According to the National Association of Realtors and other sources, about 92% of home buyers start their search online when thinking about buying a home. This is a huge audience must be reached, and internet visibility must play a major role in your agent’s marketing plan.
If you plan to sell your home, make sure that your Realtor’s marketing includes online visibility on all the popular high-traffic websites that buyers frequently visit to search for homes. Effective use of social media sites also increases a property’s presence, broadens its reach, and helps it be more easily located.
Hilton Head Island continues to be one of the hottest vacation spots in the U.S., and Bluffton continues to grow at a very fast rate. Many home buyers relocate to the Lowcountry from other states, some from other countries. It is very important to have your home well represented on the internet in order to reach these potential buyers.
Getting effective internet real estate exposure requires resources, time, knowledge and money. It is best accomplished by the concerted effort of progressive real estate companies and proactive agents.
There are a number of real estate brokerages and agents on and off the island who effectively use online marketing to promote properties and bring home buyers our Lowcountry paradise.
In addition to using the local (HiltonHeadMLS.com) and national (Realtor.com) Multiple Listing Services, top-producing area agents use other major real estate websites. They also use social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter to attract visitors looking for homes and real estate information.
One of the biggest and most comprehensive real estate websites is Zillow.com, receiving 36 million visitors per month. Trulia.com (23 million),Yahoo Homes (20 million) and Realtor.com (18 million) are very popular as well.
One of the reasons that Zillow is so popular is the incredible amount of information that they provide to both seller and buyers.
Real estate agents also use state-of-the-art lead generation software to capture all leads and identify prospective buyers – effectively following up with them to show them properties and-or provide additional information.
Today’s tech-savvy, top-producing agents even have a special application on their mobile phones, making it easy to search for any property on or off the market.
Larry Stoller is the broker-owner and Realtor with Real Estate Five of the Lowcountry. Larry@RealEstateFive.com or RealEstate-Five.com
