Web Advertising Is Growing Exponentially

The numbers are staggering when you look at the change from 2004, just less than four years ago. In 2004, only Yahoo had more than 2 billion dollars in web advertising revenue, with Google not far behind. By 2006, the numbers were up dramatically. Google came in close to $4 billion — a 350% increase in 2 years! Yahoo increased to just less than $3 billion, which was also a very large increase in just two years. Now the projections are out for 2008, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal (see chart below), and the numbers are mind boggling in terms of growth. Google looks to be ready to scoop just under $8 billion, and Yahoo $3 billion. Even AOL (which uses Google for its text ads) and MSN (currently trying to purchase Yahoo) look to be over the $1 billion mark. All this is in just 4 short years! I guarantee you these numbers will continue to increase exponentially for the next 20 years. There is no doubt in my mind about it. The Internet is becoming the preferred way to advertise due to the ease with which marketers can track and display ads to the precise target market for the product. How or where else can a person who wants to sell a product display advertisements directed only to those people who are actively searching for that exact thing? Furthermore, people are increasingly using the Internet every day for more complex things like watching videos, heavy research prior to making a purchase, and social activities that keep them glued to the computer all day. This makes it even more opportune for advertisers to get involved with the Internet and push their products to those looking for them online. This includes homes.

What does any of this have to do with real estate? On the surface, it does not much matter what is going on with Internet advertising or the Internet at all when it comes to real estate purchases or sales. However, what is going on is a revolution online, and it affects the way real estate is bought and sold.

How to buy a home before the Internet:

• Drive down to the store and get some home buying magazines and a Sunday newspaper, and browse through the homes being advertised. Struggle to pick your dream home from a short description and 1 picture of the property.
• Drive around to see various neighborhoods for several weeks. Talk to some residents of these neighborhoods. Find info about the school system and other items of interest to you.
• Once you’ve picked an area, you would typically scout for a real estate agent who was very familiar, respected, and experienced in the area you decided preliminarily was the best fit for you and your family. This agent would try to assist you in selecting a home, complete pertinent legal paperwork, direct you to mortgage companies, insurance companies, title companies and all other parties needed for the sale to take place.
• Then, with the agent’s assistance, you would complete the purchase and close escrow.

The way it is now:

• Spend your time online researching areas, comparing school systems, studying demographics and crime statistics. Without ever leaving your home, you can see multiple photos, virtual tours, overviews, and lengthy descriptions of homes prior to ever stepping foot in them. It’s all just a click away!
• Research online which real estate agents seem to have the best grasp of the real estate trends and the overall competence of those agents.
• After all research has been completed to the point you feel comfortable making a purchase, select a real estate agent to assist in the actual purchase procedure.

And what about sellers?

If you are a seller and your home is not getting much exposure online, you’re going to have a hard time making a sale. Period. Advertisers are now coming to the same conclusion after seeing potential sales lost to those with a better online presence. These stats prove this point. It doesn’t matter if you personally use the Internet or not. Other people are using it. Especially for a home sale, you MUST enlist the services of the web to market your home. The Internet is a very sophisticated and intimate marketing tool for businesses AND consumers. It’s interactive, easy to navigate, and immense. If you are looking at selling your home, just look at these web advertising revenue numbers. If the top marketing firms on Madison Avenue are going headstrong into web adverting to attract customers for products they’re selling, you must have a real estate agent who will be able to market your home heavily online in a dynamic and intimate way that will make buyers step forward.

For those thinking about purchasing, I truly believe that while the Internet is not overtaking real estate representation, it does allow you to access more info than ever and be the ultimate consumer. However, it’s interesting to note that it’s rare for a client of mine to purchase the home they thought was perfect for them online. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they end up purchasing a property that I have selected as a very close match for their needs and wants. That selection process requires at least several hours and sometimes several weeks of searching, making calls, and uncovering gems which, for whatever reason, did not come alive in previous outings with the client.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 1:28 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, Selling, Buying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.