Stars & Carrots

I read an article tonight that struck me as brilliant. It's funny how i never know when I am going to blog and then suddenly I read something that just hits home and i find myself so excited that I go straight to my blog and the words just start pouring out! That is what this article did for me tonight.

It started out like this:

"While on vacation recently, I was blown away by the millions and millions of stars that you do not see when you're in the city. As I pointed out the big and little dippers to my kids and identified the North Star, I had this wild thought: Having a web site in real estate is like having a star in the galaxy...who cares? Unless you have the Hubble Telescope pointed at your star, it just doesn't matter. "

It's so true. In fact, one of my clients asked me today;

"Do you really think that this website is going to bring me leads and people will come to it? Because I have never had a website ever bring me one bit of business before. "

To which I asked - what did you do with it? Did you market it in the search engines? Did you do any Pay Per Click Advertising? Did it have any Call-to-Actions on it? And the answer was No.

I wonder why so many real estate websites (stars) are out there sitting stagnant?

So what is the solution?

EDUCATE YOURSELF! Emmulate those that are successful! Read the latest and greatest and apply at least some of it to your business. FOLLOW THROUGH.

So easy to say, but not so easy to do?

The simple fact is you are wrong. The most successful agents are doing it right now. In the same market you are.

For instance, this same realtor showed me one of his top competitors today. Aparently she spent a LOT of money on her website. No doubt, it was filled with all kinds of fancy stuff. But not only that, it was apparent that she had some good methods in place.

1) She had the most important call-to-actions right there on the front of her site.
2) She had a killer IDX solution. Her sellers could not help but be impressed with how her site showcased their home.
3) BUYERS could search homes within 1 click.

NOW - with that said, it is all worthless if no one knows about her site. So I did a little research and sure enough she showed up in the search engines pretty high for some great keywords. Sponsored & Organic results.

So she is not just a star in the sky, she is a bright star that shines through even on the darkest and most cloudy nights.
And she had CARROTS.

What are carrots you say? Funny you should ask....I read another article yesterday that I found equally as brilliant as the first one. It was called "Carrots on a website? You're Hunting Rabbits"

It said:
My last article ended with the admonition: "Your website needs carrots, reasons for people to fill out forms." A reader disagreed, "Most people do not care to fill out forms." Okay, but I don't care about "most people," nor should you.
If people aren't willing to fill out the form on your website for the carrot you are offering, then they are helping you by not wasting your time. They are pre-qualifying themselves as not needing your assistance at this time.
If they go somewhere else online, and fill out a form, well, your carrots failed. Get better carrots. If you have good carrots, they'll fill out the form -- if they are worth you spending your valuable time on.

WOW. I love it. Again, this guy is RIGHT on the money!

He goes on to say that when his clients add IDX to their sites with NO FORM to fill out before they search homes, that their leads drop an average of 60%! WOW AGAIN!

The moral of his story -

"While carrots might not be appreciated by some, they will be greedily devoured by hungry rabbits. If you are a Realtor, you're hunting rabbits. "

So what do you do? Start listening to the same radio station that the consumers are listening to.

WIFM; What's in it for me?

Then, first, take a good look at your website.

Does it have the key fundamentals that consumers want when they get there? Can you search homes within a few clicks? Does it have Featured homes on the front page? Do you offer your consumers up little tidbits of information to whet their appetite and get them to fill in that form or do you give it all away for free?

Then get started. Take all that messy crap and get rid of it. The only reason you should keep it is if you have SOME type of ranking in the search engines. Then go ahead and create another page and copy it in and move on. Fahgeddabahdit.

Next: identify the keywords in your market that people are looking for. Dont just guess - that is just plain ignorant. Go to the search engines and type in KEYWORD TOOL - and find one that you can use to see what consumers are REALLY typing in.Then pic out 3 or 4 only and focus in on them for your site

Create an easy main section in the body that is clear and concise that points to a Buyer Search, some type of Property Saver or Email Alert - and a Seller Tool Center. Be creative with the names and descriptive about what they offer. Dangle the carrot.

Then underneath you need to start writing. If you are not good at it, hire an article provider to write it for you. Here is a good one that is also very search engine orientated: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/ Have them write something for your front page with your target keywords.

Next find some good Carrots. What do consumers want? What can you offer them that they might be excited about enough to fill out that form? Find them. Get them. Use them.

Then hire someone for your Search Engine Optimization work. Don't try to do it yourself unless you have lots of time on your hands. And if you do have lots of time on your hands then maybe you are in the wrong profession. Buckle down and make a committment to do it right this time. Let us do what we do best so you can do what you do best.

I always encourage my clients to be involved in their website development and infact train them on any part of it that they are interested in. Its important because you need to know waht is going on with your website in order to be knowledgeable about the online community. And lets face it, the online community is where the consumers are. But don't go so far that you are spending more time online than doing business.

Next - sign up for all of those real estate portals out there like ActiveRain and START blogging! Give it a try - its really facinating and fun! Plus you will find that there are a lot of smart realtors out there who do blog. Smart SUCCESSFUL realtors. Hint Hint.

Now, you have a good start. Keep up with your website, add fresh information, keep up to day with the latest and greatest. Try new things. Get involved. Educate yourself. Emmulate success. Do it. Now.

1st Article: Website vs Web Strategy
2nd article: Carrotts on a website? You're hunting rabbits

Char Bennett
(517) 529-9010
charbennett@gmail.com
Real Estate Website Design
Search engine optimization