Surprisingly, we get this question quite often in the Real Estate industry, whether it be from agents, investors, lenders and whoever. It usually sounds something like this – “Do we really need to have a presence on the internet and will we see a return on it?” To sum it up in just one word – YES!
The internet is the very best place to find HOT prospects for your Real Estate business.
Internet Marketing is also kind of a broad term for making use of the internet. Years ago it just used to be having a website and using PPC (Pay Per Click) ads. In just the past few years we have seen an emergence of multiple social media sites that can help expand your reach to new clients and also help reinforce your brand.
So nowadays it’s not only having your website, but also having a real presence on social media. True, there are a lot of social media sites, and there are a few that can give you higher returns than others. The social media sites that are a must are YouTube for videos, having a FaceBook company page and also Twitter.
It’s a lot to keep up with, but well worth the efforts. Probably the greatest thing about internet marketing is that your ROI is so much higher than that of traditional marketing. If you think about it, all of these social media platforms are FREE! So the only thing that it will cost you is the time to get posting done, or the cost of employing a company to do it for you, which is usually pretty minimal, especially when you consider the returns.
Realtors have known for a long time the power of the internet for reaching prospects with websites and to some degree video. Now a lot of them are catching on to more social media properties and how lucrative they can be. If all of these forms of internet marketing work for realtors, don’t you think that it will work for your real estate business? If you think not, then you better think again or get left behind and beaten by your competitors.
With our brokerage and our investment business we have seen a tremendous amount of leads poor in from the internet. In fact it has become probably our favorite form of advertising. With social media it is so much easier to get engagement with the viewer or reader than with traditional marketing methods.
Check out these stats from Placester.com on Internet usage for real estate back in 2014:
- 92% of people now use the Internet in their home search.
- Between 2009 and 2013, real estate-related Google searches increased by 253%.
- 69% of home shoppers who take action on a real estate website begin by typing a local term into a search engine.
- On weekends, 59% of page views on real estate websites come from smartphones and tablets.
Those are crazy numbers. Numbers that are too high to ignore. If you are reading this post and are in some other form of business besides real estate, you can rest assured that those kind of numbers are probably close to those for your field of expertise as well.
The internet is here to stay and only getting stronger and more diverse. If you aren’t using it you are loosing out on clients, sales, or whatever your real estate business has to offer to your competition.
If you want to learn more about how the internet can be put to use for your real estate business, check out these posts from other sites to help guide you. Even though they are geared more towards realtors, any real estate business can benefit from these tips from these various articles and sites.
Field Guide To Effective Online Marketing
Using Internet Marketing For Real Estate
Top 5 Components of a Successful Online Marketing Plan for Realtors
