Virtual Results Blog

1) Properties for sale, Properties for sale, Properties for sale

A quick trip to adwords will prove to you that searchers are NOT searching for Realtors on the web, they are looking for property.  So if we KNOW that searchers are searching for property, why would be host a REALTOR web site, instead of a Real Estate Website…  Answer?  We Wouldn’t…  would we. If you really want to some tips for a real estate website, consider reading from the Construction Lead Generation website.

2) Not a good IDX, but a Great IDX

Your IDX is the most useful tool on your site. This tool allows your reader to search every property on the MLS, and then contact YOU to learn about it…  Great IDXs have super easy to use interfaces, with cool ways to sort porperties and terrain style maps…  My fave?  Diverse Solutions Why settle for a poor IDX, when the price difference between a poor IDX and a best of breed IDX is $20/month…

3)  Up to date VALUABLE market info

As a Realtor that most common question you get asked is most likely “Hows the Market Doing?”  How do you answer?  Here’s the proper answer..” Well currently it is ….., but this is a unique and exciting market and it turns on a dime.  Tell you what, if you want weekly, up-to-date market information emailed right to you, here’s my card, go to my website and subscribe. I send valuable info, weekly for no cost and no obligation…” Need the info to provide?  There is NO ONE better than Altos Research.

4) Custom Neighborhood Content

No, not cut and pasted, regurgitated drip.  Your personal opinions, and impressions describing what YOU love about each neighborhood.  If you give YOUR honest opinions of a neighborhood, and one of your readers feels a bond with your opinion, could they really NOT choose you as their Realtor?

5) Micro Searches

If one of your readers already know which neighborhood they would like to buy in, and you give them a link to only search and receive updates on that neighborhood, then you have offered a service that very few, if any, other web sites will offer them…

6) Interesting Dynamic Lists

Your readers love lists.  Create a list for the 5 least expensive properties in your area, 5 most expensive, 5 best values, (you can actually blog by phone from your weekly caravan and update a “This weeks breaking values” list.) Give your readers a reason to come back and check these lists, over, and over.

7) Your Voice

As a Realtor, your most important value is KNOWLEDGE.  Use your website as a tool to show your Realtors that you are the Defacto authority regarding Real Estate in your market.  Take quick notes of daily questions your clients are asking you, and post them to your web, with the answers you gave.  You own the knowledge your prospects need.  Give it away.

8 ) Subscription Button (RSS)

Give your readers the ability to subscribe to your pearls of wisdom.  Once they subscribe, they will get all your updated info, when you update it.

9) Video…

Add video to your website, Tips for first time homebuyers, Neighborhood walk arounds, Community events, etc. Video give your readers a chance to see your personality.

10) Contact Info, Contact Info, Contact Info…

Make your contact info SUPER Visable on your HOMEPAGE, (not a contact page) Make sure you list multiple ways to contact you. Phone, email, chat,etc.  When web readers want to speak to you, don’t make them wait.  Make sure they can fine the info easily, and make your self available by THEIR favorite method of Communication.

11) CALL TO ACTION

Tell you reader what YOU expect their next action to be. Sunscribe here!, For more detail call (XXX) XXX-XXXX, To receive weekly market reports, enter your email HERE!!  Tell them specifically what you want them to do and give them the opportunity to do it easily, and immediatly!!

One of my newest broker/clients called me the other day and asked me why his salespeople didn’t care whether or not they got “their share” of the leads from his newly performing website… “We never got Internet leads before, now we are getting them almost every day… but my salespeople tell me that they are not that enthused about working them…”

I asked, “Are you just giving any correspondence ( I hesitate to call them leads..” that comes in from the website to your Realtors, to work?”

He responded, “Yes, I am not going to work them myself!” and here we unmasked the problem…

Emails that come to you via your website are USUALLY not leads…

Should I say it again?… I am not saying you will NEVER get a lead from your website, but unless it is a request for a showing, or a request for a car ride (attended the 4RealzED seminar? … you should) it is probably not worth investing your precious “closing time” on…

Emails that come to you via your website are requests for COMMUNITY..

Typically emails that come to your website are from searchers that are engaging your community.  They saw a post about a neighborhood they are interested it, they saw a property they would like more information about.  They read something that they need clarification on.  They are interested in staying informed via your community market analysis. (You do have community market analysis, right?

These are individuals that have taken the first QUANTUM leap towards becoming a prospect/client.  They have decided to trust you.  So how do you repay them for their freshly discovered loyalty?  You turn them over to a super busy hard charging Real estate agent who is going to qualify them from sentence three and blow them off around sentence four…  not good.

You have GOT to have a community option for readers who are willing to self identify.  They are crying out to become your desciples, your evangelists, your groupies? (Okay, I am reaching….)  Let them.  A newletter, a blog, a forum, a VALUABLE monthly email blast… (read: market conditions with valuable, personal, ORIGINAL, well thought out market observations)  You have got to welcome Internet correpondence as you would welcome a valuable stranger into your home…  tred lighly, offer your freindship, dont ask for anything in return.  GIVE THEM WHAT THEY CAME FOR….

and from this community?  You will grow leads…  and leads…  and leads….

ME:   “If you had a website”,  (or more commonly) “If I write you a new site” (or most recently…a lot) If I completely redesigned your crappy Advanced Access (insert ANY template website company name here…)  site, what would you do with it..  WHY DO YOU WANT A NEW WEBSITE..

Realtor:  “Because EVERYONE has a website…” or

Realtor: “Because my clients (I expect this means “prospects) expect me too… Number three? or

Realtor: “To get Leads..”

Believe it or not, this is a legitimate question I ask Realtors all the time.

However I rarely get the real answer.  The real answer is squirreled away and has to be carefully coaxed out…  the REAL ANSWER is often “So I can bury myself in front of my computer and wait for leads to rush in, so I dont have to do all the HARD stuff that really creates business, like Up-desk, OR DOOR KNOCKING!!  or cold calling, or going to community meetings and approaching strangers or DOING SALES!!

As an Internet Marketing Constultant , the strangest look I get is still when I tell Realtors “You know, you dont really need a website.” Why would I say this? Because you would be shocked how often I get this question…

“I don’t do anything with my website, and I am really busy, and I make plenty of money…really. But I think I need a website… DO I?? ”

NO, you need a vacation. If you ARENT really busy, if you DON’T make plenty of money, and if you have time to grow an Internet presence…carefully and methodically, you need a website.

If you are doing ALL the aforementioned stuff, and would like incremental business from a slightly different (cooler?) demographic, you need a website.  If you have the time and energy to educate yourself just enough to understand how the web works and your place within it, you need a website. And if you are TRULY INTERESTED in Real Estate and want to touch more people in a day, then you currently do in a year…  yes, you need a website… The good news is, even if you lack prior experience, AI website builder now make it accessible for anyone to create their website.

Over the next few posts I will endevour to bring you some ideas on the VALUE of tracking website analytics that rise well above simply receiving leads…  Now, Receiving leads, or convincing visitors to self identify is first and foremost.  But how about just getting better…

How did you get better at your listing presentation…  Feedback.  Each time you gave a listing presentation your prospect showed you comments and body language that properly read coached you to add or omit parts of the presentation…  and you got better!

Analytics is the Body Language of the web… 

Analytics works for your website just as prospect feedback is used for presentation..  As you watch the trends of  your visitors and see what they are doing, where they are going, and what they like and dont like…  you change your web to match their likes…  their body language..  and your site gets better…

The changes you make in your listing presentation AND your website create the same results…  better conversion…

So, how do you improve your website without the feedback or BL of the web (analytics)… you simply don’t.

The Web 2.0 consumer has a short attention span. This we know. But how short? How many times can we expect a searcher to click on a link or page BEFORE he or she gets exactly what they came for… WHAT THEY WERE SEARCHING FOR… three, two, one… I think not… Let’s try zero.

One of the great (unplanned) features of the BLOG is the long tail.. Yeah, Yeah, I know. SEO… But this is not about SEO. It is about the most efficient content delivery imaginable… zero click content delivery.

What do you search for and what do you expect to find when get the results. Let’s pretend a search for Large Pink Horse shoes… Okay, go to Google and type it in… What are the results? Let’s see…

Chances are you will get a site that has “large pink horseshoes” in the description… but when you go to the site? all you see is Large Pink Horses…. Wait is there a link to horse shoes? There is a link to the pair of horseshoes that are on the horse in the picture…. But I want all pink horseshoes…..

I am out…

However if I land on a blog post with content about Large Pink Horseshoes, how many clicks away am I now…. Here is the post…. Zero clicks.

Now, here is your challenge… How do you make your Real Estate Website, a zero click website. What are your searchers looking for, and how quickly can you provide it…

Build it and they will come.

The mantra from Broker to Agent is, “you’ve got to create an on-line brand…”

I think that maybe the Brokers just got frustrated or ran out of ideas,. Maybe they didn’t have the time during the “boom” to give better counsel… or perhaps they SIMPLY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE INTERNET. But frankly, this is really low-grade advice… Imagine yourself looking for a new shiny car.. A Prius, or even a Benz. You go to your favorite search engine, pause and breathe, and type in your search, p-r-i-u-s. You eagerly await the results and ta-da, there it is… three pages filled with sites advertising Prius…..salesman.

“Please choose me to buy your Prius, I have been in the industry for 23 years. I was number one in Talooga County in 2004. I have 15 initials after my name, Phd, BS, Md, Esq, l-m-n-o-p… Look at my picture, don’t I look trustworthy? Oh, and here is my dog!

Is this the actual results you were looking for? You are probably clicking through these sites faster than a 14 year old playing a video game. I want to see a car, I want see deals on a car, I want to see information about the car. I want to find the right car. I want see prices on this car. Convince me to buy THIS car and then I will THINK about who I want to buy from.  I want to see the Windshield Replacement Cost and all the probabilities of getting in an accident caused by a drunk driver and having to get legal help from an OVI lawyer. All of these items and the list can add up to a nice price tag if you don’t do the right research on costs.

But that is exactly what Realtors are offering the Real Estate Searcher… *repeat* REAL ESTATE searcher. When was the last time you searched for a REALTOR on the Internet? Seldom? Never? Most Real Estate based Searches are just that…. Real Estate. Notice on the (hard to read) adwords chart below that Seattle Realtor is number 8 and not even close to the search term MOST searchers are using… which is REAL ESTATE. Realtor doesn’t show up again until number 23…

Enter Web 2.0… How about giving your searchers what they are looking for? They are not looking for you… They don’t care about you! They want your product. Real Estate Searcher come to the Internet to learn about houses. Check out houses, look at the prices of house. They come to get information (from you) about neighborhoods, architecture, market trends. They even come for advice…. about houses, housing and all things Real Estate.

Build it and they will come.

So, now you know what they want… Is your site offering it? Do you have the best IDX in your market. Can they see inventory with 2 clicks, one click, NO clicks. Do you have pertinent market information. Pertinent = timely and Original. Do you have community information. Not canned, regurgitated HOA information, but meaningful, valuable, original information. What would YOU want to see in a site… Make a list. If you were moving to Talooga county in six months, what would the site look like that YOU WOULD WANT TO USE….

Build it and they will come.

Sometimes a post comes along that I just couldn’t agree more. Every paragraph, sentence and syllable. Jim Cronin of the Tomato posted this article entitled “is you website working against your Real Estate career. It is on spot and brilliant. My client/readers will feel this is an “echo.”

A couple of other “expireds” are:

• Any type of personal BRANDING… Real Estate searchers are looking for …..Real Estate, not Realtors. They don’t care about you. Give them what they came for and hope they appreciate it enough to self-identify.
• Driving people to your site via other (expensive) marketing. You just invested 12 and half zillion dollars to buy the front page in “Dream Homes on the Cliff with a pool in Belair” Magazine and once you have the readers attention, you drive them to your website? How about a separate and effective call to action, like “pick up the phone and lets go for a car ride!

How about a couple of extra”wireds”

• Pertinent, timely, unique and CURRENT information about your market. Average Sales Prices, Inventory Levels, Trends, and your well thought out opinion on the market… You are an authority, right? Prove it.
• Fun or Interesting. Searcher will check out cool info, trivia, and interesting facts… as long as it is fresh… How about “Top 5 most expensive, Top 5 least expensive, Coolest Architecture in town…etc.” But if it is not you and not CURRENT… don’t do it. “

Jim’s article is a breath of fresh air. He gets it.. Do you?

Every Realtor should spend a small portion of their day keeping up with local, regional and National Real Estate news. Your clients and prospects EXPECT you to know the answers. Google Reader is absolutely the best thing since sliced bread for keeping up on your RSS feeds. But wait… it gets better. I found this list of shortcut keys around the internet…

Simply search for sites that carry the content you crave and subscribe to them in your Google Reader. Then list all unread and power short cut through them. Get ready to replace your keyboard whent the “J” pops off!!

Good Luck!

As I travel to seminars and speak to Realtors , I am running into a problem that I never actually considered. The REASON, I thought, that Realtors (in general) werent effective in realizing income on the Internet was that that they didn’t understand how. Understandable. All realtors should be as good at selling houses as the The Mayo Home Team, or at least that’s what a person expects when hiring one. Internet marketing is a whole cottage industry away from Real Estate. Perhaps they were trying, but just missing the mark. The actual problem, I now see, is more systemic than that.

Most Realtors dont know what they dont know.

The Idea that a Website is should be built to create REVENUE and not a brand? I didn’t know that.

The concept that I can create a website that APPEALS to my searchers and creates a DESIRE to self-identify? Really, I didnt know.

The theory that I can actually track my visitors progress through my site and see which parts they enjoy and which they dont? and that I should actually build the site THEY WANT? I didn’t know that I didn’t know that, either.

So, lets take the next couple of weeks and set a plan in action to learn what we need to know… and then we will learn that…

Make sense? Who knows…. stayed tuned.

Apparently Google discovered Real Estate Webmasters “contextual linking” program and decided that it was not within the Spirit” of their Search Criteria. Frankly I am a bit surprised. Real Estate Webmaster got a pretty large boost of biz when Advanced Access got an IP level penalty from Yahoo for blatant reciprocal linking. Why would they take the same chances? Google makes it pretty darn clear that ANY linking practices that are designed to “game the system”are open for penalty assessment or worse. REWs linking practices seem to serve no other purpose. Months ago there was the “cross-linked” directory scandal… and now this? Lets put away our self-serving, over analytical SEO hats, step back and look at why Google would feel justified in assessing such a penalty.

What does Google do for a living? They offer a service. Simply put, Google offers the best case results for any search term you choose to enter in the Google search box. How do they do it? By creating a complex algorithm that measures MANY different aspects of a site and returns the best results. ( I know…highly oversimplified) What happens when you game the system? Google’s value is diminished. Would you stand for that if you were Google? of course not. and neither will they.