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Are YOU Boring? Real Estate Web Presence

By
Home Builder with Emmer Development Corp.

Originally Posted on  on www.emmergroupblog.com:

This morning, an article came out on Inman.com discussing how there’s a potential need for MLS to modernize and become more consumer friendly, since many potential buyers are going online to do sweeps of the market before they actually immerse themselves into the home-buying process.

What this says to us, more so than ever, is that the internet is quickly becoming the biggest and most influential element of real estate media for the modern age. Between listing sites like Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow, the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, and the overwhelming amount of blogs and blogging sites, every single element of the real estate world has a place on the web, and consumers know it.

Obviously, it hasn’t been too long that we’ve been dabbling in the online world ourselves. We’ve got the blogs, the Activerain, the Twitter handles, and we’re posting to sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, but that’s not to say we know everything (we promise, we don’t!). But something we have noticed is how often all the real estate talk starts to look the same.

A bored woman on a laptop, probably looking at the usual real estate content!

Don't bore the buyers- we have to be original and creative. Bring something new to the table, or who's to say they won't pass us right by!

Say you’re an agent or a broker or a builder and you’re on the right sites. Good job. But what happens when everyone else vying for the people in your same location, same market and same audience start posting the same content as you? Only so many real estate articles and local events happen in a day, and after a while, it’s like a blur to a consumer, especially because they probably don’t care about a lot of the industry jargon. When that happens, you could certainly be at the right place at the right time, but you could still be doing the wrong thing.

 

Social media and web presence and even just consumer accessibility are all incredibly important, but only if you stand out! Write about something you know, that not everyone else knows, even if it’s about yourself! The internet is a social playground, after all, so users don’t mind getting to know you as a real person! And despite how easy it is to get and share information, you can’t be lazy- dig for the good stuff that nobody’s seen before.

The industry is in a rough place right now, and it’s important to show possible clients that despite what all the newspapers say, decisions can be made and you can help them make wise ones. Like we said, we aren’t perfect and we’ve Tweeted our fair share of New York Times articles, but recently, we took a step back and did an exercise that we think helps our quality of content (though we’d love to hear if you agree or disagree!):

Imagine yourself as a new homebuyer or seller. What would YOU want to read?

Posted by

Over 50 Years of Quality Construction! l  Emmer Development Corp.

Emmer Development Corporation2801 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, Florida 32608   

Phone: 352-376-2444 | Fax: 352-376-2260

Since its beginnings in the 50s and 60s, The Emmer Group has been responsible for more than 8,000 homes and apartments in more than 100 communities all over the state of Florida. Owned and operated by the father-daughter team of Phil Emmer and Lori Emmer McGriff, Emmer Group continues to be a success today with brand new single-family homes for sale in Gainesville, Florida and luxury condos available in beautiful Ormond-By-The-Sea, Florida. 

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Comments (2)

Andrew Mooers | 207.532.6573
MOOERS REALTY - Houlton, ME
Northern Maine Real Estate-Aroostook County Broker

The mls is a mass produced, hurry in and out affair. Sure you have up to 25 image sockets to carefully fill and special attention given to the first lead in Rudolph photo. But the yes, no, number fields often leave tons out about the property.  We get creative with remarks field but it can be like twitter with only so much space to say, try to cut to the chase. Marketing takes time and space and I find the video link added as a non branded version to the mls helps very much. Branded versions on youtube, other platforms and realtor.com gets the upload to round out the what do we have here. To distinguish, spotlight each and every listing and have their individual merits shine brightly for the global village to see, consider, kick around and toy with buying. 

Aug 16, 2011 02:11 AM
Emmer Group
Emmer Development Corp. - Gainesville, FL

@Andrew  Great points! Some of the online outlets just don't give enough room to be creative, and that's why it's so vital to be clever with listings in other ways. I actually just came across a Twitter handle being done to represent a house- speaking in the voice of the home as if it were desiring new owners and trying to attract them. It's a great way to bring something new to the table and inspire people to make notice of a property. 

Aug 16, 2011 03:43 AM