Absolutely. With the nation struggling in real estate sales, please real estate people, please do not roll over and abandon marketing efforts. With online searching increasing 25-26% every year, now is the time to look to the internet more than ever before.
Well then, what opportunities are there to bulk up your web presence? Below I list several websites, and measurable products you really need to consider to keep a step ahead of your competitors. Take special note of the first one, blogs! I read an interesting article that talks about the wisdom of starting a real estate blog. In this article, it refers to a CNN article that gave stats that show leads and sales increased as a result of real estate blogs.
Ok, so lets get with the tips, and sites to advertise on. (Keep in mind this is a partial list, I will add to this as time goes by)
- Blogs
- Google, Yahoo, MSN pay per click campaigns
- Google Base
- Bargain
- oodle
- trulia
- edgeio
- Livedeal
- HomePages
- Homesandland
- Realty.com
I wanted to bring special attention to Realty.com. Recently they advertised that you could submit your agent information, and receive a great backlink from them. If any agents are reading this, you need to get over there and get a link! If you have a website or blog, backlinks are critical for site to gain credibility with the search engines.
For example, I recently submitted a client of mine there, and the great thing is they let you choose anchor text. (keywords hyper-linked) Take a look at the free ad I made advertising waterfront communities in Wilmington, North Carolina
This is crucial for optimizing your real estate marketing campaigns, so do it! If you need help with any of these suggestions, please leave a comment, I would be happy to help!
Great post! Realtor are leaders of Internet Marketing and those who have not taken hold of this are hurting their businesses. Byte or get bitten.
ManoByte, great reminder! Interestingly real estate agents just a year or two ago just sat next to the phones as the leads called in. Not so today, they need to think vertically, and get proactive with internet & web advertising.