TECHNOLOGY

No one needs to tell you how important networking is to Real Estate professionals. You may be thinking that there is nothing new about networking and, chances are, if you are a successful Real Estate professional, you are extremely good at it. You may have already taken the steps to extend your networking to the Internet. If so, kudos to you; you are already part of the New Real Estate™. If you have not embraced online networking, it is a must for your survival. Virtual relationships can help you in every aspect of your business. Because Real Estate is growing rapidly as an online superstar, it is critical that you become proactive in learning to use the Internet to sell. According to the NAR, 80 percent of buyers currently use the Internet to help find a home. Day by day, new Real Estate tools are surfacing on the Web, and some of the most important tools are networking oriented.

One of the most highly praised networking groups is ^1.LinkedIn. If you are not already a member, you should join. It is not expensive (they also have a free option) and it has a wealth of opportunities to connect with people who can be of help to you. It is very easy to find those who share your specific interests and goals. Their slogan, “Relationships matter,” speaks for itself. LinkedIn is useful on several levels: It is a great place to get started as it is very user friendly, and it offers extensive options for the advanced user. It and other groups like it are excellent for:

• Finding potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended
• Being found for business opportunities
• Searching for great jobs
• Discovering inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
• Posting and distributing listings
• Finding high-quality passive candidates
• Getting introduced to other professionals through the people you know

You will be pleasantly surprised to find how many people you already know are members of LinkedIn. They offer free and professional-level accounts to give you the opportunity to try it out before committing.
This overview of some basic virtual networking options gives you some comparisons of options that can strengthen your professional online presence according to the ^2.Seven Keys to a More Powerful Network. You can use this chart to decide where you might best use your time in starting your online networking experience.

Key	Blogging	LinkedIn	Online Networks such as EREE’s Business Social Network
Character:	Demonstrated over time through how you speak of others, what you write about ethical issues, etc.	Demonstrated by some endorsements.	Demonstrated strongly by your public interaction with others, your willingness to be of service, etc.
Competence:	Demonstrated through in-depth writing about your topics of expertise.	Demonstrated minimally by endorsements, though multiple endorsements add up.	Demonstrated through writing about your topics of expertise, often in response to specific questions.
Relevance:	Attract and connect with people interested in the same topics as you.	Ability to focus tightly on meeting people for specific purposes, and hopefully attract like-minded people.	Ability to focus on meeting people for specific purposes and to connect with like-minded individuals in a group setting.
Strength:	Strengthen relationships through sustained dialogue with readers and other bloggers on your topic.	Strengthen relationships by being of service, making referrals and endorsements.	Strengthen relationships through sustained public and private dialogue with other members.
Information:	Great source of information about someone's expertise and interest.	Minimal information about relationships, contact info, etc. Great source of information about your immediate contacts. Unique source of information about the relationships in your second and third degree.	Great source of information about your immediate contacts, though profiles are often fairly static compared to blogs. Information about relationships varies greatly by site and personal practices.
Number:	Tremendous tool for building the number of people you know—probably the best (short of major media coverage).	Can be used to build large networks, but not optimized for it, as each connection requires manual intervention, and there is no way to engage people within the system.	Group interacting supports connecting with a large number of people, though the potential pool is limited to members of the site.
Diversity:	Not really a tool for building diversity, except that you will often attract readers who have the opposite view on your topic, e.g., conservative and liberal political bloggers read each other’s blogs and comment on them.	Excellent tool for purposefully finding diverse contacts, e.g., experts in a field you're considering moving into, a country you're planning to visit, etc.	Build diversity through group interaction. For example, a group focused on a particular business interest will likely include people of different political and religious affiliations.

Avenues for networking online are everywhere. If you are thinking, “Who has the time for all this?" you will find that effective use of these opportunities will actually save time. The following options have their roots in traditional resources that have now begun to evolve as online resources.

1. Professional Associations & Schools Online: a valuable resource for lists and resources specific to your area of interest.
2. Resource Sites & Online Communities: these include directories of people in the profession, vendors, articles, event calendars, bulletin boards, discussion lists, live chats, and links to even more resource sites.
3. Business Social Network: online communities focused on topics of interest to you and concerned with connecting persons of like interest with each other. E RealEstateExec has developed just such a network for our readers. We hope that you will participate and give us feedback on what you find useful in this and other forms of online networking.
4. Publications: online publications such as e-zines (like E RealEstateExec.com) and newsletters offer specific information—usually for free.
5. Colleagues & Competitors: make a habit of looking at the sites of your colleagues and competitors. You may learn a great deal about how they operate and perhaps what is working (or lacking) in what they are offering their clients.
6. Potential Clients: often you will find that your clients and service providers have Web sites. Don’t miss the chance to find out even more about them by visiting their sites.

Here are some of the best options for getting started networking online:

1. Bulletin Boards: a simple Google or other search engine inquiry will bring up lists of these that are topic-specific. Ignore the sponsored links and look at the options available on the first page. These will be the most popular and probably the most likely to be useful to you.
2. Discussion Lists (Listserve): these are discussion opportunities that you can subscribe to and receive e-mails from that tell you what the current topics are so that you can quickly decide whether you want to engage at that time. Remember when you are posting to this or any discussion group to limit the self-promotion and stick to the topic.
3. Live Chats: no longer just the territory of dating sites, live chats are increasingly being utilized by businesses to quickly interact and form business relationships. Often these chats or forums have guest speakers. If you participate by asking a question or offer an opinion you will often find that you will receive feedback and e-mails of interest even after the event is over.
4. Articles: if you come across an article of use to you, take a minute to send an e-mail to the writer or publication. This will open a dialogue and a channel to more information on the subject, not to mention engage you with someone who is (or has access to) an expert in the field or topic of interest.
5. Colleagues and Other Real Estate Professionals: it’s no surprise that there are valuable resources here. Take advantage of online communities and business referral networks to strengthen these alliances and expand your knowledge and influence through online interaction.

Be organized in your approach to networking. It is recommended that you spend a couple of hours a week just networking through your group, blog, business social network or any combination of the above. Invite people you know to join groups or networks you have found particularly useful.

1. Document your goals. For each goal, write down how online networks can help you achieve it.
2. Analyze your network.
3. Set aside a certain amount of time to spend networking every week.
4. Master the basic online networking tools.
5. Master your e-mail. Organize your e-mail folders and add contacts to your network.
6. Share your knowledge. Create a file of documents, resources, Web links, etc. that have been helpful to you. Document processes.
7. Write your recyclable documents. Save time by centralizing all of your recyclable e-mails and other text. Write a good introduction to use when exploring blogs or online networking sites.
8. Take control of your virtual presence. Make sure that when people look for you online—which they will—your image is both accurate and flattering.
9. Join the virtual communities that target your market or area of expertise. Keep your profile updated. Once you have joined one group, ask the members where else they connect with like-minded people. Be sure to look for smaller groups within large sites.
10. Take a leadership role. Share your expertise. You do not have to give away any secrets to establish yourself as someone who knows what they are talking about.

One of our goals is to help Real Estate Professionals make the transition from traditional Real Estate sales practices to what we call the New Real Estate™. The successful Real Estate professional in this new and exciting period of development in the evolution of the Real Estate market will merge the best of both worlds: the old and the new. It will no longer be enough to use conventional means to stay on top in the Real Estate world of today. Nearly one out of four buyers last year found the home they wanted on the Internet, up from 2 percent a decade ago, according to the NAR. Can you really afford not to embrace The New Real Estate™?

^1.LinkedIn
^2.The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors And Closing Deals Online.

Disclaimer: We at E RealEstateExec are members of LinkedIn, but we do not have a sponsorship role with them. Our recommendation is based on experience and recommendations from users.