[waynelong]

.1 x (DGCI) = YREWB

It would be much better than throwing that 10% out the window on a farm or newspaper IMO. Maybe you start off with 5% going to PPC and 5% to development of online presence and as your rankings go up you shift the 5% going to PPC over to online presence. Most would be way ahead if they did that. Again - just my opinion.




You could put up a pretty good template site with a core IDX and a few mods for say 5K to capture the leads from your 5K of PPC. After 2 years with your Template site you have 10K to put toward an LEC. By that time your rankings should be kickin and you won't need the PPC or you may just keep it and up the budget on the online presence side. Just a thought.

Very helpful spreadsheet

[RESteve]

Gotta love acronyms. Honestly, I would feel perfectly content spending 10% of gross income toward lead generation, and that would include hiring REW for SEO work.

If everyone took a proactive approach to budgeting in their business, I think they would find that they have more money to dedicate to generating leads than they anticipated. I'm still working on this "practice what you preach" part.

[Madtown RM]

@RESteve: Love the spreadsheet. Nice job - thanks for sharing!

[00joe]

@RESteve could you clarify? are these real numbers from your brokerage? or third party? If there yours, is search/SEO your primary traffic source?

[RESteve]

Originally Posted by 00joe

@RESteve could you clarify? are these real numbers from your brokerage? or third party? If there yours, is search/SEO your primary traffic source?

These are not real numbers. Actually, they're baseline goals from one of the Keller Williams Realty models that's presented to us in our Internet Lead Generation class.

Also, 00joe, be sure to put site links into your signature please!

[Robert Worthington]

Steve, wow. You must be rolling like a big shot! Congrats on all your success. What a good year you are having!

[RESteve]

Originally Posted by Robert Worthington

Steve, wow. You must be rolling like a big shot! Congrats on all your success. What a good year you are having!

I wish! These are goals, actually. This is what you should be making if you generate the amount of registrations at the beginning of the spreadsheet.

[RESteve]

I had a chance to look at this spreadsheet again, and I want to get some opinions on a particular conversion ratio that's commonly included with internet lead conversions.

Appointments.

With internet lead conversion, what really constitutes an "appointment"? With traditional real estate sales (local), having an appointment is obvious. You meet with a client, discuss their needs and your process, and possibly get a BRA signed.

With internet leads, appointments aren't so feasible. A majority of your leads will be out of the state/country, and will be at least 6 months away from buying. Is working to set an appointment really necessary?

If it was, what constitutes an appointment? A web conference via a tool such a gotomeeting.com?

I feel like something is missing. I really feel the spreadsheet I posted is a bit misleading. While these are ideal conversion ratios, I feel the conversion and inclusion of appointments in the big equation is inaccurate.

I don't really know what it should be, but that's where you come in! Do you feel setting the "appointment" is still the desired outcome with a traditional internet lead? Let's assume "traditional" means out of the city/state and six months away from buying.

If so, what do you use to have your appointment and when? If not, what would you suggest go in place of setting the appointment?

Another hurdle to overcome is: How do you track the conversion ratio with building a relationship with someone over a long period of time? Ideally, I think this is what you need to track. How many registrations (leads) have I built a solid relationship with?

Because you can't derive the answer to this question right away, I find tracking the lead conversion ratios with internet leads extremely frustrating. What's missing?

Update: Food for thought - maybe something isn't missing, but perhaps there needs to be a place before setting the appointment. I'm thinking relationship built, or possibly visit scheduled (as in visit to your market to meet with you).

[00joe]

I've been selling internet leads since 2001 and still don't know how to track out of town leads effectively.

I get a lot of leads that we never make first contact with. i.e. they submit info but never engage with the agent, so I track first contact.

I also track "pre-qual". I the lead is real, they are willing to get pre-qualified or fax me a copy of their pre-qualified letter.

[RESteve]

Originally Posted by 00joe

I get a lot of leads that we never make first contact with. i.e. they submit info but never engage with the agent, so I track first contact.

I also track "pre-qual". I the lead is real, they are willing to get pre-qualified or fax me a copy of their pre-qualified letter.

First contact is good! I'll make a note of that one. I think another thing that's different from internet leads vs. traditional local leads, like you mention, is getting the pre-qual first.

With local leads I try to have an appointment, then get the prequal, but perhaps my goal should be:

Visitor > Registration > First Contact > Pre-Qual > BRA (signed before they fly/drive into town) > Written (they fly in, start showing homes, find a home) > Closed

You might be able to switch BRA with Prequal, but getting a BRA before the prequal could be useless.