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Here's How Home Buying Prospects Move Through The Online Process: Real Estate Agent Marketing
1
Step One
Search For Homes.
2
Step Two
Search For Agents.
3
Step Three
Research The Agents.
But My Company Already Takes Care Of Online Marketing!
Many realtors allow their agents to "participate" in the company's corporate online marketing campaign. Some require you to pay a monthly fee. To most agents, that is online marketing. There are 3 MAJOR problems with this: 1.You are sharing leads with many other agents and/or leaving it up to the branch manager to "fairly" hand them out, 2.YOU are not being promoted, your firm is, and/or many other agents along with you, and, 3.You are not showing up for the best keywords that people are searching. Typically, realtors simply buy Google adwords ads (rarely clicked) and/or buy rotating advertising with all of the other realtors in the area on sites like Zillow and Trulia (very diluted results).
What you are getting are poor results that are a tremendously watered down version of what online marketing for real estate agents should really be... please read on...
Many realtors allow their agents to "participate" in the company's corporate online marketing campaign. Some require you to pay a monthly fee. To most agents, that is online marketing. There are 3 MAJOR problems with this: 1.You are sharing leads with many other agents and/or leaving it up to the branch manager to "fairly" hand them out, 2.YOU are not being promoted, your firm is, and/or many other agents along with you, and, 3.You are not showing up for the best keywords that people are searching. Typically, realtors simply buy Google adwords ads (rarely clicked) and/or buy rotating advertising with all of the other realtors in the area on sites like Zillow and Trulia (very diluted results).
What you are getting are poor results that are a tremendously watered down version of what online marketing for real estate agents should really be... please read on...
A Further Examination Of The Home Buying Process: Real Estate Agent Marketing
As you know, the National Association of Realtors statistics state that well over 90% of home buyers begin their search online! That number alone should tell
you that if you don't have a strong PERSONAL presence on the internet, you are going to have a hard time capturing your prospects attention! 52% of buyers
DO NOT find their real estate agents through a referral. This means that more than half of the home buyers are actively looking (the vast majority on the
internet) for a local, reputable real estate agent to do business with. 83% of buyers purchase their home through a real estate agent.
What does all of this mean? If you don't have a strong PERSONAL online presence, where prospects can easily find YOU (not your firm, not other agents in your firm, not your competitors) than you are going to have a VERY hard time creating the sort of income that you're hoping to achieve.
Your Online Marketing Campaign MUST drive prospects to YOU and only YOU to really be effective!
What does all of this mean? If you don't have a strong PERSONAL online presence, where prospects can easily find YOU (not your firm, not other agents in your firm, not your competitors) than you are going to have a VERY hard time creating the sort of income that you're hoping to achieve.
Your Online Marketing Campaign MUST drive prospects to YOU and only YOU to really be effective!
The Secret To Selling More Homes
& DOMINATING Your Market...
4
Step Four
Call The Agent.
A Brief Analysis Of The Steps: Real Estate Agent Marketing
Step One: Most potential home buyers start with a Google search for homes in their targeted area. The most common search is "homes for sale in City
Name". This will give them an idea of the types of homes that are available for the areas they are interested in looking. Do this now for a city that you would
like to target. Do YOU show up? Does your company show up? What you'll find is that there are two MAJOR players in the real estate advertising game...
Zillow and Trulia. You'll also probably see Realtors.com, Homes.com and maybe even Realestate.com on the front page. Where are you?
These "major players" know how valuable a first page listing is in on Google for the home buying industry. They charge top-dollar to realtors just to have them show up in rotating fashion with all of the other realtors who are targeting that same city. The results of being on Google's first page are so powerful that realtors accept these terms (and the diluted results they provide) simply because they MUST somehow get on the first page in order to stay competitive.
Step Two: After the home buying prospect finds a number of homes they may be interested in, they realize they MUST contact a real estate agent to narrow their search, view the homes and get professional advice. The next step is they search: "Your City real estate agents" or the more powerful "Best Your City real estate agent". Make that search on Google yourself right now. Type into the Google search box both of those terms and see if you show up anywhere on the first page... how about the second page??? Can you be found at all? Real estate agent marketing
Home buyers like to do business with agents in the city or town where they are purchasing their home. Not only has this been proven with research, it obviously just makes good common sense as well. Local agents are very familiar with the area, known in the community, etc. Real estate agent marketing
Step Three: Once an agent or two is identified through the buyers online research, the next step is for them to "check out the agent". This is primarily done by searching Google using the agents name and city. The home buyer is simply looking to make sure that there isn't "negative" information about the agent from previous buyers and/or to find additional positive information to support their initial agent choices. real estate agent marketing
Step Four: This one is obvious. They have found positive information about YOU in one or all of the above steps and they make the call to hire you... exactly the outcome you're looking for. If however, you are not EASILY found, the prospect will call another agent. An agent that has PERSONAL exposure on Google's first page carries a lot of credibility with potential buyers and sellers. real estate agent marketing
These "major players" know how valuable a first page listing is in on Google for the home buying industry. They charge top-dollar to realtors just to have them show up in rotating fashion with all of the other realtors who are targeting that same city. The results of being on Google's first page are so powerful that realtors accept these terms (and the diluted results they provide) simply because they MUST somehow get on the first page in order to stay competitive.
Step Two: After the home buying prospect finds a number of homes they may be interested in, they realize they MUST contact a real estate agent to narrow their search, view the homes and get professional advice. The next step is they search: "Your City real estate agents" or the more powerful "Best Your City real estate agent". Make that search on Google yourself right now. Type into the Google search box both of those terms and see if you show up anywhere on the first page... how about the second page??? Can you be found at all? Real estate agent marketing
Home buyers like to do business with agents in the city or town where they are purchasing their home. Not only has this been proven with research, it obviously just makes good common sense as well. Local agents are very familiar with the area, known in the community, etc. Real estate agent marketing
Step Three: Once an agent or two is identified through the buyers online research, the next step is for them to "check out the agent". This is primarily done by searching Google using the agents name and city. The home buyer is simply looking to make sure that there isn't "negative" information about the agent from previous buyers and/or to find additional positive information to support their initial agent choices. real estate agent marketing
Step Four: This one is obvious. They have found positive information about YOU in one or all of the above steps and they make the call to hire you... exactly the outcome you're looking for. If however, you are not EASILY found, the prospect will call another agent. An agent that has PERSONAL exposure on Google's first page carries a lot of credibility with potential buyers and sellers. real estate agent marketing
Dominate Your Market, Sell More Houses, Make More Money!
As you can see, by depending on your company's cookie-cutter online corporate marketing strategies, you will be
getting the same mediocre results as most everyone else in the industry. The average real estate agent sells only 3
to 4 homes per year... not exactly what they had in mind when entering the industry. Real estate agent marketing
The key is that you MUST promote YOU. Your firm does a fine job promoting its general company brand and image, but a poor job in marketing the individual agents themselves. That's understandable. It's not their job to do that. As long as the company is selling houses, they are happy. Real Estate Agent Marketing
The key is that you MUST promote YOU. Your firm does a fine job promoting its general company brand and image, but a poor job in marketing the individual agents themselves. That's understandable. It's not their job to do that. As long as the company is selling houses, they are happy. Real Estate Agent Marketing
Final Thoughts: Ultimate Online Success
The obvious question is "how do I begin"? Here are a couple of final thoughts. The most powerful method of online promotion today is video, and it is
becoming more popular everyday. Youtube users now far outweigh Google users and professional marketers report much better results with short videos than
traditional websites. The most powerful position to be in is to have a short video promoting yourself on the first page of Google for the right keywords. Not an
easy chore... but extremely effective.
Secondly, it is key to show up when prospects make the search specifically for "City/State Real Estate Agents". The other searches are also important, but if you don't show up for the "real estate agent" search, you're not even in the game. Real Estate Agent Marketing
Finally, the way to dominate your market is to quickly capture the "low-hanging fruit" by gaining online domination in the smaller cities and towns that you service. Cities with populations of 15-25K can bring significant business and are not nearly as cluttered with other brokers and agents... You could be quickly selling and listing more homes than you ever imagined! Real Estate Agent Marketing
Secondly, it is key to show up when prospects make the search specifically for "City/State Real Estate Agents". The other searches are also important, but if you don't show up for the "real estate agent" search, you're not even in the game. Real Estate Agent Marketing
Finally, the way to dominate your market is to quickly capture the "low-hanging fruit" by gaining online domination in the smaller cities and towns that you service. Cities with populations of 15-25K can bring significant business and are not nearly as cluttered with other brokers and agents... You could be quickly selling and listing more homes than you ever imagined! Real Estate Agent Marketing
Real estate Agent Marketing
Imagine What This Video Could Do For You...
On The Front Page of Google
As an example, simply go to Google and search "Aldine TX real estate agents" and see an example of
what a front page video listing might look like for you! Now search "Best Aldine Real Estate Agent" and
see what you find!
Even in a small city like Aldine that gets only about 73 unique searches per month, can you imagine how many more prospects would be contacting you? How many more homes would you sell each quarter? What if you had a video listing in 2, 3, or 4 cities like this? Do you think you would get more calls? Do you think you would sell more homes? Do you think you could DOMINATE your market?
Call me today to discuss the possibilites:
Even in a small city like Aldine that gets only about 73 unique searches per month, can you imagine how many more prospects would be contacting you? How many more homes would you sell each quarter? What if you had a video listing in 2, 3, or 4 cities like this? Do you think you would get more calls? Do you think you would sell more homes? Do you think you could DOMINATE your market?
Call me today to discuss the possibilites:
888.503.6636