The Foremost Question

by: Vern Clinton
copyright© 2006-8

The foremost question in any agent's mind when researching the value of a web site is simply: "Do I need it?" Providing the answer to that comes up is "Yes" then the next question is: "How much business will it bring and how much will it cost?"

I'm sure our grandfathers asked those same questions about the telephone and the fax machine. It seems almost ridiculous that there'd be a question when we look back, but it wasn't that simple then.

Five or six years ago it wasn't really very clear to us if the Internet and web sites were really necessary or just kind of "nice to have". Well, now we've go some pretty clear answers in the form of statistics.

Consider:

In the year 2000 72 out of 100 buyers were "Traditional", that is not using the Internet as their primary source of information when planning a purchase. At present that figure has dropped to 15 out of 100, that's a 46% drop in prospects that will make their first contact with an agent via phone or walk in or ad response.

During the same period of time the number of homebuyers using the Internet as a primary source of information jumped from 28 out of a hundred to 85 out of a hundred, a 300% increase. Does that sound like a trend or what? It does, but consider that there's only 15 out of a hundred to make the total 100%.  So virtually all of the available prospects now use the Internet, or will within a short time.  Your site is the ONLY tool you have to tap into that pool of prospects.  How will your site stand up to your competition?

While most agents and brokers have some sort of web page or web site, less than 20% have one that is more than a simple template page and that might have sufficient appeal to attract and hold a prospect's attention. It's an extreme version of the old 80/20 rule. 20% of the agents and brokers are getting first crack at about 85% of the prospects.

Here are some more statistics that tend to reinforce these statistics:

72% of visitors to real estate sites go no further and leave the site (presumably looking for something better or more friendly). 30.4% are repeat visitors.  That means that on the average you have a second shot at a prospect--but what the average doesn't show is that it's the 20% that get the repeats and have multiple opportunities for their web site to motivate a prospect to contact you.  The percentage on that I can only estimate, but it seems logical to say that the upper 20% of sites get 50% to 70% of the repeat visitors.

What's the lesson in all this? It's pretty simple, really. Do what it takes to be among the 20%. Be one of those who has the advantage over the other 80%, and then work like crazy to "romance" those repeat visitors.  Doesn't that make sense?

So how are you going to join this 20%? What does it take? Well, I can tell you what isn't going to do it.

• Having your cousin's kid do a site for you isn't going to do it.
• Getting a cheap template site isn't going to do it.
• Just spending a lot of money isn't going to do it either.

Do some planning. I don't care if you've already got a site. Step back and look at it with new eyes. Be brutal and ask yourself these questions.

• If I were a buyer would I get excited about finding this site?
• If I had a list of sites to check out would I stop at this one?
• Does it look like the agent was too cheap to get a really good site?
• Does this site have all of the information I need about the community and the home buying process?
• Is it easy for me to find the information I'm looking for?

Ok, now let's see what you would really want in a web site and what you would want in a site designer. Let's see how Silk Short, Inc does with 13 years of practical experience.

The latest CAR report shows the median age of Internet buyers as 38 and traditional buyers 44. It also showed that the median income of the Internet buyers is over $168,000 as opposed to $136,500 with the traditional buyers. In other words the Internet majority has an income 25% higher. Doesn't it then make sense that your web site should be targeted to a better qualified buyer than you may be finding now?

But there's more to it than income. Who do we assume takes the lead in a purchase? The woman, right? Well that's true for traditional buyers, in fact it's no surprise to any of us who've been in residential real estate that the woman takes the lead 90% of the time. However, big surprise! With Internet buyers that is switched completely around and the man takes the lead 81% of the time. That doesn't mean he takes over control, though, but it does mean that he's got a much bigger role up front which is where the initial contact with an agent takes place. So, do you want your site to have a strong appeal to the man as well as the woman? You bet! If he likes the site and the way you provide information chances are you've got a prospect.

Here's another statistic that came out of the survey. Internet buyers spend more on a home. Nearly 33% more that the traditional buyer. The figures show the median price for Internet buyers was $462,200 as opposed to $350,000 for the traditional. The median price of the Internet buyer's purchase is over $100,000 more!

This Internet buyer is also much more technically savvy than his traditional counterpart. Don't you think he/she'll expect you to demonstrate that you are comfortable with technology that will make the buying easier? Absolutely.

But it even gets better. Your Internet buyer, if you can get him/her spends over twice as long investigating homes BEFORE contacting a real estate agent. After contacting an agent they take, on the average, only two weeks to make a decision on the home. The traditional buyers took 6.7 weeks (of your time) and looked at 15.2 homes while that Internet buyer only needed to see 7.1.

So what is our target? Let's see. A more technically knowledgeable, younger, higher income buyer looking for higher priced homes and taking half as much time to do it.

Silk Shorts, Inc web sites are custom tailored taking all of these factors into account. Here's how:

Every site has a complete MLS search so that prospective buyer can get all of the listing information from your site.

Since this prospect on the average will research on his/her own for an average of 4.4 weeks the search is equipped with an AUTOMATIC emailed update every working day so that prospect is constantly reminded to come back to your site.

Every page of your Silk Shorts site has contact information and every listing has a form on it as well as contact information so the moment that prospect wants more information, it's only a click away.

Your Silk Shorts site has dozens and dozens of pages that are dedicated to community links such as recreation, schools, law enforcement, lifestyle and more with all of the links constantly monitored so broken links don't tell that prospect that you don't really pay much attention to your site.

When an email search is initiated you get an email notification of that fact within seconds so you can respond with an email welcome or, if they include their phone number, a call to touch bases and let them know you're on top of things.

When you're a Silk Short, Inc. client you can have your business cards, stationary, email and ads all be of the same design to show that you have pride in your business and give attention to detail.