Real Estate Technology Toolkit

I discovered a new tool today.  http://www.mybloglog.com/ I created a profile there, set up my Active Rain blog to be imported to it, and I was amazed.

In addition to letting me see who recently viewed my blogs, it also tells me how they got there, which is very important when trying to effectively reach a target market.

I learned some very interesting things, especially with regard to Google Searches.

Some guests to my blog were sent there by google.  No surprise there.  Here is the surprising part:

Someone searching for "marketing budget realtor new agent" was directed to my blog, Marketing on a Budget -- Active Rain can Play a Big Part not because my article had such great SEO, but because a comment on the blog did!  Google pointed them at the comment, which sent them to my blog.

The same thing happened when someone searched "eviction mobile home owner nj"  They found my blog because of the comments made on Know Your Rights: Mobile Home Park Residents, not because of the article itself!

This points to why your comments are so important, for several reasons.

• Your comments, and the message and tone conveyed in them, say something about you.
• Your comments themselves may attract viewers, not only to you, but to the author whose post you comment on.
• By commenting on a post, you are are adding to the search engine optimization of a post.

Because of this, I am going to have a greater appreciation for those that leave substantive comments.  By substantive, I mean really adding to the topic, not just the "nice post" comments that are popular with some people.

So, here is my newly articulated view on commenting:

1. Comment responsibly, and on topic.
2. Contribute to the conversation.
3. If you liked the post, say more than "I liked the post."  Say a bit about what specifically you liked.
4. If you receive a comment on your post, appreciate it for what it actually is:  another professional helping increase your Internet presence.  A courteous response to the comment would be appropriate.
5. Return the favor.  Comment on the blogs of people who grace yours.  It will create a cooperative, synergistic dynamic that I am only now beginning to appreciate.

Even a spam comment could actually attract someone to your blog, so I think I will use the "delete" feature only for abusive, inappropriate comments.

EDIT --

For those of you who missed it, Kristal Kraft had a great post: Unofficial Tech Support ~ Adding My Blog Log to your Active Rain Profile that gives detailed instructions on how to put the widget on your Active Rain Blog.

by Rich Schiffer, Weichert Realtors

An article by Melissa Dittmann Tracey in Realtor Magazine Online got me thinking. 

In my estimation, here are the most common ways I see people drop the ball with their marketing.

1.  Typographical Errors in Marketing Materials.  Nothing screams, "I don't deserve my commission!" louder than errors in flyers, MLS descriptions, etc.  What kind of "due diligence" are you rendering to your client if you don't try to use proper grammar or spelling.  

The Funny Thing About Typos and
The Importance of Grammar are two articles that discuss this point.

2.  Poorly Written Driving Instructions on MLS or other marketing materials.  Telling someone to go "West on Route 30..." if you don't know where they are starting from will not get them to your property every time.  Give them a reference point to start with.  Try, "From routes 30 and 100, travel west on 30..."  If you can't direct people to the property, you will have very few showings.

3.  Lack of Follow up with Leads.  If you don't follow up with leads, especially from open houses, you are reducing your visibility in the market.  If your seller lowers the price of their listing, or has the property staged, call all the prior open house guests to let them know, and invite them to the next open house.

4.  Failure to Network.  If you don't realize that networking is a key aspect to this business, perhaps you should try a new career path.  Let other agents in your office know what your buyers are looking for, and what your sellers have.  Let them help you satisfy your client's needs.  And when they do, acknowledge their efforts with a referral fee, or at least return the favor.

5.  Barking up the Wrong Tree:  Make sure to market to potential buyers.  A flyer for a 2.5 Million dollar listing with a 5-car garage, posted on the bulletin board at the local dollar store might not be very effective.  Distributing the same flyer at the annual classic car show would probably be much more effective.

Please feel free to comment and share about the common mistakes you have seen.

In the real estate business, there is a lot of discussion about Leads.  There are a variety of "services" that profess to be able to provide you with "qualified leads" (for a fee, of course)  A discussion in the post Free Real Estate Leads got me to thinking that more discussion on this is needed. 

I have several concerns I want to share with you about lead generators.

These "lead-mills" are often nothing more than an income stream generator for the person (or company).  The quality of the leads is of little importance to them.  The information contained in the lead may be valuable, but rarely have I seen a guarantee that the leads will provide business to the people who pay for the leads.  The leads they may provide you with may even be on the National Do Not Call Registry, and you could be fined thousands of dollars for calling them.

The source of the lead is one major concern.  Rarely will a lead aggregator reveal the source of their leads.  For all you know, they may have purchased the leads themselves, and are re-selling them to you at a profit.  The leads could have been people who recently refinanced, or applied for financing.  "Trigger Leads" like this go out to who knows how many lenders. For more about Trigger Leads, read the following:

• Beware of "Trigger Leads"
• Trigger Leads Can Cost You Business and Referrals
• Are TRIGGER LISTS Putting Us And Our Clients At Risk???
• FTC Sides with the Darkside. Won't Act on Trigger Leads

The age of the lead is another concern.  Did the lead request information about homes in their area last week, or last year?  Lead generators rarely disclose the date of origin of the lead, along with the originating source.

The "exclusivity" of the lead is yet another concern.  Do they sell the lead to more than one recipient?  Very likely, they sell them to whoever is willing to pay for them.  Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Home Improvement Contractors, etc.

The biggest concern I have is an ethical one:  Does the lead generator disclose to the consumer that their information is being sold to an unknown number of recipients?  Do the lead generators screen the people they provide the leads to, to ensure that the lead is being placed in the hands of a qualified professional, and not an unscrupulous scam artist?  I don't recall ever seeing a lead generator require anything other than a credit card from the recipients of their emails.  I have to ask myself, "Would my open house guests consider using my services if their contact information was sold after they signed in?"  I like to think that by respecting their privacy, I am already doing them a service.  I wouldn't feel right selling information about other people, especially people I want to develop a professional relationship with.

Let's look at this from the consumer's side.  John Doe goes to a website that advertises being able to provide free estimates about a home's market value.  He fills out a form, and gets the information he was curious about.  Within the next few days, he receives 4 phone calls, 5 emails, and 2 letters, all from people he never interacted with before, but who paid for his contact information.  Mr. Doe spent over an hour and a half of his valuable time answering the phone, reading the email, and looking at his mail, all because he was curious and went to the internet to get information.  He is annoyed, and feels harrassed.  He vows he will never use that website again, and he likely feels not too friendly toward the people who contacted him because of it.

That leads me to another ethical issue:  Who owns the information in the lead being sold?  I say ultimately, the individual owns their own information.  I don't think name and contact information should be traded as a commodity without the express consent of each individual, or even without the individual being compensated, not some third-party information mill. The "lead generation" industry seems to be the only business where you take something that is not yours and sell it as if it were.  That doesn't sit right with me.

Not all lead generators are unscrupulous, however.  Some are worse.  Some are better.  Some may acually be quite beneficial for all parties involved.  This is not intended to be a lead aggregator bashing rant.  I actually do use one source for leads, but they are specialty leads that would take me a lot of time and energy to gather myself.  Talking House FSBO Finder provides me with a daily list of new FSBOs in my area, complete with the date and source information.  It costs me about $40 a month, but after their free trial period, I liked what I saw so much, I decided to continue it.  I figure if it helps me get even one listing, it will have been more than worth the expense.  I feel essentially, I am paying someone else to read magazines and newspapers, scan FSBO marketing sites, and report their findings to me daily.  The time savings is enormous.

Other lead generators provide some sort of service (eNeighborhoods for example) that you may or may not find beneficial, whether or not you use the leads they generate or not.  Free Leads, Free Leads! and Anyone using eNeighborhoods or tried it in the past? are posts that talk a bit about them.  It is possible that some companies like this have so much cash flow from the sale of their "free leads" that they feel they can skimp on developing the actual product they are supposed to be providing, so I recommend you do your own due dillegence and investigate these carefully before you commit.

I think that in the grand scheme of things, the best way to generate leads is to do it yourself, in the course of serving your clients.  While serving the needs of your sellers, you generate leads with every open house guest, and you have an opportunity to interact with them from the start, to create a positive first impression.  Every person who comments on your blogs is a "lead" of sorts.  Develop a rapport with those people, and they will remember you when they have a relocating client, or need a chimney inspected, or whatever.  When targeting your market, you are the best person to do the aiming, not some third party lead generator.

EDIT:  Brian Brady  tried out the "Free Leads" site mentioned in the first paragraph of this post, and posted the following as a "report from the front lines" :   FREE Real Estate Leads- The 30 Day Update  

EDIT:  Lead Generation Services? - Save Your Money! and Are You A Lead Generator? by Randy L. Prothero (R), CRS, GRI are two great articles related to Lead Generation