BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog

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:

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

It’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!

Note:  Updates to the CyberhomesPro situation will be updated on the original post. 

For any of you who thought I’d lost my mind, please be aware that the CyberhomesPro data that can be framed into your site has a bug in it.

Right now, the frame shows a listing search that displays other agents’ names and contact information.  According to Cyberhomes CEO Marty Frame, as posted on RealTalk, that bug is being corrected later this week.  I’ll let you know when that correction has been made.

Maybe it had to happen.  There is a website called ZipSkinny.  If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t wait.  According to an amusing article by Kris Berg at Inman, she was blindsided by a client who had done his research at ZipSkinny.

It’s a cute little site.  You can look up demographics by zip code or by city name.   You’ll find basic demographics, you can compare the demographics of one zip to another, view schools in the zip code and review a Google map.  You can also build a widget to display on a website or blog.   I’ll wager the site is mostly used by consumers, though, so I’m not sure how many widgets there are out there.

But, one example of a widget is shown below.  To be honest, I just picked a random zip and used the default colors for the chart, but the widget builder has full HEX number color control.  The charts can be made to fit into the colors of your site.

I was pretty impressed by the information provided about the site.  The developers let their visitor know that the information is based on Census 2000 data and they identify the limitations to the data presented.  In summary, they say:

• “The site provides an interesting “first glance” at a ZIP Code area, but it should only be seen as that — a first glance. It is not a substitute for the more thorough research you should do prior to making decisions about relocating to or conducting business in a particular location.”

Refreshing.  No claims or intimations of complete accuracy.  It is what it is - a good first glance.

Cash flow is an issue for anyone running a business.  It can be especially challenging when you’re running a real estate business because of the elapsed time it takes to get paid. 

First, there’s the time required to sell a home that you’ve listed or to find the right home for a buyer.  Even after the deal is “closed” in terms of having a signed contract, there is another delay between the contract and the date of closing, and another period of time passes before a check is actually received.

I ran across an interesting article on RISMedia that describes an alternative for stablizing cashflow I hadn’t heard of before:  commission advance companies.  There are companies that will lend money against a company’s accounts receivable, but lending against a commission was new to me.

Getting an Advance on Commissions

Three companies were mentioned in the article:  eCommission, Agent’s Advance and Commission Express.  Brokers contacted by RISMedia identified eCommission as the most trusted firm, and the article identifies why brokers made that choice. 

Naturally, the advance is not free, and the fee charged can range from 8-15%.

 eCommission - Summary

This information will give you a bit of an overview as to some of the rules at least one of the commission advance companies follow.

eCommission will process an advance for most types of residential transactions.  You need a signed purchase agreement, and the closing must be scheduled within 120 days for a resale property, or 180 days for new construction.  Land deals may qualify, but no commercial transactions are considered.

You can establish an account with eCommission at any time, but your broker must be registered there, also, before you can request an advance.  eCommission states that they will deliver advances within 24 hours.

Your credit is reviewed and has an impact on the amount of interest you will pay.  You can get an advance for up to 90% of your commission up to $10,000.

There are many other stipulations, of course, that you can review online.

Whether or not this approach makes sense for you is a decision you would have to make after a careful review of the alternatives and your own finances.

However, it might be worth considering this approach if you run into cash flow issues.  You may not want to get an advance for the entire amount possible.  But, if even a few thousand dollars will simplify your accounting between paydays, this might be an answer.

A friend of mine had to take her car in for service last week, which of course got me to thinking about the insanity of getting your car repaired.  I don’t know if men have this problem, but as a woman, it can be difficult to be taken seriously at a car repair shop.  When I find a shop where the staff actually think women have a brain, I become a loyal customer.

A couple situations come to mind when I think about stupid car repair experiences I’ve had.  The first one was a number of years ago.  My car started to die on me - in traffic - for no apparent reason.  Over the course of two days, I took it to a repair shop twice.  Of course, when I was at the shop, the car ran just fine.

Oh, the mechanic looked at everything and once I believe he adjusted the timing, but for the most part he did everything but pat me on the head and tell me to take two aspirin.  Really!  Did he think I was imagining the car stalling?

Then, I decided to take a man with me just to see what would happen.  In this particular situation, the mechanics were not only chauvinistic, but also pretty dumb.  We were all gazing intently under the hood of the car, and one of the mechanics was repeating his theory that everything was really fine, and looking for confirmation from my male reinforcement.

After a few minutes, my male companion stood up straight from his crouched position under the hood and said, “Has anyone noticed that this car doesn’t have an alternator belt?”

Well, actually the car did have an alternator belt, but it was broken and tangled in something which prevented it from falling off the car altogether.  It certainly wasn’t doing its job.

The mechanics were a bit chagrined.  But I often wonder if they’d have noticed the problem if they’d been a bit more diligent, secure in the knowledge that the car was really stalling out, so something must be wrong.

I had another car that started stalling on me in traffic.  With this one, though, no amount of going into neutral and restarting the engine worked.  And, besides that, it was a new car.  So, back to the dealership I went.  They kept the car overnight for diagnosis and repair.  When I went to pick it up, I was assured that it was now working perfectly.

I was turning out of the parking lot, and you got it.  The car stalled.  So, I walked back to the dealership, madder than a . . .  well, really mad.   When you’re in the middle of rush hour traffic, this is not an inconvenience, it’s an accident waiting to happen.  No forward motion, no power steering, no nothing!  The service manager walked back to the car with me and we took a little drive.  I told him that it seemed like the car tended to stall when going around a corner.

The manager drove.  We wound through the neighborhood streets behind the dealership.  We turned this way and that and the car performed beautifully.   We were just about to go back to the dealership, and the manager was trying hard to wipe that “I told you so” grin off his face when all of a sudden - thankfully - the car stalled.   The only explanation I can think of is that I take corners faster than the manager did!

Now, the manager became a believer and I was stuck without a car for some period of time.  I got the car back and never had another problem with it.  Is it just because I have strange things happen to my vehicles?  So, if the symptoms aren’t something that the mechanics have seen before, they just decide that it isn’t so?  Or, does it have something to do with my gender??  I’ll probably never know for sure.

In case you’re wondering….  What can go wrong with a car that makes it stall during turns?  As it happened, the computer was broken.  When the tilt of going around a turn was large enough, it shorted out and shut down the engine.

Other than that, of course, “As Far As I Can See, It’s Working Fine.”

NOTE:  As of 7-23-08, the CyberhomesPro smart frame is still not working as one would expect.  I won’t track this product any further. 

As of 6-30-08, CyberHomesPro is showing a listings search in the framed solution.  CyberHomesPro has committed to eliminating this “bug”.  In addition, CyberHomes announced that it would remove the school information provided by GreatSchools.net, while they “reevaluate” participating in a framed solution that includes their content.  I hope CyberHomes can get these issues resolved quickly.  This was such a great idea!

You may be familiar with the CyberHomes website.  It is a public-facing website that provides searches for homes for sale, home valuations (like Zillow) and community and school information.  Using CyberHomesPro, you can frame the same information onto your website.

I haven’t seen reviews of CyberHomes information.  At least, there’s not the same level of buzz as there is about Zillow.  CyberHomes gets its information for providing home pricing based on “property tax records and recent comparable sales”.  I tried to look up reviews of CyberHomes, but I got bored trying to get past all the other products and services named cyberhome, so I gave up.  If there was a lot of buzz about the site, I would think it would be more visible on the search engines.

I’d like to know what you think.  To me, it looks like a nice package of information for real estate websites.  Getting community information and school information can be difficult.  If the information is anywhere near accurate, using the Cyberhomes search in a frame on your site could be a great addition for you and your visitors.

The only thing I would like to see done differently is the width of the site.  If you plan to have the site framed into individual websites, it would be better if the width were more fluid.  As you’ll see in the example in the link below, it was necessary to remove all other information to get the majority of the site to appear without scrolling.

To check it out, visit this example of a framed CyberHomes search.  And, if you want to get some searches of your own, visit www.CyberHomesPro.com.  You can use as many searches as you’d like, so it would be possible to have a different one for each of your key neighborhoods, for example.

I’d be interested to know if you like it, hate it, if you think it’s accurate, not accurate, etc.  Don’t be shy!

PS - Don’t forget to take a few seconds to complete the Internet Marketing poll in the left column!!