Throwing out the "who's a real estate buyer or seller" question to a crowd of people could get you a prospect, or even a commission. Unfortunately, there aren't many of us who get an opportunity to do this, unless we're really brave and shout it out in the supermarket.
Then we move to marketing our real estate business, and we spend a lot of money on this crowd approach:
- Newspaper ads that go out to the entire newspaper readership.
- Magazine ads that also get pushed to many, but who knows...?
- Websites that sit there and hope somebody stumbles across them.
Of course, if we could yell it out in the supermarket, and we had the nerve to do that, we could target our audience a little better with something like "Who wants to buy or sell real estate in the Richmond Hill area?" Consider the odds that someone will drop their lettuce and race down the produce aisle to say "I'm so glad I found you!"
We don't do any better when we buy an ad in the print or broadcast media that is pushed out to tens or hundreds of thousands, but only a tiny percentage see or read it, and an even tinier percentage are currently a good prospect. It's a lot of money for sometimes tiny results.
With a website, we can create pages for neighborhoods, and we can try to move up in the search engines for free, or even pay a buck or two for a click to get a visitor to one of those pages. That's at least better targeting than other media. But:
what if we could get someone to approach us with interest in a home in a certain city...or
in a certain neighborhood in the city...or
on a certain street...or
in a certain block on that street...or
dare we hope-for a certain address, and it's for sale in our MLS...or
dare we dream-it's OUR Listing!
Would you like to get site visitors who are interested in a particular home for sale? No problem.
They won't race down the produce aisle, but they'll come directly to your site, to the page where they can get information about that listing on Smith Street. How? Well:
- You can build several thousand custom web pages, one for each listing, and keep them up to date, OR
- You can get an MLS IDX search function that isn't framed, and resides on your website so the search engines can index the text for each listing.
If you're leaning toward item #1, get counseling. If item #2 got your attention, here is some proof that such a solution is available and it definitely works.
NinasDreamHomes.com
NinasDreamHomes.com uses a RealtySoft IDX solution that isn't framed. Most IDX providers give you code to "frame" the search function in your site. This places a "window" of sorts so that you're looking at the content of the search on your site, but that content is actually hosted somewhere else. In other words, the search engines don't see it at your site, so there's no indexing of all of that great content.
However, NinasDreamHomes.com uses an integrated IDX solution from RealtySoft, and all of the text of the IDX and all of the listings are actually hosted on her site. This means that Google sees and indexes it as being on her site. Within days of the setup of this IDX search function, Nina's traffic increased dramatically. Google analytics shows the site visitors starting at near zero and jumping to around 500 per day!
But, it could have been for some other reason, right? Wrong.
In this image we see that the top searches bringing visitors to the site are almost all specific address searches.
Lest you wonder about how this is happening, take a look at result number 4 and this screen shot from a Google Search on that address:
It seems that 10 people stood up and raised their hands to say they are really interested in real estate in the area, and particularly this listed property. You'll never get it done in the produce aisle, but it's a slam-dunk on your website with integrated IDX.
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About Jim Kimmons: Jim Kimmons, with more than 16 years experience as a licensed real estate agent and broker in 3 states, is a consultant to Realtors in how to use technology to market and manage their businesses. He has also written books and eBooks on Internet marketing and real estate. Jim is RealtySoft's chief evangelist and is a compensated regular contributor to the RealtySoft.com blog. |
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Thanks for the information. I have been working on this thru my MLS and Broker's web site. Have not gotten it up and running yet.
Excellent post Jim, love it!
Thanks Jim, Like many aspects of technology, finding the right solution is critical. I will research this IDX in more detail.
That is always a good question.
I had a buyer yesterday looking in my location and another state. We will see what happens
Thank you for the more detailed info.
Our Multilist offers IDX and we use it - you are right - it works! :) Thanks for your good information.
I have the IDX link framed in my website through our 21 online but i figured it would be ok since it was free. I guess I really don't see a point in it if Im only getting 3 or 4 hits per day. How much does it cost to keep it up and running on your site?
Jim, you present some very convincing evidence...I'M DEFINITELY looking into this program (just the idea that it might increase traffic is reason enough). Thank you.
So, Jim, what questions should I be asking my web development company? How do I know that what I have now is not the same as RealtySoft?
Bob,
You simply ask them where the IDX is hosted, on your site or theirs. In other words, is it a "framed" solution or does it reside in total on your site.
Jim
Hi Bob,
Peyman Aleagha here from RealtySoft.com. I just checked your website and you are good to go! Your IDX solution is fully integrated on your website.
If anyone else is interested in having us check your IDX integration, please post your website address here and we will check it out for you.
Cheers,
Peyman
Good point. I never really thought about how good the unframed IDX was.
Thank you Jim and Peyman!!
Thank you, Jim. Can you check out my website? www.thepropertysource.com
I have finally found what I think are all the right systems. I have been working on my website since 1998. There has been so much new time saving technology to make our livers easier.
Great information and impressive numbers for the featured website. . people w framed IDX are chained and bound to somebody else's website
Thanks for the info. It does all come down to conversions. I just got off the phone with 3 of the 4 people who signed up in my site in the last 24 hours. Two already have a Realtor and the other is "just messing around" andnot moving...or so they say.
Great info Jim, thanks
There is more than one channel on the real estate property listing dial. Blog posts, websites, videos, imagery shot targeted for this segment of the audience. To fine tune the media ray for maximum connection, engagement with the folks needing the matchmaking job, flirting to win a trip to another real estate closing. Not just vanila and chocolate for media flavors. If you sell more than homes, houses and if different price ranges for different lifestyles, hobbies, you need a marketing vehicle, more than one to deliver. Spin around the Global Village. Enjoyed your post. The days of two or three black and white Poloroid shots of a place with a generic one size fits out copy line or two are long gone. Get on the media wagaon, work your money maker. Shake and bake, but don't break it.
Great information, Jim. Unfortunately for me, RealtySoft doesn't cover my MLS throught the Northeast Louisiana Board of Realtors (NELBOR) in Monroe, LA. If you can do something about that, I'd be highly interested. Thanks for sharing.
This is information that I didn't even realize made that much of a difference on my website. Framed IDX versus RealtySoft. I'll have to research this a little bit more, thank you for the post!
Jim - I am presently woking on getting a non framed IDX onto my website. A very valid and cost effective way to make sure you are capturing your leads correctly..