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Realtors – Hang up your shoes and stay warm in winter – Take your business online

Guest post from my friend and colleague Sian Simon. She is a small business person herself and is always looking for ways to help small businesses succeed. As a hobby she has grown Bhut Jolokia the most spicy chilly in the world.

According to The National Association of Realtors®, during 2008, buyers used a variety of resources when looking for a home, but the most popular way to search was on the Internet. In fact, 87% of home buyers used the Internet! Buyers most commonly started their search online and then contacted a real estate agent afterwards. After searching online, 85% used a real estate agent to look for homes for them, 62% looked for yard signs, 48% attended open houses and 47% looked at print or newspaper ads. So during these tough times in the housing market, if you are a real estate professional and you don’t have your own Web site, you are probably missing out!

You may use a Multiple Listing Service to showcase your properties and therefore think you don’t need a Web site. However in this market there are a lot of good reasons to do both:

1. Using your own website to showcase your listings as well as in the MLS provides additional opportunities for your listings to be seen. Not only does it put them in front of potential buyers, it is also a great marketing tool to attract sellers to list their properties with you.
2. You own website gives you much more flexibility to create listings that stand out from the crowd.
3. When you place your listings on MLS, you are potentially sending buyers to your competitors. On your own web site, you are only showing your own listings.

Many real estate professionals find that they get a lot more clients from their own website than from the MLS. Now is a great time to start gathering information about your local area to create an informative Web site that will attract potential buyers. When you create your site, three things will help your listings attract the highest number of viewers:

1. Make sure the descriptions are very good, with correct information and LOTS of detail. Buyers don’t always search on a location – they may be looking for a home in a particular School District or Home Owners Association.
2. Include lots of really high quality photos and video. This will bring your listing to life and draw buyers in.
3. Include explicit directions to the property. Many buyers and buyer’s agents will “drive-by” a property before calling you.

We recently launched a new Web site package specifically designed to help real estate professionals get online. If you are a real estate agent or broker, looking for a quick and easy way to get a Web site, please take a look and let us know what you think.

And finally, some words from one of our customers, Owen Ahearn of Ahearn Realty Management Inc in the real estate business, about how his web site helps him attract business, even in a difficult market.

For more tips on using the Internet to attract clients, check out our interviews with independent realtors Bob Carney from Maryland and Jeff Royce from Northern Virginia:

Small Business Marketing Roundtable – Part 1: How Small Business Realtor’s Leverage Web 2.0 to Sell

Small Business Marketing Roundtable – Part 2: When Customers Leverage Web 2.0

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