I'm experimenting with no registration right now.  I'm also test driving Google Adwords.  It's only been 24 hours but I'll let you know what happens!

Cathy

I used to let everyone search without registering but now I require it.  I really like this way better.  Do I lose some?  Probably!  Do I have people to call that searched on my site?  Yes!  And I have written two contracts with one person, one rejected and one still neg.  I am showing homes this weekend to another, talked to one yesterday, etc...

I even took it a step further after about a month of requiring it to adding the check mark in the box to send them a password in their e-mail.  Now I don't need to worry about fake e-mails.  Let us know how you make out.

One thing I found interesting is, when I first started requiring the registration, I saw people register that had been to my site before, but I did not know.  Well, they came back and were still willing to register.  Good luck!

John

Janet,

I do not require registration. I did require registration when I first set up my web page last September, and I think that it discouraged people from coming to my site.

I have went both ways. I just my IDX page to require registration a few days ago and have received one lead so far.

My opinion is that if they don't want to register, they a) are not serious buyers yet, or b) they would not be loyal to one agent.

John, are you still getting decent results by requiring a registration and then sending a password?

Great idea, John!

I require registration.  I want my website to be a lead generating site.  I've worked very hard at it, made it user-friendly, incorporated the MLS search and I want something in return... their name, email and phone.

I require a double-loop registration system.  Basically, they search the MLS, view 1 photo of the property, price, bedrooms, bathrooms and that's it.  If they want to view listing details, they need to register.  Once they supply the information, an email is sent to them so they confirm their email address.  Once they confirm it, they can view all listing details.  If I receive an email saying that I have a new lead and then I receive an email saying that the confirmation email bounced, they're out of my database.  It was a bogus email.

If the visitor is really serious about looking for a home, they'll supply you with this information.  I've installed the MLS search on my site on April 16th.  Since then, I now have 38 leads.  About 80% of them, supply a phone number.  Yes, sometimes you will get a bogus phone number, name or email.  If the email is bogus, it's rejected right away and they're not a lead anymore and I remove them from my database.  If the phone number is bogus and the email is valid, I just put them on a Drip Email for 8 months.  I call all valid phone numbers.  Every valid lead goes on a Drip Email.

Just today, I had a lady register for MLS search.  I thought she was a buyer.  I called her within 20 minutes and she's actually looking for homes for sale that are similar to the one she wants to sell.  She already has a buyer, she had an appraisal done and she's just looking for someone who will facilitate the transaction.

If she didn't have to register and I wouldn't call her, I don't think she would contact me just by looking at homes on my site.  I have an appointment scheduled with her Thursday night.  The house is worth about $400K.

You just need to take a more pro-active approach, instead of reactive, where you're waiting for your visitors to contact you.

I read the statistic somewhere, where on average, 1 out of 100 MLS registrations, becomes a serious client within 1 months, 3 out of 100 become serious within 3 months and 10 out of 100 become serious within 6 months.  But only if they know that you exist.  Put them on a drip email, send them monthly area market statistics, call them every once in awhile.  Just stay in touch with them.  When they're ready to make a move, they'll reach out to you, because they know that you exist and you can help.

That's my 2 cents.

Solid reasoning Russell, good logical approach.  I was wondering, are you setting your double loop with Point2 registration pages or are you using a third party IDX solution?

I am not sure how you would do it with Point2 unless you developed some custom forms.

Please let me know.

Thanks for your input.

I'm actually using a 3rd party solution.  It's called IDXPro.  I think by displaying the "teaser" first, the quality of leads increases.  It's basically, "Look what I have!... Now, if you want to see the details, you have to register."

So far it's working ok.

Russell, thank you for the info.  Based on your recommendation, I contacted IDX PRO and they quoted me a start up fee of $49, and a monthly service charge of $29.98.

I also have a mix. I've set it up to show homes by area and depending on the area. You are required to register for one part of town, but not another. Right now the amount of leads are 50/50 so I guess that didn't work!

I am going to be trying some other things over the next couple weeks.

I was giving it all away for free.  After reading a thread here a while ago (I think it was one of Becky's) I decided to require registration for my IDX page.  I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who have registered.  Of course I get a few with bad email addresses and sometimes they attempt it again with a working address.  But the legit ones are contacts that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

I like your reasoning Russell.  I'm just using our state provided IDX solution, but I like the teaser solution you described you use with IDX PRO.

Here's another vote of confidence in IDXPro and the teaser registration.  We just started with them a couple of weeks ago and are getting far more leads this way.

I was not a fan of registration but Becky said to try it and, well.... I'm scared of Becky so I do what she says! LOL

I used IDXPro for about 1 year and a half, I stopped using them about them about a year ago.  They have a great solution.  The only problem I had was that they did not have a automatic drip campaign, and at the time I used them they didn't have a basement search criteria, which is pretty critical here in Goeorgia.

Then the company came up with a contact management program with an email autoresponder in it, but it was not coded to work with IDXPro.

Point2 is the only solution that I found to be so flexible in your ability to work on it yourself and include an email autoresponder that automatically enters prospects.  Even though Point2 could probably come up with a bit more robust autoresponder system, what they have still get the job done with the least amount of pain.

I missed it until last night, but Point2 now has the teaser type registration page available.  It is not quite as good as IDXPro, but it was better than what they offered before and still looks like it could be pretty effective.

Russell I see that you are using email campaigns, are you using the Point2 autoresponder or a third party solution for that, and are you having to manually enter you contacts into the campaigns if you are using a third party?  

Sorry for all the typos in the last message!  I wish this system had a preview button!  My fingers get going to fast!

I remember IDXPro had a great feature that let you put in questions prospects could answer when registering.  I asked how soon the prospect needed to be moved.  1-3 Months, 3-6 Months, 6-12 Months  That really helped prioritize the call backs.  

I also got some positive feedback about IDXPro from clients that used it before I worked with them.

One other thing I didn't like about though was that you could not go in and adjust a prospects search criteria yourself.  After speaking with a potential client I help them make adjustments to what they are looking for based on my knowledge of the area, however, I could not go back in and change the search criteria for their listing updates for them and a lot of times they would not go in and do it, so I would end up having to put them in the auto listings update program my MLS offers.   So, after much agonzing I dropped IDXPro and went with the MLS offered IDX solution.

I am hoping the new (to me) registration P2 offers will give me some better results.

Lucia-

when I receive a new lead through MLS registration, I manually enter that lead as a new prospect in P2.  Then I add them to a specific group, so in the future I can send out group emails and then I add them to an 8 months buyer drip campaign.  All the text in my emails is the one that came with my template.  I didn't change anything.

When someone registers on my site, I have their name, I have their phone number, I have their email, I know what they were searching for when they registered.  I can also find out the area that they're from just by looking at their area code.  Right before I call them, I can bring up my MLS search screen with properties that match their criteria.

When I call them, I already know a lot of crucial information.  The other day, I had a lead whose area code was 317.  I don't know where 317 is.  So I look it up on Google and it's in Indianapolis.  So when I called him, we struck a conversation about the Colts and Payton Manning.  To make a long story short, he's flying into town next weekend to look at 8 different houses.

Make them register... you will gain so much valuable information just from a name, phone and email.

In IDXPro, you can create up to 3 custom questions, but I chose not to, because these are the questions that I can ask when I call them.

Another vote for registration.  I combine this with google adwords to drive visitors to the registration page.  Good results so far.  Just using my local MLS free IDX, but I may check into IDXPro too.  The free one doesn't tell you what they looked at.

With IDXPro, you can setup a free 2 week evaluation, so you can try it out for yourself.  It will contain fake data, but you can try to embedd into one of the pages and see how it works.  Make sure you set the page to hidden.

I require registration.  Have 1000 people on drip.  Get calls every week to come list me - from people who have been hanging around my site for the last 6 months to a year or more..

I've tried both ways - registration and no registration for listings.

I've found that people can get listings from just about anywhere - (i.e., realtor.com, all the major real estate brokers, and a plethora of other websites) without registering to get it.  So, what I do now is make registration is an option. You're free to search listings on my site without registering.  I do ask for your contact informtation, but I don't make you give it to me.  But, you must register if you want me to search for you to get the latest new listings.

As for the free home buyer and home seller reports I advertise on WIFM (What's In it For Me?), you absolutely must register to get them.  I'm not that dumb.  (My wife might disagree with that, though.)