... in My Head
Years ago my College Football Coach, Tyrone Sperling, an ex USC footballer introduced me to one of my favorite Lines.
"Opinions are like *******, everybody has one."
Ty was a special man. He definitely did not follow the herd and was more interested in results than opinion.
Over the past month I have participated in, and witnessed a number of website critiques thru email, at Inman, and Top Ten Lists. A recent list by Real Trends and 1000 Watt made me wonder what criteria might prompt them to rank a real estate website higher than the other.
The title is called: "The Top Ten Real Estate Brokerage Websites in America." Here
The report lists some pretty "cool" websites with "neat" features. However, as a web marketer my siren went off when someone claims superiority over anything else without some sort of attempt at supporting evidence.
So to read the reports intro I see that “The Top Ten Brokerage Websites in America” are thus so because:
" ..a detailed examination of the corporate websites maintained by the 500 largest brokerage companies in the Unites States as established by Real-Trends’ annual RealTrends 500 list. Every website was reviewed based on several criteria including Real Trends 500 companies franchisor websites in this report as their basic requirements place them in usability, content, features, and design. ...The results are placed in the context of a larger discussion of brokerage Websites, which notes that good brokerage websites are few and far between. The report offers reasons why this is the case, and suggests a pathforward. ... The websites discussed within this report stand out as excellent examples of how a real estate brokerage company can use the Web to connect with its marketplace, drive business and enhance its brand equity."
Huh? Says who?... and based on what? So if they are really the top ten at usability, content, features and design, then how is that defined and really how meaningful is that?
The implication being that these are good things without explaining why. I thought the title said the Top Ten. I assumed it means they are the best. Which in business means they make money. Otherwise the fuzzy dictates of design can only be opinion, subject to context and identity.
Jerry Maguire Where Are You?
When did a good business tool mean anything other than it makes the business money? Which would have been in my humble opinion the better place to start this report. And just because these are big brokerages does not mean their site makes an acceptable ROI.
If in fact the discussion centered on the almighty dollar then the criteria would have changed from usability to commissions. Not far from commissions would be number of leads and lead capture. Further down the slope would be lead followup and conversion to appointments and to sales. These have a much higher attachment to a home sale than does usability. All those elements as defined by the report are in the end meaningless unless surrounded by the context of dollar generation. Otherwise it is nothing more than a beauty contest.
Where is Substance Over Style?
The reports title implies that these real estate websites are successful at generating leads or sales. Are they? I cannot tell from the report. We can get some idea by looking at compete.com or alexa.com. But that is only a guessed measure of traffic. Anyway at best just an implication of success. Because we all know traffic is only one of the steps to a successful website. So are these sites successful? The best I can gleam from the reports criteria is that they are successful at achieving high 2.0 design standards.
Unfortunately, that does not put food on the table. In the real world the salesman that comes back to the office wearing his $2,000 Armani suit and Double 00's for sales is soon to be interviewing for a job. While the C&R special guy who comes back with leads and sales will be a rising star.
The Best Free Analytics...
Ask yourself, "is your site making money?" If your answer is yes, then you indeed on your way at least to having the best website in America.
It is so easy to take your eye of the ball online. Its like a centipede wanting to cross the
road and worrying so much about her 33rd right leg stepping lock step
with the other 100 legs that the goal of getting to the other side is
soon forgotten.
Its similar to the calls I get where folks ask me "how can I get more links?" 'Why do you want more links' I ask. " To get a higher ranking in Google", they say. 'And that will get you what?', I ask. Taking them to the end goal is the purpose of this dialogue as often most people forget that they are looking for a sale.
I am not picking on this report per se. These types of articles are everywhere and I recently hammered on a site that was offering out as a study what would otherwise be huge marketing data. Only problem was that the data was created by a small survey on their site. That is sampling that any 1st semester Stats student would say is dirty.
So my complaint is the implied value of the title. Perhaps a better title would be the "Top Ten Designed Real Estate Websites". Not as sexy. And perhaps the authors sell design, I am not sure. So maybe that is what makes a Top site to them.
Again, the website critiques at Inman are at times illuminating but often miss the point, eventually slipping into personal opinion. Which in the world of free trade is meaningless.
However, one of my business mentors once told me that "my business may have been born from a spirit of entrepreneurialism and dreams of personal freedom. However, any business has a sole purpose to make money. Period. And anything, including idealism and personal taste is meaningless without profit."
So I would ask you that when reading any one claim on the net, to remember why you are interested. And then to ask, "how can doing this make me money?"
Thats my opinion and I am sticking to it. Everyone has one...but I betcha I'm right ;-)
