NAR and GoDaddy are running a special promotion for $60 off .realestate domains through July 2nd. Click here for the offering.

Since its release last fall, REALTORS® have been using NAR’s top-level domain (TLD), .realestate, in creative ways to forge stronger connections with homebuyers, sellers, investors, and just about anyone involved in the real estate industry. Here are five areas in which the .realestate domain is helping real estate professionals better identify their expertise and connect with consumers in more meaningful ways:

Building an online presence. If you don’t have an online presence, no one can find you or your services online. A top-level domain, and specifically a .realestate top-level domain, not only helps consumers find you, but also identifies what you do, where you do it, and what your niche or specialty is.

For example, Colorado broker Dennis Saffell recently scooped up an ambitious list of .realestate domains as soon as NAR made them available to REALTORS®. He has a .realestate web address for each of his firm’s locations, including vail.realestate and taos.realestate, and one for his overarching business, mountain.realestate.

For Saffell, it’s a strategy that allows flexibility and customization for his ever-expanding business, while removing steps for users who just want to look at a specific property or shop a location.

Marketing more creatively. Having a digital marketing strategy that sets you apart is critical in helping you connect with consumers. The .realestate domain name helps real estate professionals tell their story, and also connects consumers with everything you do in business online—your website, blog, social networks, email, branding, and more.

For Illinois REALTOR® Lou Zucaro, who specializes in mid-century modern homes, the .realestate domains he purchased helps him direct traffic to his architecture-themed website. This includes midcenturymodern.realestate, modernhomes.realestate and northwestsuburbs.realestate, which he’ll use for targeted promotion to prospects in the Chicago suburbs.

Supporting professionalism and credibility. The .realestate is a unique identifier; it protects your brand and your specialties in the industry. Beth Ferrari, a REALTOR® with her own company in Boston, Mass., saw the .realestate domain as not only that, but also an investment. She purchased 30 .realestate domains, which she plans to use for both her own company marketing and also to potentially sell to investors or other area property owners. Some examples of these include bostoncondos.realestate, foxboro.realestate and ibuyers.realestate.

Ongoing accessibility. With a top-level domain, you’re always accessible to consumers. You can provide them with important information 24/7, connecting them to a wide array of services, listings and forms, and all built around your area of expertise in an easy-to-understand way.

“We’re all so inundated with a flood of dot-com domains,” Zucaro says. “When people see a .realestate domain, not only does it have an instant recognition factor for them because they clearly know what it has to do with, but it makes them more curious to see what the site is about. I’m very much looking forward to leveraging those benefits in the near future with these projects I’m working on.”

NAR offers .realtor™ domains as well, which Zucaro also has purchased.

Using .realtor™ and .realestate together. When combined with a .realtor™ web address, the two domains work together to support you and everything you do. Some examples include ideas for locations, names or even buzzwords, such as “littlerock.realestate” and “openhouses.realestate,” and tying those back to your business, such as with “househunters.realtor.”

Bofei Cao, who uses a TLD to better communicate what his business does, agrees. Cao believes that top-level domains are the wave of the future for a variety of industries, including real estate.

“The .realestate and .realtor™ domains immediately tell people what you do—it’s not a random dot-com name. It immediately says, ‘We do real estate.'”

REALTORS® can buy .realtor™ domains for themselves and .realestate web addresses for their businesses at www.get.realtor. 

Beth McGuire is RISMedia’s online managing editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at beth@rismedia.com.