I
am sure glad I made the switch to Internet marketing over 10 years ago, and
decided this was the model I wanted to conduct my real estate business. I was
sick of advertising, designing marketing materials that had limited returns,
classified ads that did not work, exorbitant color magazine ads with limited
shelf life, printing costs, photography costs, labels, flyers, paper, postage,
and the rejection in cold calling, and most of all the expense. So in the late
1990's I built
AtlantaBestHomes.Com and immediately started to do an incredible business.
The percentage of our business closed from the internet started to grow, and
believe it or not the cost factor for hosting started to decline big time. The
cost of hosing a website and server space became a lot cheaper. It was now only
costing $50 a year to host my site and about $9 for the domain. This was a time
when we broke new ground and were allowed to list more than a brochure, more
than my broker’s listings, we were even able to host and show over 80,000 shared
Atlanta home listings. Buyer agency was never so good.
The major benefit of focusing on the Internet as a source of lead generation was
the amount of time it freed up, and the diminished marketing costs. The Internet
allowed the potential clients to call us, instead of us initiating the marketing
call or printed materials. The Internet was one of the best possible tools I
could have employed to have an incredible career in real estate. I have
satisfied buyer that like the ease to find homes, and my sellers like how quick
their homes sell. How do you view your website?
We get over 750 - 800 unique visitors a day.
RE/MAX Paramount Properties 678-595-5283 Direct
Or 888-940-0074 Toll Free Office
Atlanta Real Estate Agents, Alpharetta GA Homes for Sale, Dunwoody GA Homes for Sale, Atlanta Real Estate & Atlanta Homes for Sale 
Gwinnett Homes for Sale
Atlanta Real Estate Blog, Cumming GA Homes 
You've been at it longer than me! But, I just published a new blog post that goes right along with this - your feedback would be appreciated: http://afriendinnova.blogspot.com/
Great results! 750+ unqiue visitors per day is excellent. Could you leverage that into other revenue streams, such as partner-ads (or would that hurt the quality of your site)? I noticed you have your activerain link at the bottom of the site...does that also produce links to your AR info?
WOW!!!
I gonna study your site right now.
Thanks.
Jim, I have had this Internet marketing on my mind since around 2000. I just never put it together. I remember running across your site back then. It has been only in the last two years that I have increase my Internet presence. I like you agree on the cost is so minimal when compare to paper type advertising. Thanks for all your insight.
Jim- Early adopters have gotten big payoffs and your results reflect that. What you may want to revisit is how well you are converting that traffic into leads. How many of the 800 visitors are signing up for a newsletter, contacting you, or a becoming a legitimate prospect and not just browsers.
After content conversion is king!
Good for you to start 10 years ago. Very smart move when so many people still didn't have an email address!
Congratulations! I don't know of too many realtors who have websites and are successful as you are. I do love your domain name, very catchy and easy to remember. 750+ visitors? so how many of those will you say are solid leads? could you share that info with me?
thanks
Andy Park (Weichert Realtors FH Realty) Right now lead conversion is very difficult. We are saturated with agents, website traffic etc... I would say 1-2 per week. Now I basically refer them out. We also have other sites in other states they do about the same amount of traffic, but in more expensive markets the leads are less.
I haven't devoted the time to develpoing mine further. I guess it's more of lack of time than effort. I seem to never stop.
Jim...
As you already know I too am an early adopter and do quite well with the Internet. I don't think a lot of agents understand that although costs have dropped, it still takes a lot of hard work to have a kickin' site.
It's just not something that you can decide to do today and have it succeeding in a month. It's a long, arduous journey.
Richard Weisser, Associate Broker, E-Pro ERA United Realty, Auctioneer, CE Author (Coweta Fayette Real Estate, Inc. ERA United Realty) You are right. It is not something you can purchase! It is a plan, and a major strategy. I have a few new sites up in Virginia, and it takes a lot longer than it used to get on page one and stay there.
Agents who advertise services or listings on the Internet know the value and cost effectiveness. Folks who don't. . . don't.
Jim,
I hate print ads...I've tried endlessly to give them a chance but wasted so much money with them....I think the public is finally getting the idea that they generally don't work..at least for me they don't...the net is the best place for it and thankfully most places are free...blogging definitely helps by incorporating the ad into a blog or flyer..the search engines help us get more exposure.
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Real Estate Lenn this is a good thing for you and I! My friends that do this for a living from the Internet, will tell you that other agents would not believe how low the marketing costs are.
Neal Bloom-Realtor ® Assoc.-CRS-Weston FL (RE/MAX Premier Associates)I have come to the conclusion...that for the most part, print ads are useless. They aid only the broker or company image, the return is never equal the effort, and in a saturated market like this, you are just totally throwing your money away! Those that spend money on print media in this market will not be in the business shortly because they will deplete their reserves quickly!
The internet is the most important part of the lead generation side of my business. The other part being personal referrals. I have no advertising and marketing budget other than the internet.
Jim, the amount of traffic to your site is amazing! I thought we were doing well at a little over 200 visitors per day here in Pensacola. Do you utilize any pay per click advertising?
Andrew Kyle - Calgary Condo Realtor (Royal LePage Foothills) Same here.! It is the way to go!
Team Sandy Blanton Realty, Inc Thanks, no I don't utilize any pay per click. From what my own research has shown me it it is mostly fraud. I do all my own search engin placement for AtlantaBestHomes.Com and as you can see for yourself on Google I am on the top of the page for the search term "Atlanta homes for sale"
Thanks for the response Jim. I google "Atlanta homes for sale" and saw you as number 5, very impressive. I have to admit, under a "pensacola homes for sale" search, we don't appear on the first page. We have a lot of work to do! Thanks again
Team Sandy Blanton Realty, Inc. Anytime! We have to work on it every day in some fashion! The trick is to have AtlantaBestHomes.Com to show up under every possible term. For Atlanta real estate we are on page 3, for Windward homes for sale we are on page 1, Atlanta homes is also on page 1, Atlanta luxury homes and Atlanta luxury homes for sale are both on page 1....
It is a method I have perfected over the years of web building and SEO research.
Good for you! I love the internet too!!
Jenniffer Lee (RE/MAX Select Boca, Inc.) Thanks so much! Best wishes!
That's a lot of visitors per day but Atlanta is a big town. I agree that the internet is the way to go. In fact, when I'm dealing with someone who does not do the internet or have access, I'm bumfuzzled as to what to do! Congratulations on your success.
Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR (RE/MAX Advantage) Barbara, tha is only one website. I have others! LOL!
I don't have the years into it that you do but when I made the switch I had virtually overnight success. Enough to pay for start-up and hosting costs and then some. It has been steadily building ever since.
Kathy Anderson - Sun City Grand Real Estate (Ken Meade Realty) It is the best decision you can ever make. In my seminars I talk about how to srtategize from inception, development, and implimentation. It works at a relativley low cost.