“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

3: “Free iPod for your Referral!”

Okay, so it doesn’t need to be an iPod, but a number of REALTORS® I know use the “referral giveaway” to drum up business from time-to-time during slower months. Some things your competitors have considered with this strategy:

• Make it a “Monthly” draw – giving away an iPod for every referral can get expensive quickly. Entering people into a draw is a great way to reduce this cost.
• If the quality of the referrals is very high, consider making the prize more expensive, like a vacation, or house-cleaning for a year…
• Make sure to advertise who you gave the gift to – if it’s a draw, make sure EVERYONE knows who the lucky winner is!

2: “Customer appreciation BBQ”

I’ve seen several REALTORS® host annual customer appreciation events for all past customers. They’re a lot of work, but they’re a great way to keep in touch with clients and keep your name fresh in people’s minds. Some of the angles to consider include:

• Location: if it’s outside, make sure there’s a roof somewhere in case it rains. Also, public parks a notorious for filling up during peak hours, so get there early.
• Vegetarians: they’ll feel awkward about you feeling awkward… make sure there are vegetarian options.
• Kid-friendly: If they bring their kids, make sure there’s something to do (badminton, soccer balls, movie, etc).

1: “Your home sold in 180-days, or I buy it!”

I’ve always liked this one – it’s straightforward and sounds awesome! Whenever I’ve seen this done properly and honestly, it pays dividends. Unfortunately this strategy isn’t always kept “above board” – here are four ways I’ve seen REALTORS® ruin this approach:

• They may require the seller to buy one of their other listings
• They may predetermine the “guaranteed price”
• They may charge an additional fee
• The may have a maximum allowed price

REALTORS® I’ve seen who are successful with this type of campaign adhere to the following:

• Full disclosure - if you are going to list at a price that sells immediately, let the prospective customer know upfront.
• Don’t be afraid to single-out the right sellers – make sure prospective customers know that this “deal” is for them only if they are “highly-motivated” to sell.

No-gos

Here are some “creative” approaches that I’ve seen fail time and time again:

• List on the MLS® for only $495! – I must admit that when I first saw a REALTOR® doing this I was intrigued. The problem is that it always fails, no matter what. The only REALTORS® who should offer this are those that are willing to move back in with their parents and wear the same clothes for the next decade.
• 1% Commission! – Here’s another bad idea – this might be a good way of bringing customers through the door, but once they’re there you’ll be Bad-News-Betty: “it’s 1% PLUS the buyer’s side commission, or your house probably won’t sell… Sorry.”
• Free Video Tours! – If you’ve read my other posts you know what I think about online video. If you offer free video tours you’ll: 1. be on the hook for $500, and 2. need to be EXTREMELY careful that the tour looks good or the house won’t sell.

NAR Membership Trends

Here’s a graph showing NAR membership numbers for the last 25 years:

NAR Membership 1975-2009

1975 was the first year of the computerized MLS® system and you can see a boom in membership through the latter part of the 70′s up to 1980. The result of the savings & loan crisis, recession and the ensuing crash in commercial real estate (and residential real estate to a lesser extent) is clearly shown in the early 80s.

1985 – 2000 is the most statistically valuable portion of the curve for the following reasons:

• Lending during this period was still subject to strict anti-recession legislation (which ended in 1999 when the 106th congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act)
• During this period there was sustained economic growth in production without speculative bubbles (except the .com boom of course)
• NAR membership levels stayed relatively constant during this period, with only minor fluctuations
• This period represented a relatively stable real estate market with only marginal overall annual appreciation.

During this time there were an average of 756,121 REALTORS® in the US.

“Ok – so that’s how many there should be right now?”

Not so fast – there are other factors at play:

Membership as Percentage of Population

Here’s a graph with data from NAR and the US Government Census.

NAR Membership as Percentage of Population

Looking at the same period as above (1985-2000) there REALTORS® averaged 0.29% of the population.

Real Estate Values

Here’s a graph showing average real estate values over the last 30 years:

Average Real Estate Prices 1970-2010

This graph shows an almost identical trend to the two others, but with a so-far softer landing than for previous corrections.

How Many REALTORS®?

Here are my numbers:

• Average US population growth: 1.04% per year
• Average portion of population who are NAR members: 0.29%
• Not taking into account any over-corrections

NAR Membership Projection Until 2015

According to this crude estimate, there are currently 211,570 too many REALTORS® in the US to conform to a historically balanced market. Based on prior corrections, history suggests they will leave the industry within the next few years.

So What’s the Good News?

This data is an excerpt from a presentation I recently made to the RealPageMaker board that was purposed to guide our sales expectations for the next 24 months. During my research I discovered that these numbers are slightly misleading – sure, the correction isn’t over, but the majority REALTORS® leaving the industry are the same ones who joined it spontaneously in the early part of the decade. They are the part-timers who wanted to “get rich quick.” My expectation is that as these people leave the industry, career REALTORS® will reap the benefits (many of the top producers I speak to regularly are already seeing this).

Our Old Website

Our new Website:

New Website

RPM 3.1 Listing Detail

We’re extremely excited to announce that after months of development and weeks of testing, the development team here at RealPageMaker has just deployed RPM 3.1, our most significant upgrade since RPM 3. Though the majority of the development has been done “under the hood” there are some notable visible improvements to your website.

What’s Included in the Release

Here’s a rundown of the major changes included with this release:

New listings architecture

• listings are now stored according to a “floating field” architecture which allows us to build new options and more flexible searches
• easier-to-use exclusive listings
• more information stored for each listing

Improved performance

• MLS® search engine is faster
• improved geo-coder accuracy
• more interactive geo-coding
• faster feature listing loading

Improved features

• more comprehensive feature sheets
• more flexible graphical analysis of listings
• larger images
• more obvious contact form on listing details
• linking capability from listing details
• even fewer clicks to get to information

Search engine optimization improvements

• better listing details URL structure
• listing data more easily seen by search bots

Future development

We’ve been busy with this release for almost 4 months, and now that we’re complete we’ll be turning our attention to several big new features that our customers have been requesting. As always, if you have any ideas about how we can make your website better, don’t hesitate to let us know.

The Survey

We’ve conducted surveys in the past (see New Year’s Resolution for REALTORS®), but none as comprehensive and revealing as this.

We built some “intelligent” software that went through thousands of random listings throughout the MLS® systems we work with and performed a variety of experiments.  Here are the results of our work (in a nutshell):

• Listings surveyed: 13905
• Errors with mapping coordinates (total): 1% (of these, 87% were rural properties)
• Errors with mapping coordinates (rural properties only): 4.2%
• Listings with incorrect contact email addresses (extrapolated): 2%
• REALTORS® responding to our notifications that their information was incorrect: 14%

Keep in mind that this survey is DIFFERENT from prior surveys in that we’ve actually used the information DIRECTLY from the MLS® data that’s advertised to the public.

“I don’t get it – why is that so important?”

This survey took us a long time to complete because we needed to reference sites like REALTOR.com and MLS.ca that use REALTOR® contact information straight from boards and associations.

“Sorry, I still don’t understand why this is such a big deal?”

Because this is the information 90% of consumers will use to contact you!

The Result

The good news is that most information associated with listings is correct. The bad news is that information on 1/50 listings isn’t. The really bad news is that most REALTORS® we tried to tell about this problem didn’t care enough to fix it.

The Action

We’ve put together a 5-minute checklist that every REALTOR® should use after entering a listing into their MLS® system:

1. Check the contact information
   • Go to Realtor.com or MLS.ca (Canada), submit the contact form, and make sure you receive the email
   • Scrutinize the contact information on the listing
   • Ensure your website link is working
   • Make sure the contact information on your website is correct
   • Though we don’t have actual statistics, we did notice that many listings have incorrect information for the brokerage. Checking this information is also extremely important.
2. Check the mapping coordinates
   • Again, go to Realtor.com or MLS.ca (Canada), and make sure your listing appears in the correct location on the map. If it doesn’t, contact your board/association/MLS®.
   • Check the coordinates on your website.

We Need Your Help

We’re going to continue and even expand our testing of listings to deliver more information like this. If you have statistics you’d like us to track drop us a comment or send me an email: sam@realpagemaker.com.

Video 1: Reading-rambler. (a great “stop” at 0:56).

I wish I was successful enough to shoot a video, put it up on youtube, and see how much it cost me in lost deals. Stop.

This would be a great video for teaching skills in anger management, but Eric seems to be using it to play Russian roulette with his business. Stop.

This video illustrates exactly why some actors get paid so much: they have skills that most of us don’t (Eric especially). Stop.

Video 2: The inside joke

It’s good to celebrate making money (I’d argue it’s even healthy to reward oneself with some private gloating from time-to-time), but posting it on YouTube for customers to see (many of whom are still reeling from the largest collapse in the housing market since the great depression) is business suicide, no?

I checked out the middle REALTOR’s website and it’s extremely professional – nothing like the caliber of this video. Unfortunately for her over 2000 people have already watched this brand-tainting video.

Video 3: The blatant pitch of cheese

Viewers can almost excuse the word stumbling and questionable cinematography in this video, but his pitch about professionalism is destroyed in the final seconds when the phone number he says is different from the one shown. Incidentally I found this video that has exactly the same background music and style but didn’t make my list because it doesn’t have a motorcycle ride-in.

Bonus Video: Cheese done well

This has it all: cheesy music, car driving, and a shameless pitch.

I like this video. Short, sweet, backed up with facts, and an option in case I hate the guy.

UPDATE: Bonus, Bonus, Video

A reader sent me a link to this next video after reading this article. Quite frankly I don’t know what to make of it – either this is some kind of brilliant marketing plan or this guy has completely lost it.

Conclusion

The vast majority of real estate videos are horrendously boring and not worth discussing. The good news is that most have fewer than 10 views.

The scary fact is that there’s no shortage of people risking their professional integrity for the sake of “social media”: approximately 25 new potentially business-wrecking real estate videos are added to YouTube every hour.

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.

Best REALTOR™ Slogans

#5. “My job is your future” - Good. So you understand how big of a deal a home purchase is for me.

#4. “Purveyor of fine homes to fine people” – Not bad; a little boring, but you have a good command of the language and demonstrate strong commitment to a targeted market.

#3. “Sold in 100 days, or I’ll buy it” - Does this belong in the top 5? Yes – because you stand out, commit, and I know I’ll have a guaranteed sale within 4 months.

#2. “I Never Forget You Have a Choice” - That’s what I like to hear – you’ll always have the right motivations while we’re working together.

#1. “Anyone can sell your home. I can sell it for more.” – Strong, assertive and straight to the point. Let me put you to the test.

Worst REALTOR™ Slogans

#5. “A Realtor You Can Trust” - Sounds like something your parole officer told you to say.

#4. “No Fancy Punchlines – Just Great Service” - Does this constitute an oxymoron? (Definitely a moron)

#3. “It’s the Energy!” - What does that even mean? I think your doctor over-prescribes stimulants… Out of curiosity, what’s his name (my friend wants to know…)?

#2. “Everything I Touch Turns to Sold!” – Ha ha! It’s funny, I’ll give you that. But now that the joke’s over can you introduce me to a real REALTOR™?

#1. “Spouses Selling Houses” – Do you include domestic disputes with showings?

Conclusion

This was a tough article to write because there are at least 20 terrible catch phrases for every good one. Some rules of thumb:

• Use common sense – No one wants to hear you state the obvious – and no one is interested in self-indulgence. There’s also not much room for humor (there are exceptions of course), so keep it professional.
• If you say something bold in your slogan, make sure you’re willing to eat, sleep, and breathe by it.
• If you can’t come up with anything good, don’t worry: Clients won’t notice that you don’t have a catch phrase, but you might lose clients if you have a bad one.

What do you think? (For every comment you post on this article I’ll post another bad REALTOR™ slogan…)