Lies, Lies, Lies: Why Your Website STILL Isn't Working...
The delete key on my Mac is almost broken…
It’s barely hanging on to the keyboard in fact. One more hard handed tap and – it’s lights out.
Why?
I’ve just deleted the 50th sales pitch that landed in my email box… today.
The last few weeks of the year, I took some time off to enjoy my new daughter, Talula. Emails piled up, phone messages kept on coming in, faxes just sat in the machine.
When I came back, I found out that I hadn’t really missed much.
My email was clogged with the same folks pushing the same products, services and websites. New whizbang technology services all designed to give YOU a leg-up in your real estate business.
I don’t know if it’s the New Year or what, but it really is starting to get old.
Maybe you feel the same way?
How many sales pitches do you get in your email every day?
If you’ve been in real estate long, you already know that you are the prime target for a whole bunch of marketers out there.
You know, stuff like this:
-Your real estate website results will skyrocket… in 30 days or less – just sign-up with us.
-Double your business, our website will do all the work…
-Make 10X Last Year’s GCI, while sipping a cold drink on the beach.
Do you think it’s getting a bit out of hand?
Especially when the reality is absolutely screaming the opposite…
Most real estate pros aren’t making a lot of money online, they are spending it.
If you’re in that boat, here are five simple tips to help you make a change for 2007:
1. Stop talking about getting a website and do it.
If you don’t have a website, get one. A real estate website is an investment, not a silver bullet. And it doesn’t matter where you get one. It really doesn’t. Just get started.
2. Change your perspective about the internet.
To create different results than most of your competition, you have to do different things. Try using your website differently than everyone else.
The internet is about communicating, NOT “farming.” It’s not for efficiently communicating with masses of people, even though that’s what most of your competition uses it for.
It’s for effectively communicating with one person at a time (as if they were the only person in the world) on a larger scale than you could do by yourself.
Treat your clients and potential clients like they are one of the crowd, and they will happily stay that way… and never step forward to do business.
Treat them like you treat your friends, and they’ll stick around.
3. Don’t build your website on quicksand.
The foundation of your website isn’t the actual system you use to run it. The foundation is the message that it sends – the story it tells.
Be different. Tell a different story than your competitors.
This is a hard one, I admit.
Most of my work in my private consulting is helping my clients answer simple questions like: “How are you different, and BETTER than your competition?”
Believe it or not, that can take a little time. If you don’t know the answer for YOU, you’ve got some work to do.
4. Don’t chase after the opportunity of the month.
It took me a while to learn this one.
There is a lot of stuff to buy online. Autoresponder systems, tracking systems, website systems, pay-per-click ads… The list is getting longer everyday.
And here’s why you should ignore most of it:
Every piece of technology will work for someone. But chasing after the latest and greatest system is dangerous.
If you think a new tracking system will REALLY deliver better results, well then test it. But don’t mistake the work that comes with change for real progress.
Often times, they aren’t the same thing.
You reach goals by setting them and working until you reach them, not by jumping from one thing to another.
5. Be creative. Make it up as you go.
Now I don’t mean to suggest that sitting down in front of a painting, sipping hot tea and thinking is going to bring the business in. Then again, it might.
The point is this:
Don’t forget that YOU are driving your business.
You are the chief architect.
That means you should always be on the lookout for new ways to reach potential clients.
Don’t just accept the chatter in the marketplace. Don’t think that the steady stream of email offers you get are your only choices.
You know your market better than anyone else.
Just go around asking yourself, “What is the most important thing my prospects and clients need to know right now?”
Then tell them…
Despite what the media is saying, there is a lot of business to be had out there. And someone is going to get it.
Why not you?
But sometimes, you can’t find it just by buying a pay-per-click ad or hiring a website designer.
Here’s one example:
Just a few days ago, I was working with a copywriting client of mine…
He needed people to come to his website, quickly. It’s an industry similar to real estate in that there is A LOT of competition online.
Rather than going to Google, Yahoo or any other internet advertising hotspot, I sat down and wrote a letter.
A simple letter from him to his prospects.
4 days later, he was $20,000.00 wealthier.
Why would I tell you this story?
For two reasons:
1. It helps me prove to you that I know what I am doing. It builds credibility.
2. It shows you that there are many, many ways to market your business. Just be a little bit creative and a little bit different.
Don’t get tunnel vision on the internet. Your website is a tool that you can use to grow your real estate business in a ton of different ways.
If you really are at a loss about where to begin, then just begin with what you’ve got. Take small steps from there.
