Cutomer Focus !

[KSA]

Hi,

Just a tip on making sure your content is customer-focused. You know real estate is a relationship business, but in trying to tell your web visitor all about yourself, the content often comes out very internally focused. It should be focused on benefits to the prospect.

We can help you make sure your content tells a story that will entice visitors to contact you. Contact us for more information!

If you want to check your site to see how you are doing, try this free tool (http://www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm).

Let me know if I can help.

Kathleen

[Real Estate Forum]

I cannot stress enough how true this is!
Customer service is everything.
I am not in the real estate business myself but work with mortgage brokers and realtors so much, that I do get a feeling for what works and what doesn't.
We have given a mortgage lead to a local mortgage broker who then didn't close the deal despite of the great offer he brought to the table.
We later asked the cutomer why he didn't want to go with him and he said he chose to pay more somewhere else because he didn't feel comfortable with the guy.

making a client feel comfortable and connecting is #1.
When you have a web site, you should use the opportunity to make a good impression right away.
There are a some great writers like Terri (http://www.national-real-estate-directory.com/real-estate-forum/member.php?u=88) who do things just right.
many search engine optimizers get so tunnel visioned that they get their clients ranked but the visitors don't convert to clients easily.

The most important thing when it comes to writing text should be not talking to search engine but presenting your values, believes and of course all the good things you have to offer as a professional as well as a human being.

We are all human and connecting is what it's all about :)

Mike

[HHI Golf Guy]

http://www.national-real-estate-directory.com/real-estate-forum/showthread.php?t=174

[KSA]

Glad you agree! :)

Kathleen

[Real Estate Forum]

I used to manage those Quiktrip convenience (http://www.quiktrip.com) stores in Atlanta ... tought me about customer service :)

[KSA]

I can imagine. Anything quick is a great teacher. I was a teller on the drive-in window of a bank one summer.

Everyone was in a hurry, and you should have seen the look on the guy's face after he chased around the parking lot to catch the paycheck that had blown out of the drawer!! :eek:

K

[Real Estate Forum]

One thing I have learned: customers will forgive you almost ANYTHING.
What they won't forgive are carelessness and/or rudeness - @ all!

[amberstar702]

Indifference is also a big factor. Your customer should feel you care about them and that their business is important to you. I mainly patronize stores where I am remembered and greeted. When living in Miami, I used to get prescriptions filled at a local Walgreens pharmacy. Granted that they are busy and see a lot of people; however, one tech that used to wait on me frequently would ask my name each time I was there. People usually remember me and he finally got me angry. He had a blank, mindless expression on his face - just like a robot. The last time I went in there, he asked me how to spell my last name (again) which is ARNOLD. A very easy name to spell. I responded, "It is spelled the same way as the last 20 times you asked me." :rolleyes: Last time I went there...........

Here in Vegas, the pharmacists are really nice, friendly and personal. :)

[San Diego Real Estate]

I agree Terri...Our world has lost touch...Unfortunetly we often are treated just like another number! And that is just not right! :mad:

[amberstar702]

When I receive very good customer service - whether it be from a cashier at Walmart or whatever - and the Customer Service Dept. has a feedback form, I will fill it out to be sure that employee is commended. This provides encouragement to employees to "keep up the good work" and lets management know that some of their customers pay attention to good service. If I get poor service (bad attitude, indifference, etc.), I will fill out a form with this information as well. ;)

[Jade456]

Amberstar702, I agree. I always write if I get good/bad service. Case in point, I've had internet problems with cox for at least 8 months. I think I met every tech they have, and finally found one who knew what the heck he was doing. I wrote to cox and gave him a letter for his file. The tech actually gave me his cell number if I had a problem. The corporate office called the local office here to find out why the problem went on for so long. Now I have the direct number to the supervisor of the internet tech department as a result. So if any of you locals every have a problem, just let me know. :D

[amberstar702]

Jade, IMO most people will not take the time to make a contact. It is easier to become annoyed, tell your husband or wife, and then move on. Also, people find it less motivating to mention good service - which I feel should be rewarded. I think part of this is because many people do not like to write.....

[Jade456]

More like don't know how to write. Every time I have seen people interviewed by whomever and asked general knowledge questions it scares the heck out of me. It makes the average person look like an idiot. So it doesn't surprise me that people don't take the time to reward good service. Most have no problem about complaining though....

[amberstar702]

It's a lot easier for me to write my thoughts - which can always be erased and rewritten. Whereas if I were interviewed, I would be concerned that I might inadvertently say the wrong thing. It would be hard to get my foot out of my mouth. :eek:

[KSA]

AmberStar, I think you absolutely right about most people not saying anything to the vendor if they don't like the service. There's a statistic that says 68% of customers leave because of perceived indifference, so they don't bother to bring it up.

And, other stats show that if someone is happy with service they've received they tell 2 people, but if they are mad, they tell 6. So, it makes sense to keep your customers happy. You won't get the same amount of press, but at least it will be good press. :D

Kathleen

[justicewhite]

So, what is the magic of balancing your site copy write for the search engines as well as the customers?

I'm going through this dilemma at the moment. we've got a marketing guy who came up with the working based on our vision of the company, and I think the text is very good. However, with my SEO hat on, I am itching to change all the page headers and stick some key phrases in there, etc.

Any ideas??? :confused:

[HHI Golf Guy]

The combination of web site content, site structure, and SEO for your site are as uniques as your fingerprint.

I know that's a lousy answer, but it's true. You need to take into consideration the theme of your pages, top down structure, anchor text, kw frequency, keyword positioning, and one hundred or so other items that can positively (or negatively) have an impact on your rankings.

If you have not made a study of SEO practices (more than a few articles or reading posts on a forum), your best bet is to begin by writing your ad copy for web visitors, not search engines. Once your site has been uploaded, do nothing but add relevant inbound and outbound links for 3 or 4 months and see where your site shakes out after all the pages have been indexed. Only then should you begin tweaking your site for SEO.

In the meantime, use passive web marketing strategies (http://www.thekosloffgroup.com/marketing-strategy-passive.htm) to bring people to your web site.

If your still struggling after 6 months (3 months if your site has been online for one year) then you may want to consider hiring someone for your SEO work. Preferably your SEO will understand marketing and not dilute the impact of your ad copy.

[KSA]

Justice,

It can be frustrating to get copy and SEO to match. And the advice above is certainly valid.

But, if you have some knowledge of the keywords you are going after, you could do some tweaking to be more attractive to search engines.

For instance, if one of your keywords is "Atlanta Real Estate", you want to make sure that keyword phrase appears first in your Title, Description, and Keyword meta tags. You also want it in the header of the page you are optimizing, the beginning of the first paragraph, and so on. Hopefully the page written by your marketing guru for that page is about Atlanta real estate. If not, you need to back up and figure out what the objective is for each page.

Assuming your objectives are clear, maybe the first paragraph starts out:

We can help you find real estate opportunities anywhere in Atlanta.

That could be changed to:

Atlanta real estate is our speciality. We can......

Does that help any? If the copy wasn't written to target specific keywords, hopefully its at least on topic. Then, if it were me, I'd really think about changing those headers, and review the copy to find ways to change the wording around to get the keyword phrases where they'll do you the most good!

And as Golf Guy said, it's not really that simple. You have to watch for too much keyword density, and all the other things mentioned in his post. But, I might be tempted to at least make sure your keyword phrases show up intact in a few places in your copy.

Good luck. If you have more questions, feel free to give me a shout.

Kathleen

[justicewhite]

Great tips guys, thank you.

I'll read your posts again tonight to make notes to self and the marketing guy.

[amberstar702]

I agree with KSA. A good content writer should be able to add your keywords appropriately throughout the copy so that the article makes sense to the reader and does not look like it was written specifically for the search engines. Yet it should be written in such a way that it DOES please the SEs as well. A delicate and challenging balancing act......... :cool:

[HHI Golf Guy]

A good content writer should be able to add your keywords appropriately throughout the copy so that the article makes sense to the reader and does not look like it was written specifically for the search engines.

Aye... there's the rub.

While KW density may be important for some SE's, it is also the placement of where these KW's appear in text copy that can influence search engine rankings.

[Real Estate Forum]

Absolutely. And personally when I feel like someone doesn't "get it", I let them know to just write from the heart. I have seen a lot of people damaging themselves by trying way too hard. :cool:

[Realestateguy]

customer service is the most important thing to me. if it's good I will come back again and again.