How to Improve Your Online Presence and Get Found Online...
If you want to sell more houses locally, it's likely your goal is to be at the top of the list for most online searches. John Jantsch from DuctTapeMarketing.com has recently written an article on 5 Ways to Get More from Local Search. Here are some of the highlights that we think you will benefit the most from.
Real estate project marketing goals must include a strong online presence today, when a majority of prospective homebuyers turn to the Internet first when beginning their search for a new home. By following these tips, you can look forward to receiving more traffic to your website and to your sales center.
Increase your online presence by customizing your website, individual landing pages, online content, online profiles on social media networks, and more.
- Localize Your Website - Take the time to review your website. Add geography based terms to your page titles, footers, URLs and keywords on your website.
- Create Individual Landing Pages - If your business serves more than one location or community, create individual pages that feature content exclusive to each of these communities. Add information about local community news and events, nearby facilities, schools, churches, etc. Remember to customize your meta-tag descriptions and keywords in the HTML for each individual page! Local SEO Specialist Dev Basu provides very helpful tips on How to Create Effective Local Business Landing Pages.
- Online Content - When adding videos, photos, whitepapers about your company on sites like YouTube, and Slideshare and Flickr, take the time to add localized descriptors, links, and filenames to your content information.
- Online Profiles - If you haven't already done so, create a business profile page on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. This blog article from SitePoint lists 20 Social Networking Sites for Business Professionals. Browse through to find those that suit you best.
- Get listed on Online Business Directories - Sign up with popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL, Microsoft, and Ask.
- Tap into your Networks - Get your friends, associates, and happy customers to talk about you. LinkedIn offers testimonials and you can publish testimonials on your website. Create a Partners page where you feature and link to all the great people you work with from builders, developers, realtors, etc. Ask them to link back to your site.
In addition to the above, there are several real estate-specific directories that are worth exploring. These directories are typically focused on a specific location. There's been a lot of discussion regarding the importance of Craigslist and NewHomesDirectory.com is a directory service specifically for home builders. It positions itself well in the organic search rankings for keywords such as "New Homes San Diego" and "New Homes in Chicago" and their main objective is driving prospective purchasers to your project website.
How would you like to convert leads better than 97% of Homebuilders and Developers?
Lasso's first webinar of 2010 will feature acclaimed builder and developer consultant, Mike Lyon. Mike will provide an easy-to-follow roadmap to a successful Online Sales Program for New Home Builders and Developers.
Join Lasso and Mike on Thursday February 18th at 10:00am PST (1:00pm EST) and find out . . .
- The online sales formula and process for home builders and developers
- Online marketing tactics that are tailored just for home builders
- A detailed overview of the follow-up process
- How to track and measure the success of your program
- And much, much more . . .
Attend this webinar and you'll have the opportunity to win:
Learn more and register HERE.
A Vancouver Real Estate Blog recently posted an interesting video showing how IKEA used facebook (successfully) and created an engaged and interested following.
Updated Comment: The link below has been removed. To watch the video created by Forsman & Bodenfors, go to YouTube or register and view online at www.creativityonline.com.
The question was posed - think Real Estate Project Marketing - how could home builders and developers use the same concept and see success?
- Do you see people tagging themselves in pictures of show homes and display centers? Telling you what they like best about the project. Which display suite suits their style? All their facebook friends would see the picture (of your project).
- Do you run a contest to let everyone who tags themselves in pictures have the opportunity to win something? (again, everyone in these people's circle of friends will see the pictures and learn of the contest). Imagine the traffic that could generate to your sales center!
Maybe you can think of other ways this can be successful. The point is traditional ways to market real estate projects may not be as effective today as they were in the past. Thinking social, thinking viral and thinking outside the box is important for success.
I showed this video to a friend who has not jumped on the social media band-wagon and has dug his heels in a bit when it comes to facebook - his first response when I asked him about the application to real estate was these people probably wouldn't necessarily be considered a target for the real estate project. Good point, but maybe one of the 130 friends that many of these facebook gurus have will be interested . . . it goes viral, there is no better way to spread the word.
What is the risk? There is risk, there always is, but if you plan it out and consider your options, you can minimize it and really have some fun. You may be surprised - this approach to marketing may just bring you a great ROI.
And, just to provide a little more ammunition for coming up with a facebook strategy - the fastest growing demographic group on facebook is the over 35 group!
Let us know what you think.
Guy Kawasaki writes one of the most popular blogs in the world and is a leader in social media and online marketing. He has written several books, his latest Reality Check - The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. (It's worth checking out.)
In a p
ost earlier this year on the Business know-how blog, Janet Attard wrote about Guy's 10 tips for using Twitter. Guy is a huge fan of using Twitter to help spread the word about your business and to help potential evangelists find you.
As many existing new homes builders and developers have already discovered, Twitter is a fantastic way to provide updates and information about new homes projects and communities. As 2009 comes to an end and we begin a new year, your social media marketing strategy should be an important component to your 2010 plan and it may be time to take Twitter to the next level within your company. Check out Guy's tips below:
- Defocus. Don't ignore the A-listers, but don't focus all your attention on getting them to pay attention to you, either. The important thing is "who loves your site" and becomes an evangelist.Twitter is a numbers game, and you need to have lots of followers. You want as many people as possible to find and follow you so they can "send the message up."
- Automatically follow everyone who follows you on Twitter. "I think it's arrogant," Kawasaki said, "if you think you are worth following but don't think the people following you are worth following."
- Have a goal for using Twitter and a way to measure how you're doing at achieving that goal. He suggested one good tool for doing that is Retweetist, which shows how many times you've been retweeted. (A retweet is when someone repeats what you said so people they know will see it.)
- Make interesting tweets. Like most other things on the Web, one way to get people to love you is to post information they want to know about.
- Monitor what people are saying about you. You can monitor the tweets about you by searching for your ID, company name, industry segment and by watching @ replies.
- Save time with various social marketing productivity tools. One such tool Kawasaki mentioned is Adjix, which is a Firefox plug that makes it easy to post to Twitter from any place on the Web, and also shows how many times people clicked on your links. Others include Tweetdeck and Twhirl, which both provide ways for individuals to monitor Twitter, and CoTweet, which is a tool for companies that need to coordinate multiple people using Twitter (for instance a support team).
- Copy best practices. On Twitter that means looking at how other companies are effectively using Twitter to engage with their customers and build buzz. JetBlue Airways and Amazondeals were two good examples of Twitter use he mentioned.
- Be willing to "squeeze the trigger" on Twitter. One way of doing that -- one that is somewhat controversial, he suggested -- is to set up searches for things you'd like to get known for, and then automatically tweet a response when that search term comes up in a tweet. The tool he likes for doing that is TwitterHawk, which not only generates the automatic response, it also remembers who the response was sent to so you don't keep spamming them with the same response whenever they mention the topic again.
- Make it easy to share. Add a Share on Twitter button to your Website.
- Be willing to take the heat if you use Twitter as a tool. People will say you are a spammer, that you aren't using it right. And for that, Kawasaki has invented a new acronym: UFM. It stands for UnFollow Me. If you don't like what he is tweeting, he says, just UFM.
On the heels of the recent Canadian partnership announcement between NewHomesDirectory.com and Lasso Data Systems, we are excited to also announce the launch of the Canadian version of NHDBuzz.ca.
Canadian homebuilders, developers and real estate sales and marketing professionals can now post news items about their communities and new development projects at NHDBuzz.ca.
Lasso has historically provided real estate software solutions for new home builders and developers to capture, target and close more deals. Now offering the suite of services from NewHomesDirectory.com that drive homebuyer traffic to home builder sites is a natural extension for us. NHDBuzz.ca is a free PR service that further helps our builder clients get found on the internet.
NHDBuzz.ca is a social networking media that gives builders, advertising agencies, and public relations companies the opportunity to drive new home community information deeper into the Internet. Broaden the scope of your press by publishing your stories on NHDBuzz.ca.
MORE PRESS, MORE PLACES
A company cannot have enough good press. NHDBuzz.ca is uniquely dedicated to new home community, new home builder, real estate for sale, and green home press releases. If you're a builder, publish unlimited press for your communities and your company. If you're an advertising agency or a PR company, publish unlimited press for your clients. Try it, it's free for you to use!
And, for US Homebuilders and Developers, if you haven't already used NHDBuzz.com for your press releases, we encourage you to check it out. To-date, over 1,700 press releases have been published, by over 400 publishers and viewed over 8 million times!
When a new home community is on NewHomesDirectory.com, let us know and we will add a link from the community listing to the Buzz story. NewHomesDirectory.com now has Canadian listings! View the following listings:
To read more information about this announcement, view the news release.
A corporate blog provides a means to communicate news and information to website visitors, prospects and even purchasers. Ask yourself why you subscribe to certain blogs and it's usually because of industry-related information, education, or topics of high-interest. A corporate or project-specific blog is one of the easiest ways to provide information and value to your prospects, purchasers and website visitors. But it also has a secondary benefit - you're adding content to your website frequently (search engines like this); you're increasing the number of pages to your site (search engines like this, also); and, you can improve position for your keywords when you use them in your blog posts. Not bad for something that is inexpensive to start up and maintain! A definite advantage in your quest for getting found.
If you're struggling with what to write about, you're not alone; but don't let that hold you back. Start with topics about what you do and your industry. In no time, you will find a voice and the number of applicable topics will expand. Your posts don't need to be long, but should incorporate your keywords. Often a blog post will rank higher in search engines than a page on your website with the same keywords.
If you need some ideas or just want to have a look at some pretty cool blogs, here are a few favourites (including some Real Estate-related blogs):
- Seth Godin - he really is the master of blogging, along with holding the title of king of marketing. He's smart and concise (nice short, manageable blog articles).
- Copyblogger - this is a fantastic site for online marketing success - blogging resources, search engine optimization, and just overall great advice for marketers.
- Hubspot - these guys coined the term "Inbound Marketing" - they are smart and provide great education through their blog.
- New Homes Directory Blog - Jim Adam's blog specific to New Home Builders and Developers. Jim's an expert in social media, search engine optimization and blogging.
- Mike Lyon - Do You Convert? This is a fantastic example of using many different types of media successfully in your blog. Mike is a creative, smart guy who understands the challenges that home builders and developers face. His blog is informative and relevant.
- mRelevance - another blog specific to homebuilders and developers. Carol Flammer and her team offer great advice ranging from public relations to internet marketing and have recently launched a blogging platform specifically for homebuilders. Check them out.
The following is a list of a few of Lasso's clients who are blogging. Let us know who else has become a blogger and we'll feature you!
image source: istock
A recent post by Sarah Yaussi of Big Builder is worth a read if you are ready to take the plunge into blogging - BigBuilder Online: Builder Blog Basics.
It's no secret that blogs are a fantastic way to improve your position for keyword searches. Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! are looking for fresh content and blogs certainly help with Search Engine Optimization. (Want more information about SEO? Here's a link to a favourite blog - www.ducttapemarketing.com and a recent article called The Simple Math of SEO. The ebook: Let's Talk - Social Media for Small Business is also a great starting point as an educational resource.)
Start blogging. We did and it's working. Our primary objective to blogging was to provide relevant and interesting information to home builder marketing and sales professionals and we've seen the added bonus of improving our position in keyword search. We are coming up in searches that we never did before and it's due to the efforts we've made to our blog.
In addition to improving search results, the Social Media Ninja (as Mike Lyon affectionately calls Sarah) points out the additional benefits of blogging:
- Simple to implement (there are many user-friendly templates available)
- Low cost (some blog hosting services are free)
- News focused (fresh content drives Web traffic)
- Authoritative (promotes link-building)
- Highly interactive (comment features are king)
- Spread easily (think RSS feeds)
My only comment about Sarah's blog post is the frequency of postings. Yes, I'm sure it would be wonderful to have daily posts or as Sarah recommends, 2-3 times per week, but quality trumps quantity and think about your email subscribers. You want to make sure that you blog frequently enough for them to remember that they subscribed and for them to anticipate your posts but don't post just for the sake of posting and you may want to consider posting on the same day each week. Also, be somewhat wary of the free blogging software out there - free is a wonderful thing, but sometimes there are restrictions and you don't want to discover that you're limited to what you can do.
Share your blogging ideas with us! We're launching a new blog in September that will showcase our clients' new real estate developments. Send us your project information and we'll post it.
We know that over 75% of new home buyers are shopping around on the internet to find new homes and that now more than ever it's time to really focus on your web presence - blogging, press releases, facebook, Twitter, and link-building - are all key in improving your position for keyword searches that consumers use on Google, Yahoo! and bing/MSN. Getting found is important! It's a bit daunting as to where to even begin.
Earlier this year, we wrote about Hubspot - a company that helps provide organizations with tools to assist with online marketing initiatives. They have created free grader tools that can provide you with some valuable information about your website, your Twitter profile, your blog and even your press releases (my favourite is the "gobbly-gook" grader that looks at meaningless words that we all use!) All good stuff when it comes to launching a new project site or evaluating an existing site. New Home Marketing and Sales has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. Marketing approaches (and expenditures) that worked a few years ago just aren't getting the same impact today. It's clear to us that inbound marketing is the way to go in fact it has become strategic to homebuider marketing and sales success.
Let us know what you think!
Now you can gain valuable insight into your leads and prospects' actions and buying interests on your project website ... even before you make a phone call!
Over 80% of new home buyers start their search on the web. This is a pretty radical change from even a few years ago. What does this mean?
Quite simply it means that:
- A real estate project's website is more important than ever.
- Finding ways to get traffic to your website is vital.
- Knowing key information about your website traffic, where they spend time on your site and how many times they visit is intrinsic to relationship building and selling.
Improve your sales team and your marketing intelligence with Lasso's new Website and Lead Tracking for one or more of your projects. A 60-day free trial test drive available now!
Sales will know exactly what web pages were visited, what forms were filled out, and how the site was found. Have information at your finger tips to determine prospect interest level and sales-readiness, plus differentiate yourself from the competition.
And receive real-time email alerts every time a prospect comes back to visit your website!
Track website and lead traffic:
- Number of visitors, number of repeat visitors and number of new Registrants.
- Website pages a Registrant has viewed as well as how many visits they have made to your site.
- Your lead sources/referrals - is it organic search or paid search that has the biggest impact for you?
Creating blogs, link-building, and pay-per-click campaigns are all popular ways to generate interest and traffic to your website. Many new home builders and developers are using facebook ads, Twitter, Google Adwords and websites like www.newhomesdirectory.com to establish a strong presence on the internet and generate traffic to their project website.
Lasso's Website Tracking provides additional detail that isn't available through Google Analytics. You will see specific lead details - like exactly how this lead found your site and you'll be able to analyze how effective your marketing efforts are.
This functionality isn't only for new online Registrants - you can also track web activity for existing Registrants.
We're excited about these new features. They provide our clients with a significant competitive advantage during these times when there's much focus on generating website traffic and lead nurturing.
Last week I attended a
Pecha Kucha Night where a select group of people individually got on stage and gave a short presentation with 20 PowerPoint slides, each shown for 20 seconds. The talks were fascinating but what caught my attention was what the host, Steven Cox, said during his introduction for the event.
Steven explained that his motivation for organizing a Pecha Kucha Night in Vancouver was to help bring attention to the world-class creative talent in our city. He went on to say that it was only a matter of time until the world recognized that Vancouver had transformed itself from a sleepy little coastal community into a place where the work of unique and creative people was having a global impact.
The phrase, "it was only a matter of time" made me think about how the tenacity of successful people and companies makes it inevitable that they will eventually succeed.
The real estate market has had a dramatic downturn recently and, while the market flounders, we've found ourselves with the opportunity to focus on streamlining our processes to help cut costs. For example, at Lasso we've started using inbound marketing to reach a wider audience than we previously could through expensive trade shows and print advertising. Our software developers have also begun to use automated testing instead of the labour-intensive manual testing we used to do. Our leaner product development cycle is helping ensure that we continue to be the real estate software leaders for builders, developers and real estate sales and marketing companies.
Companies that look for creative ways to streamline and become lean in this market will find themselves in a better position to quickly capitalize on the opportunities that open up when the economy bounces back. As Steven Cox would say, it's only a matter of time.