One of our activerainers J Philip Miranda wrote a great post Are You an Agent Who Blogs or a Blogger who's a Licensed Agent?

  and his post inspired an array of well thought out comments, even Lenn Harvey followed up with an incredible post Listen to this Realtor!  He's On to Something. Websites and Blogging Do Not Work!

Both posts are well thought out and both give us all quite a bit to think about.  The market has changed and many of us, especially those still building our business, need to have several different approaches to attract buyers and sellers.  We all agree...sitting at home or at the office waiting for the phone to ring, isn't a realistic approach.  You've got to make the effort.

Are there folks here who are doing exceptionally well because of their online presence?  Sure.  I can think of one.  Katerina and Nestor Gasset.  A good percentage of their business comes from their online presence.  But is this the end all be all of your business?  No.  They aren't getting all of their businesss online, but their online efforts have definitely paid off for them.

I do agree with both Lenn and J Philip.  Your blogging and website should be a supplement to your real estate business and yes, real estate is still a face to face people business.  In the end you do have to get in front of those buyers and sellers.


However, your blogging and website can leverage your business to a higher standard and level than the average Joe Schmoe Agent.

So let's talk about the benefits of having an online presence:

1) Your online presence can make you stand out from your competition - When you go into a listing presentation and you can show the seller that you have a strong online presence to attract buyers who are searching for homes on the internet (and their is a percentage of buyers doing this) it gives you a leg up from the agents competing with you who don't really have a strong online presence.  Sellers always want to know what we're going to do to promote and market their home to attract the highest number of "ready, willing and able buyers".  This is just one of the things most sellers expect from agents these days.

2) Your blogging can help you establish a trusting relationship with a buyer or seller - It doesn't necessarily mean that your blogging is soley there to attract online buyers and sellers looking for an agent or looking for information.  If you meet a seller or buyer offline and you want them to get to know you better, to get a feel for the kind of person you are as well as the kind of agent you are...you can refer them to your blog.  I can't tell you how many folks here have written about their success with this.

3) Your blogging or article you submit online- of course has to be well thought out and "news worthy" - could be picked up by your local newspaper, an established real estate magazine/site or even a national newspaper, like the New York times, for example.  We all know if your article gets into the paper or your blogging gets you recognized by the media as being an "expert", this can really help you build credibility in your community as the real estate agent to use for XY and Z.  Elizabeth Weintraub comes to mind.  Oh and this helps build your credibility in your listing presentations too.

To summarize:  Your online presence can be used for different reasons - you can initially attract buyers and sellers online to you by creating a website and blogging using Search Engine Optimization techniques to get to page 1 on Google for your local real estate area.  But to get them to call you has to do with what you are writing about.  Your personality is going to come through your website presence and your blogging.

It's a great tool to leverage your business as well.  If you are out in the world, hitting the pavement and getting in front of buyers and sellers you can send them to your blog.  Your blog can help you build trust with these folks.  In this day and age most people check up on eachother online.  At least most folks are going to Google you.  So why not direct them to your blog from the get go.   They get to know you a little bit better and this may increase your chances of doing business with these prospects over another agent.

So I'll stop my post here, but stay tune for my next post about balancing your prospecting and business approaches.  There are so many techniques available to build our business.  However there isn't one proven approach over another.  A lot has to do with your personality.  Some folks have great success with FSBO's others are better picking up business at a open house.  So no one approach is necessarily the only way to build a great real estate business.  Keep your eyes peeled for this one.

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger.  All Rights Reserved. *Should You Get Out of Your Pajamas? Sure. But Don't Desert Your Online Presence*