As much as personal recommendations from friends and family are revered when it comes to real estate recommendations, people nowadays turn to the Internet for reviews including real estate agent prospects. Consumers have become more critical, and they want to get as much bang for their buck, so that means getting a good review on your service will upgrade your chances of scoring clients. Here's a list of websites you can use:
Zillow is specifically made for real estate agents, and you get to have separate star ratings for several aspects like your negotiation skills, process expertise, local knowledge and responsiveness. Take note that the site gets a whooping 124 million visits per month! If you take this into account, it's safe to say that getting your share of leads through this site will be high. Included in the Zillow group websites that advertise realtors are Trulia and StreetEasy.
Why it's good for you: The site has a feature that lets you be a Zillow Premiere Agent through which you can promote your listings, generate buyer and sellers leads, and even advertise on Facebook. This comes with a fee, but it gives you the benefit of exclusivity – you’re the only agent promoted on the page when you submit your listing, as opposed to not getting signed up as a Zillow Premiere Agent wherein other agents will appear on your listing – and wider reach, because even if you don’t have a listing of your own yet, you get to advertise on the local listings by non-Zillow Premiere Agents.
What to watch out for: If you ask your clients to give a review, they would have to make an account in Zillow which might prove to be a hassle. Also, they do not have a clear description of how they filter reviews so it is likely that you might get a bogus review for your work. Another problem that clients encountered with Zillow is that home prices listed on the website are not always accurate.