Dream Town Realty President Featured on Cover of Chicago Agent Magazine

CHICAGO, IL, October 20, 2010 (Press-News.org) Yuval Degani of Dream Town Realty, an innovator in online real estate, was one of five industry professionals interviewed for Chicago Agent Magazine's October 11th cover story titled "Secrets of Online Success". The article underlines the importance for agents to have an online identity and use the power of the Internet to attain leads, provide useful consumer resources, and position themselves as experts within the field.

As the owner of a company with an award-winning website, Mr. Degani was asked for his insight on the subject and what measures agents can take to promote their brand through the Internet. The main message he had for realtors was to invest in a personalized agent website and to "blog, blog and blog some more."

Keeping up with relevant content through blogging not only keeps a site current and interesting, it builds credibility and positions the author as an authority. But agents need to take their blogging seriously, advises Mr. Degani, who says the content must be meaningful and deliver value in order to get consumers to consider your services. After all, the ultimate goal of any online practice is to develop real-life clients in need of buyer or seller representation (www.dreamtown.com/sell).

"The best way to get someone's business is to demonstrate how you can benefit their interests," said Mr. Degani in a separate interview. "Blogs are an opportunity to gain consumer trust by talking about your specializations, professional experience and how you helped previous clients. Putting a personal spin on the content will set you apart from other agent bloggers in Chicago and put your name at the forefront of consumers' minds."

Social media networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, also provide an outlet to demonstrate your expertise. The point is to get yourself out there and build up an online presence, says Mr. Degani, and put your URL on everything.

"I can't stress enough how important it is for Chicago real estate agents to have their own website," Mr. Degani reiterates. "If a buyer or seller Googles your name, you need to have a legitimate site with useful tools, such as a property search engine, neighborhood info and consistently updated content."

And once you have that website, make sure to promote it. In the article Mr. Degani suggests listing URLs on all mailings and For Sale signs. Any marketing piece that goes out ought to scream the website. And when someone goes to the website, it should be an easy-to-use interface packed with helpful resources that encourage a consumer to return again and again.

Search functionality is a huge part of a website's draw. Buyers want to be able to look for Chicago homes online and know that they have access to all available listings (www.dreamtown.com/neighborhood_search.do). In addition to pulling up property details, there is a big emphasis on photos. For that reason, a fast photo player with clear images large enough to view on any size computer screen is a must.

When Mr. Degani founded Dream Town in 1998, one of main objectives of his business plan was a cutting-edge website. DreamTown.com has been through a number of upgrades and re-developments since then and is now one of the top-ranked sites in Chicago real estate.

"There are two sides to a website," Mr. Degani explains. "One aspect serves consumer needs while the other generates leads for agents. We are constantly evaluating and adjusting our site to ensure both aspects are met to their fullest potential."

Dream Town is largely recognized as the leader in online Chicago real estate. Its top-ranked website (www.dreamtown.com) receives tens of thousands of unique visitors weekly. The company has developed proprietary technology and applications to improve online house hunting and offer the most advanced Internet home search available to Chicago buyers today. Dream Town Realty provides residential buyer and seller services, as well as commercial and international divisions and REO sales. The company also has a new home construction and renovation branch called Dream Town Builders and Remodeling.