Real Estate Technology

About two months ago I did a post on what I think to be the biggest sham some Realtors are pulling off when it comes to marketing their listings on the Internet - single property sites. Here is a link to that post:

Your house has it’s own web site fluff?

I don’t consider the concept to be a sham - it is a wonderful concept and can differentiate you from others when getting a listing. However, it is the purpose that I have an issue with. The purpose of these sites is NOT to get you the listing, rather to market the property on the Internet.

It is impossible to pick up a real estate magazine or newspaper and not come across at least one Realtor that uses single property sites to promote “himself or herself” and not the listing.

The purpose of these sites is to make it easy for prospective buyers to find the property, get more details on the property and to set the property apart from other listings. Yet some of these sites can’t be found when a search is done for even the property address. So how did this concept exactly “market” the property on the Internet?

When done correctly, these sites can be highly effective. You would want the site to show in searches for highly targeted keywords that are relevant to the property you are listing. For example, I have listed an equestrian centre for sale in Langley, BC. I would consider the following search terms to be highly relevant to the property and those that would be used by prospective buyers when looking for such a property:

1. equestrian centre for sale in Langley

2. Langley equestrian centre for sale

3. horse properties for sale in Langley

4. Langley horse properties for sale

5. Campbell Valley equestrian centres for sale

6. Equestrian centre for sale in Campbell valley

7. Langley equestrian properties

8. Langley horse properties

The site I created for this property ranks on the first page for all of the above terms. This site is only a few days old, and is not even complete yet. We are still waiting for some pictures from the client to put together the details etc.

As you can see, when done properly, these sites have the potential to add tremendous value. Yes, you need to know how to optimize these sites, how to ensure that they rank well and need to put in the effort. But if you are selling yourself as an Internet Marketing expert, this shouldn’t be hard!