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The ABC's of Web Marketing
Most agents have a website and yet few are acquainted with the simple ABC's of web marketing. If you want to learn how to take better advantage of the web in your marketing, keep reading!
A is for Alexa and autoresponder, B is for bidding and branding, and C is for clicks. D is for domain, E is for E-coupon and Email newsletter, F is for friendly, G is for Google, H is for hosting, and I is for Inktomi, IDX, and index. K is for keyword phrases, L is for Looksmart, links, and link popularity, M is for metatag and MSN. N is for navigate and O is for Overture, opt-in, and optimize. P is for placement and permission marketing, Q is for quality, R is for ranking, and S is for site map. T is for traffic, V is for VOW, U is for URL, W is for Web Ring, and Y is for Yahoo.
How well do you know your Internet ABC's? More importantly, do you know how to employ these tools create more leads, provide better service, and make more money?
To increase the traffic or number of visitors to your website, brand your business by saying what you do, where you do it, and who you do it with rather than using your name. For example, rather than branding with "Bernice Ross," I could use austinprobatesellers.com. Incorporate your brand into your domain name, also known as your web address. Then use your brand in your traditional marketing to drive traffic to your website. Consequently, your business cards, brochures, newspaper ads, your cards, mailers, etc. should all have your web branding and website address
If you have a website, you need to be familiar with the major search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN (Microsoft Network.) Search engines allow potential clients to locate your web address or URL. Search engine placement or your ranking on the web (i.e. where your site is listed as compared to other sites) will influence how much traffic you can expect on your website. If you're not on the first one or two pages of the major search engines, there's a high probability people won't be able to locate you on the web.
To track your web traffic, visit www.Alexa.com. Alexa tells you where you rank against the over 4,000,000 websites they track. If you're in the top 100,000, you're really doing well traffic wise since this places you in the top 2.5% of the sites they track. There are millions of other sites that don't even make the Alexa ranking system. Alexa allows you to see if your traffic is increasing or decreasing. It also evaluates how long Alexa users spend on your website (page views)
Obtaining great search engine placement is akin to predicting the future with a crystal ball. The search engine companies do not publicize how they do their ranking. Complicating matters, they constantly change their criteria so even the full time professionals are usually guessing. Nevertheless, there are a number of steps you can take to maximize the traffic to your site.
First, have your web hosting service or the company who designs your site, optimize or pack your site with keyword phrases and metatags. "Keyword phrases" describe what your site provides to your web visitors. In the case of austinprobatesellers.com, I would use phrases such as "Austin," "Texas," "real estate," "probate," "probate sellers," "probate listings," "probate buyers," etc. The web designer incorporates these key phrases as "metatags" in the code the search engine reads. Metatags are not visible to your web visitor. Another critical piece for your front page is a site map. A site map is often placed at the bottom of the page and is usually composed of a single sentence description for each page on your website. The search engines "read" the site map and match their searches against what's on the map.
A different strategy is to pay for placement. Search engines usually list paid ads first, give sites listed on indexes, and then list the remaining sites based upon the algorithm the company uses for web placement. (An algorithm is a mathematical formula search engines use to rank search results.) Overture and Google have what is known as "pay per click" and/or "sponsor" ads. Placement is determined by keyword phrases. The more popular the phrase, the higher the bidding on that phrase will be. Looksmart or Inktomi are widely used indexes that can provide a slightly less expensive alternative to Google and Overture "pay-per-clicks."
A final strategy is link popularity. This refers to how many other sites link back to your site. A great way to increase your link popularity is to ask other businesses or agents who are not geographical competitors to link to your site in exchange for you linking to their site. "Link popularity" also helps you achieve higher placement.
Once visitors click on to your website, you have about 10-20 seconds to capture their interest. While traditional sales approaches focus on taking control of the sales situation, it's impossible to do this on the web. Instead, you need to motivate your web visitor to shed their anonymity and give you their contact information. Here are four strategies that can help you achieve this important goal.
Once people reach your website, it should be easy to navigate as well as being user friendly. Navigation refers to how easy it is to move from place to place on the site. User friendly refers to how quickly and easily your visitor can find what they're searching for on the web. Have a friend or someone who is not very sophisticated try locating information on your website while you look over their shoulder. If they're having difficulty, you need to revamp your site so it is easier to use.
Web visitors only click on three things on agent websites: "buyers" "sellers" and "find a property." All the other key phrases can be there for the search engines, but these three areas need to be highlighted. This means you need to be linked (website visitors can reach another website by clicking on an URL on your website) to your entire MLS either through a VOW (Virtual Office website) or IDX Agreement.
It is extremely important for your website to have an "opt in" feature. This means your website invites the visitor to sign up for various services you offer and automatically responds (autoresponder) to the request. Services can include free reports, an on-line CMA, E-coupon (a coupon they can print from a local vendor from your website) or your Email newsletter which can be a single timely article with updated CMA information. Instead of blindly marketing to strangers, you're now permission marketing since your visitor filled out their address to receive your information.
When it comes to web leads, quality is important. Like any other lead, it is important to qualify how good the lead actually is. For example, someone who requests all your reports on how to save money on a mortgage or regularly checks your site for MLS information, is probably a serious purchaser. Qualify your leads by asking them to complete specific information about what they're searching for before providing them access to your MLS information. Alternatively, qualify them by having them to complete a quick on-line survey about their interests. You can then market to them based upon what they want, rather than what you think they want.
The most important of all the "ABCs," however, is Immediacy. Web visitors want the information NOW. If you can't give it to them, they're gone. If you can't be available or don't have the systems in place to handle this, do what we did at RealEstateCoach.com - hire a virtual assistant. While there's no substitute for personal contact, responding to your visitors immediately is the most important aspect of web marketing.
To contact Bernice Ross please email her at bernice@realestatecoach.com.
