Some things only change very slowly or not at all. The fundamental rules of the real estate game are the same now as they have been for generations. However, there is one key factor that makes the real estate business of the 21st century different from the real estate business of the 20th century. This is, not surprisingly, the same factor that is actively revolutionizing so many aspects of the way we live and do business: the Internet. Without an understanding of how to harness this powerful force your business is likely to become obsolete very quickly, if it even gets off the ground. If you seek a greater understanding of how Internet marketing works and how you can use it for your real estate business, this article provides a good place to start.
In order to utilize Internet marketing, you must, of course, have a presence on the Internet. Therefore getting a website in place is the first step, if you don't already have one. A website can be self-designed, custom made, or bought from a specialized provider. Whatever its source a website serves as a virtual office and gives your potential clients a place to visit and learn about you online.
A critical element for any marketing website is a page that captures contact information, including a name and email address, from your visitors. Such a page is called a squeeze page. Once your visitors enter this information it is automatically stored in a database, building up over time into a massive list of interested prospects, or hungry fish.
It does no good to capture contact info from your visitors if you do nothing with it. Your database will be integrated with an email autoresponder, which will automatically send a pre-written series of messages within a specified time frame to each new visitor who signs up. This way each new prospect will be contacted and followed up with on a timely basis. You can use this same email list to send available property alerts and other notifications to your interested buyers.
One tactic to grow an active, interested email list is to publish a newsletter on a subject of interest to your prospects. If your newsletters are interesting and informative this will have the double effect of generating interest from your existing list members (making them more likely to open emails they receive from you) as well as encouraging them to forward your newsletters (which of course contain your website and contact info) to friends and associates, helping to stimulate referral business.
Advertising on the Internet comes in three basic forms. The first is classified advertising. Most classified advertising on the Internet is free. In addition to Internet classified sites, craigslist.org and backpage.com being the most popular, many local papers have online versions of their classifieds as well.
The second form of advertising on the Internet is pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising. Google's Adwords program is one popular PPC advertising service. With PPC advertising, your ads are displayed in various places on the Internet, including alongside search engine results whenever someone searches for terms related to your business. For each visitor who clicks on the ad and view your site, you have to pay the advertiser a fixed price. Thus the amount you pay for advertising is directly proportional to how many visitors your site receives.
The third form of advertising on the Internet is search engine optimization, or SEO. This refers to the art and science of designing your site to receive favorable exposure from search engines, so that whenever someone does a search for key words related to your business, your site will have a higher ranking within the search engine results. The higher your ranking the closer you are to the top of the results, so the more likely you are to receive traffic from search engines. This traffic is free, but SEO is a rather involved process that you can accomplish either by becoming an expert yourself or by hiring one.
I currently offer a super home study course entitled "Renegade Stealth Marketing For The Savvy Real Estate Entrepreneur" that will assist you in your quest to make a ton of money in your real estate investing business. For more info visit
http://www.renegadestealthmarketing.com
Comments(2)