Internet Best Practices for Real Estate Agents

Technology has been central in transforming the real estate industry over the past few years. It would be hard to look past how much the business has benefited from the improved efficiency that has come with digital media, from virtual tours to cashless transactions.

While the internet has opened up many doors for real estate professionals, not everyone takes advantage of these new opportunities. In this blog, we’ll go over some internet best practices for real estate agents and how they can help benefit your career.

Internet’s Role in Modern Real Estate

A strong online presence is a must-have for real estate agents, as it can greatly increase your chances of success. In fact, according to a survey by the National Association of REALTORS®, every single buyer used the internet at some point in their search in 2024. With more and more interactions starting online, your internet presence could be a client's first impression of you and your company.

Modern real estate is defined by popular platforms like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com. These sites allow buyers to quickly and easily look at properties, access photos, take virtual tours, and communicate with agents. With the internet, buyers now do a large part of their home searching online! This presents agents a great opportunity to connect with new clients.

Taking Advantage of Internet Marketing

With the digital world now running parallel to everyone’s daily lives, it is fertile ground for effective marketing. The increasing popularity of social media, blogging, and YouTube provides agents with increased opportunities to share their stories and promote their services.  Agents can use paid and organic communications to reach audiences that they’ve never been able to reach before.

Today’s agents can even geo-target individuals based on the areas in which they want to do business. Here are a few innovative ways to utilize the latest in digital marketing for real estate agents in today’s climate:

• Run Facebook ads for your listings to audiences in the surrounding areas.
• Upload video walkthroughs of homes to your social channels
• Write blogs about how to buy and sell homes in specific regions
• Engage with people on social media to stay top of mind

Real estate agents can advance their careers by using online platforms well and implementing internet best practices to create a successful online marketing strategy.

Using Online Advertising Strategically and Ethically

As a real estate agent, you should approach online advertising intelligently and ethically, using focused campaigns that appropriately portray properties.

Be open and honest about your marketing. That means ensuring the square footage, features, and pricing of a property in your web listings are correct and up to date. In all web ads, plainly say that you are a real estate agent and provide the name of your brokerage firm.

Do not make false statements. You never want to attract buyers with lies or half-truths. Avoid overstating the property's features, making false promises, or using misleading wording. If you are honest with potential buyers, the right ones will come to you.

The NAR highlights the necessity of keeping your website current and in compliance when using the internet for company marketing. Follow the regulations at all times. Respect the state and municipal regulations governing real estate advertising, particularly those controlling fair housing practices.

Build Your Email Prospects and Buyers List

You may not turn a prospect into a house buyer overnight, but if you can secure their contact details, you’re giving yourself a chance to make an impression as a real estate expert over several weeks or months (or even years) through structured email campaigns. Email can also be an effective tool for open house invitations, offering useful tips to people in transition, and monthly or quarterly market updates.

Simple touches over extended periods of time don’t take much effort but can help you stay in front of potential clients as they prepare for their next home search. Furthermore, having a rich email list with good newsletter content should also help you establish yourself as an authority in your local market.

Build a Personal Website

The initial investment you’ll make to purchase a domain and build a website can equate to hundreds, if not thousands, of leads for years to come. Typical property searches now begin online, and a professional website will benefit you greatly. Having a website adds credibility and allows you to customize your listings to make them more appealing and unique.

Be sure to proactively participate in the design process of your site. Take note that prospective houses are inherently visual and must be seen in their best light to attract viewers. Therefore, the design must be fluid, and your images and texts must be responsive on both desktop computers and phones.

Have a Social Media Presence

Despite coming off a pretty challenging year, Facebook still looks like the go-to social media platform for real estate agents. Organic campaigns and promotions without paid ads have experienced a significant decline in recent updates. However, the social networking giant still has over 2 billion users, which can be utilized by various niches.

On the other side of the spectrum is LinkedIn, which is best for building your professional network. It’s a perfect platform to launch yourself as a subject-matter expert as well. In fact, more agents are using LinkedIn to showcase their successes, posting to their following when they close deals

This helps strengthen their credibility in the professional world. In addition, you should also try your hand on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram if you want to put extra emphasis on your visual campaigns and promotions. Moreover, Instagram is very user-friendly. Coupled with the fact that it’s mainly accessed on mobile devices, you can understand why it leads to higher levels of engagement — increasing views, strengthening branding, and if targeted well, generating leads.

Keep Track of Your Metrics

Measuring the success of your campaigns is key to maximizing your success online moving forward. You might find yourself overwhelmed at first, but you’re probably well aware that all numbers do lead to the all-important conversion.

Bear in mind that you must consistently identify and track your online engagement metrics to better understand which strategies are working and which should be replaced or tweaked. There are also factors like engagement, followers, and shares where you will find small wins that can also be leveraged when running your next campaign.

Need More Help?

It can be difficult to keep up with the newest trends and technology in internet marketing because the digital world is always changing. The best thing you can do is reach out for help in maximizing the various digital tools in real estate. Agent Campus by 360training offers real estate pre-license courses for those just starting their career, as well as continuing education courses that help agents renew their licenses and stay updated on the latest best practices across a variety of different topics, platforms, and channels. Visit our website today to view our full catalog of courses!