Re: Do real estate agent really need to have a website?
Time for someone to be the devil's advocate... Realtors DO NOT need a real estate website of their own or even a detailed web presence to be successful!
Success, and how it is defined, is the real key to the question. Some agents enter the business with a very large list list of potential customers, and many that have been in the business for a long time already have a group of loyal customers. If the agent meets the needs of these customers, with or without a website, they should still continue to have success. After all, people depend on an agent to help them buy or sell a home and the ability to do that is not necessarily tied to a particular website - although a website is more important when representing sellers then buyers.
The REAL VALUE of a website is the ability to attract NEW CUSTOMERS! So if the question of the thread was "Do real estate agent really need to have a website in order to generate new customers for their business?" the answer would have to be almost certainly yes. Generating leads from referrals does not require a website, but "walk-ins" are increasingly rare and print advertising to only a phone number is no longer going to generate sufficient leads to justify the cost.
More then anything else, a website is a MARKETING TOOL... if it is properly SEO or marketed through links that drive traffic to the site, then the site can generate new leads. A very useful site, that no one ever sees, is useless. A useless site, on the other hand, that has plenty of traffic, could still generate leads. So, more then anything else, exposure of the website is the first priority, usefulness is #2. So when developing on a budget, agents should always focus on priority #1, then when money comes, use funds to further develop #2.
|