There a select group of real estate agents in each city that are extremely successful farmers.  Whether they dominate 1 neighborhood or a couple they are very consistent about knowing the market activity in their area and staying in touch with the residents of those neighborhoods.  What do you think their answer would be if you asked them the following question?

Do you think I could be a successful farmer by just mailing 1 time to a neighborhood?

At first I am sure they would look at you in disbelief and then they might take time to let you in on how they have been successful over the years.

Being successful online is much the same as being a successful farmer.  The big benefit with taking an online approach is you sweat a whole lot less and your bill for sending out direct mail sure is cheaper.  So, what lessons can we take from successful farmers and apply to our online business?  Let’s take a look:

  • Dominate an Area - Online we can dominate a series of searches.  Just as a farmer targets a geographic area, we can target our geography through the words that people use to search for real estate.  To keep really focused we want to make sure that we have a fine level of detail on our areas. Here are some of the tasks that we should be tackling to dominate our area.
    • Content - Rich content focused on a specific city or neighborhood.  Whether it is through your blog or your real estate website keep it on target for that community.
    • Pay Per Click- Create a series of Ad Groups to give some exposure to those new area pages. Focus on cheap words that are specific to your niche (hint: avoid “MyBigCity Real Estate”)
  • Stay in Touch - Farmers are constantly walking their farm, but we don’t want to sweat online so we do it differently!
    • Build a Subscriber List - Build a following of loyal readers through your blog by creating posts that keep their interest.
    • Direct E-mail - Your website and blog should be generating serious lead counts, so make sure to send those leads e-mails on information they would be interested in.  Don’t kill your database with self serving e-mails, be helpful and point out values and items that will benefit your community.

Stick with It

The best farmers are always reaching their base of customers through mail and through door knocking.  They keep going to maintain their dominance.  The online world is no different.  You should never say the words “OK, I am done with my website” because that leaves the next farmer room to take over your neighborhood. 

Being online we get the tasks of updating our websites and blogs and e-mailing our clients.  Sticking with those tasks will help you to have a great crop of buyers and sellers year after year.

To your success online.

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