Old Things Pass Away
Sometimes you just have to say good-bye.
Sometimes it is just not working out the way you hope it would or the way it started out working.
I found myself in that position for the last three years and I finally just did it.
I got a new web-site. Now that you can relax and know I am still happily married after 31 years let me tell you about the journey.
We start out with a web-site, don’t know much about SEO, source code, writing, buyer’s behavior, sellers behavior, key words etc… But, as we grow we learn more and more and realize that the old is just not working as it did a few years ago.
In my situation I had been with Number1Expert since 1999. At first I was one of four other agents in Ann Arbor.I got a lot of leads and although the site was expensive it more than paid for itself. In fact I closed 10-12 transactions from it each year. Like most Realtors I don’t mind paying for marketing IF it is working and for years it was.
Make Way for New Things
But, times change, people change, companies are bought and sold, and we grow. I found myself frustrated having to wait for a web-master to change things that I had learned how to do.
So after debating with myself for three years, I made the change.
Loyalty can be good or bad, right?
I hung on…debated…gave them opportunity to grow and evolve with Social Media, blogging etc… it just wasn’t going to happen.
New Wine
In the Real Estate Industry things change too. We are dealing with banks, short sales, loan mod’s and foreclosures. Yea, I didn’t want to do that either and use to refer them out. But, found out in my area, if I was going to still be successful I had to embrace them.
Learning and growing requires change. You know the saying, “you can’t put new wine in an old wineskin, or it will break and crack the skin and the wine will spill out.”
New is exciting, fun and yes stretching. I can now inform the consumer about all the neighborhoods and subdivisions available in my area. If I was relocating, I would want to know what a neighborhood looked like, what price range of homes were there, what the style of homes were, and what the market trends were in an area.
Just like the photo, the old must move out of the way so new growth can come.
What new things are you currently adding or changing in your business?
Elaine Reese
April 30, 2009 at 7:16 am
I’m in a similar situation with my web site which I began in ’99. It was originally with Homeseekers but has changed owners since. They haven’t kept up with SEO improvements and are unwilling to make changes to the back-end. I’ve customized it as much as I can but the subdomain pages get no Google juice. This year rather than sign up for a full year service, I’m on month-to-month so I can do “out with the old”.
Matt Stigliano
April 30, 2009 at 8:36 am
Missy – Looks good. It is hard to let go of “old friends” sometimes. I like the neighborhood feature and it gave me an awesome idea actually. So not only am I happy for you, but I owe you one too.
Lani Rosales
April 30, 2009 at 9:08 am
Missy, the bottom line is that change is hard, so sometimes I’m just used to a product despite its effectiveness. Email is a good example, I’ve just recently moved from Outlook to Gmail and find it to be more suitable to MY career. I *should* learn Photoshop since I do so much graphic design but anything with a high learning curve can be scary, right? Change is hard- good on ya for finally making that leap!
Brad Rachielles
April 30, 2009 at 10:03 am
Thanks for the timely post. Just decided to make the same change yesterday having been comfortable with the old site because I had better things to do. This is part of the insanity of expecting the different results by doing the same old things.
While I’m tempted to blame the provider for not staying up on changes in SEO, not providing other tools du jour and doing nothing on my (the client’s) behalf to improve my results, I suddenly realize that the buck stops here.
Your new site looks great. Please do a follow-up on this in a few months to let us know if the 10-12 transactions from the old site have been equaled/bettered by the new page.
Drew Meyers
April 30, 2009 at 12:03 pm
The site looks great Missy – congrats. I couldn’t help but notice that the default rate on your mortgage calculator is 8%, which isn’t quite up to date. Of course I’m biased, but have you considered using rates from Zillow Mortage Marketplace to give consumer a feel for what current rates are?
FYI that there is no title tag on your good place to retire page. SEO wise, would be worth fixing.
Cindy Marchant
April 30, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Missy, you are always a leader so I’m sure your decision will influence many. You are so far ahead of me; heck I’m still with a templated website because I’m so cheap! The new look is great and the blue and gold could be mistaken for Notre Dame!! (But, I know better!)
Missy Caulk
April 30, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Drew write a post, email it to me and I will add it as a page. The default was from Dakno so I will have them change it.
How did you find he no follow link, I have a lot of links in that post, which link?
Drew Meyers
April 30, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Missy-
It’s the title tag that I found. I didn’t find a nofollow link.
Does this blog post work for you? If you’re looking for something specific, just let me know what you want me to send you.
Missy Caulk
April 30, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Brad, yes I will do that, already getting leads on it.
Lani, my friend at Google asked me why if I am using all the other apps at Google, I don’t use Gmail. LOL I guess I am just use to doing all my folders in Outlook and now Mail which works the same way. I know folks who use it love it and I have a gmail account just forward to my missycaulk.com email.
Matt, glad it helped I’ll just have to take you up on that with you being a Mac user. I’m still learning.
Elaine, well it took me 3 years to finally take the plunge.
Cindy, GO BLUE!!! đŸ™‚
Jim Rake
April 30, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Missy – I, too, recently took the REW plunge. They’re building it as we speak. Hard to argue with their quality.
And, you hit the nail on the head -“Learning and growing requires change”, and, smarter choices make the growing a bit less painful.
Looks like you’ve done just that!
Missy Caulk
April 30, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Jim, Dakno marketing built mine but I am adding content to it daily.
Drew, can I just copy that, you might want to email me with your contact info so we can chat a minute about the rates. I did have Dakno change it to the six % and you have kept me busy going back to add my title tags all day.
Jim Rake
May 1, 2009 at 5:39 am
OOPS – I stand corrected – guess that’s what happens when I read too quickly!
Well, obviously your site speaks for itself – lots of good stuff, content rich.
It’s interesting (and a bit disappointing) to examine agent’s sites, when Swanepoel’s survey and others let us know exactly what consumers are looking for, yet many agents just don’t get it.
As they say, “Old habits are hard to break.”
Missy Caulk
May 1, 2009 at 6:13 am
No problem Jim, just wanted credit where credit is due!! REW does a great job. I just chose to stay with DAKNO, since they did my blog and support is amazing.
teresa boardman
May 1, 2009 at 8:17 am
My business has changed a lot in the last few months. I got rid of all the services that were not giving me the ROI they should. I got rid of my template web site in favor of one that I built myself. That was getting rid of the old. For the new, I bought some hardware and software and expanded my hosting account. Oh and I moved to a much smaller local real estate company too. Change really is good when we make the changes our selves instead of letting the economy or someone make them for us.
Missy Caulk
May 1, 2009 at 9:35 am
Teresa, I am so impressed with you doing your own web-site. Not surprised but just impressed.
Amy Chorew
May 2, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Missy,
Thanks for the post – i get asked this question all the time in class, now I am just going to refer them to this article! and your site . . .
KimWood
May 2, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I guess change is hard for everyone – it doesn’t surprise me that you took the leap ….. đŸ™‚ Change brings growth – and I look forward to all that is to come from you !!!! Yay that you recognized it was time to move on, Missy!
Paula Henry
May 3, 2009 at 8:43 am
Missy – Love your new site! Great content, clean design and in line with with your complete online presence. Congratulations!
Susie Blackmon
May 3, 2009 at 8:48 am
I like your new site Missy! You’ve encouraged me to make the change from !@#$% Outlook to GMail as I keep inching toward it but don’t jump because I of time, etc., with learning, as you mentioned. Dakno built my new horse site which I haven’t posted in yet because I started 2 Breaking News Sites (so far) with Pat Kitano and Kevin Boer, but today I plan to finally get started on the horse site.
Matt Stigliano
May 3, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Drew – Is there a way to localize the widget so that they rates coming up are more in line with the area, so that the user doesn’t have to click through to Zillow first and then go through the process just to find out the local rates?
Drew Meyers
May 4, 2009 at 11:29 am
Matt-
Mortgage rates by state are available in our API for developers to utilize, but not available in our rate widget. Rates do vary a little bit by state, but the mortgage industry is not nearly as “local” as the real estate industry.
Drew Meyers
May 4, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Missy-
You updated the default rate, but mortgage rates are constantly changing throughout the day. Here is something more along the lines of what I was thinking in the way of an integration đŸ™‚
Andrea
May 5, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I am becoming a financing “expert.” With rapidly changing financing regulations buyers are confused. I try to be there to un-confuse them so that I will not lose a sale that can be saved.