Real Estate Technology: What Do REALTORS Really Need?

By admin • March 24th, 2008

I realize I’m just a lone individual and not even a Realtor at that, but I do have an opinion on the real estate tech miasma, so I figured why not share. I worked in real estate marketing for 10 years before I became a biased provider of real estate blogging technology (full disclosure and for what it’s worth ), so at the least I have a healthy understanding of the options. I speak to Realtors day in and day out who display a pretty substantial level of confusion about all the available real estate technologies. What is it that you really need?

A real estate website
A real estate blog
A blog and a website
An MLS/IDX online search site
Stealth real estate websites
SEOists
PPC
Real estate videos
Real estate podcasts
Real Estate widgets
Email drip campaigns and online lead management
Social networking

Oh my! The list is endless. In my [very] humble opinion you can effectively get by with a fraction of this list. More is not always better and there is very little magic in the real estate tech game. Let’s jump in…

Blog OR Website, Blog AND Website
Ok, let’s just get this one out of the way. Do you really need a website, a blog or should you have both? Let’s define the two first. I see a website as a relatively static extension of your brand – an online brochure if you will – a quick measure of your commitment and professionalism. A blog is more of a dynamic component providing you with a sense of community and voice. A blog however, is really just a dynamic website – a website that makes publishing fresh content to the internet incredibly simple. You CAN build a blog in such a manor that it covers all the aspects that your static website would cover. Meaning, your blog can (most likely – depending on provider) house static marketing pages as well as dynamic blog posts. I like the marketing message and the level of professionalism that having a website conveys, however if you are constrained by budget I don’t believe a website is entirely necessary as a blog can pull the weight. However, be forewarned – both a blog and a website should be considered a regular effort. There is no way to find favor with the search engines if you aren’t committed to offering fresh, relevant content in either option.

An MLS Search Component
I debated whether or not to put this first as I believe this is the most basic piece of your online real estate marketing package, but you can’t really benefit from this without a website, a blog or PPC so here it is. Let’s think about online marketing. We’ve got brand impressions, we’ve got visibility to your messaging and contact information, but in all, to be successful online we must have a way to capture leads. With real estate technology, it’s quite simple, buyers and sellers want access to MLS information – for free and at their leisure. The only way you can provide that AND get leads is to offer an MLS search using internet data exchange (IDX) technologies. Unfortunately not all of you are able to do this; it will depend on the governing laws of your MLS. Did you know that you could buy a “naked” MLS search component that has lead capture and management tools? Here’s an example. You don’t have to buy a website package deal to get full MLS search functionality. Many providers offer just the plain search portal portion of the MLS with a back-end management system. In my opinion, this is all you really need. However, it IS important to weigh the data search functionalities of such tools. In other words, the more mls data points you can search by – the more powerful your tool. Be sure to ask the provider how granular you can make your MLS search and whether or not you’ll get unique links to those search results.

So let’s review up to this point…

The Bare Minimum
Since a blog can technically perform the functions of a standard website, can look like a standard website AND will provide you with all the search engine benefits of blogging (if used properly!), you MAY be able to get by without a real estate website. You will however need to institute a naked MLS search component so you have the ability to entice and capture online leads from your blog ‘site’. Otherwise a blog or website will not get you much aside from branding. Although I call this scenario, “the bare minimum” – it will give you pretty darn good coverage if you use the tools as intended. If I were constrained by budget, these are the two monthly costs I would choose to carry.

A Lead Capture System with or without Email Drips
Although lead capture management and drip email campaigns are great efficiency tools, they are technically a convenience. It IS possible to capture leads using simple, direct email forms which are practically free. This may be an area where you can start small and grow into more robust tools. You likely won’t need a robust lead management system until you are generating a significant number of online leads. But when you do hit the big time, these tools will be invaluable time savers. This is an area for potential savings.

Stealth Websites
Stealth websites are basically just generic/unbranded entry pages that ask viewers to complete an extensive form before gaining access to a tool such as an MLS Search or Home Valuation. They are meant to look ‘safe’ and unassociated to a Realtor and would often be used with a PPC campaign. They are not effective at gaining search engine visibility on their own. I won’t knock them because I’ve been told they work by many. However, I do believe that you can easily ‘mimic’ or create your own stealth pages with a little creativity and maybe some help from your existing website or blog provider. All you really need is some generic graphics and a well built email form and you’re on your way.

SEO and PPC
SEOists (experts who suggest they tune your websites to be the most attractive to the search engines) certainly have their place. However, much of what they will help you with is based upon common sense and can be achieved on your own if you are willing to put in the effort. If you have a troubled domain, then definitely seek out the doctor. However, if your domain is healthy, you probably don’t need to pay for this service from the onset.

Pay-per-click advertising is great for short term or very specific goals. If you use it, make sure you set a budget and stick to it! PPC can easily get totally out of control. I don’t believe this is a must as organic search results are completely attainable with the right tools and a healthy effort, but the strategy is up to you. PPC will be effective at getting you an audience for predictable/competitive search terms. However, you can expect this audience will most likely require lots of “lead washing”.

Video, Audio, Podcasts and Widgets
These things are the spice of life and I like them because they are relatively inexpensive to use. They are not necessary but will help to boost anything you are already doing with the search engines. Listings videos can be created from still photos and be uploaded to free portals like www.YouTube.com. Audio can be done using free tools like www.utterz.com. Widgets are a dime a dozen, are typically free and many out there will enhance your website or blog ‘stickiness’ and help you to generate more leads. If you have the time/energy to pursue integrating any of these into your website or blog it will be well worth it!

Social Networking
I know – everyone is busy, but this one is free and it can make a world of difference in the effectiveness of your website or blog. What is social networking anyway? It’s simply the idea of seeking out similar conversations and using existing communities and pertinent social networking sites to bolster your own blogs and/or websites thru relevant linking. This could mean commenting on another blog or news site that is having a discussion relevant to a blog post you’ve written. Or, it could also mean creating a free profile and regularly using Active Rain, My Space, Facebook, YouTube, Squidoo or hundreds of others. My advice? Start small – pick one venue and join in regularly. Once you master one social network then consider joining some others. You can also set up Google Alerts to help you in this quest.

If I Could
If I were not budget constrained, what would I do?

A simple, nice looking marketing website that allowed me the ability to create neighborhood pages containing a specific MLS search and map for that locale or I might just do a blog/website if I found the functionality I wanted in the blog technology (Yes, we CAN help you with this).
A well configured, custom designed and hosted blog with a heavy linking strategy to both the website and the MLS search
A very good MLS/IDX search component with lots of data sort options and a back-end lead capture and management component with email drip
Regular listings videos uploaded to YouTube and embedded to blog posts
Featured listings widget or MLS quick search for blog integration
Hire a blog writer to provide a supplemental content foundation
Create a healthy social networking footprint

Again, these are just my opinions. Hopefully sharing them has been a benefit. I’ll leave with one final thought. There is no “magic” in any of these technologies. If you buy them and then put in zero effort, they will not work (even your websites need to be tuned regularly!). At the very least, if you make a monetary investment, you should also commit to the time investment necessary to make each component truly effective.

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