Anyone knows that when interest rates rise (any points) it does have an impact on the property market. This rate rise effect will be minor, but any more increases will impact the sector more, that is just a plain historical fact.
My view is that we will see the cream rise to the top in slightly tougher times. Those agents that have spent the last few years relying on traditional media and not investing in their future will be the most heavily affected.
Traditional media just simply keeps costing you money, whilst a great Internet strategy should cost (ongoing-yearly) about the same money you spend in a newspaper for a full page for one day!
It is time for the top Internet agents to start to put pressure on agents that have neglected the Internet space all these years.
1. Show prospective vendors what your website can do and provide information as to how you go about marketing listings on the Internet.
2. Know your competitors weakness, if they are not listing on realestate.com.au or domain.com.au or more importantly both – go hard in this area. Do not focus directly on your competitors weakness but let the potential vendor know your strengths. (this will highlight your competitors weakness)
3. Start marketing your website through Google Adwords, make the keywords regional and town specific and show the vendor the results. This will be the cheapest most effective marketing strategy you will ever have online.
4. Lift the quality of your photography online, set some rules within your sales force that no image can go up online unless it is of quality. Also concentrate on a nice consitent layout for your description text, do not ramble on. A good example of consistency and clean striking of information is www.sarahlorden.com.au, have a look at their listings.
5. Look at ways you can increase your websites search engine visibility – that means get your websites plumbing right and it will not cost you a cent going forward. In other words find a web developer that understands how to do this.
On that last point – every web developer will tell you they can do it, but from my experience you are looking at about 1 out of every 100 web developers that actually understand what is needed for real estate agents websites.
The strategy is simple – do your research – try to get an understanding yourself – build your knowledge of the Internet, bit by bit.
You do not have to know everything, but you definitely need to know the basics or you will continue to live in the dark!
