One of our clients does a great job writing tons of original content on their websites. If you search for a neighborhood in certain parts of Charlotte, you’ll see at least 1 or 2 of their websites on the first page of Google. They’ve worked very hard for this, and you can imagine their surprise when they stumbled upon a competitor’s site that had “lifted” their copy, word for word.

There are two very good reasons why you should never steal someone else’s copy.

1. You can get sued. If you have a few minutes, read this blog from ActiveRain. This is serious stuff. People spend time and money on their content … if you steal it, you’re risking a pricey lawsuit.
2. It won’t help you, anyway. Google is very smart — that’s how they became the 300-ton gorilla of search engines. When they index sites, they know if one site is a copy of another (or if one block of text is a copy of another), and will mark it as spam content. So apart from risking the aforementioned lawsuit, you will not get very good search results by doing so.

Typically, this is the result of a lazy website developer or content creator. If you’ve paid someone to create a website for you and you find out that they stole copy, it’d be a good idea to find a new technology vendor! Most technology companies don’t know much about real estate (that’s where Davis Farrell is different, ahem), and so they might cut a few corners on content. With technology, as with some real estate, buyer beware!

The Department of Justice’s recent settlement with the National Association of Realtors is beginning to impact the industry : local boards are now required to provide more data! This means Virtual Office Websites (VOWs) and enhanced IDX data, such as “solds.”

Several of our clients have already asked us : how can I benefit by providing so much information to buyers? What is their incentive to work with a realtor if they can freely access this data? Simply put, the paradigm is shifting. The days of restricting access to information are over, and ultimately, those who provide the most information (with lead capture, of course) will be the ones to get the leads.

Your website is bait. But even more, these days, buyers are savvy enough to know that most data they want is out there, somewhere. When it comes time for them choose an agent with whom to work, whom do you think will get their business?

Our most successful clients do 2 things well:

1. Provide information, and lots of it, about the neighborhoods they want to sell. This is great for Google, and buyers love it. They have a writeup about the area, and also good data, like home values.
2. Use simple, unobtrusive lead capture forms to gather basic information from buyers who want to provide it (such as the one in our IDX product)

We’ve lost count how many clients of ours pay a fortune for a website that provides none of the information that buyers and sellers actually want. They might get some decent Google placement for certain keywords, but the site isn’t “sticky” and buyers don’t come back.

As more data is being made available by local boards of Realtors, the agents who find ways to use it are the ones who will be the most successful in generating Internet leads… so get on board!

We are not your run-of-the-mill tech company.  We actually care about your success, and we often follow up to see how things are going with your business.  Over the years, we’ve gathered a lot of feedback about leads — volume, quality, conversion, etc.

IDX, like your website as a whole, is basically bait.  It’s a tool to lure potential buyers to your site, and hopefully get them to submit their email or phone number so you can follow up with them.  But how many of these leads can you expect to convert into actual clients?  Here are some pointers.

1. It’s a numbers game. The more people you get to visit your site, the greater pool of potential buyers you have at your disposal.  Statistically, we have found that roughly 10-15% of the leads you get are “good” leads — meaning they give you a good email address, and maybe even a phone number.  They are actually looking to buy, and are receptive to a Realtor contacting them.  But this means about 85-90% of people who fill out the “lead capture” form either submit bogus information, or they submit real information, but aren’t serious.

   So, the name of the game is getting as many people as possible to your website! If you get 1,000 lookers, and, say, 250 of them fill out the contact form, that means you probably will have 25-30 decent leads.

2. Early bird gets the worm. Let’s say you’re doing a great job of promoting your site, and you’re getting some good leads.  The single most important thing you can do to convert those leads is to respond as quickly as you can.  That means within 1 hour, if at all possible.  We can’t tell you how often we’ve heard brokers complain of leads being wasted because it took an agent 3 days to respond.  Buyers want to feel like their business is important to you, and if you do not respond quickly, they will look elsewhere.
3. As Bruce Lee once said :  Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Often, new clients quickly become frustrated.  “I’m getting a bunch of bogus email addresses!”  You should expect that.  If someone puts a fake email, it means they’re either not serious, or they don’t want to be contacted.  There is no way to force someone to provide good information, and you have to expect you will get some “dud” leads.  That’s part of the business.

   Don’t stress over bad leads. Delete it from your database, and work to get more potential buyers to your site. Remember, statistically, most of your leads will be duds! When in doubt, remember #1, above : It’s a numbers game.

4. Work the search engines. There are many Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts out there who can help you make your website Google-friendly.  Our most successful clients spend a lot of time beefing up their website, to drive more traffic to their IDX.  Just having a website with IDX isn’t enough.  There’s lots of competition out there, and the only way to get traffic to your site is by optimization (or paying for clicks via advertising).

Our specialty is IDX, but we’ve been in the website business for a long time.  If you need help driving traffic, we can point you in the right direction.  It’s important to remember that driving traffic takes time and effort.

The good news is that by choosing the best IDX in the business, you’re halfway there, because it means when you do start getting traffic, that traffic will be “sticky” (meaning, they will stay on the site for a while, and come back later).  If you can get people to the site, and respond quickly to those who fill out the contact form, you will be well on your way!

Most Realtors these days have websites, and it always amazes us how many of them either send their clients to their broker’s property search, or don’t have a property search at all!

Think about this … why are home buyers online?  Recent studies show that about 90% of them use the internet to search for homes.  A property search is first and foremost a local thing.  In other words, it’s hard for the big national sites like Realtor.com to provide the sorts of options folks want — like neighborhoods, school districts, etc.

That’s where you come in.  You’re the expert!  So most importantly, you must have a good property search on your website that allows you to capture those leads.  If you have a website, but don’t have your own property search, you’re severely hurting your ability to get Internet leads.  Buyers want to use the Internet to search for homes.  Sure, maybe they are interested in your bio, or how many houses you sold last year, but primarily, they just want to search for homes.

The quicker you can get a buyer to a search, the better.  And a well-placed “registration” screen allows you to capture their information, while giving them access to the data they want.  Buyers searching online are going to be most willing to work with the realtor who:

1. Has the best property search, with options like neighborhood and school district
2. Responds quickly (i.e. within 1 hour) to any inquiry they make

The moral of the story : when you put together your business plan and goals for the year, take a hard look at IDX.  Not all IDX’s are the same.  Think local, local, local.  Many IDX providers simply take a database of homes and provide basic search options, with no mapping, and no good local focus.

Remember : if buyers don’t get the information they want from your site, they’ll go elsewhere — especially in today’s climate, with so few qualified buyers out there.