I think it may be a lack of value placed on internet presence. Many agents here still have only a vague idea of internet marketing, and don't place as much value on its usefulness to business as the old methods.

I agree with Mike.  There are numerous agents in my area who still don't have websites, have disfunctional websites, or don't check their email regularly or at all.  

There are many point2 realtors in my area who don't participate in agent handshake.

While I have been generating business online for many years, I am not particularly interested in extensive blogging because it is too time consuming.  It can become addictive and take too nuch time away from more productive activities.  So, you will see my respond to a blog once in awhile.  

we see many agents in our neck of the woods who devalue internet marketing, saying things like "I had a site for 3 years and never got a lead" -- of course, they had a sign in the wilderness, far from any roads, since they did not do anything to promote the site other than put the url on their signs...

Also, their site was never linked up or indexed by search engines... so it is not surprising...

I see many agents who think this way... pitty for them, and good for us, I suppose.

But to not even bother to put your contact info on the site... no wonder you dont get any leads, I say...

Are you a member of active rain? I am referring you... there will be able to find a referral, I am sure.

When I retired a few of years ago I looked for something to do after a year of, uh.. relaxing.  I had been marketing online for more than 10 years and as I researched the internet presence of agents in my area (especially from one large company) I noticed that very few agents were using web sites for marketing.  

I had found a niche that wasn't full.

Better for me that some people don't like the web site stuff.  My 1st broker wanted me to go around my neighborhood and knock on doors & hand out jar openers to introduce myself.  HA!  No way was I going to do THAT.

I love these web sites and 99% of my business comes directly from them.  Yep - I spend about $500-$600 a month on advertising, but if it gets me ONE deal a month, I'm way ahead!  I've got sellers and buyers from FL to Oregon.  And one buyer in Hawaii I picked up yesterday.

I don't do mailings, don't do cold calls, don't buy leads or buy magazine/newspaper ads.  Works for me anyway.  My 2¢!

And now, I need to double check my referral page!

uuuummm!, off to the referal page, me thinks.

The problem is that when someone starts out with a Standard P2 site, the only indication of who they're associated with is the default P2 copyright information at the bottom. Most don't bother adding any new information to their About Me page either,

What agents need to do is read the NAR Code of Ethics and get up to speed on recent changes to Article 12 which says, in short, that their office affilaition MUST be prominently displayed including their affiliation and the city it is located in (and no more than one-click away from the homepage). If a broker does not have a separate brick & morter location and is working from a home office, they still fall under the ruling. The changes were made to protect the public so that someone couldn't be hiding behind a P.O. Box. P2 should do more to include the agents information on the homepage or the About page as a default when their initial site is set up.

Ha! I went back and checked my referral profile. I had the basic info, but lacked other info. How embarrassing.

Just the phrase "internet presence," would indicate to me that there has to be a location, name, company name, and contact information on the website. That is part of the process of getting branded, and known online to the more than 76% of buyers looking on line for real estate information, and to colleagues. I find that in my area, Tallahassee, there are approximately 2000 Realtors, but a minute fraction have point2 websites, and some have no web presence, or faulty web presence. I have even spoken with old time agents who say that web marketing is a waste of time. Well, it is a a process, and sometimes, slow, but I am convinced that it is the BEST marketing. Most of my leads come from online.