Real
Estate Website Scams
by: Bob Schwartz
Many still say the Internet is like the Wild West. When
it comes to the proliferation of scams, this is
certainly true! As webmaster for over two dozen legal,
real estate, and other business oriented websites, we
receive a lot of email and phone solicitations. Often
our clients ask our opinion on an Internet service or
software product. We have researched and found the
majority of offers directed toward real estate firms are
what I call the half-truth variety.
It is interesting that
these offers directed at small to mid-size firms are
like live Internet viruses, they seem to mutate over
time. The core remains, but, the exterior packaging
(a.k.a. sales pitch) appears totally different.
One of the most enduring
of such Internet scams is the offer to list your real
estate site in an Internet real estate directory at what
appears to be a huge savings over a legitimate real
estate directory. The perpetrators of such scams provide
impressive ‘traffic’ figures, and in many cases, even
show that their directory is listed on the first page of
a major directory.
Looking at one scam in
detail revealed the following facts:
A. Traffic figures can
be manipulated. For about $50, anyone can purchase
‘traffic’ directed to any site. The way this ‘traffic’
is generated is the problem. The majority is machine
generated overseas, or funneled through MLM /porn/music
sites. In either case, your site will register visits
but no business will ever be generated.
B. For placements on the
first page of major search engines, there are two highly
used methods. The first method, usually just makes the
statement that the site has page one placement. Ask
further and it is usually the name of the directory that
has page one placement. The directory name might be
www.real-estate-intercontinental-directory1.com and
a search for real estate international directory1 could
appear on page one of many search engines. However, how
many potential real estate clients in Houston, Texas,
will be likely to type in this exact directory name into
their search engine? What they may use will be phrases
like: Houston real estate, Houston TX MLS, Houston Texas
agents, etc.
The other method used is
bidding on popular real estate phrases on the major
pay-for-click search engine programs. The problem here
is that these ‘sponsored’ ads have to be differentiated
from the real or ‘organic’ results. Once spending limits
on the bids are reached, or the bidding program is
terminated, the standing vanishes. After all, these
standings were only achieved by cash payment, not a
properly designed and optimized real estate website.
Another factor to consider here is that current
webmaster opinions suggest 50 to 70% of searchers skip
over such ‘sponsored’ listings in favor of the ‘organic’
listings.
Almost any high school
student can create a ‘real estate directory’ with an
impressive sounding name like
www.professional-real-estate-advice-directory1.com, but
do you really want to be listed there? Believe it or
not, many naive agents have taken the bait. I asked one
such agent what results he had achieved during almost a
year with the listing. The reply was NO BUSINESS, and he
believed they never received any phone calls. I then
asked why he chose to advertise with this firm. The
reply was because they only charged $49 for a full page
ad for one year.
A far better investment
for a real estate website would be a top website
submission program such as the one at:
http://www.websitetrafficbuilders.com/url-placement-search-engines.htm
The old adage of “You
get what you pay for” really applies here. Be careful
out there, very careful!
Copyright 2005
Promotions Unlimited – All rights reserved.
