Primary marketAgents Report More Business Coming From Internet Marketing
A buyer"s agent and a transactional agent say they are taking Internet marketing into their own hands from gambling most of their marketing money on Internet solutions to designing and search-engine-placing their own Web sites. The agents have multiple strategies for getting found, and say that their efforts have taught them that there are some myths about Internet marketing that they would like to explode.
A buyer"s agent conquers the Web
Seasoned Los Angeles County buyer"s broker Anthony Marguleas has had success with the Internet, and that explodes the myth that buyer"s agents can"t market themselves effectively without listings.
"Internet marketing is more cost-effective," explains Marguleas. "We don"t take listings, so we don"t advertise them; our advertising budget is small. What I spend, I spend on Internet sites. I"m always pushing the Web site and getting more e-mail addresses."
Marguleas has two Web sites he promotes - www.househunt.com and www.homebuyersonly.com. He also uses a referral service, for which he pays 25 percent in referral fees, and Realty Times" Market Conditions Reports which promotes him and his Websites on numerous portals including Realtor.com, MSN house and home channel, for a few hundred dollars annually.
Does it help or hurt to be a buyer"s agent on the Internet?
Says Marguleas, "It helps to be a buyers agent. If a seller wants to sell a property they will look at who sold it to them or drive the neighborhood and look at signs. Someone who is relocating will go to the Internet first, so it has been a huge boost to the business."
Marguleas credits having a virtual office site with "leveling the playing field."
"As far as I know, my site is the only one in L.A. County that offers access to all six MLSs that serve the county," boasts Marguleas. "If you go to Coldwell Banker or RE/MAX, you only see their listings because they are trying to control the data."
Marguleas follows up with clients using Realty Times automailer newsletter service to mail information to 2,800 people in his database. "I took a lot of clients from Soar MLS and added it to my newsletter mailing list and now I have 2,800 to send my e-newsletter to," he says.
But is he getting closings as well as leads?
"I just sold a $2.2 million home to an Internet buyer," says Marguleas, "I"m on track to do about $20 to $21 million to close the year. I have $18.5 million already."
A transactional agent also finds success online
Plantation, Florida transaction agent Leanne Valdes says she knew she needed some advantages over her competitors, and so she turned to the Internet to invest in Web sites.
"I started with a template site, but I wasn"t happy," says Valdes, "so this year, I spent time creating my own Web sites, and they debuted around June. I have five custom Web sites and one through ihouse2000.
Where Marguleas invested in broad buyer"s agency domain names, Valdes has chosen the community route, where she believes most people begin their search on sites such as Google.com. Valdes works in Plantation, but also in other communities where she has Web sites that will attract people to her services.
"I go mostly the pay-for-click route," says Valdes. "I don"t fall for directories - they are a total waste of time."
Valdes does her own search engine placement and says she spends about $300 to $400 a month to get Internet leads. She is careful to ask consumers where they found her.
"The quality of leads and return on investment is higher with the Internet, without a doubt," says Valdes. "I ask them how they found my Web site, most find it through search engines."
She also uses Market Conditions Reports, by Realty Times. "I always try to make sure I place myself somewhere reputable," says Valdes. "and I have gotten lots of leads. I"m sold on Internet marketing."
Should agents have more than one Internet strategy?
"My strategy is I have regional and county Websites," says Valdes. "I specialize with the three cities, Plantation, Weston and Davie, for personal promotion. I get good placement through Overture, and Google gets me on AOL. Realty Times gets me on places I couldn"t get to with search engines."
What is the biggest myth about the Internet that Valdes would like to explode?
"That the Internet is just for buyers," she says. "I get more buyers than sellers, about 65 percent, but I"m pleasantly surprised by the amount of seller leads. A lot of people forget that sellers are actually looking to see what"s out there to buy before they put their house on the market. On my form, I ask "how soon are you looking to move?" I get a lot of seller leads who are looking to sell in 4-9 months, and they are doing the preliminary work. Sometimes they purchase a home before they need to sell a home."
Like Marguleas, Valdes has learned to work with long-term leads by following up with her e-newsletter.
"It doesn"t bother me that the sellers are so far out," says Valdes. "I"d prefer sooner, but I"m still getting my foot in the door and that is half the battle. My marketing plan is so much better than any other agent"s I"ve seen, as long as I follow-up on a regular basis, then I"ll have a much higher chance of being the one to get the listings."