I remember it like it was yesterday: my first December in real estate.  I’d been working very hard and my business was finally starting to take off.  I had four closings scheduled for the month, and believe me, I needed the money.  After a lean six months in a new career, we were going to have a normal Christmas again, and I was thrilled.  Don’t get me wrong — I’m not materialistic and my family has cheerfully endured good times and bad, but let’s face it, more is better than less.

First I’d like to commend you for sticking with me through the previous six installments.  We’ve covered a lot of ground, and hopefully you’ve been able to take something of value away from each article.  Now we finally come to the end.  We’ve discussed lots of topics, from technology to advertising.  From theory to practical application.  Now it’s time to help you assemble your own online marketing plan and what specific steps you need to take to put your newly formed strategy into action.  So let’s get started.

In the last installment, I discussed website basics.  I intentionally left off one part of the typical website: the capture mechanism or gateway.  Some call it the form or registration page, but whatever you call it, it is the most important part of your site.  As far as I’m concerned, it is more important than the website itself.  Yes, I really said that.  Let me repeat myself: It is more important than the website.

Ok, so we’ve talked about advertising — the value proposition in the ad, the call to action, the advertising key words, as well as sources of Internet traffic.  We discussed pay-per-click (or pay-per-visitor) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).  Now it’s time to talk about the actual website.  What do the customers see once they have clicked on your Internet advertisement?  In this segment we will be discussing everything about your website, from the website’s landing page, to the content, to the value propositions, to graphic appeal and finally to keeping those customers on your site for as long as possible, or to minimizing abandonment.

In this Part we’ll examine the subject of online advertising.  I am probably going to use some terminology that is new to you, but I will attempt to either keep it simple or provide explanations as I go so even the most un-tech-savvy agent should have no problem taking something of value away from this article.  I need you to forget everything you’ve ever heard about advertising while you read and I want you to turn on your common sense — not very common these days — and see if this doesn’t resonate with you down deep inside.  I believe it will, and I believe it will result in your changing the way you look at advertising, and particularly online advertising forever.

By now I think we’ve come to understand that there actually is a science to online lead capture, and we’ve identified the methodology where we can actually test and measure resulting in the ability to produce much more bang for our Internet marketing buck.  From here we will examine and discuss at great length a number of different crucial elements of the online lead capture process.

Let’s talk for a minute about science.  After all, I’ve made the assertion that there was a science to online lead capture.  So with my having made such an assertion, it is reasonable for you to expect me to back it up.  What do I mean by “the science of lead capture”?  In the introductory article I defined science as a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: e.g., the science of online lead capture.  From that definition, you can assume two things:  that I have used a very systematic approach and that I’ve identified certain principles with regard

In June 2002 I got my real estate license and embarked on a brand  new career — selling houses!  I was excited.  I studied everything I could find.  I took classes.  I read dozens of books on real estate practice.  I couldn’t wait… and then nothing happened.  Don’t get me wrong — I did all the things that all the experts said I should do, but my results were very limited at best.

Last night I received a comment on my previous blog post just as I was going to bed. This kind of post nearly always comes from somebody who wants to “ring and run” and someone who almost never identifies himself.  But it bothered me a lot, keeping me awake — it was hurtful and it was just plain not true, and I thought I would take a few minutes to share it  as well as share my thoughts about the comment. (I’m sure “Anonymous” never expected me to publish his comment, much less feature it in the body of a stand alone post.)

According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2007 Member Profile, a full 60% of all 1.3 million REALTORS® have websites — nearly twice as many as just five years ago. Read the report overview. As I read that statistic, I was truly glad to see our industry moving in the right direction…

On May 27th this year, the US Department of Justice and the National Association of REALTORS® finally reached a settlement.

Talk about perfect timing! On May 26th I posted an article discussing our need to add value or die (click to read article) — the very next day the National Association of REALTORS® settled their three year old anti-trust lawsuit with the Department of Justice, ending what many believed to be the most important challenge our industry has ever faced. What does that have to do with adding value? Everything!

As a broker owner of a real estate firm with over 70 agents, I’m amazed sometimes at how some agents seem to “get it” and some seem to be “ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an avid proponent of learning… but let’s think about today’s real estate training for a minute.

Don’t you love it when every now and then you just happen to have the perfect answer to a question? That doesn’t often happen to me, but it did last November. I (along with about 25,000 other agents) was attending the National Association of REALTORS® annual conference in Las Vegas, and while I was there, my friend Michael Krisa caught up with me and we had lunch together. Little did I know he was going to ambush me with his video camera! (Hey, what are friends for, right?)

So here are the points I was t-t-trying t-t-to make in the video clip. (You’ve gotta love raw video!) By the way, the clip was originally posted by Michael on Real Blogging.

In this installment, we’ll move on to the third thing you need to become a mega-producer in today’s real estate climate — the tools, strategies, and the discipline to manage all those low-cost leads for the time required to actually complete transactions with a large number of them.

I must confess that it’s very frustrating to see agents possess the very tools they need for their success and yet fail to take that last step — the step to making it all come together. I once was a struggling agent and nearly quit the business until I developed the lead capture gateway that quite literally turned my business around forever, so I’m very passionate about having the ability to generate as much business as you want or need to make your professional dreams come true.

Today’s successful mega-producers are generating plenty of business, but unlike the customers of yesterday, today’s real estate customer is beginning online. According to the latest figures, in excess of 90% (94%) are beginning their search online. In my last installment, I explained how successful agents today are going way “upstream” to capture their business — before the customer has had the opportunity to be attracted by old-school marketing techniques. If you haven’t read it yet, you owe it to yourself to start there.

In my last post I discussed the difference between yesterday’s pull marketing and today’s push marketing. I explained how pull marketing is reactive — “If you build it they will come.” Push marketing, on the other hand, is pro-active — “If you build it they won’t come so you have to go get them.” (Click to view previous blog post.) Many agents today have experienced that very phenomenon: doing lots of advertising and getting little if no results.

Before we launch into this segment, let’s recap the last installment. In it I was discussing how in the 1960s and 70s, our industry was in a Broker-centric Era. The brokers had all the power. Customers had very little access to listing inventory except through them. Agents had no business except through them. Modern real estate brokerage was in its infancy. By controlling the inventory, broker-owners were able to build real estate dynasties. It was common place to see multiple office operations with teams of agents, and it was during this climate that companies like Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, and other similar broker-centric companies became huge empires.

When CNN’s Pulse on America program featured us two years ago, they were investigating an interesting phenomenon in our industry. Click to view video. It seems that today there are two real estate worlds coexisting simultaneously. Like in the movie The Matrix, there was the “perceived” world and then there was the “real” world. In our industry there is much the same today. Those agents who are practicing real estate this new way, are doing quite well — many better than ever. But those who are hanging onto the old-school real estate model are finding themselves working harder and harder and making less and less money.

"Goosey Lucy said that Ducky Lucky said that Henny Penny said the sky is falling." From reading and listening to the media you can't help but think of Chicken Little. Okay, well I've finally heard enough! I'm so weary of hearing one person after another bemoan the sad state of real estate today that I'm about ready to scream!

Every time it's told it gets worse! "The end of real estate is near." "The mortgage industry is doomed." "Give up and get out now while you still can." "The lead aggregators have ruined our business." "The banks are taking over our business." On and on it goes. No doubt, you've heard it too. Well I say poppy-cock! The sky is not falling!