Online Real Estate Technology

This promises so much, the virtual agent, no shop front, all properties marketed exclusively on the web, all promising the newest technology to sellers and buyers, sounds too good to be true? and you’re right it is!!!!

I’ve spoken before in a post a few days ago about making sure you are what you say you are, and not trying to pretend that your agency offers the best technology when in fact it doesn’t live up to the hype. Well that has just happened to me. I’ve just checked out a web site from a Brisbane based company supposedly pushing the boundaries of the traditional agency by promoting themselves as “the” virtal agency. Here again is a sows ear being marketed as a silk purse. If these agents are going to survive in the virtual world they are going to have to learn some lessons in real estate technology and on line marketing, because from what I’ve seen so far, they won’t be here in the next 6 months, not with the market the way it is and the vendor and consumer will see through the hype. 

Firstly, their web site opens with flash, come on team, flash hasn’t worked for real estate web sites for years, get me to the property with 1 click, secondly, their listings are substandard, Incomplete property descriptions, they promise the best in technology, OK, no video, no suburb data, no 15+ photos, no HDR photos,no virtual tours, a blog that hasn’t been updated since August, standard email alert set up, do I really need to go on about this? 

If you are thinking of going virtual, and to me as we stand here in 2008, that means leaving more traditional advertising formats behind, then you need to really have a 2 year strategy in place, and more importantly, you need to live the promise. 

In this case, the agent sold up his shop front business and decided the next step was virtual, and that’s a great dream in my mind, but the execution is all traditional thinking, not virtual thinking, and that is the big difference. 

Don’t be tempted to go virtual without thinking through what you do and how you will execute the plan and the vision, If in doubt ask me, I won’t hold back on telling you the truth!!!

In my travels and in the domain.com.au power breakfasts this week it has become obvious that some agents are cancelling or cutting back on advertising budgets due to the market slowing. There seems though a trend by agents to cut back their On line Spend, so I thought I’d have some fun and run a poll on this today.

So the question is: [polldaddy poll=1032045]

Are you still using traditional marketing tools to generate prospects on your web site? Well the world is changing as far as web marketing goes and you need to make sure that the strategies in place in your office keep up with the changing trends and web savvy consumers. There is no problem in getting leads from your web presence, the big problem that you will face is converting those leads to business. In Australia approx 30% of all email leads generated by the 2 major portals go unanswered, that is , no response at all from the agents who receive them. The other factor is agents who receive leads from consumers with false names, incomplete email addresses etc and those who really don’t want to do business for the next 12 months or so. 

So using traditional thinking with these prospects is doomed to fail, traditional thinking dictates that we ”do business right away” and generally someone considering selling or buying in the next 6 to 12 months is classed as a poor lead or a tyre kicker.

The psychology of Web marketing is entirely different. The typical Web buyer or seller begins the home-search process up to 12 to 18 months prior to moving. The major portals research also indicates that over 39% of their traffic spends up to 9 to 12 months researching properties and constantly revisits the sites looking for and researching properties. The same can be said for the seller, up to 33% of all visitors to real estate portals are vendors looking to find an agent to market their property. So to cope with this situation, you must have a system to stay in touch on a regular basis or to motivate them to visit your Web site or blog repeatedly.

Using web 2.0, agents can now use the tools to communicate better or more effectively with these consumers and constantly be top of mind, so when the decision to buy or sell is made, you are the agent of choice. Email campaigns have being hampered by the large amount of spam mail over the past few years and have very quickly lost there effectiveness to the new web savvy consumer, who really wants to and does use the social networking sites as a form of communication. Whatever solution you come up with it, it is most important that you stay in front of your target market on a consistent basis.   

So what are those tools?

1. Blogging – This allows agents to provide additional information and post updates on their market. Set up a blog that reflects your area and constantly work that blog, advertise it in all your marketing as well as maximise your readership via RSS feeds. Syndicate your blog to other sites that help drive traffic to your blog.

2. Podcasting – Deliver your message in the recorded format and allow consumers to download information on a regular basis. Create a series of interesting podcasts, based on information that vendors, consumers and landlords or tenants will find useful. This week alone, my podcasts have been downloaded over 210 times.

3. Video Profiles – This includes your office and properties. Upload to youtube,realestate.com.au,domain.com.au and your own web site and actively market these in your listing presentations. Read my earlier post about video and it’s impact on perceived property values. http://mikeandrewrealestate.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/property-videos-increase-percieved-property-value/

4. Use the social networking sites such Facebook and myspace to market yourself. Create user groups and invite people or your customers to join your group. You can even market to employer groups via these sites.

Those are just a few thought starters for you, if you would like to know more about these ideas, then come along to the Domain Power Breakfasts in Qld, tomorrow at Toowoomba, Wednesday Maroochydore on the Sunsine Coast and Bundaberg next Wednesday. I’ll be presenting all these ideas and discussing how you can really use web 2.0 to it’s fullest extent.

Another great idea is to include something that will keep your readers coming back to your blog or web site, so lets try this experiment. Have fun with this link, this game is Iphone compatible and I’m sure, like me, you’ll have a lot of fun with it.

http://www.psychicchicken.com/

If you would like additional information on anything included in this post, send me a comment or better still come and see me live at the breakfasts over the next few weeks. Information is listed below for you.   

http://mikeandrewrealestate.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/domaincomau-power-breakfast-location/

I do like to provide follow up on my posts when I find that another blogger, has taken the theme and added more information or has voiced an opinion on the subject.

Joel Burslem from the Future of Real Estate Marketing has just added a post and his thoughts on Zillow Add Network.

You can read Joel’s comment by clicking on the link, and as always, let me know your thoughts or comments on this post.

http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com/is-real-estate-20-a-thing-of-the-past

I was chatting today to a number of real estate agents in Mackay in Qld and in discussions after my presentation, up came the old chestnut of press vs on line and how much is or should be, invested by real estate agents in either medium. Well it got me thinking about a recent Yahoo survey of on line real estate users in the US and a snapshot of that survey is outlined here for you:

I recently came across a comment in my travels that I’ve used quite frequently in my presentations and I believe it hits the spot, “Real estate agents will not be replaced by technology, they will be replaced by agents with technology”. 

When I really started to look at this in more detail and the impact it would have on business if an agency did not start to embrace it, got me into looking at the consumer angle on all this technology and was there an overload of information. This is only an assumption on my part but I believe the answer is yes. The real estate agent role has changed from controller of the information to the facilitator, and if an agent could communicate this more effectively through their marketing both on line and off would it provide more leads and or listings.

Some interesting research on the buyer/seller relationship comes from the California Association of Realtors, their Traditional Vs Internet Buyer research showed that whilst 81% of buyers search the Internet to find homes, 56% of these same buyers search the net to find a real estate agent to either buy from or to list or to use as an information source, so it seems to me that we should focus on demystifying the technology and bring it back to real life. 

There’s an interesting blog on this if you would like to read about the consumer angle:

http://transparentre.com/2008/08/23/consumer-internet-fatigue.aspx

During my training presentations and real estate office visits I’m often asked about the role of traditional marketing vs On line when it comes to marketing your vendors properties and your own branding. Some agents even tell me they have cut down or cancelled their on line advertising altogether, well my friends now is not the time to be cutting your on line advertising, in fact, you should be ramping up your on line advertising whilst using every tool available to you in the on line space to market your brand and your properties. On line searching has increased in the past month and right now is the most cost effective way to market your self and your property, but you do need to understand how to maximise your on line presence. So here are a few tips to help you:

1. Use headlines that are lifestyle driven, provide the solution to the consumers needs. Target your property and then write the headline accordingly, don’t use headlines such as “Will sell this Weekend” and then leave on the net to be found in 3 weeks time.

2. Use 15+ photos to provide a better experience for the buyer – Most on line buyers want more not less

3. Use video tours where possible and upload these to youtube or facebook and include these in your listing presentation

3. Provide up to date descriptions that provide the online searcher with complete information – Remember they are in research mode and if you provide complete information you will satisfy that need. Include Information on the suburb, lifestyle expectation, schooling, investment potential or rental growth etc,Consumers will read up to 75% of text on a listing so don’t leave anything important out of your listing.

5. Include a call to action – You want them to call, email or contact you, don’t leave this out!!!

6. Remember, consumers will judge you on your professionalism, and sometimes their first experience of you is your on line presence – In fact realestate.com.au indicate that over 30% of their on line audience are also prospective vendors.

7. Set up a Facebook profile and use this to market to prospective clients

8. Set up a blog and provide up to date information on your market as well as provide advice to the on line consumer

9. Update your listing weekly and change your photos every 7 days

10. Don’t wind back your on line presence, increase it and use as many sources as you can to promote you and your client

I’ll spend some time on my next post on “On Line Reputation Management” This is something you really need to be aware of and how you can set up a best practice when it comes to on line marketing and protecting your brand on line.

If you’d like some additional reading on this please click on the following link: http://www.mytechopinion.com/2008/08/90-still-dont-get-it.html