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Web Promotion
Planning and strategizing are keys to riding on the cutting edge of a competitive, high-tech real estate market. The first realtors to jump onto the World Wide Web with decent realtor websites with creative website design and features reaped easy profits. But much has changed since those days.
Did you know that in the period from 2001-2005, the number of real estate agents in the United States grew 46%-from 750,000 to 1.1 million. The U.S. population also grew during this period, but the increase was a mere 2.5%! You do the math. There are now more realtors dividing up the business. In fact, the statistics in some boom areas are even more daunting with three times the number of agents than at the turn of the century.
And with the many years of low interest rates, people stuck their necks out and purchased more homes. Rising interest rates are reducing the second-home market. Another online curveball is third-party referrals buying and selling leads-kind of like the other team is intercepting our passes.
Longtime Atlanta realtor Jim Crawford was asked to speak at the 2004 National Association of Realtors convention in Orlando on the topics of "How to Make Money with Your Website" and "Technology Driven Business Models." Mr. Crawford says, "In retrospect, these sessions have forced me to rethink profit strategies and how profitability can be attained." Analyzing the trends, Crawford says, "I've become convinced it is now more difficult to exact the same amount of profits from the web that was so easy just a short while ago. Why? The fundamentals of online real estate changed. The new realities of doing business on the Internet, and stiff competition for Internet profits, will remain a challenge in [the] foreseeable future."
We do like a healthy challenge, right? Challenges bring personal growth, making us flexible and keeping us on our toes. Challenges make us creative! And, in the midst of challenges, businesses either sink or swim.
And for the dedicated realtor, there is only one option: SWIM.
Strategize
Strategy is taking a step back and adjusting goals to make sure that you are profitable. An important step is analyzing what is really happening in the business. What is working? What is not? And why? What is the competition really doing? What is causing a lack of profitability? What possible changes will give us more positive outcomes?
Change is the only constant! What do we need to change about ourselves, our website, our business, our systems? Our businesses will not survive without strategy.
Website
Our websites for real estate need to be looked at objectively periodically. Have we kept up with technology and added features that will help us achieve our goals? Do we understand the need to make our websites be an extension of ourselves? With so many chains and shall we call them "ambitious entrepreneurs" creating generic, impersonal websites surrounding every city in the nation, have we created a business website that is more personal and warm? (Yes, put the name of a city into a search engine and you will find everything from dating services to schools to vacations.)
Imitate
Yes, find out what the successful people are doing. Find a mentor. And imitate. You do not have to recreate the wheel to get your business rolling.
Master Plan
Make a master plan for one year, three years, five years and ten years, even 20. Include your genuinely superb Colorado realty website features. Have a vision as to where you are going. Building a business is a long-term project. And think long term with people also. Making a profit on the Internet complemented by the profit you magnetize by networking with people should be doable for the person who keeps his or her eye on the goals. Write them down, put them on the wall and read them every day. Your vision will give you the energy and fortitude to reach those profitable goals.
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