1,000,000 Real Estate Agents Have Got IT All Wrong

internet letdown This article could also have been called, “The 99% Rule.” How many real estate agents get the majority of their business, in some fashion, through their website? Any idea? As a marketing expert for real estate agents online, I’m going to conservatively estimate 1%… that’s about 10,000 agents. It’s probably less. Here’ s the news flash Realtors®… it’s always going to be that way. Here’s how I see why

1,000,000 agents have IT all wrong…

Sound Logic

Google (with about 2/3rds of all searches in the world) and all the other search engines have 10 organic results on the first page. There are also anywhere between 0 and 10 “Sponsored Links” on the first page. Let’s go ahead and quarter that number with the majority of clicks going to the top 2 or three organic search results and the top 1-2 paid or “Sponsored” search results.

That leaves us with about 5 websites/videos/images, etc. that are realistically found for any particular keyword. Those same 5 sites plus one or two more probably make up the entirety of the niche and long-tail keywords you would want to target for your business. Assuming you are marketing to a niche… you’d be silly not to. It’s awfully hard to rank for the keywords “Real Estate” or “[Your City] + Real Estate” when you’ve got all the big boys out there ranking for them already.

Take 5-10 Niche markets in your area, multiplied by the 5 or so spots in the search results that the vast majority of people click on and you have between 25-50 Realtors with a great Internet presence in any particular market. TOPS. Everyone else, is up the Internet creek without a paddle.

Markets range from a few hundred Realtors to ten thousand or more. This is how I deduced that less than 10,000 Realtors have success on the Internet. I dare anyone to poke a hole in that logic.

Waste and Disappointment

Understanding that there are less than 1% of Realtors that will truly profit from their Internet efforts should be one of those “aha!” moments for you. You’re either in the 1% or your not. Which are you? The truth is this: Realtors are a caring, believing bunch of people. Internet marketers have taken advantage of this fact and successfully convinced the average Realtor that they can be a success on the Internet and get bucket loads of buyers and sellers as a result.

I’m here to tell you I just don’t think that is the truth. While there are certain to be the odd cases that defy the norm, most Realtors cannot conceivably benefit the way that many Internet marketing and design companies claim. The numbers are simply against you guys.

Decision time

Who you gonna be? You gonna be in the 1% or the 99? Honestly, there is nothing wrong with being in the 99%. Many Realtors in that group make a great living… they just don’t utilize the Internet the way the 1% does. So what do you do? I’ll give you my suggestion right now. Choose a side, then stick to it. Examine your strengths and weaknesses. Do any of these sound like you?

You have more apps on your smartphone than you do songs on your iPod
You’re an early adopter… this means you used Twitter back when no one knew what the heck Twitter was. Now you use things like posterous, foursquare, buzz, and other less than well known networks and tools.
You can write… this one’s just for serious blogging candidates
You’re tech savvy or at least quick to learn
You love working on your computer
You are an individual that can stay dedicated to a path y
ou’ve chosen

These are just a few of the things that the 1% scores pretty strongly in. If you are at the opposite end of the spectrum, I have a different route to success for you. Don’t worry, it still includes the Internet. I have 3 categories I place Agent and Broker websites in. This first one that you’ll fall into is… and I say this with no negative connotations… The Elmer Fudd.

The Elmer Fudd – Your online business card

If you aren’t up for the long, hard road of marketing yourself and your wares Online, this is the path for you. Go out and buy a nice, simple website that includes a few things.

Easy access to your contact information
A prominent search feature linked to your MLS
Basic information about the area, schools, things to-do
Basic information for buyers and sellers

That’s it… don’t waste your time on anything else. Keep it up-to-date, make sure your web address is on your business cards, and go about your business. Get leads and clients however you do it – cold calls, FSBOs, Expireds, Farming, COI, etc. Don’t worry so much about the Internet. It’ll help your blood pressure.

The Donald Trump – power prospecting for the Internet

I’ve included the “Donald” second because it’s really a hybrid of “The Elmer” and “The Jorn” (pronounced YORN) that we’ll talk about in a sec. If you want to be a big time Internet player and get a good deal of leads and generate business online… without the know-how, this one is for you. You’ll be paying anywhere between $5-$50 for a lead… usually in bunches of 10, 50, or 100 at a time. You do the math. These systems are generally put together by big companies like Market Leader etc. and actually tend to work pretty well… as long as you work them correctly. These people are all about forced registration, static websites, and lookin’ good no matter what. None of that is bad. That’s just what they are about. You can see these sites by typing in [YOUR CITY] + real estate or some variant thereof. These sites will be attached to the sponsored results links.

The Jorn Barger – content, networking, and new media

Jorn is one of the guys that claims to have created the first blog. He certainly coined the term “web log” which eventually got shortened into blog. I thought it made a good name for my third type of web presence. While a blogsite is the key component, a home base, it is not the complete package of “The Jorn Barger” Internet approach. Certainly the most difficult path of the three approaches, Jorners (aka bloggers) the world over – especially real estate bloggers – are cashing in on their hard work long after they’ve quit committing time to it. To be successful in this approach you must do the following:

Write lots of good content, be famous, or have an angle (like a video blog niche) — all three doesn’t hurt
Be active in social media constantly interacting, networking, and building your social capital
At every turn you must build your ‘list’ of clients, contacts, prospects, leads, and no-name email addresses
Follow up with and maintain a strong relationship with people you have, are, or plan to do business with
Be a little bit of a geek. There’s really no way around it for people that are serious about this path
Be able to segment and dedicate time to your website on a weekly and daily basis while doing the conventional things most agents do. This is where being efficient and ‘techy’ can come in very handy.
Know enough about the whole thing not to get too frustrated, burnt out, frazzled, or fried to keep going

Scared you off yet? No? There are lots of people blogging and thinking it’s their one-way ticket to success. There’s 150,000 + agents blogging on ActiveRain thinking that’s really going to get them business. I’d say at least
94% of them are dead wrong. But hey… a few of them are right. Besides the stuff I just mentioned you need 2 things to be a successful “Jorn Barger”:

Training – you gotta know how the heck to write good content, network effectively, share your work, capture leads, convert in followup, etc. That stuff doesn’t just fly in your ear you know? Get some training on how to do this. We are launching a new, on-demand, Blogging for Business course specifically tailored to Realtors that are ready to take on “The Jorn” and succeed.
Time – you gotta either have time or make time to do this. Figure out what is going to take YOU to make this work. Is it 3 hours a week? Is it 10? There’s a big difference.

That’s it. Once you’ve got a successful Jorn going the opportunities for you are really only limited to your imagination. There are several people that teach Realtors to blog right. There’s only two I can recommend with a clear conscience… One is Jim Cronin and his Cronies (hah! good one.) over at The Real Estate Tomato.

The other one, is me. Give us a call if you want to get going on a custom website. We make Elmer Fudds and Jorns that sparkle. We also train and support you in your quest to be the next great Jorn Barger Call us.