Real Estate Vertical Offers Simplified Search Marketing

Following in the footsteps of other "small business aggregators," (e.g., Yellow Pages publishers, Web hosts, Newspapers) real estate vertical HomeGain.com has launched a simplified search engine marketing program for local brokers and agents.

Dubbed "SearchMaximizer," it will encompass Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL, among other sites. HomeGain currently has a wide variety of marketing and lead-generation programs and SeachMaximizer is a recognition of the increasing role that search engines are playing in the home-buying process.

According to HomeGain, roughly 77 percent of home buyers begin their search on the Internet. The California Association of Realtors conducted a consumer survey in early 2004 in which it found the following:

  • 56 percent used Internet as a €œsignificant part€ of their home buying process
  • 70 percent used Internet to preview property
  • 81 percent used Internet to locate/investigate a specific property
  • 85 percent used Internet to locate a specific agent
Real estate has been a leading indicator of the Internet's probable impact on SME marketing.

But for the widespread usage of the Internet to find and preview homes, local brokers and agents would not be as compelled to be online in front of those potential homebuyers. Accordingly, real estate is reflective of the direct connection between consumer and SME advertiser behavior.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Greg

    Looks like quite a complete and useful site.

    In some cases, the Internet will co-exist with and augment traditional, offline media. In others, it will simply supercede it, in much the same way the typewriter has been superceded by the personal computer.

  2. John Wallace

    I think I mentioned in one of the sessions at a Kelsey conference recently that this has totally overtaken traditional media. Even people without computers go to internet cafes to research properties. You may find this one to be of interest to you:
    http://www.espc.com/photos/schedules/170393.pdf
    ;-)

  3. John Wallace

    Currently 99% of all real estate marketing in Scotland is done on the internet. For an example, go to Edinburgh's real estate gateway at http://www.espc.co.uk

    Way further ahead than the U.S. in this regard.

Leave a Reply