by Matthew S. Gerchow
The real estate investing world has changed so much in the past five years. Rather than driving neighborhoods and attending hotel seminars, new investors and seasoned vets find themselves on the internet socializing and looking for deals.
Ever since the first wave of internet companies most folks have been reluctant to invest too much time into any particular internet strategy. Having a free email service and online faxes are probably the two concepts that have stuck with us until now.
Web 2.0 has repositioned the concentration away from big companies and given it back directly to the individual user. Web 2.0 gifts the guy with a PC and an thought a voice on the Internet.
So what exactly is Web 2.0?
For most people, Web 2.0 is a vast unknown with many questions and few answers. Let’s see if we can clear some of this up for you. In general it is a broad concept that covers the new user content driven websites we see like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.
This means we now have the power to communicate much more efficiently than previously possible. Newly created content can be transferred to viewers more easily than we could have dreamed of just a few years ago. With a few clicks of the mouse you can bring in content from other authors daily without any further work on your part. Same goes for photos, videos and articles.
There are umpteen aspects of the Internet covered by Web 2.0. A few of the more common items are investors writing blogs, you commenting on other blogs and opening up profiles on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Other forms of Web 2.0 strategies include link sharing like Digg and Reddit where you can submit links to your internet sites and vote on other people links. Even photo sharing sites like Flikr, Photobucket and iPhoto are counted as part of the Web 2.0 domain.
Let’s bring this back around to Real Estate Investing. How do you use Web 2.0 in your real estate business? First, networking is now a breeze. You build a twitter profile and people all over the planet start following you. You join a few of the REI social networks and find other investors to chat with in your area. Finding other investors with more experience can often pull you through to the next level. You can make a video of your property and distribute it to 100’s of video sites at one time with TubeMogul. The possibilities are really endless. Just like in the marketing days of yesteryear, the creative bird usually gets the worm.
You want to establish yourself as an authority or expert in your particular niche of the investing world. The more exposure you can get for yourself and your business, the more opportunities will flow your direction. Web 2.0 levels the playing field so you now once again have a chance to be the first in the mind of your potential sellers. The trick is you have to figure out where they are and what they are doing online. Then put your marketing information dead in their tracks. By building a reputation ahead of time people can Google your trust factor before they trust you with their most valued possession.
Maybe you are thinking, “Great, something more to spend money on.” Hang on, that’s the best part of Web 2.0, the majority of it is free. It will take you a few hours every week to make your posts and whatnot but there is very little to no out of pocket expense. A small price to pay for an equal voice in the real estate investing world.
Spend a few months creating content for your websites and I’m sure you will become more efficient and find it to be no trouble at all. Best of all, once you create the content one time it remains on the internet for years to come. Careful though, this can be a double-edged sword. Make sure you are comfortable with the entire world reading whatever you write.
Since the real estate bubble burst people have been searching for a new way to approach the market. While deals and cash to buy them are not wholly plentiful right now, take this time to build your reputation for the next roller coaster market climb.
About the Author:
As we are familiar with
Real Estate Investing can be a crazy business. You have to mingle with the very best to get the best results. Before they start a membership fee, start a free lifetime membership with
real-estate-investing.com and start a blog, read some articles and meet a few investors in your area.
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