In today’s ever competitive Internet arena, we, as real estate professionals are drawn every direction for the perfect website solution.  With website companies offering multiple color schemes to integrated IDX search engines including all the bells and whistles, it’s easy to fall into information overload.  Finally, we make our best guess, choose the lucky winner and begin our journey.

Almost predictably there is a progression that the new agent takes until they find a website solution that works for them.

And, just how does it truly work for us?  Have we reaped the desired net return or do we ignore it and continue to pay the $35/month just so we have a website like everyone else?  Or, are we truly investing into our website, time, passion and money, so on the flipside it generates a positive ROI?

Late 2006, I began using HomeGain’s BuyerLink product.  Through trial and error I have learned to produce a positive cash flow through lead conversion.  Since then I have come to understand you can point BuyerLink traffic to just about any IDX search engine and generate some form of lead capture.

Quite literally you could point BuyerLink traffic to a brick with any flavor of lead capturing home search feature and make money at it.

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Eric Blackwell who is the Director of Technology for RE/MAX Properties East in Louisville, Kentucky, spoke with me yesterday from British Columbia where he is speaking at the Real Estate Web Masters Conference to other real estate professionals about SEO.

Listen to our interview about SEO:

Highlights:

J: Eric, what’s the main message that you want to get across to other real estate professionals about SEO (search engine optimization)?

E: I think there is some mystery attached to the term SEO but what it really is creating a website that Google and other search engines would want it to be. It’s a lot of hard work to build a site that has both the reputation and authority that search engines are looking for. A lot of times people think you need to trick the search engines but that’s not necessarily true.

J: Have you found that there common threads between leads and traffic that come from HomeGain, and Pay per Click, and natural search engine traffic?

E: The common thread is that there are best practices that work to effectively “convert” them to clients and then to lifetime customers. Whether you get the lead from HomeGain or other source, the lead has to come into your site and you need to be able to get them to contact you or to be able to contact them – and be able to convert those clients. The more effective you are at that, the better off you’ll be and the more profitable things will be for you.

J: What are some common traps that Realtors might fall into when trying to do SEO marketing?
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I had a great conversation today with a past executive officer of FAR and now part of NAR. He came to my office to check out our 100MPH Marketing Software and System and our eHomes Realty Network. He will be signing up his Brokerage to take advantage of our tools. Anyway, after I did my demo, we started talking about the Internet and what NAR is doing with regards to the Internet. It was a great conversation and I really can’t talk about most of what was said as I don’t have permission to do that.

However, since I started my soft marketing of my software and membership company, I have talked with many major players in our industry. They all have one thing in common…they don’t know anything about the Internet.

Here is what they are thinking at the National level. They are hearing that the more information you have on your website, the more chance you have of getting a customer. Our conversation was a lot more detailed of course, but this interesting to me. They believe they should be gearing up on a national level to offer a ton of products for real estate agents to put on their websites.

Unfortunately it appears that they are hearing what they should be doing from the wrong people…in my opinion of course!

So I asked him what he thought the purpose of a Realtors website should be. He answered the same answer I hear from so many. He said, “to provide as much information as possible”. I told him, that is what most agents think, which is why 99% or more don’t make any money from their websites.

I told him that the real purpose of a website, like any marketing, is to get leads and turn them into customers.

He was a little shocked by my answer Continue reading this post

When showing a home, it’s often easiest to run through the particular set of features within the home, but, you may be missing the best opportunity to show off differences that can help a home sell.

Benefit marketing plays a fundamental role in separating the good from the great in sales and real estate is no different. Just about everyone can walk into a home and see the features, but, buyers are often trying to take everything in quickly when visiting a home so running down a list of features that they can already see does not help them discern why a particular feature may be important. This is where benefit marketing comes in to play.

As you walk through a home with a client, explaining the benefit of a feature can greatly improve the desirability of the home.

For example: a home has a tankless hot water heater. Many buyers today know that this is a new technology, but, not necessarily what it means to them. Taking a moment when highlighting the feature by explaining how that feature benefits the home buyer gives a meaning to that feature. In this case, it means lower monthly utility bills and endless hot water for a shower. For a family of 5, this would be a significant benefit and could be the difference maker between two similar homes.

Another example of benefit marketing might be explaining why new windows in an older home are important rather than simply stating that there are new windows. “Green” building is one area where benefit marketing is important, but, it encompasses just about all features within a home. Continue reading this post

I spent some time today looking at other real estate agent websites and landing pages both of HomeGain clients and in the search engines. I will say that most HomeGain agents are doing it correctly or are close.

However, this email is really for the others who are not doing it right, or if you are marketing on the Internet and still use your home page as your landing page.

It’s amazing to me how many Realtor and Broker websites don’t even try to capture names, emails, and phone numbers. Their [home buyer and seller] visitors come to their websites, use their tools, and then call another agent.

Firstly, do you understand what a landing page is?

I know, some of you might be smirking right now, but there are a lot of people that don’t have any idea what that means. A landing page is the page in which a customer coming to your site lands on.

For instance, if a customer comes to your site from the Internet and when they click on a link they end up on your Continue reading this post

Not! Does anyone want my advice on blogging? Ok, good, I’ll give you some advice: start by writing. It’s always best to start your blog by writing something.

Now you might ask—write about what?

And that would be a good question. Well, if you are a real estate agent you might want to write about real estate. That’s my first two pieces of advice—write, and write about real estate.

Seriously, if you are just starting or thinking about starting, there are a few things that might help. I will assume you’re an agent writing to consumers, and I will assume you’re not an experienced writer—otherwise you wouldn’t need my great advice. I write on several blogs, some related to the real estate industry and some related to consumers, but writing to consumers is the business end of blogging and it’s the main usefulness to you as an agent.

What are blogs good for?

They are good for informing consumers about your local market, about the real estate process in general, about market trends, about your services, about neighborhoods and listings and about how all this ties together.

You might want to develop a list of topics, such as: Continue reading this post