Here are the stats for how consumers came to my website for 2009.
Several AR members have emailed and asked how I drive consumers to my website and what about realtor.com.
If you have been reading my posts for awhile, you know I do not pay for realtor.com enhancements and this graph shows why.
To be fair I did pay for realtor.com enhancements until July 1, 2009, so if I continued to receive click throughs from realtor.com at the rate of 10-11 a month, let's be gracious and call that 130 for the entire year, (I paid about $600 last year for realtor.com), that was $4.61 per click through. Pretty steep don't you think?
Now, take a look at the number one referrer that drives traffic to my website. It's free. Yippee! There are 89 domains that referred traffic to my website in 2009 and number one is Active Rain. AR works.
Now, how or why does it work? I have checked out the stats on many of my posts and there is a direct correlation between a good, relevant post and an increase in traffic to my website for a few days following that post. Hence, when you read that bloggers should post about 3 times a week, that is why.
Most of the posts that have a lot of views and clicks (click on your home link and then statistics on the left hand side--scroll down a bit) are posts I wrote about my community such as my post on the Lake Earl Wildlife refuge, which comes up #1 in a google search for that name.
Another way clients find me is through my market reports. Two of my biggest sales in 2009 are attributable to consumers checking out my market reports on my blog.
If you aren't using your blog as a marketing tool, 2010 might be a good time to start.
Thank you for checking out my blog.
UPDATE: www.pelicanbaystateprison.net is a website I set-up to assist people inquiring about employment at Del Norte County's largest employer. I did get hits to my website from that URL, but nothing that ever converted to a sale or even led to a credible lead. I cancelled the website and put my money elsewhere.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments on this post are welcomed and appreciated.
No one sold more homes in Del Norte County in 2009, 2010 and 2011--*in units sold and volume--than Fran Gatti. Put Fran to work for you!
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*PER DNAOR-MLS
Hi Fran, feel like I know you already. Thanks for the great info. Might the google.com truely originate from your blogs on Active Rain? great information. I am new to the Active Rain association, how might i follow your blogs? regards MaryBeth Muldowney
Pelican Bay State Prison with 180 hits??? Lol. I dunno Fran. It do enjoy your blog & apparently I have company with that.
Fran -
Great advice. Thank you for posting your stats too.
Fran your blogs are so on-point and full of information. I need to figure out how to track my statistics in addition to the statistics link on AR. Thanks for giving me food for thought - I enjoyed it!
Fran - congratulations on your success as I have been reading your blog and your successes. The statistics are a nice to see as it really puts numbers to all the blogging on AR.
I've just sarted with Active Rain. It's good to see that I've made the right decision for my 2010 business plan. But I do pay a monthly fee, don't you?
Hahaha, I guess I should have explained about www.pelicanbaystateprison.net, a website I set-up and linked to my website. Pelican Bay State Prison is my market's largest employer so I set-up the website to assist with employment questions. I had it one year and although it drove people to my website, I never got what I would call a credible lead. There you go, monitor and adjust. I monitored, it wasn't paying for itself so I canceled the website and put my money elsewhere.
Fran,
Very smart streamlined advertising concept! I loved this post as much as I love saving money!
Karin Elliott, IBA Mountain Homes
Everything in this bold new landscape of real estate continues to come back to numbers as a quick and somewhat reliable way to track any return on our investment in both time and money in tracking exposure of our listings. Twitter's microblogging was the most dollar productive effort for me in 2009 generating 1.1M in two buyer sales. However, the websites I use including postlets are equally as valuable in demonstrating my resources and providing general real estate information about the Santa Fe market.
Your blogs keep reminding me to look at the numbers and adjust/change my marketing plan on a quarterly basis as waiting until the year is over is often too late. One of my 2010 goals is to blog more on active rain which is now one of my top resources. Thank you for making a difference here.
Thanks for the blog and for sharing the tips.
Fran great blog and very good timing ! I'm meeting with a team mate later today about website planning !
Hi Fran,
I haven't totally stopped all enhancements on realtor.com but after reading this post I think I may! At one point I was paying way too much money for the "featured home" then they came out with that carousel...what a rip! This post is an eye opener thank you Fran. Can you tell me what are you using to track your site stats?
Warm Regards,
pat
Fran, thanks for this important tip. I found one and two right where they should be and my number confirm as well. #8 is interesting can you share any infor.
Fran - Your post is a timely reminder, as New Year's Eve approachs, for me to figure out what worked for me over 2009 and what I need to adjust to make 2010 better.
Your organization is impressive.
Hi Fran. I love behind the scenes looks at other Realtors businesses...
Thanks for sharing and your insight,
Ken
Great Information. I just cancelled my REALTOR.Com as well - got the click throughs but did not get the conversions.
Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year,
John
Localism posts seem to be the heavy hitters on AR, a reminder to be specific in your posts!
Fran - a real eye opener on what AR can do for you!
Fran another informative post. What is your opion on Top Producer. If needed you can contact me off AR.
I like the look/color of your blog and the postlets on the side. I've heard of postlets but have not look very hard at them until now. I love the large buttons on your blog. I have a retweet button on my signature and will work on adding another button for searching our mls. I'll shoot you an email.
Thanks
John
This is really great stuff Fran, thanks!
Fran-
Great info --- but what about the "FREE" part... I am new to AR, and I see there is a $30 monthly fee. Is this not true????? Can consumers find me and read my posts without paying this fee???
Alan
Alan - it was previously free to join AR, and many current members were 'grandfathered' in. New members do pay a monthly fee. However, if you decide to join, you'll learn a lot and it's worth the $30 per month. Most of my business came from my blogs last year. Although I do have more than one, ARs get the most traffic.
Fran,
I really appreciate the great chart and confirms what I have seen as well....you gotta love the rain!
Fran - good info...it is so obvious Active Rain is the driving force on the Internet and it shows the money well spent...Pelican Bay State Prison ...LOL. funny story...I almosta accused you of 'shady' connections...LOL..
With smiles,
Bo in Yukon
WOW...FRAN! Great tracking on your part! I believe in AR as well. Thank you for pointing this out with those excellent STATS!
Hi Fran, What a terrific post ! Are you on some sort of scholarship to the state pen !?!? LOL Next time behave yourself ! Happy 2010 to you !
Fran, these are great numbers......and may you enjoy continued success in 2010!
Great post and one I'll point people too, those who aren't blogging or using ActiveRain
I'm not sure that I would rest on my laurels with just "hits". I'd suggest that you need to go behind these numbers to see how many leads you obtained from your efforts.
Fran, this is great information. Your posts are FULL of knowledge. Thank you for sharing it so freely.
Tracking web traffic is a good idea, but web traffic in itself does not produce revenue. It's more important to know the source of your closings. Once you know the source, it's easy to track the return on investment (ROI). I still have a number of realtor.com enhancements including a Featured CMA, Showcase Listings, and we're trying out their new Search Assist. The Featured CMA cost $3,600 in 2009 and generated $21,366 in GCI, a 5.935 ROI (dollars produced divided by dollar spent). I would agree that the Showcase Listings did not produce revenue in 2009 for us either. I spent $1,400 in 2009 for the Showcase. I listed 87 properties and since I do a virtual tour for each, I saved $1,740 ($20 upload fee for each listing). So while it did not produce any revenue, it was basically cost-neutral. Further, many sellers in my area have come to expect a Showcase Listing so we're likely to keep it in 2010 although we may try to negotiate price with them. The bottom line is to keep good records for each client so you can track the ROI on your advertising dollars.
Tom Branch, Broker Associate, RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs, http://www.thebranchteam.com
Fran, great post. I'm fine-tuning my business plan for 2010; this blog really helps me see where I need to put more focus.
Thanks
Hi Fran - thanks for the info.
Also thanks for the post on how to put in your listings in the sidebar - thanks to you I did it on mine.
Fran: Thanks for sharing your numbers with us. It helps me look at mine closer and plan for next year.
Tere
Thanks for this post. I will keep this in mind for 2010.
Great article Fran. As an aside, would you be willing to share what program(s) you use for analytics?
Thanks for a great post Fran. This post really makes me realize how far behind the technology learning curve I am. One of my top goals in 2010 is to get a good grasp on technology and the tools that are out there. I am also interested in what you are using for analytics....
That's an interesting approach. I have a question, though--which website are they going to? Is it Frangottihomes? And are the stats a function of your service provider? Thanks.
Interesting numbers. I have been meaning to try Bing. You might try Facebook for advertising.
Thanks for the push away from realtor.com. I have used the enhancements for years. I reviewed my stats and see that in fact realtor.com is well down on my list. I just started using homes.com and have already had several prospect requests for details of listings. I will be boosting my AR posts.
Is this just your normal free site in AR? or do you have an outside blog? I'd love to know.
This is a great post! Just looked back at mine over the last year and it is very interesting where the traffic comes from. Our realtor.com is also less than 1%...
Thankyou Fran, this will help me to invest my time and money on strategic marketing. This is part of my 2010 business plan. I hope to utilize the internet as effectively as you do.
Fran, I also get business from my market reports. I have to laugh as Realtor.com just did something that stated 'without us' you'll be nowhere! LOL. The same holds thru for Trulia and Zillow - totally worthless numbers! I have always said that Zillow can't be doing the numbers they say they are & here we have another example of it. Forget all those 'enhancements' in 2010 and keep your money!
I agree that Activerain is the way to go that seems to have the largest impact on my placement for Google searches. Strangely enough over the last 9 years I have booked about one inspection a year that could be traced back to the Internet. That would be from three possible sources, my web page, a search engine or the Pillar To Post corporate site. I am also listed on a few of the "Locate a Home Inspector" sites. These have been uniformly nonproductive.
You guys, the Realtors, still remain my best source of clients. (Would you believe I just got a pop-up saying I have a referral from corporate? Maybe they are watching me. Whoo ohhh ohh)
Fran, I look at my states daily and weekly but you mande me look at the year. If you add the ActiveRain and Localism it puts them right below my Yahoo numbers.
Nice post! I am getting back into the swing of using AR after a year hiatus. I am going to check out your marketing report since I think it is such a good idea but have, as of yet, found one that I want to emulate.
Fran: How does the average "Jane or Joe or debra" check their stats as you have???
debra v edwards - edwards builders and realty, inc. - cashiers, NC
Hey Fran I wanted to let you know the link to your website that you put at the bottom of your post is a dead link. Fixing that should help out your stats:)
Fran - You have got it going on!! Good job. I'm glad to hear about your research with realtor.com. - I tried it out for 2 years w/ the enhancements and didn't really get all that great of results. I wonder how many people that visited your site from Activerain are unique consumers vs. realtors scoping out your site from activerain? Great job. -Chris
Interesting stats and information. I bookmarked to try to do some benchmarking stats.
Great post Fran, thanks!
Hi Fran, I just started as a Rain Maker and still working on my second blog. These stats look encouraging, guess I will get back to the blog.
Thank you so much for sharing so clearly, Fran. You're a wonderful mentor for us all. May I ask you to speak more about your use of Google? How do those folks get to you from Google? Searching on your name, your site, your listings, your profile.....? I think there's a clean simplicity to how you approach your business that I would really like to emulate as I begin to build mine.
I quit REALTOR.com last year too and they keep calling me to solicit my business. For me it was over 700 bucks. No way. I didn't get one buyer or seller from it.
great post thank you for sharing your info will follow your blog in the future.
Fran, we have Realtor.com enhancements - I think we paid $800 last year for it. We usually get one buyer a year which more than pays for it. The last buyer we got led to two others. It's also good for listing appointments. The top agents in our area have enhanced Realtor.com. I'm all for trimming the budget, but for now we're sticking with R.com.
Fran, I too would be interested in what tool you are using for your analytics...great post and congrats on the traffic!
For my websites, Google is bigger traffic generator than everting else combined. Having links to your site fron A|R is great idea. I'll add that to signature today.
For those of you looking for analysis tools.. Google offers a good one for free.. You can also use statcounter.com
Thanks - that made me go check my stats for the full year.
For me Trulia was #1, Google was #2 and ActiveRain was #5.
I use Google Analytics for my stats.
Juliet - Thank you for the kind words. My website provides the keywords used to get to my website but doesn't break the keywords out by each URL, so I do not know what keywords consumers are using in their Google search, but I know which keywords are being used in general. I find this very helpful in knowing what to blog about and SEO.
Several of you have asked about my stats. My Top Producer website provides reports full of stats. They are extremely useful and I check them at least once a month. That is how I knew realtor.com wasn't paying off for me. A few comments did mention that realtor.com enhanced listings are still a part of the agents arsenal. I say if it is showing ROI then keep it. $700 a year is a lot of money, so it better be paying for itself.
Great post. I too found Realtor.com was a waste of money. I had a website with them for a long time and called and called about not getting any leads from them. I had 4 featured homes at $1,000 each. What a waste. I had showcase and enhanced listings and my website with them spending over $5,000 per year. They were no help getting traffic to my site. I dumped them. My broker does provide us with there enhanced listings so I do post virtual tours there just because I can for free.
When you ask Realtor.com to help drive traffic they just suggest you buy something else from them. Like featured agent. It cost well over $1000 and makes you the featured agent that pops up from time to time on search results. I would even be the featured agent for towns I do not even know how to drive to much less sell real estate in. I told them I had no interest being a featured agent fo such a large area. Just think someone calls to ask you the featured agent about a listing in a town you have never been to. You would sound like a fool trying to talk with them.
Great advice. Next year I hope I blog more. There's a lot of good information given between Realtors. Thanks.
I am so impressed with this post. I was impressed with the fact that you were able to gather all of the stats! Thanks for the confirmation of what I have believed to be true for several years - REALTOR.com is not working for those who suport it's existence - AGENTS. For a few years I paid for showcase and/or Featured enhancements and REALTOR.com gouged me every year, increasing the fee "based on my improved production", none of which was due to a REALTOR.com lead.
I have had several successful sales from complete strangers who contacted me saying that they found me through ActiveRain.
I'm still impressed with how you managed to gather all of that data!
Luckily, our company pays to have our listings enhanced on R.com. They called recently to get me to purchase a zip code for buyer leads. The only zipcode I wanted was taken (now I am glad) and they tried to get me to buy a nearby, undesirable zipcode. No thanks. Just say NO!
You let the results do the talking for you and it works well. Good to see this graph, I need to run this again for myself and check it out. thx.
Very impressive numbers. Does this work as well for Lenders on AR? I'm curious as to how effective AR is for the Mortgage Industry and the Manufactured Home Industry. If you don't mind emailing me a response I'd really appreciate it. I may not return here for f/u. Thanks Fran
John
onthelevel@cox.net
Fran,
Maybe I missed it, but can you share what you find easiest to use for pulling up those stats?
We also took enhanced listings off the table this year. We feel we can use the marketing dollars more wisely and are looking to ramp up our website and possibly even choose a new provider all together.
Good post Fran. I scrapped my old website and I am starting over, but I know that Active Rain was how most people found me.
Thanks for the info Fran. I am amazed at the lack of participation in Oklahoma. My 2010 business plan is to blog hard this year.
thanks Fran. I'm going to take a much closer look at my Active Rain site and how to better implement conversions.
i agree with Debra...how do you know those stats? Is this something the the website hoster has and you can see this ?
At another broker i had free realtor.com everything and THOUGHT it was everything, now at my current broker i pay for everything and realtor.com is not something i pay for and i never miss it....GARy Keller....lead by revenue
My website provides a number of reports with stats to help me gauge how my marketing efforts are working. They are a huge help in focusing me on what works and getting rid of what doesn't.
Fran, great information. I was wondering, do you use the AR hitbox? And if yes, would that helped your AR numbers?
For your Google traffic, do you use their Pay-per-click? I used Google for many years and found that many times your click-thoughs come from different sites and most of them leave right away but you still have to pay.
Reason why I am asking the quetions is because I am trying to reserve some money and don't know if I should use the money for the AR Hit Router or Google. Thanks
Song San - I don't use pay-per-click, I paid for being the exclusive agent for my market (with AR) for many months but have never paid for hit-router. I reserve my advertising funds for my website and single property websites. I don't spend much anywhere else at this time. I spend A LOT of time myself optimizing my listings on the internet. I can't afford to pay someone for all that I do.
I find the internet and my signs to be the most effective marketing tools. My office spends a lot of money on good signage but it pays off big.
Thank you for your comments.