A recent column by Teresa Boardman titled “Consumers Don’t Want to be Captured” on Inman News about whether or not agents should capture people’s personal information generated a firestorm of commentary.  It also demonstrated pretty darn clearly how divided the real estate industry is over this topic!

The people who commented fell pretty much into one of two categories:  Gatekeepers versus Free-Willers. 

Gatekeepers are the “command and control” types who feel the need to monitor and manage each interaction.  This is typically done by restricting access to their site, requiring visitors to register to see valuable content, hence divulging personal information most would prefer to keep private until a decision is made.  The end result here is people registering under a wide array of aliases (apparently Brad Pitt and Bud Weiser are interested in the same kinds of properties!) if not being scared off altogether.

On the other hand, Free-Willers rely on the premise that if they provide enough valuable and compelling content, visitors will see their site as an indispensable resource, and register of their own free will (hence, the nickname for this group of thinkers).  The result here is they may not get as big a pond to go fishing in, but the fish are much more willing to bite!

The Lead Capture Argument

I was fascinated reading the back and forth volleys the two sides in this written battle were lobbing at each other!  Both had arguments based on everything from statistics to studies to consumer psychology.  There were agents who avowed they would never do it another way and agents who had tried it both ways, and there were a very few agents that tried to walk a careful middle ground.  Some were getting, ummm… “testy” would be an understatement in defense of their particular position.  There were doubts expressed about the success of drip campaigns, there were questions about the conversion rates from lists.  You can read the whole series here: http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/teresa-boardman/consumers-dont-want-be-captured

But, here is what it boiled down to for me:  the title of the article is 100% correct.

Think about it - NO ONE wants to be captured.  The very word “capture” is threatening!  It basically says “Come to my lovely website, where I will hold you hostage for the rest of your days.”  Fortunately, there is a way to make it work for everybody, internet consumer included!

What Both Sides of the Capturing Leads Argument Are Missing

Sorry, Gatekeepers - your way may have worked in the past when the internet was new and there was less competition on it, and the threat of misuse of personal information was not a daily concern.

Sorry, Free-Willers, but it really is ok to ask people for information.  You just have to do it in the right way.

Yes, everyone agrees you need to have compelling and valuable content to draw visitors, but forcing them to register to see it is simply a symptom of not knowing how to deal with the online consumer.  Most agents attempt to “take charge” of the interaction by getting the visitors’ information and continually probing them thereafter (and space aliens can do it more gently than some real estate agents I know).  What these agents need to understand is the difference between a “lead” and an “inquiry”:  95% of qualified online inquiries (they are not “leads” yet) are just trying to gather information and are not ready to open up about their needs.  However, the other 5% who are ready to do something within a short time frame (actual leads) still want to remain in control and be assured that their privacy will be protected.

This does not mean that you should not feel free to ask your visitors about their current status or intentions.  One of my Online Dominance students has a simple yet highly effective means to do this - he asks them to pick a self-rating:

• A = I am looking to sell or buy now
• B = Will probably want to do something in the next 6 months or so
• C = Just looking and not ready to make any decisions. 

When people answer A or B, he then asks their permission to contact them with updates they would find useful.  He then determines what this information may be by judicious use of search and request forms scattered about the site.  However, regardless of their answer, they have full run of his site.

Capturing Leads for Sales versus Marketing

A number of Gatekeepers expressed the opinion that they are in the business to sell and make money and site visitors should inherently understand and accept that, hence be willing to play by their rules.  Well, here’s the problem with that mindset (and this is going to blow some minds) - a real estate website is NOT about Sales.  It’s about attracting visitors, providing good information, positioning yourself as an expert in your niche, in other words… it’s about Marketing!  

These are two completely different undertakings, yet are so easily mushed together by the average real estate agent.  I’ve been teaching these principles for over 13 years and it still amazes me how this is such an “aha!” moment when agents really get it.

Your Turn to Comment!

So tell me, what are your thoughts about capturing leads?  Do you do it, and if so, how?

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The use of Google maps has long been a listing display enhancement feature for many real estate agent Websites in one way or another.  However, it wasn’t until very recently that Google’s latest mapping innovation, Street View, was made available to individual agent sites as well.

Street View is the newest feature of Google Maps that allows you to literally see a 360 degree “street view” of any location that has been map-enhanced in this way.  The best way to see this for yourself is to use Google Maps to view any of the cities that have Street View enabled (go to http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=68384&topic=11640 for a list of cities where Street View is currently available - 40 as of this writing).  Then click on the “Street View” option in the upper right hand corner of the map Web page.  Those streets that have been continuously photographed (at street level) will show up in blue outline.  When you click within any of the blue outlined streets, a little person icon shows up along with a window containing the actual street view image.  You can rotate this image by simply dragging your mouse left or right with the mouse button held down.  You can also “travel” along the street by clicking the direction arrows imposed in the image.  Google even uses a pointer under the icon to indicate which direction you are looking relative to the rest of the map as you rotate the image.  And, these street view photos are high resolution images which can be blown up to near full screen size for incredible clarity.

Up until just recently, Street View was not available to 3^rd party users of Google Maps (like individual agent sites, or property search sites like Zillow).  However, on ­­­­March 27^th, 2008 Google formally released the Street View API (Application Programming Interface).  These are the instructions Web designers need to plug Street View capabilities into 3^rd party Google Maps.  Well it didn’t take long.  Literally within three days of the API’s release, individual agent sites were starting to incorporate Street View into their listing’s Google Maps.  To the best of my knowledge, Kevin Tomlinson of Miami Beach, FL had the first agent site to feature Street View for his listings.  You can see an example of how he uses Street View by going to www.kevintomlinson.com/condo-map.php (be sure to zoom the map a bit to see the roads more clearly).  You can expect to see many more agent sites incorporating Street View.  This is also true for many of the listing aggregator and search sites.  In fact, Trulia.com just announced that they were incorporating Street View into the maps of the areas that have it available.  If you are interested in using Google Maps Street view on your site, check with your Web developer, chances are they already know how to do it.

Google really pulled off some magic with Street View.  Using a battalion of vehicle-mounted roving cameras that take 360 degree view photos, they have shot many of the streets of the largest U.S. cities.  This technique along with a highly intuitive user interface gives the sensation of really “being there” to the person viewing the map.  The implications for potential buyers getting a better feel for the surrounding neighborhood of a listing are immediately apparent.  This also begs the question if this is a good thing for all listings.  All you can do is hope that the day the Google Street View Mobile drove past your listing, a bunch of overstuffed garbage cans or an old junker wasn’t nearby and became irrevocably incorporated into the scenery of your new listing. 

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Says me!  Everyone has their idea of what works and what doesn’t.  And, considering the overwhelming quantity of webinars and e-courses and cd sets and ebooks out there on everything from “Real Estate Staging” to “How to Conduct Webinars” (seriously!), apparently Everyone wants you to pay for them to tell you what they think.

So how the heck are you supposed to figure out who is worth paying for their opinions or not?  It’s almost as confusing as, say, a Democratic presidential nomination :o)  OK, political jokes aside, this can be serious given the investments some of these classes require.  Well, here’s my suggestion - like with anything else, do your due diligence. 

Don’t just jump at a topic that seems interesting to you.  Find out what kind of experience the presenter has, their qualifications for presenting on the topic.  Someone may have great ideas, that should work, usually, in theory, if a black cat circles counterclockwise around a mulberry bush while the planets are aligned properly…  In other words, if the background of either the practice or individual seems way too far fetched for you to get behind, then it isn’t for you.  You need to have a basic acceptance of the premise to start with before you get any value out of it.  Similarly, be sure to find out about the presenter’s approach and philosophy.  For instance, someone may know how to make a ton of cash off people but if their approach is brutish, or just not the way you would want to be treated, then don’t wate your time or money.

So, who is to say what are the Best Practices for Online Communication?  Says me!  Or well, me and my years and years (and years…) of experience.  Plus the fact that these practices have been proven by countless agents and brokers who use them to operate successfully everyday.  So read on - see how these resonate with you.  And of course - yes, the obvious plug is coming here - if these do work for you, consider trying out Online Dominance and see what else my years of experience can help you with!

Read the rest of this entry »

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by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®)

REALTOR® Magazine - March, 2008

Your Website forms are the most direct way for your site visitors to contact and interact with you —they are literally the doorway to new online business. Unfortunately, this door is slammed shut for most agent sites. Getting prospects to complete your Web forms (with accurate information) is not hard once you know how. In fact, here are three proven strategies that will have your visitors actually excited about filling out your forms…

(NOTE: the following assumes that you are giving your visitors something of value in exchange for completing the form.)

STRATEGY #1: Tell them they don’t have to complete it!

One of the biggest mistakes that Website owners make with their forms is insisting that the visitor provide full contact information. This is the old “gate keeper” mentality that essentially says: “I’ll give you the information you want if you tell me who you are.” This simply does not work well with the online consumer who initially enjoys the anonymity the Net affords them and in fact can drive them away. And, this is the primary reason why so many consumers enter blatantly false information on Web forms.

Here’s an entirely different approach. Put the following copy above each and every form on your site and watch what happens:

We understand that you may be in the information gathering stage and may not be ready to open up about who you are or your real estate needs at this time. If you are not comfortable providing all your contact information that is perfectly okay. Just enter your email address so we can send you the material you requested.

(NOTE: make sure that the only mandatory field on your Web form is the email address)

Human nature is a funny thing. Tell people they have to do something and they’ll dig in their heels. Explicitly tell them they don’t have to and chances are they will complete all of it —with accurate information. Now put yourself in their position, how would you relate to a Web form if you saw that copy directly above it?

STRATEGY #2: Reassure them of their privacy

Privacy is extremely important to online consumers. The more you can explicitly reassure them that their information will be kept safe and not abused, the better. In addition to the copy above (in STRATEGY #1) add the following (on every form):

Please be assured that your privacy will be kept sacred and your information will never be shared with any third party.

By the way, you should also have a link to your formal Privacy Policy at the bottom of every page of your Website.

STRATEGY #3: Give them visual cues to complete your form fields

It’s been shown anecdotally that if your form fields have a pale yellow text area color, online consumers will often take that as a cue to complete the field, even if it is not mandatory to do so. Another aspect of this is to have your Web designer make your forms visually appealing and fun to use. Form design is one of the most overlooked areas in Web design with potentially the highest payoff. Don’t settle for plain vanilla forms. A little thought invested into the design of your Web forms can give you a big return.

The Mother of All Web Forms…

A couple of years ago I created a very special kind of form called a MOVA Assessment. This was by far my biggest form and it was designed to engage homeowners who were thinking of selling their home. (CLICK HERE
to see an example)

NOTE: this is a live form on the Web that has been pre-filled in for demonstration purposes. See what happens when you hit the “Submit” button at the bottom.

You will see that this form incorporate every aspect of the three strategies mentioned above —and quite successfully so. The feedback I’ve received so far is that if a homeowner completes this form, there is about a 95% chance that they will turn into a listing. Now just imagine you are a homeowner thinking of selling. Review this form and the questions it asks, and just as importantly, how it asks them. As a potential seller what are some of the conclusions you are coming to about the agent that supplied this form? And, was it a burden or opportunity to take the few minutes to do it?

The forms on your Website shouldn’t be an intimidating barrier to having online consumers engage with you. Instead, make them your welcome mat, a friendly inviting threshold that will help turn casual visitors into serious clients.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the March 2008 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. March 2008. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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REALTOR® Magazine PRINT EDITION - February, 2008

It’s no secret that search engine behemoth Google is muscling in on Microsoft’s territory with its suite of online applications called Google Apps. One of the big drawbacks of using these application tools is that you can only work on them when you are online. That is about to change in a big way…

Free Software Applications On Demand

Google Apps is an online suite of applications including email, chat, calendar and document creation (word processing, spreadsheets and slide presentations). Google Docs is the part of Google Apps that allows you to create, edit, share and manage these documents all through your Web browser for free. Do these online word processor, spreadsheet and slide applications have the same bells and whistles as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint? Not even close. However, for many people and businesses they have enough to get the job done and, in addition to no cost, have the added advantage of allowing collaboration with multiple parties through the Web. Also, you never have to worry about backup because everything is stored on the Google servers.

The problem is, very few people are always online which is a big limitation to the practicality of using these applications. Google in its prescient wisdom recognized this early on and has started a beta program to address this issue for its Google Docs applications and for any other online application from any vendor.

Putting Online Applications Into High Gear

Google Gears is an ambitious initiative that promises to supercharge the ability of online applications to work just like the ones installed on your computer. It is essentially an open source browser extension which enables web applications to provide offline functionality using the following JavaScript APIs (Application Programming Interface):

• Store and serve online application resources on your computer

• Store application data on your computer in a fully-searchable relational database

• Run asynchronous Javascript to help your online applications run faster

The importance and impact of Google Gears cannot be overstated. It is the last piece of the online application puzzle that will finally bring online applications into the mainstream as viable software alternatives to the ones you install on your computer. And remember, Google isn’t just creating this for their Google Docs suite of applications. They are building it so any vendor offering online applications can provide offline functionality. No wonder Microsoft is concerned.

Google Gears is still in beta testing and will eventually be released as a finished product. When it is stand back and watch the entire world of online applications suddenly become viable (and much less costly) alternatives to traditional “shrink wrap” software we’ve all come to love / hate for so long. And when that happens, everyone wins.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the February 2008 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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REALTOR® Magazine - January, 2008

Measuring your Website visitor statistics is obviously important because it tells, among other things, whether or not your site is well-trafficked. What these statistics don’t show however, is what the visitors are actually doing when viewing any of your sites pages. Measuring that behavior is critical to fine-tuning your site’s ability to turn clicks into closes. Fortunately, there are several very easy and clever ways to do this…

Heat Maps – Determining What’s “Hot” and What’s Not

Crazy Egg (www.crazyegg.com) is a relatively new and highly affordable service that allows you to track visitor behavior on any page of your site in the form of “Heat Maps”. Think of a heat map as a visual overlay showing where visitors are physically clicking on a page. The brighter (i.e. “hotter”) a spot is on your page, the more people are clicking on it. For example, click on the each of the thumbnail images below to see how this looks full size. The one to the right is what the www.sunnyvailrealestate.com Website home page looks like. The one on the left shows the heat map overlay of visitor “clicking behavior” on that page.

This heat map not only shows the concentration of clicks, but quite literally, where the mouse was when they clicked. It will even show you evidence of people trying to click on things that are not clickable (but perhaps should be). These heat maps are typically generated over a test period for a fixed amount of time or a set number of visitors.

The reason these heat maps are so important is that they provide deep insight as to what visitors find valuable on your site, and just as importantly what they don’t. One student of mine used heat maps to discover that what she thought was an “irresistible offer” on her home page was anything but from her visitors’ perspective –almost no one was clicking on it. This gave her actionable insight to change her irresistible offer into something more… well, irresistible –then tracking visitor behavior again to see if it worked any better.

You can try Crazy Egg for free, just go to www.crazyegg.com and sign up. During the registration process it will ask you which pages you want to track and then give you a special snippet of code to place on each page to be monitored (a simple one minute task for your Web person). Then all you do is indicate whether you want the test to terminate after a certain period of time or after certain number of people have visited your site. When the test is done you can view your heat map to see what’s hot and what’s not on those pages. Then by all means, make adjustments to the less popular parts of your site to make them more valuable in the eyes of your site visitors.

As powerful a tool as heat maps are, they are not the only way to monitor your visitor behavior…

Looking Over the Shoulder of Your Visitors

Robot Replay (www.robotreplay.com) is an innovative service (currently free) that will record user sessions of your site pages in the form of videos. These videos will show visitor mouse movements, where they clicked, moving from page to page, form interaction –including where on your forms they simply give up, etc. What you see in these videos is like looking over your visitors shoulders as they peruse your site. You can see demos of this by going to the Robot Replay Website at www.robotreplay.com.

Like Crazy Egg above, it just takes adding a single line of code to the pages you want to monitor (and yes, you can use both Crazy Egg and Robot Replay at the same time). This service is currently in beta testing and can be a bit quirky at times. However, once they work the bugs out I see this as an awesome tool to really understand what your visitors do when they land on your site. SPECIAL NOTE: since this service will show everything your visitor does, including partially completing forms, it is probably a good idea to modify your Privacy Policy to indicate that your site is doing this kind of monitoring. Check with your legal advisor to be sure.

Just tracking your site statistical analytics (unique visitors, page views, referrals, etc.) is no longer enough to ring every last ounce of business producing potential from your Website. Once you monitor the very behavior of your visitors, only then will you have the insight necessary to stay on the path of incremental improvement that will maximize your site value.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

________________________________________

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every other month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

________________________________________

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the January 2008 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. January 2008. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®)

REALTOR® Magazine - October, 2007

Ever wonder why so few REALTOR® Websites even come close to reaching their potential for generating new business? It’s not for lack of site traffic, I know lots of agents who have all kinds of traffic but no new business to show for it. The answer lies in the fact that most sites are not built according to proven best practice standards. Which means other than looking good and having lots of generic information, most agent sites miss the mark in terms of truly engaging with the online consumer. Here are five best practices that if incorporated into your Website will make a huge difference in its ability capture your visitors’ attention and generate considerably more profit for you…

1 - Target, Target, Target

I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: targeting your Website for a specific niche market is the most powerful thing you can do to make your Website truly effective as a lead generation tool. The vast majority of REALTORS® make the mistake of using generic Websites that try to “speak to everyone” which results in engaging no one. Your site must be able to answer the question: “What’s in it for me?” from the perspective of a specific target market, otherwise your visitors will simply ignore it.

Here are some examples of highly targeted Websites:

•    www.skiptheoutfit.com (this has to be one of the most unique target markets I’ve ever seen!)

•    www.goarmyhomes.com

•    www.nosnownaples.com

Targeting is so important that without it, the following four best practices will have little impact on improving your site’s ability to generate business. With it however, these next standards will make it that much more powerful…

2 - Web Copy That “Speaks” To Your Visitors

Effective Web copy starts with headlines that grab your visitor’s attention, otherwise they are not likely to read much of your other copy. Most REALTOR® Websites incorporate no headlines at all –and that is a huge lost opportunity. Your headlines need to be crafted in such a way that they reflect the “emotional profile” of your target market. For example, headlines designed for 1st Time Buyers are very strongly worded and typically tap into the fear and excitement of buying their first home. Headlines written for the sophisticated luxury buyer or seller on the other hand are much more subtle and refined often stroking the ego of this particular market segment.

Also, the body of your Web copy should create a one-on-one conversation between you and your visitor. They should feel that you are speaking with just them, as if you are sitting right next to each other. In my experience it seems that most agent Websites are written in either first person (”I”, “me”, etc.) or third person (i.e. about you, as if you were a celebrity). If you really want to connect with your visitors, have your copy written in second person, where there are lots of “you”, “your”, “yours”. This may seem like a minor point; however from the perspective of your Web visitors it makes all the difference in the world.

3 - Keep Your Site Internet Empowered Consumer (IEC) Friendly

If you are not careful, your site could end up driving visitors away rather than engage them. Here are some standards of Web design to help make sure your Web visitors feel welcome and safe:

•    Privacy Policy – having a privacy policy can go a long way to making your visitors feel safe on your site. To see an example of what one looks like just go to http://www.mrinternetnews.com/blog/privacy-policy

•    Don’t Require Visitors To Reveal Who They Are – if you have forms on your site make sure that they let the visitor know that they are not required to fill everything out. Consumers use the Internet because it affords them a sense of anonymity. Take that away by insisting they complete all the fields (especially the contact information ones) and you will likely drive many of them away. Human nature is really interesting. Tell people they have to do something and you will find a load of resistance. Reassure them they don’t and they probably will just because they like your friendly approach.

•    Have Your Forms Give Instant Feedback – when a visitor completes a form, have your site instantly show a confirmation / “Thank You” page. This adds to the perception that you “heard” their request, thus feeling more connected. Your site can also fire off a confirmation e-mail as well, however it is important that they see immediate feedback.

4 - Keep Your Site Navigation Simple

We all know that a confused mind says “NO!” That being the case, many real estate agent Websites are hearing a lot of “nos” because their home pages are offering way too many options. At most you want your site’s main navigation menu to offer no more than seven choices. Within each of these main menu options you can have submenus, just don’t go overboard with those either. Also, avoid having your visitors work too hard to find what they want. Ideally, all your content should be within three clicks reach from the home page.

5 - Visitor-Friendly Look & Feel

Make sure the look and feel of your Web design is consistent throughout the site. It should also be appropriate for your target market. For example, less sophisticated target markets (1st Time Buyers & Sellers) can have a more light-hearted design approach. More sophisticated ones (Luxury, investors, etc.) require a more refined and stylish look.

Ideally, have your site located to show up in the center of the browser window and designed to fit (without horizontal scrolling) for monitors set at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution or greater. Lastly, make sure your Web designer has your site conform to W3C standards and use appropriate Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to globally control the look and feel of your site. (NOTE: don’t worry if you didn’t quite understand that last sentence, just make sure your Web designer does!)

52 More “Best Practices”

The five best practices given above will go a long way in helping make your site into the online lead generation machine it was meant to be. However, these are really just a few of the 57 real estate Website best practices and standards we’ve outlined in a new book I co-authored with my Web designer Brad Carroll of Dakno Inc.. It’s called The Real Estate Success Guide – 57 Proven Elements Every Successful Website Must Have. We wrote this because no one else had bothered to define and outline these important Web standards before. It also contains a handy checklist for your Web designer (written in their language of Web technology) which you can just hand to them to make sure your site maintains the best standards possible to help ensure the highest levels of online profitability.

In every profession imaginable there are well-defined standards of practice to help insure a consistency of excellence, no matter who is providing the service within the respective field. Why should it be any different for real estate Web sites? The simple answer is, it shouldn’t.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

________________________________________

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

________________________________________

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the October 2007 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®)
REALTOR® Magazine - November, 2007

In any market, recruiting top sales talent is always a top priority for success-minded broker owners and managers. In today’s challenging markets fraught with so much uncertainty and discontent, smart recruiting can yield a veritable gold mine for your company. What very few companies realize however is that the most powerful way to tap into that gold mine is through the Web. Here’s how…

Three of the Biggest Recruiting Mistakes Companies Make on the Web

Most Web-based recruiting efforts I’ve seen are little more than a one page advertisement about how great the company is. This is not a very effective approach. Here are the three biggest “sins” committed by brokerages attempting to use the Web to recruit:

1. Use the corporate consumer site as a recruiting platform – if you want to powerfully connect and engage seasoned agent recruits you need a Website dedicated to just that. To do otherwise “dilutes” your message to them and your consumers.

2. Talk about how great your company is – let me say this as delicately as I can: They don’t care! Potential recruits only care about what your company can do for them —period! Far too many companies and managers confuse features vs. benefits when it comes to recruiting online or offline for that matter.

3. Fail to engage – “Call us for an appointment!” or asking them to fill out a Web form to schedule one is hardly a compelling call to action. There is a huge gap between a seasoned agent’s first thoughts of switching companies and risking an interview with you. This is a long sales and trust-building process that requires far more sophisticated levels of safe, discretionary Web engagement before they are willing to set that appointment.

Fortunately there is an approach using the Web that powerfully addresses the above issues and provides a highly systematic way of generating a steady stream of seasoned recruits for your company. The first critical step however is understanding potential recruits from within an online context…

Agents Are Online Consumers Too

Just like your real estate consumers, recruiting prospects enjoy the ability to “shop” for brokerage alternatives using the anonymity and convenience of the Web. Pushing them to reveal who they are or setting up an appointment before they complete their “information gathering” is a big mistake which will only push them away from you. Instead, you can use their need for information gathering (i.e. checking out the alternative company options available to them) to help them come to their own conclusions that your company is the best option.

To achieve this goal of beating your competitors for the best recruits requires a separate Website dedicated to the recruiting process. Here are some of the critical elements necessary for a Web-based recruiting system:

• Make it about them – everything within your recruiting site needs to answer the question “What’s in it for me?” from the perspective of the seasoned recruit. And it needs to do so in a unique and powerful way that differentiates you from your competitors. Avoid the temptation to talk about how wonderful your company is, instead focus on how they can have an extraordinary career that focuses on making more money, having more free time off and enjoying more what they do. You can even tease them with ideas on how they can create a powerful “exit strategy” that will pay them big dividends for when they will retire. If this sounds a bit like coaching, that’s because it is. They will only care about you and company once they know, really know you care about them. Each bit of Web coaching content can be tied to a “contact point” that steps them through the process of eventually setting up an appointment once their trust level is built up.

• Engage them, don’t “tell” them – you recruiting site copy should be written in 2nd person (i.e. lot’s of “you, your, yours”) and ask open-ended questions that causes your recruiting prospect to think about their career in ways that they may never have considered before. The use of a well-designed “Career Assessment” is ideal for this purpose. Remember, when you (or your site) “tells” them something, they will take it with a grain of salt. By asking the right questions, your site will facilitate them coming to their own conclusions that your company is a superior option. The most powerful form of persuasion is helping people come to their own conclusions.

• Constantly reassure them – from the perspective of the typical seasoned recruit, exploring other company options can be a risky pursuit. It is incumbent upon you to have your recruiting Website constantly reassure them that you will maintain the highest levels of discretion and confidentiality. This includes having a link to your Privacy Policy on every page and language on every Web form that essentially says: “We understand that discretion is of upmost importance to you as you explore your career options. Be assured that if you are not ready to open up about who you are at this point that is perfectly okay, our staff will completely respect your need for privacy.”

• Have an automated follow up system – when recruits request addition information from your site, put it in the form of a series of “coaching” emails. This is effective drip marketing where every message they receive from you will be considered highly valuable and unique to your company.

Just like online real estate consumers, your online recruiting prospects need time to build trust in you and your company and be convinced that you offer them the best option. Eventually they are likely to contact you for an appointment. When that happens, your dedicated recruiting Website has done its job and then it’s time to enter into the “sales & closing” phase of the recruiting process when you meet them face-to-face.

Driving Traffic to Your Recruiting Website

Forget about using search engine positioning to drive any meaningful traffic to you recruiting site. Very few if any veteran agents will use a search engine to look for alternative brokerage options. Let’s face it, unless you are in a humungous market, they already know you exist as an option. Here are the steps to driving traffic to your site:

1. Determine Your Target Market – this means generating a database of names and home addresses of every agent in your market place you feel meets your criteria and will be compatible with your company culture;

2. Create a Compelling Drip Postcard Campaign – I suggest an 18 piece campaign that is sent out to your database every three weeks (to their home, not their office!) Now this next part is important. The whole purpose of the postcard campaign is to have them go to your recruiting Website, perhaps to receive a complementary business assessment or special coaching tip. Don’t make the mistake of highlighting the benefits of joining your company. If you do, the postcard will be “round filed” instantly. They must go to your recruiting Website if you expect it to do the heaving lifting of the recruiting process for you.

3. Use An Attention Getting Postcard Design – you can send 11.25″ x 5.75″ super jumbo two-sided, four-color fully laminated postcards with addressing and postage for about 75 cents apiece through Expresscopy.com. This is an incredible service at an unbeatable price. And, if designed appropriately, this super-sized postcard really gets their attention.

Now you can try to create your own recruiting Website and back-end marketing and tracking systems yourself, but I don’t recommend it. It’s a lot of work and takes an enormous amount of planning and programming to pull it off correctly. Fortunately, there is a turnkey solution that can get you up and running with a fully customized Web recruiting system in no time…

The Industry’s First Web-based Recruiting System

TheCyberRecruiter.com is the industry’s first comprehensive system to utilize the power of the Web in the recruiting process. I was so impressed when I saw a demonstration of their system and how closely if followed my principles for online engagement that I became an advisor to the company. The folks at The Cyber Recruiter will create a customized recruiting Website designed to fit the culture of your company. These sites focus heavily on the career of the recruit and have many points of “engagement” that help build trust so that calls to action (i.e. setting up an appointment) is a natural outcome of the process.

You can see an example of their recruiting sites by going to www.palosverdesrecareers.com. As you review this site you will see that the focus is primarily on the recruit. It even gives them free coaching on how to improve their business, without any commitments of any kind. In addition to the site, The Cyber Recruiter system has a complete Web-based recruit tracking system and also provides live group coaching on how to most effectively use the system and how to “close the deal” once you meet with the recruit. One of the founders of this service is Jon Cheplak, one of the most experienced and well-known names in real estate recruiting.

Is this a perfect Web-based system. No, but it is the closest to it I’ve yet seen. Part of my role as an advisor to the company is to help them incorporate even more powerful Web methods and strategies to turn recruit clicks into solid hires for your company.

Now Is The Time

Uncertainty in the market place breeds discontent. Discontent is a powerful initial lever to have great seasoned agents look at other affiliation options. Today’s environment is a huge opportunity to gain enormous market share —if you do it right and take action now. Incorporating a well-designed Web-based recruiting system is not only right thing to do, it’s the strategically smart thing to do.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

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Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

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This article is reprinted in its entirety from the October 2007 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. November 2007. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet^®)
REALTOR® Magazine - September, 2007

Hiring a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist to boost your site traffic is expensive (if you hire a legitimate professional). Driving substantial new traffic to your site doesn’t have to be.  In fact, there is an exciting and clever strategy that is proven to drive traffic, and won’t cost you a dime!  Now before we look at the 10 proven ways to drive traffic to your site, we first need to explore the principles behind these steps that make them work so well…

Links: The Online Endorsement

Having links to your site from other Websites is a powerful way to increase your Search Engine Optimization rankings. Why are links important to SEO? Think of a link as an endorsement or a testimonial. Just as people rely on endorsements and testimonials when evaluating your business, Search Engines rely on links to evaluate the quality and legitimacy of your website. An endorsement by one well known person can carry more weight than endorsements by a dozen people no one has ever heard of. Endorsements by notable people in your industry are more important than endorsements by people outside of your industry. Lastly, paid endorsements are not as believable as endorsements from someone who is genuinely happy with the service they received.

These rules also hold true for links and websites. When more trusted, industry related websites link to you (thus giving you an endorsement) it shows Search Engines that you are respected in your industry. The greater the number of quality backlinks (i.e. links that point to your site), the greater “respect” your website will receive in the eyes of the Search Engines. In its simplest form, the internet is one big popularity contest!

It’s Not Just Who Says It, but What They Say

Just having someone agree to give you an endorsement (a link) isn’t good enough. The critical aspect of an endorsement is what they say about you. On the web, this is known as Anchor Text. Anchor Text is the clickable text within a link. Below are two examples:

Click here for more information.

The words “click here” are the Anchor Text. In this example, the endorsement really doesn’t tell Search Engines anything about you. After all, the endorsement only says “click here.”

Learn more about Raleigh Real Estate

This example contains a much better endorsement. Search Engines know exactly what the endorsement is about (Raleigh Real Estate) before they even arrive to your website. Enough quality endorsements about Raleigh Real Estate (provided your website actually contains information about Raleigh Real Estate) would help land you top placement for that keyword.

Ideally, it’s best that Anchor Text vary slightly from time to time. Search Engines will begin to get suspicious if every one of your endorsers says the exact same thing.

Think Beyond Your Home Page

Links to your home page are known as “shallow links.” Too many shallow links cause Search Engines to question the validity of your links.

A more effective way to link is called “deep linking.” Deep links are links to internal content pages. Search Engines favor these types of links because they appear to be more natural. With this in mind, make sure your endorsements link to a variety of different pages within your website. This will give your endorsements the highest effectiveness and ensure the maximum number of pages in your website appear in the Search Engines.

More than Just Search Engine Optimization

Keep in mind that the purpose of developing effective links is not strictly to obtain further Search Engine Optimization. You will also be building pages and links that will reach thousands of web visitors thanks to the traffic on the linking sites. This maximizes your traffic by attracting both web visitors and Search Engines. This is the most powerful combination in online marketing.

Now let’s apply these principles to 10 proven ways to boost your site traffic…

10 No-Cost Ways to Drive Site Traffic

1. Google Local – The power of Local Search Optimization is often overlooked. This is because some people mistakenly consider the Internet as only a Global Resource when in fact, more and more people are using the Internet to find local resources in their area. (NOTE: You must have or sign up for a free Google Account to add your business listing.) Consider offering a Free CMA, Neighborhood Report or Buying Guide in the Coupon Section to ensure your business listing stands out above the rest.
   
2. Yelp – Yelp is a website that has merged Social Networking with Local Reviews. Yelp allows you to not only submit your business listing to their website but also allows users to post reviews about your service.
   
3. InfoSpace
   – InfoSpace is a large mobile media and technology company that operates brands such as the DogPile.com Search Engine and Switchboard.com directory search. It also allows you to submit your business listing for free.
   
4. Real Estate Voices – This is an example of a Social Bookmarking site. You can submit high value content from your site, links, etc. and visitors vote for those stories. This is a great resource because it focuses strictly on the real estate industry.
   
5. Localism - Localism is a social community website geared toward real estate consumers. Because localism is relatively new, it’s easy to get your information to stand out as there is little competition. (NOTE: you must be a member of ActiveRain to post to Localism).
   
6. Flickr - Flickr is a photo sharing website that allows users to store their photos online. What makes Flickr such a powerful marketing tool is that the website integrates an online community platform. This means that users can search, share and comment on other photos. Because of this, it is important to “tag” your photos and include a link back to your website. The obvious application here is to post photos of your listings with linkbacks to the specific listing on your site.
   
7. Google Video – Post your video virtual tours or tours of your neighborhoods here. Be sure to group all videos on the same topic into a playlist. For example: Include all Home Video Tours of various listings into one playlist. This will encourage the web visitor to view additional videos on the same topic.
   
8. Librarian’s Internet Index - The Librarian’s Internet Index is a search site for Librarians. Because the site is known as a reference site, Search Engines such as Google highly regard the directory. Note that commercial only submissions to the website will be rejected. With this in mind, it’s important that your website has “freely accessible information.” This can include market statistics, helpful articles, or free resource guides.
   
9. Google Housing Search - More than 56 percent of all Internet searches on “real estate” and related terms are conducted on Google. With this in mind, submitting your property listings to Google is a logical choice. For added exposure, add yourself to the Google Base People Profile as well.
   
10. Ezine Articles - The EzineArticles.com website is built to match article writers with Ezine publishers. Because of this, high quality articles on the website are often syndicated to many other resources. This means free exposure for you, your article and your website.
    

The Tip Of The Iceberg

The strategies identified above represent just a small fraction of the 87 proven ways to drive Website traffic identified in my new eBook: The Real Estate Website Accelerator - 87 Proven Techniques to Massively Increasing Traffic to Your Website That Won’t Cost a Dime!, co-authored with Brad Carroll, CEO of Dakno Real Estate Marketing, Inc.

No longer do you have to fret about “How am I going to send visitors to my site without spending a fortune?”. Thanks to the emergence of online social networking, the ability to create massive exposure to your site via links has never been greater, easier or so… cost free!

NOTE: Much of this article was excerpted, with permission, from “The Real Estate Website Accelerator” eBook, co-authored by Brad Carroll of Dakno Real Estate Marketing, Inc. and Michael J. Russer, RUSSER Communications, copyright © 2007, All Rights Reserved. Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the September 2007 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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