Web Retool Blog

Real Estate Websites, Marketing, Stock Photos, and Tech Help

Do agents really need a good website?

March 6, 2011 – 3:36 pm

According to the C.A.R. survey, the individual agent’s website is the most important site for internet buyers. This graph was shown during the October 2008 Annual Convention and quickly dismissed as not accurate or not important. Most of the panel’s discussion was focused on the meltdown in both the financial and real estate markets. Being a web designer in the real estate industry, I wish they would have discussed this survey a bit more, but I understand how an impending depression can change the focus of most real estate professionals.

I believe that the graph says a lot about the real estate business on the internet, especially when it comes to the individual agent’s website. Most real estate agents have their own personal business websites and can control the content of the site, even on the most simplistic template sites. Better templates, semi-custom sites, and fully customs site allow you to control the look and functionality of the site. The more control an agent has over their marketing efforts, the more they can make themselves stand out from the crowd. Local MLS sites only allow you to enter and display certain data, plus you are at the mercy of their formatting and distribution. Most other real estate websites either function like an alternative MLS or pull data from an MLS and repackage it. The agent loses control as soon as a listing is entered.

An agent’s website, on the other hand, is a world that they control and are able to form that world in their own image. I’ll admit it, there are a lot of terrible real estate websites out there. There is also a ton of duplicate content. Most agent’s follow the crowd and have a minimal internet presence. The one’s that develop a unique site with content that a potential buyer might find useful are the one’s who have a successful web presence. If you are web savvy buyer in today’s competitive real estate market, you can basically get the same info from realtor.com, zillow.com, local mls, etc. You probably have visited those sites multiple times before you even think about working with an agent.

Once you make the decision to work with an agent, you want the agent who knows your neighborhood best and can tell you something that you don’t know. An agent with detailed neighborhood and sub-neighborhood pages, custom searches, best deals, knowledgeable blogs, lots of property and community photos, and local real estate and news info has the most useful website for the buyer. The real estate catch phrase is “Location, Location, Location,” and “All Politics is Local.” Well, let’s conclude that best real estate websites have unique information about locations and listings.

By admin | Posted in Marketing Principles, Real Estate Agent Websites | Comments (0)

Can someone guarantee that I get to the top of the search engine results?

January 28, 2011 – 9:33 am

Any real estate agent with an email address is inundated with solicitations from Search Engine Marketing companies promises to get them to the top of Google for a small fee. Many agents roll the dice and blindly hire these Search Engine “experts” to magically get their site to the top of the search engines. Yes, they usually are successful at putting your ad near the top of the Google, Yahoo, or MSN sponsored results. For those of you not familar with the difference between sponsored (or pay per click) results and organic results, one cost money and one is free. However, getting the free organic results may cost you money through SEO. For a descriptions of these terms, please referr to the Real Estate Web Terms Glossary.

Since many of the Search Engine magicians only ask for a flat rate or a monthly rate, many agents mistakenly think that they are not paying per click and the wizard has yield free results with his web tricks. No, he has signed up for a pay per click account with a budget less then what you are paying him and has incorporated his fee into the total price. For example, if you pay $100 per month to a search engine specialist, they are paying Google $50 per month and keeping $50 per month as profit. You choose a farm area and they set up the Google AdWords account with one or two keyword phrase. For $50 per month you will reach the top of the search engines for one keyword term, but does that yield tangible results?

The formula is rather simple: more website traffic = more potential leads = more lead conversions = more potential clients = more closed transactions

However, just driving targeting traffic to your website is not enough. Just because you have a high ranking Google Ad for “Los Angeles Homes for Sale” or “Beverly Hills Real Estate”, does not guarantee a lead or client. First, the ad has to be written properly so you have a high click through rate. Does your ad standout from your competition? Is it relevant to their keyword search?

OK, someone clicked on your ad. Now where do they go? Do you you send them to your home page? Most agents to have their home page as their landing page, but it is absolutely necessary to have relevant content and lead capture tools on that page. Generally, it is a better idea to have a targeted custom landing page that caters directly to the keyword term that the visitor searched for.

Keep in mind that once you have done everything right that the lead now needs to be converted into a client. That will take time and patience. You will need a strategy for the conversion process, just as you need a strategy for the lead capture and search engine marketing. Throwing some money at an “expert” who guarantees “results” is not a strategy, it is a gamble. Getting to the top of the search engines is merely the first step of what should be a comprehensive plan to market your real estate business on the internet.

By admin | Posted in Marketing Principles, Search Engine Marketing | Comments (0)

Great Suburban House and Clouds Stock Photo

November 17, 2010 – 12:16 pm
spanish tile roof house with clouds

House and Clouds

I love this house stock photo shot with the blue sky and clouds. It’s suburban nirvana.

By admin | Posted in Marketing Tools, Stock Photos | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Cool Floorplan Tool for Real Estate Professionals

September 16, 2010 – 10:52 am

I recently had to create a floorplan for a property based on some crude measurements. Since I am most familiar with Photoshop, I ended up creating the floorplan from that application. However, after a few minutes I realized that wasn’t the best program for the job. Illustrator with some special plugins or brushes probably would have been better but not ideal. Then I realized that there were several cool floorplan tools available that didn’t require CAD training or an Architecture degree.

http://www.2dplan.com/ looked the best to me, but like most busy business people I wanted something that would produce great results quickly with a minimal learning curve. Does anyone have any recommendations?

See the results of my PS4 design below:

3733 Robertson – Floor Plan

By admin | Posted in Marketing Tools | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Website, Blog, and Social Media Strategy

August 24, 2010 – 2:52 pm

I have always been a believer in a multi-pronged approach to marketing, specifically online marketing. If you have a great website, but don’t do any internet marketing, email marketing, or social media you probably won’t have good results. The converse is also true, effective marketing that directs users to a website lacking content or smart design will also yield bad results. Those are basic truths for any business. They are also very elementary for anyone engaging in a sophisticated internet strategy in 2010.

Everyone has a website and a Facebook account today, so how do you carve out your niche? I came across an article in the Keller Williams Realty magazine Outfront that gave a little bit of insight on how a real estate agent can capitalize on the new social media. “Social Media Mavens – Share Lead Capture Strategies,” gives three examples of effective marketing strategies. I particularly like Digital Farming by Liz Landry because she “utilizes a niche website, a blog, and a Facebook page.” It is that combination of different mediums with different target audiences that will maximize exposure and yield the optimal results. Landry says that her blog is all real estate but Facebook is 80% community and 20% real estate which is example of how online etiquette and specific target audiences need to be approached. She also implements video which continues to grow in popularity as another avenue of viral marketing.

You can read the article here: Social Media Mavens – Share Lead Capture Strategies

Please send any strategies or ideas that have worked for your business.

By admin | Posted in Marketing Principles, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Real Estate Marketing Law

August 4, 2010 – 6:18 pm

Real Estate Marketing Definitions

(1) “Employee” includes an individual who has an independent contractual relationship with a real estate marketing organization and performs real estate marketing activity.

(2) “Real estate marketing activity” means procuring or offering to procure prospects to purchase, sell, lease or rent real estate by telemarketing, mail or otherwise.

(3) “Real estate marketing organization” means any person, including a partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company or other organization, other than a real estate marketing employee, that engages in real estate marketing activity and is licensed.

(4)(a) “Real estate marketing employee” means an individual who receives compensation from a real estate marketing organization for performing real estate marketing activity.

(b) “Real estate marketing employee” does not mean an individual licensed

Truth-in-Advertising Laws (from business.gov)

Advertising laws are aimed at protecting consumers by requiring advertisers to be truthful about their products and to be able to substantiate their claims. All businesses must comply with advertising and marketing laws, and failure to do so could result in costly lawsuits and civil penalties. So before you start an advertising campaign, it’s important you understand some basic rules.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the main federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act:

  • Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive;
  • Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and
  • Advertisements cannot be unfair.

Additional laws apply to ads for specialized products like consumer leases, credit, 900 telephone numbers, and products sold through mail order or telephone sales. State and local governments also regulate advertising, and enforcement is usually the responsibility of a state attorney general, a consumer protection agency or a local district attorney.

Facts For Business

By admin | Posted in Marketing Principles, Real Estate Marketing | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Walkscore Widget

July 20, 2010 – 6:00 pm


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Trulia Map Widget

July 20, 2010 – 5:52 pm
Distinctive Properties

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Zillow Median House Price Widget

July 20, 2010 – 5:35 pm

By admin | Posted in Marketing Tools, Real Estate Widgets | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Social Marketing Principles

July 16, 2010 – 3:29 pm

Social Marketing Principles

Fundamental principles of social marketing:

1. Know Your Audience: Know exactly who your audience is and look at everything from that group’s point of view.  Social marketing is a consumer-oriented and audience-focused approach to program planning. Marketers recognize that they are probably very different from the population they are seeking to recruit, and they seek to understand the world from their audience’s point of view. Understanding the specific internal and external factors of the target audience  is the  key to success.

2. Clear Objectives: Be clear about the actions you want your audience to take. Marketing plans are designed with the end goal—behavior change—in mind. Often this end goal involves a series of steps, decisions, or actions. Commercial purchase decisions, for example, involve the following stages:

• awareness,

• evaluation and assessment of  elements

Promotion—activities should include:

• Community networking

• Radio and newspaper advertising

• Media placements in magazines or direct mail

• Public relations efforts, such as making community presentations

Conclusion

Social marketing principles can help  meet marketing goals, thereby helping to ensure success of the business

Adapted from : Using a Social Marketing

Framework to Improve Alzheimer’s

Disease Clinical Trial Recruitment,

Schechter, C., et. al., Academy for

Education Development (in press).

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