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

How many Domain Names do you have lying around doing nothing?

What's in a name?

Everyone is buying up domain names like crazy these days. Many people have 2 or 3, some have 20 or 30. Personally I have 3. I probably should have more, but I never really got into the domain buying game. The question I want to bring up is - what is everyone doing with those domain names?

Many of you are just letting them sit, doing nothing in your GoDaddy account or Dotster account. What good does that do you? Nada. Even if you are planning on selling it, you are doing yourself an injustice. Those domain names are worthless just sitting there year after year when you could be building a page rank and driving more traffic to your website (if you have one).

SO - what do you do about this?

If you have a website and the URL is relevant to your market - you do a 301 permanent redirect on all of your URL's to your current web address. This can be found under the forwarding options in your hosting account. Usually free - but can be as much as $10 a year.

An important thing to note - if you own a website called widgetsforcars.com - then on the 301 permanent redirect page, it should let you set up a title and meta tags for that particular URL. Do not waste the time setting it up if you don't fill in these boxes. Go look up the particular keyword and see what the most relevant popular keywords are for your URL. Remember, the highest searches keywords are not necessary the best keywords. I will post more on Keywords in my next post.

What does this do for you? It adds to your SEO for your site and brings more traffic to your site for searchers looking for your product.

If you don't have a website, or your URL is not relevant to your current website - then you need to set up a free one or purchase a domain reseller account. There are many free hosting sites out there. Search Google for Free web hosting or Domain Reseller. GoDaddy has an excellent Domain Reseller account that will set you up with a web page with a shopping cart and all kinds of features.

What this will do is allow you to make your URL's active and therefor valuable. First if you are selling domains - you have to get the word out there. You need to tell someone that the domain is for sale, otherwise they will just think it is taken and being used. By having a landing page you are establishing the domain in the search engines and therefore making it more valuable. A simple page with Google Adwords ads showing up on it for relevant "widgetsforcars" will not only bring you money for being an Affiliate, but will establish the site as relevant to the "widgetsforcars" subject and help it rank in the search engines.

Google says:
"AdSense for search allows website publishers to provide Google web and site search to their visitors, and to earn money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages. "

You can sign up here.

Not only does it display ads for you, it keeps Google coming back to your site regularly to check it out which means it is indexed and added to Google.

Now imagine you set up this site, added some good keywords into the Title and Meta tags. Put the words : This domain is for sale. Email you@youremail.com to make offer. Then added in the Google Adsense below that. Tada - you have a fully functional domain that you spent an hour putting together and then you don't have to touch. It will be all set for the search engines, available to potential buyers, earn you money from Google Adsense, and over time accumulate a Google Page Rank which in turn will make it more valuable when you sell it! (A site with a PR of 5 is worth more money than a site with a PR of 1.)

So what are you waiting for? Go out and dust off those inactive domains and start using them to help yourself!

Char Bennett
Website Design
Search Engine Optimization
Link Popularity, Link Exchange

copyright 2008 Charra Bennett

The time to Relax is when you don't have time for it. - Sidney J. Harris

We ALL need a break sometimes. Even if you love your job, you need a break.

I was talking to a friend last night about researching things online. She mentioned that she was looking up all this information on a certain subject and that she spent hours and hours just reading and copying down everything she could to prepare herself for a job she was going to do. She was in information overload and just had so much work to do she couldn't think straight.

And I heard myself saying....be careful, before you know it you have spent so much time working that you ignore all of the important things around you like kids and family and become immersed in your work and you forget what it is you are working for..

I can see you all shaking your heads - yep, been there, done that.

Well later that same night, I was reading some blogs on real estate widgets and SEO tactics, and i glanced up to see my husband walking past my open office door. I thought nothing of it and kept on reading. A little while later, as I was working on my website, I noticed him walking past and looking in again...hmmm.....and a bit later.....the same thing. Wasn't I just giving the "take a break" speech to my friend only an hour before? Wake up and smell the Mocha Latte Charra!

Ok, Ok. It's time to take my own advice.

So, I have come to realize that my family comes first. That I need to take a break and stop working at a specified time. No more late night love sessions with my monitor. I have family to attend to. ;) I need to refresh and restart my body so that I can appreciate the reason why I work so hard.

I read something the other day that I want to share with you. It suggested taking a break will help you work more efficiently. That we NEED to take breaks regularly and frequently.

The article - by HigherAwareness.com #8-24 - says this:

Rest periods and vacations break our work routines. They help shift our thinking from its habitual, stuck patterns. They create space from energy and creative flow. They give us time for reflection, so we can step back and look at whats happening in our lives with greater detachment. We become more sensitive and aware. And finally, when we balance DOING with BEING. All work and no play throws our life out of balance and endangers our health. Our bodies and minds need sufficient rest for recuperation. This is critically important with the level of stress in our lives these days.

"I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently." ~Ernest Hemingway

Char Bennett
CEO YourSiteNeedsMe.com
Office: (517)529-9010
Cell: (734)323-1833
Website Design Search Engine Optimization
Email Me

My MySpace got hacked!

Well - I got about 10 messages from my faithful friends today letting me know that my MySpace got hacked. How did they know? Because apparently my account posted about 100 bulletons and comments advertising free cell phones. EEK!

So what does this teach me?

That when someone posts a comment or sends me an email that is an advertisement, contains a picture that I have to click on or contains a link in it that redirects me to sign in somewhere - that I should always double check that it was sent by that person - and not by a hacker. Because even I, being pretty careful of everything I do online, can get hacked!

Be careful of your email, blog comments, myspace, facebook, squidoo, active rain and any similar sites...hackers are always lurking.....

Hey I Won!

I won the iPod from RedHotFranchises - waahooo! This just proves that creative blog posting can work! RIGHT ON!