I found this on RISmedia and thought it would be good to forward on to you and have you start thinking about your web presence. One quick note about using “Real Estate” as a keyword, this is a most definitely a key search term but everyone is trying to achieve this high rankings phrase on their sites. Some people pay big dollars for that search term. But you have to ask yourself, do buyers and sellers REALLY search for “My town Real Estate” or is that just an ego search term for us in the industry? If you go for the smaller more local issues that surround your market, you will have a better chance at reaching out to the public. Sometimes it’s not just about “Real Estate” when building relationships with buyers and sellers. This is called the Long Tail. You start going for the smaller marketing terms in your area but you stand out as the expert in that area. I think we call it a Niche market. I can bet you, no I guarantee you that buyers and sellers are looking for more specific answers about the “real estate” in the area; shopping, schools, events, lifestyles, and the buying and selling process. They are looking for a lifestyle that matches theirs, not just “real estate.” I would think that knowing the area is more important that knowing that the house has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Yes the house is critical, but what they get out of the area is very important.
Ask Dave Ringold, an agent in my office, what just five sentences and one picture did this weekend. Or better yet, just search “Fire on Bennett road Mt Airy“ It’s not real estate but he just got his name out in front of plenty (200+ hits) concerned people in the area. It’s just that simple. I have been hounding him forever to start a blog of his own, but he used our office blog as a starting point. (which is starving for new information)
Can you guarantee your current market plan will get your name in front of that many people that quick? Also ask him how much it cost him while you are at it? Will he get direct business from it? Not directly, but it did put his name out in front of plenty of readers (concerned about his market area.) Isn’t that marketing? Why do you put your faces on Shopping Carts, postcards, newspaper ads?
Everyone is looking for a silver bullet in this market, that silver bullet is WORK. Marketing campaigns take time and effort, but mostly consistently and they don’t have to be expensive. Every “Real Estate Expert marketer” tells you that as they sell you the latest and greatest product for hundreds of dollars. And everyone buys into it out of desperation. Stop spending useless money on get rich quick scams! They tell you that because they want you to consistently buy their product and keep them rich for the long term. Phone calls are FREE, most of the internet training that I can offer you is FREE, and emails are FREE. Note cards and holiday cards are inexpensive. Newspaper ads are expensive and ineffective. Dave Stevens sent out a YouTube video last night that made me think of this one. A vision of Students Today. (Mike Wesch has plenty of thought provoking experiments with his students called Digital Ethnography and check out his other videos as they are just as intriguing.) This is our future homeowner and they are graduating soon.
- 85+% of the buyers/sellers start on the internet
- 3% actually find their home in the newspaper or print.
Where do you spend most of your marketing money? If you are successful at old traditional marketing like print and park benches, just imagine how successful you will be by going after the 85%?
Just food for thought…I don’t want you to change your ways or anything. : )
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