I thought you guys could use a little more reading... as if our wonderful ActiveRain wasn't enough... *smile*
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If you have any questions that this cannot answer, shoot me an email or give me a call.
Does this make you wonder, "What the heck am I doing with my time?" Do you feel like you arent closing as many leads as you want?
TRY WORKING YOUR LEADS! No, this does not mean call once, email once and give up. Haven't you heard of farming? Do it. Your income will increase and you will know right away who is serious ad who is not. Don't get me wrong, the market is not what we are used to, and I know this, but we still have to act as if everything is OK. If we do not, we will think ourselves out of sales.
Response Time is of the Essence
As real estate technology continues to become more sophisticated, you can expect that more homebuyers will recognize the Internet as a valuable source for conducting their home search. The percentage of real estate professionals receiving leads from the Internet has already grown from 30% to 42% in the past year.¹ If these leads are generated from your website forms, it is likely that these homebuyers are also submitting forms on competitor sites. Quick response time is crucial. A lot of agents are investing in PDA's and other devices (or assistants) so that they can handle their leads as quickly as possible. Another thing you can do is make sure the website they are on is as user friendly as possible so that the customer feels more comfortable. With the customer feeling more at ease, they will more willingly leave their info so that the lead you get is more solid.
Internet Lead Statistics:
* 68% - 70% of Internet leads do business with the first agent who speaks with them2
* Only 52% of Internet leads receive a follow up communication from the agent3
* 62% of those who get a call from the agent receive it on the same day they submitted an inquiry4
* 25% of homebuyers find the house they will purchase on the web, as opposed to 1% of homebuyers find the house they will purchase from a newspaper4
As you overlook Internet leads, advertising dollars are being wasted and your harder working competitors are benefiting. Even if Internet leads take a little more effort to close, it's a numbers game, the more prospects you have to work with the better your chances of earning a commission. There are a lot of ways to generate good leads and all it takes is persistence for some of them to work out.
Sources: ¹National Association of Realtors, 2006 Technology Survey, ²Inman News Article: "Put Paid Search on Marketing Menu", ³Inman News Article: "Vertical, Classified Search Key to Lead Generation", 4Inman News Article: "Internet Leads Come from Many Places"
In Case you missed it, here is the press release about the merger between Homes.com and Harmon Homes magazine.
Homes.com and Harmon Homes merge to form industry’s largest combined print and online real estate business
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 14, 2007—Dominion Enterprises, a leading media and information services company, has announced the merger of two of its flagship businesses,
Homes.com and Harmon Homes, into a single real estate marketing company. This new company, which will retain the name Homes.com, is now able to combine the resources of a top 10 real estate portal with the nation’s largest local real estate magazine. “This move creates an unprecedented marketing opportunity for agents and brokers to seamlessly market their property listings to the broadest audience of home buyers,” said Peter Ill, senior vice president of real estate businesses at Dominion Enterprises. “Homes.com will provide a unified print and online brand that will greatly extend exposure for our customers.”
As a result of the merger, every real estate listing placed in any of Harmon Homes’ more than 130 free, local print publications—now re-branded Homes.com—also will be posted to the Homes.com Web site as a basic listing. For print advertisers, expanding to the Internet means greatly increasing the reach and frequency of their listings. For online advertisers, local print publications—distributed from thousands of prime retail locations and street boxes across the country—will drive even more traffic to Homes.com.
Homes.com Internet traffic already outpaces many of its competitors, growing 15% from Aug. 2006 to Aug. 2007. The Homes.com portal was re-launched in April 2007 utilizing the same principles that it recommends to its clients—the optimization of content to be more search engine friendly and the addition of homebuyer tools. More than 3 million home buyers visit Homes.com each month to search more than 1.5 million listings of homes for sale across the country. Agents, brokers, builders and lenders benefit from property listing exposure, brand advertising, Web site development and lead generation services.
“Integrating Harmon Homes into Homes.com creates a reach and frequency proposition like no other: a national portal with neighborhood locations,” said Jamie Clymer, vice president and general manager of Homes.com. “We have created an easier path for home buyers to use both print and online resources to find the information they need. This uniquely robust user experience provides consumers in-depth property information and links buyers directly to brokers and agents.”
About Homes.com Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure, website development, search engine marketing and lead generation solutions. More than 3 million homebuyers visit Homes.com each month to search more than 1.4 million homes for sale, to locate real estate agents in their area and to find useful tips on home buying. Homes.com recently united with Harmon Homes to create a media powerhouse that distributes over 800,000 real estate related publications every month in more than 130 markets. Homes.com provides the best advertising solutions for real estate professionals to reach active home buyers. For more information, visit www.Homes.com. About Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises, Norfolk, Va., is a leading media and information services company serving real estate, employment, automotive, marine, recreation, travel and industrial markets. The company operates a variety of technology businesses that offer Internet marketing, Web site design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services including eNeighborhoods, Advanced Access, eProspecting, Agent Advantage and Number1Expert. Dominion Enterprises has more than 500 paid and free magazine titles, such as the Homes.com print publication, with a combined weekly circulation of over 5 million. Dominion Enterprises also operates more than 40 market-leading Web sites, such as Homes.com, with a combined reach of more than 9 million unique monthly visitors. The company has more than 7,200 employees nationwide and 2006 annual revenue of more than $850 million. For more information, visit www.DominionEnterprises.com.
Everyone calls you all day long about "putting you at the top, guaranteeing leads, always being number 1...etc." The truth is, you can only do this by getting your website improved. yes, there is ALWAYS room for improvement. Websites move up in rank on search engines by having three things: Relevancy, Popularity, and a good amount of localized content. Don't get me wrong, PPC is a great thing, but for longer term results, you need both SEM/PPC and SEO. Remember - FREQUENCY, REACH, EXPOSURE!!!
-- Localized Content -You need to have a large amount of localized content to show that you know what you are doing and that you are a master of your field. I grew up in a real estate brokerage and I know that some agents are in real estate "just because" and they just go through the motions of getting the transaction done. The consumers know this too. Thats why they treat the average Realtor like a used car salesman. To combat this S, you must show people what you specialize in, how long you have been in the business and have real testimonials. Include pictures, slide shows, maybe some animation, and definitely have your picture on there somewhere, just not in a larger-than-life spot on the front page. (Please don't use a cell phone beside your head or a sold sign in your hands. Honestly it's cheesy and the customer sees it as a gimmick.)
-- Popularity -You can get popularity from many things. Linking, blogging, word of mouth, integrating your website into all your other marketing, and adding your site to your yard-signs, just to name a few. Please treat your website as your Internet office. Make it useful and people come back (it's called making sure it's sticky). The popularity of your website for the first year will usually stink unless you actively market it with PPC (pay-per-click), directories, and Internet ads. Be patient. It's like wine, it will get much better with age. Unlike wine however, you need to update it at least once a year to make sure the coding, pictures, and information are up to date. I do not want to see your picture from 1992 on your website, regardless of whether or not you "look different".
-- Relevancy - If you are selling homes in your area, talk about your area on your website. Don't talk about the entire state, or the entire US market. It does no good for your clients and no good for your ranking. I tell my clients, for example, that if you are selling red crayons, your site better not talk about pink pencils. Again, here comes the local content and pictures. Also you need to have school info, neighborhood stats, market trends, and area attractions. Trust me, people will love it.
Listen, the whole reason the Internet works for real estate is because people always have an apprehension when it comes to such a large investment and trust in one Realtor. If you make them more comfortable about your site, they will read on and become more comfortable with you, producing a better LEAD. See my point?
Homes.com and our two best products (PowerSearch and our Agent Advantage Websites) were just featured in the September issue of Real Estate Magazine. I am very exicted and feel honored to have assisted in these Realtors' success!
Congrats Bob, Sharon & Stephanie!
If you need more information please visit my website or contact me directly.
** I HAVE POSTED THIS BEFORE BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE. AGAIN, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE, OR BECOME A HOMES.COM MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FREE SERVICE. CONTACT ME DIRECTLY TO SET AN APPOINTMENT.
Currently my team and I are conducting local evaluations on web marketing and strategies.
Please let me know if you would like to have us come to your office (if local) or have a web seminar for an evaluation of your current marketing strategies for your team or office.
REASON: The recent increase of web marketing has prompted a lot of Realtors to "jump on the bandwagon" without knowing where they were going. Basically, marketing ignorance is something that we as an industry need to overcome and try to alleviate. I was raised in real estate (my uncle in a broker/owner and my mother was an agent) and I know first hand how frustrating marketing can get and how everyone calling you has the new "Dream Program" and they are promising you the stars. We have all been burnt by someone promising to double our income somehow and this is an industry where we can not afford to go at this blindly.
Please call me or reach me through my website if you are interested.
Again, you are under no obligation. Just plain talk and advice.
** I HAVE POSTED THIS BEFORE BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE. AGAIN, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE, OR BECOME A HOMES.COM MEMBER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FREE SERVICE. CONTACT ME DIRECTLY TO SET AN APPOINTMENT.
Currently my team and I are conducting local evaluations on web marketing and strategies.
Please let me know if you would like to have us come to your office (if local) or have a web seminar for an evaluation of your current marketing strategies for your team or office.
REASON: The recent increase of web marketing has prompted a lot of Realtors to "jump on the bandwagon" without knowing where they were going. Basically, marketing ignorance is something that we as an industry need to overcome and try to alleviate. I was raised in real estate (my uncle in a broker/owner and my mother was an agent) and I know first hand how frustrating marketing can get and how everyone calling you has the new "Dream Program" and they are promising you the stars. We have all been burnt by someone promising to double our income somehow and this is an industry where we can not afford to go at this blindly.
Please call me or reach me through my website if you are interested.
Again, you are under no obligation. Just plain talk and advice.
Currently my team and I are conducting local evaluations on web marketing and strategies.
Please let me know if you would like to have us come to your office (if local) or have a web seminar for an evaluation of your current marketing strategies for your team or office.
REASON: The recent increase of web marketing has prompted a lot of Realtors to "jump on the bandwagon" without knowing where they were going. Basically, marketing ignorance is something that we as an industry need to overcome and try to alleviate. I was raised in real estate (my uncle in a broker/owner and my mother was an agent) and I know first hand how frustrating marketing can get and how everyone calling you has the new "Dream Program" and they are promising you the stars. We have all been burnt by someone promising to double our income somehow and this is an industry where we can not afford to go at this blindly.
Please call me or reach me through my website if you are interested.
Again, you are under no obligation. Just plain talk and advice.
The real estate industry is buzzing about it! The new face of Homes.com is launched! Not to be a shameless plug or anything, but this is so exciting for the consumer, for the industry, and of course the Realtor. I'm proud.
We have grown over 200% in the past 2 years giving us now over 2.8 MILLION people a month on our site trying to buy homes.... Wow.
I don't know if you are subscribed with us yet, but your listings will not be on our site unless you are a member.
Read the industry magazines and blogs, it is now getting serious. RIS media, USA Today "Money" section, Real Estate Magazine, Real Estate Professional, Inman News, etc. Homes.com is now the independent market leader in customer ease of use, most listing page views, and large suite of packages that get you and your home/listing noticed.... Nice.
Real Estate marketing & advertising done right. Visit me here to learn how we can help you reach your real estate goals. Any questions? http://jamie.directhomes.com
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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