Using Web Sites to Help Your Real Estate BusinessGood real estate agents agents are experts in their industry and are servants for their clients. However, just because you are good at what you do means your customers believe in you.Especially in the current market, in this housing slump of 2008, you need to do everything you can to ensure your customers have 100% faith in you. One excellent way is to have a web site. However, just throwing up anything on the web and calling it your own can have the opposite effect. Web sites are good at giving you credibility, but if it looks like your neighbor's kid put it together, your clients may wonder if you are really legitimate. So here are some tips to make sure you create a site that is professional and works for you without breaking the bank. 1. Don't use free website tools. The old saying you get what you pay for typically applies. Think of your own industry here. The FSBO services seem good because they are free, but in reality you are missing out on the benefits of working with an agent. Same holds true here. If you go for something free, you are very likely to create a pile of junk that nobody wants to visit. 2. Buy a .com domain name. Keep it simple, if your name is available, make it yourname.com. If you work for a small company, try your companyname.com. If that's not available, you can always add the city name in front or behind your company. For example NYCcompanyname.com OR companynameNYC.com. Use whatever has a better ring to it. Don't use a .net or other domain extension. The standard is .com. You don't want someone typing in .com when in reality you are .net and going to another business, or worse, a spam web page. 3. Get a professional logo. Your logo is your brand. Even if you go by your name only or work with a company like ReMax, you should have your own logo. Why? Logos build credibility, and are unique to your business. That way when clients see a logo they think of you. Logos don't have to be expensive. 4. Hire someone to design your site. There are great, cheap tools that come with many hosting/domain companies like Network Solutions or Go Daddy, but if you use the generic free templates you will look generic and not professional. Again, this is something that you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for. Many times you can get away with paying just a few hundred dollars up front. 5. Put your web site on your business card. Once you have a nice site, be sure to get it out there. Get it on your business card and other marketing materials. This will be one more outlet for you to show off your new site, and build up that credibility that you need. Andy @ The Logo-Mat Real Estate Agent Logo Design at a Fair Price. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_Ketter Labels: Real Estate Marketing, Using Web Sites to Help Your Real Estate Business |
