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Their new office opened in February of 08, and they undertook to sell units in a waterfront condominium project where the average unit had a list price of $200,000. “I knew that with the real estate market losing momentum and a location about 80 miles south of Dallas that we needed to gain market visibility somehow if we were going to sell the project,” John recounted to me recently. “We are real estate agents, not high-tech gurus, so we contracted with an online marketing services company to help us. It was a real eye opener.”
Please be patient
“I signed up with Dan Dibala in February, just as we moved out to the Lakeside location. The Internet production was a big part of my budget and of my plans. I took the $3,400 for the subscription out of my print ad budget and I was counting on the Internet to work. In March, 30 days after subscribing, I called Dan and asked him, ‘Well, where are my Internet leads?’ “Please be patient,” Dan said, “it takes a little time for things to happen online.” “I wasn’t happy, but what could I do about it? I decided to wait and see. “
“About the end of April, I called Dan, again, and asked him where my Internet leads were.” “Please be patient,” Dan replied, “succeeding online takes some time.” “I started to get mildly upset. I needed this thing to work for me now.”
“In May, I was starting to get nervous. I called Dan again—he said the same thing. Was this yet another waste of money? I wondered: Had I bought marketing ‘pig-in-a-poke’?”
“June came, and I didn’t have time to call Dan. We were buried in leads and business. We sold $5 million in property in the next 90 days—that’s more than we might sell in a good year, before we connected to the Internet. We’ve had buyers from 25 different states, although most of them come from Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and Houston. We’ve had to add to our team and we’ve expanded our marketing area, too. We get 10-15 real leads every month, now, and about 5% of them convert into sales. My initial worry about my online marketing services has been replaced by my intention to use Dan and his company on our other website, too.”
“I have been very pleased with Dan and his company (CompassSearch) so far. The support and consulting have been outstanding. I cannot say enough good things about it. They have done what they said they would do. Now, we have a total of 288 units coming on line to sell and we surely are glad to have such a strong Internet presence for ‘Richland Chambers Lake.’ We’re right there on Google and Yahoo and others in position one. That alone doesn’t sell anything, but it does get people to give us a call when looking for property here.”
Now they are getting more listings, too
“I have a computer screen on my desk that faces the customer,” John continued. When people ask me why they should list their property in Richland Chambers Lake with us, I just type that into Google and watch them register complete amazement that we are on top of page one in slot number one; then they know that we are the folks to list with because of our ability to be found by Internet buyers. We bring buyers from everywhere to look at their property. It’s a strong thing to be able to show, and it helps us close listing presentations all the time.”
The value of being Internet strong
Here’s a map of the traffic to John and Julie’s Richland Chambers Lake Site for the past 12 months:
Surprised? You shouldn’t be—once you have a presence on the Internet, visitors come from everywhere. The page views on this map (8,800+) were made by 2,211 unique visitors, of which 1,611 were brought in by search engines. None of those 1,611 (72% of traffic to the site) people would have found the Teel’s site without their CompassSearch subscription. That’s what online marketing can do for agents who know how to use it properly: bring traffic and buyers to where the agent can have a chance to sell to them. The advantage of being Internet strong is clearly demonstrated in the map above: 5,682 times, people from Texas viewed John and Julie’s site; 3,118 times, people from outside Texas viewed their site and John and Julie sold to those Internet visitors in 25 different states.
“Our CompassSearch subscription gives us exposure to people who would otherwise never find us,” John continued, “The exposure we have gotten from our subscription has been absolutely invaluable. To have the sales we have had in ‘this market’ is unheard of in our area.”
What is the bottom line? What do you need to do to succeed at online marketing?
To succeed in online marketing, you must:
1. Be found on major browsers under what you sell and where you sell it;
2. Incent visitors to contact you at a rate of 5-15% of those who find you;
3. Follow up properly and quickly (there is a right way and a wrong way).
When you meet these simple criteria, you will have plenty of prospects, whether you are in Richland Chambers Lake, Texas, or any major city or small town in North America. The Internet doesn’t care where you are from. It doesn’t care how big you are. It doesn’t discriminate in favor of big corporations. It’s one of the few places left where each individual agent can stake out a claim and succeed, but only if that agent stays focused on the three ‘musts’ in online marketing shown above. When an agent does precisely that, however; and gives process the time to work, the results are well worth the effort and expense.
Is it time to change your mind-set?
If you are like most agents, you’ve been poorly trained in online marketing and you are operating under a false premise: you are likely to think that your website exists to give your visitors information. That’s only half right: your website exists to gather information for you about Internet buyers and what they want in your marketplace. It’s not about the website; it’s not “content is King.” Marketing is King, and obtaining leads from your website is where your focus should be. Part of the reason that 90+% of agents fail online is that they think it’s about content; (repeat after me) it’s about marketing. If you change your mindset from wanting to give out every possible piece of information to wanting to collect a visitor’s name, phone and email information, along with a comment of what they would like from you, you’ll find yourself selling homes to Internet buyers instead of just giving them information they don’t want or need. Internet shoppers did not arrive at your website to look for a ‘map of the stars homes.’ They arrived there to find information on what they want to buy. Make them ask you for it.
With 92% of Internet buyers finding their agent online, succeeding there is now too important to leave to chance. John and Julie Teel recognized that and turned a new challenge in a new location into a huge success by focusing on how to succeed online. Your success (or lack of it) in online marketing will make a tremendous difference in your income and your ability to stay in this business. Make this your time to get serious about succeeding online and be like the Teel’s: flex the muscle you don’t even know you have at your disposal: the power of the Internet.
© 2009 Mike Parker
Mike Parker has written more than 200 published articles about online marketing services for realtors. For help in making your site work like John and Julie Teel’s does or to request a free review of your website to determine if it can be found by internet buyers and if it is set up to be effective for you, click here and we’ll review it for you at no cost or obligation.
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