Real estate project websites have never been more important than they are today. This first impression of your project often determines if a prospect comes back or registers for more information.
But before these prospects even get to your website, they need to be able to find you. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important component to a real estate marketing professional’s strategy. In many cases, home builders and developers turn the website optimization over to their web developers and/or an SEO company. This is okay, but it’s important to have an understanding of how you can make a difference and contribute positively to improving your position in search. It’s all about being on page 1 on search engines!
Jim Adams, CEO of NewHomesDirectory.com has written a book called ‘Little Black Book of SEO Secrets – Search Engine Optimization Made Simple’.
All the SEO tactics presented in his book have been accepted, endorsed, and recommended by all major search engines, and will stand the test of even the most discriminating human reviewer.
The book is all about how to get your website found on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and YouTube.
Not only does it cover the basics of what search engine marketing is, but it also covers:
- Keyword research
- Paid search vs organic search
- Website design and important elements that assist with search
- Developing compelling content
- How to hire a SEO company
Included are helpful tips as well as things that you should avoid. For example, having well thought out title tags on each webpage is an important part of a website strategy. But at the same time, it’s important to always avoid having pages with the same title tag, as well as just having your company name in the title tag. Read the book to learn why!
Jim has laid out the book in an easy to read, concise format that will get you on your way to understanding search and what you need to do to get your project website found!
To order his book, visit his profile page at www.jimadams.me
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.
A few weeks ago, homebuilder sales and marketing consultant, 
Mike Lyon and NewHomesDirectory.com CEO, Jim Adams, held a "sold-out" webinar entitled - Craigslist for Home builders. This webinar is now available on-demand as a recording.
Did you know Craigslist has a staggering 664 million searches? If you didn't, you can now consider yourself educated on the numerical power of Craigslist. Most home builders have caught on to the growing social media trend by either allocating resources to Facebook and Twitter or making plans to do so due to their large numbers of consumers, but is Craigslist being ignored?
Craigslist is as important as Google when it comes to selling new homes. The real estate audience surfing the Craigslist wave is larger than many give credit. Home builders who want to sell their homes will not ignore the site that is captivating future home buyers.
In this free webinar you will learn how to utilize the following Craigslist power selling tools:
- How to post attention getting ads
- How to operate within the Craigslist Terms of Service
- What days are the best to post
- Subject lines that get you clicks
Sign-up to view the recording here.
Upcoming Lasso Webinar: Jim Adams is the featured presenter at our next webinar on Thursday, June 24th. Learn what it takes to get found online!
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.
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.
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
I have received a number of calls and emails in the last couple weeks asking about NewHomesDirectory.com. Several inquiries about the service and also about the nature of Lasso's partnership with NewHomesDirectory.com.
Basically, there are a couple of reasons for the partnership:
- Builder marketing and sales executives have repeatedly told us over the past couple of years that quality traffic is a major issue - whether it is referral, walk in, traditional ads or from online sources.
- And while most builders have invested in website technology (often substantial amounts), most are not aware of the challenges of getting found online. That is, the trouble in getting found by prospective consumers on Page 1 of Google (or Yahoo or MSN).
NewHomesDirectory.com does a terrific job of organic search engine optimization (SEO), catering to the 75% or so of prospective home buying consumers that start their search for a home on the internet.
The directories, organized by city, create a simple landing place, typically on page 1 of Google (see the image below where the Vancouver Directory places in the 3rd spot in Google's search for "Vancouver New Homes"), for consumers to click through to a comprehensive listing of new home communities and projects by region, by builder and by price categories. Plus, it is really easy for consumers to navigate because the directory is exclusive to new homes (no resale or rental listings), has no banner ads or other typical distractions. It is purposely a very simple site.
So for home builders that are interested in generating more traffic, especially of high quality, we think NewHomesDirectory.com is a natural, and very economical, extension of their advertising and online marketing strategy. And at $2/click with a monthly cap per community it is impossible to go over budget.
At Lasso we have historically been all about Real Estate CRM technology to capture, target and close prospects. Now we are extending our reach to offer additional services that will help developers and builders market and sell their projects. We think helping them drive more quality traffic and also providing our expertise in online marketing ultimately helps with the number 1 priority - More sales!
I recently 
had the opportunity to meet with Bryan Woolley, an accomplished Real Estate Marketing & Sales Executive, whose companies have sold $billions in real estate projects across the continent during the past 15 years. His new company, Fingerprint Strategies Inc., has written a WHITEPAPER which provides a provocative and refreshing view of the North American home buying consumer and their behaviors in 2009-2012 and beyond.
The whitepaper challenges real estate ‘traditionalists' and the status quo. For sure. Whether you agree with the viewpoints expressed or not it is a great read in a transforming market - stimulating, insightful and thought provoking.
Bryan's company is not a Lasso client (wish he was), but the new economic order (NEO) he describes about both consumers and home builders, is forward thinking and leverages the value of technology. Similar to what we have been saying for several years about the power of the database and internet marketing to target your audience, tell your story, sell and build loyal customer relationships. In good or turbulent times.
Enjoy!