We’ve talked in the past about how critical it is to understand the local nature of real estate. Part of “localizing” your business is to create an online home base through which to interact and dispense expertise to potential clients. In short, you need a vibrant, regularly updated website that serves a greater purpose than allowing you to say, “Oh yeah, I have a website.” Today’s real estate buyer (like every other human on the face of the planet) is information crazy.

If you can provide the kind of information about a local property market that intercepts browsers as they are going through the process of turning into buyers, you’re golden. Here’s what we mean. The average property buyer is no longer going to pick up the phone and call a real estate agent when he or she is interested in purchasing a property. First, they’ll head to the Internet for preliminary research. The more and varied places they run into you, the better for your business.

It should go without saying you need a website. Not a stagnant one, mind you, but a real, live, rootin’ tootin’ cyber presence with nuggets of information pertinent to the local property market, as well as evidence of how knowledgable you are. But don’t stop there. People stumble across real estate information from a variety of directions online and you need to have a solid presence on as many as possible.

Don’t forget national and local networks dedicated to real estate, as well as social media outlets and micro-blogging sites plugged into the industry. Visit forums and leave helpful comments. In this Age of Content, it’s to your advantage to liberally sprinkle yourself far, wide, and local. The goal is always to make yourself the ubiquitous presence that pops up whenever someone is looking for random information related to the local market. They see you once, maybe they’ll forget. They see you twice and go “Hmmm.” They see you three times and start to think, “This must be the guy or gal that knows what’s what about the place I’m interested in.”

Be personable, knowledgeable, and most of all – available. And don’t neglect to create a valuable online home base for your business.

The AIPIS Team

Flickr / Margaret Ornsby