Top 7 Real Estate Online Marketing Mistakes/Myths!
Z57 has been around for over 9 years now, and during this time we have spoken to hundreds of thousands of Real Estate Agents. During this time, we have seen many interesting mistakes and heard some very interesting myths from Real Estate Agents. Here are the top 7… make sure you aren’t making these mistakes too!
- “Trust me, newspaper advertising works great!” Mistake! Newspaper ‘used to’ work great, but rarely anymore. Why spend ridiculous money in a dying medium that has little return on investment? Over 80% of homebuyers now start their home search online. Not by looking in a newspaper.
- Bad website color schemes. Yes, you know who you are. We have seen so many instances of simply HORRIBLE color combinations, especially text that is too hard to read because it’s on the bad color background. You have to catch a website visitor’s eye within seconds - even if you have fabulous content and lead capture, they still won’t stick around to use it if your website looks like an 8 year old designed the color scheme. Get advice on your color scheme!
- “All I need is a website and some traffic and I’m golden”. Myth. Lead capture tools are essential to any Realtor’s online success. If you have no way to capture visitors contact details, then you can’t follow up with them, and chances are they will just go to one of your competitors’ websites instead. Not good.
- “My animated flash intro page is great!” Myth. Not only is this bad for search engines, but its also bad for your web visitors. Why make the visitor wait - they just want to see what content you have and what home listings you have. And most of these look plain horrible too. Our advice? Don’t use them.
- “A good domain name is all I need for good search engine results.” Myth. Yes, picking a good domain is important, but you need to do so much more. You need your content to be optimized for your chosen keywords and you need many GOOD relevant links from other websites pointing to your website. Get some SEO advice!
- Bus benches without the Agents’ website address. Mistake. A personal favorite of ours. So many times we have driven by bus bench ads and seen a great looking Realtor ad, but no mention of their website address. It’s much easier to remember a catchy website address and type it in when you get home than remembering a random phone number - don’t you agree?
- “Winning the listing is winning the sale”. Myth. Sadly, there are still way too many Realtor’s that believe this. It’s no longer good enough to just use signage, newspaper ads and printed flyers. You need to promote your lisings online using popular real estate search websites like Oodle and Trulia - way more effective! Ask someone at Z57 to learn about our online listings promotions.
Hopefully you aren’t making too many of these mistakes and myths. Feel free to let us know what you think - maybe you have some personal favorites! The best will be listed here - just simply post a reply using the form below!
One of my favorite is agents that plaster all over their site that they are the #1 agent. The old mentality of “saying I am the best means people will want to work me” is a myth and not applicable in the world of online marketing.
Don’t be the amoral, self absorbed realtor because most Internet users are looking for information to benefit themselves, not to read a full-page resume about the realtor.
Think through your customers eyes - Everyone has been a customer at some point and we all know what we like and what we don’t when we arrive at someone’s business or website. Take time to look at your site as a customer and try your best to address it so you don’t like that one realtor in the movie…
Good Domain Name = Search Engine Results, yep thats a good myth. As soon as your site goes live, it will begin to be indexed by all the search engines. You want to make sure that you immediately provide the right title, description and keywords for each indivisual page of your site so that you even stand a chance a chance of good search rankings. Then comes then off site linking!
Amen to the newspaper mistake! In fact, print advertising period is a mistake. We learned our lesson with Homes & Land… spend over $30K over a two-year period and only received one solid sale (not to mention the long lead time - many homes are sold before the publication even prints!). I think any seasoned agent would agree that prospecting is where the money’s at.
Absolutely true. The days of ….Call “Phone Number” are numbered. Listen carefully these days to Radio and television Ads. More and more savvy advertizers always direct people to go to their wesite. It does not even matter if people can remember the correct spelling of the URL. They can easily google what they think the URL is +a phrase about what the website is about, and there you go.
I’m with you guys. I do 85% of my business on the web. Paper advertising still needs to be done to drive more people to the web.
Stan Rector
Troop Real Estate
http://www.StanRector.com
Thanks , I like these suggestions.
Sam Davis
Following Bernice Ross’ advice to take the me-me-me out of online advertising, and with the help of my Z57 account manager Grace Lu; she suggested taking on the Z57 Landing page where leads are taken to a page where there is no brokerage name, picture of agent and all it has is a page where they can fill out what properties they are looking for. Since using this new page, I noticed more leads coming through. Consumers don’t like the “me, # 1 agent, the specialist” types of advertising because they could care less, there is nothing in it for them, they just want information and service and that’s what we need to give them and the landing page makes it easy for them to use without feeling intimidated.
Great advice!! I will use this and revise my site
Laura Rivera hit the bullseye! Giving value on your website is key…all realtors need to remember the basics. Buyers will go to where it is easy to get information and still remain relatively uncommitted…our job is to be of service first, and only then offer your help.
The agents that realize and embrace the current industry changes will be the winners. What buyer wants to labor through 40-50 pages of homes with tiny pictures just to find that one home that fits your criteria? Most homebuyers know they can got to the internet, select their criteria, and be led directly to homes that interest them (with multiple pictures).
As far as website aesthetics go, I would take it a step beyond colors and also look at the general layout of the page. I see too many agents who try to cram every ounce of their knowledge all onto the homepage. This is problematic for two main reasons: 1) I promise NOBODY is going to sit and read all of that. 2) It makes the site scroll like toilet paper. If a visitor feels lost or overwhelmed when they reach your site, they’re gone. They need to see what they are looking for right in front of them, so eliminate anything that would be a distraction. Utilize the actual content pages in your site to provide them with more information (the more people click around and interact with the site, the better.)
People want to work with an agent they feel is knowledgable, not one who says they are. No matter how flashy or well advertised your website is, if you don’t follow up consistantly your business will be falling down constantly. The one truth you can count on is that even in the technology age, this is a people business.
Fumi & Laura are spot on.
The agent that pushes a #1 Agent type status (IMHO) misunderstands branding and is advertising “Status” over “Value”. I must ask a critical question: “So what! What is in it for me?” That is what your clients and prospects are thinking. If you are a number one agent, tell me the benefit, tell me why you are a number one agent and how that helps me with the most important transaction in my life!
If an agent is going to brand themselves effectively above and beyond the tools that they offer, the first question to themselves must be: “What value do I as an agent bring to my clients and prospects?”. So, why you? Honest marketing for the long term means playing to your personal strengths. Perhaps you are an interior design specialist or a financial guru from a past career. Perhaps you have been in the area 30 years and really have a unique ability to show what is most special about your specific area. By building your business and branding on your strengths you not only advertise your true value but you can also Identify who your market is and end up advertising to a specialty that you can truly deliver on.
Whatever your value is, does all of your marketing direct prospects to the benefits of your specialty and what it is that you really bring to the table? Have you identified a unique brand? Once you do, every marketing piece, from your business card to your agent photo, to each word and item of content on your website should speak to that and integrate with your tools.
Just my take..
Print advertising is not what it used to be. But as much as I wish I could tell my clients to toss it to the side, you can’t. For two main reasons; firstly your sellers love to see their homes in print ads and magazines. Secondly, it still keeps your face in the public eye. That is why a lot of my clients cut their print budget in half, and allocate that amount to online advertising.
The other thing that is important for everyone to remember is that your website is an extension of you. People will think you work as hard, or as well, as your website does. As Paul Long said so well, if you don’t follow thru you’ll have ZERO results.
Scott’s comments are dead-on: We advertise more than I like, but the sellers love it, and we DO get calls to our cell phones referencing our print ads. Our last two listings came from sellers that said they called us because of our exceptional advertising. It’s a matter of balance- keep the old (it pays dividends) and strengthen your on line website every way you can. As active realtors, my wife and I struggle with spending the time; now that the market has slowed, I plan to upgrade my website a lot! It is our future!
adding to the myth: “A good domain name is all I need for good search engine results.â€
a common mistake agents make is to use a free email account. i.e. AOL, Hotmail, yahoo mail, etc. Free email accounts convey a degree of anonymity and are also associated with spam. Many corporations specifically block emails originating from free accounts to avoid spam and viruses.
you have a professional domain name, get an email at your domain and use it. And please, no redirect as you will only confuse your contacts
No one source of advertising is the “Magic Bullet”. A good website places you in the public’s eye and in the real estate market 24-7, but that’s not to say that you should drop your print campaign for it. Just like any other investment portfolio, diversify, diversify, diversify!
Print ads are costly to maintain, direct mailers kill you with the postage, and ads in the real estate guides advertise properties that most likely are already under contract by the time the book hits the shelf- But then again, the costs of maintaining an office without an income stream is pretty steep, too. Scott’s got it right that your marketing needs to reflect your niche, and Mike and Bob have figured out that if you place all of your hopes on one egg, then your basket is the least of your concerns.
evisibility….I am intrigued by your comment to have good leader words catch phrases to direct people to your site..but do you think it is easier to use separate domain names to search for the specific topic/phrase? If you think this idea is worth looking at..then would it be very expensive to open lots of different domain names?
Very well written. This is the kind of information that is useful to those want to increase their SERP’s. Keep up the good work.
great article. online business volume is increasing rapidly.