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Mobile Technology for Real Estate Agents

Mobile technology is particularly exciting for real estate, because it allows the agent or broker to operate in real time, providing top notch service and response.

Real estate professionals have never been, as a whole, early adopters of technology, despite proven benefits. But falling behind when it comes to applicable technology can cost you money, and a lot of it. Mobile technology for real estate agents is a hot, growing field. What do you know about it?

The average real estate agent is in his or her mid-50s (57, to be exact). This is a contributing factor to the prevalent use of outdated technology in the business. But realtors are adopting mobile technology. Smartphones are commonplace. Tablets and iPads are growing in popularity. These devices enable location aware applications at very reasonable price points, designed for use on systems most people are already familiar with. It’s win-win-win-win!

Mobile technology is particularly exciting for real estate, because it allows the agent or broker to operate in real time, providing top notch service and response.

Handy SMS mobile tools like Smart Lead Capture allow real estate professionals to market their listings and capture leads over mobile devices. With smart lead capture, agents and brokers can capture leads by offering their clients the ability to “text for more information” about a property listed for sale or rent. The system stores and displays all of the property information and displays it to the prospects in a manner that best fits the user’s mobile phone. Information can be sent as a text message or over the internet via a mobile browser.

You can also ensure you never miss a text lead by setting up SMS Auto-Responder technology. Similar to email auto-responders, SMS Auto-Responders allow you to send an automated response via text message as soon as a prospect utilizes your text for information service provided by Smart Lead Capture. You can write custom messages for each of your listings, and they’ll be sent automatically.

Over half of prospects (56%) expect to be contacted within 30 minutes of expressing interest in a property, according to NAR statistics. This kind of high expectation leaves no margin for error. Taking advantage of the many affordable mobile technology tools now available to real estate professionals helps you close the gap, more and more.

Mobile applications like Lead Alert send instant leads via SMS (text) message, so that follow-up can happen in real time. Respond while a prospective buyer’s interest is at its peak – while they’re standing in front of the property or clicking through its individual property website.

We could spend weeks covering mobile technology for real estate professionals (and maybe we will!), but this is a great place to start. There is no shortage of awesome applications and new developments. Just a little investment will take you and your real estate business a long way.

Understanding Traffic to Your Property Website

Getting traffic to your property websites is step one. Understanding where that traffic comes from is a VERY important step two.

Getting traffic to your property websites is step one. Understanding where that traffic comes from is a VERY important step two. Traffic = visitors. Visitors = potential leads and clients. Understanding traffic to your property website is crucial.

Analyzing your website traffic is about more than counting your weekly or monthly visitor numbers. You should also review live statistics that tell you where your visitors are coming from. How are these visitors finding your property website, and where are they coming from? How can you maximize these visits and convert them into home buyer or home seller clients?

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The most recent statistical data from Properties Online [see graphic] tells us some very interesting and important things. We have compiled the traffic statistics from ALL Listings Unlimited and Listing Domains single property sites and found that:

44% of traffic is direct traffic, meaning these visitors have gone directly to your site by typing in the URL. This includes both sign rider and word-of-mouth traffic.
28% of traffic is referral traffic, and this is an important one to watch. Facebook currently refers HALF of all referral traffic to single property websites. Social media should be an important part of your real estate marketing plan.
Most visitors (56.8%) view your single property websites on their desktop computer, but growing numbers (28.7% and 14.5%, respectively) use their mobile phones or tablets.
It’s easy to increase your traffic. Property websites with Top Level Domain (555AnySt.com) AND sign rider drive 5 TIMES more traffic than those without.

It’s in your best interest to:

1. Promote all your listings through single property websites

2. Make sure your websites are optimized for mobile (here’s a hint and some reassurance: if you’re using Listings Unlimited, they are

3. Use Top Level Domains AND custom sign riders

4. Be involved in social media – start with a Facebook Business Page

5. Make use of the automated Facebook App, free with every Listings Unlimited site

Questions to ask:

Who are my visitors?
Where do they come from?
Where do they land?
How long do they stay?
Which referring sites send the most traffic my way?
How to custom sign riders and top level domain names affect my traffic?
What are the most popular pages on my site?
How many repeat visitors does my site receive?
How often are pages on my site shared (this can be viewed at a glance with social sharing buttons installed)?\

Once you start to do a little digging and applying, you’ll probably find your websites statistics fascinating. You’ll be able to compare your stats to the compiled stats we found, and look at ways to improve your individual site’s traffic. We’re good at that, so feel free to ask for help.

Get More Real Estate Leads Through Your Website

There is no shortage of web development options for the professional real estate agent. But how can you ensure that what you end up with after your financial investment is, in fact, a professionally designed, high quality agent website that actually works to bring you more leads? Get more real estate leads through your website by making smart online choices and thinking comprehensively.

Whether you’re a sole agent, a real estate office full of agents or a property manager, professional real estate website builders like RealEstateSites.com are your answer to a web solution that actually delivers sellers and buyers.

Your website, which can be up and running within mere minutes—REALLY!—is only one part of the total package. When you’re looking for a website solution that will deliver leads, look for an integrated package that can also provide:

Customizable design
Personalized domain name
Mobile website version
Unlimited pages and links
Unlimited photos and graphics
Full screen photo tour
Social media integration
Video builder technology
Craigslist integration
Listing sindication
Micro property sites
IDX property search (MLS)
CRM
RSS feeds
Interactive maps
Neighborhood data
Market reports
Recently sold homes
QR Code generator
Postcard printing
Agent blast e-marketing lists and functionality
Property widgets
Drip marketing
Text leads
Google Analytics plug-in
PayPal integration
YouTube plug-in
Zillow market data
MSN Live Earth
Custom domain riders
Free trial period

You see how quickly a basic real estate website can turn into so much more. Trusting an expert to put all the puzzle pieces together makes good business sense, and allows you to focus your time on what you do best: selling real estate.

Still not convinced? Try setting up a free demo website right now, and see just how easy it is to start generating more real estate leads online.

Real Estate Leads: The Importance of Quick Follow Up

Our goal is to capture as many real estate leads for you as we can. This means that just about every page on your agent website will come with a lead generator. Your clients can request additional information about a listing, request a CMA, sign up for free listing updates, download a report or check out the recent home sales in their neighborhood – ALL of which require them to enter their contact information.

Once you have captured a real estate web lead, it is crucial that you immediately follow up on that lead if you want to close a transaction. Many real estate professionals find that with good online real estate marketing campaigns, lead generation is not that hard anymore, but you still face the challenge of turning those leads into lifelong customers.

The most important thing you can do to turn real estate leads into customers is to follow up, and the sooner, the better. Imagine being able to contact a lead while they are still browsing your real estate site – that would be the ultimate in capturing leads!

Our Real Estate Sites enable you to do just that. When you use our agent site, you receive instant leads by a text message. With our LEADS2TEXT service, you can have your website leads sent immediately to your text-enabled cell phone.

If someone fills out a form on your website, our program will convert their message to text and transmit it to your cell phone, so you can follow up while your prospect is still viewing your website! This is one of the best ways to turn such a prospect into a customer, so make sure you take advantage of this free service.