What is it with the ignorant parroted statements going around our industry? Seriously.
Does no one breathe any air outside of real estate? It’s not like real estate is a first career, for just about anybody. It’s not like nearly zero real estate agents are fresh out of high school (or even college for that matter). Nearly 100 percent of real estate agents have experience in other fields, other industries.
So why this almost compulsive need to live inside of a box, with the lid closed? Like we are in some kind of religious cult and anything outside of said cult is blasphemous.
Here’s an example: “… With Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo and realtor.com dominating SERPs in the last two years, I wouldn’t be recommending agents put too much hope in organic search engine placement. …”
Really? Huh. Tell that to the people who not only put “hope” into organic search engine placement but are reaping the results and rewards from their organic ranking efforts.
This reminds me of the quote: “People who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
The statement about organic search is just yet another mythical parroted statement coming out of the mouths of real estate agents.
My question is, where did they get this? Who’s starting these ridiculous mythological rumors? Trainers? Speakers? Experts? Gurus? Agents? Whoever is doing it doesn’t have the foggiest idea what they are talking about. They are parroting these myths in order to support their (lack of) actions on the Web. In order to support their lack of action, period.
If this statement were true, it would be impossible for anyone to rank in the search engines for anything, at any time, in any industry.
Yes, ANY industry. You see, there are major companies and businesses that dominate in every single type of industry. There is always a big guy (sometimes several) and there are always little guys. Real estate is not the exception. We are not the only industry with big guys and little guys. We are not the only industry with Web domination.
Let me tell you, if the little guys are doing it outside of real estate, they can do it inside of real estate. And guess what? They are! There are agents who are starting out and ranking in just a few months.
See, the idea that one cannot rank organically is simply not true. It’s false. It’s a blatant lie being spoken by real estate agents all over the country. Most don’t realize it’s a lie, because they are stuck inside their box with a closed lid. They are trusting these so-called experts.
Let’s be real. Getting ranked in search engines takes some time. It’s not hard. It just takes time. If you have never been on the Web before, you can easily start to see results in as few as eight to 12 weeks.
No, I’m not being unrealistic. Yes, I’ve done it. So have others. There are agents out there, proving over and over again that organic search engine placement is a viable lead generation model.
If you already have a website with ranking history, you can shorten that time frame. Sometimes considerably.
Want to know why agents believe these lies? Because they’ve “tried it.” They’ve earnestly (in their minds) tried to get their website ranked in the search engines. Now, cutting them some slack, they do fully believe they’ve given it their best efforts. They create, or have a website, created. And then they wait. That’s typically their best effort.
Why? Usually because they don’t know any better. They don’t have enough knowledge about how the Web works to be able to get their website to rank. They’ll even pay for ranking (or think they are anyway). They’ll do Google AdWords and pay-per-click marketing. They’ll pay firms hundreds of dollars a month.
For what? To always have to pay these firms forever and ever?
The beauty about organic ranking is that you don’t have to pay a monthly fee for infinity. In order to rank organically, you have got to feed the search engines. By feeding I mean you’ve got to be creating and publishing GOOD content on a very consistent basis (at least twice weekly).
By good I don’t mean listings. By good I don’t mean advertisements for your services. By good I mean content that answers a real estate question, caters to a real estate need, sparks a real estate desire.
All this to say, don’t perpetuate the myth. Open the lid, step outside the box. Notice that people around you are succeeding, despite the fact that everyone seems to be saying it can’t be done.
Follow the successes, ignore the masses.
Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.
