Part 1: The Powerful Real Estate Marketing Tool that You’re Not Using

Real estate professionals spend a lot of time, effort, and money on marketing, and with good reason. Getting your name in front of potential new clients is crucial to your long-term success in real estate, not to mention the importance of marketing your individual listings so you can get the best possible deal for your sellers.

For all the resources we pour into marketing, there’s one tool that’s extremely effective, yet underutilized—a domain name. A domain typically costs somewhere between $5 and $20 and could be one of the best tools in your marketing arsenal.

What’s a domain name?

In the simplest terms, a domain is what you use to create a website address (URL) or custom email address. For example, let’s say you register the domain name “youragentjohnsmith.com.” That domain could be used to:

• Create a website with the URL, such as www.youragentjohnsmith.com
• Create a custom email address, such as hello@youragentjonsmith.com
• Redirect a user to your social media profile that may have a more complicated link

But why is a domain name so effective for real estate professionals? A domain name is the most direct way to send people to the information you want them to see! A big part of marketing yourself is being memorable, and unfortunately memory is a faulty thing. That’s why a good domain name should be easy to remember, just like breakthroughbroker.com. Names get forgotten (often immediately) and business cards and flyers from open houses eventually get thrown out, but a good domain name can make a lasting impact. It can serve the dual purpose of establishing your personal brand and giving clients the most direct link to your online presence.

Here’s a common scenario: You just met a potential client while out for a coffee run. Let’s further complicate matters by assuming your name doesn’t have an easy or standard spelling, you don’t have any business cards on you, Facebook is your primary personal website, and the potential client is in a hurry.

Which of the statements below seems more likely to result in a new buyer or a new listing?

A: “Just look me up on Facebook! That’s Betheny, with an ‘E,’ McDonald—no ‘A’ in the beginning.” B: “Just visit ‘fortcollinsrealestate.pro’ to reach my personal site!”

In scenario B, our fictional realtor Betheny has just provided a memorable way for people to look her up online. She’s found a workaround for any confusion around the spelling of her name and has branded herself by using memorable keywords to create a market-specific online destination. “Fort Collins Real Estate For Sale.” Who could forget that?

Using the exmaple, “Fort Collins Real Estate,” there are a lot of available domain name options. Since you’re no longer limited to traditional domain endings like “.com” and “.net” and now have some real estate-friendly options like “.house,” “.forsale,” and “.property,” it’s really easy to find a memorable domain that’s specific to your name or market. Here’s a small selection of domains using those keywords that are available for less than $60, and many of them are priced at $10 or less:

• fortcollinsrealestate.forsale
• fortcollinsrealestate.property
• fortcollinsrealestate.us
• fortcollinsrealestate.org
• fortcollinsrealestate.news
• fortcollinsrealestate.house
• fortcollinsrealestate.expert

How to Use Domain Names for Listings

As much as domain names are an untapped resource for your personal branding, it’s even more of a rarity to see real estate professionals use unique domains to market individual listings. If someone jogs or drives by a home with a for sale sign and wants more information, which seems easier to remember at a later date? Which seems easier to access immediately on a smart phone?

1. The listing agent’s name
2. A nine-digit phone number
3. A company name
4. A simple domain name that incorporates the street address, such as “745elm.house”

When you spot a property that you’d like more information about, it’s surprisingly hard to find it on the spot, even with a smartphone available. That’s especially true for lots and homes in rural areas where cell service is spotty and there’s no visible street address. You usually have to conduct a Google search or try a location search on Zillow or Trulia. And if you’re on a busy city street, you can’t just hold up traffic while you try to find the house number. Having a clearly visible domain name specific to the listing is a lot more effective.

Learn more about choosing a domain name by visiting Part 2. For more information on purchasing and registering a domain name check out Part 3.

Ethan Conley is a marketer, designer, and content writer in Denver, Colo. He was Breakthrough Broker's first employee and helped launch the site in 2011.