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I spent the month of January trying to find a roommate for an apartment I moved into in December. I put ads on Craiglist pointing people to my blog, which had a description of the apartment, pictures and a chat client that I planned to use to turn interested readers into a roommate. The ad on Craigslist drove hundreds of daily visitors to my blog. Sadly, however, I rarely logged into my instant messenger to actually talk to all the people that Craigslist was driving to the site.

While online chat clients for blogs and websites can improve chances of turning readers into clients (check out Kevin Boer’s blog on this topic), I had to be online at the same time as my blog readers to receive the chat immediately. With days full of open homes and client meetings, I imagine many agents are in the same boat.

For those who aren’t connected to the web all day, I suggest trying out jaxtr, a widget for blogs that lets readers call you on your mobile phone with just the click of a button. Yup, by just clicking on the widget, jaxtr puts a call through to your cell phone via the Internet. Talk about a great lead generation tool! Other upsides:

• Prospects don’t need skype or headsets: when a prospect clicks the widget they are asked to enter their phone number. This places a call to their landline. Only if they pick up the phone will your cell phone ring.
• Flexible: in addition to a widget for blogs and websites, jaxtr gives you a link that you can add to your email signature, Linkedin profile or as a link on your site. Here’s mine

Some downsides:

• Limited customization: jaxtr provides a few different widget styles but the one you’re able to put in your site depends on the hosting provider you’re using (we use Wordpress so the smaller “call me” widget works for us but I preferred the bigger widget above).
• Need to change privacy settings to talk to people you don’t know: by default jaxtr sends callers to your voicemail if you have not approved the phone number in your jaxtr account. As agents are probably more likely to convert callers into customers when you pick up the phone, you’ll need to change this setting in your account.

Although only time will tell if the average home or seller buyer will be comfortable initiating calls on the Internet, the potential of getting high quality leads from a tool like this seems strong and it’s certainly something I would use. Here’s more info on how you can get started:

1. Get a jaxtr account .
2. Add your phone number to your account and jaxtr.com gives your mobile a quick automated ring to confirm they have the right number.
3. You’re ready for prime time; jaxtr provides code for you to copy and paste onto your site. This will display the widget you see below on your blog.
4. You’re good to go!

Go on, give it a try -

(clicking here brings up a form that confirms you want to make the call. Hope to hear from you!)

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