Dear Mr & Mrs. Seller,
I've noticed something funny lately. I happened to Google a couple of local agents' names. I was really surprised that NOTHING came up. I mean NOTHING! Not one lousy link. Not even one from their broker's site.
Shhhhhhh. Don't tell them please. They are my competitors. I don't really want you to find them, if they don't want to be found. OK, OK, I don't mind if you find them, but here is my thought for the day:
If you can't find any trace of your Realtor on Google, do you think your agent has a strong plan for marketing your home on the web?
My guess is that he does NOT.
I am about halfway through reading this year's Annual Technology Study from the National Association of Realtors. Again, please don't pass that link on to my competitors here in Birmingham, Michigan.
In the last few years, Dmitry and I have focused on on-line marketing. NAR says that something like 80% of buyers begin their home search on the web. In our Oakland County marketplace, I would say its 99%. That is just my guess, based on the conversations I have with buyers. It used to be common to mail a thick packet of listing tickets to a prospective buyer. But for years now, we've been sending one convenient little link, with color pictures, virtual tours, etc. Buyers seem to prefer the link.
I've said it before (but if you missed it, it is a good read), I'll say it again:
Your home needs to be promoted in the places that buyers are looking.
Glossy magazines are pretty, but I can tell you I've never gotten many calls off of those ads. The weekly newspaper? Forget it. Who wants to search through completely unorganized little boxes with blurry black and white photos that leave your hands smudged?
I'll keep this one short. But please, before you list your home, at the very least, Google your agent's name. While that is by no means the perfect measure of an agent's prowess in internet marketing, I can tell you this, your agent has every reason to want to be 'found' on the internet. Ranking highly for one's own name is generally not too hard, unless your name is very common. I don't even rank first for my own name, because I share my name with an opera singer, and actress and a doctor. And my site is not optimized for people to find my name. It's optimized for people to find houses in Oakland, County, Michigan. But you will find me on page one of Google search results, if you are looking for "Maureen Francis" , If you don't find anything when you try to Google your prospective Realtor, you might want to give me a call. I would be happy to help you find your next agent no matter where you are in the United States.
Sincerely,
Maureen Francis
SKBK Sotheby's International Realty, Birmingham, MI
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Great tool to use when doing a CMA and you know who your competition is. I'm amazed when I talk to newer REALTORS just how many of them never ask the potential seller who else is coming in to present a market analysis...I always ask but don't always Google their name in front of the sellers. Great tip!
Monika, if you knew in advance that your competition would fail the 'google name test' it certainly would be a powerful tool to add to the listing presentation. I don't take a laptop in with me, but one could always print a screen shot. Not quite as powerful as a live demo, but I don't want the laptop with me.
Fabulous idea Maureen, especially since I show up lol. Odd that so many agents are still not on the on line bandwagon. But good for us I guess! I so agree with you about the newspapers. I think my Company made a good decision to really focus on news print open house listings and cut back on the rest. Although for rentals, I still get calls from the newspaper. I barely get any calls from the real estate magazines I advertise in, but still do it because Sellers expect it. My guess is, eventually they won't even expect it!
I always bring my laptop so it would be easy for me to do it "live" and I always ask who my competition is...so I would know in advance and I know when I Google my own name it turns up on the 1st page....so what a great idea..Thank you!
Btw ...why do you not want to bring your laptop?
Maureen -- Great idea! Great post... gave me an idea for a print ad... Congratulations on a great post!
Carole, I stopped advertising in the real estate magazines 2 years ago. I tell my sellers up front why I do what I do, and why I don't do certain things. Our office tracks where phone calls come from, so I have evidence to support my marketing plan.
Monika, I am a total tech geek. I love my tech toys. And when I first got started, I built a lovely power point listing presentation. But I now feel that I want to make sure that the conversation is fluid, and not forced by what is on the screen. It's not a script for me. I want my eye's on the seller and the seller's eyes on me, so I can 'read' what is going on. Seller has questions. I answer them. I want to keep it all very personal. I do send links to my website and blogs prior to meeting with the client. They've always seen them before I arrive. My marketing plan lays out what I am going to do, and how I will do it--on paper.
Colleen, I hope you will share your print ad idea with us. I am intrigued.
I sooooo agree with you. It amazes me how difficult some agents make it for potential clients to contact them. They don't even publish their e-mail addy. And so many agents just have their standard corporate template site, and many without even a picture!
Shhhhhhhhhh! Don't tell them!
A few weeks ago I received a voicemail: Hi this is Heather with Janey Does office, I'm her assistant. I was wondering if you could tell me how to get our name or website to show up on the first page, like yours does for the search term "XYZ". Please call me back at ...
You have to love the fact that she asked. Should I make sure she didn't copy/paste everything I own. www.copyscape.com :)
Maureen.... SHHHH I want the agents in Manhattan to continue spending $thousands on brochures about themselves that no one reads. SHHHHHHHH the internet is just a big fad.
As usual, nicely put Maureen
Maureen - GREAT post!!! I feel the "shhhh" part here, too. I love the idea about googling your competitors. I hadn't thought about doing that before, but I certainly will now, and great fodder for listing appointments. Love it!!
Ann Cummings
Rich, my favorite is lack of contact information in the MLS. Hello!! What are they hiding?
Elizabeth, THAT is a CLASSIC! Did you call her back?
Mitchell, you called the fad! People will be over this internet thing by 2008. I am ordering up a big glossy brochure about myself even as we speak.
Harper Team, thanks!
Very true! I google myself on a regular basis just to verify!
Ann, I won't tell if you won't tell! Maybe I should have made this members only ;->
Kaushik, I do the same.
Great post Maureen. My entire biz is on the net and I find it amazing that near the end of 2006, there are still some people who don't realize how important it is to be marketing on the web.
Not being found on Google these days is like telling people you don't exist. Almost as bad as not having a phone number where they can reach you. So strange...
there are tons of agents in our area that have sites but they aren't marketed at all. Like others have mentioned the internet is a fad. I mostly get "that is not how real estate works" and a look like I am stupid, ah well, their bad!
Relief! I found myself - on page 1 - but no sign of my only competitor for a listing tomorrow. Let's see what the reaction of the seller is!
Great post! I have pulled the magazine ads and am moving the money elsewhere. I can't remember thelast time someone said they saw one of those ads.
On the other hand I have gotten listings and buyers based of positive feedback from my website.
Maureen..... sssshhhhh and don't tell any of the lenders either. I just got off the phone with a client that is buying who found me on the web... but I never asked her what kind of search that they did. And I actually just settled a client 5 weeks ago who found me on the web.
Hence, one reason why I am on Active Rain so much.... but it does hurt that everyone is so friendly, so another reason why I am on so much. But I can't stress to my employees that I want them focusing on this type of advertising but the first of 2007.
Good post and a great point... so, everyone tippy toe around and let's not make this too public.
I just Googled myself "Mariana Wagner" and I am 7 of the 10 on the first page, and that includes the TOP 3 spots! Great idea, guys!
Marketing on the web is here to stay. I absolutely agree with your comments. There are still some good reasons to use print, although I do struggle with using it and paying all that money. Maybe it's because I am still a little green, but man, the cost of running anything, in any newspaper in my area, makes me nauseous. It's not that I am cheap, but what they charge makes me feel like I am getting ripped off everytime. And I question the effectiveness of print when advertising a property. Good post!
A web presence is absolutely necessary in my opinion. My own realtor told me that it's cost prohibitive to use those glossy magazines, and though newspapers or those weekly papers can generate some traffic, most people begin looking for a home on the Internet. Great post!
Deb
great post! and it's a more subtle way of showing why they should choose you over the competition....well, not subtle, but factual. too many agents are guessing out there and don't even use email...I personally think that print ads are getting more expensive because so many of the savvy agents are getting out of that game. i track calls as well, and the number coming from online way outdoes anything else.
Marketing on the web is so inexpensive that I cannot figure out, for the life of me, why isn't everyone else doing it?
Never thought about putting a google blurb in my listing presentation. Bravo!
I too am a strong believer in marketing on the internet and having a strong internet presence. I use it with customers too to reinforce my "status". It is remarkable to me that many agents in this city who have been selling real estate for "centuries" have little or no internet presence.
It has taken me a concerted effort to accomplish this though, and I never stop. ACTIVERAIN has been one of several internet concepts I have used.
I simply tell customers to google my name, and google any other agent they are considering and to compare.
Love it, love it, love it.
I Googled Lenn Harley and the first intry is Homefinders.com and on Homefinders.com is a highlighted link to a web page for a listing in Frederick.
Works for me. But don't tell anyone in Maryland or Northern Virginia. If I were a listing broker, I'd take this seriously. We only take listings for our buyers, but we do a bang up job.
Thanks Maureen
Another way to make sure you are at the top of the page is to register with google as a local business (It is free). You can select up to five categories. If some types in say real estate in Anywhere, US, you will come up as a local business for that category that was selected. Just some extra knowledge to increase the web presence.
Nice point. That's also the reason most of us are here on AR. More exposure with the blogs.
AT
Ok everyone how much will you all pay me to keep this quiet!
I don't pay for the magazine ads my company does, but many of us have suggested to the powers that be that maybe 2007 ad dollars would be better elsewhere. It's a fluid thing. SSSSHHHH
Excellent idea and so true. I pulled up another local agents website the other day and all I got was their instruction page on how to set up the site. I am going to miss some of these folks.
Great Idea and it is book marked. Don't ell any one in WA, LOL
Rob, to late :) but we have been there for a while :P
Five years ago when I started in real estate there was a new agent that was really making a splash. She listed everything and was going great guns. Her main gameplan was Realtor.com. She doesn't even have her own website. She seems to be really struggling right now, and I don't think she knows why. There's another one that does radio ads. Costly and ineffective. We're not hearing much from her anymore either. I'm slowly gaining market share because of my online presence.
Angela, lets save a tree then and not waste our money at the same time.
Marti, maybe not being on Google is like having an unlisted phone number for your business!
Toby, I would just tell those people "you are so right." SHHHH!
Tony, let us know how the listing presentation goes against the 'secret agent.'
Randy, I've made the exact same spending decisions.
Jeff, Thanks for tippy toeing!
Mariana, 7 out of 10 is super.
Melissa, I say keep your green in your pocket when it comes to most print advertising. I advertise specific, unique events, like this. But I do not do other print advertising, and I haven't for 3 years.
Deb, its not cost prohibitive. I don't want my clients to think that I don't advertise in print because I am cheap. I don't advertise in print because that is not where buyers are looking for homes.
Leigh, the newspapers here are begging for our advertising dollars. Realtors and car dealerships are the only thing they have left, and we are both taking our business on line.
Renee, yes, it is cheap, but many agents find it daunting. Heck, I had a deal fall apart recently with a buyer's agent who did not own a cell phone or a home computer. When I asked for her office's email address (she does not use a personal email address) she gave me the street address of her company. Now that is an extreme story but...
Russ, the internet is a leveling ground for those agents without "centuries of experience".
Lenn, If you ever wanted to, imagine what you could do for all of the home sellers in your market!
Jason, I've done that too. Seems like it can take them a while to pick up the entry though.
AT, AR definitely helps with getting your name out.
Carole, on my next blog I will take up a collection so that we can pay you off.
David, try not to get too lonely when they are gone.
Rob, Toby called it!
Chris, Its all about evaluating what is working and what is not.
MF although I agree with everything that was said here and how important our on-line presence is - and especially liked the listing presentation strategy (but googling the competition first, before you stick your foot in your mouth.) - some of us still do print ads that are more local in nature to get listings. Rick and I produce a monthly brochure that is distributed to our local farm area and it just puts us infront of people's faces. After spending a lot of money in our local newspaper and not getting one single phone call from the ads, I asked the top producer in our office what kind of response she got from the same ads and she said, "It's all about perception, you need to get in people's faces"
Ines, I think its all about knowing what is working for you. Print can be part of the mix. I have used neighborhood association newsletters as a cheap way to keep our name in front of people. I find it effective. I've done fliers to my farm area too.
Mitchell said it, "the internet is a fad, it will never work!"
Googling myself brings up not just my online web presence but many of the really dumb things I've been saying here on AR.
Can I have a mulligan?
kk
I love this post. Of course, I just spend the earlier part of tonight sitting here doing my January "did you know I was an agent" postcard and now Maureen gives me another excellent tip.
We do print ads - the broker pays for them - and I'll admit that I'm getting a couple calls a week off the books. Some of them are more real than others. One of my goals for next year is to build a better online presence and blend my blog with my Web site.
KK, When I googled your name, I found this treasure-- the web page you built to chronicle your year long bike trip around the world. If I were in Denver, I would hire you for that alone. What a wonderful site. You were blogging before blogging was cool.
Toby, my broker pays for the newspaper ads too. I just don't do anything he doesn't pay for. You are having better luck with the books than I did.
Maureen, I've been googling myself for a while since I joined activerain. I started googling some big agents I know and many do not come up at all. Very interesting
Ines, Print is still good. Our buyers guide still works. Print is good for image. We have an online version the pages turn like a magazine. I still do postcards too.
Mitchell beat me to some of my comments; I still want to add though, that there are local newspapers over and above the main rag, er, paper here The Plain Dealer. There is a smaller paper that covers a wide area of near eastern and soutwestern suburbs and portions of Cleveland. I have added listings to ads that another office in my Company runs monthly, and have had very good response from it. I think the point is, just follow the money, meaning utilize what works and don't just keep doing the same old thing.
As far as postcards, I use them too. But my Just Listed Just Sold postcards now go out to target market areas, not necessarily the immediate neighbors. Ok I think I'm done lol. PS: Hope the collection basket is large, Maureen!
We are working for net presence, even as we limit our print investment. We feel that PR is the way to go, and our best bet in PR is the WWW. Your point to potential clients " If you can't find any trace of your Realtor on Google, do you think your agent has a strong plan for marketing your home on the web?"..is right on the mark ... What AR has done for all of us is AWESOME!
Hey! Professor Google knows about us!
Jay Merton
Carole, we have a weekly free paper here that is delivered to every home in our market area. In the 2 or so years since they came out, they've nearly decimated the ad sales for the small town paper that charges. Everybody looks at that little free thing.
janeAnne, AR has given us all a gift. Please don't invite anyone from Michigan :->
Caron, there is lots I could do with the laptop in a presentation. I just really do not want it there. I really want the focus to be on building a relationship with the prospect, not on my laptop. There are some good opinions on this in a post by Jonathan Dalton.
Jay, Pssst. Did you see that Teresa was a winner in this week's carnival?
Many years ago I had a little accident and spent some time in bed and googled myself and a few key terms for my area. I got to work right away. Everyone always makes remarks (not always positive) about my web sites. If it hadn't have been for them I don't know that I would have been so fortunate.
I am continually shocked to see the amount of people that have no presence on the web - the worst, A corporate "page" they do not own - not good, a hotmail or yahoo email address - unprofessional.
Kudos to the smarties that figured it out. The rest are going to sit back and wait for the internet to loose its steam, I guess. It's just a fad, right?
Googling your competition is a great idea. I also google potential sellers and potential buyers - information is power.
Great post Maureen! I am with you - you want to shout it out to the sellers and buyers, but not let our competitors hear .. Although.. if they have not jumped on the wagon yet - it will take them months to still figure it out.
Print ads are dead - online is what is cooking. (shhhh..)
Maureen.
I'll admit you made check to make sure there were Real Estate links involving me that came up when you googled my name...I also went as far as checking yahoo and MSN. But i'm totally with you on this one...
P.S. I dont know if you have a relationship with any Realtors in the Northern Michigan area.....If not I would love to be that person!
Another tip ... If you go to "Google News" you can create a search based on your name and it will tell whenever your name appears on Web sites -- and is starting to include blogs.
I've used this for various tracking services for my other writing - indy league baseball, Ohio Wesleyan, etc. - and have my own. It was how I found that Active Rain is getting hit by the Google monster.
Have a wonderful day!
Toby
Cool! My little site just came up as third under my name -- the others were other sites I write for -- and I'm No. 1 under my brokerage. Now I just need to get on the front page for the search "Delaware OH real estate"!
I really like the idea of doing a google search at the listing presentation. It sends such a strong message.
Maureen, Great post. Thank heavens I come a lot...many pages. And hopefully now that I have squared away some key folks in helping to organize my website into a new one...it will be even better. Some of us have spent needless money and time with areas on the internet that have not produced what they should have. The key is to find the right people who can help that know what they are doing and that in itself is a challenge. Not all of us are like Lynn Harley but we aspire to be!
Maureen,
I agree.... very timely.
Lippy, this is the one I was bugging you to read yesterday...
great idea, thanks for the post
Good post! I always look up competitors on the internet and have found no source of info on top producing agents in my area. Yeeha. More action for me.
I look up competitors on google and I also check their license just to see how long ago they fell off the turnip truck. I have actually been competing against agents and found their license to be expired or inactive.
Maureen,
Well, the SE Michigan real estate blogging contingent did well this week on the CoRE! Congrats yourself!
On the actual post, all I can say is.....dang it! Don't give away my edge!
When you are right you are right, I know I am rambling, Our office is run by some of the old guard but there advertising week after week just does not make the phone ring. It is crazy considering the money they keep shelling out. But your article is right on and I am going to use it in my listing presentation. I already have about 7 pages realted to exposure on the net and where there home will be viewed.
Thanks for your Blog
Great post and group. I look forward to sharing ideas, successes and bombs!
Great Post as always. But it is the truth. If you google yourself at the listing, show the sellers how much marketing that you do.
When I work on a listing for an agent, I post all listings to a minimum of 20 sites. When I am finished and all links are verified, I send a list of all links to the seller as promised in the listing presentation. Feedback is requested and the seller is asked to forward the list to at least 25 people they know (friends, family members, co workers, etc) with a note for each recipient to forward the email to others that may be interested.
"before you list your home, at the very least, Google your agent's name" brilliantly done!
Maureen: Let me know if you have anybody coming to CT.
Feel free to Google my name.
That's a Great Idea!
Glad you folks liked it!
Carolyn< I love that viral marketing thing. Great idea. I've asked sellers to add the link to their listing on my site to their email signature.
I just googled my name and found 319,000 entries! Most for me too:)
Late to the post here but great post! I have been Googling my name for a little over a year. Luckily, I have an unusual last name. If I Google Deb Braulik I'm the only one that shows up! :) But I never thought to Google my competition. Thanks for the great tip!
Absolutely fantastic advice!