As many of us have been marketing online for our real estate businesses for years we often forget that we had to start with a single step. That single step was filled with many different emotions. Thinking back, I was excited, nervous, and not altogether sure what would happen, I just new that in order to succeed in real estate it meant being online.
As 2009 is into full swing, and the community here is off to another great year of sharing, I just wanted to reach out to see how everyone started their journey online. One of the really great things about marketing online is that you truly get to choose something that will best fit your personality.
Now for those newer to technology, maybe it is a little scary to take that first step, and that is why I want to share (and hopefully get some great sharing from everyone else) about what the very first step could be. The operative word being "could", because the first step will be different for everyone.
Getting started with your marketing online is easier than most people think and sometimes that's the biggest problem (too easy usually leads to poor planning).
Here are a few ideas on that first step to take.
- Writing Content - It doesn't have to be fancy, it can just be on paper (or Microsoft Word) to start. Write out 10-15 pages about your city and neighborhoods so you can build a foundation of solid content. This content can be used for a blog or website, or maybe even an article.
- Blog - Ahh, the mighty real estate blog. There are some great ones here at AR, and all over the internet. Before taking that first step into creating a blog, try reading around the blogosphere for a week. Seriously visit blogs all across the country and read some posts. If you get frustrated reading them for a week, remember that you won't just have to be reading, you will have to be writing and writing often to get results. If that first week just flies by and you can't wait to read more, maybe you have found a great first step.
- Real Estate Website - Yes they still exist and still can lead to serious business. Before pulling out that credit card though, do research on the different web vendors out there. There are many that specialize in the real estate industry, but look carefully at some of the top performers online (checking traffic, rankings, etc) and see who they are powered by. That will give you a start, but remember, buying a Ferrari doesn't make you Michael Schumacher, and so you need to be prepared for the journey ahead of learning how to "drive" your website.
- Pay Per Click - Crazy I know, but if jumping into the world of online marketing means you should be prepared to invest in marketing for targeted traffic. Even the top SEO guys (see Aaron Wall's Blog) mention PPC as a way to get targeted traffic, so it's definitely ok for the rest of us :). PPC is a great way to compliment some of that fresh content you have put up in a website or a blog. Even if you don't have content built yet, you can still look at tutorials and read book (Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords by Perry Marshall is a winner) to see if PPC is for you.
There are tons of other first steps to take. Maybe it's just taking a training course to learn more about websites, blogs, etc., but the point is to take that first step. I know the first month our website was launched, late 2003, we didn't get hundreds of leads pouring in (month 2 was 7 leads and we were thrilled) so we all start from somewhere.
I can't wait to hear more about the steps you took.
Running a series over on our blog about some great lessons learned when I was at a tech mastermind. Be great to hear your thoughts on it.
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