One of the key opportunities REALTORS® have on the Internet is getting their name out for free to people who want to use their services.

There are many ways to get great Internet publicity! The next few columns will target how you can get the most bang for your buck (often that buck will be free!).

Let's consider your house listings. Every single time you put up a page on your site that reveals all the great qualities of a house, you're giving yourself free publicity in search engines. You can even improve the odds by deliberately coding in keywords in these pages - AgentTools has a great article about this.

Because every internet page is another opportunity to gain visibility in search engines, you now have more chances of appearing when customers use search engines to find REALTORS® in your own town.

Next, take each house listing and broadcast it far and wide from AgentTools. This site will submit for your postings for free to Yahoo!, Homescout and others. The more your homes get on the Internet, the more visibility they'll receive. The more visibility they receive, the better probability of them being sold!

Post a house once, see it broadcasted multiple times. You have time, money (again, the service is free!) and get better visibility, all at the same time.

One of the best ways to achieve free publicity is to become networked with your community. After all, many customers will ask friends who live in the desired locations recommendations for REALTORS®!

Know any great town or state web site? Check out their real estate business section. Webmasters are always looking for valuable content - approach them with the offer of providing free real estate advice in return for your name and company to be emblazoned above your column. Customers will see your name associated with quality, free (there's that word again) resources, and remember you when folks ask for recommendations.

Always make sure your web site is on your business card. Then, visit your local jewelers. Jewelers often talk with people about engagement rings - engagements imply living together, which might lead to new home buying. If you could leave your cards on the counter, and if your jeweler could recommend you to her clients while you recommend her to folks asking about sterling local businesses, you have just increased your visibility for free to a targeted group of potential customers.

What about the listings themselves? Once you're known as a REALTOR® with answers, it follows that people will want to trust you with their houses. And there are some surefire ways of powering up your web site to draw in quality listings. We'll cover that next week. In the meanwhile, take advantage of all the free publicity the Internet affords you! It's one of the best ways of making more money.

Published: April 27, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Barbara Ling only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.

Barbara Ling, "The Internet Virtual Coach", is an Internet business and technology writer and trainer. She is the author of "The Real Estate Pro's Internet Edge." Contact Barbara at btl@virtual-coach.com.