What you should know about Internet Marketing

Every month millions of fingertips tap on keyboards querying homes. They belong to people eager to find their needle in the worldwide haystack of listings.

BY JOHN N. VATISTAS

Your home could be that needle, But it must be sharp To stand out from all the other dull needles.

Eighty percent of real estate buyers begin their search online. An overwhelming number of them start on REALTOR.com. But that's not the end of the road, it’s just the beginning. There are dozens of other sites your agent could be leveraging your listings on, such as Google, Craigslist, Hotpads, Live Deal, Oodle, Trulia, Vast, Zillow, Propsmart and more. There are unique services that can syndicate your home to all of the aforementioned sites, including postlets.com and threewide.com.

If your agent is posting your home on their Web site go to www.alexa.com. Click Ranking and type their URL into the search bar and discover where on the Web they rank. Let's be realistic. If your agent's entire marketing plan is built off of their traffic make sure they have sizeable traffic. Same holds true for their brokerage.

In today's market, you need to be associated with a Web site that brings as many international eyeballs to the table as possible.  Increasingly, our international friends are finding it a bargain to buy property in Arizona.  Make sure your property is on an international real estate Web site.

Does your home have its own domain name such as 123mainstreet.com? You can get yours on godaddy.com or have your agent buy it on VREO, Ala Mode or V-Flyer and build an entire Web site around your home. Then you can syndicate this site to all the sites mentioned above.

Speaking of Web sites built around homes, realestateshows.com offers great software to create elegant slideshows for your home.  Better yet, TourFactory.com is another effective way of showcasing your home on the Internet.  Having the right online tour can significantly increase your chances for finding the perfect buyer. 

Are the hits to your site being tracked? They should be. Google analytics or visistat.com can do that easily. 

Crazyegg.com or clickdensity.com can help your agent monitor all of the pages on your property site or your agent's site to learn which pages people like to visit and which pages they don't. By clearing up things on the site people don't bother with, the site becomes much more user-friendly. By clearing the clutter, there is more room to showcase great content such as your home.

Your property can easily be published in a blog or monthly newsletter online through companies like VerticalResponse.com, Wordpress.com, or Typepad.com.

Flickr.com, Snapfish.com or Photobucket.com are other great ways to update home photos through the Web.

Has your agent shot video of your home? The Web is an amazing place to post video for the world to see.  Wellcomemat.com or Turnhere.com are great options. 

Great marketing is all about doing things differently and making something stand out from everything else. Today, buyers are moved by the outstanding. By the special. By the things that stand out. Make your home stand out, market it wisely and price it right and you'll be on the road to wherever your next real estate dreams are taking you.