Template Based Real Estate Websites

Whether you are just getting into real estate or have been in it for years I’m sure you’ve seen the myriad of template based real estate websites out there. They’re quite literally everywhere. Touted by the template design companies for their ease of use and built in content, template based RE websites exploded online in the early part of the decade.

In this post we’re going to go over primarily the cons of template based real estate designs and show why they, for the most part, can do more harm than good when it comes to marketing you, your services, and your properties online.

The Basics
Why are you getting a website? What purpose does a website fill when it comes to your real estate business? If you can’t answer those questions take a few moments to peruse our site as it will give you a wealth of free information as to what your website should do for you. Though I will gladly give you a real quick overview here.

Your real estate website should allow you to market you, your services, and most importantly, your properties, to a much larger, BUT more targeted market. You’ve probably heard the statistics “…70% of all home buyers and sellers go online first…”. Without a website that ranks on the FIRST PAGE of search engines such as Google how are you accessing those 70% of buyers? You’re not. Now on to design…

Why real estate templates are in a word: bad

A couple of the key components that the template based designers promote about their sites are some of the most detrimental. In fact one of the primary companies out there actually promotes themselves with tags similar to this:

Includes hundreds of themes
Special content
Real estate reports
Listing management program

First let’s discuss their hundreds of themes that give you different layouts and colors. The problem is these are the same layout combinations that, literally, thousands of other agents are using. What’s setting you apart? What’s making your valuable visitors stick? You will never see these sites advertise their bounce rates (the number of people who leave a website without going to any other pages – a critical number in real estate)

They offer an example site, listed as “the most impressive website”, here are some of those stats:

13.91%
Code to Text ratio. You want MUCH higher. Essentially it says the home page is nothing but code.
VERY bad for search engines.

52.71 seconds
That’s the amount of time it takes to load the HOME PAGE on a dial up connection.
17.49 – The time it takes on a DSL / Cable modem connection. Those two connections represent around 90% of the people that will come to your site.

On average you have less than 8 seconds to capture someone’s attention to keep them on your site. New information suggests its down to 3 seconds. How much business are they missing because their site takes so long to download?

Duplicate Content
Duplicate content, in the simplest of terms, is any information, or content, that can be found elsewhere on the web. Google and other search engines give value to the first site that it finds the original content on. The flip side of this is the search engines can actually  devalue websites that are also using the same exact content. It is built into their algorhythm to discard or give less credit to sites it considers “scraper” sites. The “real estate reports” and “special content” on many of these template bases sites offer the same canned content used on thousands of other sites and does you and your real estate business absolutely no good. It can actually do you harm if you are one of those thousands of sites utilizing those “special reports” that are duplicate content from other sites. Google especially (which Google has the largest market share) likes to see fresh new content that they can deliver to people using their search engine. Not the same content recycled over and over again.

Cost
If a company is going to charge you a small “setup” fee and a monthly fee to “design” your website, RUN. If it says “Websites from $29 a month” or “websites from $99 a month” you now know that this is a template site where they flip a switch and voila you have a online brochure that looks just like everyone elses that most likely no one will ever see. Lets be honest real estate, especially online is competitive. If you’re being quoted less than $2,500 for a real estate website than chances are you might just be throwing your money away. Most real estate websites, to be effective, need to be a minimum of 25 CUSTOM pages. Not canned information and templates. It should also have the ability to offer your listings in a search engine friendly manner and offer IDX/MLS integration within your site, not some frame. Definitely do your homework when it comes to price.

How to check If your site is a template or does not have search engine friendly code

Go to your websites home page and with your mouse, using the right click button, click in the middle of your site, but not on an image. A small window will open up with a bunch of different options. Using your mouses left click button, click on “View Page Source” a new page will then open up with what is the “code” of your website. If you see a lot of things that look like this<td> and <tr> then your site is very likely a template and is not very search engine friendly. If however you see primarily <div> tags you might be in luck as the site might be designed using CSS instead of tables. However the caveat of that is that it could be laden with a lot of unneeded images that can cause the same problems as having an all table site. Now that might be getting a little too technical, but it is a 10 second check that can give you some insight into your website.

If you currently do not have a website than make sure that your designer uses a tableless CSS / XHTML design. The better designers will all use this method, but many, because its easier to use tables, will not use a tableless design. Especially if they are using a template based design in which to create your website. Creating a tableless design takes much more skill, its a longer process, and requires extra testing to make sure it fits into all browsers. However the rewards FAR outweigh the time it takes to do it right.

If you’re thinking about redesigning your website, or even getting a website for the first time, definitely look at all your options. Yes real estate template designs are going to be cheaper because there is no work involved for them. However, when it comes to reaching 70% of your target market the reality is it most likely just wont get it done. Even if you do manage to spend the extra money (it costs more to SEO a template site) the bounce rate can be astronomical. We hear from realtors all the time that tell us they are getting traffic to their site, but when asked how many leads they are getting its 1 out of every 500 or so unique visitors. That is unacceptable in ANY industry, but especially in real estate and during this current market.

A complete Custom website and SEO package to make you the dominant leader in your area doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but it is mandatory if you want to make sure that you weather any real estate market.

Ugly Yellow Signs are just that: Big yellow signs, usually written in magic marker… In a world with thousands of highly polished ad messages, these signs get noticed because they aren’t polished. They are ugly, and hard to ignore.

The UYS system gets people interested through a simple headline such as “Buy a Home- NO MONEY DOWN. (888) 555-8767 ext. 500″ or “Dozens of Condos For Sale: (888) 767-9999.”.

Once people call the toll-free #, their lead information is captured either by caller-id or through asking for their info to be left as a voice mail message.

Some of those that use the caller-id method have a small message on the yellow sign with a disclaimer stating that those who call give permission for telemarketing calls. This may or may not work for the do-not-call list, but that’s the general idea. Just do what you feel comfortable with.

The UYS leads provide a list of people who were interested enough in your headline to call. If they called, odds are they are interested in purchasing. One of the tricks of these leads is to call quickly. When calling these leads, you’ll see a marked difference between calling same day vs. even three days later. If you feel more comfortable, you might want to have a small script in mind for these calls.

As with all lead follow-up calls, during the conversation, you want to ask questiosn to make sure this is someone who really does need your services. Once you have an idea about the kind of lead you’re dealing with, you’ll want to get some type of commitment. For me this was often simply scheduling a time when I could drop off a real estate buyer’s guide.

Special Tip: Calls can only last as long as your signs do. I’ve noticed some signs put 10ft up – probably someone standing on top of a pickup bed. This simple trick could have doubled the time this sign lasted, and doubled the amount of leads it was good for.

Probably, he’s only 5-10% taller, if that. That’s not much. But he’s the tallest.

How much work does it take to do the most sales in your office? Twice the work? Three times? To be honest, sometimes it just takes 5-10% more effort. And the reason for this is simple: There are things the others simply won’t do, and many won’t do the 5-10% that you could easily do, 5-10% more work that will be effective, will have a high impact for the amount of effort involved on your part.

Let me tell you about Mark. Mark was a salesman. He enjoyed sales. He enjoyed getting paid more money because he sold more, and he liked selling more by implementing some of his interesting sales ideas. Whether it was lead generation, marketing, or getting an assistant to help free up his time from paperwork to selling, he would come up with original ideas to increase his sales.

One sales technique that really worked was the “Free Real Estate Buyer’s Guide”.

I’ll simply tell the story as it happened:

Mark hired a local writer to re-write several articles and even chapters of other books into the “Free Real Estate Buyer’s Guide”. He then went out and solicited advertising from different mortgage companies, home inspection and insurance companies as well as title companies. Between the different real estate related companies, he charged enough to pay for the printing of this booklet (with enough left over for advertising). With paid advertising and plenty of well printed copies, he then placed an ad in the paper which read:

“Free Real Estate Buyer’s Guide. Avoid the top 10 mistakes buyers make. Order by voicemail.”

He was inundated with requests each week for the buyer’s guide. He had a steady stream of housing buyers calling his line, each one leaving their contact information. None of the advertisers in the magazine were realtors, and he’d be delivering the “Free Real Estate Buyer’s Guide” by hand.

He’d call each one before hand to “verify their address”, oh, and if he happened to ask if they were already working with someone, so much the better, right? And if those already with an agent got theirs in the mail instead? Right!

This is much easier than you’d expect!

Here’s a rough to do list for this real estate leads project:

1. Go make sells calls and sell magazine ads.

Trust me, this was the easiest part. It doesn’t have to cost much! Whatever you can get out of the advertisers on the first run, get it! It’ll be that much easier to sell them ads the second time because you’ll be able to show them the previous editions. Who do you sell to? Well, try anyone interested in marketing to real estate buyers.

2. Organize the articles and ads into a booklet.

Graphic designers are artists, and trust me, if regular artists are starving artists, then graphic designers are their “not-quite-satisfied-after-dinner” cousins. Here is where you don’t want to skimp. This really goes back to our first impressions post about making that lasting first impression. If you are looking for who created our booklets, these our the identity masters! Tell them you want a brochure like the brochure mentioned on real estate sales leads.

3. Print the booklet..

Your designer should be able to recommend a good printer. 100lb book or 10pt card, there are a lot of different options. Many are relatively inexpensive. You could print 1000 of these for as little as $500. If you converted just one of those to a sale, and your odds are MUCH better than that, you would be ahead of the game.

4. Prepare your voicemail.

Make sure you prompt the callers for the information you’re going to need to get them their booklet (and call on them!).

5. Place your classified ads.

You can place them in more than one newspaper, you know!!! Why not max out the thrifty nickel and other sources, but make sure to put some of those advertising dollars into the classified ads.

6. Treat each response as a lead.

7. Deliver the Free Real Estate Guide and start a relationship with an interested real estate buyer!

Too many people rely on cheaply printed business cards or personalized pens that dry out the moment the cap comes off to be the sole reminders they leave with potential clients. Stop for a moment and consider how you feel when receiving such trinkets from people in other industries. Most likely, you throw away (or at best, recycle) these items without a second thought.

To leave a lasting impression with these potential sales leads, you need to leave your mark on something that lasts. Invest in high-quality personalized pens or mechanical pencils. The longer they write, the longer the person you give them to will have to look at your name. A working pen rarely winds up in the garbage; in a worst-case scenario, the writing utensil is passed along to someone else, which means all the more exposure for you. Don’t hesitate to use them yourself; leave them behind in waiting rooms, at the cashier’s station, or anywhere else that someone can use them. The more exposure your name receives, the more potential for creating that future sales lead.

If you give out notepads or post-it pads, make sure they’re thick enough to last awhile. Also give careful consideration to long-lasting useful items like dual chip clips/magnets, which could keep your name and number on a potential lead’s refrigerator for years. Bookmarks, flashlights, or even plastic drink cups with your personalized message also make long-lasting alternatives.

No matter what vehicle you choose to leave your mark behind, keep the message on it short and sweet. Include your name, a unique catch phrase or important credential (i.e. “Chicago Realtor for 25 Years”), and your phone number and ALWAYS include your website address. If you list an overwhelmingly amount of information in such a small space, you risk all of it being overlooked.

Remember the easier you make it for future real estate sales leads to find you, the more likely they will!

First, even before real estate school, or as soon as possible during real estate school, it’d be a good idea to have a written business plan. I mean, one of the most common pressure sales tactics I’ve been unfortunate enough to receive is the "If you want to be a SERIOUS agent/investor/etc. you’ve got to do X" or "It’s a sign that you’re a SERIOUS realtor to do this or that." Well, if you’re serious about going to (for many purposes) work for yourself as a real estate agent, wouldn’t it be worth the times and effort to plan out the hows, wheres, budget and even work day as best you can?

Putting together the most comprehensive business plan possible will be one way to prepare yourself in other aspects besides what you need to know to pass the test.

In your written business plan, you might answer the following:

• Which broker will you be choosing and why?
• What are the commission splits?
• Will your broker do any coop advertising or provide any marketing materials?
• What will your monthly fees be if any?
• Will you be joining a broker that’s a member of the board of Realtors?
• What are the yearly fees to join the Board?
• Are there any mandatory classes you’ll need to take before becoming a member?
• When will these classes be held?
• What schedule will you keep?
• What % of your day will you be doing what?
• What kind of support/motiation will you have to do the kind of contacting that you don’t enjoy?
• What is your monthly budget for gas, marketing materials, flyers?
• What will your total initial layout be?
• Based on the budget you’ve created, when do you have to have your first sale and how will you achieve it?
• What activities will you perform to find new contacts?
• What will you do to learn the actual ropes?
• Who will you bring new concerns to?

When I passed the exam, I signed up with a "100% Commission" shop with little training, no marketing support, and little more than a "good luck". Knowing what I know now, I’d suggest getting as many of these questions sorted out and resolved beforehand.

Find yourself some people you look up to go over your business plan, not just buddies. You want to present this to people you respect to

1) Get feedback from people that REALLY care about your success and

2) People who you couldn’t want to present less than the BEST possible and researched business plan.