I remember stumbling upon an episode of Jeopardy in the early 90s and seeing that they too had jumped on the “bandwagon” of the world wide web. Yes, even Jeopardy now had a website just like everyone else. Do you remember those days?
It’s wild to think that just 15 years ago the idea of the “world wide web” seemed to be on the fringe, but it’s now a very significant part of our lives. Consider how the world has changed in the past several years with the advent of things like smart phones, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, and blogosphere. The web has opened up opportunities for us to communicate, do business, be more efficient, waste time, shop, date, read the news, share videos, meet people, etc…
If you are in business, the truth is that people want to reach you online. They hope to find your website, understand more about your company, and see what others are saying about you too. They may even wish to connect with you on Twitter or Facebook. I know it can sound overwhelming to someone who is not a social media convert, but don’t worry because you don’t have to be a tween techie guru to be successful online, and you can certainly take small steps to further develop your web presence over time. The key is to find what is going to work for you and your business and then incorporate a realistic and doable social media rhythm into your life. Ask yourself the question: What facet of the web or social media right now will help you further connect and build relationships with people?
Why do I spend time thinking about this stuff? Because it’s the wave of the future that is now here. My goal in business is to provide a great product and be relevant, resourceful, and focused on relationships with people (both online and in person). Just yesterday a local home owner googled me and ordered a pre-listing real estate appraisal for his house in the Rosemont area of Sacramento. After this man perused my website, he called me to connect for business. That’s how it works these days in many cases, and I plan for this scenario to only increase over time as our society continues to embrace an online lifestyle.
What do you think of all this?
“focused on relationships with people” – from where I stand it looks like you do a really good job of this. As far as all of the social media and internet websites, I think you are right. Someone called me the other day trying to sell my something, the first thing I did was pull up their website while we were on the phone so I could check them out. I think you are setting a great example for not only other appraiser, but other business owners.
Thanks Bryan. I appreciate your encouragment very much. I’m the same as you. As soon as I get a sales call, I’m usually asking, “what is your website?” It really matters. I even ask coffee shops I like or businesses I frequent. Sometimes they do not have a website unfortunately, but it seems like most businesses do. At the same time I think many people do not know where to turn to create a website, so that is a huge hurdle to deal with.