By Christopher M. Leporini, REALTOR® Magazine
Internet Marketing in Real Estate By Barbara Cox and William Koelzer (Prentice Hall) 245 pp., $29.95
Buy this book from Amazon.com
“In a handful of years… very few agents will fall into the top producer category unless they have learned effective marketing on the World Wide Web. Web marketing will soon be an absolute necessity, ” write the authors of Internet Marketing in Real Estate. This book teaches you how to do just that, with techniques and strategies to market real estate effectively on the Internet.
The book provides guidelines for building a Web presence, including what features and information to include on your site. It provides screen shots of actual real estate sites to demonstrate these suggestions. It shows how to make your site appear high on prospects’ search engine results, which is critical to having busy consumers find you. It also provides sample timelines and budgets for Internet marketing, so that you can establish concrete goals.
The authors are experienced in fusing real estate and Internet marketing. Cox, principal of Cox Marketing Services, helped to establish the Technology Education Center at the Orange County Association of REALTORS® in California. She was director of technology for the association for three years. In addition, she also co-wrote The Language of Real Estate and The Prentice-Hall Dictionary of Real Estate. Koezler is a 30-year marketing veteran and owns Koelzer & Associates, a marketing consulting and promotional firm. He has written for Realty Times and Broker/Agent Magazine, among other publications.
Tips for Real Estate Professionals
- Use your site’s content to communicate your expertise. Your Web site should “clearly demonstrate that you are knowledgeable, helpful, experienced, well-connected in your community,” the authors write. You need to provide resources, or links to resources, that assist your customers in dealing with problems they might encounter when buying or selling a home. Some common concerns listed in the book include finding good schools or jobs, finding financing with the most favorable terms, and knowing local market conditions. Include similar content in your e-mail correspondence. For instance, send current market statistics for sellers, and send buyers URLs of sites where they can find homes, research local schools, or learn about the homebuying process. (A good place to start is REALTOR® Magazine Online’s “ Handouts for Consumers.
- Make your site visible to search engines. The greatest Web site in the world isn’t going to build your business if nobody can find it. Portals, search engines, and directories can help make your site more visible. According to the book, most search engines allow you to register your site, often for free. Using the right keywords is essential to landing your site high in search engine results. The book cites a real estate industry Web site that studied the keywords used most in consumers’ real estate-related keyword searches. It found that the most common words in real estate-related Web searches are (city) + “real estate,” as well as “realty.” The authors advise that you add the name of your county, general real estate terms related to the type of properties you sell, and nicknames for your area (e.g., “Twin Cities” or “Big Apple”), and possible misspellings for your city or state.
- Form alliances with other real estate professionals. Reciprocal links can help get the word out about your Web site. According to research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, links from other sites are the most valuable method to bring people to your site. Establish relationships with salespeople in key cities that might provide a steady flow of relocation clients. Send these salespeople an e-mail stating the following: “Perhaps we can set up a win-win situation. Would you be willing to put a link to me on your Web site if I put up a similar one for you on my site? In this way, we could each enjoy increased statewide exposure.”
Editor’s Note: Market research shows the growing need for having an Internet presence and being able to effectively market through the Web. In the first quarter of 2003, 71 percent of buyers used the Internet in their search, up from 41 percent in 2002, according to research by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. In addition, homebuyers who search for a home on the Internet are both more likely to use a real estate professional and to purchase more expensive homes than other homebuyers, according to the NAR’s 2003 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
Related Articles
- Ask Mr. Internet: Pay-Per-Click, Part II, Michael Russer, September 2002.
- Web Review: SearchEngineWatch, Mariwyn Evans, April 2003.
- Ask Mr. Internet: Buy Your Way to the Top of the Web, August 2002.
- Web Review: Net Mechanic, Chris Leporini, July 2001.
By Christopher M. Leporini, REALTOR® Magazine
Reaching Out: The Financial Power of Niche Marketing By Doris Barrell and Mark Nash (Dearborn Real Estate Education) 148 pp., $25.95
Buy this book from Amazon.com
Amidst growing competition and consolidation in the real estate industry, niche marketing allows real estate professionals to cultivate a loyal, consistent client base. Reaching Out: The Financial Power of Niche Marketing shows you how to select a niche group and develop marketing programs that appeal to that group.
The book identifies more than a dozen emerging and established market niches—such as single women head of households, seniors, immigrants, and military relocations—and shows you how to research, identify, and pursue these markets. “Steps to Niche Marketing Success,” a series of interactive, hands-on exercises at the end of most chapters, help readers formulate a niche-marketing plan.
The book includes an afterword, “Fair Housing Law in Practice,” by lawyer Marcia L. Russell that offers tips and strategies for working within the law when targeting a niche market.
The book’s “In Real Life” anecdotes draw on the authors’ marketing and real estate experiences. Barrell has worked in the real estate industry for more than two decades. In addition to working as a trainer and consultant, she is the author of Real Estate Finance Today and Ethics and Real Estate. Nash, who also has worked as a trainer, is a Chicago-area real estate practitioner and author of The Original New Agent’s Guide to Starting & Succeeding in Real Estate .
Tips for Real Estate Professionals
- Find a niche that complements your interests. List all the spiritual, social, business, political, sports, and volunteer groups in which you or your spouse participate. Then do the same for your relatives and closest friends. Look for any reoccurring themes through these lists that point towards a potential niche. Ask yourself the following questions to find a niche that you can comfortably and effectively work within: What’s special about me? What unique skills do I have that could be helpful to others? What do I most enjoy doing? What area would I like to become an expert in? Which of my present clients do I most enjoy working with? “Niche marketing is not for agents who want immediate sales response,” ; the authors write. “It is for those who enjoy deriving some nonfinancial compensation in addition to the commissions, rewards that come from helping a niche grow, evolve, and prosper.” The authors point out that you are actually building a sub-business, so you need to lay the foundation of doing research and establishing relationships before you realize the rewards.
- Analyze your current customer base. A successful niche market may be closer than you think. Studying the demographics of your established customers might provide insight into a potential niche. “You might find that you are … working a niche market whether that was your original intent or not,” the authors write.
- Study the competition. Entrenched competitors can make it more difficult to crack a niche market. If there are other real estate professionals in your area that target your prospective niche, ask yourself whether the market is large enough to support more than one company. Secondly, how could you differentiate yourself from competitors?
- Marketing to your niche. Once you determine a niche that you want to pursue, the authors recommend that you establish a strong business plan and marketing plan. Make sure the plans have concrete action steps with deadlines. The authors recommend that you spend at least 10 percent of your annual income marketing yourself—but know that it may take time to get the return on that investment with a niche market. “If it takes at least eight repetitions before anyone will even recognize your name, how long does it take to establish a relationship?” the authors write. “Developing a special market takes time and patience.”
- Consider a sub-niche. Focus is important to successful niche marketing. You may want to concentrate on a segment within a general niche market. For example, rather than targeting first-time homebuyers, you may want to take aim at first-time homebuyers interested in buying distressed properties. Or rather than pursuing a general market such as baby boomers, you may want to zero in on baby boomers interested in golfing, skiing, or purchasing second homes.
Related Articles
- Sales Clinic: A Mature Approach to Niche Marketing, Walter Sanford, March 2003.
- Sales Clinic: Bypass Competitors: Find a Niche , Walter Sanford, August 2002.
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