The answer to both questions is yes... and no.

You see, traditionally rankings are pretty straight forward. The search engine would evaluate each web page (via their algorithm) for both on-page and off-page factors. Then, you would be ranked where they deemed appropriate. Now, there are many factors involved that prohibit us from truly tracking rankings objectively. Factors such as personalized and behavioral-influenced search results for nearly everyone who performs a search. What one person sees as the top 10 results in Google, for example, may not match the same results as the person sitting next to them.

Which begs the question: Just how are you, or to whom are you guaranteeing a No. 1 rank to?

This doesn't mean we should NOT monitor search engine rankings. They should be used as one factor for measuring success. They should also be used to identify any issues that may arise. For example, if keyword "A" constantly ranks well in Google and then suddenly disappears from the results we know we need to investigate.

Here are some "weaknesses" to search as told by a prominent SEO, Richard Bedford, written September 21, 2011.

http://www.bruceclay.com/newsletter/volume95/measuringperformance.htm

• "You can only monitor a finite set of keywords: It is possible to retrieve ranking data from Google using their custom search API, however it is not possible to monitor every single keyword used to find your website. Google published a statistic claiming that 20 percent to 25 percent of search queries have never been seen before.
• Rankings are constantly in flux: Excluding algorithmic changes, index updates, client website updates and competitor website changes, different users can see different search engine results pages (SERPs). In other words, it is not an absolute truth to say that a keyword ever ranked at any position without specifying when the ranking was taken, who recorded the ranking, with what browser, tool or device used and from which location the search was made.
• Universal Search: Do you include rankings from image, video, local results or not? Do you report on these separately?
• Indented listings: Google may group some results together from the same website to help users. The second listing may not actually rank in that position but would otherwise be ranked somewhere lower down in the SERP. Does the ranking tool that you use report the actual position of the indented result or does it return the visual position? Which one should you report on?
• Sitelinks: Should you report on Sitelinks?
• Number of search results per page: With Universal Search, Sitelinks, local search, etc., how many possible search results are there on the page anyway!? An eighth place listing could be "great" one day and "bad" the next.
• Personalization: Even if you are not signed in, Google may personalize the search results based on the last 180 days of search activity. Combine this with +1 recommendations from your social network if you are signed in, and the search results between different users can start to look really different.
• Localization: Location influenced search results are going to become more important, especially with continued increase in smart phone uptake.
• When the rankings was taken: Algorithm updates (450+ a year), a constantly changing index (more than 1 trillion unique URLs) and trending searches mean that the rankings may change without any changes made to you or your competitors' websites."

So what other factors do I use when determining performance?

• Traffic levels
  • Do we see a general increase in traffic levels organically
  • Do we see an increase in organic traffic levels for our target search phrases and their derivatives (tail terms, etc.)
• Comparing traffic sources with one another
  • Organic versus direct
  • Which referral traffic is coming from which sites
• Ranking trends
  • Are we increasing in rank according to my ranking tool.
  • You see, if I notice an overall upward trend in ranks then I know the client can see this trend as well.
• Search phrases typed in by users
  • Are we capturing a wide range of relevant search phrases
• Bounce rate
  • How many users come in to the website organically and leave without visiting another page
• Time on site
  • Can we increase the time a user spends on a site/page
• New visits
  • Are we able to capture new visitors to the site

You see, it takes more than just rankings to measure success.

Here is an example that I came across the other day. I had a client say her traffic levels were down. Of course this concerns her. I dove into her analytics and immediately noticed they were in fact down by approximately 22%. Over this past 30-60 days I’m noticing most client’s traffic is dipping (seasonal perhaps?), but 22% is enough of a drop that I wanted to look further. I decided to sort by the traffic source and could immediately see her direct traffic was down considerably. When I looked at her organic traffic it was only down slightly. In fact, even though her traffic was down overall, of the traffic that was going to her site we were able to capture a bigger portion of it organically.

So I mention this to her and asked to think back if she had done anything different. Come to find out she wasn’t sending newsletters out as regularly. She was went on vacation and didn’t make time for much promoting in other areas (social, etc.) that would help deliver traffic.

In any case, search engine rankings are still a part of SEO success, but we must also educate our clients that there are other—just as important—factors that we use to determine SEO success.

Dennis Greenfield

SEO | Professional Services
Real Pro Systems

• Facebook Business Pages – now also offered to non-Real Pro Systems clients as a stand-alone product
• Acquisition of Real Estate Masters Guild - Amy Stoehr's excellent group of real estate coaches
• Masters Guild Workshop in Reno in Oct. - An incredible line-up of speakers
• New user interface soon to be unveiled - Easier to navigate and added features, see below
• And some older news – RPS VideoMail product launched, example below

Please let me know if you're interested in learning more about any of these developments.

New User Interface

Example of RPS VideoMail where a video is dropped into the first drip email letter in the buyer campaign.
____________________________________________________________________________

Subject: Your Email Home Search Is Ready

Please contact me for more details on coaching and/or the workshop in Reno.

You may recognize founder Amy Stoehr's name from her years running Howard Brinton's coaching program for Star Power Systems. She has excellent credentials and is a certified coach for all aspects of your business and life.

Our first Mastery Workshop under the acquisition is Thursday, Oct. 6th through Sat., Oct. 8th and includes a Real Pro Systems User Group session on Thursday.

The powerful lineup of presenters includes:

• Sanjeev Aneja
• David Burke
• Tim Burrell
• Jana Caudill
• Julie Garton-Good
• Greg Gorman
• Galand Haas

• Linda Hall
• Martha Hendrick
• Kristal Kraft
• Michael Krisa
• Rob Levy
• Beth Mason
• Linda McLean

• Sam Miller
• John Morley
• Sandra Nickel
• Roger Perkins
• Marcie Roggow
• Ira Serkes
• Stacy & Michael Spickes

Mastery Workshop V offers timely and relevant content that includes:

• Listing to LIVE
• Re-Invent Yourself for Multiple Income Streams
• How to Transition Your Operations to the CLOUD
• Bloggers’ and Video Bloggers’ Workshops
• Building the Ultimate Team
• Becoming a Short-Sale Buyer Specialist
• Being Leading Edge vs. Bleeding Edge
• Living With NO Excuses
• Post THIS, Not THAT –essential guidelines for social media
• Discovering PEACE
• Stump the Mentors

Not sure about whether coaching would benefit your business? Watch this video:

http://socialmediatoday.com/william-wells-iii/307559/your-facebook-friend-requests-bad-business-annoying-me

On top of all these reasons, the advantage of having an RSS feed of your own listings and blog posts right onto your Business wall, lead capture forms that feed into your Real Pro Systems back office and drip email campaign(s) and a professional look that matches your website is unbeatable.

Excerpted from: 

Your Facebook "Friend Requests": Bad for Business... Annoying to Me!

...First of all, Facebook personal pages or "Profiles" are intended for people... not businesses.  Technically it's against the rules where Facebook's privacy policy is concerned although they don't appear to be cracking down on this at the moment.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Facebook Business Pages are indexed by search engines.  Personal pages... not so much.   In this day and age, with the unfathomable amount of pages and websites on the Internet, you need to be doing everything possible to improve your online visibility.  A well constructed and engaging "Facebook Business Page" will go a long way in helping make up for what your website is not currently doing for you.

"Friends" verses "Likes"... or "Fans": There is NO limit on the number of fans... or people who can "Like" your Facebook business page. However, there's a cap on the number of "Friends" you can have on a profile page.  That cap is 5,000. Do you really want to set limitations like that?

One "Profile"... many "Business Pages": You can have multiple business pages... however, you can have only one profile page.  Why is this important?  Think outside the box for a moment.  What if you're a Real Estate Agent by day... and you're a Karaoke Deejay by night.  Nope... didn't make that example up!   Or perhaps you own a small Bed & Breakfast, but you also own a consignment shop in town.  Didn't make that one up either.  Point is... you can manage multiple, yet individual, Facebook Business pages... all within one Facebook account.

Statistics and Monitoring Activity: Everyone loves statistics... hits... visits... etc.  Facebook Business Pages have such a thing.  It's called "Insights".  These powerful statistics display in a graph format and include "Page Overview", "User", and "Interactions".  How many people viewed your posts?  How many people "Liked" your posts, photos, or videos?  How many people have "Liked" or  "Commented" on those?  How many people "Liked" your page on a certain day?  And much more!  This information is invaluable when it comes to making your Facebook Business page more useful, engaging, and successful!  There's no such information available on a profile page.

"Landing Pages" and additional "Tabs": Technology exists now for you to turn a Facebook business page into a mini website.  For example, you could integrate an interactive business directory or events calendar right into your Facebook business page.  You could introduce an additional tab which might have printable coupons and special "Facebook Only" promotions.   This is impossible with a personal page.

Our new Integrated Facebook Business page is the brainchild of co-founder Joe Lininger, who worked with Galand Haas, Rob Levy and our excellent team of programmers and designers.

Our whole goal is to get people to become a fan of or "Like" your business so your posts end up on their Wall.

Try it out:

http://www.facebook.com/TheRobLevyTeam
http://www.facebook.com/SamMillerTeam
http://www.facebook.com/GalandHaasTeam

For a one-time fee of $295 we will:

• Match the look and feel of your website with a unique Welcome experience for new fans
• Integrate two lead capture forms, which will send a lead notification email and connect with your Real Pro Systems database, providing a new path for your fans to become active leads.
• Program a rotating properties slideshow which will be updated automatically with your active listings, if you wish.

If you're not a client we offer a "stand alone" version of the product where we'll match your website look. 

We now offer special package pricing on an agent website system that includes both Facebook Business Page and RPS VideoMail products with RPS Gold if you are new to Real Pro Systems.

Here's more detail on how it works:

We add the Business page into your existing Facebook account after you add us as administrators and create a blank page.

We create the page, matching your website, and set up the integration with the Real Pro Systems website that will drop your leads from the lead capture forms on the Facebook pages into the back office and drip email campaign(s).

You direct people to the page via email marketing, posting on your other wall to direct them there with a URL. If they aren't yet a fan, they will be welcomed with the page we create. When they become a fan and "Like" your business page, the Welcome page is not presented anymore - that's the way Facebook works - but it's available to be linked to directly or by clicking the "tab" in Facebook's menu.

Continue to post status updates on your Business Page Wall - which is specific to business and separate from the Wall seen by your friends.

We recently announced an association with a coaching program to further support our clients in their real estate success. We're so pleased to announce this strategic partnership with the Real Estate Masters Guild, headed by Amy Stoehr.

I've met Amy at past Star Power conferences, where she worked with Howard Brinton for 12 years coaching about 2000 real estate agents. I was so impressed by her. She's developed an excellent reputation for her coaching style. Plus, she is one of the few truly certified coaches.

We outline the training programs available on our website.

"Dear Melissa, 

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all of your hard work in developing our website. We had a ton of special requests that you handled gracefully and found a way to make work without compromising our the integrity of our site. We are thrilled with the final results. Service like yours is rare, but we sincerely appreciate it. You are a true ambassador to Real Pro Systems and we will recommend you highly in the future.

Warm Regards,

Dustin"

"I am very happy Gwen.  Thank you so much.  Your team is awesome, fast knowledgable all that!"

Windy Ann Wolf-REALTOR
Prudential Jack White Vista RE
865 N Seward Meridian Pkwy Ste 200
Wasilla, AK 99654

www.WindyandCo.com

You can watch the video tutorial, below, to see how easy it is.

 Here is what it looks like:

Hi Gwyneth,

Let me say that my experience with Real Pro Systems and the creation of my new website has been nothing short of extraordinary.

The training and customer support is outstanding.RPS is constantly on the cutting edge and evolving. I look forward to the new enhancements forthcoming.

Tim

http://www.prescotthomehunt.com/

Karen was kind enough to let us interview her about her successes with Real Pro Platinum (click for a recording). In the interview, she gave examples of her marketing, which many attendees found really interesting.

"We have been happy Real Pro clients for years now, but Platinum has taken our Internet marketing and lead tracking to a new level.

"We can now track and distribute leads much easier, help our team members take control of their business, and have consumer friendly sites. We no longer use our archaic spreadsheets to track our leads: we can now do that on our Real Pro site. We dropped two other websites (including one custom site) due to the comprehensive nature of Real Pro Platinum. This system saves time, money and helps us sell more homes."

Todd Buckley & Karen Jolley ,
The Buckley Jolley Real Estate Team, Brighton, MI

Janurary 19/2011:

Closed 4 listings, 3 sales

June 15th, 2010:

"We received a total of 737 CMA requests on a mailing of 62,000. Not bad percentages. That was the last week in February and we have had 6 appointments 2 listings and one closed deal."

Earlier this winter, Jason wrote:

"The update is that I received a total of 677 CMA requests and they still trickle in daily. I have set 4 appointments but as we all know these type of leads take real time."

Check out Jason's website:

http://www.oneilrealtors.com/

As Dan Kennedy says - it's all about using the marketing triangle: the right message to the right market in the right media, and I would add, at the right time.

Here's what the the postcard looked like:

I recommend checking out his blog. Rob posts some fantastic tips for real estate technology - both hardware and software.

"Real Pro Gold has been an invaluable tool for my company. The interface is simple to use and allows for extensive customization of our website without being overly complicated. The tools Real Pro Gold provides give us a means to stay in front of customers in a personal manner without spending a lot of time behind a computer. With the tracking tools I can see how my site is performing in an easy to understand format and Real Pro's outstanding customer service team is always very responsive to my needs. The search engines love our website which means more traffic and more leads! I can't imagine my business without our Real Pro website."

Rob Janson
Marketing & Technology
John Jones Real Estate
Murfreesboro, TN

www.JohnCJones.com

RISMEDIA, January 26, 2010—Rob Levy, broker and team leader of The Rob Levy Team at Prudential Northwest Properties in Portland, Oregon, can answer without hesitation when asked what his key to 22-year success in the real estate industry has been: technology. Here, Levy shares the specifics of how he remains successful as the industry—and technology—continues to evolve.

Rob Levy
Broker
The Rob Levy Team
Prudential Northwest Properties

www.roblevy.com

Maria Patterson: You’ve been a number-one Prudential agent in the Portland Oregon area several times over the course of your career and attribute technology to much of your success. What is one of your most significant technology practices?

Rob Levy: Using a tablet PC and an air card. This allows you to sign listing agreements at the client’s home or wherever you happen to be and upload the listing to the MLS immediately, or have buyers sign offers onsite, and this also allows you to have a life. For example, on New Year’s Eve an offer came in by fax and I was out of town but I was able to get it sent and signed from where I was. A tablet PC allows you to do more in less time.

MP: Why did you form an agent team?
RL: I’m married with three boys and I’m a very driven guy and a hard worker. I realized I was ignoring my family, so I got some help with marketing so that I could concentrate on getting out in front of people. That made me more efficient and helped me get even more business…and then I was back in the same mess. Working with buyers takes the most amount of time, so I hired my first buyers agent at that point. Today, I have three full-time buyers agents, one assistant, and one business manager.

MP: What is your biggest source of new business today?
RL: Even though we do a super job of working with our past clients and their referrals, in the last year more than half our leads came from the Internet.

MP: What’s your key to generating so many leads?
RL: We use a Real Pro Systems stealth site in addition to our regular site. RobLevy.com is great for people that know me, but if you’re moving to Portland, you’re going to search for a site where you can get data about the area. That’s why we also have a stealth site, portlandmls.net. People are far more likely to fill out a form on that site than they would be to go to my main site. And the proof is in the pudding—98.6% of all my new internetbusiness comes from the stealth site. In the old days, 22 years ago, my job was to market Rob because I had all the data. Now all the data is out there, so let’s give them the data and then market Rob.

MP: How do you manage your Internet leads?
RL: We use Real Pro Systems Platinum to track all the leads that come in through the stealth sites. I can tell from this system who’s viewing listings and even see what houses they are looking at and how many times they have looked at a particular house for example. At that point, I would generate Real Pro’s CRM system to start e-mailing this lead with information on the Portland market and information on me so I can gently start selling myself. The system allows me to know when to differentiate between leads and prospects and start to convert a lead to a prospect. This has been a real boon for us, we now focus only on the prospects, and not on the leads, we let the system do that for us.

MP: How does technology facilitate real estate transactions?

Read more at: http://rismedia.com/2010-01-25/turning-technology-into-business/

About Rob Levy
Rob has been the number 1 ranked agent by sales volume in the Portland, OR area; voted Realtor of the Year by members of the Million Dollar Club of the Portland Association of Realtors, and is a Star Power "Star," among other accolades he's received. Rob is well-recognized for his sage advice on technology for real estate agents.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Are you looking for listings? One of our Gold level clients, Jason O'Neil, located in a tough real estate market in Florida, used a postcard from our marketing library and had tremendous results! Here is his email below.

"Real Pro,
Just a note to let you know that I have received 313 Seller CMA requests in just over 24 hours! I inserted the card into a local newspaper that gets direct mailed to a portion of my county. Total cost was just under $4K. 

I know you love to hear the stories! In fact, this is way too many to efficiently handle.

I trust that all is well. 

Jason"

Yes! We love success stories from our clients!  Check out Jason's website:

http://www.oneilrealtors.com/

Action: Used a postcard template from our marketing gallery to create a newspaper insert.

Results: 314 Seller CMA requests for Jason to provide in the first 24 Hrs. (definitely more will follow)

Cost: Just under $4K

Business problem: Too much business to handle!

Here's what it looked like:

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!

Walk into a totally dark room. What do you see? "Absolutely nothing," you say. Now, turn on the light. Where did the darkness go? Really - where is it now? Hopefully you will agree that darkness cannot exist in the face of light.

During a lifetime, we experience many types of "darkness." It may appear in the form of discouragement, fear, hopelessness, grief, ignorance, or poverty. Yet, in every case, there is a "light" in which such darkness cannot exist.

Fear, for example, cannot exist in the face of courage. Education denies ignorance any chance of survival. Grief disappears in the presence of peace-of-mind. Discouragement ceases when hope prevails. Wealth denies poverty its chance.

No matter what form darkness takes, it cannot exist when faced with its opposite. That also means we have the ability to send darkness on its way at any point in time. No matter how overwhelming the darkness appears, it is our thoughts and our minds that ultimately control the outcome. How powerful is that?

In the words of several favorite authors: "Think you can, think you can't, either way you're right." "Your life is what your thoughts make of it." "We are what we think about all day long." Finally, in the words of Tom Bodett, from one of his Motel 6 commercials: "We'll leave the light on for you!"

Here's an excerpt:

...Lately, agents considering our solutions have reported that a couple of competitors selling what used to be more expensive systems are now offering to waive the setup fees entirely. Naturally, these agents have then asked us to also waive our setup fee. While you can’t blame them for trying, our answer is “no.” Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but thanks to the loyal support of our agents we are doing quite well, and we have a sustainable business model."

We aren't taking any shortcuts on customer service. "Nothing short of extraordinary..." a client writes us. Read on:

"Hi Gwyneth,

Let me say that my experience with Real Pro Systems and the creation of my new website has been nothing short of extraordinary.

The training and customer support is outstanding.  RPS is constantly on the cutting edge and evolving.  I look forward to the new enhancements forthcoming."

Tim

Caine O'Brien continues in his blog post:

...If you are considering doing business with us, we ask you to think about how important it is for your vendor to be available, reliable, and sustainable. And if you are tempted by dramatically reduced fees from another provider, ask yourself where that money is coming from. It is very likely coming out of the development department, the production department, or the service department. And that could cost you a lot more down the road.

Real Pro Systems isn’t the cheapest nor the most expensive solution out there; we just offer the best value by far. It seems to be working."

"Best Investment that I've Ever Made"

Real Pro Systems is the best investment that I've ever made in my real estate business!!! The system is complete, and allows you to stay in touch with your database with ease!!! I wish that I would have uses this system when I started nine years ago. There really is no expense in marketing if the return outweighs the... investment, and the return here is much more than I've ever expected.

Customer service is awesome as well. Most companies ask you to email them...not Real Pro. I speak to Kristi anytime I have questions, and she is always on top of things. Joel is the same way. Unbelievable!!!

Thanks Real Pro Systems for all you've done for my business. The name of your company couldn't be more fitting...your whole package is Real Professional!!!

Thanks again.
Darren James
Denham Springs, LA
www.Agent225.com

After a webinar we hosted to share the updates in Gold 3.0, we received the following comment.

"I love you. thank you so much!!!!!!!! You mentioned several times yesterday in the webinar that you value our business and it shows from how you treat us and improve your products. Thank you!"

Sara D.
San Diego, CA

Leads in Two Weeks

"Gina and I launched her new Real Pro site two weeks ago and are very pleased with the site to date. Our leads started coming in this week.