Archive for November, 2007
Determining how porous your real estate market is has nothing to do with whether you’ve had any rain lately. But, determining the Absorption Rate in your market area can help you set home prices and manage client expectations.
Imagine. . .
Your new listing prospect asks you how long you think it will take to sell their home. You pull out the Absorption Rate analysis you prepared before the listing presentation and you give them an estimate based on current trends in your market. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Sounds like you’ve got a competitive edge over your competitors if they’re still giving the old, “It depends” answer.
Calculating an Absorption Rate is Easy
If you’re not familiar with using this tool, you’ll be glad to know that it is a very easy way to track trends in your market. A presentation was given at the recent NAR conference, and this brief summary explains how to calculate an Absorption Rate
You can also use it to help set pricing, based on the number of units that are on the market and how long it should take to sell them. Some of my clients provide monthly Absorption Rate figures to their clients each month. The same type of information can be calculated for a neighborhood, or for a price range.
Sell It in English
If you’re going to sell the fact that you provide regular updates on market conditions, I suggest that you say it in English. A bullet point on your “about” page listing monthly Absorption Rate updates as a benefit of your service probably won’t be meaningful to your clients.
Think about what that type of information adds to the process, and write a benefit statement that even non-real estate folks will understand!
Don’t forget to answer the Share Your Experience poll. The poll is located in the left column of the blog. Look for the header “Share Your Experience”, click on the response of your choice, then click the Vote button!
This is the last post in the series on website content mistakes you can avoid so that you don’t end up annoyed with your website like our friend here. Use this link to see all the posts in this series: Real Estate Website Content Mistakes.
The first five posts in this series covered issues related to how your website is set up, some related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and some related to how your content is written and how your pages are laid out.
11. Selling Your Visitors: Too Much “Me”!
What’s Too Much “Me”?
Packing Your Home Page with Information About You – Earlier in this series, the point was made that the most effective use of your home page is to sell visitors on your website.
When an Internet buyer or seller hits your home page, their first question is whether or not your site provides them with the tools they need to research their next real estate transaction.
The goal for your home page is to make it easy for your visitors to find the information they need, and to let them know there is a place where they can learn more about you – when they’re ready.
It’s a good idea to include a “teaser” on the home page with a link to an “about” page. It’s easy to write that teaser if you have a brand, but even if you don’t, pick one of the key benefits of your business that your target audience will relate to.
Making Your “About” Page All About You – You could be thinking, “But, wait a minute, isn’t the about page supposed to be about me?” The answer is no!
When you’re a one-man show, like many agents are, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need to sell yourself to prospects. What you’re really selling is your business. So, what business are you in? I usually think of it as a real estate consulting practice.
Your prospects will choose to work with you when they believe that the benefits that they will receive when they work with you are better than the benefits they will receive from working with any other real estate advisor.
There’s a story about the head of Stanley Tool who made this point during an annual sales meeting:
“I want each of you to remember that you are not selling drills – - you’re selling holes!”
And, that philosophy works very well in the real estate industry, too. You’re not selling yourself – - you’re selling a successful real estate transaction.
Concentrate your “about” page on the benefits your clients receive when they work with you. Translate your market knowledge and experience into benefits that are meaningful for your target audience.
And, certainly it’s true that real estate is a personal business. You and your clients work closely together, and you spend a great deal of time together in situations that can sometimes be very stressful. So, don’t be afraid to share some of yourself with your visitors, but tie insight on who you are with what that means to your prospect.
Another thing to keep in mind is that prospects are rarely impressed by industry awards you’ve received, unless you can tie them into a benefit. So, if you’re the #1 sales person in your office, don’t mention it unless you can use it as a proof source for selling homes quickly and at top value, for example.
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Effective Internet marketing is a critical component of your marketing strategy. As you’re probably aware, the trend for buyers and sellers using the Internet is increasing every year. Real estate professionals who ignore the Internet do so at their own risk.
If you take the time to create a lead-generating website, it will pay for itself, and you’ll reap the benefits, many times over!
BRER Polls: Share Your Experience
· CommentsSHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE!
One of the great things about the Internet is that it provides an excellent opportunity for us to learn from each other. The Share Your Experience poll is another way that you can share with your fellow real estate professionals – and it only takes a second!
The current poll has to do with your experience with Internet marketing. Very common questions about Internet marketing are these:
- How do other agents/brokers use the Internet?
- What results do they get?
- Am I getting good results from my Internet marketing?
- Should I be getting more leads from my website?
Don’t Leave It to Someone Else!
Take a second right now to answer the poll. The more responses we get, the more it will encourage others to participate, and the better insight we’ll have on the issues raised.
The poll is located in the left column of the blog. Look for the header “Share Your Experience“, then click on the response that most closely matches your experience with the Internet, then click the Vote button.
The Share Your Experience Poll will be changed regularly. If there’s a topic you’ve been wondering about, let me know!
What Can Google Webmaster Tools Do For You?
If you’re not using Google Webmaster Tools, now would be a good time to evaluate how useful they can be. The tools are a free resource that can help you improve your real estate website’s performance in ranking well in Google.
An Overview
The tools are available to help you manage your website’s relationship with Google. You can do the following types of things:
- Identify broken links
- Manage how Google indexes your website
- Determine how often the Google bot stops by to crawl your web pages
- Identify the keywords where your site appears in the search results, and even more interesting, the keywords where people are actually clicking through to your site
- And, the list goes on . . .
If you have very in-depth reporting currently available about your website, traffic statistics, keyword ranking and which keywords are bringing you traffic from which search engines, you may not use the Webmaster Tools as much.
But, it’s a good idea to establish a Google account. It doesn’t take long, and you’ll have the information available when you want it.
Where to Go for Help
You may be thinking, “I just don’t want to figure out another web tool!!” If that’s the case, try reading this Google Webmaster Tools Review at the Online Marketing Blog. The article is not just a review. It gives a very clear explanation of how to set up an account, and how the various tools work and what you can learn from them.
I am a pretty laid back person, in my opinion anyway, and usually the dumb things people do don’t annoy me. I tend to attribute bad behavior to a lack of self-esteem, a dysfunctional childhood (which covers just about all of us), fear, a lack of education or whatever other malady fits the situation.
But, there are some people who REALLY annoy me, and I’m taking this opportunity to call them out!
People Who Make Drugs Out of My Medicine
Have you bought a cold or sinus medicine that contains pseudoephedrine lately? I have. It’s the only stuff that can clear my sinuses. I tried the other stuff, but it just doesn’t work.
Now, I feel like the criminal! First, I have to skulk into the aisle of my local mega mart where the cold and sinus remedies are displayed, and sneak a small piece of cardboard off the shelf that has a picture of the contraband I want to purchase. Then, I stand in the pharmacy line. Then, I have to show my driver’s license and sign a small monitor promising that I will only swallow the pills, not cook them into an illegal drug. Cheez.
Internet Spammers
There are all kinds of things I have to do because of Internet spammers. I have to purchase special software to protect my computer. I have to answer all the ridiculous questions my computer asks me trying to protect me from spammers.
But, the thing that annoys me the most is checking my e-mail Spam folder. My brain can’t help but absorb some of the filth in the emails that end up there while I’m making sure that e-mails from real people haven’t been swept in there by mistake.
Stupid People Who Force Me to Read Dumb Stuff
I purchased a thingy to put in my windshield to deflect the sun so the car didn’t get so hot during the summer. It’s pretty clever, actually. It’s reflective material stretched on some kind of wire. It starts out a relatively small round disk, and with a flick of the wrist, opens to cover the windshield on the inside of the car.
The instructions printed on the material includes this admonition: “Do not operate the vehicle while the sun guard is in use.” Duh. Could anyone really be that stupid?!? How did that court case play out? “Well, Judge, I didn’t notice I couldn’t see out of the windshield, and there was nothing in the product literature that told me the sun guard couldn’t be used while driving.” Give me a break!
So, Now It’s Your Turn!
Let me know about people who really annoy you! Send me an e-mail, and I’ll publish your lists next Wednesday. Include your web address (and even the keyword phrase you’d like to use as the link text), and I’ll include a link to your website.
I would have simply given you my e-mail address rather than a link to a contact form, but then the spammers would scrape the e-mail address off this blog and send me even MORE GARBAGE!!
