RealTown's RealTalk

There seems to be a massive amount of denial among some agents that search engine optimization (SEO) efforts actually lead to CLOSINGS and income.

A lot of agents consider SEO to be smoke and mirrors, and are unwilling to address it with an investment of time and money.

Are any of you willing to share your experience, positive and negative?

I am aware of many success stories, but they are scattered. Let's put them in one place...

Also, for those of you who have expended some effort, but not gotten the results you want, I am here to help you sort it out. SE is not rocket science. You are either doing the right things, or not, and your competitive environment may come into play, as well.

Best regards, 

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

There seems to be a massive amount of denial among some agents that search engine optimization (SEO) efforts actually lead to CLOSINGS and income. A lot of agents consider SEO to be smoke and mirrors, and are unwilling to address it with an investment of time and money.

Are any of you willing to share your experience, positive and negative?

I used SEO, and Google Ad-words for some time however, It got to be expensive and another chore to keep up with. However, blogging and using the correct key words has been very beneficial in my page ranking. With 80%+ of the traffic going to Google, Yahoo, MSN, I am not sure optimization to 100 search engines is that beneficial for the $$ spent. Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Squidoo, and HubPages seem to be organic and easier on the pocketbook. Mike

Mike Bowler Sr. ePRO, CRB, GRI, SRES
email:
Website for Clients: MikeBowler.comMike@MikeBowler.com

Website for Agents:
Take the ePRO Class MikeBowler.net

> There seems to be a massive amount of denial among some agents that
> search engine optimization (SEO) efforts actually lead to CLOSINGS
> and income. A lot of agents consider SEO to be smoke and mirrors,
> and are unwilling to address it with an investment of time and money.
>
> Are any of you willing to share your experience, positive and
> negative?
>
 

Barbara Reeves (http://www.BarbaraReevesRealtor.com) left a phone
message for me this morning. She told me that someone had typed the
name of a Mobile subdivision into one of the search engines, then
visited her site and called to ask her to list his house in that
subdivision.
 

A couple of weeks ago, a developer came across her subdivision pages
by searching for the name of one of them, then called, gave her ten
lots to list and asked her to feature his development in her site.
 

So that's at least 11 listings that I'm aware of that have resulted
from people finding Barbara's site via the search engines in recent
weeks. Barbara has done a remarkable job of adding lots of content to
her site, content which is naturally magnetic to the search engines.
She has also had SEO work done by Randy Eagar of ComputerCamp.net and
Dirk Johnson of DomainDrivers.com.
 

Suzanne.
 

Suzanne Hathcock Stephens
Point2Agent Design Partner
http://www.SuzStephens.com
360-666-0881

"Are any of you willing to share your experience, postitive and negative?"

With over 100 custom real estate web site clients, I could tell success story after success story. But here are just a few -

Patricia Aulson, an e-PRO in Hampton, NH - www.patricia4realestate.com - has already had several settled transactions in 2008 that have come directly from her web site. She has 7 different pages in her custom site ranking in the Top 10 in Google, 8 pages in the Top 10 in Yahoo and 4 pages in the Top 10 in MSN  due to SEO work by myself when designing her site along with a link directory from Dirk Johnson at Domain Drivers.

Fran Kormann in Potomac Falls, VA - www.kormann.com - reported to me that since having their custom site designed about 1 1/2 years ago, they have had almost 2 dozen settled transactions from site visitors. They have 5 different pages in the Top 10 in Google, 5 pages in the Top 10 in Yahoo and 1 page in the Top 10 in MSN due to SEO work by myself when designing her site along with a link directory from Dirk Johnson at Domain Drivers.

Mike Pugh, an e-PRO in Arlington, VA - www.mikesellsvirginia.com - usually averages somewhere between $8 million to well over $10 million in settled volume each and every year for the past 7+ years from his custom site that I designed. Mike is also using StepForth.com, a wonderful SEO firm in Canada, to maintain his Top 10 rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Terry Goodson, an e-PRO in Knoxville, TN - www.terrysellsknoxville.com - came to me a little over a year ago. She has already had several settled transactions directly from her custom site that I designed. Her site has 5 different pages in the Top 10 in Google, 3 pages in the Top 10 in Yahoo and 2 pages in the Top 10 in MSN due to the SEO work by myself when designing her site along with a link directory from Dirk Johnson at Domain Drivers.

Jeanne Littlejohn in Fairfax, VA - www.suburbanvirginia.com - who usually setlles between $8 - $10 million in volume each year, reports that as much as 60% of that business comes as a direct result of her web site and has each year for the past 6+ years. Her site has 3 different pages in the Top 10 in Google, 4 pages in the Top 10 in Yahoo, and 2 pages in the Top 10 in MSN due to the SEO work by myself when designing her site along with a link directory from Dirk Johnson at Domain Drivers.

David Maier, an e-PRO in Alexandria, VA - www.davidsellsproperties.com - in the first 6 weeks of having his custom site got 2 new buyer clients and 1 listing signed. His site has 2 pages in the Top 20 in Google, 2 pages in the Top 20 in Yahoo, and 1 page in the Top 10 in MSN due to the SEO work by myself when designing his site along with a link directory from Dirk Johnson at Domain Drivers.

As you can see, I can go on and on. Every one of these clients fully understands what good SEO can do for a web site and continues to reap the benefits in closed transactions. This all can be done for you too!

Win
************************
Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Summit Web Design
(703) 536-7631
wins@summitweb.com
http://Summitweb.InternetCrusade.com
an Internet Crusade Approved Vendor
"Custom web site design that gets results!"
************************

Mike Bowler asserts:

"I used SEO, and Google Ad-words for some time however, It got to be expensive and another chore to keep up with. However, blogging and using the correct key words has been very beneficial in my page ranking. With 80%+ of the traffic going to Google, Yahoo, MSN, I am not sure optimization to 100 search engines is that beneficial for the $$ spent. Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Squidoo, and HubPages seem to be organic and easier on the pocketbook. Mike"

Will Mike what is the verdict?  Is your SEO doing what it's optimized to do?  Are you at the closing table more often than some others?  This is a highly competitive business.  Everybody is looking for key positions.  We are all trying to optimize our presents to capture the consumer hoping to close.  Will Mike what is the verdict?  Is it working or is it not?  If it is, WHAT ARE YOU DOING DIFFERENT THAT THE THE REST OF US ARE NOT!  If NOT, then what are you doing that's causing the rest of us to question the value of WEB PRESENCE ($)?  As I understand the evidence, the reason that 80% of all consumers go online to find their brass ring is because they are Independent and they would rather do it themselves.  That sounds rather counter productive if you ask me as far as agency relationships are concerned.  It seems to me that the Internet is a place you can find ((information)) without the nauseating interruption of a pesky Realtor.  So what is the verdict Mike, is all this IDX and nauseating "repositioning" of our future really panning out.  Or is this the same old crap just in a different package that lines the pockets of the AFFILIATES?

With all due respect to Win's expertise, this is more like an informerical than an informational post from a vendor. Lately some of these SEO posts have become more of a "I can do anything better than you can" from a few SEO vendors.

The only thing missing is "Operators are Standing By"

Hi Fred,

You wrote - "With all due respect to Win's expertise, this is more like an informerical than an informational post from a vendor. Lately some of these SEO posts have become more of a "I can do anything better than you can" from a few SEO vendors."

Sorry if you thought that was an "infomercial". ;-) But I think you may have missed my point in responding. In the first post on this thread, it said, "A lot of agents consider SEO to be smoke and mirrors, and are unwilling to address it with an investment of time and money." I can't tell if you share that opinion or not by what you wrote. I responded to the first post in order to recount just the opposite - well optimized web sites with good SEO can bring in thousands of dollars in brokerage fees to their site owners. And I think Suzanne was doing the same in her response. I just happened to use the experiences of some of my own clients as examples because I know first-hand about many of their very favorable results due to SEO positioning.

Can the experiences of my web clients be duplicated over and over again? Of course... whether you ever use me or not. Can it be done with a template site rather than custom one? Maybe... depending of how much SEO capability is included in the template's structure. Some allow it, but many do not.

What you may not know is that I teach "Internet Marketing" for Virginia Continuing Education credit for REALTORS here to our 11,000+ members at the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS - where I have been a member for 33 years. I am happy to share what I have learned for a site to be successful with any one of my fellow REALTORS here, or anywhere in the country. I know precisely what a site owner needs to do to achieve some of these same levels of success for their own site. Since I love to talk (I never knew a REALTOR who didn't), I would be happy to converse with anyone here on RealTalk for FREE about the topic. You may have to do the work yourself after our discussion or perhaps hire someone to do it for you, but the steps it takes are quite simple and straight-forward. Follow them, and you too will achieve more success from the Internet.

Other members here can attest that I have even phoned them out of the blue to give them some tips about their site with no expectation that they would use my services at all. I know there is enough business out there for all REALTORS who are serious about Web marketing. And I have also learned throughout my real estate career, "Give... and you will receive." So I am happy to share what I know with my peers.

Win

************************
Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Summit Web Design
(703) 536-7631
wins@summitweb.com
http://Summitweb.InternetCrusade.com
an Internet Crusade Approved Vendor
"Custom web site design that gets results!"
************************

Robert wrote,
 

Will Mike what is the verdict? Is your SEO doing what it's optimized to
do? Are you at the closing table more often than some others? This is a
highly competitive business. Everybody is looking for key positions. We
are all trying to optimize our presents to capture the consumer hoping
to close. Will Mike what is the verdict? Is it working or is it not? If
it is, WHAT ARE YOU DOING DIFFERENT THAT THE THE REST OF US ARE NOT! If
NOT, then what are you doing that's causing the rest of us to question
the value of WEB PRESENCE ($)? As I understand the evidence, the reason
that 80% of all consumers go online to find their brass ring is because
they are Independent and they would rather do it themselves. That sounds
rather counter productive if you ask me as far as agency relationships
are concerned. It seems to me that the Internet is a place you can find
((information)) without the nauseating interruption of a pesky Realtor.
So what is the verdict Mike, is all this IDX and nauseating
"repositioning" of our future really panning out. Or is this the same
old crap just in a different package that lines the pockets of the
AFFILIATES?
 

Greg says,
 

I can't answer for Mike but I started my website in the mid 90's and it
has made well over $1,000,000 for me in that time. What am I doing
different? I don't whine about about how things are changing. I don't
blame everything and everyone around me for my lack of success. I
grabbed that bull and I made him work for me. If anyone wants to have a
successful web presence, everything you need to know is available on the
net for FREE. Google is your friend, learn how to use it and you will
learn how to make it work for you. It is not rocket science. If you
don't have the time then pay someone to do it for you. For clarification
sake, I am not a gen xer. I have 2 grandchildren and have been selling
real estate since 1989 so if I can do it anyone can.
 

Robert, I notice you don't have much, if any, web presence, so you
really have no authority to condemn something that you know nothing
about. Yes, consumers like the ability to search for homes without us
pesky realtors bothering them. Can you blame them? If you give them that
ability there is a good chance they will use you when the time comes to
look at houses and they all look at houses before they buy. They always
have and they always will. So some of us agents, the ones keeping up
with the times, are not in any danger of going away. The agents, like
you, who want to rest on their laurels and complain about the rest of us
are on the way out. You know this because I can feel your pain in all of
your rantings on this forum.
 

Yesterday I showed houses to a past client who found me on the internet
10+ years ago. He is now looking to take advantage of this market and
purchase an investment property. He asked me for a stack of my cards to
hand out, so the old ways still produce. My wife and I have had 8
closings from my website so far this year and our weekends are booked
with clients through the month of July which is typically our slow season.
 

So Robert, my verdict is, you lose and I win.
 

Greg Cremia
Shore Realty
http://www.outerbankshome.com

While I am on the subject, why does everybody give up so quick? There
was a post about how the HAR website got 49% of the traffic so there was
no reason to try and compete. What about the other 51%? What's wrong
with that traffic? I did a search for "houston real estate" and after
the HAR site it was full of directories and r.com.
 

R.com is one of the easiest sites to beat. R.com and the directories
are there only because no one is going after them. If your competition
on the internet is r.com then you won't have a hard time beating them out.
 

Nothing worthwhile comes free and easy. You either have to work hard or
spend money. There are no free websites that will consistently make you
money. Over the 13 years my site has been running I have spent way over
$50,000 advertising and managing it. This was the best money I ever
spent. I am always on the lookout for more ways to spend money on my
site because the ROI is so huge.
 

Your site does not have to be number one to make you money. Sites on
page 2 and 3 still get leads. Don't give up and don't be afraid to
spend/invest money on your future.
 

Greg Cremia
Shore Realty
http://www.outerbankshome.com

Fred wrote - "With all due respect to Win's expertise, this is more like an informerical than an informational post from a vendor. Lately some of these SEO posts have become more of a "I can do anything better than you can" from a few SEO vendors."
Win responded: Sorry if you thought that was an "infomercial". ;-) But I think you may have missed my point in responding. In the first post on this thread, it said, "A lot of agents consider SEO to be smoke and mirrors, and are unwilling to address it with an investment

While I haven't used Win Singleton's services (yet), I intend to do it. I have a Home.com site ( www.judysepac.com ) and he was kind enough to check it out for me and also give me some "free" advice. At the time we spoke, I wasn't able to go forward, but soon will be. He followed up with me and was very open about what he could do and the costs associated with doing what I wanted.

When I read his post, I didn't take it as an advertisement at all. I think he was just pointing out that he (or someone in that line of business) COULD make a difference. Just my opinion, after having several conversations with the man (his dime, not mine.) I consider my web site a work in progress...and its at least 10 years old now!  Judy Sepac  (St. Louis, MO Metro area)