http://myurbanabode.com/realtor-advertising-alert-yelp-advertising-program-is-a-small-business-rip-off-%e2%80%93-yelp-advertising-rates-review/

An inspiration for this blog post is one by Raymond Fong.

It's very important to read the Raymond's blog post about Yelp Advertising and the comments below his post - especially if you are a Realtor interested in advertising with Yelp.  Even in Real Estate - the cost of impressions and clicks with Yelp isn't worth the money.  Bottom line - it's not worth your money as a Realtor to advertise on Yelp.

My experience with Yelp Advertising

I'm a huge Yelp fan - I use it on my mobile phone & PC all the time - so I was excited to hear about their advertising options.  I've since learned that it's a great site for you to utilize for free, but don't see the value in their sponsorship packages.  I knew the value proposition was wrong, but as a Yelp fan had to try it.

I've written this blog post to warn other Realtors and small business owners about Yelp Advertising.  Until they change their offering and pricing, it's not worth your advertising budget to even test it - as I did.

My ads were supposed to start at the beginning of September ‘for free' - but that never occurred until the last day or two of the month.  They told me that my credit card had problems - which is untrue.  This is probably a trick that they will continue to use in the future - so don't get caught.  "I will give you the month of September for free" but that will not occur due to their set up processing taking too long and taking you up to the contractual start date.

Once the ads starting displaying, my Yelp Page Views DID NOT go up with Yelp Advertising / Sponsorship - they went down or stayed the same.  Advertising takes time and repetition, but with online ads you should see an increase in click activity if you have ads running.  Here are the actual screen shots of my Yelp Business Account.

Looking at the Page View Graphic above, in the month of September 16 of the 18 clicks occurred PRIOR to my advertisements starting with Yelp.  So February, March and September all beat October - which is when the advertising contact started.  The ads started running in the last few days of September after 16 clicks had already occurred.

Looking at the Page View Graphic above, in the month of September 16 of the 18 clicks occurred PRIOR to my advertisements starting with Yelp.  So February, March and September all beat October - which is when the advertising contact started.  The ads started running in the last few days of September after 16 clicks had already occurred.

My contact with Yelp is for three months at $350 per month for 450 impressions.  Based on October 2009 I'm paying $175 per click on my ads!  WHAT?  This Yelp advertising model has to be exposed for what it is - a rip off.  Based on my web statistics software - I have had ZERO clicks from Yelp to my web site under their advertising program.  Don't you think an interested party would click off Yelp and onto my web site to investigate my services in more detail?  I would say yes.  This has never occurred since starting the Yelp Advertising program. 

When you are paying $100+ per click - can you afford to have your competition checking you out on Yelp?

Clicks occurred very, very late in the month - almost like they have automated clicks to boost clicks rates when there were no clicks for the month.  All three of my clicks in September occurred in the last few days of the month.  The same was true for October, both $175 clicks occurred in the last few days of the month.  I've requested more detail in their reporting, but have received nothing to date.  Below is all they give you for reporting.  It's very, very light on reporting.  It makes me think they are hiding something about their program.

Following is your statement for November 2009:

Total Billed: $350.00
Amount Collected: $350.00

Details:

    * Charge: Matt Warmack - Urban Abode Group, 1307 N 45th St, Ste 300, Seattle, WA 98103
      * 11/1/2009 - 11/30/2009
   * Program: 450 Impressions
   * Fee: $350.00

My test with Yelp advertising was to see if I got one email or one phone call from their advertising program.  I have received no inquiries to date.  I track all leads and know where my business is generated.  Other forms of online advertising work for me.  Yelp does not.  $1,050 will not be well spent and it does not appear I will be getting one quality inquiry - let alone one closed deal.

If you are a Realtor, please don't spend any money with Yelp until you do your research.  My experience shows that the customer acquisition cost is way too high with Yelp.  You can get all the value out of Yelp with their free business listing.  Free is better than paid with Yelp.

Foreclosures and real estate auctions are sexy!  But are they the best deal for a first-time home buyer?  I'm going to throw this out there for comments:  The best deals for Seattle First-Time Home Buyers come from builder closeouts and super motivated new construction sellers.  Times are tough for builders and they are ready to move some real estate inventory in the spring of 2009.

A lot of the Seattle condo projects are in high density areas, such as Belltown, South Lake Union, Queen Anne, Fremont, Ballard, and Capitol Hill.  You don't find as many short sales and foreclosures in these downtown core neighborhoods as you do in the north end and south end of the Puget Sound Metropolitan area.

• Fewer foreclosed and bank owned properties in the downtown Seattle core.

• Short sales are becoming more common with King County Real Estate. However, it is often difficult for a first-time home buyer to get through the short sale process without moving onto a transaction that doesn't take as long and isn't so emotionally draining.  This is not always true. The pros and cons of buying a short sale as your first purchase should be discussed with your Washington Realtor.  You want to have a skilled professional on your side with short sale experience if you are going to attempt a short sale as a first-time home buyer!

• Individually owned properties that have only been held for a few years might have little equity in the property.  They might present a challenge to negotiate an "amazing deal" as compared with some of the excess new construction inventory in the Seattle Condo market.  Having your Realtor check the outstanding loan balance versus the listing price will help you determine how much room might exist to negotiate on price.  I'm seeing that those that wish to sell right now have little equity in their condos and those with a lot of equity in their condo don't have their place listed for sale - this is general comment and is not always true.

• A motivated seller, along with a properly priced unit, will always get a buyer the best deal. First-time home buyers should look forward to the spring 2009 buying season for Seattle condos. These deals exist in ample numbers to help you make a great investment.

Builder closeouts and motivated builders may provide an amazing buy for the first-time home buyer.   Here are some recent projects that have reduced prices or have advertised specials to motivate buyers:  Seattle Homes For Sale at The Parc, Gallery, Brix, Leona, and Ruby.

Don't forget that interest rates are low, the federal government will give you a $8,000 tax credit and sellers couldn't be more motivated to negotiate.  Do your research, but know that this is a great time to buy.  I think we will look back in 10 years and say that those that bought in 2009 got a great deal.

I've also posted this and other condo information at www.myurbanabode.com & www.mattwarmack.com

I'm also on Facebook - "fan" my public page which is 'Matt Warmack - The Warmack Group - Realtor'

I've always struggled with not wanting to be promotional on Facebook and keep it for my personal life.  With the new redesign - Facebook execs have changed my thoughts on it.  You have to watch this hour video to fully understand where they are going with public pages.  It's worth the hour watch.

Search Facebook for 'Matt Warmack - The Warmack Group - Realtor' to add me.  It's my new public page after watching the video.

Facebook Video Link

As a real estate professional, you need to understand the recent launches of public profiles and the new home page.  You get to see the people behind the new site design.

I also posted the link to my blog at www.myurbanabode.com

10 ways to improve your Keller Williams eAgentC website

This is not something that happened in one day for me, it's been a process.  Setting up my web site and tweaking it to get better Google results took time.  Here are some of the things I think all agents should be doing if you are utilizing the Keller Williams eAgentC website templates.

•1.       Post a picture and utilize it with Market Center web site

It amazes me that most Market Centers have very little participation with agent pictures.  Your profile picture with your Keller Williams Web site also populates your Market Center agent directory.  I'm not sending an agent a referral that can't post a profile picture - it's just not going to happen.

Example:   www.mattwarmack.com has both some custom graphics and my profile picture.  The color photo at the bottom of the page is the agent photo, but you can also turn that off under 2.4 "Display Agent Photo on HomePage".  That same photo goes automatically to your Market Center web site in the agent directory.  Example of my picture on my Market Center web site :  http://greaterseattle.yourkwoffice.com/mcj/user/AssociateSearchGetAction.do (Search for Matt Warmack or All Agents)

•2.       Change default content

You can start with the default or template text provided when you start your web site.  If you don't change this content - you won't rank high on Google or look unique.  You must change your content to become unique in your customers and Google's eye.

•3.       Change the URL to your own domain

Changing (example.yourkwagent.com) the default URL to your own URL is very important to brand yourself.  This can be done a few different ways.  I'm www.mattwarmack.com because I purchased the domain through GoDaddy.com before Keller Williams started offering a domain service.  You can now purchase your domain directly from the Keller Williams Web Site Agent Administration tool under section 1.1 and purchasing from the KWDomainStore.

Once you have your domain purchased you need to direct traffic to that URL.  Keller Williams Domain Information.  GoDaddy information.

•4.       Properly use Meta tags

You need to understand the reason and process of meta tags.  Then insert meta tags in Section 2.4.  Some background information can be found here.  Once you get a Google Webmaster Tools account - you will better understand how to pick the correct words and not to repeat them (see #7 below).  This will be a journey for you to select the right words.  At first it's going to be hard to get Seattle Real Estate ranked high in your search results, but it might not be hard to achieve Cristalla Condos as a first page, organic Google result.  This is due to the popularity and uniqueness of the words you are trying to optimize.

•5.       Link to your blog or incorporate it into your site

I use WordPress for my blog at www.myurbanabode.com but there are many, many options.  It's important that you make a connection between your blog and your website in both directions.  Send your blog to your website and send your website to your blog.

•6.       Sign up for Google Analytics

Step 1 is setting up a Google Analytics site at www.google.com/analytics

Step 2 is taking your Google Analytics ID and putting it into the KW Web Site Template by inserting it in Section 2.4.  Your Google Analytics ID looks like this UA-3699999-1 but this number is unique to your account so don't use my example ID.

•7.       Sign up for Google Webmaster Tools

This is for advanced users.  Go to www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ to get started.  Verifying your site with Google Webmaster Tools was a bit tricky at first.  For Keller Williams templates - use the Meta verification method (not the HTML Page method).  Cut and past the middle section of the Meta tag (example: yA8+1fbKKSyOeBAuQgkJsRUC/1444S/JbcJp4KN+O64=) and put it in the Website Agent Administration Tool Section 2.4.  If it won't verify your site, then you have not changed your CNAME Record and go to #8 below.

•8.       Change your CNAME Record

I had to change my CNAME record to get Google Webmaster Tools to verify my web site.  More information can be found here for KWDomain Store users and here for GoDaddy and others.  You might notice the KWDomain Controller appears to be a KW Branded version of GoDaddy's - so it's a very similar process and screens.

Make sure you verify all CNAME Record changes the following day.  Verify your web site by typing both mattwarmack.com and www.mattwarmack.com (with and without the www in front of your domain name) to make sure you have not caused any errors.  If you have caused any errors then your web site will be down.

•9.       Personalize it with your tools

If you utilize software such as TopProducer - you need to incorporate it into your web site.  Add your Market Snapshot capture forms.  www.mattwarmack.com

WolfNet needs to be set up in Section 4.1 and leveraged as much as possible.  Take note of the links at the bottom of www.mattwarmack.com with WolfNet searches.  Take the time to figure out how to leverage technology you are already paying for into your web site.

•10.   Attend local, regional and International training events to better your web skills

A lot of what I learned was a process from other amazing people in Keller Williams sharing their knowledge with me.  2009 Family Reunion was a huge breakthrough for me by attending some of the technology sessions of top agents!  See you in 2010.  I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the agent at Family Reunion that said this, but it was good advice "Give me 30 minutes a day for 6 months and you will see results!".  It's not going to come overnight and IF you don't improve your web presence ... then why are you in the real estate?

Have you been to WalkScore.com?

I just requested my Walk Score for my downtown Seattle condo at http://www.walkscore.com/  I was intrigued to see it as a 97.  Not sure what the difference between 97 and getting a perfect 100 score would be?

What is your WalkScore?

Here is what WalkScore.com says about their web site & scores:

How It Works

Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc.

What does my score mean?

Your Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100. The walkability of an address depends on how far you are comfortable walking-after all, everything is within walking distance if you have the time. Here are general guidelines for interpreting your score:

• 90 - 100 = Walkers' Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
• 70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It's possible to get by without owning a car.
• 50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
• 25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
• 0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

How it Works

Walk Score^TMuses a patent-pending system to calculate the walkability of an address based on:

• The distance to walkable locations near an address.
• Calculating a score for each of these locations.
• Combining these scores into one easy to read Walk Score.