You’re An Agent; You Need A Website!

 February 4, 2014

You’re a real estate agent which means, among other things, you need your own website.

Sure, you may have a page within your company’s site; that isn’t enough. You need your own.

Here’s why:

Statistics insist on it

According to NAR some 68 percent of the the business generated by Realtors® comes through the Realtor’s websites.

That number is only going to increase as more and more people use the ‘net. (Wikipedia reported that 81 percent of the US population had internet access in 2013). It will also increase as net savvy younger people begin to move into the real estate market.

Pew Internet, a project of the Pew Research Center, shows that 98 percent of adults between 18 and 29 years old have internet access while 92 percent of those aged 30 to 49 have access.

Where do you think those people will begin their search when they want to buy or sell a home?

Increase your brand & credibility

It doesn’t matter if you work in a gigantic office filled with dozens of agents or in an office by yourself – your customers work with you. It’s your skills and your unique approach that convinces clients to choose you and to refer you to their friends.

You are your own brand and there’s no better way to build the brand of you than your own website.

Potential clients want to know who you are and how you work. Existing clients have questions and want up-to-date information from you – your website allows you to fill both requests easily.

The story of you plus your own talent is what creates your credibility. Your website helps you build the platform that lets you demonstrate why potential clients will want to work with you.

Putting a picture of you on your site is easy with an iHOUSE website and a great way to begin branding yourself. It’s just as easy to add articles and other information.

Become the local information hub

Properly used, your website can become the go-to source for real estate in the community where you work. In addition to general information for buyers and sellers, you can post hyper-local real estate news.  As the community learns to come to your site for interesting and vital real estate information they also recognize you as the expert they want to deal with.

iHOUSE websites let you do all this and more because it’s easy for you or your assistant to edit.

Your site helps you control your time

Your own website is on duty 24/7 which means you don’t have to be. Your site will take messages, provide both general and detailed information, gather information to qualify potential clients and even help you set appointments.

With an iHOUSE website you can automatically feature your listings as well as all the listings in your local MLS or IDX. You can also schedule and promote open houses, and even have an automatic database of clients who register on your site for quick and easy followup.

iHOUSE websites are as up-to-date as the internet itself. The best way to discover just how they can help you is to take an absolutely no-risk test drive. You’ll get 14 full days to experiment and discover what an iHouse website can do for you.

Image: Attribution Some rights reserved by smkybe

Your take: What’s your feeling about individual agent’s websites? What questions would you like to ask? Let’s talk about it in comments.

annesig

 

 


Anne Wayman

By Anne Wayman

Before Anne Wayman became a writer she sold real estate in Southern California. She worked with her father who learned the business from his father. Not surprisingly she learned a few things along the way. Since then, she has been freelance writing for over 30 years – she is a grandmother, loves cats and writes about a wide variety of topics including real estate.