Your Own Common Sense Can Put It Together

Question mark
Originally uploaded by desi.italy

Quoted below is the beginning chunk of an online discussion. It was created to sell technology solutions to the real estate professional. I'm not going to comment on the technology, just the sales-pitch. Rather than a rewrite, you'll find below the quoted text my answer that I posted in reply to the sales-pitch.

We heard a much quoted statistic again yesterday and we decided to make it our weekly topic.

They say that 80% of home buyers use the Internet in their search for properties. What does this mean exactly? You never really see this number broken down much further. [note it isn't broken down]

8 of every 10 people look online. But what are they looking at? Buying tips, mortgage rate information, Realtor information? No, we are going to estimate that 90% of everyone who uses the Internet in their search is actually performing a directed property search. And this is normally initiated from a corporate site (remax.com, century21.com etc.) or a dedicated MLS system (realtor.com, mls.ca). Some Internet shoppers may go to a Realtor's website directly, but generally this audience prefers to select from a larger pool of listings (an MLS system).

We can't really back up this 90% with facts, but it seems reasonable don't you think? [and here he says he can't back up his 90% with facts either]

My (edited) Reply:

It's very EASY to tell a Real Estate Professional what is happening on the Internet with an Internet audience. If you don't know statistics, and don't have numbers Marty, I'd hesitate to put any of this out there.

As an avid student of human behaviour, having worked in technology since 1986, and since I'm heavily and actively involved in a wide-range of Internet audiences and always have, I have not only a good sense of Internet User Behaviour, but I also found out about a lot of the business-sales tactics of Internet professionals. Take SEO for example - you know the fly-by-night ones?

So consider this: The reason people come to a Realtor's site from an MLS somewhere is simply by the nature it is created and how Real Estate is currently being marketed (has been marketed) online. You can even look at a Realtor business card for obvious clues.

Real Estate has always been a Trust profession. Ever notice that it is the only industry that the professional members almost always have their photo on their card. It's been done this way for a long time, and the reason is that they are selling themselves to the buyer/seller and the Realtor is selling trust.

Getting online, the Realtor has no idea whatsoever about the Internet, technology, or computers more than they have to know, unless they worked the tech industry previously, are an avid hobbyist, or have a family or close friend working with it. The majority however, simply don't know what the truth is around what is being sold.

Here is the Truth about Searching for Real Estate.

As a buyer, I don't look for a Realtor, I look for a home.

• Am I simply looking for a specific home, or am I looking in a particular geographic area?

So the home-buyer hits the google page and types in, "commercial drive Vancouver property listings" as an example. Some Realtor sites are likely to show up, particularly those who have been ahead of the curve, have found the right solutions and tech-teams, and who have the success to invest in their technology and Internet solutions. But is it all Realtor sites, or are there others there too?

Anyone can answer these questions by simply running their own tests.

• Act like a home buyer.
• Remember how "little" inside knowledge most home-buyers have.
• Ask the dumb questions.
• Conduct the lamest searches, and
• the more sophisticated searches.

The more you do this, you will begin to see the results and the commonalities.

• Are they looking for you?
• Are they looking for just listings?
• Are they looking for a specific place in town?

This is what Creating New Doors on the Internet is all about.

Where the Real Estate industry and profession may have done a great job getting listings online, maybe what they've put online doesn't jive with the way people interact online. A real estate site is only one piece of the equation. Internet work is never done, it is not a static place, and it along with people always shifts and changes.

That is why StrataXL Software incorporates many elements into what they offer the Real Estate industry. Yes, it includes a Realtor site, but it also goes many steps beyond that to deliver websites that actually become representative off a geographic community and that site silently FARMS LEADS all day long and night without us or the Realtor lifting another finger.

It's not just in the Sell you see Marty. It's also in the Farming. We're not reinventing the door, we're preparing the field.

Internet Marketing Needs Holistic Organic Approach

Highway fog
Originally uploaded by Boby Dimitrov

A website is nothing other than a Billboard Sign in a Virtual World. The only people who see that billboard, are the people driving by. The question that begs for a Website Owner in a Virtual World is: What highway are they driving on?

In days of old it may have been true when stated, "All roads lead to Rome." This was, in fact, the strategy. Rome was the centre of the empire and all roads extended from there. In the world of Internet, that one-route-destination was SEO so the Virtual Traveler found your Internet Website Billboard while traveling the Information Highway. SEO specialists sold promises of ranking, effective keyword strategies, and most likely achieved remarkable results. Without retaining ongoing services, how long did those results last?

Today, not all roads lead to Rome and the SEO game has changed enormously. Google and other Search Engine leaders are continually altering and fine-tuning the search-rank-algorithms in order to normalize and level the playing field against SEO tactics that seek to boost rankings artificially. This is why it is more important to follow organic processes incorporated into your SEO and Social Media Marketing (SMM) strategy. Keep watch for more tips related to this in coming weeks and months.

Organic approaches include content creation, submitting articles to websites, having a blog that is continually adding new content for the RSS world of subscribers, a Facebook and/or other Social Media profiles featuring your sites, business, services, etc., and a host of other campaigns that seek-out the roads less-traveled. Why? Because that is what the Internet user is seeking; the road that is their own.

A Holistic approach, tackling SEO, Social Media, Link-Building, Content-Creation, Articles, Blogging, and others all combine together to create an effective Omnipresence in the Digital Realm of the Internet's Virtual World. Your website becomes the Billboard along many Internet super-highways.

If you would like to learn more, we invite you to visit us at StrataXL.com

BC Real Estate Convention 2008 at Canada Place

Yesterday and today, StrataXL Software Inc. was in attendance demonstrating their Technology and Marketing Strategies to both Exhibitors and participants of this year’s BC Real Estate Convention 2008 at Canada Place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The BC Real Estate Convention 2008 had superb turnout, standing-room only speaker-series, and a wide-range of opportunities for Realtors, Investors, Developers, and many other industry-related professionals. For StrataXL, attendance turned into a treasure chest of discoveries of other potential markets and applications for our creative suite of technology and marketing strategies.

For a successful Realtor or Realty Office, our Technology Solution provides an extraordinary tool to develop and manage various Internet website Properties for upcoming, ongoing, and after-sales Community Development Projects. Take our Premiere Launch into our Pilot Project, graciously spear-headed and funded by our initial Investor, Rick Stonehouse.

RickStonehouse.com is a professionally crafted Realtor Website using our Technology Solution. This solution also permits the creation of additional websites from the same interface as RickStonehouse.com. In this case, LiveInStrathcona.com is the launch of the much anticipated Community Creation Vehicle.

Imagine: The imminent launch of a Real Estate Development project. Whether it is a building, a subdivision, a resort, or small-town, prior to breaking ground the pre-sales activities have begun. The LiveIn branding creates the immediate identification of a virtual community that will soon be built. The functionality of the Technology Solution provides a vehicle to farm sales-leads and manage ongoing communication campaigns for both marketing, sales, closing, ongoing bulletins to new owners, and so on.

The interactivity of the discussion forums create vehicles for ongoing question and answers during the sales cycle. As the transition from sales-building-move-in, the evolution and flexibility of the site allow the evolution to take it from a sales vehicle to move the Development Realty Properties, to an actual thriving interactive online community that enable neighbours to become acquainted before the project was even completed. The life-force allows local-business to advertise and the community to interact and thrive in various ways.

You see how it is being birthed in already existing communities. When you want to farm qualified leads, the LiveIn strategy will be life-long gold.

Contact us at StrataXL.com to enquire further. Let us help you succeed with our powerful Technology and Tools.