Why Use a Professional Domain Name?

A common mistake real estate professionals make is to use a free email account or host their site on a free server. It's quite common to see agents listing contact email addresses like johndoe@hotmail.com or johnsells@aol.com. Many agents also use free web sites with domains such as www.realtor.com/sanfrancisco/johndoe or ilead.realtor.com/display/?id=12345678&.

This immediately gives prospective clients the impression that you're not serious about your business. How much confidence would you place with an agent who isn't willing to invest a few dollars a month for hosting and a domain name?

Email
Free email accounts also convey a degree of anonymity and are also associated with spam. Many corporations specifically block emails originating from free accounts to avoid spam and viruses.

An additional problem with email addresses provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is that they are not permanent. If you decide to move from your AOL dial up service to broadband DSL connection, you will lose your AOL email address. Even if you are happy with your current ISP, they may go belly up as did AT&T @home, DirectTV DSL, and dozens of others. The last thing you want is for your clients to not be able to reach you when you change your email address.

Web Site
Using a free web host without your own domain name will also result in very poor search engine rankings. Search engines group and list sites by their top-level domains if there is more than one page within the domain that matches the search phrase. When a homebuyer searches for San Francisco real estate, your site will be given very low precedence because it is under the www.realtor.com domain with thousands of other pages in that domain matching the search phrase. Using a domain such as www.realtor.com/sanfrancisco/johndoe, it is unlikely that users will ever find you below the thousands of other sites that appear for their search phrase.

Studies show that 81% of your traffic will come from search engines. Saving a few dollars here is not a wise choice. With domain names and hosting being so inexpensive, it's really quite silly to use these free services for your business. By registering a domain name for your web site and using it for your email address, you deliver a consistent image and make it as easy as possible for your clients to find you.