What I am about to share with you quite possibly will go against what others have told you. Whether you agree or disagree, I don't care. I have found a method of marketing that works for me and I buy into it, you might have another method. I will share with you my method in order to help you develop your own method. Based upon my experience in sales, as an independent marketing consultant, and as a member of the Richterkessing, Inc. Team at Keller Williams Realty - First Atlanta I feel I have developed a pretty good approach to marketing...more specifically internet marketing. Throughout this paper I will include some of my favorite sayings in bold lettering with an explanation as to how they relate to marketing.
The buck-shot approach doesn't cut it anymore...it will lead to extinction, instead focus marketing efforts on targeted traffic. I use to work alongside my father, we often clashed because he was the VP of Ops and I was a salesman...salesmen will promise the world to a client in order to close a sale. In the long-run this will only end up hurting the overall growth of the company. You simply can't be everything to everyone. This has been a valuable lesson for me to learn and is still something I struggle with today. When starting out you will take on any kind of lead in order to survive, successful salesmen find their niche and concentrate on it. It is important to create your niche, define your market, and begin branding.
Defining yourself is the first step towards creating an internet marketing strategy. Your site will attract visitors based upon how much relevant data you have on your website. Search engines are in the business to provide relative information parallel with the searches being performed. Getting on the top of search engines for a search of "Atlanta Real Estate" isn't impossible, but it is damn near impossible. You will spend a lot of time and money chasing this "unicorn". However, a search of "Roswell, GA Real Estate" or "New Homes in
Roswell, GA" offers more opportunity of getting on the top of these searches. Define who you are, what you want to be, where you want to work, etc. and then cater your website to include relevant content that reflects the image and brand you wish to create.
Get your name out! Why do most new businesses fail? A: They don't have enough funds to finance the startup of a business. This is something I have struggled with as a business owner myself and still struggle with. I have found that the best way to survive is to get your name out. Form alliances with other companies/vendors/etc., network (attend social events, chamber of commerce, etc.), most importantly don't be shy! Don't be afraid to tell people what you do and don't be afraid to ask for their business or a referral. If you believe in your business, then be enthusiastic about it, people will appreciate this and will be more apt to pass along your information.
I feel that search engine optimization is a waste of money. That's right...against popular belief I will tell you that it is a waste of money. Don't get me wrong...I think SEO should be included in a marketing plan, however for the small business owner I am against allocating dollars towards advertising and SEO. GO BIG OR GO HOME. Unless you are going to allocate a large sum of money towards advertising and SEO you will just be wasting your money. Chances are there will be someone else bigger with more funds that will out-advertise and out-SEO you. Your money thus will typically not capture enough market share to justify the cost. The bullet points below are a few ways to get your name out on the internet without spending ANY money.
- Let the search engines find you. Place your links on high traffic/spidered sites: on online forums matching your site's content, on social networks such as MySpace, YouTube, Squidoo, Facebook, ActiveRain (Real Estate), LinkedIn...and on article directories like Ezinearticles, Goarticles, and Ideamarketers. The search engines will follow these links and index your site in a matter of no time.
- Use traffic modules, whole areas of your site devoted to one sub-topic. For instance, if you are a Realtor in Atlanta you should have sub-topics of the communities you work. Another section could be on relocating to Atlanta.
- Write short helpful informative articles on your site's topic in order to get targeted traffic to your site. Place your links with your targeted keyword anchor text in the resource box. This creates a source for targeted traffic as well as one-way links to your site. Google considers each link as a democratic vote for your site and ranks each page with a PageRank PR 0-10. Also a great way to warm or soften future clients to your salespitch!
- Create a web community around your site through the use of Opt-in lists. It might take 6 or 7 follow-ups before a potential customer becomes a client. These subscribers will become your most targeted of all visitors...you should have a bookmark feature on all your pages, any repeat visitor is a targeted visitor!
- Include blog and RSS feeds into your site...visitors can subscribe to RSS feeds! This brings targeted visitors back to your site! Use a free site like Google's Blogger, or create your own blog using free software such as WordPress. Many real estate specific website providers offer this as a part of their template package.
Web Directories...again, going against popular belief and trends, I still feel there is value in directory submissions. Where do you go when you are looking for something on the internet? Unless you were referred by someone to a specific website it is unlikely that your search will start with the company you end up buying from. Chances are you will start your search on a search engine. Sometimes you have to PAY TO PLAY.
Web directories are collections of web pages with similar subjects and similar content. These pages of links contain synopses of each web page submitted to them, and visitors looking for a specific kind of content can cruise the correct directory page to find the exact website that they are specifically looking for. However, submitting to directories by hand is tedious though, since there are literally thousands of general and specific niche directories out there. Below are web directories that I suggest submitting to or hiring someone to submit to:
http://dmoz.org - Free
http://www.yahoo.com/ - $299.00
http://botw.org/ - $39.95
http://sbd.bcentral.com/ - $49.95
http://www.joeant.com/ - $39.99
http://www.tygo.com/ - $39.99
http://www.skaffe.com/ - $39.99
http://www.wowdirectory.com/ - $25.00
http://www.goguides.org/ - $69.95
http://www.01webdirectory.com/ - $49.00
http://www.allthewebsites.org/ - Free
http://www.topicalbeach.com/ - $40.00
http://www.sitesnoop.com/ - $10.00
http://www.web-beacon.com/ - $39.99
http://www.yeandi.com/ - $20.00
http://www.rirouse.com/ - $49.95
http://www.elib.org/ - $60.00
http://www.portalboost.com/ - $15.00
http://www.linkopedia.com/ - $9.95
http://www.bigall.com/ - $14.95
http://www.sporge.com/ - $9.95
http://www.infowebworld.com/ - $11.00
http://www.uncoverthenet.com/ - $39.00
http://www.rubberstamped.org/ - $25.00
Directories do not seek to trap and fool unwary web surfers. Instead, they are designed to funnel interested parties to the most relevant web sites. This means that the visitors you get from the directories will be interested in your content and will be more likely to come back to your website if you offer what they are looking for.
When search engine spiders crawl the web looking for content related to a search, if you have performed a directory submission, these search engines will find your sites address many times, depending on how many directories you had your site submitted. The more times that the search engine spiders find your site, the higher they will place you in the search ranking. That means that the people looking for your site will be able to find you more so than other websites in your niche.
What's next? Once you have defined your niche, branded yourself, and gotten the word out chances are you will start to notice traffic on your web site...hopefully targeted traffic! Getting viewers to your web site won't close a deal and it won't necessarily result in a lead. However, if you've done everything listed above you should have a higher chance of converting a lead into a sale because they are "pre-qualified" because you have implemented a targeted marketing plan. The next step is to keep visitors on your web site and to encourage them to return. Relevant content is important for both search engines and ultimately your future clients. The cosmetics of your site do not have any value related to higher rankings on search engines, however it will greatly improve the number of return visits to your site. Below are a list of do's and don'ts:
- Do have a link back to your home page on every page of your sit
- Don't have pages that are more than three clicks away from your home page
- Do have a way to contact directly to you on every page of your site; live help, click to call, email link, displayed contact info, etc.
- Don't have ads displayed on your site...this often happens when you frame other sites within your own...stay away from this
- Do use graphics and promote specific campaigns that are exclusive to your service
Develop specific targeted campaigns. Your web site will capture what most people call "prospects", but what I call FUTURE CLIENTS...get into this mindset...everyone is a future client...be the little engine..."I think I can, I think I can" and you will. How do you convert a future client into a client? Stay in touch. When you capture a visitor's information from your web site, follow-up right away! By doing this you will capture that viewer while they are interested in that topic...you will also impress them where others have failed.
Many people try to close a sale during their first contact, though this works sometimes, it is not recommended. Instead, introduce yourself and provide a service...that is, inform them of who you are, why you are calling (they were viewing your listing at...), ask if they have any questions on the property they were viewing or the topic (you can track visitors and see what page of your site they are on), and get their contact information. Don't be too pushy...provide a service.
I worked in a similar sales environment as real estate in which sales would take anywhere from 1 mo. to 2+ years to complete! Why did I convert sales that others could not? I stayed in touch! DON'T TALK ABOUT IT, BE ABOUT IT. This is quite possibly the most important thing you can do in sales. If you say you are going to do something, then do it. After the initial contact you will have hopefully obtained information (phone, address, email, etc.) that will allow you to remain in touch with the future client. Ask them if you can follow-up, tell them you will follow-up, FOLLOW-UP.
The internet provides a great opportunity for follow-up. Auto-responders are a great way to contact future clients that have viewed and entered in their information into forms on your web site. Drip email campaigns are a great way to target a specific niche. I suggest you implement the following email strategy:
- Create a weekly email that is sent out to a niche or niche markets that contains relevant and related content to that niche
- Create a generic fun email sent out once a month. People like to do business with fun people.
- Provide information that is only a click away. That is, provide hyperlinks within email messages in order to create targeted traffic
- Set-up client gateways so that your future clients are notified of homes for sale that meet their search criteria
- Set-up client gateways so that your current clients can see houses newly listed in their area...this might encourage your clients that it is time to list their house.
In conclusion, if you these steps you will create a solid platform for your business that you can then branch off of and enhance. It is important to concentrate on developing this platform and the systems incorporated within...doing this will make life easier as well as more profitable. There are many companies that provide these services, my suggestion is to hook up with a consultant or be your own consultant...analyze your business and create a plan. Once you have identified your marketing strategy, implement it, evaluate it, rework it, enhance it, repeat it!
More information can be provided by Zowbie Consulting
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