Matt Hutchings Blog

Matt Hutchings | Keeping Prospects in your site LONGER!!

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:22:39 -0500

The more time people spend at your web site, the
more time you'll have to persuade them to buy your
product or service. Below are ten powerful ways to
keep visitors at your web site longer.

1. Provide your web site visitors with content they
can't read anywhere else. People will stay longer at
your web site to read the original content.

2. Remind your web site visitors they can print out
your content. They may browse around your online
store while it's printing.

3. Offer your web site visitors a freebie if they take
the time to fill out your online survey. They'll be at
the site longer and might b.uy something afterwards.

4. Offer your visitors free software that they can
download right from your web site. While they are
waiting they might read your ad.

5. Provide a huge online directory of information
that your visitors could search. The directory must
contain information your visitors would want.

6. Make sure all your web pages load fast or your
visitors will leave fast. Time is precious; they won't
waste it waiting for your site to load.

7. Tell your visitors what's offered at your web site
at the very beginning. If people are confused about
what's being offered they may leave too early.

8. Publish your web site professionally. People will
get turned off and leave if they see a lot of spelling
and grammar mistakes.

9. Make your site text easy to read. Most people
won't strain their eyes trying to read text that is too
small, light or bright.

10. Use headlines and sub headlines all over your
your web site that will grab visitors attention. It will
attract them to explore your web site longer.

Example Customer Websites

www.livingonthemainline.com

www.harrynormansells.com

www.buysarasota.net

www.tucsonhomeconnection.com

Matt Hutchings | The 7 Steps To Writing a Successful AD

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:10:58 -0500

by Joe Polish

Advertising is one of those crafts that every business owner has done, and more often than not has done it unsuccessfully.

I have seen thousands of ads from clients insisting that they have a "great" piece for their company, something they may have spent thousands of dollars on to have created, yet when I ask them what their return on investment was from that campaign ... they get a blank look on their faces.
"How much did you generate in sales from each advertising dollar you spent?"
"Ummm ... I have no idea ..."
"Then how can you say the ad is ‘great'?"
"Well look how nice the glossy paper and our logo are!"

Marketing is all about numbers. It's a science. I want to know that for every dollar invested I'm generating four, 10, 20, 50 in return. This means that marketing pieces must be trackable, and also that they must generate "action" in your audience so that you have something to track.

There are ads created to make business owners feel good, and ads created to make business owners money. Personally, if the ad is making money that makes ME feel good ... and I'm sure you feel the same way.

The problem is, most people do not know how to create ads that create response in their market of potential clients, so they fall back on doing something pretty or cute or creative. And everyone else looks and sees their competitor doing this and assumes this MUST be what is working for them, and they copy it.

Grab a copy of your local yellow pages book or your newspaper and see how many ads you could literally plug competitors' names into and the same ad would work for them - because everyone's ads look just like everyone else's. They are all image ads. Ads with name, rank, and serial number, with some kind of "we're the best" tag or a glossy photo that gives them the illusion that they're marketing ... when actually they are just tearing up hundreds or thousands of dollars and tossing them in the trash.

Not a pleasant thought. But this unfortunately is the reality for most companies.

So what's the answer? It's to create an ad that creates a response AND a return on your investment. It's to leave the warm fuzzies of the typical image advertising, and strategically create some direct response ads that make you money instead.

What is a Direct Response Ad? It's an ad that
1. has a headline;
2. creates interest in the service or product;
3. creates desire in the prospect;
4. has a specific offer; and
5. has a deadline or cut-off date.

Most advertising in magazines and newspapers and on radio and TV are not direct response. They are institutional advertising (also called "image" advertising). There is no way of accurately tracking the response, since there is no specific offer ... but advertising agencies like it this way.

Why do advertising agencies like image advertising? They like it because they can't be held responsible for zero results. It's hard to track an ad that is not trackable. If an ad campaign doesn't increase sales, ad agencies like to do one of the following:
A. Blame it on the economy.
B. Tell you that you need to run these ads that didn't work over again, and
after a certain number of "impressions," a prospect will finally call you.

Neither is true! Out of the two, the second is by far the worst. Advertising agencies are notorious for saying, "Well, the public just needs to see your ads more often, and then you'll start to get more sales." So many companies continue to waste a lot more money and still don't get results.

This theory is flawed. If an ad doesn't work at all once, it's not suddenly going to
bring in lots of money. It doesn't work that way. There is a tiny bit of truth in that a
very small percentage of your response will come from people who have seen your
ad before, but that number isn't enough to substantiate wasting so much money.

Advertising agencies are interested in being creative and "cutesy." That's what wins advertising awards. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. The advertising field gives awards based on creativity, not results. Many ads that have won top awards didn't produce any substantial increase in sales for their clients. Take a look at the past winners over the last decade of "best ads" and see how many of these companies are in Chapter 11 or have had huge layoffs ... I don't think the CEOs are placated by knowing that at least their ad agency won "most creative ad campaign."

Ad agencies seem to have forgotten that advertising is meant to do one thing and
one thing only: GET MORE CLIENTS!

That's the only reason I advertise. I don't care about name recognition - I just want
more clients.

Building name recognition is only possible with a HUGE advertising budget. There is a lot of waste in that type of advertising, but some really big international businesses can survive with that level of waste. Businesses like McDonald's, Coke, and Budweiser - they can afford to spend tens of millions on saturating their name and brand everywhere. Small, local businesses do not have that option. We can't afford to waste marketing dollars on ads that don't pull in immediate and consistent cash. Direct response is RESULTS oriented. You know exactly how much money you made from jobs that come from each direct response method. It gives your prospects something they want and tells them exactly what to do to get it. It gives them compelling reasons to use you. It gets response.

And response means $$$.

Therefore, when creating an ad for your company, to make it a successful ad, you
want to make certain you have these 7 questions covered:

1) Have I selected a Target Market?
The reason the target market is so important is that half of the battle with marketing is selecting the RIGHT list and then having the message to communicate to that list. The best marketing message communicated to the wrong list will create zero results. For example, a great promotional offer for a new steak house sent to a list of local vegetarians would flop ... not because the offer is necessarily bad, but because it was sent to the wrong audience, so it was bad for them.

A general list typically does not make as much money as a specialized list that focuses on specific criteria. Those criteria can be demographics (age, income, marital status, education ...) or they can be behavioral (pet owner, allergy sufferer, online shopper ...). And the more thought you put into the "who" you want to communicate to with the "what" you have to communicate, the more results you will be able to create with your campaigns.

Most businesses fall into what we call the "Blind Archery Trap^TM," where they take a marketing message and just blanket an area with it, hoping to get a customer in the process. This is like playing archery blindfolded and shooting arrow after arrow hoping to hit the bull's-eye. What you want to do is to get a clear idea of your ideal customer criteria and send a message that speaks to that person's needs. This way, you can focus and get a direct hit with one just shot.

Instead of mailing out ten thousand flyers to a general random list, if you have a small (but well-chosen) list, you can create a multiple sequence campaign and communicate to a strong targeted list and generate sales with each mailing. Some of the best marketers in the business are the best not necessarily because their marketing pieces are the best, but because they are very good at choosing the best people to communicate to with what they have to sell. A hungry market is a buying market.

A mediocre piece sent to an eager list will sell more than the best piece sent to an uninterested list. Your list choice is key, so make sure you know who your target market is and what they are hungry for.

2) Do I have a Compelling Offer?
The worst offer to make is no offer at all. The next worst offer is a price discount offer that isn't compelling.

If you are going to use money or prices as a means of making an offer, make sure that the offer is compelling; that it speaks to the BENEFITS of what you sell and not the features. Features tell what a product/service is, but benefits tell what a product/service DOES for a client who buys. Benefits talk in terms of the pain it will eliminate or the pleasure it will create.

The offer should encourage action and also remove the risk of choosing "you." In the cleaning industry a very good offer utilizing a guarantee is "You'll get the most thorough cleaning ever ... or it's free!" It makes a promise of expert service, and also removes the risk of buying, because if you are not happy, you will get your money back. That makes it a safe and easy buying decision.

When you have your target list in mind, think about what the people on it really want and why, and then craft an offer that speaks to this "want" and make it compelling by making it easy to say yes to.

3) Does my Headline tell the complete story?
A headline is essentially an ad for the ad.

Could you imagine reading the newspaper without any headlines? Or driving by a movie theater with no marquee to read? It would be really difficult to know what might be interesting to read or to find the movie you are looking for.
The same thing applies to advertising. Your company name or your logo is not a headline, but most businesses use their names as the headlines, not realizing that this says absolutely nothing to prospects.

Examples of a good headline would be "4 Reasons to Choose a ______" or "The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Choosing a _______." Any service provider or product retailer could fill in those blanks with something that would work for him or her.

If the ad mentions the biggest mistakes people make when choosing a daycare center, then it will attract working parents' eyes. If it's an ad that mentions mistakes when choosing a remodeler, then it will attract the eyes of homeowners getting ready to improve their property. The headline will draw in the market it is after.

Make sure your headline speaks to the problems that your product/service solves or overcomes, and it will attract the eyes of those who are the best prospects for you to be reaching. You should of course have your company name and number in the ad ... just not as the headline!

4) Does it look like News?
If you want to dramatically increase the response from your ads, make them look like articles. If you have crafted an "advertorial" layout, the readers will approach the piece with the feeling that they are going to "learn" something from reading it.

Education-based marketing pieces (advertising material that seeks to educate its audience so they make better informed buying decisions) are powerful in attracting and filtering out prospects who are pre-qualified, pre-interested, and pre-sold on what you have to offer.

When something looks like an "ad," people know they are being sold, so their radar goes up. When something looks like "news," people expect to learn something, and those who are interested in the subject will focus more attention on the content. Using the editorial style of articles, you can fill up your advertising space with compelling copy that shares the reasons why they need what you have to offer or that gives them insight on how to avoid mistakes as a consumer in your industry.

The powerful point about "educating" is that even if you are teaching consumers how to choose the right person in your field, the fact that you are the one revealing this to them sets you apart as the only "expert" to use. Instead of just saying "I'm the best!" your sharing of valuable knowledge labels you as the go-to person in the business because you are the "author" of the article. It gives you credibility even though it's an ad that they are reading. That's the power of education-based marketing when it's done well.

5) Am I using Conversational Language?
You want to talk to people in your advertisement the same way you would talk to them if you were selling them face-to-face. Talk like a real human being. Don't write like a big corporation, or like a textbook.

The more academic and "official" sounding a piece is, the more detached the reader becomes to the message. It creates distance. But a conversational and friendly tone lowers barriers and creates rapport. It's nonthreatening and creates a better opportunity for the reader to trust what you have to say.

If you aren't sure if your ad is using conversational language, then read it aloud or have someone else read it to you. If you have trouble writing in a conversational manner, then record yourself talking about your business and what you have to offer, and then have it transcribed to use in your marketing materials. The improper grammar and run-on sentences might have gotten you red marks in school ... but they will get you in the black in your business.

6) Is it clear what I am asking the reader To Do?
When you educate a prospect or client and you let them know about all the wonderful benefits that your product/service does and then you don't give them a specific call to action, then you have gotten them interested but haven't made them DO anything.

Ask yourself with your ad - what do I want them to do? Is it to have them call a Free Recorded Message that's available 24 hours a day? Is it to have them call to set up an estimate or consultation? Make it very clear what the next step is. Don't give them 20 different phone numbers with extensions and make people jump through hoops in order to do business with you. Make sure that doing business with you is easy.

Too many choices or leaving them asking "What now?" will cause delays in acting ... and delay is often the death of a sale.

7) Do I have a Free Recorded Message in the ad?
Three of the most powerful words in advertising are "Free Recorded Message."

Listing the number in your ad for a Free Recorded Message available around the clock gives you the opportunity to record your best sales pitch and have it delivered 24/7 to people who want to hear it. It's really like having your best employee working 24 hours a day, for free, with no sick days and no "bad" days. It gives you the opportunity to share more information with potential clients so that when they are ready to contact your company, they are
calling to buy and not to ask "how much."

From the prospect's perspective, a Free Recorded Message is nonthreatening, and it is not as intimidating as calling and talking to a live salesperson. So when interested prospects see "Free Recorded Message" on an ad, in the yellow pages, or on a business card, they will call for the information and educate themselves ... and

then sell themselves in the process. Your message does all the heavy lifting for you, and you just wait to talk with those ready to buy.

You generally have a limited amount of time with a prospect in an ad - or a limited amount of space - so the Free Recorded Message gives a secondary reason for response and allows you more time to share more information. And this robotic marketing system can often cover the most common questions before prospects even contact you, which saves you from having the same Q&A sessions over and over
again.

Utilizing marketing systems like these not only free up your time, but they deliver a strong marketing message to the right audience robotically, so they create a constant conveyor belt of new business to you. It helps to transform your business into an ELF^TM Business - easy, lucrative, and fun.

Business Is a Game
Whoever said business was hard didn't know how to play it right. When you know the rules and know how to score the points, then it's easier to play and easier to win. And in business, marketing helps you score the points and create the results.

Here are some final rules when marketing:

· NEVER do anything for which you can't directly track the results.

· NEVER run an ad a second time that didn't work the first time.

• NEVER fall in love with your ad.

An ad is only good if it gets results. Period. So don't fall in love with any ad until you have tested it and know for certain that it pulls. And when it does and proves it's a successful ad ... then go ahead and love it a little, and keep using it until it stops adding to the company score.

If you follow the marketing wisdom in this article, I guarantee that you will have the power to transform your company into a powerhouse in whatever industry you're in.

Matthew Hutchings | Free SEO Website Traffic Consultation!

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:19:09 -0500

Free SEO Website Traffic Consultation!
From AgentAdvantage

For a limited time, AgentAdvantage is offering a free SEO website traffic consultation. With this consultation, you will receive:

Tips on how to amplify your website traffic and online presence
Google and Yahoo Search Engine Optimization insider secrets
A quick lesson on the difference between Search Engine Optimization and Pay-per-Click Advertising
A search engine ranking report on your website to see where you stand with your competitors

These consultations are very popular, so book your appointment today, so you can learn about search engine rankings, how to improve your web traffic, and much more.

Example Customer Websites

Matt Hutchings | Marketing Tips You May Have Missed (What Not To Do - or - How To Fail Miserably)

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:29:35 -0500

There are those who are successful at marketing themselves, and then there are those who aren't so lucky. Here are some good ways to FAIL MISERABLY at marketing your business and your site:

Who are you again? Not putting your name and website on every conceivable surface of marketing material is a way to take that important first step...to falling flat on your face in marketing.
Yawn. Boring. Your website content is the same as every other website because you have not changed the pre-canned text that comes with your initial website.
Mommy, that blinking picture is making me sick! Leave animated .gifs in the 1990's!
We're not ready for your close-up. It's important for customers to see a face they can trust, but please not one that big.
Dogs don't sell real estate. People do. Keep your images focused on you and your business.
Not using the guest book and our other lead capture forms is a great way to not get any leads! Turn on your guest book and reap the benefits!
You are the pre-eminent real estate expert, top-producing with that cutting-edge competitive advantage. So is everyone else. Focus on WHY your customers should trust you with the most important transactions of their lives. Don't insult them by just throwing around a buch of buzz words that they've heard from every other agent.
Keep that old template you've had since 2000. Update your template to avoid looking tacky and outdated.
Write every other word in a different font and color because you feel like it. Inconsistency in design is probably one of the best ways to distract potential clients. Keep your site clean, consistent, and attractive - and people will want to stay and read.
Not investing in Search Engine Optimization because you still believe that you get the majority of your leads from the newspaper. Most people get their information from the Internet....you should be there, too.

Example Customer Websites

Matthew Hutchings | Attract serious home-buyers not passive searchers

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:40:39 -0500

If you're spending to get traffic to your website from the major search engines you are probably wondering how much of your money is wasted on passive searchers. You know, "browsers" the type of person that's caught between the conundrum of buying vs. renting or maybe they're 6 months to a year from making a purchase. The type of person you immediately call after they fill out a lead form only to find out they only wanted to know what school zone the house is in but isn't serious to buy. Eventually, these passive searchers just end up on your drip marketing campaigns in hopes they come around someday.

A way to separate the passive searcher from the active home-buyer and spend money wisely is to optimize your blog and website content to a very local level. In search, the rule of thumb is the longer keyword phrase the better the prospect.

For example:

Chances are a person searching "Manhattan Real Estate" is a more passive searcher than a person searching "Soho NY Lofts for Sale near Wooster Street". In the second example you know exactly what the consumer wants and where they want it. That's the type of person you want to find your website.

You can enhance your search marketing strategy by setting up campaigns with specific neighborhoods in mind or use the neighborhood names in the link text or headline of your ads. Using these methods can increase your click-through rate of your ads and usually the conversion rates will improve because it will weed out the passive shopper and attract those who know what they want. If you choose to just go the neighborhood route be prepared for less search volume, but since there is less competition the clicks should still be cheaper. This is a good way to stretch your advertising dollar and still attract those hot leads.

Example Customer Websites

By: Stevan Cirkovic

Matt Hutchings | The Website: Shared Perceptions of Failed Successes

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:00:17 -0500

The website: Where it all began in the real estate agent's relationship with the internet. The website is also the internet's most overworked product. No matter what new tools the internet discovers for prospecting buyers and sellers, no matter how many search engines fill our space or how many bells and whistles are dreamed up, no matter if virtual enhancements work or don't work...all roads lead back to the website.

Oftentimes, the fate of a website is left to its originator. By over-promising the effects of the product on its new owner's business, the website developer has virtually doomed its product to failure. As if its lifeline isn't already insecure. Despite what you're told, your website won't grow legs and walk around the internet with a fishing pole in its clutch, catching you buyers, while you sleep and do nothing, unless you give it the tools to do so. I've heard clients in years past who owned basic web solutions (a URL, a nice home page and a couple of links) and complained that they hadn't sold a single house since purchasing the website. "The damn thing doesn't work," they'd say. "I want my money back." Well, Mr. Realtor, it just doesn't work that way. You still have to get up each day and do your thing as a real estate agent. If success was as easy as putting a website on the internet, why wouldn't everybody do it? Oh yeh, everybody did do it. Back in the late nineties, when the internet was schmoozing up to real estate, the heyday of the modern website developer was spawned and, unfortunately, the era of over-assumption began...RealtorNet Love/Hate was here! And, some would argue, has never left.

Websites have long been the victims of expectations that have exceeded reality, despite having accomplished exactly what they were originally meant to be:

1. Vertical Interest Destination Points
2. Online Offices for Entrepreneurs
3. Reference Guides with Pertinent Content
4. Interactive Consumer Communication Center

The website experience became more intimate and collaborative with the introduction of new tools that allowed websites to receive the benefits of varied technologies that unto themselves created data systems and methods of exposure through seamless distribution that evolved with the needs of consumers and the ability of an industry to provide for those needs. Subsequently, with an increase in the perceived value of these "Accessories" came a decrease in the perceived value of the website. But, in fact, the website has become synonymous with the products that serve it, and today they are one...
The real estate agent does not evaluate a website for its parts; it evaluates it for its performance as a single cell. As such, the value of the website has truly increased, and will continue to do so if its value is not overlooked in comparison to bolt-on products that enrich it.

In simple terms, a real estate salesperson should look at a website as they would an office. Except, this is a virtual office. The most important consideration to leasing office space is, and always will be, location, location, location. The goal of an office is to have a storefront and make it inviting for people, customers, to come in. The products offered by the technology sector (paid search, IDX, design coaching) are similar to outdoor signage, a good paint job and adequate parking. These are the
Ingredients necessary to maintain an efficient, professionally-administered office...one that your customers will appreciate.

If it starts with location, location, location, then it is very important where you get your website, who is hosting it and and how is their customer support. Does the developer have credibility in the real estate space, resources to pursue better branding and website tools? Most importantly, does the website developer you've chosen share the vision of your trade? The last piece to this puzzle is your own loyalty. Loyalty to one website, thus one website developer, will allow you the freedom to focus all of your energies on making things right between you and your website. The quotient you are eliminating is the suspicion that there is a better product around every corner, when, in fact, the right basic website choice will give you the opportunity to evolve to Best of Breed" on your own and without constantly jumping off your horse in the middle of a stream.

You will be investing your own resources in this product evolution program, but with the right developer, you will be investing theirs as well.

The reinforcing elements for maintaining a long and valued relationship between websites and their owners are customer support from the architect of your office and the ability of the website to function efficiently with new data-gathering enhancements of the coming age. The scope of bringing these elements together is far reaching and will give value to a product that is highly under-rated in today's marketplace.

Don't look at a website as a fixer upper, where you will invest your time, energies and resources only to move on to another property. Look at it as a place where you intend to live out your business life and raise a family in the interim. Oh, by the way, a long relationship with your website is also akin to a 401K plan for retirement: What you put into it you will eventually get out, in multiples.

Example Customer Websites

Matthew Hutchings | Real Estate Websites

Matt Hutchings (Agent Advantage & Homes.com) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:06:11 -0500

For many successful realtors, marketing nowadays starts with their own personal real estate websites. Having a real estate website is no longer an option, or a nicety, it is a necessity. The NAR says that something like 65% of all realtors have a personal site, so if you don't have one you are at a significant disadvantage, however just having one or even two real estate websites is no longer enough. As most of you are well aware, the first rule of marketing (not just real estate internet marketing) is to set yourself apart from your competition. In this scenario, how your market your real estate website is going to define whether or not you achieve that separation. Homes.com recognizes how essential the distinction is between simply having a site, and having one or more properly marketed real estate websites, and this is why we do what we do.

Example Customer Websites