Okay so any help is of course appreciated..

The questions is..

As an agent who works for a franchise...

Should I invest in a website that uses my name as the logo and the website and promote my services and experience.

or should I invest in a domain and caricature logo created to match the website name? Be known by the logo as a trusted source and experience in real estate etc.

I actually already have a domain name and template website but am looking to go to the next step. Tie in my marketing material with my website etc..

thanks for any help
David

It'll be interesting to see the opinions that come in.

I'd stick with your own photo. I realize a big giant like Geico has the little gecko (sp?) and other companies have their little gizmos going on.

Defintely gotta have your own website b/c most of those franchise-given websites, you're site is like a sub-sub-sub-site (as you can see, I don't know computer techno lingo).

Then, as I've read before (a million years ago, it seems), you could always market it one way for awhile and then market it the other way for awhile and see which one appears to be more successful.

That is why you are with a franchise. The company name and logo is supposed to be the "trusted source and experience". The old Jerry Bresser rule of "sell the company" unless you are extremely well known in the market area already.

You may want to sell yourself as the person to call when people think about the company name. If you are going to downplay the company then why waste your money on their fees?

If you want to use your website to acquire new leads from search engines however you should be targeting real estate keywords that people search for and not your name or the company name.

Doug you make a great point, I did got with the franchise company to get instant name recognition.

my ideas while maybe flawed were to have some sort of logo or something visually catchy to promote ME a little further then the franchise would on a local level.

So for example when I send out a open house invite there will be my personal or website link and logo of say our bay as a more locally appealing my experience with Bay County. ideally the logo would match the website name.

so the website is buybaytoday.com its bland and templated.. The idea being to get a logo to match the website name. Of course honor the franchise according to the rules and regulations. This logo would then go on business cards and other items.

I am not known in my market at all, in fact I am do this part time but my plan is to convert full time real estate. Which of course means more leads. Enter better web persona..

thanks for anyones input!

David

I would go with your face as your "logo"

People love to look at faces. Put your face everywhere if you are trying to brand yourself. In my opinion a website name is only of real value for search positioning. Don't ty and "brand" it. Easier to "brand" yourself.

I would say go with your own website and brand but dont mak your brand you. Show yourself in the website as more of a lead capture. Dont make your site about you.

lets explore this.. so J%E it sounds like your more in favor of a logo that will match the website name. The same logo that would be put in print and email marketing?

the website would be not so much about me but the local market and local trends etc..

Another strategy I have heard is to have one base site with your market key words in it. Then have a redirect set up to your base site that would be more in-line with your name and market. Therefore promoting your self, would be a window to the same website would-be clients search for.

this way I would see the logo marketing going to your name however.

thoughts?

David

Aloha David,

Unless you have a pretty experienced/tech-savvy marketing team, I would say to keep it simple. So many times people try to come up with logos/branding that are gimmicky and fail in execution. BuyBayToday obviously has a little catchy thing going on, you wouldn't have to overdo it to get in people's perception (I'd think that it would do well on a radio campaign with a catchy tune). IMHO, branding YOU will take more time/effort/money than branding your site (which is obviously an extension of you).

We know from data that MOST people do not search the internet for agents. They search for listings, community info, market stats, home values, etc. Make your site about your community, but mix your personality throughout your site in a strategic way...after all, your personality and personal experience is your only true differentiator. http://www.geekestateblog.com/the-only-unique-content-you-have-is-you/