A savvy Internet Agent is prepared to be an information source and assist with answers via their website.

While it's true that consumers don't typically go to the Internet to find a real estate professionals, according to the California Association of Realtors’ survey of Internet buyers, 79 percent of Internet buyers chose their agents from the Internet.

If you wait for traditional media to deliver prospects, you may find they are already working with someone else – someone they met on the Internet.

Online display and information technologies such as online videos, can deliver rich, detailed information about listings which is invaluable to consumers. Compare that to what you can put in a typical classified ad, and you can see why consumers prefer the Internet. It saves them time and they get more information, and that saves you legwork.

According to surveys, Internet consumers take longer to get prepared, but once they engage an Agent, they view fewer homes, act more quickly when they find a home and buy a more expensive home than traditional buyers.

Internet exposure is a bargain compared to most newspaper advertising, but many agents feel strapped by having to spend money on both. Newspaper advertising is more targeted, but it is very expensive because space is sold by the inch, and newspapers target jobs, real estate and cars very heavily. Because they are targeted, they are more likely to get consumers who are closer to buying a home than in the information-gathering stages. These consumers, however, may already have a relationship with an agent because those are the people looking for open houses and listings in the classifieds.