SEO, PPC, Email Marketing ... Then What?

You've worked hard to learn what you can about SEO and PPC, and you even understand these jokes:

Question:  What do you call two twins who are happy?
Answer:  Duplicate Content

Question:  What does a Chiropractor fix?
Answer:  Back Links

So, you do everything right, or as best you can with your budget and time.  And, lo and behold it works!  You're actually getting site visitors, and some of them are even going to be buyers and sellers of real estate!  The first question is WHEN?  And, the second question is how can you be the real estate professional they choose when they're ready? 

If you're lucky enough to do business in a fast market, a thing of the past for most of us, you could have a much shorter period to work with your prospects until they're ready to take action.  However, for many of us it can be months, maybe a year from first website interest and contact to a listing or purchase.  In my vacation home market, I've seen the average time move from around 8 months to more than a year and a half.

Just because you managed to get them to your real estate website once, or even more than once, it doesn't mean that you'll be on their radar when they are ready to buy or sell real estate.  The Internet changed a lot of things, and one was that people can start their real estate research earlier, do it for longer periods, and do it anonymously for almost as long as they want.

And, whether you like it or not, many don't want any kind of a sales pitch, or at least they want to avoid the possibility of a pitch for as long as possible.  They want lots of information, but they just want it in ways that aren't threatening or pushy.  They will respond well to information, and lots of it.  And, they will usually appreciate freely-provided info, and actually give up their contact information at some point for more in-depth information.  This post's topic begins at the point of receiving that contact information.

Sure, you're probably going to do some drip email (time-released pre-written emails) to continue putting your name in front of them.  However, how you do that and what you say can be crucial to whether they're reading and responding to your emails or just sending them to the trash.  Even more important is to be fast and complete in your responses.  And, you want to followup with updates, statistics and related information.  They may not have asked for this related info simply because they don't know about it, but they will appreciate it.

Now we're to the nitty-gritty part of the process, the nuts and bolts.  You simply must have a CRM, Customer Relationship Management, system to initiate, track and record your customer relationships and communications.  You need it all in one place, not spread out over multiple platforms or software products.  You also will be far better off if new leads and contact information can feed automatically as much as possible into the system.

RealtySoft's CRM is a Fully Integrated Solution

From the initial automatic placement of the new prospect from their input of data with a RealtySoft form on the site, you get the ball rolling.  Then you set up automated emails to keep them in the loop with pre-written emails with valuable additional information.  However, you also want to know who has received what, who you've answered questions for, and what you told them.  All of that is in your RealtySoft CRM system.  Every contact with prospects, their responses, and if they took actions you wanted them to take.  

You're able to track them through your entire process, through the funnel that drops the deals out of the bottom.  Then they become a client and commission.  But, it doesn't stop there.  Now you need to keep communicating with them to generate repeat business and referrals.  Your RealtySoft CRM system does this for you and keeps you informed all the way.

Don't get the SEO, PPV and other marketing right only to drop the ball between the contact information and the commission.  And, keep the ball in the air after the deal to generate future business. 

About Jim Kimmons: Jim Kimmons, with more than 16 years experience as a licensed real estate agent and broker in 3 states, is a consultant to Realtors in how to use technology to market and manage their businesses. He has also written books and eBooks on Internet marketing and real estate. Jim is RealtySoft's chief evangelist and is a compensated regular contributor to the RealtySoft.com blog.

 

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