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Real Estate Website Myths: BUSTED!
With the return of real estate this past year there have been website companies popping up left and right all offering the “best real estate websites” online. Despite the success of the internet as an advertising platform many real estate professionals still have preconceived notions on what can and cannot be done – much less what should be done – and unfortunately this can cause a lot of myths to be created and a lot of relationships to be destroyed.
We here at Tour Real Estate have had a singular focus for over the last decade: providing great, effective, real estate websites. So before lending an ear to the myths you’ve been hearing, or straight up falling prey to some fast talking smoke blower, consider these top real estate website myths and allow us to put your fears at ease.
A Website is Going to Change Your Life.
Uh, no. We stress this strongly in order to be fully up-front with our potential customers. A website is a tool. Nothing less, nothing more. If you do not use that tool by customizing it to your market, and advertising it to your sphere it is still fully functional but you simply can not expect to see amazing results. Like much else in life you get out of your website what you put IN to your website – this also means leveraging the visibility of your website by social and real world networking.
You Are Stuck With the Search MLS Provides.
In many systems this is true. It comes in pre-canned, framed in, and fairly awkward. The way we do things here at TourRE is a little different: We take the raw feed from MLS, reformat it, optimize it, and push it out to your website in a dynamic fashion. This allows us to provide custom searches instantly for out clients like: Today’s New Listings, REO Homes, HUD Homes, Searches by City, and just about any other criteria you will find in MLS itself.
The Free Site from my Brokerage Is Just as Good.
Big no to that. The old adage of you get what you pay for is true! That’s not to say you can’t have a free site and possibly even get some use out of it. A simple, free website is certainly better than no website at all. However we generally caution people to just be aware of what they are (or aren’t) getting as part of that deal. Most freebie websites offer very little customization or control – meaning that to your visitors and to search engines you look exactly like a million other real estate sites out there. What incentive does that give potential client to choose YOU?
Having a Website Takes Too Much Time.
You’re not a geek, you want to be moving real estate, not punching buttons – we understand that. No website is ever going to be brilliantly effective if you just set it and forget it, but thankfully our websites are very easy to get setup with very minimal effort. Once there the functionality of the site largely takes care of itself – your listings, your offices listing, and the entire MLS is automatically pulled into your site without any effort from you. We still recommend using the large number of additional marketing tools we provide at least once a week; for those who are really interested into taking their online presence to the next level we can gladly provide guidance and consulting.
It’s a Nightmare to Get Help.
Most other web companies are from out of state, and then have call centers in other countries. To even change your name or contact info you could be waiting weeks to even hear back from a tech. Tour Real Estate is proudly located in Idaho’s beautiful Treasure Valley. Our system allows you to control most every piece of text on your website; if you don’t have the time, or just can’t figure it out our customer service can’t be beat. We reply quickly and resolve issues fast. When you call us you’ll be talking to a real live person who can generally get your request taken care of immediately.
We excel at what we do because we care. We excel because we’ve chosen to focus on doing one thing, and doing that one thing very well, for over the last decade. If you’re unhappy with your current real estate web presence – or don’t yet have one – we’d love the chance to talk with you in order to show you how we can help you. Visit our website, or check out any of our social media portals below to find out more!
Social Media Tips for REALTORS®
The world of social media can be a daunting place. It’s hard to know who to believe, or even what works from what you research on your own. The way is wrought with fast talkers and smoke blowers ready to promise you the moon and stars – and hopefully you’ve not had your taste for social media spoiled by them. If you’ve heard the hype and seen the success stories and are ready to start making use of social media we’ve got a few tips to help you get on the fast track.
First, let it be stated that social media is not the silver bullet for all your website ails. It is merely another tool to apply to your overall digital strategy. It is not guaranteed to boost sales, traffic, or leads; at it’s very core is merely another advertising medium.
Social media isn’t marketing. It’s prospecting. It’s putting yourself out there. It’s making yourself known, and available. Social media allows your potential customer to find you and interact in a conversational way rather than via a promotional one. So it’s important to: Be Interesting. Be Relevant. Be Rememberable!
Not sure what to say to get the conversation part of things going? Listen first! Keep an eye on what topics are trending in your industry, locally, or across the country. Listen to what your customers are interested in, then get to work. Otherwise, you are just shooting in the dark.
Be Persistent. Social media success is made up of the things you do every day. Every day. That means you need to be in there posting, working the system, nurturing followers on a daily basis to see the best results. Considering many systems have algorithms in place to limit your visibility to fans post frequently is often the best way to insure your posts get seen.
Don’t make it all about real estate. Yes, you are REALTORS® yes, it is part of your job to advertise listings – BUT – one of the biggest mistakes we see real estate professionals doing in social media is posting nothing but links to their listings. Sure, it’s fine to link to that Just Listed property, but look at it from a potential fan (who may not even currently be in the buyers market)…are they going to be interested in seeing 15 posts a day that just advertise your listings…or would they rather enjoy more diverse content that might include local event info, home fix-it tips, or other information…? EXACTLY. So, make your content about more than just hyping that next listing.
Use pictures. Social media is a very visual platform, because we as humans are very visual creatures. Text based information posts are great but be sure to mix it up with some good visual content as well. Now, that doesn’t mean just post pictures – unless you are on Pinterest – but be sure to include pictures now and again, with some good “hook” language to describe the image.
Social media isn’t about selling to the people you’re connected with, it’s about connecting with the people you’re selling to. Keep the relevancy of your content focused on the interests of your fan base to see the most success; be sure to keep at it!
Lead Capture Counts: New Counted Logins!
As you may already know, your Tour Real Estate website comes pre-built with a few different login options: None, Soft (which allows users to skip registering), and Hard (which forces visitors to register). Each of these allows you to control how strict your registration access is when a visitor goes to view listing details.
Now you have one more option to choose from! Counted Logins! This great new feature acts as an in between for our other great choices. Basically it allows visitors to view up to 4 listing details pages before it forces them to register to view more. This is a great option to allow visitors time to navigate around your site before they must provide their contact details.
One more powerful tool added to your online arsenal to give you greater control over your website and it’s lead capture abilities — all at NO extra cost to you!
REALTORS: Does Your Website Need Help?
Our Websites Come in One Flavor: AWESOME!
We don’t fast talk or up-sell you with pricey packages you don’t need. We don’t lock you in to long costly contracts. We JUST deliver results.
For over the last decade Tour Real Estate has consistently provided the very best real estate websites and marketing tools available online. ALL of our websites are highly search engine friendly; come backed by powerful dynamic code which allows you to control your search engine visibility.
For less than the cost of a single print ad, or a few months of unreliable pay per click advertising you could have your own website online 24 hours a day 365 days a year showcasing your listings and services.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!
( that’s like 7.148 tweets if you’re counting! )
We founded our company on virtual tours; we still offer some of the best and most affordable real estate photography services in the area.
Better Photos = Better Sales. It’s as simple as that.
A REALTOR.COM survey showed that homes marketed with professional quality photographs sold for nearly 12% more than homes with bad or no images.
We Move Real Estate – and Our Office!
We’ve Moved!
Update your address books – we’re in a brand new office here in Meridian, Idaho! Same amazing real estate technology services in a great new location!
For over a decade Tour Real Estate has provided the very best online marketing for real estate agents in the Northwest; we continue that vision today.
We have many great developments in the works for the coming year and want to thank all of our customers who have enjoyed our sterling services so far – you have helped make us great!
For payments and meeting arrangements our NEW office is located at:
Tour Real Estate Inc.
1406 N. Main St. Suite 109
Meridian, Idaho 83642
Not a Tour Real Estate customer yet? Why not!?
We provide some of the best, most dynamic real estate websites available on the planet! More than just templated websites we also specialize in custom REALTOR® websites for individual agents and brokerages. Connected Socially? So are we! We love helping real estate professionals make the most of today’s popular social networks – visit our website today to get just a taste of what we have available.
Build Your Social Media Army
Social media is the fastest growing method for increasing your digital footprint and gaining exposure for your listings and services. More people begin their search for homes, and for qualified REALTORS® online than ever before. To reach this crucial market you need to be highly visible amidst the ever growing tide of real estate professionals online.
In a previous post (brokers) we discussed how TourRE’s powerful website system can help you get all of your agents main web portals connected to your brokerage for optimal online visibility. But even if by some horrible possibility you or your agents don’t have our real estate websites there is still much you and they can do to benefit from social media.
Here’s some tips to turn your agents into a social media army:
Ask them to LIKE and/or follow your company pages and profiles.
Ask them to LIKE, share, or comment on the things your company posts.
Ask them to share a link to the company website as a status update.
Ask them to invite their friends to follow your company pages/profiles.
If they have Google accounts make sure they visit your company site and give it a +1.
Encourage your agents to post their listings and links on the company social profiles.
Get your agents to write articles for the company blog.
Offering your agents special incentives for helping to bolster the brokerages social presence isn’t unheard of either, although in all honesty by them participating in the offices online success they are truly already the recipients of a reward all it’s own.
Social media interaction from individuals is one of the biggest ways to really see results online; these social signals are gaining importance in how search engines rank your websites – what’s more, through social media you are increasing real human interaction independent of the search engines help. Every agent online makes a difference and with just a little interaction on their parts you can potentially see immense returns.
Have questions about using social media for real estate? TourRE can help! We’re always glad to talk shop and we offer some of the most affordable social media management services online today!
Brokers: Get Connected
Interconnectivity is the key to unleashing the power of the internet. Search engine algorithms are mysterious and unpredictable, social media is yet too unproven for many to trust solely for return on investment. For those brokerages looking for a solution Tour Real Estate offers this simple example of how we can leverage the internet’s greatest strength to exponentially increase your traffic and digital exposure.
Build a Powerful Network
Despite algorithm changes authoritative incoming links are still KEY to ranking well in search results.
We can connect each of your agent’s own highly optimized individual websites to your main office hub, using diverse keyword anchors to create a powerful flow of traffic.
Create and Optimize
Duplication is death. Automation, anti-productive. Search engines want fresh content for the top sites they present and your visitors demand the best online tools and features. Neither will tolerate a website that is hard to use or that works poorly.
We can provide elegant eye catching designs to envelope the sleek technological functionality of your dynamic website with us and offer some of the most comprehensive marketing tools for real estate professionals available today.
Develop Your Digital Destiny
Regardless of if we like it or not, use it or not, social media has arrived and is one of the most powerful means of exposing your services and listings to a vast – and growing – audience. We believe taking part in the social conversation shouldn’t be something that has to be cumbersome; offer extremely flexible strategies from simple consultation to full hands-on management.
We’d love the opportunity to talk with you about preparing an effective plan to help you grow towards a successful future in real estate online – contact us today in order to discuss your ideas.
UPDATED Realtor Website Function: Social Links
Due to your requests we’ve now updated our social links function in our client toolbox. Originally designed to allow our user agents to easily link out from their main websites to popular social networks, this function has quickly gained popularity among our more tech savvy users who know the importance of having everything connected.
So what’s new?
Our most recent available social networks are Google Plus and Pinterest. If you have active accounts there that you are using you can now link out to them by simply pasting your profile url into the toolbox in the proper place.
What is Google Plus?
While the jury is still out, many people jokingly refer to Google Plus as the social network that’s not there. Well, it may not be quite there YET but it is well on it’s way. With Google moving it’s “Places” function into Google Plus “Local” the search engine giants new social network will soon be playing an even bigger role on how consumers find things locally. Combine that with it’s AWESOME video chat functionality called “Hangouts” and no one can argue that Google Plus is well poised to begin a social takeover.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is the hottest new social sharing site. Mainly consisting of images, video is also supported, this new network encourages users to find amazing things online and “pin” them to their own digital walls. As this network is almost solely visually driven it is not only extremely powerful ( if done right ) but also very easy to get lost in.
Are you a REALTOR® with questions about social media? Tour Real Estate can help you make sense of the online world, including today’s most popular social networks. With search engine rules changing every other day man experts are suggesting that a strong social presence may be the best way to insure a stable digital presence and maintain exceptional customer service online.
REALTORS: Think you don’t need a website…?
With the economy still in a sluggish state the cost of doing business seems like it’s at an all time high and this leaves many real estate professionals looking at whether they can afford to maintain their online presence, or if it’s even worth doing so.
The fact is that just having a website – even if you decide to “set it to flow and let it go” – has become almost EXPECTED if you are going to be in the business. Much the way business cards are still, or the way yellow book ads once were, so a website is today.
Now, it’s no secret, Tour Real Estate Inc offers some of the most powerfully dynamic real estate websites on the planet. Our sites feature full content control, social media integration, and multiple great listing marketing tools. But even if you choose to simply have us set up a website and you never touch it again ( which we really don’t recommend for the best results! ) there are a myriad of reasons to at least have a website.
Over 80% of potential home buyers and sellers begin looking online before they ever even think of talking to a REALTOR®. Much like the lottery, if you aren’t playing you have NO chance to win your share of this market.
Keep up with the competition. Just about every agent or office with any clout has finally gotten hip to the internet “fad”. To even hope to break even with your local competition you need to be online. Without at least the facade of technology on your side buyers and sellers are a lot less likely to take you seriously – or be able to even find you at all.
Better exposure. For your listings, for your services, for your clients homes! By having a website you are able to add one more visible place to present your listings, and to leverage potential sellers. The internet is recognized as one of the top ways to advertise and your clients know this. Would YOU hire a real estate agent that wasn’t using all of the latest available methods to help you when it came time to buy or sell?
Your Broker will love you. Did you know that by linking to your office website you are helping them gain better exposure online? It’s true! What’s more by having a TourRE website you can automatically display listings from your office, helping gain digital exposure for every single listing they have. Tell the boss we said they owe you lunch!
Expand your market. The internet is a global network. Your website is visible far beyond the local area you serve. By customizing our already powerful website functions you can expand your potential marketing reach to include people looking to relocate to your area. Add social media into the mix and you can exponentially increase this benefit.
Save time and money. A real estate website allows you to showcase your listings, your offices listings, HUD’s, Bank owned homes, and the newest listings with absolutely NO effort on your part. Those resources are there 24/7 for clients and potential clients to make use of. Having a site online allows you to turn even quick handshakes into possible leads – you may not have more than a moment to talk to someone but it’s always easy to say “Hey if you need to search for homes here’s a place where you can do it for FREE…”
But WAIT. Isn’t having a website actually COSTING me money? Well, yes it is, but how much more time and expense could it be saving you? Rather than having to hit the streets wasting gas, or spend cash on print ads, or spend time researching listings you can send clients to your site where they can find out all they need to know. When actively used as a marketing tool a website can free up countless hours of time and hundreds of dollars in costs. In addition, by having so much automated by your site you can provide a much higher level of service with nominal effort.
The list goes on but after these key points is there really any reason to question the fact? If you are in the business of real estate you need to be online.
TourRE is glad to be a part of the return of real estate! For over 10 years we’ve been at the forefront of real estate technology and are excited to continue to grow by helping agents and offices reach their full potential online. We offer a variety of services including templated and custom web designs, as well as social media management for REALTORS®, lead capture websites, virtual tours, and more. Contact us when you’re ready to get in the game, or, if you’re already playing along talk to us to see how we can improve your score!
REALTORS: Social Networking Success
The game has changed, but there’s still a lot to be said for a good name.
Technology has revolutionized the way real estate is done; this can both be your biggest challenge and your greatest asset. For a short while SEO alone offered a refuge for the small but determined individual, but with the recent changes to Google’s search algorithms the stability of those methods has come into question. While a firm foundation in solid search engine optimization is still the best place to start, in this increasingly competitive market you need a little more to get ahead.
Enter social media.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve heard about Facebook, Twitter, and some of the other big boys of the social world online. You are likely already using at least one of these type of networks for personal use. And you’ve heard of others using these systems to increase their real world interactions and to create more business – you may even have business account setup – but aren’t really sure what they’re supposed to be doing to help.
Here are some things to consider when evaluating your social networking strategy:
Social media success is a lot more than just a lot of icons on a page. Just having profiles setup on those sites really isn’t enough.
It’s called social networking for a reason. It works most effectively when all of the elements are interconnected and working together. It’s a fact, over 80% of all potential home buyers look online before they even think to start working with a REALTOR® and social media can help you improve your chances of being the one they choose.
More and more people these days will search and skip right past the first few results to see what returns show up from social networks. Many are even simply skipping a search engine altogether and searching directly ON the social networks in question.
The question is: what will come up when they search for YOU? Is what they find best serving your goals? If you’re not sure you may need to more closely examine how you are presenting yourself online.
You see, what shows up in those social results is just as important (maybe even more so) than the fact they show up at all. There is nothing more embarrassing or sad than clicking a link to a blog or twitter profile only to see “Last Updated, March 9, 2010″; the only thing close is to visit a profile and see nothing but the bare bones information or “coming soon” promise.
So the first best tip would be: if you’re going to have a profile on a social network USE IT. Make sure it is up to date – or if you don’t intend on updating it frequently make sure the content and information you put there will stand the test of time.
The last best tip would be: USE the social profiles you have. (sounds similar to the first tip doesn’t it?!) Social media, like your website itself, is just a tool and like any tool it can’t help you if you don’t use it. A $5,000 titanium alloy hammer will sit in the box and never drive a single nail if it is not used; the same thing applies to social media.
Social media can help you increase your digital footprint and gain more exposure for your website, listings, and services, but you need to make sure all your profiles are connected and presenting a consistent message.
Even in this technology driven industry word of mouth is still one of the most powerful ways to gain referrals and new clients. Social media is the digital form of word of mouth. If you are providing great content and maintaining interaction levels with your follower base you may soon be amazed at the fact that they are the ones driving the success of your efforts online as much as yourself.
By leveraging these networks and nurturing your audience you can in essence custom tailor the face you present to the world online. Isn’t it best then to make sure you’re wearing your best winning smile?
Have questions about using social media? Too busy to blog? Too tired to Tweet? We can help you understand social network marketing and even offer a number of social media management services for today’s progressive real estate professionals. Contact us to find out more!
