Agents around the office often ask us how the Ellis Team sells so much real estate each month. The answer is, it’s marketing. It’s not about the dollars you spend each month, although we do spend more on advertising than just about anybody out there. It’s about spending smart, understanding how and where to find your customers, and converting. The Ellis Team smashes industry standard online advertising conversion rates.
The industry standard for online display ads back in 2016 was .35%. Many say it’s below that now. The Ellis Team converts 26 times that rate with an average in October at 9.13%. Some of our ads convert at 20%. The industry standard for a search ad is 1.91%. Again, the Ellis Team smashes industry standard online advertising conversion rates in every category.
So how do we do this? We’re not going to divulge that but suffice it to say we know a thing or two about online advertising, and it works. In fact, the Ellis Team was the first team in the country to put the MLS on our website. That first year we sold over 100 homes, and Realtors everywhere wondered what was going on.
NAR (National Association of Realtors) called us to Chicago to talk about this. They said the info was in the MLS books and couldn’t be made public to everyone on our website. After meeting with the president of NAR and NAR general counsel, they realized what we were doing was legal and met the bylaws of NAR. And this is how VOW (Virtual Office Websites) was born. SW Florida, you received it first. It later transitioned to IDX (Internet Data Exchange) and now Realtors across the country, along with Realtor.com, Zillow, and others are displaying agent’s listing data. I was always against Realtors letting 3rd party companies display our data. I felt it should be reserved for agents displaying each other’s data, but somebody up at NAR decided otherwise.
Since those early days, we’ve been perfecting the art of online registrations and conversions. First, you must give people what they want. Your website must be fast, easy to use, and provide the most accurate and up to date data out there. Our website is real-time, so it’s fast, has all the listings including sold data, and it’s easy to use. Consumers like that they can see a photo gallery of all pictures instead of clicking one by one.
Buyers and sellers like that they can get neighborhood data in real-time and emailed to them weekly or monthly. This informs them of new listings, pending sales, and closed sales in a community. This is helpful when you’re keeping an eye on one or more communities.
Secondly, it helps to target the correct people. This is where the magic happens. It does no good to target the universe, because the universe will not all buy property, and certainly not in SW Florida. We target people who have an interest in SW Florida, even if they live out of the country. We find them from anywhere, and everywhere.
In the last month, www.LeeCountyOnline.com received 291 users from overseas. Our agents are working with several of them, and some are in a nice price point. Let’s not forget that we received 4,240 users last month from inside the US. And of those users, 82.5% are new users, so we’re advertising to and attracting thousands of new users each month.
It’s no wonder why Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty agents are so busy and selling so much. We know how to find the buyers, no matter where they are.
If you’re looking to buy, you should talk with our experienced agents. If you’re looking to sell, speak with Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-4042 Ext 4. Brett and Sande handle the listings. We know how to get Top Dollar for our sellers. Let us sit down with you and show you how we market. Nobody else does what we do, and the results speak for themselves. Find out what your home is worth at www.SWFLhomevalues.com
Good luck and Happy Selling!
November SW Florida Real Estate Update
Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses
Open House Sunday 1-3 PM
12760 Seaside Key CT, North Fort Myers Moody River Estates
Weekend Garage Sale
Saturday 8 AM-1 PM