As a broker do you have a website for your firm? Do you encourage your agents to get a site as well? If your site and agents sites don't rank on the top of google whats the point? What is your reason for a website?

Websites serve a variety of purposes. Obviously, one great reason is s that clients can find you. That is probably the most profitable reason for having one.

Another reason why business owners have a website is it creates credibility in buyers eyes when you can simply tell them, visit us on the web at www.mywebsite.com

Another reason for having a website is as a means of communication with existing and potential clients. For example, you can go to my website to find a 100 point marketing plan that I use to sell homes or go to my website to find a link to utility service providers in your area, etc

I think it is very important for a brokerage to have a website. I get disappointed if there is a company I'm interested in finding more about and they don't have a website in any industry. I won't go into more details about what is important to have on an agent or brokerage website.

Seriously? I almost thought this was a trick question.. :)

Of course you have to have a website, as a professional. And not one of those freebie ones either. Buy your own Domain and start building your brand of YOU.

A website can serve a variety of purposes, although it is worth mentioning that some agents do not need a website quite as much, depending on their size. That said, I still think that most agents would be well-served by having an online presence, the caveat being to ensure that they understand the goal of their site and that their site is doing them more good than harm.

I think today that having a website for your business is just as important as having a phone number for it.

Many potential clients will look you up on google when they are making a decision on who to deal with and if they cannot find you it's a big problem.

there are so many companies out here offering to build websites? Can I get a few good recomendations?

We centralize web operations and none of our agents have their own presence. It's a lot easier to focus on one goal and mission than to have everyone online doing their own thing.

^That would be a brokerage I would never work for. For one thing it's too easy for whoever is in charge of distributing leads to play favorites.

I think having an online presence is essential! It is important for agents because it lets them create a relationship with the potential buyer or seller.

A lot of agents with websites also have a blog. This increases your odds for a google search on agents in X market.

The agents also make it clear what company they work for which gives them more creditability.

My website is currently in development with Uptown Creative Group. (www.uptowncg.com).

They're hands down, the cleanest - websites available.

I think having a web site for a real estate agent or broker is a no brainer. How could you not be where people are looking over 80 -90 % of the time.

However, as a broker who has been active on line with multiple sites for 11 years my feeling for search engine placement has changed a ton.

Where at one time I worked very hard to maintain a #1 ranking, now-a-days I couldn't care less. Web 2.0 has changed how people interact online.

Now I focus my marketing on driving people to my site for specific offerings. it beats the random stuff all to heck !!

Good luck. Dave

Our firm has a diverse online strategy. We have a company website maintained by us, a lead generation website for the company and each agent also has a web page spun off that which is maintained by a third party. Finally, we encourage our agents to also maintain their own websites if they want to as long as it meets some minimum guidelines such as mentioning the company name etc.

I do have to say that since obtaining the lead generation website our traffic has doubled from what it was this time last year on our main company website. It also brings in about 50-60 extra leads a month from what we were receiving before. This is excellent for us as we are a small town second home market.

Having a good web presence whether it's a site or blog is crucial in my part of the country. Lot's of tech savvy people here, they expect their real estate broker to have the tools to compete on the web.

An online presence is critical for an agent. For my brokerage we have a site provided by our franchiser. For my sales team, I have a custom website. Both produce a ton of leads. Even if you do not get high ranking in Google, you can push prospects to your site via Craigslist by posting your listings there. We have found that we get a better Google ranking for our team website by using long tail search words - for example, a local neighborhood allows for better SEO than a city.

Best of luck!

You are right on track. What has happened is we have had a shift in communication. People no longer do it the same way. I mean heck I cant even remember the last time I sent a real letter. It's all about PM me or face book me, text me shoot me an email. We work with so many clients that don't even want to talk on the phone they prefer the above forms of communication.

Really cool to me and a huge shift non the less.

It's very important to have your own website.

Having a good web presence is imperative. No matter what your marketing plan is, the web is a channel that must be used.

Do you check regularly on the internet to be certain NONE of your agents have their own individual websites. I, too, have never heard of such a thing unless all the agents are partners of the company.

I have never really heard of this either.

Do you think that they think we're staring at them?

I am going to go with YES!

Oh! That ends the day perfectly!

these days website is must for our business as it give us online presence plus our clientele can find us through web also we have global visibility

It can't be over emphasize how important at this time and age a website is. Without professional web presence, no real estate broker can survive. For us in Croatia, all buyers are from foreign country and website is their first contact with our company.

Websites are great for requesting contact information and having a way for clients to preview property.

I've worked on a couple of websites and firmly believe the internet will continue to drive most leads. I do question the validity of social media, however. I feel that social media integration is more of a tool that SEO specialists push on RE agents for more money.

Hi,
I think today that having a website is very important because many potential clients will look you up on google when they are making a decision on who to deal with and if they cannot find your website then it's a big problem.

Many people consult google search results before making a decision on with whom to deal? I think, having a website increase the possibility to do business with new people.

I have several websites that I use for lead generation, some of which are in my signature below. I try to position a website in the search engines for the keyword phrases that are important for a city, a township, and a subdivision. Doing this has generated a lot of prospects for me over the last 10 years.

Websites allow the consumer a casual, informal, and soft way to learn more about you and your company, to learn about the market, how many homes for sale on the MLS, updates, etc.

Our real estate team in Minnesota relies heavily on the internet in our marketing efforts.

And yes, I do encourage our agents to each have their own website(s) as well. Cheers!