Why Use a Professional Domain Name
A common mistake real estate professionals make is
to use a free email account or host their site on
a free server. It's quite common to see agents listing
contact email addresses like johndoe@hotmail.com or
johnsells@aol.com. Many agents also use free websites
with domains such as www.realtor.com/sanfrancisco/johndoe
or ilead.realtor.com/display/?id=12345678&.
This immediately gives prospective clients the impression
that you're not serious about your business. How much
confidence would you place with an agent who isn't
willing to invest a few dollars a month for hosting
and a domain name?
Email
Free email accounts also convey a degree of anonymity
and are also associated with spam. Many corporations
specifically block emails originating from free accounts
to avoid spam and viruses.
An additional problem with email addresses provided
by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is that they
are not permanent. If you decide to move from your
AOL dial up service to broadband DSL connection, you
will lose your AOL email address. Even if you are
happy with your current ISP, they may go belly up
as did AT&T @home, DirectTV DSL, and dozens of
others. The last thing you want is for your clients
to not be able to reach you when you change your email
address.
website
Using a free web host without your own domain name
will also result in very poor search engine rankings.
Search engines group and list sites by their top-level
domains if there is more than one page within the
domain that matches the search phrase. When a homebuyer
searches for San Francisco real estate, your site
will be given very low precedence because it is under
the www.realtor.com domain with thousands of other
pages in that domain matching the search phrase. Using
a domain such as www.realtor.com/sanfrancisco/johndoe,
it is unlikely that users will ever find you below
the thousands of other sites that appear for their
search phrase.
Studies show that 81% of your traffic will come from
search engines. Saving a few dollars here is not a
wise choice. With domain names and hosting being so
inexpensive, it's really quite silly to use these
free services for your business. By registering a
domain name for your website and using it for your
email address, you deliver a consistent image and
make it as easy as possible for your clients to find
you.
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