Tag: Reputation Marketing

Google says 49% of real estate consumers look for trust

In other posts I have written about the importance having a well rounded positive online reputation. Having a great online reputation increases the ROI of your marketing dollars.

Yesterday while I was attending the Real Estate Mastermind Summit, Tom Ferry was the speaker and he told us he was asked to attend an event at Google wherein the movers and shakers of real estate marketing came together to discuss strategies. Tom put up the following slide:

Google, using stats and surveys, determined what was most important to the consumer when selecting a real estate agent. It’s hard to see in my photo, but TRUST was number one at 49%. In second place was EXPERIENCE at 15% and so on down the list. TRUST represented half within this study.

So how do you get trust? Obviously direct referrals from their friends communicates THEY trust you. Some trust may come into play after meeting you. In 2014, Placester and T3Experts conducted research regarding online reviews. They found 85% of consumers use online reviews to evaluate local businesses and professionals. They also found 90% trusted peer recommendations like online reviews 6.5 times more then traditional advertising. The percentages of consumers looking to online reviews for Realtors is growing each year.

Your online snapshot is everything. Agent Reputation gives you the tools you need to get reviews where they count. Google, Yelp and Facebook

CJ Hays @area51testpilot

Internal vs External Online Reviews for Realtors

“Realtors have become restaurants”. This means consumers are Googling realtors like they would a restaurant, looking for their online ratings and reputation. People want to go to major directories that they trust and rely on everyday for reviews about products or services before they buy. What your prospect sees in the first 5 to 10 seconds in the search engines is EVERYTHING.

Things have changed for realtors online. Back in the day (not long ago), realtors, teams and brokerages dominated the organic search results. Most of the consumer property searches were taking place on realtor or team websites. Now they are using Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Trulia for their searches. Even longer ago, the consumer was spending more time on your website reading your content. Today they are looking for houses. They want to see that you have testimonials, but the majority are not actually reading them in detail. In fact, when I was in the real estate website business, we would always have a testimonial page that had a two sentence snippet with a button that said “read more”. Nobody ever clicked on the read more link because they just want to know you have testimonials.

We know realtor reviews are important. We knew this over a year ago when Sean McCrory launched Agent Reputation. Many clients later, the subject is coming up more and more at real estate technology events and national franchise meetings. Reviews were discussed at the T3 Summit and T3 experts released a report on realtor reviews. Placester published an infographic from survey results. I agree with most of the results, and I get the fact that when you are paying Zillow for marketing, it is wise to have as many Zillow reviews as you can get.

I have also heard, “Regain control from 3rd-party review sites”. It has been suggested to use an internal survey system to create internal ratings and reviews that people can see when they go to a realtor’s website. I love surveys to help the agents learn how to better serve their clients. We have surveys, but that is not the focus of this post. Some of the “teachers” out there are promoting INTERNAL reviews because everyone is scared of BAD reviews. They are scared that somebody might go sideways on Google or Yelp. That is OK, providing you have enough GOOD reviews. Having no reviews can be just as bad as negative reviews. People want to see reviews on a major directory that they trust, before making a buying decision. Surveys have shown that if you do not have at least 6-10 positive reviews, many potential clients will not trust your service.

A very high percentage of your prospects, especially listing prospects, are Googling you. What they see in the first 5 to 10 seconds, on page 1 of the search results, is everything. There should be 5 gold stars everywhere and not just the review systems provided by the likes of Zillow and other real estate vendors. It is pretty safe to assume if the largest search engine in the world has a review system, you should be paying attention to it. All realtors should have verified Google business pages so that you have an opportunity to get on the Google 7 Pack (that just came back for residential realtors).

Most agents know they need to focus on agent online reviews. However, as an agent, you need a method to facilitate getting the third-party reviews. We do that.

Let’s get back to the subject matter. If I just want to Google you, how am I seeing your internal reviews? Do I have to assume they are on your website and then go to your website and then click on a link to see them? What if you don’t have a website or are using the free site your franchise or broker is providing you? What the search engines see is more important than your INTERNAL system.

If you have one, how really satisfied are you with your reputation vendor? Are they facilitating your reviews out to the third party sites like Google Reviews and Yelp? Are you in the Google 7 Pack? Call us for a free testimonial commercial.

 

Agent Reputation – Online Reviews

Recently our Director of Marketing Chris “CJ” Hays, was invited to do a live interview with talk show host Danny Vegas, on WCBM. CJ talks about reputation marketing, and the importance of online reviews when it comes to generating more real estate leads. If people are going to list their home with you they need to trust you. Online reviews are like recommendations, and they need to be on the right websites, and highly visible.

Watch The Whole Interview Here

Real Estate Not Showing In Google 7 Pack – Or Is It?

About one week ago, realtors all over the country woke up to find that they were no longer showing up in Google’s search results for terms like “Real Estate Las Vegas NV”. Most real estate agencies that show up on page 1 of Google are showing up in the Google 7 pack or 3 pack.

However, about 1 week ago, the real estate 7 packs were gone! There has been no full explanation from Google at this time. They are calling this the “Pigeon Update” and it has been causing panic for many realtors all over the country.

Here is something you may not know… Try doing a search for “Real Estate Reviews Las Vegas NV”, or “Real Estate Agency Reviews Las Vegas NV”, or “Realtor Reviews Las Vegas NV”, or any other city. The real estate 7 packs are back! Or perhaps they never left.

Look At This Example Of Search Done After The Last Google Algorithm Update 7/24/2014

This example clearly shows that if you add the word “reviews” to most search terms having to do with real estate, the Google 7 or 3 pack is being displayed. What this tells me, and what we have been saying for a while now, is that your online reputation is your most important marketing tool. Google putting so much emphasis on the word “Reviews” goes to show you how important your online reviews are.

DUI Attorneys have also seen their 7 pack listings disappear when doing a search for “DUI Attorney Las Vegas NV” or any other city and state. Try the same thing by doing a search for “DUI Attorney Reviews Las Vegas NV” and you’ll see the Google 7 pack re-appear. It seems this new Google “Pigeon” update is focusing heavily on reviews, and how the 7 pack results are to be displayed.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other major sites and directories know that consumers are looking for reviews, no matter what product or service they’re considering. Real estate is no different; in fact, even more so when you consider that for most people their home is their biggest asset. Referrals have always been most realtors bread and butter, which is exactly what a review is. However, with an online review, you’re not the only one seeing the referral. The whole world is, which means more leads for you!

Realtors looking to compete in this market need to focus on their reputation first, before spending dollars on all other forms of marketing. If you’re spending marketing dollars on PPC, SEO, Flyers, Radio, or even if someone refers you, consumers are still going to Google you. What they find can determine whose phone rings first – yours or your competitors.

Written by: Sean McCrory
www.agentreputation.net

Your Reputation Equals More Clients

The Internet is an ever-changing place, and many realtors are unaware of some important changes that have taken place. One of these changes is that Google has recently implemented their own review system, which shows realtor information when people search for specific realtors.

This information can help ensure that people choose you as a realtor, but it can also help ensure that people don’t choose you, if not properly used.

Reviews are an important part of marketing on the Internet. People leave reviews in various places, such as Yelp and other review sites. However, Google reviews are especially important because they are the ones that show up when people search your name on that search engine.

Given the huge numbers of people who use Google as their primary search engine, this is a way to reach many potential customers.

Having at least 10 Google reviews means having your own listing with a Google score. This score shows how many positive reviews you have for every negative review. A Google score can make it easier for people to make a quick choice about whether to pursue investigating you.

Getting people to contribute reviews to Google is an important part of building a 5 star reputation. However, many people don’t want to take the time to do so. One way to improve your success rate at getting customers to post reviews is to make it easier. This means helping them avoid sign up screens and other lengthy processes other than actually writing the review.

Whether you have a few reviews but want more or have never heard of Google reviews, you can improve your standing by pursuing this type of marketing. An optimized Google listing makes people more likely to click on your link, which is essential if they are going to even consider your services.

As realtors reputation matters in gaining new clients. Your online reputation is beginning to be just as important, or perhaps even more important than those in the non-virtual world.