Conclusive Proof You Need a Strong Internet Presence, Including a Blog
February 8, 2007 by Richard NachtIf you are an agent (or broker) and don't have a strong presence on the Internet, you're missing out on a significant amount of new business, plain and simple.
A recent report from California Association of Realtors says...
- 92% of Internet buyers found their agent on a Web site; 63% found them through an Internet search engine; 0% of Internet buyers found their agent through brochures, flyers, yard signs or mailers to their home. None. Zero. Zilch!
- In 2000, 28% of people said that they used the Internet as an important part of their home-buying and selection process. In 2006, 70% said they did
- 86% of home buyers started using the Internet as part of their process before they started looking for a specific home; the other 14% did after they started looking, but before they contacted a real estate agent; that means that 100% of buyers surveyed started looking at homes first, agents second.
"Just having a Web site or a page on your franchise site won't cut it; you must be able to be found by people searching for homes in your considerably larger e-neighborhood. The Internet is a really big place and chances are that you and your site may be lost in its hugeness," attests the article.
Because the Internet is such a huge place, having a single blog is like having one star out in the vast universe. "Why just have a star when you can have an entire galaxy," is the way Blogging Systems' client David Crockett of The Crockett Team puts it. David owns Lake County Blog, a blog community site targeting his local area, Lake County, Ohio.
Perhaps traditional forms of advertising worked for you in the past. If so, congratulations. However, without a pervasive Internet strategy, you're going to fall further and further behind the curve. "The times, they are a changin'," is the way Bob Dylan put it, and they are. This report proves it.
E-mail this Print this
Posted in: Real Estate Blogging
Post new comment