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#1 - Direct mail to drive traffic to your web site

Looking for ideas for marketing my new web site. Have ordered decals for my car, printed it on fact sheets, business cards, and my other sites and have installed riders on my yard signs. Now I want to do a mailer to my geographic and sphere farms. Would love to have suggestions and samples for a mailer and any other way to get the name out. Should I keep the http with it or just use the domain name itself?

Hi Mary,

Congratulations on web-a-fying yourself! You don't need to use the http if you want to drive people to your site with print media. Do use the http://www.etc in you sig line in e-mails so you create a HOT link to your site.

A cool way to work the snail mail system to send people to your web site is to go out with a series of cards. Some examples are:

1. I've not moved...I do have a new address! etc.

2. When you're on the move...remember www.etc It's the only address you'll need.

3. (Mary, you should update your site regularly...when you do, here's another snail mail idea) I've not moved...I have remodeled my website! Come see what's new! www.etc

4. (Mary - offer a free newsletter on your site) ad or post card would say: For free Real Estate News you can use...visit my website at: www.etc and e-mail me for my Free Real Estate Newsletter.

Mary, you can do creative ads in print media and give yourself a real high tech..."hands on" results focused image. Hope this helps!

Happy Selling,

Sherry Peters, RECS, Instructor

http://www.smartselling.com

http://www.sherrypeters.com

http://www.realestatetoolbox.com

We can't predict the future...we CAN Create it!

#2 - Homeseekers books to drive traffic to your web site

Responding to website leads:

The main source of leads generated by my website come from my free Homeseekers Request form. I receive anywhere from a minimum of 30, to a high of 65 requests per month. The initial request receives the follow email (via auto signature) from me:

Thank you for your request for our FREE Homeseekers Book. You will be receiving your FREE Book via snail mail within the next few days. In the mean time, check out the various properties available for sale via our website at http://www.nidt.com - you will find the ability to search the entire Multiple Listing Service database, the ability to check out For Sale By Owner properties via the local newspaper ads, and MUCH MORE! Feel free to contact us at ANY TIME with ANY questions or concerns. We are looking forward to working with you in the near future!

Enthusiastically,

David Swarat ABR, CRS, GRI, REALTOR

**********************************************

David Swarat's North Idaho Dream Team

RE/MAX Masters * Coeur d'Alene, ID

(800) 842-3813 * (208) 769-9464

* http://www.nidt.com

**********************************************

The recipient then is sent a current copy of the Homeseekers Magazine along with an intro letter, some promo pages (full color) of properties I have listed, my business card, a promo encouragement for my buyer's special, etc. 10 days after I mail the homeseekers, they then receive the following email (via autosignature)

You recently requested a current copy of the North Idaho edition of the "Home Seeker's" magazine. We are following up to make sure you received your copy. Are you still interested in receiving additional information on the North Idaho area? If so, we are more than happy to do any research for you. Let us know how we can help you!

At this point, I generally have weeded out the lookies from the buyers - a small percentage respond immediately to the first email, very small percentage. The largest percentage respond to the second email - at which point we generally have phone contact with them as well. I then set up a buyers website with all the properties currently available that meet their parameters - they LOVE this. Then it's general followup until they come to the area and purchase a property. The hardest part is organization!

MORE FROM DAVID:

#3 - Weeding out the good from the bad leads

Website buyer loyalty & announced appointments:

*When communication is maintained and services are performed for the buyers, they are loyal and very respective of your time.

*My website business provides almost 75% of my income (and I have always been in the top 10 in my area in real estate sales).

*The reason it provides so much of my income is because I provide buyers with something initially FREE - with no obligation on their part (a current Homeseekers Magazine mailed to them).

*I have not had a problem with weeding short term vs. long term buyers out of the mix - with my automated system, they weed themselves out of the mix. My short term buyers request my "Buyer's Special" which is a private webpage updated on a weekly basis with properties that match their profiles (again, NO obligation on their part). My long term buyers request to be maintained on my email mailing list, but request no additional attention until they are ready to move to the area.

*When buyers visit the area, they are (80% of the time) ready to make the purchase, when found, on that visit. A few buyers require more than one visit to the area. When that is the case, I don't show them properties on their first visit, I provide (again NO obligation) maps, tours, etc. for them to utilize while they are here. I also give them my private cell number for questions on any properties. *I have always had my visiting buyers let me know weeks in advance of when they will be here. In fact, they tell me their arrival and departure times, and we schedule their remaining time as needed depending upon their needs. When a buyer drives, they know what day they will arrive but not necessarily the time, I simply remain available on me cell during business hours for them to contact me when they arrive.

*I have found that by the time I actually meet the buyer in person (I have emailed, set up the website, spoken with them on the phone, etc) that the buyer is ready, willing and desirous of signing a representation contract. I have also found the buyers to be extremely loyal, more so than other buyers obtained from other sources.

*I just found out about a problem going on in my area (told to me yesterday by one of my loyal buyers I had never met in person!!!) - when they called or emailed other agents on properties those agents had listed for sale, the agents told them that they HAD to use them, that they WOULD NOT co-op with other agents. That the property is EXCLUSIVELY available through them. Hum, sounds like something I am going to have to address, rather loudly, on my website. My buyers ONLY concern was not being able to see properties they were interested in listed by other agents if I represented them. Needless to say, I let them know the truth on that subject!!

Getting buyers with no listings...

*As you may notice when viewing my website, I don't have an overabundance of personal listings on my website. What I do have is full access to ALL local papers real estate sections AND full access to our online mls public version. I DO NOT use Realtor.com, Homeadvisor.com, etc. and NEVER will have them searchable from my website. My local MLS has an internet site for buyers, it is updated daily - why would I use services that are not reliable, send buyers to other agents, etc?

*I track where my unique hits come from and although I have had buyers say they have browsed Realtor.com, etc. They FIRST went to a search engine and typed in keywords. My tracking software shows my that in the past 15 months, not ONE SINGLE PERSON has come into my website via Realtor.com - not a single one. I do have many that come via ired.com and various other sources:)

*Since I provide a FREE homeseekers magazine to visitors, I have a much higher retention rate than other Realtors in my area. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to say that another real estate in the area does more business than mine does. Even the larger company ones don't have the sales I have directly from my website. Anyway, GIVE info, don't REQUEST info, stay in communication and you'll reap the rewards and build the relationships needed to make your website profitable for you.

Enthusiastically,

David Swarat ABR, CRS, GRI, REALTOR, e-JIM

**********************************************

David Swarat's North Idaho Dream Team

RE/MAX Masters * Coeur d'Alene, ID

(800) 842-3813 * (208) 769-9464

DreamTeam@nidt.com * http://www.nidt.com

**********************************************

#3a - More weeding

Amos....this is right at the beating heart of it all.....My thoughts are these: every consumer who has found you and is asking you questions needs information. Importantly, they are asking YOU. It's in the manner in which you respond and create that ongoing dialogue that makes you and your site "sticky"....For what it's worth, I have found that the free-er I am with my information, the more questions and dialogue I seem to create. I usually wait until after several emails pass back and forth to gently "look into" what plans there might be for a purchase. The bottom line regarding that last paragraph is that a percentage of inquiries go nowhere.....and a percentage buy......

As an old broker once said: "SWSWSW" some will.......some won't........so what...... :>))

Regards,

Lee Bowman, CRB, ePRO

Re/Max Lakefront Realty, Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia,

http://www.SMLHomes.com

540.721.0381 Home 877.537.3050 Toll Free

"Chance Favors The Prepared"

#4 - More weeding

Aaaaaah, Grasshopper, this is the ancient mystery... In my not-so-small amount of experience, I believe the answer is two-pronged... First off, I don't believe that YOU get from inquiry to client; rather, the consumer makes the choice whether or not to do business with you, based on the level of service you give IN CONTEXT WITH WHAT IT IS THEY HAVE REQUESTED. It is critical that you don't try and foist yourself on them, and let them keep a firm grip on the steering wheel. Second prong is to automate as much as you can afford, in order to reduce the time you spend on each individual. I am finding that people are coming to me as much as 18 months prior to actually moving, and those people are asking for information on a specific property about once a month. So long as I keep them updated, via my various automated processes, then I am finding it is a no-brainer to convert them, ON THEIR TIMETABLE. It's a numbers game; I've got 139 people in SOAR, I've got 247 people receiving my bi-weekly email series, and I'm getting ready to launch another information series come September. The more people you have in the system, the more you will convert, and the tighter you can make your criteria of who you work with. Of course, as in face-to-face, you gotta ask for the order.

Chris Newell, Sales Rep. e-PRO500 SRES ABR CRES JIM#1.9 Non-Urgent

PC2PC ID: CHRISNEWELL (free pc2pc phonecalls, http://net2phone.com)

An Allen F. Hainge CyberStar (tm)

RE/MAX Blue Springs, Milton Ontario

905-878-4444 905-462-0151 - Direct

http://New-All.com http://Halton-PeelRealEstate.com

#5 - Search Engine Placement

Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2001 02:09:56 -0800

From: "Marc Davison" <inman-marc@charter.net>

Subject: Getting your web page high in the search engines

Regarding your concerns about search engine placement. Please except this extensive interjection as assistance to your continued efforts through the Internet.

STEP 1 - SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT. (Let’s get right to the top.) To begin, go to www.yahoo.com (the most widely used search engine) & type into the search a CITY, STATE. (For example Oakland, CA) The very first link that will come up will appear as follows:

Regional > U.S. States > California > Cities

Click it. Notice there’s a series of portal links that begin with BUSINESS & SHOPPING. Look for REAL ESTATE. Click it. See AGENCIES. Click it. Notice that for Oakland, there are only 4 Broker sites and 19 Agent sites. Mmm! Not much for a big city.

STEP 2 - HOW TO GET LISTED.

Not every site submitted gets listed. You can submit everyday, but it won’t work. Here's why. Yahoo, as do the other engines, need to provide a search result with quality sites at the top of the query. If searches results yielded junk sites, no one would use them.

STEP 3 - HOW ARE SITES RATED. Several criteria.

A) By its content. That's Information. Resources. Subject matter. Listings. News. Advice. Tips. That's content. Mission statements, philosophies, bios and awards are not content unless your site is a personal biography site. Since you are a business you must place GREATER EMPHASIS on your resources for your customers as many of you have already done. Remove the personal info off your home page and build them into deeper pages on your site. See, then it becomes content.

B) How the content is linked to your site. This is crucial. There are two ways to provide content.

1) To provide links to other sites.

2) To have the content built into your site.

Here’s the difference. If you link out to another site, that’s not considered content. That’s a link to another site with content. Doesn’t count. You need to have this critical info on your website. The more you have in your site, the better! Example. www.cnn.com. Click on WORLD (the first link in the nav bar on the left.) Look at the URL in the address box of your browser. www.cnn.com.world. That’s what I mean. The content is linked to the site. If the address however where www.nbc.com, then it wouldn't count.

3) KEY WORDS - These are words coded behind your site that tag it to an engine (e.g. agent, real estate, homes, houses, realtors, Oakland, California, mortgage etc.) The more content you have on your site, the more key words you can tag to it. That’s why they say “Content Is King” The more content you build into your site + the more key words you use = more frequently your site will pop up in search queries.

D) FRAMED SITES vs. NO FRAMES - If your site has frames, then the search engines interprets your site differently than one that doesn’t. To explain this can get cumbersome, but the bottom line on this is, if your site has a stationary template on the home page with links to pages that open up within the frame on the home page, that’s a framed site and search engines don’t typically value them as highly. This isn't always the case but most techs will agree, frames are not as good. www.cnn.com is not a framed site. Each new page is a complete page with navigation. A framed site however, is http://www.acumen-abe.com

STEP 4 - Building a dynamic web site.

Traffic is important. But it’s not everything. You’re not dotcom companies. Don’t get caught in that mindset. The most important criteria about traffic is keeping visitors from leaving your site. The second most important criteria is to give them reasons to return. Therefore, give your buyers access to listings, community info (local maps and directions,) lists of leisure activities and locations (e.g. hiking trails, biking trails, camp sites, lakes, ski areas), phone numbers for service people in your area including landscapers, doctors, Internet service providers, movie theaters, things to do with children, restaurants, a picture gallery of your community, school info, things for children, climate). If you give your buyers time-sensitive content like news, real estate tips, advice, make sure the content changes often and make sure the content that is branded to your site and not linked to CNN or to CNBC. They will end up book marking cnbc.com instead of you.

Give your customers functions to help them transact like a form to fill out telling you want kind of home they're looking to buy. For your sellers, provide them with a clean and professional website to market their home. Provide open house announcements and place on your site to post feedback for your seller clients.

Finally, present yourself professionally. Web customers prefer to transact on a 6-figure purchase with professional, not a dog or a fish or an agent sitting on their porch in shorts playing with a monkey (I’ve seen this), despite what the gurus say.

Consumers want to deal with a professional specially buying the most important purchase of their life. If you were looking to by an expensive car online, would you choose to a dealership that portrayed the proprietor sitting atop Camel, stuffing his face with a prosciutto and provolone sandwich? Probably not. But a smart looking salesperson, dressed in a nice suit, with a site full of auto info would probably be very impressive.

It’s 2001. Graphic design is at cutting edge quality. Do not settle for second rate anything or else you won ’t appear credible.

If you want good placement on the engines it boils down to this. A nice site, professional, with deep, quality content and a good webmaster who puts it all together and knows how to submit your site to the engines.

Good luck.

Marc Davison

Director of Business Development

Inman News Features

www.inman.com

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