Reaching Internet Home Buyers and Sellers

In today's Internet Age, the vast majority of potential home buyers and sellers begin their search online.

According to a 2008 NAR survey

...87% of homebuyers used the Internet as an information source

...77% of Internet homebuyers drove by or viewed a home they saw online

...32% of buyers first found their home on the Internet

...25% of FSBOs used the Internet to help sell their home

In a more recent study conducted by Yahoo, 77% of consumers began thier search for information regarding real estate on the Internet. That is compared to 33% for print. Not surprising, right? What is surprising is that most realtors spend more money, over 40% of thier advertsing budget, on print advertsing.

Based upon a recent study by Yahoo! Inc., here are the results:

• Home buyers and sellers consider approximately two agents on average before making a final decision.
• The Internet impacts consumer trust. Forty percent of respondents credited a site in increasing their trust in the agent.
• 74 percent of people who accessed an agent Web site got there with the help of a search engine.
• The online research process is quick and intense: consumers spent an average of 12 hours online researching agents and 75 percent selected an agent within one week of starting their search.
• 45 percent of respondents used the Internet to learn about agents they didn’t know existed.
• 41 percent discovered special deals and promotions offered from an agent through the Internet.

As consumer's rely more and more on the internet as a source of information, those business who can supply the information and reach these consumers will sustain future business profits. While not many real estate transactions take place through the internet, it is where most of them begin.

Despite the massive shift of homebuyers online, most real estate agents say their websites aren’t generating any new business for them.

While most agents understand the importance of marketing online and readily purchase a web site, they usually do not put in the time to make their investment truly effective. Whether this is due to unrealistic promises from their website designers, a misunderstanding of how the Internet works, a lack of time, or a lack of direction, many web sites are falling far short of their potential.

The first thing to realize is that you must take an active role in creating a stronger web presence for your practice. With our help, we can develop a web strategy for marketing your business online. The key concepts you need to understand are these:

• What homebuyers look for in a web site and why so many real estate sites fail
• How to optimize your site for search engines and drive traffic
• How to convert leads into clients

The Internet has become an integral part of the real estate marketing process. The majority of your potential clients use the Internet extensively as a research tool. They turn to the Web to search homes, research towns and cities, and find real estate agents.

As a real estate broker over the last five years, the developments in marketing technology have grown dramaticially, as new agencies have been able to compete with those in business over 30 years. . That's why, as an online real estate marketing firm, I provide a variety of services to help these business enhance their web presence and benefit from the growing potential of the online real estate market.

The Online Real Estate Market

Needless to say, the Internet has affected the way we market and sell real estate. In the early stages, these prospects are investigating the market, trying to determine “what's out there” in the way of homes to purchase, and are especially concerned about their current home's market value. They may be months or even years away from completing a transaction. What's the best way to reach them and establish a working relationship?

Years ago, real estate agents controlled the flow of information via the “MLS book” that only they had access to. In the Internet Age that is no longer possible. Savvy buyer and seller prospects want information, but often they are not ready to commit to working with a particular agent; it's too early in the process for them.

The key to reaching these prospects is to treat them the way they want to be treated. In the beginning of their process, these prospects only want information; they don't want to be hounded by an agent.

If you, as an agent, provide information and stay in contact in an unobtrusive way, it is possible to build brand preference for your services over time. Then when the prospect is ready to work with an agent, they will call you, because you have been respectfully distant, yet staying in touch throughout their research phase.

MLS and other real estate software packages provide a variety of “drip” email campaigns designed to inform and stay in touch with potential buyers and sellers. Since these are completely automated, they require no effort on your part. Instead of chasing leads that are too early in their process to be interested, you can use the system to incubate these prospects until they are ready to have a direct conversation.

This will enable you to fill the top of your sales funnel with internet leads that are automatically nurtured into prospects that are a good time investment for you.

Website Traffic Generation, Search Engine Optimization, and Lead Generation

One of the key concerns most agents have when they think about investing in a website, is generating traffic to it. After all, if nobody ever visits your website, what's the point in having it? There are many different techniques for increasing website traffic. But does generating website traffic necessarily translate into generating leads for your business?

Traffic or Leads?

Most agents believe that they way they will generate more leads is to generate more web traffic, so they become very concerned about search engine optimization and paid advertising campaigns. While PPC (Pay-Per-Click)campaigns can be very cost-effective, they often without attending to the basics of content outlined above. A good real estate website will have a way to capture leads from visitors to the website, and put those leads in an appropriate drip email campaign or subscribe them to an e-newsletter. This is a sound strategy; necessary, but not sufficient.

Since agent websites are intended to be heavily branded for the agent, they will only attract leads from one portion of the market- those that don't mind exposing their identities to an agent who may call them. However, many internet home buyers and sellers are not ready to speak with an agent, and will not feel comfortable registering on a branded agent website.

Consequently, generating traffic alone will not necessarily generate leads, especially from “lookers” who are early in their search process. Content Management is a very powerful lead generation technique. This approach does not rely on SEO to drive traffic at all, yet is a proven lead generator for “lookers” who are not ready to speak to an agent.