Background:

I work primarily with individual real estate agents and their websites doing various seo/sem/website tasks.

I have a new client who is what is called a team leader (not to be confused with broker).  Team leaders are agents and have agents who do specific types of real estate for them.  Example: Agents may be exclusively buyers agents or sellers agents etc.

Anyway to the point...

The agents on the team are now interested in having their own websites and having me optimize/promote them. 

While not in itself a problem, there is IMO a conflict of interest that is outlined in my contract.  I do not take more then one client at a time in a given area for the same keywords.  In this case, the team leader is my primary client, and has the exclusive use of my services for his chosen keywords.

So, what I am asking is does anyone have any suggestions on ways to alter/promote the website/keywords enough to be profitable for the additional agents without conflicting with the primary client?

I can find plenty of other kw's for the agents, but doubt they will be too successful as the search numbers for the kw's are much lower.

The primary agent is not interested in having the agents on their team use my services unless they are not in direct competition with the primary agents site.  Which is understandable.

Some things I've considered besides doing separate kw's:

• Agents would get blog sites only.


• Agents would have identical looking sites as the leader but different content based on type of agent and kw selection.

Hope I didn't confuse anyone with that explanation?

Any suggestions?

I can see exactly where you're coming from, and can think of a few solutions.

Idea 1:

Build the team leader a website which offers mini-sites with cms for the other agents to use. It's all part of one site; no one's in competition

Idea 2:

The contract is between you and the team leader. There is nothing to stop another seo/developer doing the work for the secondary agents with the same keyword.

Therefore the secondary agents can have a site optimised for the same key words as the team leaders site, as long as you don't do it.

This means there is an opportunity for another company to come in and do the work. However, you need to delegate this task to the other company - in return for a finders-fee or commission.

Northie wrote:

I can see exactly where you're coming from, and can think of a few solutions.

Idea 1:

Build the team leader a website which offers mini-sites with cms for the other agents to use. It's all part of one site; no one's in competition

Yes I agree and have thought about this as well.  I've spoken to the primary, and they are also considering this option.

Personally, I like this option the best for several reasons: 
I can promote the entire team at once
I can charge/bill each separately (which I really like)
The primary can retain control of the websites even if the agents choose to go else where.  They will of course, give up the website since it will belong to the primary anyway.
The primary can manage all contacts for the entire team in one location.

A win/win if you ask me.

Northie wrote:

Idea 2:

The contract is between you and the team leader. There is nothing to stop another seo/developer doing the work for the secondary agents with the same keyword.

Therefore the secondary agents can have a site optimised for the same key words as the team leaders site, as long as you don't do it.

This means there is an opportunity for another company to come in and do the work. However, you need to delegate this task to the other company - in return for a finders-fee or commission.

I've considered this as well, but to be Frank (or bill or george ) I prefer not to give business away without gaining a substantial return, since I will be essentially losing those customers.

Definitely, Idea 1 is so far the optimum as I see it as well.

Thanks for the response and ideas Northie.  Well done.

Interesting, I like idea 2 the best; and here's why.

lets say the average cost for the site is £1500.

I make one for the primary/team leader.

I then get another company to make several, one for each secondary/agent.

I broker the deal between subcontractor and secondary agent. the subcontractor charges me a fee (eg £1500) and I double that and charge the secondary/agents £3000.

So I get several payments for one site and a bit of negotiating

Quids in

Offtopic:

£1500. per site... lil real estate site? I am so getting screwed!

Thanks Northie for the repsonse.

I'm not sure of the conversion rate (pounds to dollars) but in any event, I don't actually make the sites (I'm not a website developer) but am a reseller for a company that does.

My services lean towards optimization, marketing and promotion.

The most I ever charge my customers is 10% for the transaction plus my monthly fee for managing the implementation and roll out of the project. 

I think doubling the cost for the sites would be unreasonable in many of these market areas and would place the sites out of reach for most agents.

I would prefer to have the primary as a long term customer and have the agents share the cost of my services monthly.

Example: If I were to charge $500.00 (US) a month for services for a team of 4, that would be be $2000.00 per month.  Typical contract time is 3+ months, but let's use 3 just for calculating purposes.  That's $2,000 per month income and I retain all customers.

Using Idea 2 and your numbers and my mark up:

$1500.00 for a site + 10% = $1650.00 per site x 4 = $6600.00 and I lose 3 of the 4 customers. 

If I use your double method, then I make the exact same amount - $1500.00 x 2 = $3000.00 * 4 = $12,000.00 but I still will have lost 3 of the 4 customers.

If my client were to extend their contract for an additional 3 months as example, I would have generated an additional $12,000 (using idea 1) as opposed to $1500.00 (since I lost 3 customers).

This is why I prefer the first option.

At least that's my logic.

I may have mis understood. But here's my taking on it

Say, for example it took 1 month to put the site together and one week to broker the other deals (example 1 primary, 3 secondary)

You get 4 months pay (4*£1500 = £6000) for just over one months work. Sod the customers you've lost (never had) you're several months ahead and can search for new clients and so on

put you're business hat on

I understand what you are saying.

However, I don't agree with losing 3 customers over the long term and passing them on to competitors. 

I am still able to obtain additional customers from other sources.

For my business model, I would rather retain the customers and make less now, then make more now and lose potential customers.

I view each customer as a potential reference and referral opportunity.  If I pass them off to a competitor, I lose not only the reference and income but also  the ability to gain any additional customers from them in the future.

I'm still liking your first idea

And my business hat is on tight

jessiesc wrote:

However, I don't agree with losing 3 customers over the long term and passing them on to competitors.

Maybe I didn't explain the important part very well:

You're not loosing customers to a competitor - these customers know nothing of the competitor, they only deal with you. You get your competitor to do the work on your behalf.

Northie wrote:

Maybe I didn't explain the important part very well:

You're not loosing customers to a competitor - these customers know nothing of the competitor, they only deal with you. You get your competitor to do the work on your behalf.

AAHHHHHH!!!!

Ok, I'm thick

I see what you are saying!

Now I like both options combined

Well done.

Thanks for taking the time to give me those ideas.

jessiesc wrote:

I'm not sure of the conversion rate (pounds to dollars) but in any event, I don't actually make the sites (I'm not a website developer) but am a reseller for a company that does.

Y'all lost me early on in this thread, but this part I can help with - particularly, since customers can become international at any point. Last I read, the (American) dollar is worth half a pound, so, in this case, you're talking $3000ish.

Then again, last I heard was a few months ago - before our economy went completely ballistic, and the rest of the world was just getting an inkling that, maybe, something is wrong. Since this keeps up to date, this Conversion Site will help you with all kinds of conversions.