association with istrategy)

Hope this helps....and BTW, thanks for opening the door for me to do a little self promotion ;)

[mmuench]

I just had a great website designed and launched and I'd love to be able to pay a few thousand dollars to someone for SEO, but my budget won't allow it. And I'm finding that learning how to do it on my own is VERY time consuming.:mad:

[Brimultimedia]

If you want good rankings on your websites you need to do several things. Here are some things I do that may help you out.

First you have to have a website. That is the start. The longer you have your site the more it will get indexed into search engines and get used. That is your popularity which is really important.

Good programming with clean keywords with programing and design that makes search engines happy because they can read your site.

Advertise it. Put your web address on everything. Best results are business cards that you hand out with your web address on them. Ask people to use your site. They will.

Follow up. Find out what your clients liked and disliked on your site so you can make changes.

Don't spend tons of money on a site if you cant afford to market it. Does you no good to have a site if no one can find it. Save your money for ads on google and yahoo and your local newpaper and media sites.

Keep good content on your site that pertains to real estate and you and your market area and after proper submission your site will go to the top.

Remember. Top 10 is good. Shoot for the top 10.

No one can gaurantee you top positioning, it just takes hard work and persistance on your part to keep your site consistant and focused on real estate.

Good content, valid content, good keywords, and good marketing.

There are several other things I do to get top rankings but you will have to hire me to find those out. Includes more than ads, html, and extra programing can help.

Check your rankings with software from webceo. I use that to see placement of each website in all major search engines.

Google Analyics can be integrated into your site for free. Just sign up and paste your tracking code into each page and WOW what stats you will see.


Brian Blake
Idaho Real Estate Hosting

[vegas-kid]

"Great thread. It would be interesting to have a feel as to how much income an office or agent is actually generating from their site. I realize that this will be dependent on the size and type of the market one is in, among other factors. "

Well you will never know the answer. How many times has your site helped you stay in oncact with a client that would have stumbled into another realtor otherwise. I'm sure that after you capture a lead from any source your then directing them to your site for more info. So which source gets credit for the convertion?

Vegas-kid

[fresnosells2u]

If you want good rankings on your websites you need to do several things. Here are some things I do that may help you out.

First you have to have a website. That is the start. The longer you have your site the more it will get indexed into search engines and get used. That is your popularity which is really important.

Good programming with clean keywords with programing and design that makes search engines happy because they can read your site.

Advertise it. Put your web address on everything. Best results are business cards that you hand out with your web address on them. Ask people to use your site. They will.

Follow up. Find out what your clients liked and disliked on your site so you can make changes.

Don't spend tons of money on a site if you cant afford to market it. Does you no good to have a site if no one can find it. Save your money for ads on google and yahoo and your local newpaper and media sites.

Keep good content on your site that pertains to real estate and you and your market area and after proper submission your site will go to the top.

Remember. Top 10 is good. Shoot for the top 10.

No one can gaurantee you top positioning, it just takes hard work and persistance on your part to keep your site consistant and focused on real estate.

Good content, valid content, good keywords, and good marketing.

There are several other things I do to get top rankings but you will have to hire me to find those out. Includes more than ads, html, and extra programing can help.

Check your rankings with software from webceo. I use that to see placement of each website in all major search engines.

Google Analyics can be integrated into your site for free. Just sign up and paste your tracking code into each page and WOW what stats you will see.


Brian Blake
Idaho Real Estate Hosting

Thanks for all this info - it's very helpful! :)

[Ralph]

Good SEO info. All need to do these things. BUT, we are missing the value of any info by making this to complicated. Use the "kiss" method first, then if one wants spend a day annalizing instead of selling houses.

First question: Did you get any leads from your web site. You have to ask every client, walk in, call in or email.

Now you can annalize it to death. Did you sell them a property? WaHoo. Did you get the listing? WaHoo.

Was there enough profit to reinvest in the marketing plan, SEO or what have you.

The profit from one good sale can cover a lot of internet expense. It is not the end all, but one of many tools as is yellow pages, newpaper, mags, MLS, TV, Radio.

[jennsellsfast]

Great Post Vegas! I agree 100% with you. It is ALL about the SEO these days. What good is having a great site when nobody is there to see it. Thats where you want to put your energy and money!

[Alpharetta]

You still have to have a website that someone will want to use once they find your site. If you come up number one for your keywords and the consumer does not like your site, it doesn't matter how high you rank. At the end of the day SEO is the tool that you use to get a good site traffic. SEO by itself will not get you closed transactions.

[Ralph]

You are right that the site has to be attractive and user friendly. We know of times when our clients have tried to start a referral, but could not find an email address. Guess someone is afraid of some spam. It’s the first thing this morning and I went through about 40 spams. I am now answering my emails. The spam took me maybe 5 minutes. I will get at least that many more spam during the day. This is an electronic part of our business and with the pluses come some negatives.

We have also heard complaints from clients who will not fill in a long questionnaire asking every personal thing a realtor could ever need. This is self-serving to the realtor, but a real turn off to someone who has had their ID stolen.

Make it pretty and make it friendly. Clients are hard enough to come by, don’t give them the excuse to go to your competitor.

[Bucharestinvest]

These forums are a big help in keeping up with the trends.

[spanishproperty]

I think that you need to do a little more research into website designers and internet advertising in general.

I think that due to the huge demand and competition in website design in our days in alot cheaper than it used to be. With all the open source programs and scripts - website design is alot easier to get into and build your own sites.

Also pricing is a hell of alot cheaper than you stated - if you look around. Dont go to these huge companies, find yourself a one man band that has no or little over heads.

Their are hundreds out there and I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

As for internet advertising - we do all of our advertising on the net now and it is saving us hundreds a month on the net compared to paper advertising with double the impact.

[Brimultimedia]

If you want to boost your site to huge heights get an RSS feed of your listings on your site and automate the process. If you don't know what an RSS feed is yet, you better because they are making huge waves in site rankings right now.

example of RSS Feed. can be found here after i post 15 times.

or reply back and maybe i can message it to you. just links to rss feeds and how you can use them.

[whale56532]

I had a site built in Cold Fusion and a few SEO people told me that the search engines would not be able to find my site due to that. I had them change it to HTML. Where do I go frfom here to get it optimized?

[mge_1]

glad i found this forum. lots to learn here.

[tarheit]

SEO is relatively simple. 1st: design for you client. Simple, usefull and well organized with relevant information on topic that people want (and will link to from blogs, home pages, etc.). Don't include a buch of irrelevant junk (ads, etc.) on the site to cluter it up. You want to sell yourself, not other peoples business.

2nd: Make sure the search engines see what the people see. That means only using Flash, Coldfusion, etc. in places where you would use a picture, not for navigation, or the content of the site. It also means not using frames. Good titles, meta tags and site maps may help, but it's really only secondary to content.

3rd: link building. Good content will do a lot of this for you (as other people will post your links everywhere). There are plenty of theories on this, but in jeneral links from good sites (on topic, non-spamy) help the most. Links from 'bad neighborhoods' can hurt if they become a large portion of your links. Links should show up gradually (not 50,000 overnight)

Lastly: Know your market. A local real estate company needs to compete locally, not nationwide. Choose more specific goal and key words than just 'real estate'. There is too much competition for such broad terms. Target your local state, city, county, etc. You won't get 10,000's of visitors a day, but you will get more relevant visitors. Driving 10,000s of visitors from all over the world to your site for a broad term, won't help your business much if you only serve a specific area. After all the goal of SEO is to drive potential clients to your site, not everyone else.

Remember, search engines are trying to give results that are useful (those the user would choose if they could look though all websites). It's not perfect, but if you develop good content and avoid 'tricks' that take advantage of the current algorithms (which will change tomorrow as they have in the past), you'll have a site that ranks well for a long time.

-Tim

[HHI Golf Guy]

I would like to clarify a few things:

SEO is relatively simple.

If you work in a small market, real estate SEO is easier than competitive markets. But as the search engines continue to evolve, SEO becomes increasingly difficult - especially in competitive markets.

link building. Good content will do a lot of this for you (as other people will post your links everywhere).

I strongly disagree with this statement, especially when it comes to real estate. You will never get enough natural links to vault your local real estate agent web site to the top - especially in competitive markets. The web is now big business. Authority sites (or important sites in your market) are unlikely to toss a link your way - unless your an advertiser.

Even with the best content on your market, you're unlikely to get more than a handful of natural links. Even if you write great general real estate articles, people are more likely to reference real estate authority sites like the WSJ and NY Times real estate sites.

Lastly, you need initial traffic to get people to visit your web site, let alone drop you a link. If you don't have an active marketing campaign for your site (print, radio, TV, web, etc.) no one will find your site to begin with.

Your local real estate site does need a quality link building campaign if you want good SERP's. No exceptions.

Links from 'bad neighborhoods' can hurt if they become a large portion of your links.

There was a time when you could bomb a competitor with bad links and kill their Google rankings, but Google cleaned that up. Links from bad neighborhoods will not hurt you unless you are recoprocating that link.

I agree with some of your other comments, but others are misleading.

[Ralph]

I agree with everything HHI Golf Guy says. It is increasingly difficult to keep your good sites on top and bring new sites up to where they will be noted in competitive markets.

[jennsellsfast]

This is a great thread and I hope ALL new REALTORS read this. The internet is the present and future of real estate marketing.

[Real_Estate_Agent]

Thank you for this great information.

I really like your post and the content is unique.

You have great ideas for new real estate agents.

Sincerely,

Fernando Spindola

RealEstateHomeForSaleAndNewHomeMortgage.com

[duncedance]

In my humble opinion within 5 years those real estate agents that dont have a internet presents

Should these presents be giftwrapped or can they be given without all that waste of paper? I hate using all that paper since it is a waste of a great natural resource our trees. Also is it wrong to give just one or should they always be in multiples? I prefer giving one very nice present instead of mulitple presents. Thanks in advance for any and all answers!

[spipe]

Ok i am a new realtor how can a poor realtor pay 3000 dollars after just paying off all the school books mls and 2 months no closings? Don't know if this is for new realtors.

[panamamalcolm]

Hello all,
Yes, i totally agree that building, optimizing and maintaining a site is expensive....but indispensable in today's economy. I'm new to it myself, but know from years of experience with the internet that the web is one of the first places a buyer will look for real estate, among other things. Investors need to be educated on the tremendous benefits of internet presence....Panama Malcolm

[thedeallocator]

The internet is definitely where you generate all your leads. You can make a lot of money if you have good rankings on Google and other search engines. You either have to money to pay a company to do it, or you spend some time learning how to do it. SEO is not rocket science.

[Norman.Irlandez]

Greetings,

As I continue to read about all your concerns in the forum, it gives me more and more reasons to write. Maybe because there is so much to learn and so much to give. Most of us here do not have the experience in real estate but I do know one thing - you do not give up. Continue to Accelerate...

[Tom Voli]

This is very helpful for new agents. In the current market it takes thinking out of the box to sustain.

[krolfe]

As mentioned above, all of this can be overwhelming for a new agent. The key is to find a brokerage that has a strong emphasis on web presence that can help you get started. If your company doesn't have a strong web presence, encourage them to get one. If they will not get one, find a company that has one. It is too vital to success these days to not have a strong internet presence.

If anyone has questions about this or would like to establish an internet presence, don't hesitate to contact me.

Kenneth Rolfe
Delta Media Group

[stonebob]

There is some great information in this thread. The internet is only going to get bigger and bigger in the real estate profession.

Does anybody here use any of the social networking websites out there? I really want to stay ahead of the internet curve, so I am investigating all of the possibilites to help my career.

[adamwealth]

Yea, Ive started using some Social Networking. Lets be honest, expanding your network and connections never hurts, so tapping in to millions of online social network users is a no-brainer in my book.

[cabodawn]

I have just recently joined this site and have just barely scratched the surface of all the great information that's here. I just hope my contributions are helpful also.

I have to agree that the internet is the way to go. Especially in my market, secondary/vacation homes. 90% of my clients come to me initially via internet contact. I maintain my own site (design, promotion etc..) so even though it is time consuming it is not cost prohibitive.

And for those that are just starting out, the internet is an amazing fountain of good quality free or inexpensive templates for web design, print advertising, business cards etc... Believe me when you haven't had a sale and are unknown and the only way to get the sale is to promote yourself, free is a good thing.

I am also starting to use the social networking sites. And even though you really don't see much direct lead generation you do expand your network of contacts and word of mouth advertising in this way is worth it's weight in gold.

[marco.m]

Thanks for sharing such useful real estate marketing techniques.:)

[matymatt23]

To build a web site that has many interactive tools it will cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000. I just built a web-site to network realtors and gain referalls and it cost around $30,000.

If you want to build a website where the clients can really get involved pertaining only to your business it will cost arounu $15,000 to $20,000. This will give you more advanced programming.

[matymatt23]

There are many online directories that everyone should be listed in. People search these directories to find realtors.

you can use yellowpages.com and findatop.com is a free one you can use

[malikiqbal]

There are many things you have to consider when you are selling your house. Though the housing market seems to be in a slump right now, you can bet that this will not last for very long. I’m not an expert on the housing market by any means, but it seems that these things, like many other things, goes in cycles. Right now homeowners are having a hard time selling, but that will not last forever. However, if you are selling your house right now, you have to take some extra steps to get buyers interested in what you have to offer.
One of the first things you have to consider when selling your house is who might be interested in buying it. That might seem simple, but many do not take this into consideration. If you are selling a family home, you should make sure that is what it looks like when potential buyers are coming through. When selling your house to families, make sure you have left some special touches. If you are not living in the home, you might want to leave some family pictures on the wall. This tends to give it a homey feeling. You don’t have to leave them there once you sell, but it might help make your home more marketable.
If you are selling your house when you are living in it, you do have a challenge. You don’t want potential buyers walking through what might only be described as a disaster area. You have to do your best to keep your house cleaned and picked up. If you can afford it, you might want to have a maid service come at least once a week to do the heavy duty cleaning chores while selling your house. You should also make sure you keep things picked up as much as possible, though a few things laying around will give your place a homey feeling.
Remember that selling your house is a matter of timing. You may not be able to sell it right away, but that does not mean you should slack off. When your house has been on the market for a while and there seems to be no interest, you should have a walk through and try to see it through the eyes of those who might be viewing it. Consider a new paint job or perhaps new carpeting to give it a more updated look. You should also remember to keep your lawn mowed and have some drapes hung while selling your house, even if you aren’t living there.

[joehall]

I have recently written a guest article for MarketingPilgrim.com that I think everyone in this thread might find interesting called, "A Bulletproof SEO Strategy For Real Estate Professionals". In the article there are allot of tips on how you can improve your search engine rankings. However the biggest advice I give is how to use a blog effectively, and targeted keywords.

Heres the link:

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/05/a-bulletproof-seo-strategy-for-real-estate-professionals.html

If you like what you read feel free to leave a comment or write something about it in your blog or here in this forum! Thanks a ton!

Joe Hall

[MovingCareers]

A great way for agents to offset some of the costs of driving traffic to your website is to create a blog. If you are consistent in adding relevant information about your niche, over time, your website will attract visits that do not cost anything. It's all about committing to the process, and knowing that most of your competitors in your niche will not.

[VancouverRealEstate]

think about it: new york city real estate

what would it be worth to be the 1st site in 1st position in organic searches on google for that term? That example is duplicated across the country to every major city or location.

the ones who invest in that term will be happy they did.

The seo price will vary per city, region, etc... I don't care what town or city $3,000 would probably be the least amount even for a small town to get on page 1 pos 1.

So, to spend 20,000K - 100,000 for that spot would be well worth it. The other comment about newspapers going out of business is very true.. a bunch more went out a couple weeks ago. majors are having a tough time holding on. With those gone that 1st spot will increase in value greatly. There are only 3 major newspapers on the net and really only 1 by percentage of searches... 1 company will get that slot.. will it be yours.

If you can't afford seo you will have to learn it yourself and the net is full of blogs that will teach you how to do it. be prepared to invest some hours. put the kids to bed and enjoy a lot of midnight keyboard strokes.

[rainier]

Internet plays important role in any marketing, if you really want to to have prospect buyers or clients, you need to put website for more exposure.plus you need to optimize your site for you to get good conversion.