Every once in a while, I get a chance to think outside the box for a client.
Such is the case for my Keller Williams client in Colorado Springs -- Jamie Mades. His website was hosted with Hoop Jumper which is a good company to host with. The challenge for me is that the site had too many automation pages which contained lots of Google unfriendly code. Plus, his original domain name was just way too long.
We arranged to get a great domain name, ColoradoSpringsTeam.com -- a good domain indeed as it captures one of the key words used for today's search term for next home buyers looking for homes in the Colorado Springs area.
One of the problems I faced is there are a lot of really smart, and a lot of really sharp agents in the Colorado Springs market already. So my SEO and marketing work was certainly looking like an uphill climb.
In addition to reskinning the website and dropping in the contextual and Google friendly navigation menus, we beefed up the copy, we added four (4) incoming one way links, and we embarked on a FREE Summer Gas Give-away.
You can see Jamie's Colorado Springs Real Estate website here.
Note the GAS give-away.
It's a simple program that any REALTOR can use.
All you have to do is call Shell Consumer Services and purchase a few pre-paid gas cards. Then be a little creative by adding a FREE contest form to your website and be sure to invite the local press when you do the drawing for the winners. Because this smacks of being COOL and different, the local newspaper editor will no doubt pick this story up, call you and then publish it. A few days after the print version hits the street, most newspapers will post the electronic version on line which have links to the site they are talking about.
Why bother with a Press Release? A simple press release will generate the BUZZ you need to get clients to visit your site. The key thing to remember is to think LEAD management. Rather than paying for leads from your broker, HomeGain or HouseValues, a simple $300 spent on 3 monthly winners will certainly generate a really big buzz and this traffic increase to Jaimie's site will be noticed by Google which helps with SEO. So if your last lead cost you 25 or 30% of your hard earned commissions... do the math. $300 in free gifts and a cool new form and a PR faxed to your local newspaper will certainly pay off a lot more leads.
I will post the results of Jamie's success story here as the summer unfolds.
- Bart
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