By now most of us have embraced the Internet and understand that it's here to stay. We now use our computers to find locations and businesses that we once would have used the good old-fashioned "yellow pages" to look up the company.
Our mobile devices navigate us to restaurants and entertainment establishments as well as the next home we might own. Marketing your home for sale on the Internet is more important than you might realize. I know you probably realize that you have to have a presence on the Web when listing your home. Of course, the Multiple Listing Service is online and the real estate company you hire will have a Web presence. But it goes much deeper than that.
A recent poll from ARME realty.com revealed that 87 percent of property professional survey respondents credited their Web-based marketing campaigns with increasing more foot traffic; that figure was only 32 percent last year.
The study claimed that more buyers and sellers visit real estate firms as a result of Internet marketing. Whether it's an average home or a luxury home, more walk-ins this year over last year are dropping into real estate offices.
To make online marketing work for you, take advantage of all the free social sites. Putting some advertising dollars toward marketing campaigns is a good idea but, at the very least, start by getting your home online.
The micro-blogging site, twitter.com, is a great place to showcase quick features of your home. On a beautiful summer day, you can snap a photo of your backyard and, in a few short typed words you can say "Imagine relaxing in this backyard on a hot summer day". Then attach a pretty picture. Don't forget to hashtag (#) the words like #backyard. By using hashtags, it makes your content more searchable. Twitter users can search for content using frequently searched hashtags.Twitter also can load videos. So you can videotape a quick clip and upload that to your account. Just don't make the photos and videos personal. Try to showcase your home the way a buyer would want to see it - in good order and exceedingly appealing. So move the camera around very slowly when taking videos and make sure you have good lighting. Even though these are short clips and quick photos, not the ones that your agent is using for marketing, they still count. So make them good.
Another important social media site to use is facebook.com. A lot of business and play is done on facebook. Make sure you showcase your home on your own personal facebook site too. Even if you have only a few dozen friends, featuring your home and sharing a link to your agent's website where interested buyers can learn more, could help you sell faster.
A site that was bought by facebook.com (for a hefty price tag) not long ago is instagram.com. This site is really powerful because it's nearly all visual. The site just recently added videos but it's still primarily still images–and very good images. Many excellent photographers showcase their work on Instagram. Having your photos on the Instagram feed will help bring more attention to your listing.
Ultimately, you want to market wherever your audience is and these days much of your audience is glued to their Internet via a computer or a mobile device. So make it easy for them to find your home by having a presence where they are spending time online.
