If the industrial revolution changed the way we worked in the twentieth century, the driving force shaping the workplace in the twenty‐first century must belong to the Internet. The advent of information technology has enabled the growth of the Internet by leaps and bounds. As stated by the authors, the number of Internet users is staggering and still counting. Today, apart from businesses, the presence of the Internet pervades even homes. Increasingly, consumers are sourcing for and making purchases of a variety of products and services from the comfort of the home – and this includes real estate. Thus, there has been a proliferation of books on Internet marketing. However, books on real estate Internet marketing are, by comparison, few and far between. In this regard, the book is timely. The authors argue that tomorrow’s successful real estate agents will need to be Web‐proficient and this book serves as a step‐by‐step guide for real estate agents to market real estate through the Internet.
To be exact, this book does not dwell on how to market real estate per se as it does not include discussion on the product, pricing of real estate, etc. as found in a regular marketing text. In the context of the general marketing framework of the 4Ps, i.e. product, price, place and promotion, the Internet is another promotion tool, just like advertisements, as it seeks to communicate the service and/or product offered by you to the customers. The main focus of the book is to guide real estate professionals on capitalizing the Internet as a promotion tool for real estate. The book is organized into four parts. Part 1 discusses ways to create and build the Internet Web site. Part 2 dwells on publicizing your Internet Web site. Part 3 touches on writing effective e‐mail and finally Part 4 is a summary of the salient points discussed in the earlier chapters and comprises a checklist of things to do to get the Web site started. Appendices at the end of the book include a glossary of terms, Web site addresses where you can find useful information for developing and including in your Web site, some Web marketing cost estimates and pointers on selecting a Web site designer and host.
To the extent that the book sets out to be a practical handbook on Internet marketing, it has achieved this well. At the beginning of each of the four parts, there is a section that explains the Internet jargon that appears in the following chapters. This greatly facilitates understanding for a beginner in the Internet. In addition, for quick reference, at start of each chapter is a summary of the detailed discussion in the chapter. Based on tried and proven practical experience of the author and other real estate practitioners, many useful tips on developing the Internet Web site were given. For example, in Chapter 1, titled “Standing out from the crowd”, the experience of Martha J. Woodbury, a developer of a real estate Web site, was cited. The authors noted that in order to create maximum impact, Woodbury suggests that “you should include your (market position) statement on everything you print, every talk you give, every article you write for the newspaper, every ad you place, every property sign or rider, in your voice mail message, on your web site, your business cards, your fax over sheet, your checks … everything you do”. Further, the authors also caution the pitfalls to avoid. In Chapter 2 on “Your web site content”, the authors suggest that one should not just copy down the Web site addresses shown and put them in your own Web site without first visiting it. The reason is that “there are many pornography sites that disguise themselves using seemingly innocuous addresses”. Thus, the learning cycle of the reader may be shortened with the open sharing of practical experiences in Internet marketing by the authors.
In terms of language, it is written in a conversational, non‐formal way. The book is particularly helpful to readers because it provides the Web site addresses that are useful when developing a real estate Web site. For example, Web site addresses of where you can find information on schools, financing, local community, etc. are provided. However, as the Web resources provided in the book are in the US context, the book will benefit US real estate professionals most. Nonetheless, readers outside the USA can also benefit from the planning, designing and budgeting tools provided in the book when developing a real estate Web site. Pictorial illustrations to aid and enhance understanding are many throughout the book. Unfortunately, because the pictures were largely taken off existing Web sites, the pictures appear fuzzy and words found on them can hardly be deciphered.
In essence, where real estate professionals are looking to develop a real estate Web site, this book provides an easy to follow, step‐by‐step guide. The content and organization of the book is specifically tailored for busy practitioners and hence it will not be difficult to get through to the last page of the book.
