The number one reason to have a website (the #1 reason an agent does ANYTHING) is to get real estate leads. A website and blog is just another avenue of cultivating real estate leads for yourself. You can put up a contact form, comments page and even offer a free home value estimate to have people fill in their information.

Another huge reason to have a website is because over 75% of people looking to buy or sell a home are going online earlier to start their research, so you need to make sure they find YOU rather than your competition. Also, since more and more agents have websites, you better make sure yours will blow away the competition.

To get people to STAY on your site, fill out their info, or even just come back to your site again and again, there are a few things you may want to include:

• Local news updated weekly (or daily if you can manage)
• Free offers (for a pre-approval, or a free home value estimate)
• Listings, listings listings! (And make them interesting –have video and lots of pictures but do NOT include a price. Anyone interested can fill out a form for more information).
• And of course, a BLOG.

You know what a blog is, right? Formerly know has a web log, but shortened to a brand new term: blog. A blog is a great way to allow more of your personality to shine through to visitors to your site. As co-founder Dave Conklin says, “It’s all about your first virtual impression and building on that by engaging in dialogue with your leads and prospects.”

A blog enables you to show that you’re an expert in your field by answering questions people have, interacting with them and building a more personal relationship with your visitors by sharing your opinions, thoughts and experiences on all kinds of things, not just real estate. It helps people look at you as a real person, not just a face on a business card.

And that is really the heart of the matter when it comes to converting leads to actual clients. People don’t want a cold, all business, no fun kind of agent; they want a HUMAN BEING. Someone they can relate to, who may have shared similar experiences, someone they can trust.

It’s like the celebrity effect – think of a celebrity you REALLY like and whose career you may follow – now, even though you’ve never met that celebrity in your life – don’t you feel as though you know them already? Don’t you already know their opinions and experiences? Can you guess how they may react in a given situation? That’s because you’ve gotten to know so much about them it feels like they could have been a friend all your life.

That is what you want your blog and website to achieve. They should show you off as an expert in the field of real estate but also a human being with real experiences, triumphs and troubles. Let your visitors get to know you as a person and they’ll in turn let you get to know them as a client. A creative, informative and interactive website and blog is one of the best and most cost-effective (if you use it right) tools the Internet can offer in the way of marketing and lead generation.