Expert Article

Internet Marketing

Perhaps more than most industries, the internet plays a very active role in the real estate marketplace. It has become an important information clearinghouse with a much wider reach than traditional marketing alone. Virtually all successful commercial and residential real estate marketing now includes a presence on the net in some form or another. Nowadays, any real estate agency worth its salt submits property information to several internet databases as a standard service. They subscribe to several major databases, which enables them to create, edit and search listings. Some sites require paid membership to add listings, while others permit users to add information for free.

Just as with any other technology tool, listing services are most effective when used correctly and in conjunction with other marketing techniques. Effective signage, phone calls, blast emails, targeted mailings, advertisements and personal contacts are several important techniques that real estate agents use in combination with internet marketing to sell or lease properties.

To make the most of an online listing, the data posted must be well researched, accurate and presented in an appealing manner. Images of pictures and plans (GIFs, JPEGs, etc.) need to be chosen for best effect and prepped and uploaded according to the host site's specifications. A person who is knowledgeable about the property and the market needs to be prepared to field questions about the listing, as well as conduct site tours when requested. Real estate brokerage firms are ideally suited to play this role for busy owners and landlords. They are also valuable for their market knowledge and experience to help determine rates and prices and identify the features that will generate the greatest interest in the property.

At Markward Group, we have many tools that help us maximize the owner's investment. As part of our standard marketing services, we post each property on several industry-leading systems, including CoStar, Loopnet and PropertyLine. We also include all listings on our own MarkwardGroup.com property database. Since the web is such a visual medium, we try to include several good quality interior and exterior photos of each property, along with site plans, floor plans and aerials whenever possible to achieve maximum impact. Each listing also receives a full-color PDF version of the property brochure with pictures, features, descriptions and specifications (sample).

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