When the Buyer is Ready, the Realtor will appear -- This is the tagline you need to remember when internet marketing.

I take the game of "Internet Hide and Seek" a bit more serious than your average Realtor. There are two levels to this game and like most of today's popular video games, you can't get to level 2 until you beat level 1.

Level 1.  Your Goal -  To have the online seeker voluntarily give you their contact information to add to your database.

            Online Seeker's Goal - To get as much free information as possible without giving into the temptation of filling out the dreaded "Opt-in form".

To consistently win at this level you need to build and arsenal of compelling content through a long period of trial and error. (reading some of the marketing posts on Activerain can act as a "cheat sheet" to quickly help you find winning content)

The FREE CMA's and BUYER CONSULTATIONS  are the equivalent to the old Atari games like Pong and Tetris. The seekers easily see these as instant sales pitches and quickly click away. 

You need to use much flashier bait such as e-books, guides and video tutorials. A seeker is much more apt to give in if they know they will get the candy without having to talk to anyone. 

To advance to level 2, you only need a name and valid email address. While you can make the phone number and address optional information, these tend to raise the anxiety of the seeker and can make them shy away. 

Offering to send the "Needed Content" to the seeker's inbox will assure a valid email address.  The use of "Squeeze Pages"  

Level 2. Your Goal - To maintain contact with the seeker until he/she is ready and make sure that you are the Realtor that appears. 

          Online Seeker's Goal - To continue avoiding you until their motivation level is at the point where they need your help.

To succeed at level 2 you will need the assistance of a database system with built in drip campaigns and the ability to track what content has been sent to which contacts.

Having a contact sign up for daily listing alerts is the best way to assure they will be seeing your information consistantly, but you will still need to mix in some more personal emails and phone calls if you have their number. 

The average Online Seeker will be a long term. low success rate prospect. While that doesn't sound encouraging, the longer you can consistently reach them, the higher the chance they will contact you when they are ready to get serious. 

You will always need your networking and personal relationships and referrals to stay successful, but getting that phone call out of the blue from a Seeker that saw you appear at the right time, is a very rewarding BONUS!