Steve Harney is a big man.
He needs to be to house his big heart.
And his big brain.
Steve is also filled with extraordinary common sense, which I benefited from today as we conversed about everything from stick ball to bagels to real estate.
The conversation swung around to broker Websites. The topic came up in a discussion about a company Steve is working with that cited our brokerage website report as their guide to creating a new website.
As this company deliberated over the realities of a new website and vendor, Steve noticed the broker was comparing the cost of a new site to the cost of their old one.
That way of thinking puzzled Steve. In his mind, the broker should be measuring the cost of the new website against the overall cost of their print advertising – the very thing this Website would replace.
Steve will be the first one to tell you that he is not an expert on Websites or digital marketing. But when those words rolled off his tongue, the first thought that came to my mind was, “why didn’t I think of that?”
Brokers, I understand the dilemma you face regarding your Websites. Despite the pressures you feel internally to stick with what you have, you know it does not represent who you are, what your real value proposition is or what you want your brand to be.
In the pit of your stomach is that daily churn over why so much of your traffic never converts. It’s not the morning coffee talking. It’s because whatever it is you have appears to be an anomaly to anyone who has ever used the Internet to search for anything.
You are slowed to a crawl in a sickening struggle to delineate who among the many vendors that promise the world will actually deliver something more than a shanty.
But at the end of the day the biggest contributor to the Website dilemma is what Steve observed, the comparison of your current rotten apple Website to the cost of a brand new orange.
That makes no sense to Steve, a man who once ran a large and successful brokerage, which he sold when times were great. And I concur. It makes no sense to me either.
This past summer at ConnectSF a man in the audience asked panel speaker and broker Jonathan Kaufman how smart it was for him to have spent $35,000 to build his small brokerage site when he could have sold him a template Website for $99.00. Jonathan said it was perfectly smart, because he doesn’t run a template brokerage. He’s doing really well.
A few weeks ago, D.C. brokerage Avery Hess launched their new Website – a far cry from a $99 template [Disclosure: Avery Hess is a 1000watt client]. With a modicum of free press, a thoughtful communications plan, and a few reviews by some well-respected folks, the site is exploding with leads and – get this – inquiries from local agents who want to now become Avery Hess agents.
Yup. This isn’t science fiction folks.
It’s taking the web as seriously as you once took print.
Thanks for today Steve.
- Davison
Twitter: @1000wattmarc
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A mist of difference
[...] Here is the original post: Comparing Website apples to W­… [...]
Marc – great post, as usual. Our website is a great tool for us, our agents, and consumers. However, it is one piece of an overall plan we help our agents craft on the utilization of new media, social media and interactive content to help grow their businesses. And it works. We create videos for our agents (Example):
http://www.averyhessblog.com/2009/09/meet-our-people-amy-cherry-taylor/
The example video was posted and distributed by Avery-Hess and our agent last Friday, and our agent has already secured an additional listing because of it.
As for people taking notice, here is an email I received on Friday from our website from an agent who wants to join (we will be meeting to move forward on Monday):
Dear Avery-Hess,
I am interested in making a transition to Avery and Hess. I have been licensed since 2002. I am licensed in MD,VA,DC.
I am interested in building my business. I currently have REO listings and have been working in the REO business for the last two years. I also provide BPO services for asset management companies.
I learned about Avery and Hess through [another agent] who is now an agent with your firm.
I would like to set up at time to meet with the hiring manager and talk about a possible future with your company.
Best Regards,
This “stuff” works, and is critically important to the long term growth in agents careers. However, as you articulated in your post Marc, there has to be a lot of care, planning and thought put into the overall strategy and implementation.
Great post Marc, I always enjoy your thoughtful insights.
-Amit Kulkarni
Avery-Hess, Realtors
http://www.averyhess.com
[...] Comparing website apples to website oranges – Don’t look at the expense of a new website to what it cost to build your old one, times have [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jon Sterling, Ryan & Stephen and Avery Hess, Realtors. Avery Hess, Realtors said: http://www.1000wattconsulting.com/blog/2009/09/comparing-website-apples-to-website-oranges.html [...]
I agree with you 100% on this. When making a marketing decision (online or offline), Brokers should not forget their goals: Increase Marketshare and Agent Recruiting. Print advertising is good for the office listings and for name recognition. But a “good” online presence will get them faster to their goals: More Sales and Added Agents
I agree. I am an agent. Our inexpensive template site, we refer to as the glossy business card and still have it.
But, my team and I launched a more robust site, one we hope to be “brokerage” grade, with the money we stopped spending on useless print advertising.
It’s new and work is still needed. But, I am glad we spent the money.
Marc – Great post. Our site, along with our model has us uniquely positioned in our market. We are receiving inquiries from agents off of our site that want to join, in fact, on Friday we received this:
Dear [Avery-Hess],
I am interested in making a transition to Avery and Hess. I have been licensed since 2002. I am licensed in MD,VA,DC.
I am interested in building my business. I currently have REO’s listing and have been working in the REO business for the last two years. I also provide BPO services for asset management companies.
I would like to set up at time to meet with the hiring manager and talk about a possible future with your company.
Best Regards
We are meeting with this person on Monday to begin the transition to Avery-Hess.
This stuff works, and having a killer website is just one part of an overall strategy to help grow an agent’s business.
Great post, and as always, on the mark.
To clarify the above post, the inquiry to join came from our website
Great points. It’s amazing how often brokers get hung up on the metrics of the web while continuing to spend the vast majority of their budgets on unmeasurable legacy marketing strategies.
One of the larger issues I see with brokers is that they end up creating sites that are no different – other than branding – than their competition and provide little tangible value to their network of agents. That seems to be changing, but few companies offer broker platforms capable of taking things to the next level.
Marc,
I love the following lines:
“Steve Harney is a big man.
He needs to be to house his big heart.
And his big brain.”
Every word is true. Steve is also an outstanding giver and sharer of information.
What I love about this post is that Steve who is not incredibly tech driven, points out to the broker the comparison for print media. This is pure genius.
The website today IS the business card, lobby, street-level signage of yesteryear. It is the first impression you have with thousand of visitors each year…
I’d probably try to roll out the red carpet, or at least put out the good dishes…
Matt
[...] Comparing Website apples to Website oranges by Marc Davison by 1000Watt Consulting [...]
“In his mind, the broker should be measuring the cost of the new website against the overall cost of their print advertising – the very thing this Website would replace.”
I am not sure I agree that this would be an accurate comparison. The print advertising consists of two parts –
a) the design,
b) the distribution
The newspaper has a measurable audience.
The website costs the broker is likely to be looking at are usually -
a)design
b)hosting
While the site may now be online, there is no guaranteed audience. Those costs are extra, and unless you are doing a ppc campaign, no guaranteed audience for the spend.
Marc:
Intereting post.
I have to admit that I’ve read it a few times now and still don’t really get the thrust of it yet.
I think we can all agree that every brokerage needs a web site, since some huge percentage of all home buyers are on the net now. (This is where 100% of my business comes from)
It’s a fact that some folks have zero web site development skills, but I’m sure they don’t care and have plenty of skills elsewhere.
What’s unfortunate is the prices some end up paying to have sites built. However, this is not unfortunate for the talented web site builder.
Like the origina post, I’m not sure what I’m debating here. LOL!
Rob in Atlanta
Oh yeah, I wanted to know how the “few weeks old” Hess site has a PR of 3 already, and 45 backlinks showing in Google.
Did all that get redirected from a older existing site?
THAT does interest me.
RM
I am learning from your blog and using to assess what I need to do at my own site. Rebuild or remodel?
Aloha,
Keahi
Caryl,
Hard to say. They typically arrive spontaneously with my morning coffee. But thanks for reading.