Featured Client of the Month

Mack Perry: I have been in the industry for eight years now. Prior to that I was involved in the automotive aftermarket with a national company that did leather interiors and sunroofs for new car dealerships. I was a Regional Manager when the company downsized, so I made a decision to get into real estate. I have spent all of my years in real estate with RE/MAX Around Atlanta.

AA: Do you have a specialty or favorite niche market group?

MP: I enjoy working with first time buyers, they need education and the whole deal. Relocation buyers are great because I can educate them on the area, schools, drive times, etc. So really any group is great because my favorite part is educating the clients.

AA: At what point did you realize your need for a website? Describe your journey to Advanced Access and why you chose us as your provider.

MP: In the summer of 2005 I had had enough of reading and hearing about other agents successes with the Internet. Sure I had a website but the only traffic it received was from the people I sent to it. I realized that I was not going to be able to compete unless I did something different to improve my web presence. I began in-depth research on real estate websites and the companies that hosted them. This was actually very easy to do. I searched on Google for “city real estate” for major cities in the U.S. and looked at the sites that appeared on the first two pages. Of course the hosts are listed at the bottom of the home page. After seeing a trend of 3 to 4 hosting companies with agent sites achieving high placement my quest became easier. I then went to the hosts' sites and compared what they had to offer. So here I am. In a little over a year my site has generated over $82,000 in gross commissions. That's about a 400% growth for me. Not a bad return on investment!
 

AA: How has your Premium Marketing Package impacted your business?

MP: I wish that I could claim to be the reason for my site climbing in the rankings. When this work in progress started, I knew absolutely nothing about search engine optimization. I elected to go with a Premium Marketing Package to help me overcome my technology shortcomings. Initially CK Chung told me to “Kick My Site Into High Gear”. When my Marketing Specialist, CK, moved on from Advanced Access, I had no idea what I was gaining; an unbelievable Marketing Specialist, Jessica Garcia. Jessica really cares about my site and I can’t thank her enough for her help and helping me to understand this thing called search.

AA: What other resources through Advanced Access and life in general have contributed to your success?

MP: The best training I have ever received came from my parents and my grandfather. My parents taught me the value of family and friends while my grandfather taught me the value of hard work. I was able to spend parts of my summer vacations working with my grandfather on his 500 acre farm. This is where I learned my work ethic. Still today I can recall him saying “The Early Bird Gets the Worm, Let’s Go”. That statement generally came about 4:30 am every day. Even though that is a little early for now, I am a morning person and enjoy getting a jump on the day by responding to email and following up with leads early in the morning. I have even been known to add a page to my site early in the morning.

Without naming individuals, special thanks go out to the forum contributors. These people care enough to help each other and anyone asking for advice. I guess this just ties into what my parents taught me about family and friends. I consider the forum contributors as friends and part of my Advanced Access Family. Just like a family we may not always agree on things, but we have an avenue to express our thoughts and help each other.

Shortly after signing up with Advanced Access one of the Weekly Marketing Tips discussed the advantages of a blog. I was having enough trouble building my site so I didn’t pay much attention to it. This is a perfect example of how Advanced Access provides us with information to keep us up to date with trends that will help us grow our business. While I didn’t utilize it then, about a year later (I must be a slow learner) I stared my blog, www.LovingAtlantaLiving.com. In January, 2007 the blog had over 8,000 hits and actually referred some traffic to my primary site. I can only expect this trend to grow as the blog grows.

One of the great results of all that I have learned is that I now help other agents with getting started on their online presence. I have learned so much with my Marketing Package, the Forums, Marketing Tips, etc, that I have small classes for agents in my office. I remind agents and Brokers that REALTORS are licensed and trained to sell real estate, not to do search engine optimization. And for that reason, I give them some basics to get their site found. But at the end of it all I tell them, if you want the best opportunity, you need a quality provider, and Advanced Access is it.

AA: Can you share with us some information about a recent transaction that began as a result of your website.

MP: Yesterday I was typing a counter offer for a client that found me on my site on January 16th. So I had written the offer on Sunday for a home for someone who found me online, was typing the counter offer and in mid typing I got a phone call from a guy from Florida who is moving to Georgia and buying an $850,000 home! When I asked how he found me, he said he had done a search for Duluth Georgia Real Estate and found me as the first agent site on that search in Google. He and his wife will be here on Monday; that’s all business that I would not have had if it weren't for my site. I should mention that $850,000 is a high price for this area. The average in Metro Atlanta for a single family detached home in 2006 was $260,723.

AA: What are some of your goals for your website and your online presence?

MP: Initially as I was starting to build the site, I wanted to get content on there. I was trying to add 2 or 3 pages a week. Now a lot of the content is on there, so I add at least a page a month now. As something strikes me, I’ll just write a page. Some items I add to my site, and sometimes I add it to my blog depending on the subject matter. I plan to continue adding to my primary site while updating the blog with 2 to 3 posts per week. The blog is popping up as a referring URL in my website statistics more and more.

AA: Tell us a little about your family, your history, and what you like to do in your spare time.

MP: I have been married to my wife and best friend, Millie, for over 30 years. Millie and I have a date night every Friday night. My son, Mack Jr., is a Mortgage Loan Processor, and his wife, Melissa, is a Speech Pathologist with Gwinnett County Schools. They are expecting William Lincoln Perry ("Linc"), their first child; our first grand child, any time now. "Linc" is due in late February.

I attended the University of Georgia and majored in partying (he he) with a minor in Education.

I love to travel. Millie has decided that a cruise, or a trip to Las Vegas are at the top of her "favorites" list so I get to along! We still vacation in Daytona Beach, Florida each summer.

My hobbies include golf (I'm not very good but enjoy the game), bowling (in a Friday Night Mixed League - 197 average), landscaping (I guess this comes from working on the farm with my grandfather), and woodworking (I wish I had more time for this one, especially designing and building birdhouses and bird feeders).

We love to improve our home, and Millie has a fantastic eye for color coordination, which makes for interesting interior painting projects (in fact there is a painter here now, finishing up the hall).

And finally, I am a die-hard NASCAR fan. I was born in Owensboro, Kentucky which is better known as the birthplace of NASCAR drivers Darryl Waldrip, Michael Waldrip, Jeremy Mayfield, and Jeff Green.

AA: Thank you so much for your time, Mack. Everyone here at Advanced Access wishes you many more years of success with your website! We appreciate all the time you spend on the forums interacting with us and helping so many other clients. Your input is priceless.