RealtyBizNews: Real Estate News & More » Web Marketing

Cutting Edge Web Technology Puts Search Realty Above the Rest in Toronto

Joe Heath — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:33:36 +0000

Search Realty Corp. is a leading real estate brokerage located in Mississauga, Ontario that truly focuses on savvy internet marketing. With over 100 different websites and totaling approximately 15,000 unique visitors and 135,000 Page Views per month, there’s no denying Search Realty has grown to be one of the most recognizable realty outlets around the Toronto region.

Search Realty’s home page

With between 83%-97% of home buyers starting their home search online (different studies have revealed varying results), it’s clear Search Realty’s goal was to target these potential clients and make their web presence known to nearly every possible real estate client in the entire Ontario area—and with a plethora of high-ranking and cutting edge real estate websites and a team of motivated, tech-savvy real estate professionals, it seems they have done just that.

But in addition to reaching the home buying client base, Search Realty is also known for being perhaps the best brokerage around for listing your home for sale as well. The massive internet presence Search Realty has created has allowed agents to advertise and showcase properties with the highest level of exposure to a targeted and relevant audience that will ultimately meet all of the seller’s demands. When selling a home, Search Realty knows how critical it is to operate in a reasonable time-frame and to get the best possible deal when negotiating your home’s price. And the best way to accomplish these items is to generate as much interest as possible through one of the most effective platforms for buying and selling real estate—the internet.

Currently, Search Realty Corp ranks #1 on Google.ca for key search phrases like Mississauga Real Estate, Mississauga Homes for Sale, Mississauga Condos for Sale, Toronto Condos for Sale, Oakville Real Estate, Oakville Homes for Sale, and dozens of other keywords and phrases that produces business. So if you’re a home-buyer in the greater Toronto Area, do yourself a favor and take advantage of all the state-of-the-art web technology Search Realty provides. Their primary real estate site, SearchRealty.ca, offers an advanced IDX with MLS Integration and is extremely easy to navigate. And if you’re a home seller, I think the decision on who to list your home for sale really couldn’t be easier. With potentially 15,000 new website visitors viewing your home each month, the question isn’t who should you list your home with, but rather why would you choose anyone but Search Realty?

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing/SEO Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

Chicago.com, Inc. Offers Simplistic E-Mail Solution at a Price

Joe Heath — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 06:40:26 +0000

I came across an interesting concept today and thought it was worth sharing. Many real estate agents today have their own website and are highly involved with web- and search-engine marketing. In fact, it isn’t uncommon anymore for some real estate professionals to even have several real estate websites in today’s tech-savvy marketplace, so of course having your own personalized e-mail address isn’t an issue for such web-based agents.

So what about the agents who don’t have a website–what are they using for an e-mail address? Obviously, whenever a brokerage hires new agents, a new e-mail address is provided to them. The problem, however, is that should agents decide to leave a brokerage, your e-mail address is also now gone and there’s always a chance former clients may lose touch.

To counter such issues, Chicago.com, Inc. has launched a new product that now allows agents and professionals in various other industries to invest in a new e-mail address that is easily remembered by customers and helps promote the city in which you currently do business. All you have to do is log onto Chicago.com, pick-out an available e-mail address such as joe@chicago.com, and create an account. And although it really is that simple, is it actually worth your time and money? Let’s take a closer look:

Pros to having a Chicago.com e-mail address

1) Easy to remember. As long as you’re able to secure an e-mail address that’s simple and easy to remember, this is definitely a positive aspect.

2) It’s permanent. When I say permanent, I of course only mean it as long as you keep paying your monthly, quarterly, or yearly dues. But as mentioned, should you change companies at any point during your career, this e-mail address stays the same.

Cons to having a Chicago.com e-mail address

1) Bad Branding. While Chicago.com, Inc may argue this is a great way to brand your real estate business, I would disagree. A marketing e-mail I received from Chicago.com, Inc read:

“Chaz Walters, Coldwell Banker, recently purchased chaz@chicago.com as well as the domain hotproperties.chicago.com. Thad Wong, CEO of @properties, and his wife Emily Sachs-Wong recently acquired thad@chicago.com and emily@chicago.com respectively. Six of the ten largest real estate companies in Chicago are customers of our product, including @Properties, Habitat Corporation, ESW Properties, The Pritzker Group, and many more.”

If I’m Chaz at Coldwell Banker and I just bought a new domain name, the obvious goal is to generate as much traffic to my site as possible, right? So why wouldn’t I want my e-mail address to include @hotproperties.chicago.com? Sure, it’s a bit longer, but I still want my web address to be included in anything and everything I do, which involves the dozens of e-mails I likely send out a week if I’m a real estate agent.

2) Creates Confusion. Aside from being a great communication tool, an e-mail address also defines who you are professionally. If I send a message to someone from my e-mail address, joe@realestatewebcreation.com, it shows that I either work for Real Estate Web Creation or am affiliated with that company in some way. If I’m not totally familiar with Chaz Walters’ business and I receive an e-mail or drip letter from him, there’s a good chance I might automatically think he’s with Chicago.com. If I’m a home buyer, I then might log on to Chicago.com to learn more about what Chaz can do for me or even search the Chicago real estate market. There’s only one problem: Chicago.com isn’t Chaz’s website and Chicago.com has nothing to do with helping find a new condo or rental around the Chicago area. There goes a potential lead.

3) Expensive. Chicago.com offers three separate e-mail plans: a monthly rate at $79, a quarterly rate at $199, and a yearly rate at $749. A 79 dollar per month cost for an e-mail address? Really? The average cost to host a website with an IDX is around $50 per month, so why not just start your own website and start branding yourself through your own domain name? Not only is this better branding, but as you continue to build your website over time, it will hopefully be generating some quality leads for you as well.

From a business perspective, I think this is a great concept from Chicago.com, Inc and will probably work for plenty of real estate professionals. Some real estate agents have such a broad client base that a lead-generating website with an e-mail address isn’t necessary. But is a Chicago.com e-mail address something I would have? In a word: No.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.

Content is King in Terms of SEO

Joe Heath — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:09:06 +0000

Today I’d like to talk about content for your real estate website. Quality content on your web site will never hurt you, and since the release of Google’s Penguin algorithm, it’s probably even more important now more than ever.

I know what you’re thinking. Writing content is time consuming and may not give you the results you’re looking for immediately in terms of traffic and incoming leads. This may be true, but retooling your content now will only set you up for long-term, sustainable success with your real estate website. The idea behind Penguin is to reduce spam and reward web sites that do all the right things and writing quality content with relevant keywords is arguably the most important aspect to a great website.

However, before you start cranking out fresh content, understand that quality content doesn’t mean spinning old content in a new way. What I’m talking about is totally new, re-written copy that is interesting, creative, and properly uses the keywords you’re using to hopefully get a good ranking among various search engines.

If you have a blog or a ton of web pages with already existing content, slightly changing up the words or the feel of the article isn’t going to accomplish much in terms of search engine optimization. Instead, I challenge you to get involved with each article and produce something that you can be proud of and share with all your friends, clients, and colleges. Because once you’ve published your new and improved content, sharing it via Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and Linkedin is the very next step.

Three Web Marketing Tips Every Realtor Should Follow

Joe Heath — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 08:41:03 +0000

When it comes to web marketing, there are a few common mistakes many real estate agents repeatedly make. More often than not, real estate agents who invest in a professional web site and search engine marketing automatically assume leads will start pouring in the second your site goes live.

But just like anything in business, web marketing takes time, a lot of hard work, and even more patience. And along with that, agents who genuinely take web marketing seriously should also take notice of three simple tips:

Focus your web site on buyer needs

Yes, visitors to your real estate web site care about whom you are, your specific expertise in real estate, and your past success with real estate in your market; but not right away. It’s fair to say most visitors coming to your real estate web site are searching for a home or condo, right?

So focus your web site on including unique search features, quality content about your area, and great blog posts about the local market, upcoming events, etc. Nine times out of ten, visitors will call you only after they’ve found what they’re looking for—not before. Give prospective home buyers what they want, rather than a biography about who you are.

Remember, it’s not all about lead generation

For most agents, a real estate web site is all about one thing: leads, leads, leads. And rightfully so; what’s the point to having a web site if you’re not using it to generate business? But once you’re getting leads, make sure to follow up on each inquiry in a timely fashion.

Lead management is equally as important as lead generation. On one hand, if you’re too busy to follow up with every single lead, the upside is that you’re likely making money. But failing to follow up with every lead coming into your site can have negative consequences long-term. If a serious buyer inquired about a property they saw on your web site and you never initiate contact, do you really think they’ll come back to you for future real estate needs?

Your strategy should be a combination of social media, content, and blogging; not just one or the other

One question we often get from real estate agents is whether to focus more on social media, frequent blog posting, or quality content on their site. And the simple answer is that you should be spending an equal amount of time on each. In actuality, each of these items should be intertwined. Sharing web content and blog posts on your social media accounts should build up your social following, but users are much more likely to follow you if they see your web site has quality content, photos, and has a great user-friendly feel.

Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to web marketing, but following these guidelines is certainly a good start. Once you have this down, then it’s time to start thinking about more advanced issues such as how to get a better ranking for various search terms with all the major search engines. But that’s another topic for another day.

Disadvantages to Real Estate SEO

Joe Heath — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:25:13 +0000

Many tech-savvy real estate agents know there are advantages to search engine optimization. Whether they’ve only heard of the term “SEO” or actually taken the time to read a little bit about how search engine optimization works, there’s little argument about how putting effort into web marketing will benefit your real estate business long-term.

A simple Google search will provide agents with hundreds, maybe thousands, of articles and blog posts detailing how search engine optimization is beneficial, what methods to use during the optimization process, and why it’s important to focus on in today’s real estate world.

But as with nearly anything, some might also say there are disadvantages to search engine optimization and attempt to make several arguments against SEO. So, what are those disadvantages? Well, in my opinion there’s a rebuttal for each potential argument against SEO, but to play along, I’ll list some of top disputes against search engine optimization:

SEO CALLS FOR CONSTANT, LONG-TERM UPKEEP

Yes, this is absolutely true; but in order to have success in anything we do, we must work hard to not only achieve that success, but to sustain it-SEO is no different.

SEO TAKES LOTS OF TIME

Also true; but if you invest in SEO and web marketing, all that time and effort will pay off, as you’ll eventually start to see increased traffic and more sales leads.

SEARCH ALGORITHMS CHANGE AND WE CAN’T CONTROL IT

Sure, Google and other major search engine change the way they rank websites and we often don’t know how or when it happens. But if you don’t embrace change and work your way through it, you won’t last long in any business, let alone real estate.

SEO IS UNMEASURABLE

To some degree this is true. Of course it’s impossible to say that appropriate keyword usage or correct Meta tags are getting your website a specific number of visitors (i.e. correct keyword usage on your homepage is driving 100 visitors per day). However, Google Analytics is extremely sophisticated and if you continue to SEO your real estate website the right way and begin to see significant increases in traffic, you will be able to quantify SEO’s value in terms of traffic statistics and data available within your analytics.

THE COST OF SEO IS TOO HIGH

Many agents don’t have the time or technical ability to SEO their own website. That’s where professionals like me come into play. Is there a cost to outside web marketing? Sure. But the whole point of search engine marketing is to generate more traffic, more exposure, and produce more sales leads for your business. As the old saying goes, “sometimes you gotta spend money to make money.”

New Chicago Website Provides Free Opportunity for Local Real Estate Agents

Joe Heath — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 11:38:55 +0000

No matter where you live, it’s always fun to see new developments pop up in your city or town. Whether it’s a new restaurant or bar, or even a new retail or housing development, growth of any kind is something that should almost always be embraced.

This is especially true for those of you working in the real estate business, as logic should tell you that the more units that are on the market and available to home buyers, the more chances you have to ultimately find those same home buyers a new place that will suite their lifestyle and satisfy that long list of demands on a long-term basis.

In Chicago, this is no different and the idea of new development of any kind always brings a sense of excitement among local residents. But with something seemingly always opening or being built, it’s often hard to keep track of just what’s been around and what’s new on the scene. I can’t count how many times I’ve been driving around Lakeview or Lincoln Park and seen a new restaurant or chic looking three-flat or small condo development and wondered, “is that new?”

Well now, a brand new website available to Chicago locals, www.newchicagoliving.com, has recently launched and aims to be your guide to new development all around town. The site highlights anything from new restaurants and bars to newly open small businesses and new construction real estate.

If you’re not familiar with the NewChicagoLiving.com, the website has some pretty cool features which include an interactive map to search specific development categories, a blog that talks about a variety of new development topics, and listing pages that businesses and new construction real estate representatives can add to at no cost.

But what’s really great about NewChicagoLiving.com is that if you’re a local real estate broker and want to promote yourself as the listing agent for a residential new construction project, you can submit a blog, written by you, that details the project and will link back to your business page or social media accounts. All you have to do is e-mail NewChicagoLiving.com your blog, and they will do the rest. It’s really that simple.

If you’re a real estate agent in Chicago and want some additional exposure at no cost, do yourself a favor and submit a blog post to info@newchicagoliving.com. If you’re a reader of my articles here on RealtyBizNews.com, you already know I’m a huge fan of blogging on a consistent basis. It boosts SEO and keeps you relevant among homebuyers scanning through the hundreds of real estate websites that are available to them today.

So the next time you’re writing a blog for your real estate website, write a second blog post and submit it to NewChicagoLiving.com and take advantage of a different, built-in audience—there’s really no downside to it other than taking up a bit more of your time. Remember, outside-the-box opportunities can sometimes mean the difference between even one extra home sale a year—and this outside-the-box web marketing opportunity is free…so get writing!