Online Marketing: Why Attitude Can Be More Important Than Market Conditions

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By Mike Parker

RISMEDIA, Oct. 27, 2008-Melanie Ross is a four-year agent with Coldwell Banker Solano Pacific in Benicia, California (www.melanierossrealestate.com), serving Benicia and Vallejo, CA. “It’s tough in the Bay Area right now,” Melanie said. “In my market area, almost 90% of the homes under $350,000 are foreclosures. Rather than worry about whether all these foreclosures are clogging the marketplace and whether it’s good or tragic or tough or fantastic, I have a somewhat different approach: The market is what it is. Go with the flow, be proactive and keep your nose to the grindstone.”

It’s an approach that seems to be working well for Melanie: she recently told us that she is on track for over 40 closings this year. Melanie has stayed true to her philosophy and kept her nose to the grindstone, while implementing minimalist technology, which has paid huge dividends for her. She has ‘kept her head, while all about her were losing theirs’ and is succeeding because she refuses to buy-in to the failure theme so prevalent today.

You can’t be an FSBO in the technology fields that help sell homes online

Melanie implemented a major initiative while the market has been crumbling; and it has already paid off handsomely. Many agents today aren’t thinking and planning how to position themselves for success (rather than doing a Chicken Little imitation), but Melanie saw the handwriting on the wall in April of 2007 and decided to be proactive.

“I saw an article about selling homes online that resonated with what I had been trying to self-learn. I realized I was trying to be a FSBO in the SEO field. It finally dawned on me that it is better to leave SEO in the hands of professionals, just as it is better for a home buyer or seller to leave their transaction in the hands of professionals-people like me. I didn’t know how to get my site found, I didn’t know how to get people to register on it, and I didn’t know what to do when they did. I understood from the beginning that success with SEO is not an instant kind of thing so I was willing to hang in there, to tweak my site and following the rules.

“It was an evolution to get to where I am, and my site is very simple,” she continued. “My site was up and running with SEO in place in Sept 2007, with the work really starting to get me higher in the search engines by Dec 2007. My site did not have an effective lead capture until spring of this year, when I was convinced it was absolutely necessary to succeed. My IDX got upgraded, too, which made a difference. My first lead came in November of 07 for listing a home. My first transaction closed in March 08. Now, 80% of my leads come from my site. I now get good relocation leads, in addition to leads from my regular territory and I have sold four people from distant places that found me online and were relocating since March. I am on track for 40 closings this year, while many agents I know are literally without prospects.

“I am a generalist, even though foreclosures listings are doing extremely well for me, I do not want to limit myself. The market is in a state of constant change and I want to be able to flex with that change. Selling REO today is a classic example of adapting to a temporary specialty. In another year, REOs will not be the big deal they are now. I also believe that there is a future for ecology-sensitive Realtors so I completed a certified eco-real estate agent course in May to prepare for this next level of service I will provide. I choose to try to improve, rather than just sit around and worry, and so far, it has worked.”

How many leads from a website are enough leads?

The answer to that question depends upon what you want from your practice. Here’s what Melanie says:

“I have learned that when it comes to ‘leads’, quantity is far less important than quality. I get at least two or more solid leads a month. This may not seem like a lot, but they are qualified and ready to go because they have viewed my site and know what they are seeking. When they contact me, they are not “just looking,” they are seriously interested in a piece of property that they have already viewed and compared—online. (This confirms what CAR reports, as well-the average Internet buyer looks at less than 7 properties with her agent, the average traditional buyer looks at 15+; the average Internet buyer buys a property after about two weeks of working with an agent, the traditional buyer takes over 7 weeks, on average. Internet buyers are far more focused on you and your offerings.)

Melanie knows exactly what she wants and exactly where her niche is.

“That is enough leads for me for several simple reasons, but the key reason is because I am most likely similar to many thousands of agents across the country in that I do not have a team and I do not want a team. I got into this business because I could work at my own pace, when I wanted, with whom I wish to. I am part of big name office, and I want to handle the business that comes to me on a personal level at all parts of the transaction. I like having a website bring the clients to me that I would like to work with. Having a website allows me to compete for business along side of teams who want 25 transactions a month. That is not what I want. I wanted my website tailored via SEO to bring those clients who most likely resonate with how I do business and want to do business with ME. Every client I get becomes another potential referral, if I do a good job. Everyone knows that it takes time to build your business. My website is doing that for me. It is my open house 24/7. I can compete with anyone because I am easily found by Internet buyers where 84% of all sales begin. I am as good as anyone, as prominent as firms and teams spending multiples of what I have to spend, and my Internet presence has made all that possible. I don’t want to get big. I want to be happy and give the best possible service to my dedicated clients.

Everything we read and hear points to the inescapable fact that the home buying paradigm in America has changed in many ways. Perhaps the largest single change is that Internet buyers comprise 84% of all homebuyers and that they are looking at homes online long before they choose their agent. That paradigm cuts two ways: if you cannot be found when Internet buyers go looking for homes online, you are flat out-of-contention for 84% of the business. The NAR also tells us that over 90% of agents are not pleased with their yield from the Internet and the biggest single reason that is so is because those sites cannot be found by Internet buyers, so nothing happens for the agent. However, if you get to talk to an agent who is in the 10% who are happy with their yield from the Internet, they’ll tell you that they can’t imagine going back to the old way of soliciting customers.

How can you start succeeding and selling homes from your website?

First, it must be findable when Internet buyers go looking; second, you must capture visitor’s addresses so you can farm them; third, you must respond instantly to all inquiries from online buyers. They expect that. After you get there, you must keep that going. Get the booklet that gives you great pointers how to make that happen for you-free, and no one will call you. Just write realestate@theblackwatercg.com and ask for SEO Secrets for Realtors. If you want to know if your website can be found by Internet buyers and what you have to do to make that happen, just click here and a qualified staff member will evaluate it for you, free and with no obligation.

It is so simple: 84% of home sales involve the Internet today, according to NAR. 10% of agents get over 90% of all Internet buyers. You can’t be part of that 10% if your website is not easily found-not under your name, for no one knows your name-under what your real estate specialty is. If you want to become an Internet realtor, you must start right there.

About the Author: Mike Parker is a principal at the Blackwater Consulting Group, Inc., and specializes in online marketing services for Realtors® and real estate professionals. You can reach him by e-mail at mparker@theblackwatercg.com.

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