Hi Everyone,

Susan Buchanan wrote:

I bought $300 worth of clicks from Red Zee and the traffic on my website did increase substantially.  However, I did not have my website (and still
don't) optimized to capture leads.  I will consider purchasing from them again once the site is optimized.  I have prospects that came from the
website but I don't know if they came in through the Red Zee program.

In response, Tony Pomykala wrote:

 But unfortunately for them I track my web traffic with my own programs, and I had them driving their directed traffic to a specific landing page that I created to welcome the traffic they sent me.  NEVER once did that traffic ever go past that landing page. EVER. Kind of strange for a real estate website where anyone who comes usually wants to go see the MLS Search page, isn't it??

Tony is absolutely correct! Hang up on them as fast as you can!! They are selling you "smoke and mirrors"!

RedZee had been cold calling real estate agents throughout the Northern Virginia area and when one of my clients signed up with them, we noticed the exact same thing that Tony did. NOT ONCE did any traffic ever go past the Home page of her web site - very strange for a real estate site that has a complete search of the Washington area MLS right from the Home page. So who were these visitors? Obviously no one who was really interested in buying or selling real estate!

I have been working for several years with a wonderful SEO company, Step Forth (www.stepforth.com), with great success for my web clients. So I turned to them to see what was really going on with RedZee. For those who are interested, learn more about RedZee at -http://news.stepforth.com/2006-news/Seeing-Red-Search-Engine-RedZee-reviewed.shtml

Bottom line - there is no "magic bullet" to rising to the top of the search engines. As Ross Dunn, CEO of Step Forth, writes about RedZee and their manipulation of the Top 3 pay-per-click program service, "First, I find it ethically corrupt and astounding that any search engine would misrepresent what are supposed to be organic search results with paid results. Secondly, in my opinion the alteration of search engine results on a competing search engine is beyond reprehensible. Not only does this "data merging" misrepresent the confidence of supposedly sacred organic results on search engines like Google but it appears to be done without the foreknowledge of the installer of the RedZee toolbar. To be certain of this I reviewed the privacy policy and terms of use policy on RedZee and with my untrained eye I discovered nothing that would lead me to believe that the person installing the toolbar has any idea that 3rd party search engines results would be modified."

And he goes on to write, "All-in-all I definitely feel a bit sheepish because I have to admit that I had no idea result hi-jacking was taking place on such a wide scale."

Since I am very familiar now with RedZee, I would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have about this "come-on".

Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware!

Regards,

Win Singleton
wins@summitweb.com

I've been using this rule for years and it has saved me a fortune with
lead companies.

I tell them I gladly pay referral fees for closed business, but no
upfront fees.

They say goodbye.

 If their leads were so great, why wouldn't they get a real estate
license and get $25% rather than $25.00 or more?

Has anyone out there ever had success with a lead generation company
that you pay per lead?

Jim Clauser
Jim@JimClauser.com

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Jim,

I disagree with your approach.  I have had success with two of
HomeGain's products.

I like HoneGain's Agent Evaluator product, which is the one you pay a
flat monthly rate for and get non-exclusive leads.  When you close a
deal, they get 30% of the side they refereed.  I have closed many
sellers from that service, although never one of their buyer leads. =20

I also like HomeGain's Source4Sellers product, which is only a flat
monthly fee (with no part of the commission going to them).  In almost
one year subscribing to that service, I have no fewer than five bonafide
sellers that will list with me when they are ready to sell, and another
seller that is listing with me next week. =20

To make a long story short:  Lead generation systems that somehow screen
or scrub their leads can be very worthwhile.  This is especially true
since most consumers (buyers and sellers) will deal with the first real
estate professional they speak with.  That said, phone numbers are a
crucial part of any lead we purchase from one of these companies.  Just
as important is the agents follow-up and follow-through, without which
one is very unlikely to succeed with any lead they are given.

I just wanted to know if anyone had received a good stream of any
quality leads from eRelocationProfessionals.

Lee Presser
lee.presser@cbhk.com

It seems like more and more web site companies are offering SEO services.
It's a strong buzzword to get Realtors interested in their product since
everyone is realizing that unless you're high in the search engines, you
could be wasting your money on a website.

I've been receiving numerous emails from a web site company that was at the
latest CAR show promoting their web site product and SEO services. I
responded asking for a list of sites that they have done SEO work on and
what the keyword phrases they rank well with.

My request was given to the SEO guy. Here's a summary of the responses I
have received so far.

Response #1: Don't know, need to research
Response #2: Here's a site that ranks well in Google with 5 phrases

I checked the phrases using the Overture tool. 3 of the 5 were phrases that
NO ONE searched on in Oct 2006. The other 2 had minimal searches. I asked
who chose the keyword phrases, them or the client. He responded that he
thought the client did. (UGH!)

If you are looking at SEO services from a vendor, either paid or included in
the product price, make sure to ask the simple question on supplying you a
list of sites with keyword phrases.

Any good SEO company is going to have a list they can give you which you can
verify by searching yourself. You bet that a SEO company that produces
results will be happy to share these results with you. If a company can't
give you a list, or the list they give you have keyword phrases that no one
would use, then you should know what to expect.

If you currently have a website from a vendor, you should ask them this
question as well. It will give you an idea if you have a CHANCE to be ranked
well. I've done some research by searching on real estate keyword phrases
and seeing who is in the Top 10 from big to little cities. Rarely do I find
a template web site vendor in the Top 10. When I do, I check the age of the
domain and almost all have been on the net for at least 4 years.

Keith Byrd

Recently, I was contacted by a foreclosure listing company called ForeclosureData/Realtorznet located in California.  The interesting thing about this firm is its free subscription with realtor picture and office details on their foreclosure sheets available to potential investors and buyers.  Once you subscribe, you get exclusivity in up to 5 zip codes that you request.  There is also a referral fee sent to your office for anyone who reaches their website via a link from your real estate website.

 Have anyone had either positive and/or negative experiences with this firm that you can share either online or offline.

John F. Maniec
john@JohnManiec.Com 

I get calls at least once a week from someone who wants to set me up with "first page placement" in ALL the search engines.  They all tell me to go to their website and download a plugin, then they will demonstrate how well it works.   

DUH!  I haven't seen anyone yet do a search for "plugins to alter search engine results"! 

It doesn't matter how many hits or visits you get unless your content offers enough value for the prospects to contact you!  Success on the web takes a multi-faceted approach, and you can get all the traffic you want by providing information worth looking at and advertising it everywhere - in your email signature, on all your ads and mailings. 

Vicki Lloyd
Vicki@VickiLloyd.com 

Dear Colleagues,

Some real estate companies and agents subscribe to services that provided them with leads.  However, from what I see the leads seem to be  of poor quality; are not qualified in any way, usually do not have phone numbers, mailing addresses (only name and e-mail address), about 10% to 15% are bogus and only approx. 1/2% are of value - resulting in a sale.  Can you recommend a quality leads provided who qualifies their leads, et cetera?

Kindest regards,

Jerry Rollins

There is a portion of the consumer market that is going to use the
internet extensively as part of their real estate transaction(s). If you
are to believe NAR's stats, that means 70% or more use the internet in the
process of buying or selling a home.  Use of an internet real estate
company, like HouseValues, is likely to be PART of your overall strategy.
I have found HouseValues to be one of the best, albeit expensive.  

HouseValues' stats will tell you that, on the average, a seller makes an
internet contact with a realtor 9 months before they sell.  A buyer makes
an internet contact a realtor, on the average, 17 months before they buy.
This means that, in addition to being expensive, it is a long-term
proposition.

Definitely NOT for the faint-at-heart.  The trick is to turn the internet
contact in to a face-to-face relationship.  Once you learn to do that,
things will click.  You must be committed--once you are, it WILL work for
you! 
 

Rowland Fellows

Lead generating service providers do nothing more than charge fees for leads we can generate ourselves by applying what we have learned in the ePro course.
If I had taken this course last year, I could have saved thousands!

I worked with Getmyhomesvalue.com, Reply.com, and Agentconnect.com.
Each make the same promise: "We pre-screen each lead and forward only viable leads."

Most of the leads I contacted did not expect it and did not want to be bothered.

Regards,

Jeero Habeshian

UMPCs are that generation of mid sized devices. The Mini Tablet. They're
full featured machines in smaller form factors.

To be honest Tablet PCs are way too big for me. these things are cool for
remote access (esp if outfitted with wifi and wimax), multimedia, and all
the things that are too cumbersome or complerx to do on a PDA. I love the
idea, maybe not so much the implementation.

Apple is rumored to be working on one, which i think is cool. The Newton 2?
I guess the OQO is the standard.

The Gateway Tablet PC sold at BestBuy is very nice in size (small enough I
mean) - I like it a lot. Fujitsu notebooks are also very nice, probably the
smallest out there.

In 1-2 years the Tablet PCs will get a bit smaller to the point of the
Origami (this Ultra Mobile PC) and will still have keyboard rotating screen,
or Origami will add Tablet PC function to it - but my bet is on Tablet PCs
as they have faster processors than the Origami.

IGGY Dybal

Barbara,

Sorry.  I don't know if that original message regarding lead-generating pimps was from you, but if you spent a great deal of time on e-PROTalk, you will have noticed my increasing impatience with the subject of TRYING TO BUY LEADS (Yes, I am yelling!).

Gregg Wysocki

Has anyone purchased leads from companies like Homegain? Is it worth it?
Also, anyone purchased a zip code or area from a company? Did that work?
Thanks for any info.

Ronda Riggs

Is there a Re/Max realtor out there that is using the Lead Street in-house Lead generation system and how has it compared to BirdView? 

I signed up for BirdView for a year and never received any lead information at a cost of $40 a month for no leads, bad investment.

William Erdman

A cottage industry of companies lining up to take your money. The seemingly hundereds of emails a day I get from HomeValue, House.com, k12 schools and new ones created every day lining up to give you the same pitch, to sell you the same zip coded territory, all tell me, anyway, that their business (selling you leads) must be flourishing.

Now, picture in your mind what would happed if realtor.com didn't exist. That IDX wasn't "out there." That MLS data stayed in the originating MLS. That John Q. Public didn't have access to all these data. What would happen?

Well, my guess is that your phone at the office would be ringing off the hook; that your email in box would contain legitimate leads from consumer's that people would actually stop in to your office; and make floor time meaningful and productive.

In other words, there wouldn't be a cottage industry of internet companies lining up to take your money and charge you for leads. The leads would call you on the phone, email you, and walk through your office's front door.

Do any of you feel compelled to buy into these lead generating companies? For those that have, was it worth it? For those that have, and found out it wasn't worth it, why wasn't it?

Regards,

Casey Wilkening

I signed up for the "trial period" and one "FREE" Hot lead.
My "HOT" lead was not even in my home state of CA.  They
gave me a lead in Phoenix.  I am not licensed in Ariz.
When I complained and canceled the subscription, I then found
that I had actually contracted for a 3 month period I still had
to pay $40 a month for not even getting leads.  They still e-mail
trying to get me to buy in again.  Still waiting to see who
may be a legitimate lead seller that is not selling that same lead 
a few dozen times to all of the local realtors.

William Erdman

There is a thing in every business called OPE (Other Peoples Experience).

IMHO shelling out large $$ for lead generation is like playing the slot
machines so have not and will not do that. I have tried month-to-month and
not gotten anything worth while. I get at least 5 leads a week from our web
sites and so far none of those have amounted to anything, although there are
a couple of long term possible leads from that - jury is still out on them.

However, if we talk to more experienced (that's 10 years or greater) lead
generation companies are the snake oil in our business. Yes, we are in a
different era and the internet most certainly plays a significantly greater
role. My broker knows and has certainly capitalized on it, especially in
NJ. However, OPE, heads come from hard work, meeting people, getting in
front of sellers, networking, personal sphere, all those traditional things.

I'm still a relatively new agent, but I have learned from OPE and my own
experience. Leads come the old fashion way. It's hard work, thus the 40 to
60% first year drop out rate in our business.

I believe in OPE.

Peter Scott

As Judi Bryan stated.. it make no sense to support these ompanies. So that they can get bigger and better at secure leads for OUR Business. The worsted part of this business that most do not understand is that we are in the Marketing Business First and the Service Business Second. Yes it does take money to promote yourself. But like any other business you manage and budget until you can acquire added materials to promote yourself and your
business.

The biggest problem is that each individual Agent and Company SHOULD UNDERSTAND that WE WORK TOGETHER. We are a Family that should be looking to help each other rather than thinking that One Agent is Going to over on you because your not working under the same umbrella.

If you work hard for yourself and work well with others then you and your company will become stronger because of it! Jim, understands that print advertising is a cost of doing business. Like a painter buying paint! Supporting companies like gentConnect, HomeGain, Lending Tree etc., is the lazy way out... it's a pipe dream and it's very costly!

The Real Estate Community as a whole has created their on ills. It's time to focus on service that will make Buyers and Sellers understand your value. How many time have you tried to get your CPA or Attorney to reduce their fees. If you've done so! How many times has it worked?

Roland