Agents advertise everywhere these days. But what is the most cost effective way to do it online?

As a person who is actively looking for a home in the Toronto area, I find it strange how committed most agents are to print materials.

As a viral opportunity, an html newsletter would be a great addition to any real estate site. Basically it's emailed to subscribers regularly and can be customized quickly and easily based on criteria you select.

Example:
A basic newsletter with versions for first time buyers and those looking to move up in the market.

Encouraging subscribers to forward this email to friends and family can then expand your list and provide you with more opportunities to promote your business.

Another way to get yourself noticed is to advertise on sites that focus on the audience you are trying to reach.

I maintain a site that helps consumers find bank products in Canada, by providing links to the sections of bank sites they need to make the right decisions.

With over 2000 unique visitors each month http://www.banksonline.com has a built in audience that attracts the audience you want to reach.

Better still, for as little $25 you can have a banner designed and placed on the homepage. For an extra $5, that same banner will also appear on our mortgage page.

Come by for a visit or send me a note.

your just soliciting your business.

A few easy cost effective ways to advertise yourself as an agent online would be. Have a website of your own which wont' really cost much. just a few bucks. Second post on real estate forums like this and mine on my signature to get people to your site and have your site listed on your business card. At the same time have your info in your signature when posting on real estate forums and make your posts educated so people think your smart and go with you as the agent. You could also list yourself on a few real estate agent directories.

Mystic,

Your right on it. Essentially networking is the key. But as far as driving traffic to your website there are a few more elements to the overall picture. I'm sure everyone understands SEO, so there is no need to get into that. If your SITE is well connected with lots of links and you network your SITE in addition to yourself then you are esentially marketing yourself free and crawling your way up the search rankings.

Also, to the OP, banner ads are a total thing of the past. There is so much scamming, skimming and spamming in that realm of "industry" that it has been deamed pay a CPM basis for banner space is almost useless. And sometimes worse than useless. Business needs to exist on the premise of performance. Our whole culture exists on that in fact. So if you are so sure that your company can provide performance and that you are giving our such a great deal you should offer your services based on the performance that your visitors create for your advertising partners. There's no loss in it for anybody that way.

Check out www.LinkedRealtor.com for cost effective ways for agents to market and promote themselves online.

google paid per click is the most effective form of adverting. I used to work for the new york times online. Local online news sites can be effective if they properly promote themselves.

seo is a different picture. Were talking about how to advertise yourself as a real estate agent not how to get the most traffic to your website. If its traffic to your website ofcourse do the best seo you can and work hard to get as many links to your website as you can but this is not the case. Even as a real estate agent you don't need to do alot of seo for your site. Just by word of mouth forum links and business cards etc. is enough.

btw if anyone needs a real estate agent website done for them I could do it for them for really cheap. PM me for pricing and details.

As far as getting your name out there, I have found that blogging is extremely helpful. Like said in the above post, networking is key, so contributing and learning from forums such as this is a must! Through forums, I got turned on the concept of blogging. In my opinion, it is almost like a cousin of the forum. For the longest time, I didn't get all that involved with it. But I kept reading over and over how it helped out increase traffic to your website, and established your "web-presence." Finally, I thought what the heck. There are several different blog sites that you can start up a blog for free. I use the one with Google, but there are many others. A blog is less formal than a website, and someone may visit your blog before they visit your website. It is "less pressure" if you will. It can be a place to share ideas and stories and anecdotes or anything you please! It is a great networking source.

I found that blogging really did increase traffic to my website, and it helped to get my name out there in cyberspace. I used www.feedburner.com (which is also free – I am a big fan of free) to add a RSS feed to my website. That way, if your blog content is being updated on a regular basis – in turn your website content is being updated on a regular basis thus helping your page rankings.

I use my blog to share useful info that I found that others may find interesting, or save them some time and money. Folks respond in kind with tips and such that I find interesting. I also use it to ask questions and advice of my peers. As an agent, you could blog about the area you focus on, and what is going on their – special events, sales and such. Burn a feed using feedburner and send it to family, friends and past clients to get them started. They will mention it to friends, and before you know it, your name is getting out there promoting more traffic to your website. It helps people get a feeling that they know you more too! More than just looking at solicitations on a webpage. This as you know is essential to the real estate profession.

Sorry for the long post. Remember, these are just my opinions. To make a long story short – start a free blog and see what happens. Good luck and I hope this helps!

Craig's List has worked for me sometimes, but it can me a lot of work.