Well to make this short and sweet.Whether you are in a magazine or sending out postcards or on the web its all about the numbers you get..the more calls, emails and visits to a web site the more business you will close.

I can say that the number of direct hits I get to my web site from all the print advertising I do is small conpared to the hits I get from the search engines and major key phrases.

I do know for sure that the top web site on google for the key phrase Las Vegas Real Estate gets over 300 leads a day and this is why I am shooting for the top position on google and the other major search engines.

I dont believe there is another marketing tool greater then the web. As a good example I got a lead on the web 2 weeks ago and just put them into a contract for a 1.495 million dollar home thats $ 44,000 commission. That is just one example of what you can get. I am averaging around 18 to 30 leads a day right now and I am not even in the top 10 on google yet for the major search phrases and I have discontinued the PPC with the number of leads I am getting in.

Someone make a comment about realtors not responding to there email you are right a lot of them dont but if they knew what those of us that do pay a lot of attention to the web they would. Because of the business I am getting now I have added a new email system to my cell phone where when I get an email I get a call and I am read the email over the phone by a computer generated voice...after I hear it I can respond by voice to that email msg and it is sent in text to the person who emailed me.

To cut this book short LOL if you just build it they will not come as often as if you build it, optimize it and stay on top of your leads coming in.

Sorry for the book.

Best Wishes

Wayne Griggs http://www.las-vegas-homefinder.com

Your Hottest Source For Las Vegas Real Estate Buying and Selling!

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with Doug on a few points. First, a bit about me. I am an Internet consultant that purchased my first home two years ago. I shopped for homes online before arriving in town and making my purchase. I am now looking to upgrade and I am shopping for investment property out of state. All of my shopping will be done, or at least start, online. I am not selling anything so this is an unbiased analysis.

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Seriously though, the main reason the vast majority of real estate websites are worthless and a complete waste of time is because noone can find them.
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I don't find that this is true at all. I have no trouble finding realtors Web sites. With a combination of Realtor.com and Google, I can find any site in any market with little trouble (usually). The problem is that when I find the sites, they are for the most part worthless. All opportunity to generate interest in listings through the power of the Internet has been overlooked or ignored by just about every realtor in America. I am so perplexed by the lack of effective online marketing that I am compelled to post here today so that maybe I can gain an understanding of why there are systematic shortcomings in this industry.

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Building and maintining a successful web presence is an extroardinary amount of work that goes on in perpituity. There's no quick, free, or easy ways to do it and the ones who have recognized this are doing very well in many cases but the vast majority continue to seek the quick cheap miracle.
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There is some truth to this but it is not as bad as you think. If a realtor were to create a site using guidelines centered around usable content, reasonable search engine structure, simple but effective administration tools, and committed the time it took to learn the basics of effective online marketing, then this would really become a non-issue.

Entire online businesses are created around the concept of residual results. In other words - it is possible to create a site that generates revenue month after month with little or no time invested by the owner after the initial setup. This idea of residual results can be applied to any online venture, including real estate. Create a well-structured site and keep the content up to date (listings in this case), and you may find that it takes on a life of it's own and rewards you ten fold for the effort you put into it.

A lot of the blame for lack of results falls on the Internet industry. I hesitate to even call it an industry when just about anyone can get into it and it's tough to tell the difference between the services offered by a sixteen year old kid in his basement and a full fledged marketing agency. I could see that as a realtor with little knowledge of online marketing, it would be difficult or impossible to make an informed decision on who to hire for a new website and marketing services.

However, that does not explain why the big companies like C21 and ReMax aren't getting it. I would think that with all the money and expertise behind these companies that every C21 office would have a top-notch website and a suite of online marketing guidelines and tools. Just the opposite seems to be true. The sites from these companies are often the least informative out there. I could post links for several mom and pop realtys that have made sites that are far better than the big guys.

Anyway, I just found this forum and it looks like a good one. Hopefully I can help a bit and in turn I will find that mountain property online