The value of the internet to all types of business owners applies equally to the business of the quick turn real estate investor. There are at least three distinct reasons why you should be taking your business onto the internet:
Online business of all sorts is expanding. All the time more and more customers and clients are searching online for products and services, including real estate related services like house buying.
Internet technology allows you to contact more people in less time, and follow up with them on a consistent basis, which allows your business to grow by leaps and bounds.
Internet technology provides you with the means to operate your business remotely and even completely automate it, thus helping to take your own time and energy out of the equation.
The internet is a vast and deep subject all by itself, but there are a few key technologies that should be of particular interest to the real estate entrepreneur looking to develop his or her business online. These technologies are listed below:
Websites. These not only allow your prospects to learn everything they might want to know about your business as well as contact you any time by email, they also allow prospective buyers and sellers to submit important information about their circumstances or what they are looking for that will allow you to follow up with them effectively. And they can be used to build mailing lists.
Mailing lists. These provide you with the ability to market for free on an ongoing basis to a list of interested prospects who are willing to view your offers. Marketing doesn't get much easier than this. Mailing lists can be an easy but effective way to stay in touch with your clients and generate repeat sales. They can be generated through a website by autoresponders.
Autoresponders. This technology allows a prospect to enter certain information on your website, where it will go into your database, and receive an automated response by email or be automatically added to your mailing list. It allows you to grow your buyers list while you sleep.
Internet classifieds. There are all sorts of these covering all sorts of areas that are free to use but that can drive traffic to your website or even be good sources of leads for your business to prospect.
Pay per click advertising. This is advertising that is targeted to internet audiences who view pages dealing with subjects related to your business. It can get you a lot of traffic very quickly for a reasonable price.
Search engines. These are the internet search services that people use to find what they're looking for online. If your site is ranked top in the search engines it can mean a lot of traffic and business for you, but this can take a lot of time and expertise to achieve.
Remember that the purpose of bringing your business online is to bring it closer to your clients, not to separate it from them. Keep this in mind and consistently high profits are sure to follow.
