Hi all,
I've been thinking about testing a lower cost solution for getting some search engine placement for agent and office websites that don't have big budgets to play with....

What would your thoughts be on a service specifically for agent sites that charges an initial makeover fee to get the site search engine friendly and then continues to provide all neccessary seo & link building but charges only for the new unique visitors that come to the site and perhaps a very small cost for each lead coming thru the site? I'm not a fan of lead aggregators and don't want to seem like I'm trying to go that route but we're providing services to specifically enhance the client site not our own services.
I'm not completely worked through on all the details yet but with our client sites, we usually handle all the changes & maintenance as well so it's easy enough to run stats and chart the increase in traffic as well as billing for it.

My thoughts are that we might provide additional site features and functions at our expense and discretion to increase lead conversion since we'd have a financial motive for making the site effective and not just getting it to do well in the search engines. After all, getting to the top of the search engines is only good if the site can effectively convert the traffic to leads right and sales?

Does this sound like something that might fly or should I start getting more sleep at night...

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Rich
Real Estate Websites
Search Engine Optimization

I don't know how the charging for each leads would go over but charging for traffic may run into the same negative perceptions of the click fraud issues currently plaguing the PPC services - where some folks in Asia are paid pennies to click on links all day. Whether it happens or not the perception is that it does - and it may be a headache always arguing over click charges.

How about charging just based on improving the Alexa ranking? Or some other agreed upon ranking, rather than clicks.

Sue

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Sue Caskey, Esq.,Realtor(R)
http://www.pa-home-sales.com
Keller Williams has Millionaire Agent Training PLUS profit sharing!
Call 24 hrs a day to hear all the details:
(800) 881-4276 x9801 (recorded message)

Alexa rankings are easy to artificially raise. There are services that automatically load your site onto screensavers that are given to a bazillion participants - most of whom leave their computer on all the time so your site keeps getting reloaded and your site's Alexa rank looks like your are some sort of internet genius even though you get zero legitimate traffic.

I personally am suspicious of anyone who brags about their Alexa rank

Doug you might be right, but personally I don't find that Alexa ranks are useless. Nor are page clicks useless to the average real estate agent website. They do have some meaning, even if imperfect, if viewed together with other metrics.

I think we can agree that there is no "perfect" solution, whether it's page views, rankings, whatever. It seems that a combination of either or both of those, plus something tangible, like users actually joining the site, or subscribing to a newsletter, or responding to content in some way, would give Rich what he's looking for.

Sue

Hey!

What would you say "Theoretically" is the average man hours spent to optimize a site on a maintenance level?

My point is, if it is possible I would approach it from a quarterly perspective. For X dollars we optimize your site and for Y dollars we tune and update your site quarterly.

Set your Benchmarks and show them the results prior to each renewal period.

I appologize in advance if this is how you already do business..

Hey Rich long time no see. I have an easy solution for this. Create a contract and charge for leads closed. Once the website is in the top 10 you agree then at that point to work on a month to month contract.

This way if the website is producing leads and the Realtor doesnt convert those to closings..you can get out of that contract within that 30 day period.

This would generate more income for you in the long run and would offer the starving Realtor and chance to get some seo work without paying an arm and a leg up front.

I would set the fee at 20%.

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The Best Real Estate Agents in Las Vegas and Atlanta in the Las Vegas Real Estate Market Atlanta Real Estate Market offering Las Vegas Homes for sale and Atlanta Homes

There are hosts out there that will optimize your site and not charge for leads. Only a hosting fee.

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Matt
888-329-7576 x2125
daym@homes.com

Matt....is there anything that you don't think you're an expert on? I am not a realtor, and therefore offer few opinions on any of the topics. I am however a consumer, and with your pushiness I feel like I'm stuck at a 70's car lot, and you're the leisure suit wearing salesman. Good luck in your business endeavours.

I MAY BE OLD FASIONED BUT I GET THE JOB DONE. AS I STATED BEFORE "I AM NOT THE EXPERT" I SIMPLY PASS ON THE INFO. I AM OFFERING A SERVICE, NOW THIS SERVICE MAY NOT BE FOR EVERYONE, AND THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO USE IT ARE VER GLAD THEY DID. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE A 94% RETENTION RATE. WE ALSO OFFER MONEY BACK GUARENTEE AND DO NOT USERP CONTRACTS. GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CONSUMER ENDAVEOURS.

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Matt
888-329-7576 x2125
daym@homes.com

[This message has been edited by homesdotcom (edited 09-22-2004).]

Matt: When you start defending yourself against opposing views, you start typing in ALL CAPS.

That is not good net etiquette, as you know being a big Internet expert as you portray. That is akin to SHOUTING.

Please refrain.

Dang, is this how y'all advertise on the web? Going to message boards and spamming like that? Well, I'm not going to check your product out then! Other realtors should know that too.

YOUR LOSS, NOT MINE.

No...It's your loss. You're in sales. You just lost a customer.

Treat customer's with respect, listen to their concerns, offer solutions, make sales, and follow through with support.

That's your job.

Try it, you might like it.

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The MaeLee Group
http://www.maeleegroup.com

Rich:

We do something like you're talking about, but we charge for search engine placement.

$20 for each agreed upon search term on the first page of the top 4 search engines, and $35 for anything in the top 5. With a monthly agreed upon cap, depending on the competitiveness of the keywords... which can range from $99 to $999 a month. This seems to have been working well for those aggressive agents that want us to do everything, and they just follow the leads.

Charging for results in being on the front page and top 5 in the 4 major search engines seems to work. If you're there, you get the traffic, there's just no doubt. Now once we tried to base our rate on "solid leads" but that was too hard to define. Then we tried to base or rate on closing, but that was even harder to track and the agent didn't seem to work the leads very hard. If it was an easy sale, yes, but since the lead didn't "cost" him anything, there wasn't a sense of loss.

So if you still are thinking of pursuing this thought, pay by position seems to work for us, and the Realtors that join our "Platinum" membership.