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Real Estate Marketing Tips for Social Networking Newbies

For a real estate professional (or anyone seeking to begin an online social media marketing strategy), there are some recommended community guidelines you should consider before leaping into any online social networking community.

Forget the hard sell

Don’t “force” your services or products on individuals in the community. Any attempt to sell your products, services or yourself when you first meet someone (in any environment –digital or in person) is the fastest way to ruin any networking relationship before it begins. Instead, use your own expertise to give something to the other person. On MySpace, too, the most successful businesses are the ones that know how to give, whether it’s a chef’s exclusive recipe, or a roundup of upcoming local events.

Do your homework first

Always read the communities’ Guidelines so you “play” within the rules. Remember this, online, your digital behavior is just as important as meeting someone in person at a networking event. Online communities like Active Rain, MySpace, Google’s YouTube, or Facebook have their own cultures, rules, and social mores that business people disrespect at their peril. It is recommended you “hangout” on the site for a few days. Learn the “vibe” or the dynamic of the social networking site as a user before charging in with your take on the environment. Read other peoples take on a wide variety of topics then read some more before you create a page, post or comment.

Look before you leap….er speak

Networking is a two-way conversation, so be prepared to interact. Leave your ego behind. Beware of acting like the cocktail party equivalent of the bore who only talks about themselves.

Focus on quality information over quantity

Writing “War & Peace” post or pages is a waste of everyone’s time (yours and your readers). Website visitors are “scanners” so why not properly “format” your post and do your readers a favor. Plus, providing quality information is the most important element to social media marketing. If you’re giving away useful information to the community, you will create an online “following”. In the social network environment it’s important to be seen as a giver of reliable information.

Be authentic

If you enter an online social community with authenticity, you will be received with respect and admiration. Those who come with agendas will be quickly identified as spammers. One sure fire way to be kicked out of any community is to spam the community with solicitations for your business. And whether online or in-person, being discovered as a fraud has damaging consequences.

Be engaging

Talking about the mundane topics like the weather is no way to impress. Use your social media opportunity to show off the persona of your business, and be sure to refresh your content regularly.

Consistent follow up is key

Establishing a new connection doesn’t end when the networking event is over, and successful online social networking requires offline connections, too. Consistent participation is the key. Social networking site etiquette states you should attempt to comment should others comment on your page or post. Plus – it keeps the comment stream going.

Online social communities should be a long term strategy

Approaching any networking event or community with the expectation of leaving with a new contract is missing the point. Immediate results seldom occur. You need to give something to the community before you start looking for an ROI [return on investment of your time. Think of online social communities in the same vain as other “giving back to the community opportunities”. It has long-term value, even if it doesn’t show up as a transaction.

What has been your experience?

Tell me what experience has taught you about using social networks as a component to your total online marketing strategy? Do you use spocial networks to build your business?

I appreciate your feedback.

Bobby

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It seems that when people talk about driving traffic to their website, they immediately focus on two methods - Pay Per Click, and Search Engine Optimization. While these both work, they are only two of a number of ways to drive people to your website.

The problem with Search Traffic

With both Pay Per Click and Search engine Optimization, you rely on people seeking you out. You simply wait around for someone to type the exact keyword that is going to show your website and hope that the user clicks on your link. To me, this seems like a pretty passive way to get traffic. Why not take a more active approach? Instead of waiting for the traffic to come to you, why not go to them?

Groups of Your Target Audience

Did you know that there are currently over 18K groups (groups not people) centered on Real Estate in Yahoo Groups. And this doesn’t even include Google Groups, MSN Groups, etc. Now remember, these groups are not too fond of people who go in and try to “hard sale” their services. Instead, they are looking for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). With this in mind, simply go in with the mindset of being the resource of information. They will quickly see you as a Trusted Advisor.

Linking Up with LinkedIn

Groups are not the only social hub for your target market. LinkedIn is another place to become a SME to your target audience. Even if you target audience is the luxury market. In fact, LinkedIn states that “Every one of the Fortune 500 companies has at least one executive on the LinkedIn network.”

But Social Networks is only for Teens!

I know what some people may thinking. “You Tube, Facebook and My Space are only for teens!” Right? Not really. Actually “Over 40 percent of luxury consumers visited a social networking site, such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, etc. in the past three months.” And since we are talking about the luxury market, there are even Social Networks for specifically for those jetsetters.

Get Creative – Land More Clients

The key is to get creative and use the power of social networks to catch your target audience early on in the game. For example, “Over 90 percent of luxury consumers used the Internet in support of their travel planning” (think 2^nd home or relocation). Now, imagine you are on these travel websites submitting reviews of the best 5 Star restaurants in the area. Oh, and you just happen to subtly work in your background and profession to validate yourself. “As a Realtor in CityName, I frequently take my clients to [Restaurant name]…” Suddenly, the luxury home owner looking to buy a vacation home now has a trusted resource who didn’t try to hard sell them but was the information resource.

Can Potential Clients See You on YouTube?

Vacation seekers and people looking for 2^nd homes and investment property frequently use sites like Flickr and YouTube to see images and video of the area before visiting. When they do a search on YouTube for keywords like Raleigh Real Estate, do they see your or your competition?

The only thing constant about the internet is that it’s always changing. With so much information available, people will continue to use their peers and social networks to not only find information, but trusted information. Will you actively pursue this gold mind of new business or continue to wait around for people to find you?

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The other day someone asked me. “If you could only make one edit to a website to achieve better search engine optimization, what would it be?” After clarifying that the edit had to be on the site (meaning link building wasn’t an option) I responded by saying that tweaking the Title Tag would probably be the first place to start. Now keep in mind that I am speaking in generalities here. Each website is different and has different needs. For example, if your title tags are great but you have zero original content on your site, then obviously real estate copyrighting would be at the top of your list.

Just for a moment let’s assume that your copy is original, you are building creditable links but still need that extra push to get to the top. That’s where title tags come in.

Before we get too far, let me first make sure everyone is on the same page and understands what a Title Tag actually is! A title tag text appears in two main places, at the top of the internet browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) and as the headline in search engine search results (see graphic).

Most people treat the Title Tag as if it’s only viewable to search engines. So they cram as many random words as they can into their title tag. The reality is that this strategy does more harm than good for a number of reasons. The main reason being that the title tag is crucial for getting visitors to actually click on your site. Remember, the title tag is used in search results. So the text must compel the site visitor to actually click on your site. After all, what good is being at the top of the search engines if no one ever clicks on your site! So don’t just stuff your title tags with all your keywords. Try to create a title tag that is a coherent thought!

Okay, this post is supposed to be about SEO so let’s get into the SEO side of title tags…

The Formula for Title Tags

The first Formula for Title Tags is that there is no formula. I see many people using formulas like City Name Real Estate – Page Name as the title tag for every page of their website. While this is better than the famous “Untitled Document“, it is too formula driven. Try to vary the information a little more. For example, let’s say you have a website about Miami Beach Condos. Instead of using Miami Beach Condos for all of your title tags, use variations such as Miami Beach Condominium, or Condo for sale in South Beach.

Google Searches = Good Title Tags

If you want to be found for a specific phrase, make sure that phrase is the first words in your home page’s title tag. Using the same example from above, it’s logical that someone would search for “Condo for sale in South Beach.” So it’s important that you then use that phrase as a title tag. And remember to think about your site visitor. Someone searching for “Condo for sale in South Beach” in Google more than likely wants to see a selection of condos. Therefore the most logical place to use this as a title tag would be a MLS search page. Likewise, someone searching for Miami Beach Realtor is probably searching for someone to sell their condo. Therefore, be sure to include this phrase in the title tag of the sellers page.

Thematic Title Tags vs Keyword Title Tags

While it’s important not to repeat the same title tag keywords throughout your site, you do want to stick with a common theme. Here is a random sample of Title Tags from KevinTomlinson.com

South Beach Condos, Miami Beach Real Estate Condos For Sale
Miami Beach Real Estate News, Articles and Resources
Miami Beach Condominium Realtor Kevin Tomlinson
Miami Beach Real Estate Agent Discusses Condo-Hotels in South Beach
How Much Is My Miami Beach Condo Worth
Sell Your Miami Beach Condominium
Pre-Construction Condos For Sale in Miami Beach
Miami Beach Real Estate Questions about Pre-Construction Condos
Miami Beach Florida Pre-Construction Condominiums

Here is a random sample of his building page title tags…

Akoya Miami Beach Oceanfront Condominium on Collins Avenue
Canyon Ranch Living Miami Beach Condo Residence on Collins Ave
Murano at Portofino-South Beach- Bayfront Miami Beach Condo in South of Fifth
Regent Bal Harbour Condo Hotel, Miami Beach Real Estate
St. Regis Bal Harbour - Oceanfront Residences in Miami Beach
W South Beach Preconstruction Condos in Miami Beach
Capobella Miami Beach Real Estate and Oceanfront Condos

Notice how there isn’t an exact formula for each title tag. It isn’t Miami Beach Real Estate – Building Name. But by varying the format for each title tag, I am able to cover lots of different keywords all centered around one theme. Miami Beach Real Estate and Condos.

Lose Your Name and Company

You only have about 70 characters (including spaces) for your title tag so don’t waste that precious space on your name or company name. Too many times, Real estate agents will have title tags like City Name Real Estate – Agent Name – Company Name. Chances are you will still rank well for you name even without it being in your title tag. Plus, very few people will actually search your name. Instead, focus on those core key phrases with the big payoff.

A Few More Tips

This post is getting a little long so I will close with a quick recap and a few more tips…

• Title Tags are more than just for SEO, they are also used to get people to click to your website.
• Don’t keyword stuff your title tags
• Try to make your title tag be a complete thought
• Stay away from strict formulas when writing your title tags
• Base your Title Tags off of Google Searches
• Use synonyms to create a consistent theme throughout your website title tags
• Avoid using your name and company name in your title tags
• Don’t use superlatives in your title tag (Best, #1, Greatest)
• Google skips over common words like “the” “in” “of” so don’t waste precious characters with these in your title tag.
• Word order is important, put your critical keywords at the beginning of your title tag
• Make sure EVERY page on your website has a unique title tag

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With the holidays upon us, now would be an excellent time to review your marketing plan for this past year and set in motion your plan for 2008. Take advantage of this slow period to examine and assess your marketing efforts to date. Because of lack of focus or results, is your marketing plan overdue for an extreme makeover or a subtle tweak? Review the questions below:

1. Are You Guilty of Complete Omission of Any Branding Elements: Too many real estate professionals fail to understand the importance of core branding elements i.e. logo, tag-line, and unique positioning statement. Branding elements provide a visual identity which helps your target audience connect with your core values and your services. Your brand should help differentiate you in your market.
2. Marketing to an Undefined Market: Find your target audience and gear your marketing plan and message to that audience. Attempts to appeal to everyone will fail. Not having a clear marketing message that speaks to everyone will end up speaking to no one. Plus it confuses the consumer and will easily miss any chance of hitting your target market entirely.
3. Inconsistency in Your Brand and Marketing Efforts: You need to have the same look and feel of your brand image across all of your media including your online presence, mailers, listing presentations, property fliers and all other aspects of your marketing plan.
4. Lack of Marketing Diversification: Marketing in print or on the Internet alone will reach only a portion of your potential customers. Plan to market creatively through a cross-section of media channels so your potential customers become familiar with your brand and your services at different times and in different places.
5. Not Focusing on Repeat Business: Repeat business typically makes up 80 percent of customers in most businesses. Too often marketing campaigns are heavily focused on bringing in new customers and not building relationships with current ones.
6. Bad Timing: Time your marketing campaigns to coincide with traditional up-tempo seasonal sales (example: early spring through mid- summer) or an upcoming events (i.e. new company relocating hundreds of new employees to your area) that will attract new business. Advance preparation is critical to your success.
7. Don’t Over-hype Your Service: For the consumer, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Too much hype will turn people away. Keep your marketing message simple and direct.
8. Don’t Forget - Slow and Steady Wins the Race: If you blow your entire marketing budget on a particular campaign, then what will you do next? Marketing means building your brand image and reputation via multiple impressions over an extended period of time.
9. Failure to Capture Feedback: Create your personal focus groups for feedback on your campaign and test your marketing ideas. Don’t launch your campaign without obtaining feedback first.
10. Making a Change for the Sake of Change: Just because you are tired of your marketing plan doesn’t mean it isn’t working. Too many real estate professionals make changes because they think they have too. Often a tried and true formula will keep working. Remember- always measure for ROI and refine when change is driven by lack of success.

By addressing and avoiding these critical mistakes, you and your marketing plan will be positioned to enjoy greater success.

Happy marketing!

Bobby Carroll

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I am frequently asked a common question about blogs. It’s goes a little something like this – “I want to create a real estate blog, should I place the blog at www.mydomain.com/blog or should my blog have its own domain like www.arearealestateblog.com.” Unfortunately there is not a right or wrong answer. It all depends on your particular strategy. So with this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to make a case for both options and let you, the real estate agent, decide based on your blogging strategy

Does Your Blog Have legs?

The first question you have to ask yourself is how frequently you plan on posting to your blog. If you plan on creating a blog separate from your real estate website, then you better give it legs to stand on its own. That means frequent posting of relevant content. If you only plan to just “salt and pepper” a few post here and there, then your best bet is to just create your blog as an extension of your website.

What is Your SEO Strategy?

Many real estate agents start blogging to give their website a SEO boost. If that is the main goal then your real estate blog is best suited on your existing domain. That is because all that fresh content you are creating with each new post, gives more “spider food” to Google and other search engines.

Age of Your Domain

This is another important factor when thinking about where your blog will call home. Google and other search engines value older domains as they are seen as more trust worthy. If you just purchased your blog domain last week, plan on spending the first 60-90 days building up credibility in the eyes of the search engines. Now keep in mind that this time period is not a magic number. There are plenty of other factors that determine credibility such as quality of content and the number of inbound links.

How Big is Your Online Marketing Influence?

To be successful online, it takes more than just one single website, instead you need to build your total online marketing presence. This is where having a blog on a separate domain can be beneficial. After all, now you have multiple websites that can show up on page one for your desired keyword. As your blog grows, your website’s credibility also grows. This happens because your blog (which has authority in the eyes of search engines) will link to your website. The key here is credibility. If your blog with its own domain is not maintained, it will not grow in authority and become an island.

Do You Want to Attract the Media?

Blogs that have their own domain typically have their own identity. This is helpful when getting the attention of the media. News organizations and editors can smell self promotion a mile away. With this in mind, they are typically more receptive of standalone blogs that focus on the information and not the promotion of a single real estate agent.

Take for example Kevin Tomlinson’s South Beach Condo Blog. The blog sits on its own domain and is 100% information driven. Kevin doesn’t use the blog as an arena to blow his own horn. He uses it to give free information. In its simplest form, Kevin is simply a “reporter” for the South Beach Condo Blog (or SBCB as it’s commonly referred to). The name alone proves this point. His SBCB blog has its own identity. And as a result, sources such as the Miami Herald, New York Post, and thousands of other blogs have linked to his blog. They know they can safely do this without endorsing or promoting a single real estate agent.

What About Social Network Hosted Blogs?

I would not recommend using a Social Network Blog (such as Active Rain) as your main blogging platform. Not because they do not have value – it’s just the opposite, they have tremendous power to help grow your online presence. But remember that each with each post you write on the social network site, you help to grow their credibility and not your domain. Keep in mind that that’s not all bad. After all, the more credibility the social network has, the more valued are those links that point back to your site. But ultimately, your main blog needs to be something that you control and directly benefits you. Again, places like Active Rain have tremendous value. But use Social Network blogs for a specific strategy. For example, for me, I see Active Rain as a website with 50K potential Dakno clients. Don’t get me wrong, I love the friendships and love educating and empowering real estate agents to get the most out of their marketing. But at the end of the day, I blog for leads.

Finding What’s Right for You

Take a few minutes to think about your own strategy. What’s the main goal of the blog. How much time do you have to focus on the blog. How does a blog work into your overall marketing presence? Hopefully now that you are armed with this information, you will have a clear direction on if you should place your blog on your existing website or on a separate domain.

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I have to admit, I am often temped to include signup forms on our client’s MLS and map search pages. After all, my job is to create real estate websites that fills my client’s inbox with lots of leads. But I always advise against doing so. Why? Well that’s exactly what this blog post is all about.

It’s not an equal playing field

Most real estate agents who require visitors to sign up to search the MLS think there is a balance of power. The agent has something the visitor wants (MLS access to thousands of homes), and the website visitor has something the real estate agent wants (their contact information). But here is the reality. It’s not equal. The site visitor is holding all the cards. The visitor doesn’t need you or your website. After all, if they do make it to your website and see that you require them to sign up to search for homes, they could give bogus information or easily hit that looming back button and move on to any of the other million or so results that Google has retrieved. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that they could search Realtor.com, Google Real Estate, Trulia, and so on.

Go After The Savvy Ones

The California Association of Realtors recently conducted a study comparing Traditional Buyers vs. Internet Savvy Buyers. The results were quite amazing. It turns out that Internet Savvy made much better clients than Traditional Buyers. They require you to show them less houses, they buy quicker, and they require less work on your part. So how does this relate to the forced registration vs. free search debate? Internet Savvy Buyers will typically find another resource if they see a website where they have to sign up to search for homes. But traditional buyers with less experience on the internet will simply follow the instructions. This means that you are actually pushing away the “easy” clients and catering to the clients that are going to make your life more difficult.

Extra Hoops for a Real Lead

Strangely enough, forcing visitors to sign up on your real estate website actually makes it less likely to receive quality leads. Why? When it comes to home searches, one of the best leads is a request for a showing. But by forcing visitors to first sign up, you are putting one more road block between them and that precious “Request a Showing” form.

Be a Leader and Not a Follower

There are a few real estate agents that require their visitors to register before searching the MLS. They seem to operate in clusters. While it may be easy to follow the crowd, the reality is that you have an excellent opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competition. While everyone else is making people mouse in handcuffs, you can shout it from the rooftops that you allow people to freely search without requiring people to register.

Search Engine Optimization

Oh yeah. Requiring visitors to sign up effects your search engine optimization also. This is because Google can’t “sign up” to search the MLS. This means that all those pages that Google would otherwise know about goes into a black hole. Ouch!

The List Goes On

There are more reasons such as having to deal with all the mickeymouse@noway.com leads clogging your inbox and database, pushing away repeat visitors and the appearance as a gatekeeper but you get the idea.

But I need More Leads!

So what’s the answer if you are not getting enough leads? The first step is to not make things worse by putting more stipulations on your site visitor. The savvy ones are too smart for that. Instead, take the opposite approach with your real estate web design. Give even more information away! Make it easier and faster for a visitor to get the information they need. Become the true resource for information in your area. It’s only then that all those savvy visitors will start flooding your inbox with their information.

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Not only do we design lead generating real estate web sites, we also coach our clients in the best way to convert website leads into sales. After all, what good good is a lead generating website if you can’t convert the leads. All too often I talk to Real Estate agents who think lead follow up is simply adding the person to an email drip campaign. I am amazed that many real estate agents never actually contact the person to start a dialog. Let me give you a perfect example…

Last week I checked in with a client who had been receiving great activity from their site. I was so impressed with her site. You see, we had just finished the new web design on her website and already the amount of leads was really picking up. I couldn’t wait to talk with her about all the leads her website had been receiving. Little did I know that the conversation was going to take an entirely different path. When my client answered, I mentioned the increase in “Real Estate Buyer’s Guide” leads received over the past 2 weeks. She said, “Yes, I want to ask you about that.” What she said next almost knocked me out of my chair. “I haven’t gotten around to updating my Buyer’s Guide so I have just been adding the names to my email drip list.” I couldn’t even believe it. Most of these leads had even given their phone numbers. It would have been a perfect opportunity to start a dialog with these leads about what specific information the real estate agent would like to include in the buying guide. Needless to say, I spent the next few days coaching my client on how to effectively respond to leads from her website. Below are a few tips that I shared with her.

Personalize the Impersonal

The Internet can be pretty impersonal. So it’s up to you, as a savvy real estate agent, to begin to break down those walls. It’s vital to correctly follow up with your website visitor to increase the personal interaction thus making it more likely to convert them into a sale:

Read the Lead

Did the lead include their phone number? If so, call them and establish first contact. Do not hesitate. Most internet leads end up doing business with the first Realtor who contacts them. But remember, the focus of the phone call is not about how you are the best at helping them buy or sell a house. Instead, keep it all about the lead. Show that you truly care about giving them the information that they are looking for. For example, “I saw that you requested a Relocation Guide. Before I send this out, is there anything specifically that I can include?” This not only shows that you are trying to best serve them; it also gives you more details about the persons specific real estate needs.

Be A Detective

Look for any clues that will allow you to better “connect” with the person. Always look at their email address and try to make a connection. If the email address is luv2run@aol.com then obviously this person enjoys running. When you reply to them, mention the email address and attempt to make a connection: I noticed by your email address that you enjoy running. May I interest you in learning a bit more about homes for sale in AnyTown community which is located next to the local greenway trail? You can also do this by searching for the domain name of the email address. If the email address is bill@JonesandBrownLaw.com then go to the Jones and Brown Law Firm website and check out the staff page. These clues will allow you to tailor your response to best personalize the email. Just don’t go overboard and make them think you are stalking them!

Follow Up

Good follow up is imperative. But don’t just trust yourself to remember to call or follow up. Instead ensure you have a documented follow up system that will automatically remind you to contact each lead. It’s also important to use multiple communication tools. Don’t just rely on email. Your response could be accidentally getting caught as Spam. Your chances of successfully starting a conversation with them will greatly increase if you use all of the communication methods available to you. And yes, that does include actually mailing a hand written letter.

Treat the lead like you would want to be treated

Think about what would motivate you if you were a website lead on a real estate website. Use this information to determine a strategy based on what would encourage you to work with a particular agent whose website you engaged with. Before your phone call follow up: Develop a call strategy. Write down talking points. Determine what you will say if you get voice mail.

Keep a Clean Lead Database

If you have contacted the person 3 times and they have yet to respond to your emails or phone calls, mark the lead as inactive, and set a reminder to follow up in 6 months. By keeping track of your leads and their status, you will be able to prioritize and focus on the good leads and leave the inactive leads to be followed up later on. Remember: Getting good leads from your Real Estate Website isn’t hard; the hardest part is converting the lead. Stay on top of your leads and if you are too busy, hire someone to do it for you.

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Many real estate agents know that one way to increase their rankings for their real estate website is to gain additional links that point back to their website. With this in mind, many SEO and Real Estate Web Design Companies are quick to add link building to their list of design and development services. But the reality is that simply building links isn’t the answer. The real value comes by building Online Endorsements. So what’s the difference? Link Building is simply trying to “game the system.” It focuses on the SEO value instead of the “People Value.” Let me give you a few examples…

The Wrong Way To Do It

You want to gain another link to your real estate website so you decide to develop a Squidoo Page. Most people will be tempted to just do a “hurry up” job by copying and pasting some information about themselves from their website and then linking back to their home page. Or maybe they even go as far as customizing the content by swapping out a few words here and there.

Let’s look at this from both a “People Value” perspective and a “Search Engine Value” perspective. First, from a Search Engine Value: Our good friend GoogleBot looks find the Squidoo page. Even though the content has been changed he uses his complex algorithms to analyze the content right down to sentence structure (yes, they filed a patent about this years ago) and immediately recognizes that the content is just a rehash of your about us page from your website. On top of that, Googlebot sees that the content doesn’t provide any valuable information such as new real estate facts, a how to, or anything else worthy of appearing at the top of the search engines. Googlebot just sees this as another advertisement page with duplicate content and moves on. Ouch! So what about the “People Value” perspective? When a web visitor arrives at the page, they too see just a bland self-promotion page. No real information that aids in their real estate experience. Frustrated, they just move on. It’s a good thing it didn’t take you long to develop this Squidoo page. Because the page you created gave no value to search engines or visitors. Now let’s look at an example of true resource for both Website Visitors and Search Engines.

The Right Way To Do It

I am very familiar with this example as it’s an example that I personally implemented. As a real estate web designer, I always try to keep up with the latest news about the Real Estate Industry as well as the Web Design and Development Industry. So my eyes lit up when I read Jay Izso’s ePowerNews article about how Internet Savvy Buyers use Real Estate Websites in their home buying decision. I knew this was a great topic that I could expand on. So I jumped on Squidoo and created a page about Real Estate Website Statistics. I pulled all the data, designed a few custom graphs to make it visually appealing to visitors, and made sure my titles were SEO friendly. At the end of the page, I tied in the information to my company and linked to the Dakno Marketing home page. I was sure to include the anchor text Real Estate Web Design, as that was the keyword I was optimizing for. When my old friend GoogleBot arrived at the new Squidoo page, he saw lots of original content about a subject matter that he knew little about. He soaked up every word, happy that there was a true resource for the information. Before I knew it, Googlebot had me ranked at the top of Google and started sending visitors to the Squidoo page. The visitors were glad to see useful content (not just a self promotion) complete with custom designed graphs. They knew that if I gave them all this great information about Real Estate Statistics on this page, that I would probably have even more useful information about Real Estate Marketing on my website. So the majority of the visitors followed my link over to my website. A few even called wanting web design services. It was a win, win, win situation for me, Search Engines and visitors.

So remember, it’s not about building links. Link building adds no value to Search Engines or Visitors. The real value comes out of building Resource Rich, Online Endorsements. Don’t settle for second best. Visitors and Search Engines won’t!

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Let’s be honest. We have all wondered about it. “How does my real estate website stack up against my competition’s site?” The Real Estate Market is fiercely competitive and it’s vital to keep track of your competition. No, I am not suggesting that you become a Private Investigator. It’s actually much easier (although probably not as exciting). By making use of a few online tools, you can turn your computer into a virtual Sherlock Holmes. And yes, everything is perfectly legal and ethical. In fact, your competition may already be doing the exact same thing on you.

Get Emails Directly From Google

Google Alerts

Google Alerts allow you to receive a notification every time Google finds new information on a particular subject. Just sign in, setup the keyword and select how often you want to be notified. Google will then send you an email when it spiders new content related to your alert phrase.

Whois

DomainTools.com

DomainTools.com is so much more than a website that just tells you who owns the domain. It shows you meta information, Yahoo Directory and DMOZ listings, server information and a SEO Score. Simply enter in your competitor’s domain name for a full report.

Really Simply Spying

Okay, RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” but if used creatively, you can easily turn RSS feeds into “Really Simply Spying.” This is a powerful way to quickly and easily keep an eye on your competition. The real value is because of the automation. Your RSS feed will automatically update every time new results are found. Here are a few examples…

IceRocket.com

IceRocket.com is a popular blog search engine. It can be used to keep an eye on other bloggers that may be writing about, and linking to your competitor. Just search for a keyword (such as the Realtor’s name) and click the “Subscribe to RSS feed” link on the right side of the page. You now have an RSS feed of any activity your competitor receives in the blogosphere. **evil grin**

Google News

Search for a keyword in Google News. Then click on the RSS link on the left side of the search results page.

Blog Lines

Search for a keyword in Blog Lines. Then click the RSS link on the right side of the search results page.

Blogdigger

Search on Blogdigger and then click the RSS link on the right side of the search results.

Yahoo News

Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo put together a great RSS builder tool for Yahoo News. Just enter your search phrase and click go. It automatically builds an RSS feed of the results.

Digg.com

Search on Digg for a keyword (such as your competitions name). On the search results page, click the small RSS icon on the right.

Just Open Up Your Browser

Conduct a Critical Review

I know it sounds simple, and you have probably visited your competitor websites many times. But this time, go back and look at it again from a different angle. Look at their title tags, anchor text, headlines, menu items (and order of menu items). What type of MLS Search do they use? How much information do they have about the community? Simply looking at your competitor’s website through a critical eye will usually reveal some interesting gems.

Watch Someone Surf their Site

Grab a friend and ask them to go to your competitor’s site. Try to give them as little instruction as possible. After all, you don’t want to influence their click habits. Look over their shoulder as they click through the site. Where did they click? What features were important? After they have clicked through the site, ask a few questions to get their opinion on the website. Granted this is not a formal study, but getting someone else’s perspective could be very valuable.

View Your Competitors Statistics

We all know that hard solid data such as unique visitors, page views and conversions are the ultimate standard for statistics. The problem is that I doubt your competitor is going to be willing to just hand over this information. The good news is that there are a few metrics that can give you some ballpark figures. Take these measurements with a grain of salt. They are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they are better than nothing.

After seeing the latest from TechChunch about Alexa, I only feel comfortable recommending you use www.compete.com. This is a great resource to see website traffic trends and to compare it against other websites. You can read more about how they gather that data by visiting their FAQ page.

Who is Giving Link Love?

Strategic linking is a big part of a successful online strategy. Because of this, it’s important to see who is giving your competitors “link love.” Here are a few ways to find out…

Google.com

Simply go to Google and enter in “link:anydomain.com” (without quotes) to see who is linking to your competitor’s website. While this doesn’t show you every link, it does show a few of the more important ones.

Yahoo Site Explorer

Yahoo Site Explorer is a great tool for finding out a more exhaustive list of pages that link to a particular website. Simply enter in the website address and then click on the “inlinks” link.

Let Technorati Keep an Eye On Things

Technorati lets you keep track of your competition via their free “Watchlist.” Just sign in, click on the watchlist page and enter in your competitor’s name.

Spying on Yourself

While it may be fun to spy on your competitor, it’s also important that you use these same tools for your own website. After all, the findings can be just as enlightening.

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Real estate agents are always taught to offer value to their prospects and clients. When it comes to a real estate website, that value is usually conveyed via MLS search tools, free buyer or seller reports, exclusive market data, compelling offers, etc. Here is the reality - you must show value FIRST. Only then can you ask for a site visitor’s information. That is because the Internet Empowered Consumer (IEC) has to first see the value (in your time saving property organizer, exclusive online content, etc.) before they will give up their personal information. Yet so many real estate agents force the user to provide personal information before the visitor obtains the valuable information or access to special tools. This “cart before the horse” concept simply goes against the grain of a successful website.

Are you holding your site visitor hostage?

Most website visitors operate with this understanding. The World Wide Web is seen as a tremendous free-access information portal offering site visitors many choices where to secure valuable information. The IEC is leery to give away personal information or sign ‘user agreements’ to a salesperson they have never met - And rightly so. After all, they can simply leave the website and find someone else who is willing to offer the information on another website without obligation or fear of harassment. So - are you forcing your visitors to sign-in to access a search tool, holding them hostage in exchange for their contact information?

 Practical examples:

1. MLS Search
   At Dakno Marketing, we recommend you show value first by giving the site visitor easy, “no-strings-attached” access to the MLS search. You should clearly communicate how much more they can get out of searching if they signup to save listings, create favorite property searches and receive the latest “feed” of new listings the moment they hit the market via “instant” email updates.
   
2. Calls to action
   If it’s a request for a free report, offer the site visitor a “taste” of the information to show them how they will “benefit” by gaining access to the full report. This way they can tell that the information isn’t the same old fluff offered freely everywhere. Allow them to read the first page but then request the full report.
   
3. Form pages
   Always clearly explain on your form page what the user is going to receive and what the “BENEFIT” is going to be by gaining access to the tool or resource.
   

Do you set proper expectations?

Much like we must educate our clients to the benefits of a specific marketing strategy like “Search Engine Optimization“, you must educate the internet consumer to the value and subsequent benefits to a specific tool or resource. Some site visitors may first need to be educated as to “WHY” they need the valuable information. Plus, site visitors should be given the “WHEN” they can expect to receive the information or have access to the offer. It boils down to setting proper expectations for your site visitors.

Be a Giver!

So do you want less email from “Mickey Mouse” (quantity) and more “quality” leads to your real estate website? Why not be have your website be viewed as the “giver” of desirable information. By providing great information first, you’ll gain the respect of your site visitors. Plus you will be viewed as the non-threatening provider of desirable tools and valuable information. You win by gaining instant creditability and your site visitors are highly educated and know exactly what they want.

 
 

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