1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising - Pay-per-click advertising is the quickest way to get targeted traffic to your website. Google Adwords allows you to bid on keywords that you want to be listed for and place ads in search results. Signing up for Adwords is a quick and easy process and it’s fully customizable - so if you only want people searching within your geographical area to see your ads, that’s not a problem. And, you only pay when people click on your ad so you don’t need a huge up-front budget to get started. Learn more about pay-per-click advertising.
2. On-site Website Optimization - If you want your website to show up in search engines for specific keywords, you’ll need to include those keywords on pages within your website. Take some time to research specific keywords through tools like Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool to learn what people are actually searching for or Google’s Adwords Keyword Research Tool to learn what keywords advertisers are bidding on. Then, write (or hire someone to write) website content that includes those keywords in your titles and body text. Learn more about search engine optimization.
3. Submit Articles to Directories and Real Estate Related Blogs - Write 400-700 word articles and submit to article directories like EzineArticles.com, which allow you to include a brief author bio and a link back to your website at the end of your article. Or offer to guest blog on real estate related blogs if they include a link back to your website.
4. Submit Online Press Releases - Sites like PRWeb.com offer an affordable way for you to get the word out about new reports you offer, events you are holding, or even your opinion on changes in your local real estate market.
5. Link Exchanges - Link exchanges still have their place in online marketing, regardless of what you hear. The key is to trade links with other sites where both of you will benefit from enhancing your sites’ traffic. For instance, you can exchange links with other real estate companies, mortgage companies, home inspectors, lawn care professionals, staging companies, and other businesses that your visitors might benefit from. 
6. Viral Marketing - Viral marketing allows you to get the word out about your services at a low cost to you. To successfully get people talking about your services, you must offer either something of value (like a special report, audio program, or video) or something entertaining (like a funny or interesting video that people would share with friends) and promote it throughout your website and in your advertising. Learn how you can use social media to market your website.
7. Video Blog On YouTube - Create a local real estate channel on YouTube and film yourself talking about your local real estate market, homes you are listing, interesting places in the neighborhood, and quick interviews with other real estate professionals. You can buy a Flip Video Camcorder for about $100 and record short videos on-the-go. Then, plug the camcorder into your computer and upload directly to YouTube using its built-in software.
8. Join Forums and Online Communities - Look for websites, blogs, and forums where your target market is actively participating and join in the conversation. With sites like this, you can’t actively promote your services. Instead, demonstrate your expertise and credibility by answering questions and talking about your personal experiences. Many forums and blogs do allow you to post your website url with your comments.
9. Offer a Newsletter - By offering an email newsletter, you can stay in touch with your website visitors and get them to return to your site. You can also encourage them to forward your newsletter to any friends and family members who might also benefit, and thus get new subscribers. Aweber is a great email service provider that allows you to virtually automate your email subscriber list, send out newsletters, and track who reads them.

Getting more traffic to your website isn’t rocket science, but it does take focused effort. By putting just a few of these strategies into place, you’ll start to see your visitor traffic rise dramatically.

Why is there such a discrepancy with how prospects search for real estate information and real estate agents getting so few leads and inquiries from their websites? Clearly, the typical real estate website is not an effective marketing tool. Here are three steps you can take to transition your website into a lead capturing marketing tool.

Step 1: Your website should position you as a trusted local real estate specialist.

When your prospects visit your website, they are often confused and are searching for information that can help them make a real estate decision. Every day, they are bombarded with contrary information about whether its a good time to buy or sell, the best ways to go about doing this, what the press thinks about real estate, how their friends and family feel, and so forth.

They are looking for someone who can serve as a trusted advisor, almost like a consumer advocate, who can guide them through this stressful process and make it easy for them to understand exactly what needs to happen for them to buy or sell their home.

But they won’t believe just any Joe Schmoe who claims he’s a real estate expert. They want proof - is this real estate agent “for real?” Is he credible? Can he do what he says? Here’s how you can provide that proof.

Your unique selling proposition - You tell people who you are, why you are different from other agents, and why they should choose you. Learn more about creating your unique selling proposition (USP).

Social Proof - While anyone can “toot their own horn,” you want to show prospects evidence that others are confident you do what you say. To do that, you can include testimonials and case studies from happy clients, awards and credentials from industry associations, and publications about you and media appearances from the press.

Web copy that speaks to their problems and concerns - Instead of focusing solely on you and what you can do for prospects, put yourself in the minds of your prospects and write to their concerns. Demonstrate you aren’t just an expert in selling local real estate, but you empathize with them as they make one of the biggest decisions of their lifetime.

Educational resources - Most people think if you frequently publish articles or have written a book or give talks on a particular topic, you must be an expert on the subject. Use your website to showcase your expertise by offering free reports, articles for download, a local real estate blog, or other high-value content for download.

Step 2: Your website should actively capture leads.

Simply asking people to call you if they are interested isn’t enough. You need several ways for people to contact you through your website. Here are some ways to capture more leads from your website.

Prominent opt-in forms - You have prominent opt-in forms to capture prospect’s contact information (their name and email address) when they request to join your newsletter, download your report or access specific site content.

Prominent contact forms - You have contact forms so prospects can easily request a home appraisal, more information about an open house, or send you a real estate related question.

RSS Feeds or other subscription channels - Some people may not want to give out their email address, so make it easy for them to subscribe to your content by providing an RSS feed. You can keep track of subscribers through a service like Feedburner.com.

Database to capture leads - Anyone that gives you permission to follow up with them, such as those who join your newsletter, request your free information, or inquire about your services, should immediately be entered into a contact database so you can follow up with them.

Step 3: Nurture leads who aren’t yet ready to hire you.

Most real estate agents only want to do business with people who are ready to buy now. Unfortunately, less than 10% of people who contact you will fit into that category. For the other 90%, you need a follow up system in place to keep in contact with them. Here are some ways to follow up:

Start a monthly newsletter - The cost of running an email newsletter is very low. You can sign up with an email service provider like Aweber for less than $20/month. Then, each month, write a 500-word article about your local real estate market, include a testimonial or case study, and send it out. Once it’s set up, it shouldn’t take you more than 5-7 hours per month to write up.

Create follow up sequences - Create a specific step-by-step follow up sequence for each type of inquiry you receive. So when they request a home analysis, they get a series of 10 different types of follow ups (via email, regular mail, phone, and face-to-face) over the course of 90 days. A great way to do this is to record yourself giving a sales presentation. Then, transcribe your recording, organize it into sections, and use it as a template for your follow up system.

Each of your follow ups can address one part of your sales presentation such as: building rapport by making them feel welcome, guiding visitors through your process, answering common questions, explaining the benefits of working with you, telling other clients’ success stories, resolving any concerns they might have, and asking for a face-to-face meeting.

Since you create these pieces ahead of time and send the same marketing materials to every person that takes a specific type of action on your site, your follow up is virtually on autopilot. You just have to set up your database to notify you when it’s time to make the call, send the email, or print the letter.

By setting up this three-step lead capture and follow up system, you’ll start capturing more leads from your website and converting a higher percentage of those leads into paying clients.

Before I answer your question, let me start with an example of the traditional approach to marketing (aka “interruption marketing”) and permission marketing. You walk into a store and a salesman immediately asks if he can help you. What’s your reaction? In many cases, it’s “No, thanks. I’m just looking.”

But, as you are browsing the store’s merchandise, perhaps something captures your attention. Maybe you find an item of clothing but can’t find your size. Maybe you spot an electronic device but aren’t sure of the technical specs. Suddenly, you are much more receptive to talking with someone who might help you make a more informed purchasing decision.

In the first case, you don’t care what the salesman has to say so you actively try to avoid a sales pitch. In the second case, something has captured your attention, so you give the salesman your permission to tell you more about the product and together, you hold a dialog about your wants, needs, and concerns.

What is Permission Marketing?

Permission marketing stems from the philosophy that your prospects’ attention is scarce and should be treated as a gift they are choosing to give you.

Your prospects suffer from a constant barrage of interruptions from phone calls, emails, text messages, direct mail, and advertising. Everyone wants their attention and they must decide to whom to give it. Once they give their attention, they can never get it back, so it’s an investment of time and energy on their part.

At the same time, it is difficult to figure out who or what to pay attention to. With so many choices, it’s easy to gather lots of information but still not know what to do to solve the problem. The more choices you have, the harder it is to decide which option is best.

That decision becomes more arduous when your prospect is evaluating a service rather than a product. With a product, they can see a physical item, try it out, and test the results before they buy. With a service, your prospects have no idea what to expect. They can’t see what “quality” or “professional” service is like before they buy.

How to Use Permission Marketing

If you’re proud of the services you offer and convinced they bring tremendous value to your clients’ lives, then your marketing should focus around helping people to understand that value.

How do you do that? First, you must convince your prospects to give you their attention. You have to give people a reason to interact with you so they’ll give you permission to talk with them. Yes, you still advertise. You still send mailings. You still network to meet people. You still market online. But the focus isn’t “I’m the most caring, professional, hardworking real estate agent, so you should hire me.” It’s about “Will my prospect find this information useful, even if they don’t hire me?”

The best way to do that is to provide samples of your services in bite-sized chunks. In your ads and promotions, you offer educational materials like a free report, audio program, DVD, or event invite and tell them how to take advantage of that offer (call your office, send for your free DVD, visit your website to download the report). In exchange for that information, your prospects give you their contact information.

At that time, you can ask them if they’d like to receive additional information. You can do so by providing a check box on your business reply card (”check this box to receive additional information about…”), a form on your website (”enter your name and email to receive our free report as well as our weekly newsletter on…”), or by phone (”would you like to be added to our monthly newsletter?”)

You approach follow up with the same philosophy. Each marketing piece you send them after the initial one should be valuable to them in some way, so they feel they haven’t wasted their time reading or listening to it. But now, you know you are communicating with people who have expressed interest in receiving your marketing messages.

It is a lot like dating. If you wanted to attract a spouse, you might place an ad in the personals or set up an online profile on a dating site (i.e. you advertise where you have a good chance of reaching interested prospects). Most people won’t read your ad. Some will read your ad but won’t respond. A handful may contact you. When someone responds (i.e. requests more information), you don’t automatically assume they are marriage material. Rather, you get to know one another gradually until you both decide if you are right for one another (i.e. establish trust and build rapport).

People do business with those they know, like, and trust. By using permission marketing, you establish yourself as a trusted adviser focused on building relationships with your prospects before the sale.

Getting referrals from clients isn’t difficult if you already provide great service. You probably already realize that disappointed clients don’t refer business, but happy clients will go out of their way to sing your praises.

Are you making it as easy as possible for your clients to refer new business to you? Here’s a quick 3-step guide to putting a referral system in place.

Step 1: Set An Expectation For Referrals

When you first start working with clients - even before you sign the agreement - set an expectation for referrals. Explain that you get the majority of your clients from referrals and that as part of working with you, you expect that once they see what a great job you do, they will refer at least two other people to you. Explain that this allows you to spend more time caring for and serving your clients rather than spending the bulk of your resources prospecting for clients through advertising and direct mail, as most agents do.

When is a good time to ask for referrals?

• When you first start working together - Making referrals an expectation or part of your working agreement is a great way to pave the way for referrals.
• At celebratory moments - Clients are most appreciative of your services when things have just gone extremely well for them. Use one of those opportunistic moments to ask for referrals - and follow up with a letter or email explaining that you market your business primarily by referrals and would they know of anyone whom they could refer.
• After the transaction completes - Take a gift basket or other nice gift over to your clients to check up on them after they’ve moved in. Again, ask them for referrals, while explaining how you will provide the same level of service they received from you to anyone they refer to you.

What shouldn’t you do? Maybe you’ve heard those horror stories about door-to-door salesmen who would demand you write down 5 names of people they could call on while you watch. Don’t be that person! You don’t want to intimidate people into referring business to you.

Step 2: Make It Easy For Clients To Refer Business To You

Next, make it easy for clients to refer business to you. Let clients know who your ideal prospects are, the best ways they can refer business to you, and what you’ll do when they give you a referral, such as how you’ll contact the person, what you’ll say, and how you’ll follow up.

A good way to do this is to put together a one-page guide. By outlining your referral process, you reassure your clients that you won’t hound or annoy the people they refer, and you can give them the opportunity to be involved if they choose.

For instance, instead of saying “If you know anyone who needs my services, have them give me a call,” you might say “If you know someone who needs my services, give me a call first and we can discuss if I can help them and how to best approach them.”

Referrals are best if the referrer is involved. Can they set up a lunch appointment? Can they give their friend your special report that would be valuable to them right now? Can they write a letter or email recommending you?

Step 3: Reward Your Referral Sources

Finally, be sure to keep your referral sources up-to-date on the referrals they do give you. Let them know the status of the person they referred - did they become one of your clients? If so, how is that working out? Let them know you appreciate the referrals and consider rewarding them with a token of your appreciation.

One way to reward your referral sources is give an incentive for referrals you receive. Of course, you must make sure you are legally and ethically compliant, but there are many ways to be creative.

Can you hold a contest? For instance, anyone that refers business to you will receive an entry in your contest to win an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii as well as smaller prizes like an iPod or even cash if your ethics board allows it.

Or, perhaps you can give referral bonuses by partnering with local service providers. For instance, if someone refers three people who become your clients, you’ll pay your personal accountant to do their taxes this year or give them a 6-month gym membership to your local gym, 3 months of golf or cooking lessons or whatever else your clients might like.

Your referral sources will appreciate the gesture and be much more likely to send you new referrals in the future.

By taking some time to set up a referral system, you’ll drastically increase the number of clients who refer business to you.

I am a highly experienced marketing guy. I’m good at putting together marketing plans but not so good at speaking in front of people. Whenever I speak, my mind fills with hesitation and fear. How can I get rid of this problem?

Public speaking is a great way to market your services. Just by getting up in front of an audience, you set yourself apart as a leader who is confident in your expertise and skill set. Yet public speaking is also a source of fear and anxiety for many, many people.

I can certainly relate. During high school and college, I used to dread giving class presentations. I knew I wasn’t very good at public speaking, and all I wanted to do was get it over with. My nervousness showed through my tendency to speak really fast, use overly large hand gestures, and even pace back and forth. I’d stare out into the audience, and I just knew they thought my presentation was awful. Then, I’d lose track of what I was saying, so I’d try to refocus by reading off my PowerPoint slides. I absolutely hated it, and it seemed the more I had to do it, the worse the experience became. I soon tried everything in my power to avoid it at all costs.

When I started my business, however, I quickly realized that becoming an effective communicator was essential to attracting prospects and managing clients. If I wanted my business to succeed, I’d have to confront my fears. Prospects and clients look for confidence, expertise, and leadership in the partners they hire, and I didn’t exhibit those qualities whenever I gave group presentations.

Getting better at public speaking starts with the decision that you will do whatever it takes to improve. In my case, I took several public speaking classes and even hired a voice coach. It wasn’t an overnight success, but after a lot of practice and listening to feedback, I’m much better - and more comfortable - when speaking in front of an audience.

Improve Your Public Speaking Mindset

The first step to overcoming your fear of public speaking is to put yourself in the right mindset. If you are giving a speech, you want your audience to walk away with some bit of knowledge or benefit they can use to improve their lives. Focus on the takeaway - what’s the one thing you want your audience to remember? Now, realize it’s up to you to communicate that one thing as clearly and effectively as you can. To do that, keep these tips in mind.

• Be confident. Confidence plays a big factor in public speaking. Often, we are our own worst enemy. We have doubts that we don’t know as much as we should, or have the experience that others do, or we question why people would even want to listen to us, or we fear someone will “find out” that we’re not as good as we say. Realize that you are good enough to give a speech and that others do find your opinion and insight valuable.
• Realize your purpose isn’t to win your audience’s approval. One of the biggest fears people have is looking foolish in front of an audience. There will always be people who disagree with you or have other opinions. That’s ok. You don’t have to win over or persuade everyone in your audience to agree with you or become your client.
• Focus on giving value. Instead of seeking your audience’s approval, focus on giving value - whether that’s educating them on a particular subject or motivating them to take action. Focus on one main theme that you want your audience to remember when they leave.
• Realize you don’t need to be perfect to communicate your message. You can make mistakes or even forget entire parts of your talk. In many cases, your audience won’t even notice. They haven’t read your outline. They don’t know what you missed or left out.
• Humility and humor go a long way. If you do make a mistake, be humble or make a joke about it. Laugh at yourself rather than getting flustered or embarrassed.
• Know that you can handle virtually anything. It’s easy to think about all the negatives that could go wrong. It’s extremely unlikely that you’ll have a heart attack or faint. It’s even less likely that everyone in your audience will leave within the first 10 minutes. But if something does go wrong (that isn’t health related), the best way to handle mishaps is to ask for feedback. If people are leaving, stop where you are and ask them what they were hoping to get out of the talk. If someone asks a challenging question, become curious and ask why they think that way. You can learn a lot from your audience by opening up a dialog and soliciting feedback.
• Remember, the audience wants you to succeed. They showed up for your talk, so they were at least mildly interested in your topic. They want to hear your thoughts, opinions, and expertise on the matter.

Techniques For Becoming a Better Presenter

While having a positive mindset toward public speaking will get you pretty far, being prepared and practicing ahead of time will help you be more relaxed. Here are some tips to get started.

• Preparation is the key to feeling comfortable. Learn as much as you can about who you’ll be talking to and what they expect, where your talk will take place, how long it should be, what audio/visual equipment you’ll have, and where you’ll speak in relation to your audience. If you have the chance, talk to your audience beforehand to learn what they hope to learn from the talk.
• Break your talk into three main points. One of the most effective ways to communicate your message is to use the Rule of Three - that is, have three main points and repeat them throughout your talk. Three is a powerful number, especially in storytelling. Movies are broken into three acts. Some of the most famous fables are about the three little pigs, or the Three Musketeers, or Goldilocks and the three bears. And many of the key principles you remember are arranged in threes: “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” “Stop, Look and Listen,” or “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
• Practice. The more you practice your speech, the more comfortable you’ll feel with the material. Try giving your speech aloud in front of a mirror, videotaping yourself, or asking a group of friends to listen. Practice your eye contact and gestures, and ask for feedback on your delivery.
• Breathe. Deep breathing automatically calms us down and focuses us on the present moment. Take a few deep breaths before you start you speech, whenever you realize you’re rushing your material, or after you’ve made a key point.
• Seek audience feedback. While it may seem like you are the center of attention, always keep your audience’s needs in mind. If they are giving you questioning looks, ask if they have questions or need you to clarify something. If their eyes are glazing over and you’re losing their attention, do something unexpected like changing your tone, asking questions, getting them to participate in an activity, or if necessary, taking a break. After the talk, take audience questions, stay afterward to chat, or hand out a questionnaire or rating form to solicit feedback.
• Have a back-up plan. Finally, be sure to have a back-up plan just in case of technical difficulties or the unexpected happens. Dress in layers in case the room temperature is too hot or too cold, and have an outline sheet or index cards handy.

The more time you invest in preparation, the better your speech will be. Practice until you feel comfortable giving your speech. Visualize, beforehand, giving the best speech you can give. And be confident that you have what it takes to stand before an audience and speak effectively.

I’ve used Aweber for several years now, and I’ve never seen them go down, let alone be down for this long, so I apologize for any inconvenience it’s caused.

If you want to sign up for our email list and receive our free marketing guide, either fill out the contact form to shoot me an email - or just check back later today.

It also appears that a few people who did sign up earlier today did not get a confirmation email. I’m not sure what’s going on with their servers, but if you don’t receive an email, your sign up wasn’t successful. Please fill out the contact form to let me know and I’ll send you your guide asap.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

When the real estate market is down, no response to advertisement/promotion & target customers are reluctant to buy or invest now & would like to wait for some time even though the rates have been reduced & promotional offers are provided, how would a real estate marketer generate potential leads & attract customers for sales to sustain in such uncertain market?

It’s no secret our economy has taken a downturn. With Wall Street in crisis, the credit market tightening, Detroit on the verge of bankruptcy and millions of Americans scrimping to get by, it’s not surprising that home sales are down considerably.

Yes, many people are taking a “wait and see” approach to real estate rather than jumping in to buy or sell a home. Lots of people aren’t looking to buy or sell right now.

But - many people still are. In the last four months, two of my close friends just bought houses. And while the media is quick to report that home sales are down, they haven’t stopped, which means there’s still business out there!

So how do you attract those people who may be on the fence or looking to buy or sell?

Use your marketing to educate prospects.

As a real estate professional, you know far more about the state of the industry than the average person (I hope!). It’s up to you to educate prospects about their options because most people don’t know about all the incentives that are out there.

When the economy is booming, it’s easy to attract new clients. You barely need to promote your services because there’s just so much business out there, and people are enthusiastic about buying and selling.

But when the economy slumps, fear sets in. People are bombarded by negative media warning them of the dangers of an industry in crisis. They hear horror stories about homes going into foreclosure, tightening credit lines, and the subprime mortgage fiasco and it makes them nervous.

You can’t blame them - people don’t buy or sell a home because you need business. They do so because it makes sense for them to do so at that point in their lives.

But you can educate them on why this might not be the bad opportunity the media says it is.

Focus on giving rather than getting.

When most agents run ads, they focus on themselves and their accomplishments. I receive all sorts of agent promotions, and they’re almost always the same - a picture of the agent smiling, with perhaps a line about how they just sold a home in my area or how that agent is the No. 1 agent, and a brief “if you’re thinking about buying or selling, call me.”

Those types of promotions are mostly a waste of money, but they can drum up business during a real estate boom because so many prospects are ready to buy or sell. But in a downturn, those types of promotions just don’t work because they’re focused on the agent’s self-interest, which is “getting” new business regardless of my current life situation.

When you focus on “getting” business - that is, your needs are more important than your prospect’s needs - you sound needy. You don’t sound like a competent professional who has more clients than you can handle. Instead, you sound like you’re begging for business, which, in your prospect’s mind, means you probably aren’t very good at what you do.

Marketing that does work in a downturn focuses on “giving” prospects value. It involves putting yourself in your prospect’s mind and asking - what is this prospect most concerned about, and how can I educate him or her about how to solve that problem?

Then, you write up a special report or record yourself giving a talk about a particular problem, and what your prospect needs to know or to do in order to take steps toward solving that problem.

Here are a few examples of special reports you could create:

• Top 10 Reasons Why This Is a Great Time To Buy a Home, Despite What the Media Tells You
• 25 Ways to Get Financing For Your New Home In a Tightened Credit Market
• 17 Issues You Need To Be Aware Of When Buying Foreclosed Properties
• Top 15 Mistakes Made By Home Sellers in a Down Economy - and How To Avoid Them

Make your report specific to one problem your prospect has. Then give him the steps required to understand the situation, options he has, and the best way to solve his problem.

Promote your special reports, not you.

Now, when you run ads or do mailings, make your special report the focus of the offer, rather than a picture of a home or you smiling. Get a graphic designer to create a nice cover for the report, and put a picture of the cover on all your promotions. Include the headline in big letters, and make all the text in the promotion focus on why your prospects need to know the information in this guide - all of its benefits and points of interest - and how they can get a copy.

If you’ve successfully targeted your market and have written the guide based on your prospects’ top concerns, you’re bound to get a number of people requesting your guide.

Keep track of all the people who request your guide and start building a database of leads you can continue to market to (through more educational materials). These people have self-selected themselves as good candidates for your services because they’ve shown an interest in your free report. Sure, some won’t turn into qualified leads, but many will - and even if they aren’t quite in the market yet for a new home, that doesn’t mean they won’t be in a few months.

Education-based marketing works in every market - from booming economies to downturns. Listen to what your prospects and clients tell you are their biggest worries - they’ll tell you how to market to them if you pay attention.

I have a website that I have spent long hours making it and adding information to it. I also get a stream of about 2,500 visitors a month, but I don’t have anyone emailing me about any questions or just anything. So far I have had two contacts. Tell me what else do I need or do to improve. Thank you.

Sargon, it sounds like you are doing a number of things right.

• You’re providing lots of good information.
• You give away free reports to attract buyers and sellers.
• You offer several ways for people to contact you.
• You’re looking for ways to convert visitors to leads.

You’ve realized that traffic is virtually useless unless you can convert those visitors into leads, which means you’re off to a great start. So how can you start generating more leads from your website?

When people visit a website, they look for the information that is most relevant to their current problems, worries and concerns. They don’t take the time to learn your website. They don’t read every page - or even most pages. They make a quick assessment of your site based on whatever page they land on. If they find what they’re looking for - great, they might keep reading. If not, they leave.

Most people have an extremely short attention span, so they visit a page, quickly skim the content to see if it’s relevant to them, and if not, they leave. It doesn’t matter if you do actually have that information they are looking for. If they don’t see it, in their mind, it’s not there and they’ll keep looking.

Providing great information isn’t enough!

Information is useful only if your prospects can quickly find what they are looking for. They don’t want to dig through your site - they just don’t have that kind of time. So it’s up to you to point them in the right direction.

How can you do this?

• Make your content scanable. Most people skim web pages rather than reading them, so make sure you use headlines, subheads, bullets, and bolded text. Visitors should be able to pick up the key points on each page with a 3 second scan.
• Link to other content that might also be relevant. Don’t expect people to learn your site’s structure or to hunt for content - they won’t. Instead, make it easy for them by listing other articles on your site that they may find relevant. For instance, you might include “For more information on this topic, read my article on X or Y.” You can also link to that content directly within your articles.
• Use a clear call to action on every page. Make sure each page encourages visitors to contact you. Consider adding something like “If you are ready to move forward, call phone number or fill out this online contact form and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.”
• Test your offers! I’ve mentioned this before, but testing is crucial to the success of your marketing.

A website’s job isn’t just to provide information. It must also persuade the right visitors to take the appropriate action. Here are some other suggestions to improve web conversions:

• You mention you are getting 2,500 visitors/month - are they the right visitors? General traffic is virtually useless. You need to attract the right types of people who are specifically looking for the information your site provides. If you don’t have web analytics software installed on your site, I highly recommend you sign up for Google Analytics and monitor the types of people coming to your site. Where are these people coming from? What information are they looking for? What keywords do they use? What pages are they clicking on? How long are they staying on your site?
• Give visitors a way to search your site. While some visitors like to browse websites, others will immediately look for a search box. You can provide a custom site search on your site with Google Custom Search Engine for about $100 per year.
• Make your reports more prominent. Don’t bury your best content deep within your site - promote it. Mention your free reports - or better yet, include pictures of the reports - on every page of your site, such as in a sidebar that boldly claims “Free Reports for Buyers” or “Free Reports for Sellers.”
• Stress the benefits of your free reports. When I visit your reports page, the promotional text describing the reports is tiny. Sell your reports - why are they so valuable? For each report, include a “Here’s what you’ll learn” header and 3-5 bullet points that stress the key benefits people will receive from reading these reports and why they are “must reads.”

Finally, to really make your site persuasive, you must also sell yourself. In your About Me section, stress the types of people you work with, specifically, and why prospects should choose you over all other agents.

I’ve covered in detail how to choose a target audience and create a unique selling proposition in other articles, so I won’t get into that here. I will say, however, that one of the best ways you can market yourself is to present yourself as an authority - a specialist - on your local real estate area.

Don’t just pick “anyone who might need my services in or around Chicago.”

It’s virtually impossible for you to effectively target all 9 million plus people who live in that metropolitan area. You just don’t have the budget.

Narrow your focus and specialize. The more specialized you are, the better the prospects you’ll attract. People want a specialist, not a jack of all trades.

Remember - marketing is about figuring out who you want to work with (your target audience) and then providing information about their biggest worries, concerns, and problems to grab their attention, keep them interested, and start building rapport and trust. Make sure they can find the content they need to make an informed decision by highlighting additional content they might find useful, and be sure to tell them repeatedly how to contact you.

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from other agents is to offer more value for your commission than what other agents are providing. One easy way to do this is to create a website for your client’s home with its own unique domain name. These types of websites are quick and easy to set up - and because you can add virtually unlimited information to the page, you can use the website as a marketing hub for the home.

Any good website takes some planning to get set up and running. Let’s start with the basics:

Step 1 - What do you want your website to do?

This seemingly basic question is something that 99% of all webmasters never ask. If you don’t set goals for what you hope to accomplish, you’ll never achieve them.
In this case, your website has a number of goals, including:

• Impressing Your Sellers - The main reason you are creating these websites is to show sellers how much more value you provide over other agents out there. You’re not simply putting up a quick listing on your website. You’re giving them their own site that you will market in all the home’s promotional materials.
• Marketing The Home - Most means of home marketing are extremely limited by space and price. If you want to run a full-page advertisement including all the home details, it will cost you. The same is true for mailings and any printed materials. With a website, you can put up as much information as you want, without adding cost. And because 77% of home buyers search on the internet, you’re putting your listings out there for people to find.

Step 2 - Who is your target audience?

You might not know exactly who your target audience is, but it’s more specific than simply "a buyer" ready to buy within the next month.

Take a look around the neighborhood. Who else lives there? What are their income levels? What kinds of cars do they drive? How many kids do they have? Take note of the types of people that live in this particular neighborhood. Here are some things to get you started:

• Demographics - Where do they live? How much do they make? How old are they? Their gender? Their ethnicity? Their education?
• Geography - Where do they live? Why do they live there? What type of lifestyle do they have in their geographical area?
• Lifestyle - What do they do for a living? What motivates them? What types of interests and hobbies do they have? What type of car do they drive? Where do they go on holidays or vacations?
• Life Cycle - Where are they in their life cycle? Are they single, just married, expecting their first child, divorcees, empty nesters, retirees?
• Motives - What motivates them to buy? Are they emotional or rational buyers? What do they care about - the economy, investing, security, stability, the American dream?

You might ask, why does this matter? The answer is because your best prospects will probably share a number of these characteristics with the current neighborhood residents. Your marketing will work only when you understand who you are trying to target and why they might buy. The best way to understand their motivations for buying is to find out why others bought within this particular neighborhood.

And I mean "neighborhood" - not city or township or several square mile radius. I’m talking specifics. Who lives on this particular street? What about the adjacent streets? What can you learn about them just by their home decorations, landscaping, cars, kids toys, etc? Once you know this type of stuff, you can mention these specific characteristics within your home description on the website.

Step 3 - What is the competition like?

This might be difficult to answer, so here are two places to start:

1. Check the neighborhood - Are there any other homes on this street or on the adjacent streets that are currently up for sale? If so, what makes them distinctive? What advantages and disadvantages do they have over the home you are listing?
2. Check the MLS - What homes are in the MLS that have similar features and price to the home you are listing and are located nearby? What are their advantages and disadvantages? What makes them distinctive?

To effectively market a home, you must know what competition you have - and what unique features and benefits your listing brings to the table. Knowing this information helps you distinguish and differentiate your home from all the others on the market.

Think of it this way. Buyers are overwhelmed with choices. When they search through listing after listing, they are looking for something that stands out and grabs their attention. Something that says to them "go see this house!"

If your marketing can do this, you’re going to start attracting a lot more buyers who want to check out this "must see" house. And that means there’s a good chance you’ll close the deal faster- and get paid for your services sooner!

Step 4 - How can you differentiate this listing from others on the market?

At the bare minimum, your website should include the features of the home (price, location, the number of rooms, baths, and amenities) and lots of photographs, but if you want to really generate buzz about the home, tell the "story" of the home.

What’s special, unique or distinct about this home? Why did the current owners buy this home? What do they love about it? What amenities are nearby? What’s the best pizza place in the area? Are there any annual neighborhood picnics or special events? How do the kids like the schools they attend? What’s within walking distance? A 10 mile drive?

Why bother? Because people make decisions based on emotion, not logic. They want to fall in love with their new home - and they’ll justify their purchase with reasons later. People buy homes they can see themselves living in. They have to envision how they’ll arrange the rooms. How they’ll paint the walls. How they’ll set up the nursery. All of that stuff is emotional. That’s why your marketing needs to appeal to their emotions as well as give them the facts and features.

Step 5 - How can you market the website?

The final step is getting the word out. Here are some ideas for marketing your new website:

• On your blog and website
• In your ads and mailings
• On house fliers
• In your newsletters
• On riders for your signs.
• In your online classified ads (Craigslist, Trulia, Zillow, Oodle, etc)
• In your social media profiles like MySpace and Facebook
• Twitter (or tweet, if you like) the URL
• Add to social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us
• In your email signature
• In blog comments you leave (don’t spam blogs, but most software asks for your URL - use your listing URL instead of your blog or website)
• In listing presentations (to show other sellers what you can do for them)

Get Started Today

You don’t have to be a technology genius or pay a web developer lots of money to set up a page for you. It’s relatively easy to set these types of sites up

1. Set up a free Blogger.com account. You’ll be able to create a new blog for each listing and the process takes about 3 minutes. Watch a video tutorial on how to do this.
2. Once you have your blog set up, go to the Settings tab and then click on the "Publishing" link. You’ll see something that says "You’re publishing on blogspot.com." Underneath, it will say "Switch to: Custom Domain" Click on the "Custom Domain" link. Go through Google’s easy step-by-step system to buy a domain for your blog for $10/year. Watch a video tutorial on how to do this.

Easy, right? Alternatively, you can set up a free account on Postlets.com - or pay $5 to upgrade to a premium listing.

Setting up single property listings for each of your clients’ homes can be a great way to demonstrate how marketing and technology savvy you are to potential sellers - and they’re simple, fast and affordable to set up.

I’m now back from Spain and have spent the last week trying to catch up on email, contacts, client relationships, and everything else that I put on hold for my vacation. Getting away was great - and I made sure not to do any work on the trip - but coming home to an inbox filled with thousands of messages was not fun.

While I love the instant access to virtually anyone that email provides, that instant access can be a huge drain on my productivity - especially when 80% of the email I receive is not urgent, doesn’t require a response, or never seems to get to the point.

If you’re struggling to manage your email, here are seven tips to help.

1. Only check email at certain times. While it’s tempting to leave your email program open at all times, that’s a huge productivity killer. You don’t need to check every email the second it comes in, thus interrupting whatever task you were doing. Instead, set aside 20-30 minute blocks of time two or three times per day to check email. If this type of non-responsiveness makes you nervous, create an autoresponder that states the specific times you check email, when the sender can expect a response, and what to do if they have an urgent need.
2. Make sure those times aren’t when you are most productive! While it’s tempting to check your email first thing in the morning, this isn’t always the most productive. Instead, Brian Tracy suggests in his book, Eat That Frog, that you should look over your to-do list and find the biggest task that will yield the most positive benefits if you complete it now - and do that first thing in the morning rather than start off the day with email. Your email can wait. Use your most productive times to work on the stuff that matters most.
3. Delete liberally. You can delete a considerable portion of your email before you even open it just by checking out the sender and subject. Scan both, and then ask yourself “Do I really have to read this today?” If the answer is no, hit delete. Don’t keep it around in hopes of reading it later - it will probably just sit in your inbox unopened.
4. Scan for action steps and deadlines. Much of the email we receive can be classified as junk mail or notifications and doesn’t require action on our part. Look for email that does require a specific action that must be done within the next week or two and set these email aside. These should be your top priority.
5. Take action immediately. If the email requires you to take action and you can do that action in less than two minutes, do it now rather than putting it off. It’s better to get things done quickly than to put them off until you prioritize everything. For action steps that will take longer, move the email to a prioritized folder so you can easily find it along with all the other action-oriented emails. Searching for buried email lost in a sea of unimportant email is a huge time waster.
6. Send concise replies. When you respond, keep it as short and to-the-point as possible. Start off by summarizing the key point you are responding to and add your reply, so your recipients understand your response in context. For instance: “You asked if I can attend a meeting on Monday, June 16 at 3PM. Unfortunately, I’m not available until 4PM. If that doesn’t work for you, I can also meet Tuesday morning.” You don’t need to write a book here. Limit yourself to a few sentences at most - or better yet, if you can answer the question in the subject line, do so.
7. Outsource your email. I don’t actually do this (yet) but if you really want to take this concept to an extreme, check out this blog post by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, on How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again.

Time is your greatest asset, and learning to manage your email effectively can really give your productivity a boost.