BiggerPockets

I'd like to get some opinions and ideas on the future of real estate marketing using the internet...and how it can be applied as a PRIMARY marketing tool rather than just a side tool, which it seems like for many.

I've been wholesaling using the internet for almost five years. I used to be the only game in town locally on line but it is growing. Real Estate investors are still behind the curve technologically. I know there are a lot of courses and software available but most RE Investors I know don't have a clue so I still have fairly low competition. It beats messing with bandit signs and door knocking hands down but is not the "autopilot" "flip houses in your sleep" that it's hyped to be in some courses. But it is without a doubt one of the most "hands off" ways to make money with real estate. I rarely look at a house that I wholesale. The internet let's me negotiate and sell from my computer and cell phone "for real".

Ok. My answers are blunt and may be abrasive to some but my goal is to give you the best answer I have. It doesn't mean I'm completely right or my way is "The Way", it's just what's worked for me.

As far as books and software, not sure. My stuff is kind of home grown.

First tip and biggest mistake the RE Agents and Investors make is answering this question.

What is the primary purpose of your web site?

Trick question. There is no primary purpose. There is only a Sole Purpose. That sole purpose is to brand yourself, generate a seller lead or sell a house. The three should never be attempted on the same web site.

You should have a we buy houses website a we sell houses web site and last (most folks do this first) a branding website.

Cyrus, your site seems to fall more in line with the branding site (you may have the others out there?). And that's ok because at least you recognized the need to get a presence on the web. Now it's time to turn up the heat and get your sole purpose sites out there.

Starting with we buy houses.
A one page site is perfect. Speak to their problems (divorce, inheritance, behind on payments) Provide a solution (We buy houses fast regardless of repairs. We'll make you an offer today) and the a call to action. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx for your cash offer today.

It looks like you can offer a lot. Your site is good for branding and should have links to lead gen sites for your services (Owner finance/lease option site); etc...

And so on. Hope it helps.

As time goes on the internet will be the place to be for real estate, but really it's hard to say when or what would qualify the statement 'the future is here' for real estate investors.

Using the internet as your primary marketing tool seems a little strong, but not having it even as a side tool is just not the way to go. On the other hand if you can situate yourself on the net and hold your ground you ought to be able to stay a step ahead. Rachel has some good tips, especially about the blog if you're going after sellers because you can startup wordpress, get the all-in-one SEO pack, and target specific terms such as 'Auburn' or the name of your county, region, etc.

The direction we've been taking with the internet lately has actually been to run 5-day sales and run ads from Monday to Sunday. Since most of the people on Craigslist are looking for those bargains, then we push the low price, run with image/link ads, and track our hit count. We've actually got a customized site together to handle that traffic because we'll run 5-day sales just to replenish our buyers list when thing seem like they're thinning out.

One thing we've noticed is that using the internet works much better for finding buyers than it does when it comes to generating seller leads. The theory is that the first place people go to look for information is the internet these days, it's just too easy not to, on the other hand sellers (around here anyway) don't seem to have as much confidence finding help on the web.

You should definately look into getting an autoresponder, those things are just dynomite when it comes to being the last man standing in the follow up game.

I wouldn't give up door knocking just yet though, there's still a whole demographic out there of people who restart their comp by unplugging the power cord.

Exactly, there are already a world of investors specializing and competing for seo real estate so in order to make a splash in a certain area you have to specialize it and hit it harder than anyone else in order to be truely competitive.

Unfortunately SEO and Marketing strategies don't always work well together. I'll take quality traffic over quantity. I'd rather have less traffic that converts than a bunch of traffic that gets lost in overload of information. In my business of wholesaling when a motivated seller lands on my page I want the only options to be call me or fill out the submission form without being distracted or lured away by other pages.

Also the last thing I want is for a seller who found me on the internet to go back to my site and see their house being marketed for a higher price before I close with them. So I've found it better to keep my we buy houses and wholesale deal sites separate. Even with very few pages I've been able to stay in the top two spots on google for my targeted search terms for the last couple of years.

To get a big boost in traffic get your company listed in Google Local for your keywords. I have been online for 10 years and I use to flip real estate but now flip websites.

Search for "City Name" Real Estate agent in google and the first results is local results. There a lot of ways you can market online. 80% of people look online before they buy so you need a presence.