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Selling Your Long Beach Home
ITS A WHOLE NEW GAME
First came the 'Do Not Call List'. Soon to be followed by the 'Do Not Mail List'. Now the City of Long Beach has Launched a campaign to stop unwanted handbills, which means no fliers and menus on doorsteps. Even I have to admit that I was very pleased about the 'Do Not Call List', the unwanted solicitations were out of control. The mail doesnt bother me much, I open my mail over a large trash can which is where the clear majority of it lands. I dont know about you, but I like receiving the take out menus, you never know when they will come in handy. I also enjoy getting the latest fliers and area information from my local Long Beach REALTOR. Its great to know whats going on in your neck of the woods.
So, if a Long Beach REALTOR cannot call, cannot mail and now cannot drop on some door-steps, how are they going to reach the community to market your Long Beach property, beyond placing it on the MLS? The local newspaper? The Grunion Gazette and the Downtown Gazette have been the Long Beach Real Estate Bible and have been great resources in the past, but buyers really dont frequent the Gazette ads any more, and they are very expensive to place. Same story with the Long Beach Press Telegram, The Real Estate Book, Homes and Land Magazine, etc¦ All of the paper resources, that have been so successful in the past for advertising and marketing your Long Beach Home, just dont work anymore. Some, like The Real Estate Book and Homes and Land Magazine are moving most of their advertising onto the Internet in order to stay in the game. The New York Times doesnt even expect to be in print in the coming years says Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.
The Internet is evolving so rapidly that companies like Realtor.com, who have been integral in the sale of homes for years now are beginning to fade into the background as major powerhouses emerge. Zillow, Trulia and many other companies are taking the Internet by storm. If your Long Beach Realtor is not a part of the transition into the future of marketing real estate in a big way on the Internet, you will be left in the dust.
A year ago 70% of all Buyers were beginning their search on the Internet. Now more than 80% of all Buyers are actively shopping, and finding their homes, on the Internet. Hiring a local Long Beach Realtor who is Internet savvy, has the technology in place, and can provide you with massive Internet exposure has become an absolute necessity in todays new market. Internet Marketing has become the only effective venue to sell your Long Beach Home
You would think that all REALTORS would have, Search Engine Optimized (SEO), lead generating web sites, wouldnt you? A lead generating web site takes a tremendous amount of time, maintenance, knowledge and money to produce.
As many of these real estate agents scramble to get web sites, technology passes them by unnoticed. Welcome to the age of Blogging. Todays top real estate professionals across 
the country have discovered the many advantages of an amazing opportunity. Blogs are not like traditional websites. They are not bogged down by all of the toys and gadgets, and provide a clear path for the search engines to find them and send your message to the top of the search engines. Savvy real estate agents from around the country have set up local real estate blog sites and are blogging on large national networks like ActiveRain and Localism, driving heavy traffic to their websites.
What buyers want is information, and lots of it. Realtor web sites are a dime a dozen, and while a rare few are very powerful, most say pretty much the same thing. Blogs are personal. Your REALTOR can reach out on a blog and speak to the buyer in a real voice. Providing them with local area information, news, events, market reports, listing information etc¦ in their voice. A real person reaching out and touching real people.
A Buyer searching on the Internet will find blogs, read them and be directed to REALTORS web and blog sites, already knowing something about the REALTOR because there is a connect on a blog that is missing on web sites. For example, this article on Downtown Long Beach-Urban Minded Buyers , tells a story, while promoting a listing. There is a little area information, links to much more information, providing a 'Soft Sell' of the area, the Condominium complex and the view from the Downtown Long Beach Condos.
A blog provides both Buyers and Sellers with tremendous amounts of information, in order to make more informed decisions.
Where do you think YOUR buyer is on this chart?
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Demographics of Internet Users
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Below is the percentage of each group who use the internet, according to our December 2006 survey. As an example, 69% of adult women use the internet.
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Use the internet
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Total Adults
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70%
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Women
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69
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Men
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71
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Age
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18-29
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83%
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30-49
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82
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50-64
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70
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65+
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33
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Race/ethnicity
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White, Non-Hispanic
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72%
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Black, Non-Hispanic
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58
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English-speaking Hispanic
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69
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Household income
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Less than $30,000/yr
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49%
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$30,000-$49,999
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75
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$50,000-$74,999
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90
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$75,000 +
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93
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Educational attainment
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Less than High School
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36%
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High School
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59
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Some College
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84
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College +
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91
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Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, November 30 December 30,, 2006 Tracking Survey. N=2,373 adults, 18 and older. Margin of error is ±2% for results based on the full sample and ±3% for results based on internet users.
Please note that prior to our January 2005 survey, the question used to identify internet users read,
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http://www.lauriemanny.com/000644
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