I recently did an interview with a national business publication regarding consumer usage of the web in real estate. One of the questions I was asked is why the web has been become so important recently to the strategy of real estate professionals. The answer is the sort of the same as why someone robs a bank. That’s where the money is. In this case, it’s because that’s where the consumers are.

New Harris survey results show that four out of five adults now access the web and spend an average of 11 hours per week online. In 2000 the results showed 57% of adults were on the web, fast forward 7 years and the number is a whopping 80%. What I found really interesting was the increase in the percentage of people who get access from somewhere other than home or work. That number is up 31% and really underscores the impact that mobile technology is going to represent in the near future when it comes to consumer touch points.

It’s been a while, but I’ve spent the last year back out in the field with agents and brokers. I can’t think of a single instance in which any of them have put 43% more emphasis on the web than they did in 2007. In fact, many of them spend less as a percentage of their budgets than they did back then. Primarily because the costs for many of the services including access, hosting, domains etc. has dropped considerably since then. Basically this means they are plodding along with the same old Field of Dreams mentality of “If you build it, they will come”. It’s the time of year to work on goals and budgets for the upcoming year. How much does it cost to acquire a customer via traditional marketing? What is that cost via technology and the web?

I hear the same objections time and again. Newspaper advertising isn’t effective and costly but my sellers expect to see their listing there. If that’s the case, how hard is to turn that into an opportunity. Is there a more effective marketing mix? I’ve that by and large, real estate professionals hold investments in the web and technology to much higher standard than other means of marketing and advertising. It could be because for years some technology vendors have set unreasonable expectations for returns on investment. Perhaps its time to determine what your actual cost is to acquire a customer. How much is the cost via traditional methods? What is the cost via technology and the web? What can you do differently in 2008 to capture the eyeballs of the 80% of adults spending 11 hours a week online? Experiment with different things such as creating Just Sold EZ Ads in Zillow. They don’t have to replace any current effort, but the cost is nominal and just a small shift in your direct mail budget could make up for it. What can you do in Trulia to get exposure to your brand or your listings? Could you get an upper hand in a listing presentation because you can demonstrate to your clients that your listings get exposure in the iTunes directory? I’m pretty sure the day will come when larger percentages of the buying and selling base start to demand just as much of technology as they do of traditional exposure. If I were in the business I’d rather be the hare than the tortoise. Just because you’re an early adopter doesn’t mean you can’t get a good return on investment.

If you’re not using at least a basic means of tracking your media, start there. Secondly, establish a written marketing plan for next year and explore the different opportunities to expand your presence on the net and then integrate it into your client presentations. They will be impressed that you’ve done the homework and developed an execution strategy that combines the best of traditional methodologies along with technology and the web. Finally, do some polling of your own. Start asking people what their web habits are? Where do they go on the web? How much time do they spend doing it? Where are they doing it from? It could a long way toward helping you get a handle on the perfect recipe for your marketing mix.