Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
These are tough times for the real estate professional. There's no need to regurgitate just how tough. What is needed is some clarity about what is happening, some idea, some indicators so that Realtors and their clients can make better choices. What we are seeing is a shift in the business world, and those who cannot adjust to this shift will quite frankly be left out in the cold. Let me explain and give some examples.
One of America's biggest real estate towns
Using digital technologies as tools, the Internet for sales and marketing, mobile communications to speed our every thought into the sphere of other people, all this is old news. However, the news that has not captured everyone's attention yet - well, this news is about competition. I got your attention didn't I? Your competition, especially during tough economic times, could very well bury you - that is, if your business does not have your market, your endeavors in it, do not have your undivided attention. This is something most business people already know - fear a bit in their gut - but sometimes do not want to admit.
Taking this idea, this reality, to the next logical step - your agency, your past basking in property sales glory, could disappear in an instant. For many, I am sure this has already happened. Using as an example, Chicago's market - let's look at some businesses there through a sort of "digital crystal ball" - a possible indicator of the strength or weaknesses of Realtor's there. Digital engagement is, after all, often a good indicator of brand and public engagement. At the end of this little assessment, I will ask a very pertinent question - the answer to which your business is going to have to answer.
Agent of the Year 2006 could be selling pencils next year
If we take a look at Google's main search pages for what are known as "key phrase queries" it's fairly easy to find the businesses most prevalent in engagement of people via the Internet. This is true whether those businesses "buy" their position, or obtain it organically. Discounting the massive SEO impact of sites like Realtor dot com, and other broad reaching "services" - looking at individual realty companies provides great indicators - here are five with suggested variables.
Baird & Warner is clearly the most respected, most visible, and after a bit of scrutiny on my part - most digitally aware of Chicago's real estate companies. For over 150 years this Chicagoland real estate giant has dominated the space. And just as clearly, given today's evaluation, they dominate the digital landscape as well. We need not get into this company's history here - it is the future of real estate in Chicago, and across the country we are interested in.
Getting down to the "brass tacks" here, Stephen W. Baird is (I believe) the 5th generation of Baird's to head this company. As a digital brand the company is in the first position for any reasonable search. Their website, while not my style, is cutting edge - tailored, professional, it exudes credibility and capability. Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Mobile, rich media, you name it - Baird & Warner invested in providing it. And their "real engagement?" Let's say they did their work here too - Baird & Warner does more than shout at the world. There is value offered to gain conversion. This press release tells the tale, the company's website has already been judged cutting edge.
Take note of John and Stephen Baird lower left - brand is pride too
Rising Realty is the second result for most searches on Google. And here, I am going to be as gentle and kind as possible. Menash Zadik, Co-founder of Rising looks like a good guy. Just how the website got into the top ten of Google results? Well, this is a mystery. The site is not so bad really, but in all honesty even the agents look as if they just walked in off the street. I think that even "every man" would like to think his or her agent is a professional.
As a brand, as a marketing tool, as a symbol of who you are and what your business can do for customers - nothing is more critical than perception. I will leave off further assessment here. Rising Realty must have issues we know nothing about.
Of the five companies evaluated here, Rising's site gets the least traffic (no one basically) -
Rising's landing says; "Please call for more information"
Koenig & Strey Real Living is a bit down the list beneath the cookie cutter Coldwell Banker and other national insertions. Company President Doug Ayers appears to be abreast of digital trends, and Mark Pullinger, Vice President of Media, Marketing & Technology at one point put in place a fairly nice integrated strategy apparently. Sadly, something seems to have stopped or reversed this company's forward momentum - probably budgetary concerns (economy)?
Suffice it to say Koenig & Strey appear to be resting on the laurels of their Christie's affiliation at the moment, at least where online home sales are concerned. This is a shame, as they spent a good deal of money on their website and to initiate digital communications. See my end comments and "the question" on this one.
Koenig & Strey bread and butter - luxury homes via Christies and networks?
Prudential Rubloff Properties is at position number seven for the query "Chicago Realtors" - but a query for "Chicago Real Estate" actually tells more. Rubloff is nipping at the heels of Baird & Warner, at position two here. It's pretty simple to see why too - the company has spent a bundle battling B & W apparently. Facebook to Netvibes, and YouTube, even way beyond, this company is competing (since 1930 evidently). The company even has an up to date blog, something the others seem negligent about.
Arthur Rubloff, the founder of this company, would be proud on the one hand, and maybe a bit disappointed on the other. If there is one flaw in Rubloff's formidable online brand it is lack of a face. The partnership of Howard Weinstein and Tom Horwich, who bought the residential side of the business back in the 90's, and the merger with Prudential - leave the visitor with a bit of a coolness - there is no one to identify with.
CEO Chris Eigel needs to get someone to spread his nice smile all over this site (or a new one) - Rubloff needs to put a smile where their money is, or they will never catch the leader.
An additional note - using Yudu for refined media to show properties, while adequate, shows the original landing as being a bit chopped up. Sort of like one of those houses people added onto until they became downright tacky. Besides the clinical feel of the Rubloff site, there is this component. Suggest new site design.
Prudential Rubloff landing - who is that dog licking?
@properties says they are Chicago's No. 1 real estate brokerage. Well, they were named as one of the Inc 500 fastest growing companies in America. Founder/owners Michael Golden and Thaddeus Wong at the very least knew how to grab a domain name. A tailored site design, with very nice elements, probably would have done nicely during the dot com era too. Tailored executive profiles - some useful information - inventive ways to connect you to your (their agents) - this does not a surging digital brand make. Let me quote from Co-Founder Michael Golden's about:
"Based on a shared vision for a real estate company that would set the precedence for superior service and professionalism, Michael Golden has created a new real estate brokerage model for the 21st century. Along with @properties co-founder Thaddeus Wong, Golden has built a multi-billion-dollar real estate business from the ground up by raising the bar of professionalism in residential real estate, and employing modern technology to manage high sales transaction volume."
Who wrote this? Unless the 21st Century Realtor goes back to chiseling their property announcements in stone, it occurs to this humble web dignitary BS just replaced shoe leather here. Sorry, just read the summary. How this agency got in the top 10 Google results is mystic. Probably via adwords?
A blurry multi-million dollar listing?
The method used for this evaluation is obviously not so scientific. If the reader notices Google listings above or in between those shown, this is for good reason. The large national and international so-called "cookie cutter" entities have massive SEO efforts or adwords campaigns in place, pushing them up in the rankings. So I omitted them. Another thing should be made clear here too - I personally, and our company as well, want these companies to succeed. This is a critique for this purpose only. Now on to that pressing question - the one dealing with competition.
"Why would anyone consult with, or any home seller list, a home with anyone but Baird & Warner?" When a clear winner is so evident, all things being equal, who in their right mind would be so altruistic as to trust another agent? Remember I talked about competition? Well, digitally, or in the bricks and mortar world, this is the inevitable fate of every professional reading this. Is your coffee better, or do your office chairs comfort the butts of your clients better? What is your differentiating advantage? Price? I don't think so.
Arguing with this logic is a sure sign of impending doom folks. The digital world is a reflection of the real one. Any company that cares less for their own name and brand - is quite simply a dinosaur - hovering on the brink of the tar pits. I just covered The Flintstones of Pittsburgh at our Everything PR News site - in disbelief at how low Pittsburgh's realty biz has sunk. Now we are in Chicago and find similar engagement? The moaning and gnashing of Realtor teeth should cease and professionals should get busy. More later.
hello there and thanks on your information ? I've definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did then again expertise some technical points the usage of this website, since I skilled to reload the website a lot of occasions prior to I could get it to load correctly. I were brooding about if your web host is OK? Now not that I'm complaining, however sluggish loading cases occasions will often have an effect on your placement in google and could harm your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I'm including this RSS to my email and can glance out for a lot more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you replace this once more very soon..
Amazing break down here Aidan! I thought it was really interesting that your first case study showed up a .info with a high first page ranking when I was working on a .info for over a year and sniffed page one just one time! I agree that its probably an exception and not the rule!
Phil, well written article however we at RE/MAX have the #1 web site next to REALTOR .com,Yes it is on a national basis but what about the fact that RE/MAX list and sells more real estate than anyone else in the Chicago land area. I would think that if nothing else you would give us honorable mention as opposed to being totally snubbed in your article.
@Terry, There are a couple of reasons why my "localized" real estate evals do not include national so called "cookie cutter" websites. Not the least of these is that the traffic numbers will be skewed because of the national domain (URL). So I would be comparing apples to oranges in a way. Secondly, if I evaluated the national sites, the situation in assessing local real estate agencies would be worse, especially in the case of Remax, which has the absolute worst web footprint of any of the major players. I need not get into this here, but even Century 21 has better website templates.
Now as for Remax selling more real estate? I cannot dispute this, obviously. I think what those of you not satisfied with my assessment should focus on is not what you are good at, not whether or not you got a cheap mention on RealtyBiz, but the business you may have lost because your digital engagement and branding is all wrong. Even Baird & Warner will never know how many hundreds of homes the DID NOT sell from their website or Facebook, etc. I call this "irretrievable lost opportunity" - and if you think about it, I cannot be wrong here.
I do not want to sound contrite Terry, but your business is selling houses. It should be about improving, rather than getting idle praise because you belong to a larger organization (which may in fact be worse off than you know - food for another article). I am doing these reports to help you guys, believe it or not.
All the best
Always,
Phil
I totally forgot that Walter Payton worked with us!
Very thorough and well-thought out study. I enjoy reading this. It is about time someone do as in-depth study as yours on the realtor's websites.
Phil,
While it is true that the B&W site generates a lot of hits, and it looks terrific, as a B&W agent I can also tell you that it generates very few leads, if any, for their agents. B&W invests a lot of $ in their site and also in syndicating our listings all over the internet. But I don't see any results from those efforts. Here is one example, they syndicate to Chicago Tribunes Home Finder system. My listings received 328 search impressions so far this month, which resulted in 16 people looking at detailed page impressions, and 2 people pulling up driving instructions/maps. No email leads, no phone calls, nothing. In the past 12 months with an average of 8 listings at any given point in time, I've only had ONE inquiry that came from B&W's site, and one from Trulia (one of the sites they syndicate to). I get more calls from my signs than that! B&W has a beautiful on-line store, but everyone is just window shopping. I like working at B&W and they do a lot for their agents, but I think that the site should do more for us. There is no call to action!
@Walter, thanks for stopping by, and for this valuable info too. Of course it is not surprising. B & W, while at the top for Chicago real estate presences - still does not have enough activity to justify a good ROI. In fact, conversions in these economic times will likely not produce good margin. That being said, directed messaging is the more powerful of the digital strategies now I think. Tri-messaging and engagement of targets on Facebook, with news, and basically rounding up the home-buyer herd and heading them back to the ranch - a goofy metaphor for channeling the few home seekers in Chicago (relative) to the hub or office phone.
The long and short of it? 328 impressions on the Tribunes' Home Finder is a understandable - it sucks. For one thing, the drill down on searches for a 3/2 under 600,000 take the user to map oriented UI/selection - you just lost the "Hollywood" and unless the user is a geographer like me (or very map centric) they went away (maybe some bought houses?) 328 peeps interested in Chicago houses for some reason, typed (ugh) in a search query, went to the Chicago map and said bye bye.
I won't go farther into social and other marketing strategies here - our stock in trade and all - but just because one or more aspects of B & W's digital strategy are good, does not mean total success of support for agents like you. I thank you for sharing this information Walter - we will soon offer some cutting edge tools as a sort of "easy" button for agents and agencies. I will leave you guys with this bit of cannon fodder - really integrated strategies are the key here (even beyond Tri-Messaging) - so begin by reading this primer (PDF).
Always,
Phil
I have been a Realtor in Chicago for 25 years. I have worked for Coldwell-Banker, Prudential, Koenig & Strey and a small company that is no longer in business. I go where they treat me and my clients the best. I expect a lot from companies I work for. I can unequivocally state that Baird & Warner and my Gold Coast Managing Broker, Rick Drucker, have served me and my clients the best by far and the clients keep coming back...some many times. There is no comparison. I went to see previous clients of mine Saturday, because they are starting the process of going on the market... and there they were on the B&W web site, without any prompting from me...they think it is a great site...very easy to navigate and find what they are looking for.
Over the years brokerage company reputations go up and down. Baird & Warner is at the top now and from I can discern and my continuing experience with them, they plan on staying there.
Thanks for stopping by Diana. Based on the response I got from B & W, your assessment seems correct. Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Always,
Phil
We'll, I was deep in a Kung Fu Panda movie, and I doubt Mike drove in from Winnetka on a Saturday night, so I think you got under the skin of one of our agents. We cover each companies market share in our monthly office meetings so everyone is aware of how we are doing as well as our competitors. And, we are very proud of our agents success, the volume of real estate that they sell, as well as the number one market share which they hold.
Please don't take the offense personally, you are very direct in your style so I am sure that some readers may feel offended as well as the need to defend. At a minimum, you have sparked one of our agents interest, which is a good thing.
I enjoyed your article and found your research and conclusions both accurate, well written and interesting. You are obvioulsy well educated in your field and I appreciate anyone who is willing to call it like they see it and act in the common good of our industry. You have added one more user, and I will not only sign up for your news releases but consider consulting with you as suggested.
Although I don't agree with how "Jay" phrased it, I would ask you to consider your conclusions compared against the annual sales, per the MLS, of each company's search performance you reviewed. Both K&S as well as Prudential outperformed B&W. And @properties Chicago sales almost tripled theirs. My point to this is that when you end your article with the question, "Why would anyone consult with, or any home seller list a home with anyone but B&W," it seems like you are basing everything on a companies search results, which as you mentioned have a ton to do with their facebook, twitter and linkedin pages. I don't disagree in the value of what you are speaking to, but insinuating that is the end all be all of home sales is a lot, and I don't think everyone will entirely agree. There will always be different opinions on where time and revenue should be invested, but at the end of the day a common way to measure the success of those decisions is closed sales. If one company keeps coming up first in a search but cannot gain market share, there have got to be other components which are coming into play. If I always came up first when someone typed in Tall Dark and Handsome, unless I invested in some serious surgery, I would still be 5'8", not too dark and only my Mom has consistently said that I was the best looking boy in the class.
Again, thank you for your article and energy and I look forward to meeting with you.
Thad-@properties
@Thad, Thanks for stopping in and clarifying a bit. I do appreciate it very much. I also understand having people ready to defend and to want fairness - this is the very best thing as you already know. I hope you guys will excuse my lack of patience. 35,000 or so articles and a million comments later - my once bright an shiny diplomacy armor has grown a bit tarnished - no one, least of all me, figured that would happen Thad.
I will gladly adopt the methodologies you suggest for more empirical metrics Thad, and this is a very good suggestion. Not making excuses, but in this article, "perception" was the defining variable any way though. The question "why" in this particular case carries weight for that reason. The point I was making helps everyone if they understand that my intention is not to harm. You guys (and I say this because I am not a Realtor myself) can ill afford to lose one customer - this is true in all business. I tend to aim a lot at what I call "the lost opportunity cost" of doing business online. I am sure you are with me there.
Any way, I too look forward to talking with you. To helping one another do a better job, be more successful, and in learning ways in which to - at the end of the day - be proud of what we accomplished. As a last note, I apologize for my edgy comments before Jay - it is actually not my nature. As professionals though, we do not have the leisure of taking too much for granted these days. Let's get to work building I say. Thanks again Thad.
Always,
Phil
Dear Phil,
As a long-time Naperville agent, and a long-time MAC tech person, I think that your assessment of our company website is accurate.
I wonder if you did this comparison with the suburban companies how different it would be. I do understand that many companies are part of their national websites and therefore, comparisons are impossible.
I also find it interesting that Rising came up so high. Black hat magic, perhaps?
I'd love to post this...anyway to add a share button?
Thanks,
Eileen
@Eileen, Thanks for the comment, a bunch. As you already know, metrics can be made to say just about anything Eileen. As a PR too, and looking through the news every day, I see this award or that - the top this the best that - based on numbers that have been juggled and spun, in the end it is the perception of people that weights the final balance. Why does someone pick Coke over Pepsi? I think the brand and the weight of all the PR has taken its toll on Pepsi - at least this is part of the equation.
As for the buttons - we are working on a lot of refinements ourselves here. This news outlet is only a month old and it has already passed 90 percent of the sites in this space. Next week, I expect it will be indexed in Google News, which will lead to it passing another several thousand. The reason I mention this is - we cannot add a bunch of script or widgets before ensuring our code and other variables are in place and near perfect. (There's $20,000 in consulting advice for you guys).
Please Eileen, always let us know your ideas and thoughts - we are actually here to help you all. The concept of that is not so hard to visualize 🙂 Thanks again for your kind comments and insight gal.
Always,
Phil
Good Job Phil, Baird and Warner needs as much help as they can get. Take the time to see how their market share has shrunk to fifth in the city after their climb in exposure online. With such online dominance how could any company be shrinking in market share and pure relevance in the residential market of our city. That would be a great next article, "How a company with such online dominance can go from leader to almost extinct in five years."
@JayCutler, Thanks Jay (Go Bears). Did you drop into the offices at @Properties to shoot me a nasty comment, or do you really work there? I could not find your name anywhere, even with the powerful search mechanism Michael and Thad have provided users (Is that you Michael? Thad?). The thing I did not put too much emphasis on in this article, and an issue I will soon rectify is, all of you lost half your business or more - since your buddies on Wall Street screwed you. There is, you know, a direct correlation it appears, between your relative success and your users online - for most that is.
I wonder if you consider just how bad it looks, how it affects your brand to come and do a "nah nah nah nah nah" dance in our comments? Of course not, you guys could care less about online - it would serve you just as well to go back to having the secretary run that newspaper ad again. I can feel the tension, almost hear the door on your offices squeak from lack of use when the mail man walks in. Instead of coming here to chastise me, you probably should be asking my advice.
I hate to be a bit curt here, but I decided that RealtyBizNews will always cut to the chase unlike our PR, marketing, travel and tech news sites. So, I decided I do not like your attitude. I did not make your web presence suck, you did. As for Baird and Warner, they could be operating out of the washroom of the Salvation Army for all I know, but they engage over 40,000 peeps a month with their site (down by almost half since the bomb).
Any way, I hope you take my comment in stride Jay - maybe be constructive a bit. This is how I intended it, only with a bit of tough love.
Always,
Phil
Any reason you left out Dream Town? Dream Town always seems to be on top of their internet technology. Their website is always on top of google searches and averages about 40,000 hits a month (from compete.com). I know they do a lot of PPC, but they do well organically also. For a smaller broker, they seem to do fairly well on the web. What is your opinion of Dream Town and their website/technology?
@William, Thanks for stopping by William. Yes. Depending on which search query the user chooses, Dream Town either does not appear in the results, or they are down the ladder beneath almost all those mentioned. As you suggest however, the company has made efforts to be visible - traffic to their site is actually roughly the same as B & W. A little digging would show it coming from either social campaigns, or other than SEM I suspect. Like you say - PPC too.
As for their site, at first glance it seems "middle of the road" to me. Looking as I type this - one sec - beside being dog gone ugly - it is very functional. I will do a white paper on this aesthetic soon, but basically the top dog should do all the homework UI to pretty. Founders - Yuval Degani's and Avi Ron's faces add to the space - if their profiles were composed by a PR or Marketer - a techy one I would say - could be wrong there. (look for the term "integrated" from preppy tech press release writers)
Twitter for these guys seems a casual broadcasting pass time, the ratio of follows to followers is too wide. They talk but do not listen much in my view, typically marketing. As for their Facebook involvement, again very active with over 1000 fans, but a bit broadcasty here too. If it's gonna be all business, this is fine, but don't talk about being part of any conversation. Dream Town's YouTube channel here, is actually super for anyone looking to buy a house.
The company blog carries the site's overall mediocrity aesthetically. Forgetting about all those peeps out there not visually impaired is not the best thing. The author here, Bob Billimack, is obviously a big asset though. Offering up useful and timely info to customers is crucial for any professional online interjection now.
Last observation, the listings here are pretty nice, good user interface and simplicity mix. I like to see the places I spend 400 grand on before I even think about calling a suit to sell me them. So, larger images or use of one of the listings apps off site? Whatever it takes to cover all the bases. If I sound overly critical and sharp here William, brother all professionals had better wish I am - competition in the future will bowl over the timid.
I want to thank you again, not only for coming to comment, but for suggesting this alternative. If these guys would hire an SEO and SEM campaign, I expect I would have found them without too much trouble - NO trouble is the winning answer you know? After all, if someone with 70,000 hours on these machines cannot grab your link, it'S not good.
All the best, and holler at us any time
Always,
Phil
HI Phil,
A lot of the real estate people here in Chicago have been part of one or more of these companies over time. We are all connected by an interweaving of relationships thru transactions and frienships, and being part of that dynamic, it is nice to get a tech view from someone on the outside!
With our business models and tech changing faster than a hurricane, not to mention the complexity of the mortgage market and distress from the economy, I thought this was a very helpful article to see what the public thinks is important to be competitive! Thanks so much for your insights
Jody
@Jody, I appreciate so much your feedback too. Your sense about this article is spot on too. We have on our team several brokers who are quite expert at the industry methods, but my own approach will always be from the standpoint of the consumer. You don't need a real estate guru to tell you how to tune your car, but the guy that tunes your car may have gone through 10 closing ceremonies or he/she could have had a lawyer Dad....
It is interesting that I have already had a few emails on this - a short of behind the scenes - great agents having done their job all over the Chicago landscape. Any way, tank you again and perhaps you guys would like to contribute as guest authors here? Be well, and come again.
Always,
Phil
Like John D, love this! I put up a post "Love Letter to My Office" about two weeks ago. It's the bookend to "digital leader". Stop by if you're ever out in St Charles!
@Leslie, Thanks so much for commenting. I would love to read your post too, I will search for it and maybe quote you too. And as for St. Charles, I appreciate the offer and will of course. Best, and please stop in more.
Always,
Phil
Interesting article. Intersting omission of Coldwell Banker. If you do any Compete.com run with CB in it, there is clear dominance of CB over B&W or any of the other sites.
I like B&W's site a lot, but I think skipping over CB was a mistake...
@karen, Thanks for stopping by. I mentioned the omission of CB in the article I believe. The reasons I omitted them are actually complicated. I will explain some things you may not know. First, Coldwell Banker's domain is a collective one. In other words, Compete does not differentiate between Coldwell Banker (the national hub website) and the Chicago entity which uses the "so called" cookie cutter site and sub-domain. Ergo, their traffic numbers where Chicago real estate are concerned are meaningless.
Secondly, in general, the Coldwell Banker site is a mess to navigate and for the purposes of this report - again useless. The Coldwell site in Chicago demands that the user search for a broker in order to figure out who the heck is in charge Karen. You may not know, but my job for the world's most noted tech publications these last several years has been to analyze and evaluate startups and websites. I hate sounding my own horn, but after beta testing or writing analysis for five or six thousands of sites - not to mention consulting on hundreds more - I qualify as a pseudo-expert at least.
I hope my brief explanation makes sense. Someone is always left out in these types of analyses. Tens of thousands of articles later, each-and-every-time any sort of list is done - little Johnny at the back of the room is left still standing with his hand in the air. Coldwell is lucky I did not showcase their mediocrity. Actually, one of my best friends in the world was President of Coldwell in Charleston SC, an extraordinary company - and with massive resources too - another reason for them to diversify into online excellence.
Please come back Karen, and again I sincerely appreciate you taking your valuable time to voice your opinion. Just to show how fair I am. I will do a comparison between Coldwell Banker and B&W on our Everything PR News site later today.
Always,
Phil
Phil - Insightful, well thought out article! I've been in the business since 1990 and thing your comments are spot on!
@John, Thanks so much for stopping by. I just call them like I see them honestly. Not rocket science. You guys are light years ahead of the competition when it comes down to it. Again, thanks for taking the time to comment John.
Always,
Phil