Realtors Now Looking to the Web for an Edge

In an article by Jennifer LeClaire of the Boston Business journal, real estate brokers are relying more and more on online marketing in this current market. Email marketing alone was hailed as a vital component of realtor internet marketing, as is an extremely effective way to engage and communicate with existing customers and future prospects – and has led the way in taking real estate services to the next level.

ConstantContact has recently conducted a survey in which nearly 60% of respondents indicated that they currently use real estate web sites and email marketing to drive more potential customers to their businesses. Now, more than ever, it is important for real estate agents and brokers to establish effective means to build and maintain strong customer relationships. And with the right website and online marketing campaign, more contacts = more leads = more closings.

But simply having a web site is not enough – you have to advertise it to gain drive traffic to your site to get leads. And furthermore, you must understand where your traffic is coming from so that you can narrow the focus of your advertising efforts. When executed and maintained correctly, as much as 50% of your business can come through your website. And if maintained and tended to consistently correctly over time, you will see a growth in business. The National Association of Realtor data states that more than 80% of home buyers will start their property search online, and 70% will then work with the agent that contacts them first.

Blogs are also a key tool for real estate businesses, and they are great resources for search engines to crawl for relevant search content. After time, blogs can attract much organic search engine traffic because of their keyword-rich content. So your real estate internet presence can make the effectiveness of print ads or billboards a thing of the past – as long as you work consistently on your website, blog, and email marketing campaigns, customers will find you.

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