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Check Your Website or Blog Against Your Competition...This Real Estate Virtual Assistant Tells You How!

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Christine Wade

WebsiteGrader.com BadgeOK...I know we like to say that there is enough business out there to go around, that we don't have to be in competition with one another...that's bull!  LOL  (I am one of the ones who says that, just so you know!)  I have found a service where, for FREE, you can put in your website or blog URL as well as that of one or more of your competitors...and not only will it grade YOUR website, but it will pit your website up against your competition and show you how you measure up!

This service is called Website Grader and it is from Hubspot.  I think this is great for real estate professionals because we are local...and there's always that "one big agent" in your area...and maybe you can't put up as many billboards or signs, run as many open houses as he/she does, etc...but you can work and work and work to beat their website grade - and that might just bring you closer to being a contender for their listings and buyers as well!  Competition is a good thing! (I know, goes against all that I believe in...LOL...I want to live in a peaceful, harmonious world where we all love each other...during non-business hours anyway!)

All you need to do is enter your URL and then your competitor's URL(s) and then your email address.  That's it.  It will process and then spit out a report that tells you what can be done to improve your grade...most items are easy and you can do them yourself; however, I am a firm believer in doing what you know best and outsourcing the rest...so feel free to delegate any of this website improvement to your real estate virtual assistant or in-house assistant.

Let the competition begin! 

NOTE:  Feel free to email me with any questions on how to use this service, I am happy to help if I can! (The image that you see at the beginning of this post is my actual badge for my website grade...you can see it at the bottom of my home page on my website.)

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BIO:  Christine Wade has successfully owned and operated a Real Estate Virtual Assistant business, specializing in Real Estate Support Services, since March of 2000. I have several accreditations and have received many client testimonials over the years.  I have over 26 years of administrative experience, I am a licensed agent in California (#01442002) and I specialize in on-going, value-based services provided to real estate agents and brokers...long term relationships with my clients are my greatest success stories. I was a contributing author over at RealBlogging.com, you can read my articles that I have written, all directed towards real estate professionals, by clicking here

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Comments (35)

Joetta Fort
The DiGiorgio Group - Arvada, CO
Independent Broker, Homes Denver to Boulder

I'm gonna have fun with this.  I know JUST who I want to compare against!

May 17, 2010 03:08 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Wayne - Thanks for stopping by and reading :-) And you are right - there are always differing opinions!

 

Hartnov - Thanks for sharing your experience...one note though, I have noticed, that if you don't enter your website the exact same way, you can come up with different results...for example leaving off the www or showing your index page file name after your domain...you can play around with it and see which way brings you the closest results to the other system you are using...or not...just a suggestion :-)

 

Jill - I am not suggesting that you compare your site against every competing agent in your MLS - that would be a time consuming, futile task...just if you have that one agent that you always seem to come up against in a deal, or that you seem to lose listings to, etc...maybe this could be a fun little tool to help someone get an edge on the competition - online anyway! Thanks for your comment!

 

Loreena - Thanks for your response...everyone should take all advice with caution and weigh it against what is best for them! Thanks for stopping by :-)

 

Kathryn - Exactly, thank you! LOL

 

Joetta - Have fun...sounds like you're on a mission!  Thanks for commenting :-)

May 17, 2010 03:36 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

Thanks for the information.  This is going to get bookmarked for my projects.

May 17, 2010 04:25 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Gene - Thanks for stopping by...love the pic with the tiny little baby :-)

May 17, 2010 05:06 AM
Martin Dorgan
Prudential Indiana Realty - Columbus, IN

Interesting Article, with potential to help some/all agents.  But even technically disadvantaged agents can make use of the report Website Grader gives.

#1 If you don't have a Blog?  "Create One!"  And post to it every month/week at a minimum.

#2 Readability - Keep it simple, don't try to appeal specifically to those of higher education Advanced/Doctoral Degree (Unless that is the segment of population you are targetting.)

#3 Promote your site through del.icio.us, Twitter, Facebook, and Google Buzz, each small step will lead to bigger and better returns on your investment.

I checked out one of my individual personal Real Estate websites, and compared it to the competition in Columbus Indiana, and was impressed.  My site ranked with a score of 85 compared to other Brokers sites of 75(C21), 36(ReMax), and others(42, 36, 24).

Anything that can help agents or brokers is beneficial, provided they utilize it.

They also have a Blog Grader!

Thanks for the information Christine.

 

May 17, 2010 06:13 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Martin - Thanks for sharing your insights and experience with us!  We can have the world available to us, but if we don't acknowledge that it's there and take advantage of it's offerings...what good is it? 

May 17, 2010 06:29 AM
Matthew Bartlett
Corcoran Global Living - Hill Top Team DRE Lic. #01353034 - Glendora, CA

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the tip! I will check the site out. You can never have to much information and you must never stop trying to improve.

Best wishes,

Matt

May 17, 2010 02:17 PM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Matt - Thanks so much...information is king, right?

May 17, 2010 04:14 PM
Jirius Isaac
Isaac Real Estate &TriStar Mortgage - Kenmore, WA
Real Estate & loans in Kenmore, WA

Well, I guess I will just have to try and this and see for myself whether it is helpful or not since there are so many opinions here about it.  Christina, thanks for the info.

May 18, 2010 07:47 AM
Pippa Mac
Chevaux Group Realtor, The Woodlands and Spring - The Woodlands, TX
The Woodlands TX Real Estate

Christine ... I have used this site before and it helped guide me to make it better!  Thanks for sharing!

May 18, 2010 08:10 AM
Cari Anderson
Danville, CA

Christine: this is amazing information - I would've never gotten it otherwise. Thank you so much for your post. I will definitely be bookmarking this and checking my grade periodically. Best wishes!

May 18, 2010 08:19 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Jirius - that's right...take no one's word...always research for yourself to see what works for you!  Thanks for commenting!

Pippa - Thanks for stopping by, it's a tool, a guide is a good word...thanks for sharing!

Cari - Good luck with it, let me know how it works for you :-)

May 18, 2010 08:34 AM
Jennifer Ricco
JohnHart Real Estate - Santa Clarita, CA

Great blog Christine!! It has given us ideas as to how to strengthen our primary website.

May 19, 2010 12:09 PM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Jennifer - thank you for taking the time to stop by & read / comment on my blog.  Ideas area always great...I think I have so many sometimes that I am actually overflowing :-)  Now if I could just organize and act on most of them...LOL

May 20, 2010 05:16 AM
Patsy Overton
Patsy Overton Interiors, Atlanta, Georgia - Duluth, GA

I discovered this tool several months ago and it has been soooooo helpful.  My score is slowly creeping up.

May 23, 2010 02:22 PM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Patsy - Good for you! :-)  I am a huge believer in baby-stepping your way to success!!!

May 24, 2010 06:05 AM
Jean-Paul Peron
The Outer Banks Real Estate Copmpany - Corolla, NC
Carova Beach - Living & Working in 4-Wheel Drive

Now this looks like a lot of fun!

I can see my self spending all afternoon comparing myself to everyone else.  :)

May 25, 2010 04:58 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Jean-Paul - set yourself a time limit for playing!!!  LOL  Thanks for commenting!

May 25, 2010 05:27 AM
Dennis Neal
RE/MAX, Big Bear - Big Bear Lake, CA
Your Home Sold in 21 Days or We Sell It For Free

I tried this service. It was very enlightening and humbling. I guess I better get to work on my web presence.

Nov 08, 2010 05:58 AM
Christine Wade
Christine Wade - Derby, VT
Operations Strategist / Online Business Manager

Dennis & Terri - I know the feeling, we have all been there at some point!  But the enlightened part is good...we can't fix something if we don't know that it is broken, right?  Thanks for commenting!

Nov 08, 2010 09:58 AM