Archive for June, 2008
A Message from Kathleen: If you read Sam’s last post here about how he quadrupled his Internet leads, you’ll know about the changes he made to his website that had such amazing results. Now, he’s back to let us know how that increase in leads has translated into business. And, you’ll see some of my comments in italics.
I put a call to action on every page of my Austin real estate website in the top right corner. It contains a link to an MLS map search, my contact information, a link to email me, and a link to my blog.
I did that at the very end of November, and immediately started getting more calls, emails and registrations on my site than ever before. Since I started tracking on February 1, I have received 143 phone calls and emails, and have had over 800 registrations on my site. OK, but what about conversion?
We all know that most Internet leads don’t convert quickly. But, at this point, I have one listing, four homes under contract and one closing as a result of internet leads since February 1. I am also working with four buyers who should be under contract by the end of August, and I have two $1 million+ referrals out that should close this summer. Not bad!
For over a year, my site’s ranking on the search engines has fluctuated from #3 to #8 and everywhere in between for the term Austin real estate, #3 or #4 for Austin real estate blog, between #3 and #5 for Austin homes, #1 or #2 for Lake Travis real estate, and up there for a whole bunch of long tail results. My short tail makes up around 15% of results.
So part of getting the leads is a result of getting my site ranked well in the search engines, but before I made the call to action change, I wasn’t getting even 10% of what I am getting now.
- This is a great example of the power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You’ll notice that while Sam has evidently done a lot of work to rank for his main keywords, his long tail results (ranking for terms that are related to your main keywords) are also impressive. If the traffic from his short tail (main keywords) is only 15%, that means that 85% of his traffic comes from related keywords. This is a situation unique to doing SEO on a site - using pay per click, for example, will produce traffic as long as you’re paying for specific keyword placement, but you’ll never get traffic from related keywords!
- Another factor to keep in mind is the fact that Sam provides a map-based MLS search provided by WolfNet. While he had the Wolfnet search on his site long before his leads increased so dramatically, I believe that using a more sophisticated search may be contributing to his results.
- Sam is requiring registration after the visitor views three listings. The fact that 1) he has a map search tool, and 2) he can give his visitors some information before registration is required may have something to do with his visitors’ willingness to create an account. When I asked him about that, he described how he gets his search to work so well:
Have you read something explaining this rumor? I came across an interesting ad on an industry site recently. It is being run by a supplier to the real estate industry. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t seen it, keep this post in mind when you do.
Here’s my analysis of the rumor being spread by this ad.
- The ad states that “the DOJ has mandated new requirements for real estate websites”.
- Actually, that’s not exactly true. The agreement between NAR and the DOJ identifies new requirements for VOW searches.
If you click on the ad, you reach a landing page that contains further explanation:
- The landing page tells you that virtually every real estate website that offers an “MLS or IDX” link is out of compliance with the new regulations and continuing to provide that link could result in an agent losing their access to the MLS.
- Exhibit A of the DOJ judgment does require a change in the way MLS data is accessed by the public, but it refers only to VOWs, not IDX searches. As you’re probably aware, the number of VOW searches is miniscule compared to the number of sites using IDX.
- The landing page also offers a solution: a “free compliance gateway”. This technology is free to anyone with a real estate website. I presume that somehow you are supposed to integrate this “gateway” between your website visitors and your MLS search. I won’t even comment on what it would take to make that happen.
- Let’s think about this one.
If you get your VOW from your MLS, do you think your MLS will continue to provide the same functionality without coming into compliance with the DOJ requirements? I don’t think so.
If you get your VOW from a third-party vendor, you know that the vendor is able to provide the VOW based on an agreement with your MLS. Do you think your MLS will continue to provide the data feed to the vendor without making sure that vendor is in compliance with the DOJ requirements? Yea, right.
Call me crazy, but I just can’t think of any reason why anyone would need a separate piece of software to act as a compliance gateway.
If anyone has a different interpretation of the situation, having studied the published documents about the agreement, or having discussed the issue with their MLS, please jump in here.
Whimsical Wednesday: Ode to George Carlin
· CommentsIt’s not very often that the passing of famous people makes an impression on me. I’ve never really understood why we get so involved with famous people. I agree with the guy (whose name I forget) from Saturday Night Live who said something to the effect of: If you think you want to be rich and famous, try rich first.
I can’t imagine having photographers chasing me around 24/7. I don’t understand how everyday people can get so involved with famous people that they know every little thing about them. Guess it started with the Beatles in my life. Watching those crowds of kids - mostly girls of course - screaming and crying over four other kids from England. . . it was a puzzlement.
But, that’s not the topic for this Wednesday. As you probably know, George Carlin passed away recently. His passing did have an impact on me. Carlin was controversial to some, but I was always fascinated by the way he looked at things.
I enjoyed his outlook on life and his ability to look at the most common situations and find the unusual or absurd angle on them. Here are some Carlin gems:
- By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.
- Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.
- Electricity is really just organized lightning.
- Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
- I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.
- I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work.
- I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
- I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose… it’ll be much harder to detect.
- Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.
- Not only do I not know what’s going on, I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did.
- People who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think.
And, I could go on. But, if you haven’t heard a Carlinism lately, those quotes should remind you whether you liked the man’s humor or not. And, here’s the most appropriate George Carlin quote to end this whimsy:
Always do whatever’s next.
Safe Journey, Mr. Carlin
What Does Direct Response Marketing in Real Estate Look Like?
Now, let’s talk about what direct response marketing should look like. By the way, I got tired of stealing Michael Russer’s terminology, so instead of irrestible offers, I’ll talk about compelling propositions - thank heaven for thesauruses.
To do direct response marketing right, you first need a compelling proposition. You need to motivate your target audience to respond to your marketing in order to receive something that they perceive to be valuable. The proposition doesn’t have to be a $1000 check, but something that is valuable enough to be worth taking the trouble to complete the action you’re requesting.
In the example of the TV ad, making the requested telephone call will get you a product that will solve a big problem for you. And, the TV ads often go even further - convincing the audience that if they call quickly, they’ll get even more of the wonderful product. Of course, according to my research, that’s not true. I once checked one company’s website hours after I saw their TV ad, and the 2 for 1 offer was still prominently displayed. So, don’t go crazy with this offer!
Once you’ve identified your compelling proposition, put it on your website. Set it up so that the visitor will have to sign up to receive it. I think immediate gratification is best. So, I’d set it up using an autoresponder. The prospect provides their name and email address, and the valuable information is instantly sent to the email they provide.
Similar to the earlier examples, the key here is that you have to be able to track the response you’re getting. If you’re sending out postcards or doing print advertising, for example, there is a fairly significant investment involved. It’s critical that you calculate your return on investment so that you don’t end up doing a promotion over and over with no idea whether it’s worth it.
Track the Results!
There are several advantages to using your website for the response. First, people are much more likely to drop by your website as opposed to calling you directly. Second, tracking results with a website is easy.
Let’s say that you normally have this compelling proposition on your website. Your site visitors can reach the compelling proposition using a button on your home page and a tab on your menu. That’s fine for normal traffic. But, when you’re doing a direct response marketing piece, make one more investment - purchase a domain name that is directed right at the page where the offer is located.
Then, whenever you do marketing to drive traffic to that offer, post the special domain name you purchased in your marketing piece. Since I’m sure you’ve arranged to have in-depth traffic statistics available to you on your website, you can easily track the response to your marketing by checking the traffic to that domain name.
DON’T FORGET TO COMPLETE THE POLL IN THE LEFT COLUMN!
The results so far are pretty darn interesting!
It’s been a couple years since the last time I wrote about direct response marketing. Boy, time really does fly!
Direct Response Marketing - Overview
If you do direct response marketing, you’re including a call to action in your marketing initiatives that encourages your audience to do something very specific. For example, you’ve seen those crazy product commercials on TV that encourage the audience to call an 800 number for a special offer - usually only for the next 10 minutes!
That is a direct response ad. Make this phone call - get something valuable in return. It’s direct contact between the consumer and the advertiser. It’s different than a more traditional ad. Traditional television commercials don’t use direct response principals. You’ve never seen a TV commercial for corn flakes that displays an 800 number that can be called to order two boxes for the price of one!
Does direct response marketing work? I guess it must since they keep producing those types of commercials. The key is that the advertiser can tell if it’s working because they can simply count the number of calls received by that 800 number. And, the advertiser can tell if they’re getting a reasonable return on investment, too. They can compare the revenue generated by the phone calls to the cost of the TV ad.
What Does Direct Response Marketing in Real Estate Look Like?
I’ll start this discussion by describing what is not direct response marketing. I received a series of postcards from a local real estate agent. If I had to give them a name, I’d say they were “image” pieces. The content talked mostly about the agent; the path the agent had taken to come to be a real estate agent and so forth. Written in type so small I almost needed a magnifying glass. One part of the card did contain somewhat larger type and offered this call to action:
- Ready to buy or sell your next home? Call [the agent] for a copy of her personal brochure to learn more about her successful approach to selling your home.
The italics were on the postcard, not my idea. I guess the agent thought that receiving a copy of a personal brochure was the irrestible offer that would get people to call. And, if you looked at the card very closely, you’d finally notice that her telephone number was printed in very small letters at the bottom of the card, in a color that blended so well with the background as to make it almost unnoticeable.
I’m not sure if this agent thought she was doing direct response marketing, but I certainly hope not. Needless to say, a search for her name related to real estate in Georgia produces no results!
So, what does direct response marketing in real estate look like? Stay tuned for part two!
