Does anyone know anything about this software http://www.point2agent.com They say its free??

It looks like they will give you a basic site for free in the hopes that you will upgrade to a paid site. In any event, the sites have not been optimized for the major search engines for the keywords used by searchers - so few will ever find the site unless you mortgage your house to pay the pay-per-click fees charged by Overture and Google.

One thing I noticed about their sites - at least all of the ones have seen so far - is that they are designed for a HUGE screen resolution. Unless you have a computer screen the size of the side of a house you will be scrolling side to side to see the content. That is #1 on the visitor turn-off list!

Better to get a web package that IS optimized for the major search engines and has PROVEN to generate leads - like the package available here - http://www.rncinternet.com/real_estate.html

Also see the results achieved on the major search engines ! - http://www.rncinternet.com/search_positions/

Before deciding on any web site ask them to show you PROOF that they know how to position the sites in search engines - or else you will have to spend a fortune promoting the site if you want any results at all!


[This message has been edited by doug (edited 02-05-2004).]

Are you optimizing web site position with the "Web Position Gold" software ?

I use Web Position Gold for positioning reports but it is not a lot of use for optimizing a web site to compete for competitive keywords. So, I do not use it often.

WPG can also get your IP banned from google. Google does not like WPG.

Point2Agent has some 20,000 users across North America. It has some brilliant features and yes is free for the basic site. Basic means that you can only post 10 listings which is more than 70% of the realtors have anyway. The full blown site gives you unlimited listings, the ability to make your own banner ads, visitor tracking, automated listing forwarding to clients and realtors etc. The banner ad feature is a nice add on because you can charge your alliances; mortgage broker, lawyer etc. for this and generate a small cash flow. I suggest that you try it and then form your own opinions and not rely on others to think for you.

Doug,
Please don't take this the wrong way, but the questions was has anyone used P2A and not about positioning. I use some ten different sites and they all serve a different target markets and I could care less about positioning. Register for a free account and try it yourself. Then you can be objective about what it does and does not do. Remember it is a free site and therefore a risk free way for realtors that have no site and no experience to start.

what does Doug know anyway ...LOL

Seriously though, the main reason the vast majority of real estate websites are worthless and a complete waste of time is because noone can find them.
Think about it... no exposure = no visitors = no value. Who's going to pay for exposure on a website that noone can find? Nobody I know
Here's a short story of a recent happening with my company. Century 21 recently added a free website feature to their toolbag for agents, brokers or companies. We have over 70 Century 21 agents, brokers and the likes that use our services in one form or another. They are being promoted by C21 heavily as one of the greatest inventions since the wheel. Well,we received at least a dozen calls about why they were wonderful with the tone of some being less than pleasant. After seeing the sites for myself, I must admit, they are very graphically appealing. Other than that they are formula for disappointment for anyone who wishes to establish a serious lead and revenue generating presence on the web as no search engine will ever index it. For something pretty to have your friends visit they are fantastic

Building and maintining a successful web presence is an extroardinary amount of work that goes on in perpituity. There's no quick, free, or easy ways to do it and the ones who have recognized this are doing very well in many cases but the vast majority continue to seek the quick cheap miracle.

I mean to offend noone reading this post. I do wish however to urge everyone to stop wasting time and money and equally importantly, stop giving up any perceived value for yourselves and your companies by relying solely on the big web players realtor, homegain ect. or you will be asking yourself in the not too distant future what happenrd to your businesses and proffession. The overwhelming trend throughout the industry is for people to search for a home and get whatever realtor goes with it by default. The web is only one component of the type of comprehensive marketing that is required to position yourselves or your comopanies as the one people want to do business with. Anyway...I done now




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Rich
Advertising, Marketing & Virtual Tours

Planet IDX,

Google has been known to block the IP used by users of programs repeatedly checking their index for results - and this would include abusers of the Webposition program. You are not blocked or penalized for using the program to help optimize sites or submit sites etc.

Michael, I have nothing against the concept of P2A and free is nice of course - as long as agents understand what they are getting.

Agents are bombarded by ads for web services in all of the media - not just online - and a miniscule number of agents have any understanding whatsoever of the idea that a web site has to be promoted in order for it to have any chance of being anything more than a big waste of time.

If they have come to understand that a web site must be promoted - then they are having the false notions drilled into their heads by "internet experts" that having meta tags and the right keywords in them will cause your web site to rocket to the top of the seach engines.

With all of this high-powered advertising money, expert-internet-trainers etc. It is no wonder agents are not getting the message - but, as a small voice in the wilderness, I like to try and provide a little info whenever I can to help educate and save agents time and money and give them reasonable expectations

As long as an agent understands the limitations of the web site and what would be involved in having to promote it - i.e. why "free" is not the same as a site they would have to pay for even if they look the same on the surface - then go for it.

I bet we all have things hiding in our closets at home that we got for free ( if you have kids - like the toys fast food restaurants gives with their kids meals) - the free web sites don't hide in your closet but they do hide on the web.

A web site is a part of your marketing tool kit and how you promote it and use it is NO different regardless of the cost. Time and time again off-line marketing efforts have proven to be highly effective in driving specific localized traffic to your site. This is the kind of lead that ultimately buys/sells and puts an income into the realtor’s pocket.
Why build illusions of high ranking grandeur to individual sales people when the major real estate corporations are paying exorbitant amounts to occupy those spots.
The best bang for the buck is and always will be localized target marketing. All this talk of placement in search engines etc. is of no consequence when the majority of realtors don’t even check emails!

Wow...It's great to see some traffic on this forum and some thoughts being exchanged. Let's keep it going.

Mike,
If the lions share of an agent/broker's buyers & sellers are coming from the immediate local market, Your spot on with most of your last post. Regardless of rankings, marketing the site is always important. Most of my clients however are in the Pocono region of PA which is highly vaction home oriented. This being the case, marketing to only local mediums would be inneffective for reaching the places that their buyers and sellers predominantly reside, so Local marketing as well as search engine rankings are a need not an added benefit or illusion. Another thing to throw out there is that with some effort put into rankings optimization, a site like the one you spoke of that targets mainly the local market should be able to obtain very good rankings with very locally targeted search criteria which would give you the best of both worlds. It's not a right or wrong scenario, both are important. This is the way people learn guys so let's keep it going and if anyone else besides Mike, Doug and myself have any thoughts...jump in

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Rich
Advertising, Marketing & Virtual Tours

Rich,
At the sound of the bell let's come out swinging )
The point is not which is the best, rather where to start. All this talk of placement and optimization is best left to you tech types. As I mentioned in a previous post, that's what you get paid for. The realtor on the other hand needs to understand that they too must get into the game. That's the off-line marketing aspect to drive traffic to their site. At the end of the day we are all driving towards the same end, getting the lead.

Rich,
The icon in my reply was suppose to be a happy face and not a smurf on acid.
Oopps!

I know exactly what your saying Mike. We have much to learn and share from each other.

Understand that my point of view is coming from having to deal daily with people that have been promised the world by everyone unc]der the sun and have usually already been disappointed to the point past the free stuff and past the first level or 2 of paid people promising unrealistic results for little costs. It not only makes things more difficult for my business which is not even a consideration because I've already proven myself in my market but rather continues to spread the bad information of how the internet is a waste of time for real estate. I hate seeing people miss the boat so to speak.

What's your opinion specifically regarding what I referred to earlier about brokers and agents giving up any value that sets themselves apart in their market in the eyes of clients by not marketing themselves effectively. The overwhelming number of people in my market are completely unfocused, without a plan and just rehashing the same old stuff expecting different results. Maybe we should start another thread for your answer to this one so others can follow along

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Rich
Advertising, Marketing & Virtual Tours

Values in real estate? Hmm, that could be a hot topic especially when as an industry the focus is on preserving the status quo. How else can you explain to the consumer in one breath that you represent their best interests and then advocate dual agency?

Well to make this short and sweet.Whether you are in a magazine or sending out postcards or on the web its all about the numbers you get..the more calls, emails and visits to a web site the more business you will close.

I can say that the number of direct hits I get to my web site from all the print advertising I do is small conpared to the hits I get from the search engines and major key phrases.

I do know for sure that the top web site on google for the key phrase Las Vegas Real Estate gets over 300 leads a day and this is why I am shooting for the top position on google and the other major search engines.

I dont believe there is another marketing tool greater then the web. As a good example I got a lead on the web 2 weeks ago and just put them into a contract for a 1.495 million dollar home thats $ 44,000 commission. That is just one example of what you can get. I am averaging around 18 to 30 leads a day right now and I am not even in the top 10 on google yet for the major search phrases and I have discontinued the PPC with the number of leads I am getting in.

Someone make a comment about realtors not responding to there email you are right a lot of them dont but if they knew what those of us that do pay a lot of attention to the web they would. Because of the business I am getting now I have added a new email system to my cell phone where when I get an email I get a call and I am read the email over the phone by a computer generated voice...after I hear it I can respond by voice to that email msg and it is sent in text to the person who emailed me.

To cut this book short LOL if you just build it they will not come as often as if you build it, optimize it and stay on top of your leads coming in.

Sorry for the book.

Best Wishes

Wayne Griggs http://www.las-vegas-homefinder.com

Your Hottest Source For Las Vegas Real Estate Buying and Selling!

I'm going to have to strongly disagree with Doug on a few points. First, a bit about me. I am an Internet consultant that purchased my first home two years ago. I shopped for homes online before arriving in town and making my purchase. I am now looking to upgrade and I am shopping for investment property out of state. All of my shopping will be done, or at least start, online. I am not selling anything so this is an unbiased analysis.

Quote:
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Seriously though, the main reason the vast majority of real estate websites are worthless and a complete waste of time is because noone can find them.
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I don't find that this is true at all. I have no trouble finding realtors Web sites. With a combination of Realtor.com and Google, I can find any site in any market with little trouble (usually). The problem is that when I find the sites, they are for the most part worthless. All opportunity to generate interest in listings through the power of the Internet has been overlooked or ignored by just about every realtor in America. I am so perplexed by the lack of effective online marketing that I am compelled to post here today so that maybe I can gain an understanding of why there are systematic shortcomings in this industry.

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Building and maintining a successful web presence is an extroardinary amount of work that goes on in perpituity. There's no quick, free, or easy ways to do it and the ones who have recognized this are doing very well in many cases but the vast majority continue to seek the quick cheap miracle.
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There is some truth to this but it is not as bad as you think. If a realtor were to create a site using guidelines centered around usable content, reasonable search engine structure, simple but effective administration tools, and committed the time it took to learn the basics of effective online marketing, then this would really become a non-issue.

Entire online businesses are created around the concept of residual results. In other words - it is possible to create a site that generates revenue month after month with little or no time invested by the owner after the initial setup. This idea of residual results can be applied to any online venture, including real estate. Create a well-structured site and keep the content up to date (listings in this case), and you may find that it takes on a life of it's own and rewards you ten fold for the effort you put into it.

A lot of the blame for lack of results falls on the Internet industry. I hesitate to even call it an industry when just about anyone can get into it and it's tough to tell the difference between the services offered by a sixteen year old kid in his basement and a full fledged marketing agency. I could see that as a realtor with little knowledge of online marketing, it would be difficult or impossible to make an informed decision on who to hire for a new website and marketing services.

However, that does not explain why the big companies like C21 and ReMax aren't getting it. I would think that with all the money and expertise behind these companies that every C21 office would have a top-notch website and a suite of online marketing guidelines and tools. Just the opposite seems to be true. The sites from these companies are often the least informative out there. I could post links for several mom and pop realtys that have made sites that are far better than the big guys.

Anyway, I just found this forum and it looks like a good one. Hopefully I can help a bit and in turn I will find that mountain property online