Online directories have been around since the early 90s when the father of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, compiled a simple list of web servers. Soon after that, Yahoo and Google took off. Yahoo started its services in 1995 while Google was founded in 1998. Before that, phone books were a very popular form of directory. Don’t you remember the Yellow Pages? Nowadays, directory listings are more complex but web developers have found ways to keep them user-friendly, with an intuitive design that helps people locate the information they are looking for in no time.
By 2005, search engines gained more power, so the most complex directories began to shut down. For example, the Yahoo Directory closed on the last day of 2014. However, they made room to smaller directories aimed at a certain niche. The Official Real Estate Agent Directory® has been online since 2003 connecting real estate agents with home buyers, home sellers, and renters from all over the US. And it is here to stay!
Millions of properties are bought and sold in the US every year, and real estate agents are still in high demand, representing either sellers or buyers or both, in dual agency. Since agents make their commissions from selling properties, we will refer to the agent-seller relationship from now on, although RealEstateAgent.com is visited by home buyers and renters as well. So, why should home sellers use The Official Real Estate Agent Directory®? To find a local real estate agent who knows the local market, who can compare similar properties at the bat of an eyelid, and who can come up with a fair price.
Look at the prime rate, also! It’s been 3.25% between 2009 and 2016. Since January 2016 it continued to increase, reaching 5.5% today. A 70% increase is quite substantial, so borrowing money is more expensive today. There might be real estate bubbles here and there, but overall, the real estate market looks like it’s cooling down for a while. With loans being so expensive, real estate agents should value every single potential client. Now is more important than ever to be present on as many platforms as possible, especially on the professional ones. Are you easy to find? Why not take advantage of our 30-day free trial right now?
What is The Official Real Estate Agent Directory®?
When we first started to outline this website on paper, we knew it was going to become very complex. In fact, it is so complex today that we have to explain to you how it actually works. On RealEstateAgent.com you will find the following sections at the top of our web page:
The Real Estate Agent Directory
When visitors click on this, they are taken to a page that looks like a search engine. They can search the real estate agent directory by entering a city, zip code or even a name in the search box. It’s enough to type in a few letters to receive a list of suggestions. Also, our “Search by Agent Name” feature proved to be extremely helpful for our visitors. Now, imagine that, during a year, thousands of visitors have searched for a real estate agent from your city, and you didn’t appear in our search results. You’ve lost so many potential clients! How many leads and prospects can you afford to lose?
Buy/Sell Section
In this section, we have simplified the search for you depending on what our visitors intend to do. Both buyers and sellers can use the search boxes displayed here to find a local real estate agent.
Resources
After Buy/Sell, the section dedicated to educational resources comes next. We have been expanding it over the years and we don’t cease to update all the information available here.
- Real estate advice - we constantly add new advice for home buyers and sellers, as well as for real estate agents. By sharing the content we publish, you, as a real estate agent, educate the buyers and sellers who know so little about the home buying process. Sharing our articles also builds trust, thus encouraging people to allow a professional real estate agent to represent them.
- Real estate glossary - we have more than 2800 real estate terms explained. This section is extremely helpful for the whole community. It’s impossible to remember the meaning of each real estate term, so it’s good to have such an extensive glossary at hand. But as you will see, most terms are assigned to real estate agents listed in the directory, increasing their exposure and improving their personal branding.
- Real estate questions - a section that offers answers to the most frequent questions that clients ask their agents. It works on the same principles as the glossary - most questions are assigned to members, thus promoting them as trustworthy real estate professionals.
- Real estate social - visit this section whenever you feel like sharing something new on your social media. Here we post things that are not necessarily related to real estate. However, these posts help us indirectly. When you share one of our posts, you drive traffic to our community, reinforcing the need to work with a real estate expert.
- Badges and links - we allow all listed agents to use our badge and get all the benefits of our solid brand. We are The Official Real Estate Agent Directory® - this trademark and our domain name set us apart from the competition. We have been working hard to build this community of passionate real estate agents and we are proud of it. We hope you will feel the same and use this badge online whenever you can. But, if you have a website for your listings and haven’t already added our Real Estate Terms App on your website, it’s time to copy the code and insert it! This is how you can help your visitors find the meaning of a term without leaving your website!
Company
In this section, you can find more about us, but what we value most is our blog. We use it to post a variety of articles, more or less related to real estate, which is both informative and entertaining at the same time. Again, we expect all listed agents to share them with their clients and friends on social media or other platforms. We are responsible for educating people, ensuring they make the best decision regarding their housing needs. We also have to make sure they know which is the cheapest type of financing available for them.
Next, at the top of the page, you can see our Customer Service phone number and two dialog boxes that will open the live chat (although it’s usually on). We are very proud of our Customer Service team. In the upper right corner, you can click on “Join Now” and enroll in our diverse community of real estate agents by choosing the right package for you, if you’re not already a member. Later, you will be able to access your account and see statistics for each city that you’ve chosen during the registration phase.
Why should you be listed on the RealEstateAgent.com Directory?
You should never underestimate the power of marketing. Do you have a marketing budget? If not, you should plan it right now. If you stay at home all day and never get out of your house, would anyone know of your existence? Probably not. You have to get out of your comfort zone and put your name in as many places as possible so that home sellers and buyers may find you. But there’s no sense in placing your name on a website about cooking. People visiting a website about cooking want to find things related to cooking such as recipes, diets, places to eat. You have to be where home buyers and sellers are abundant. Being part of our directory could help you meet your sales goals because we make it easy for people to find a real estate agent.
Secondly, we build trust. We use social media as well to build trust in professionals like you. We have a great team working day and night to create compelling profiles for our agents. Make sure you send us a high-quality portrait, though. You have only one chance to make a first impression, so don’t ruin it! Then create a description for yourself - get inspired by what other agents have already written! If you are a member of the National Association of Realtors®, we will emphasize that, as well as any other credential!
Listing your business on The Official Real Estate Agent Directory® could drive more traffic to your listings! The more people see your listings, the more likely you are to close a sale. It’s not enough to focus on your own website. Even with the best-optimized website for the search engines, clients might not be able to find you on Google. That’s why you have to put your name on more platforms. And think about your activity on social media - how often do you post links to your website? Your followers might get tired of seeing the same old marketing techniques. If you have access to Google Analytics, how many visitors do you attract from your social media posts? We think it’s time to create a mix: one day you post a link to your profile on RealEstateAgent.com to let everybody know that you are serious about your business and that you’ve moved to the next level. Another day, browse our advice section, FAQs, and blog to find articles to share with your followers. Once they visit our directory, they’ll know where to look for a real estate agent next time they need one. Yes, they might click on your link only to read an article, but sooner or later they’ll buy or sell real estate and will need an agent. So, do you see how your shares benefit the entire community?
Find more about the marketing services available on RealEstateAgent.com!
There are three packages available, each one providing more details about, more contact options and better online exposure. For example, for the Elite accounts, we have included a feature that allows visitors to text you directly from your profile listing. Every client is different: some prefer to call while others would rather send you an e-mail. It really depends on their personality.
We offer three packages: Basic, Premium, and Elite. With the basic profile, you only get your name out there, but you will receive a basic template. With the premium account, your name can show up whenever visitors look for a real estate agent in a city - the more cities you choose, the more exposure you will receive. New elite members are featured on our home page for two weeks and receive a premium template. But their profiles are also permanently highlighted in the cities they cover as well, like in the right image.
Choose the package depending on the way you expect people to look for you. Are they more likely to search for you by name? Then you can opt for the basic template. However, most of our visitors search agents that cover a certain geographical area, so we recommend that you go for a Premium or Elite account. Don’t forget that you will be able to see statistics related to your account so the number of views that you get depends on how creatively you promote your profile.
How to drive traffic to your listing on RealEstateAgent.com?
As soon as you create your profile on RealEstateAgent.com you have to integrate it in all your marketing materials, both online and offline. For example, you may print a new batch of business cards with the mention “Find me on The Official Real Estate Agent Directory® realestateagent.com/your-name.html”. You may add the same phrase next to your profile image on Facebook or LinkedIn as well as on your YouTube channel. (We just want to give you another tip: if you haven’t started a real estate vlog, it’s time to test the waters! Did we tell you that you can customize your profile? We encourage you to create a series of videos for your profile if you want to stand out.)
If you have a website for your business, install our Real Estate Terms App. The aim of this app is to keep visitors on your website instead of leaving just to find the definition for a real estate term they don’t know. They might not come back!
We also encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter! Why? Because we let you know about the latest published articles that can be shared with your audience. So you can keep your clients in the loop without wasting time writing content.
Why don't people call you?
Did you know that 80% of Americans use ad blockers? It used to be so easy to promote your business online, but we have all become annoyed by repetitive and disruptive ads that promote products and services we’re not interested in. Don’t rely solely on traditional marketing tools like Facebook Ads or Google Adwords! Diversify your outlets and choose one that people can’t shut down. When home buyers and sellers visit our website, they can’t close your ad because they don’t like you or because they’re simply not interested in what you have to offer.
People don’t call you because you’re hard to find. You should do an SEO audit or at least a marketing audit and find how well are you doing compared to your competition. If you’re not on the first page of Google for a specific keyword, then you’re lagging behind your competition. Do you know that your profile listed on The Official Real Estate Agent Directory® has the potential to show up in search results higher than your webpage?
Another reason people don’t call you is your negligence. You’re too lazy to do anything else or simply don't have the time. But we have made it super-easy for you! Nothing is written in stone, so, while on traditional outlets such as TVs and magazines you can’t change your ad once submitted, with us, you can do unlimited updates without being charged for them!
It’s enough to give us a call and before you get off the phone, you can see how your ad looks like. We are here to fight for the success of real estate professionals listed in our directory. Each listing is like a virtual business card that is “handed out” to someone even while you sleep! Reach out to our Customer Service Department and let’s start to improve your branding and online exposure today!
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