“So what should I do?”

I get asked this all the time, and the answer is simple: contract it out.

Ghostwriters

If you’ve ever read a Hardy-Boys novel then you know how good ghostwriters can be (you didn’t really think it was Franklin W. Dixon writing all those books, did you?).

Many REALTORS^™ now use ghostwriters to create their online content for them. Prices for hiring ghostwriters vary dramatically, but it’s possible to get good content written for an entire website for as little as $100-$200.

Advantages to Using Ghostwriters

• Saves time
• The saved time will likely save money
• Get a better ranking in Google

Potential Disadvantages to Using Ghostwriters

• The copy can be bad… really bad – if you don’t find the ‘write’ person (write – ha!)
• Cost. Yes, without shopping around it can get expensive.

How to find Ghostwriters

Here are some places:

• http://www.seo-writer.ca/freelance/ghost-writer.html
• http://www.find-ghost-writers.com/seo_ghost_writing.aspx
• http://www.wordsofvalue.com/articles/posts/seo-article-writer-why-get-an-article-ghost-writer-2

But my best success has come from posting on the local college or university job board and asking students to write copy.

For the record – I write all my own articles for RealPageMaker. And my real name is Sam. (Though this article was mostly written by Tristan. Thanks Tristan.)

1. Brand Independence

The more independent your website domain name is, the more valuable it is to a purchaser. For example, a person is much more likely to buy www.realpagemaker.com than www.samprochazka.com.

It’s also important that the colors, logos, and content on the website be franchise-unspecific. Most purchasers will deduct the cost of all necessary changes from their offers.

Building an independent brand will generate the strongest value in a website. Consider the following brand independence factors:

• Independence from franchises, offices, and individuals
• Geographical independence
• Property-type independence

2. Website Age

Believe it or not the age of your domain name alone can be an important contributor to the value of your website. Generally speaking the older the domain, the more valuable it is. This is because Google uses domain name age as one of its ranking factors.

3. Technology

A website built on inflexible, old technology will be worth less than one built on a more modern platform. Migration costs (to move from the old technology to the new one) will be deducted from any offers.

4. SEO System

The pagerank of your domain name, the number and quality of inbound backlinks, and the ranking you’ve achieved for your desired search terms will all dramatically affect your website value. In addition, the system you use to maintain those rankings (and associated traffic) will all be factored into the value of your website. Obviously the higher and more widespread the ranking, the more valuable the website.

5. Net Revenue

Of course the single largest contributor to the value of your website will be the net revenue you derive from it. It’s important to be able to clearly demonstrate how much money your website makes for you, and how quickly that amount is grows every year.

Web Asset vs. Web Presence

Consider: http://www.justinbiebermusic.com
Depending on the decade you were born in you either love or hate this guy – but that’s not important. His domain name represents a “web presence” and not a “web asset.” Here’s why:

• Without Justin Bieber this domain name is worthless
• As Justin Bieber mania fades (sorry, it’s inevitable), the value of this website will go with it
• Justin Bieber will never be able to sell this website to anyone unaffiliated with his brand

Of course Justin Bieber’s management team knows this – but that’s the point. Justin Bieber is a “temporary” brand and only requires a “web presence” while it’s functioning. Once Biebermania disappears, so will all remnants of the brand. Backorder his domain name now and in 20 years you’ll likely own it.

Now Consider: http://www.napster.com
Still in the musical vein let’s look at “Napster.” Napster was started in 1999 and is one of the industry’s most notorious websites. Despite numerous lawsuits and a major bankruptcy, Napster is still a recognized brand – worth enough to be purchased in 2008 for $121 million dollars! Napster truly represents the quintessential “web asset.”

Web Asset vs. Web Presence in Real Estate

In real estate almost all agents are taught to “self brand.” Though this may work in some capacity it requires huge investment, constant maintenance and forces the following questions:

1. What will happen to their brand when the REALTOR^™ retires?
2. How much cost, skill, and organization does it require to maintain the brand?
3. Can the brand/system be “sold” to another REALTOR^™ if/when they leave the business?

If the brand revolves around a personal name, then the answers are:

1. It will disappear
2. Lots of cost and organization
3. Likely not, unless it’s an inheriting family member

If the brand revolves around a trade name, then the answers are:

1. It will only disappear if it’s not passed to someone else
2. Lots of cost, brand-management-skill, and organization
3. Yes, probably for a substantial amount

Brand selection goes hand-in-hand with domain name selection, and the same rules apply.

Your Domain Name

If you intend on building a “web presence” then:

• your domain name can be anything, but preferably your name
• keep it as short as possible
• make sure it is easy to spell

If you are building a “web asset” then:

• your domain name must be independent of your name or your company’s name
• keep it as short as possible
• make sure it is easy to spell
• you can visualize any other REALTOR^™ using it

How it affects your retirement

Don’t worry – regardless of your choice you’ll still be able to retire, but if you’ve been successful at creating a website “asset” then it could be a MUCH more comfortable retirement. Consider this:

• After several years of hard work and investment you’ve optimized your website with content and back-links and have achieved a healthy search engine ranking
• Your website generates a healthy volume of new leads every year with little to no further advertising dollars
• If “worked” properly, leads from your website would generate a substantial income for any REALTOR^™
• Your domain name is not “you”-centric

Now you’ve got a “web asset” to sell! Check this article for an approximate valuation formula.

How “Shared Websites” Work

Shared websites are usually administered by a real estate office or company, and are often given away free, or at a reduced charge to member REALTORS^®. These websites sometimes have rotating “lead recipients” or other lead-distribution mechanisms that are used primarily as a selling feature to get mass buy-in from member REALTORS^®.

How do Offices and Companies pay for “Shared Websites”?

Good question, right? Though you’ve probably been sold on the idea that a shared website is better for the office as a whole, the truth isn’t always as above-board as you’ve been led to believe. Here are how two of the models work:

• The office/company uses the “free” shared website to justify an increase in membership fees. In many cases these fees are not even endorsed by the franchise (ie. RE/MAX, Century 21, etc.).
• The office/company charging a monthly “shared website” participation fee are usually making substantial profit on their member REALTORS^®.

I certainly don’t fault brokers and office managers for wanting to make more profit, but I have a problem when it’s not in the best interests of member REALTORS^®.

How “shared websites” fail member REALTORS^®

There are several major problems with the “shared website” philosophy that most REALTORS^® don’t know:

1. Any work invested in a shared website is wasted: Why? Well it’s simple: when you spend time adding ANY content to your “shared website”, it will benefit the website as a whole, and not you individually – it’s equivalent to giving your office manager free labor (that ironically you’re probably paying them to receive!).
2. Leads are few and far between: I’ve spoken to hundreds of frustrated REALTORS^® participating in “shared website” schemes who receive absolutely NO leads, despite spending hundreds of dollars every year.
3. Bad office managers don’t care about your business: If there are 100 REALTORS^® in your office and 10 top-producers, then your office manager can make more money by charging everyone $35.00/month for a “shared website” than they can from commission splits. They’ll do everything in their power to enact mandatory buy-in from REALTORS^® in their office… but they’ll make exceptions for their Top Producers.
4. “Shared websites” take resources away from your brand: Successfully promoting oneself as a REALTOR^® is what separates success from failure. Though it might be comfortable to rely on an office’s or company’s “shared website” to represent one’s internet presence, it detracts from personal brand promotion, reducing the chances of long term success.
5. Changing offices means losing ALL your work: if you’ve invested time into your “shared website” and decide to relocate to another office, then you won’t be able to take any of your work with you.

The Proof

If you don’t believe me then I challenge you to look at any top-producer in your office and examine how they are promoting their brand. I can almost guarantee they have their own personal website and aren’t paying their broker/office manager to be part of the “shared website.”

Conclusion

Only two conclusions can be drawn:

1. Get your own website and stop wasting time on your “shared website”
2. Start charging your office for time you spend on THEIR “shared website”

Business is all about image, and every good business owner strictly vets everything a prospective customer sees during the course of a transaction. I speak to hundreds of REALTORS® in many markets around North America and one message I’ve heard loud and clear from top producers is:

“Image is everything. Every flyer, business card, website, etc. must look sharp and consistent – no exceptions.”

The photos below all have one thing in common: they’re bad – and not because of the way the subjects look, but because of the things they’ve done (or not done) to ensure that their photos are terrible. They all say the same thing to a prospective customer:

“Perfection is out of reach for me, so don’t expect anything special.”

So, without further adieu – here are the top 5 worst agent photos I’ve seen in the last 6 months:

#5 – The amazing oil-spill jacket

Shiny Jacket?

Is it leather or pleather? Neither: it’s a brand new fully-plastic jacket from “Armani GarBaj”. At least the over-powering red sign in the foreground distracts us from the most damaging part of this photo: the crappy point-and-shoot camera you’re so intently using to demonstrate to everyone that you’re not a professional photographer.

“I take my own photos…”

You sure do. And that’s why you chose this photo to put on your website.

#4 – The great-to-terrible machine

Flattering is so 2009

Advertisement: If you’re looking for a photographer who can remove your bothersome good-looks from any photo, then look no further! I specialize in cream backgrounds, tilted camera angles, poor lighting, cutoff arms, straight-on mugshots, and much, much more! Don’t get stuck with another flattering photo you can be proud of… Call me today!

There’s no reason this woman needed to look so bad! Worse yet, IT DIDN’T NEED TO GET ON HER WEBSITE!!

#3 – Unluckiest arrow

There's an arrow pointing at your... left.

The only thing that’d make this photo worse is if “home” was replaced with “fly.” Sign-aside, the brick-sized cell phone completes this masterpiece of “bad”.

Surprisingly I really like this photo. The sign is obviously well-intentioned, but so misguided that it’s startlingly hilarious. I’d also be inclined to list with this guy just to see if he still uses that cell phone. Well done sir – you’ve won me over by your ridiculousness.

#2 – The Impersonator

Rockalike

Apologies for the size of the image, but it was all that I could find. I’ll go soft on this one because it’s not all that bad. In fact, if it was on facebook it’d be downright great! Unfortunately it’s on your website, and unless it’s combined with a guest appearance of “the rock” at my open-house, then I’ll pass on your marketing expertise – sorry.

#1 – The winners! (losers?)

There were three winners:

Class of 85: Voted most likely to fail in real estate

Always the bridesmaid, never the top producer

In conclusion

Believe it or not, these are all genuine profile photos on active REALTOR’s® websites. The worst part is that it took me less than an hour to find them – along with about 20 that I didn’t use.

I’d estimate that at least 1-in-10 REALTOR® photos is absolutely terrible, meaning that there are at least 200,000 more photos out there that belong in this article.

“Surely most website companies don’t offer ripoff products to their customers? That’d be bad for business…”

You’d think so, but unfortunately that’s not the case. We hear countless stories from customers moving to RealPageMaker about scams their previous providers were offering. Here are some of the more common ripoffs we hear about:

1. Keyword Reselling

Keyword reselling involves an intermediate company offering to send more traffic to your website by getting you a higher ranking in Google for certain keywords. They charge either a flat monthly fee or large one-time yearly fee.

“But don’t these companies offer a service?”

They do, but the service involves marking up Google Adwords by as much as 50%! Not only that, but they’ll occasionally get the content of the advertisement wrong, or in some cases just do nothing.

How to avoid this scam: Getting Google adwords is simple and effective. Either contact your website provider or refer to Google’s advertising solutions link at the bottom of their website.

2. Adding backlinks to social media sites

“Social Media” is undoubtedly the most trendy phrase in advertising at the moment, and unfortunately with hype comes ripoff.

Companies offering to “boost” your social media status by twittering or facebooking for you are blatant scams. The nature of “social media” marketing prohibits third parties from being effective resellers of any related service.

How to avoid this scam: Luckily this one is relatively easy to spot – if anyone offers “social media” products, just ignore them.

3. Craigslist and Kijiji auto advertising

Paying a company to automatically add your listings to Craigslist or Kijiji is behind the mark. These two services used to be reasonably effective lead generators but have recently lost their luster because:

• There are too many people advertising their listings on these free services
• In the past the public visited these sites to find FSBOs, but because of increasingly more MLS® listings they are now looking elsewhere

Some providers offer flat-fee services to add listings to these services, and other charge monthly premiums. There are two BIG problems with this:

1. Adding listings to Kijiji and Craigslist is quick and free – a REALTOR® should understand the process before paying someone else to do it.
2. Adding the listing only once is a waste of time. In large markets like Vancouver or Chicago, a listing on Craigslist will remain on the front page for as few as 3 minutes. Because of this they need to be added back constantly to be effective. No service I’m aware of offers this.

How to avoid: Do it yourself, or don’t do it at all.

4. Full Website Management for $50/month

Companies telling you that you’ll never need to touch your website after it’s up are full of it, and make me angry. These are examples of poor sales people who’ll say anything for a sale.

“But why can’t my website provider do this?”

Unfortunately $50/month isn’t enough to hire someone to write content and manage your website. $500/month for website management is about as little as you should be paying if you choose this service – and make sure you use a reputable firm… I’ve heard countless stories of customers being over-promised and under-delivered.

How to avoid: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

5. Multiple Domains Names are Important

This is one of the oldest up-sells in the book. Multiple domain names pointed at your website will accomplish only two things:

1. Reduce your ranking in Google, and
2. Cost you more

There is absolutely NO benefit to having more than one domain name. Period.

How to avoid: Easy – only buy one domain name.

6. Single property websites

Having a separate website for each individual property is an expensive and useless proposition. Here’s why:

• Websites take several weeks or months to rank in Google. Your single-property website will never generate traffic itself.
• Sites like Realtor.com and MLS.ca don’t allow you to specify a separate website for each listing – you’ll need to route traffic through your personal website. Kinda defeats the purpose doesn’t it?

This is a great way for a website provider to up-sell a customer, and a great way to spend extra money on something that’s completely useless.

How to avoid: Don’t have more than one website

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site

Chances are that unless you’re Warren Buffet or Stephen Hawkins, people won’t just “take your word for it.” Stating something on a website without backing it up makes it opinion rather than fact – and most people don’t care about your (or my) opinion. Here are some ways to make it easy for readers to verify the accuracy of information on your website:

• provide citations
• provide references with links
• provide source material with links

Make sure to link to credible sources as linking to garbage will lower credibility.

2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site

This is the point where I take issue with video-blogging. If a REALTOR™ is filming a video from his/her car “office” it looks more like a bank getaway than a business (see video).

Showing that your website is for a legitimate business is paramount to earning credibility from visitors. Here’s what’s important:

• Include a physical address
• Photo of yourself or office (make sure they’re good, recent photos)
• Awards, memberships (chamber of commerce, business bureau, etc.)
• Credible organizations you’re a member of (your brokerage, etc.)

3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide

Make sure to:

• Highlight REAL expertise of team (supported by qualifications and training)
• Include affiliations with respected organizations

4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site

Including bios and information about the people who stand behind your website puts real people, and real accountability behind your business. Increase trustworthiness using images and text. Talking about families and personal interests can lend credibility but should be used sparingly.

5. Make it easy to contact you

I’ve said this one before and I’ll say it again: make sure your contact information is front-and-center. The most successful REALTORS™ I know include their direct cell phone numbers as their primary point of contact. Very few top producers I’m aware of put brokerage phone numbers on their websites at all.

6. Design your site so it looks professional

Most people will initially evaluate website credibility by visual design alone. Read this article for information on how to make a website look good. Also – here’s a great example of what not to do:

Ugly Website

7. Make your site easy to use – and useful

Sites win credibility when they are useful and easy to use. Critical to REALTOR™ websites are:

• Listings, listings, listings!!
• Full MLS™ listings search
• Lots of photos on listings
• Neighborhood statistical comparison
• Blog with good quality market and local information

8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently)

No need to elaborate on this one. An easy way to do this is to have a blog…

“Are you pausing because you’re about to plug something?”

Yes: RealPageMaker offers auto-blogging, so that when you list and sell a property you’ll automatically get updates to your blog and Twitter.

9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers)

Wondering why I just put that plug in? Because it’s well placed and is the first one I’ve put into an article in over 6 months. Guidelines for promotional content:

• avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own.
• Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility.
• Make sure your writing style is clear, direct and sincere.

10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem

Broken links, typos, and grammatical errors are ALL noticed by users.

“Thanks Sam, but you’re violating rule 1 – no references…”

References:

Fogg, B.J. (May 2002). “Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility.” A Research Summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University. www.webcredibility.org/guidelines

Ripoff

I’ve been in the REALTOR™ website business for the better part of a decade now and it still astounds every time I sign up a customer who’s been ripped off by his/her past web designer.

“Sam, is this going to be a sales pitch?”

No: you know me better than that. I’m writing this because last week a customer re-defined “ripoff” for me: He paid $40,000 to setup a REALTOR™ website… that still had additional monthly hosting charges, additional charges for editing meta tags, additional charges for content changes, and additional charges for extra pages… And a pitiful Google ranking after a 18 months!

Here are some things that make sense:

1. Mass likely comes from particle motion through the Higgs field.
2. Las Vegas isn’t part of a good retirement plan.
3. Justin Bieber is a moron.

But paying $40,000 to setup a website that doesn’t do its job?

“Stay objective Sam…”

I’m calming down…

“Maybe there are situations where $40,000 spent on a website is a good deal?”

Maybe there are. Let’s look at some case studies.

Case studies

Here are three cases from REALTORS™ I know who make sizable investments in their websites:

SEO = Search Engine Optimization (usually offered by a search engine optimization company like LeadAgent)

Analysis

To state the obvious:

• Case 1 is getting the best deal at about $6600/year (hosting + SEO) with a #6 ranking for the key-phrase of his choice.
• Case 2 is getting seriously ripped off – my advice is to pack it up and start again
• Case 3 is interesting…

Case 3 represents a REALTOR™ who put a lot of money into his website and has accomplished his search engine ranking and traffic goals. It’s pretty hard to say this was a waste of money considering there are plenty of other ways to blow $80k without establishing a continuous lead flow.

“So is Case 3 a good deal?”

Maybe, but consider this: an upfront investment of $80k is a lot of risk when success isn’t guaranteed. In this case, and in retrospect it was a good investment, but while investing it must have been a nail-biter. If you’ve got good heart medication and a large inheritance, Case 3 is worth looking at.

How can I avoid getting ripped off?

Tough question. Here are some pointers:

• Do research – talk to customers of the website providers you’re considering and ask them the tough questions
• Make sure you understand EVERYTHING – computers are child’s play compared to selling houses, so don’t think it’s beyond you. A good web-developer will put concepts into terms you can understand, but it’ll be your responsibility to ensure you’ve understood everything.
• Ask questions – the more the better.

New In-Website Editor

Looks the same as before? Look again – we’ve added:

• Optional formatting (see the dotted boxes within the content)
• Many more formatting and styling options
• Easier copying-and-pasting from MS Word and Open Office

We’ve also added a new System-wide file manager:

New File Manager

Now you can:

• Manage website files MUCH more easily
• Upload files faster
• Store files on our servers
• Better format images in your pages/blog posts

This free upgrade is now available on all RPM Agent and RPM Brokerage websites.

What’s a domain name?

Wikipedia defines a domain name as follows:

“A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS).”

Put simply, a domain name is the address of a website; for example, www.RealPageMaker.com is a Domain Name. Domain names are sometimes referred to (sometimes incorrectly) as:

• URLs
• Website Names
• Web addresses

How are domain names purchased?

Domain names are purchased through domain name registrars who are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Here are some examples:

• GoDaddy.com
• DomainsAtCost.ca
• NetworkSolutions.com

Registrars charge a variety of fees and typically offer a variety of different services including (but not limited to):

• Website design
• Website hosting
• Email
• Domain name parking
• Domain name back-ordering

Who Owns a Domain Name?

This is a good question. Most people think that once they pay for a domain name they will own it indefinitely. The fact is that a person or company cannot “purchase” a domain name outright because they must continue paying registration renewal fees to keep control of that domain name.

In essence, domain names are like rented real estate – you can sign variable term leases (1-10 years), but the lease will inevitably expire and need to be renewed, or terminated.

What happens if I miss a payment on my domain name?

Missing a payment on a domain name can be EXTREMELY serious. Here’s what typically happens:

1. The Domain Name Registrar will email the technical and administrative contacts associated with the domain notifying them that the domain name registration has expired and that the domain name has been suspended for 30 days.
2. After two weeks, the domain name registrar will email the technical and administrative contacts notifying them that the domain name is entering a redemption period (prices go up here!!).
3. After a month, the domain name registrar will send one last email notifying the registrant that the domain name is about to be lost.
4. Within a few days the registrar will offer the domain name to any third parties that have placed back-orders on the domain name (though this practice has become less common recently some people are unlucky enough to lose their domain names to these “domain squatters“). The successful back-order will become the new owner of the domain name.

Recovering a domain name once it has expired or changes ownership can be an extremely expensive proposition. In many cases, unless the former owner is willing to pay hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, he/she will need to abandon the former domain name and start again. This means new business cards, email addresses, promotional material, advertising campaigns, search engine optimization, etc.

So, who should manage your domain name?

The following are criteria that qualify someone to manage a domain name:

• They check their email AT LEAST once per day, including weekends
• They will never change their email address
• They are experienced in domain name registration processes
• They use only the most stable registrars

Managing the domain name properly is crucial for the success of any website. Serious professionals will leave this up to the experts.