One of the biggest advantages that you will find when it comes to local networking is that it will provide you with the tools that you need to market your real estate business.

How can local networking help you to get more out of the marketing that you do for your real estate business?

Real estate marketing thrives on the ability to get the word out about neighborhoods for those who may be interested in relocating to the area. When you network with business owners in your local area, why not focus on what you can do for one another.

When you network with local restaurant owners, you can offer to hype their restaurant in your blog or on your real estate website. When you network with those at various churches, you can help prospective buyers know whether or not there’s a church in the area that will suit their needs.

Of course, networking isn’t all about what you can do for other businesses; it’s also about what they can do for you. If you have flyers, they may be willing to let you put them up. If they know of someone who’s talking about buying or selling a home and you’ve been marketing their business, it’s a fairly safe bet that your name is going to come up in conversation.

In other words, make it a point to network locally when you need to market your business; you’ll find that the entire community benefits.

When you make a commitment to local networking for your real estate company, you’ll find:

• that there are benefits to making connections with those in related industries
• that both you and those you’ve networked with benefit - if mortgage lenders refer clients to your real estate business, you win; if you refer buyers to a mortgage lender, they win
• connecting your advertising to their advertising builds website links

There are other benefits to local networking, but for the moment, let’s stop there. When you want to build your website’s popularity - and you want to make sure that when folks in your area are searching for a real estate agent they are able to find your site - incoming links are going to help a great deal.

Social marketing is a bit like using local networking to build some popularity for your site. Unlike link exchanges where you post someone’s link so that they’ll add yours to their website, social marketing includes using bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon where you can create a profile that links back to your site - to individual pages, to individual listings or blog posts. More importantly, it gives others a chance to add their comments as well.

When you take the time to network on social bookmarking sites (and even on sites like MySpace and Facebook), you’re able to reach out to those who may use your services - and to those who offer complimentary services - and to continue promoting your business.

Social marketing is a great way about getting the word out about what you do, however, it’s not a replacement for local networking - consider using it to supplement what you’re already doing (and make sure to get your contacts on board as well).

In real estate, local networking is crucial. After all, you never know when you’ll be out on the street and meet someone who is looking to buy or sell a home. More importantly, local networking should be focused on:

• making connections with those in allied services and making sure that the local mortgage brokers know who you are and what you’ve got to offer;
• making connections with service providers - movers, utility companies - in your area;
• talking with family members and friends to be sure that they are getting the word out and talking about your services when someone they know is looking for a real estate agent; and
• making connections with businesses in the area that often recruit staff from other locations.

In all of these cases, the connections that you make while networking locally can help to promote your business. Here’s how.

When you have connections with mortgage lenders, they will feel more comfortable recommending your services. When service companies hear of someone who is moving out of the area - FSBO seller perhaps - they can promote your services. When local businesses recruit out of towners, they’ve got people coming into the company from outside areas who are going to need a place to live.

More important than the one on one recommendations are links to your website from these other businesses. That’s right: local networking can help you with link building and promoting your website. That’s why it’s key to make sure that your business card has your website address, and even why it’s important to ask for a link to your site: when you’ve networked, you want to be sure that the word is getting out about what you have to offer.

In other words, local networking isn’t just about talking with people who are in the area, local networking is about getting the word out beyond the local area as well.

Local networking is something that you know is essential to your real estate business. Whether you’re looking to help others sell their homes, trying to match clients with the home of their dreams or looking for investors for a new property development project, you know that it’s important to take the time to get together with others in the area - to get the word out about working with local businesses so that you’re services are on the minds of people in the area.

Social bookmarking and social marketing are like local networking on the web. Both services allow website owners and online business developers to network - to meet like minded individuals, communicate and exchange ideas with those who are offering similar services in other parts of the country or even other parts of the world.

If you are able to communicate well, if you’re able to connect with people and you’re able to get others excited about what’s out there for you and for them, networking is simple. Social bookmarking offers on a similar principle - allowing you to share news stories, blog posts, ideas and offers with others - but for some, it seems simpler because (at least initially) it’s more anonymous.

As with networking, however, the key to social bookmarking is to build relationships; you don’t want to remain anonymous. Talk with others. Engage in debates when it’s appropriate - but keep your goals in mind; you’re not out to alienate others, you’re out to build a relationship of trust. In time, when you do it all adds up to more promotion for your website - and that leads to more success for your business.

Some people look at the internet and think that because there’s a global community out there, they need to think big in order to get their real estate website the attention that it needs. Immediately, their thoughts turn to learning more about search engine marketing and drawing in traffic that way - even if they end up using PPC campaigns and paying for the traffic they get.

Others tend to look for a more organic way of getting traffic for their website; they start to look at who they know and how their relationships can help them to get the traffic they’ve been looking for.

Think about it: you’re in real estate, what other professionals do your clients work with? When you work primarily with home buyers, the answer is going to include mortgage specialists, appraisers and home inspectors. When you work with sellers, your thoughts may turn to moving companies, to contract negotiators. When you work with commercial clients, well, your thoughts may turn to industrial parks and other business centers, even the local small business association or Chamber of Commerce.

All of the local organizations that your clients will lean on are organizations that your should be networking with. With reciprocating web links, submissions to their newsletters and mutual endorsements, your local community benefits - and you capture the leads that you need with your real estate website.

When it comes to your real estate business, there are two things to be sure of. First, without marketing, you aren’t going to be able to get the word out about your services. And, second, without a great local network, you’re likely to find that the people who you most want to reach aren’t going to be the people who know what you have to offer.

Therefore, even when you’re developing your marketing your services online it’s important not to overlook the importance of your own community.

Because of this, it’s important that you choose a marketing strategy that lets you focus you advertising to a local area. The best strategies, therefore, tend to include advertising with Superpages - your local yellow pages online. This makes it easier for those in your target audience to find you.

Networking, on the other hand, is as essential: by communicating with others who offer complimentary services - those that your clients and customers also need - you’re likely to find that a bit of mutual advertising boosts both businesses.

With real estate, you might be reluctant to turn to other agents for networking (and, let’s face it, they aren’t going to want to share their marketing strategies either). Here’s the good news: you don’t have to. Instead, look to local restaurants who would be interested in new customers, moving services in your area, services that you know your clients are going to need.

Building a local network and advertising locally both will help you to get the word out and grow your business.

When your work is in real estate, you’ll find that there are additional services that your clients regularly take advantage of. Some of these services include moving companies, access numbers for utility companies, mortgage brokers, furniture stores and similar businesses: when people are moving, there are standard services that are also promoted within your local area.

In some cases - particularly if the establishments already have a strong internet presence - local networking can help you to take advantage of their experience and customer base to draw prospective clients to you site.

On many levels, this is a lot like the networking local businesses do within brick and mortar establishments: like a restaurant that’s by a movie theater working with that theater’s management to come up with a mutual discount that encourages people to grab a meal and see a film or a local gas station offering coupons to a car wash. When businesses come together and get their customers thinking about the other, both win.

When it comes to internet marketing, the same local networking principles can be applied. By linking to one another’s websites, both your real estate company and the other service provider can receive traffic from the other’s site visitors (and, as an added bonus, the links help to boost your site’s credibility with the search engines).

Local networking is win- win.