Real Estate Internet Marketing

Linking text, often called anchor text, is the clickable text that takes people to another web page.  The use of keywords in linking text is a simple but powerful way to improve your search engine ranking and thus improve your real estate internet marketing.

For example, if your keyword phrase for a web page is “Cincinnati real estate,” you should be using “Cincinnati real estate” as linking text on that page.

What can you link to?

• A page on your web site with specific information about Cincinnati real estate such as the types of homes that are available (i.e., condos, townhomes, ranch, 2-story, raised ranch, etc.)
• Your Cincinnati IDX
• Your Cincinnati Featured Listings
• Videos of Cincinnati homes for sale
• A page containing photos or virtual tours of Cincinnati real estate
• Your blog about Cincinnati real estate (more…)
  
  

  
  
  

Email is still America’s number one online activity.  This is especially true for the millions of people who use their cell phones to access their email. If you want to reach potential and past clients easily, effectively and inexpensively, email should be one of the major components of your real estate follow up marketing.

Here are 8 guidelines to help improve your email marketing:

1. Eliminate spam. You know what Spam is, but you may not realize that the way you write your emails could cause them to be considered Spam.  To reduce the possibility of your emails being flagged as spam, and ending up in someone’s Junk Folder, avoid common words used in spam. These are those too good to be true words like, “Save $$$ Now”. To help you eliminate spam words, there are several sites online that provide lists of spam words to avoid and alternative words to use.
2. Write your subject line carefully. This is the recipient’s introduction to your email, and it is often what makes the reader decide whether or not to open it. That means the subject line is critical to your real estate follow up marketing email success.  Keep the subject line short.  As a rule of thumb, keep it no longer than 60 characters. Write subject lines that describe the benefit the reader will receive by opening your email.    Benefits should emphasize how readers will save money, save time or make their life easier.  Here’s an example:  Discover tips for selling your home quickly (43 characters) (more…)
   
   

   
   
   

In Part 4 of Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Ways to Find Qualified Prospects, I suggested you start a blog to pull in more qualified real estate leads.

Here’s my fifth suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online and finding more qualified prospects:

5. Add a Call to Action

What is a Call To Action? It’s a statement at the end of your marketing material that tells your reader exactly what you want them to do.

It’s a crucial part of any marketing material, whether that material is a print piece like a postcard, sales letter or business card or whether it’s a piece for your online real estate marketing like a blog post or a web page. (more…)

In Part 3 of Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Ways to Find Qualified Prospects, I shared with you a few ideas on how to SEO (search engine optimize) your website.

Today, we’ll talk about another method of finding qualified prospects using real estate marketing online.

4. Start a blog.

A blog is the ideal place for you to post additional information about listings, share stories that highlight your expertise and connect with potential and past clients. (more…)

In Part 2 of Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Ways to Find Qualified Prospects, I shared with you my second suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online: Figure Out What Works for You.

Here’s my third suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online and finding more qualified prospects:

3. Learn how to SEO Your Website.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a way to increase your site’s rankings on search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo so that you have more people visiting your site.

The sites on page one of search engines receive many more visitors than those on further pages. Here are some stats to prove my point. (more…)

Yesterday, in Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Ways to Find Qualified Prospects, Part 1, I shared with you my first suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online: targeting a niche market.

Here’s my second suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online and finding more qualified prospects:

2. Figure out what works for you.

How much business are you actually getting from each type of marketing you’re using? If you don’t know the answer to that question, step 1 is to figure that out.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply ask all new leads where they heard about you. Keep a running tally. That’ll give you the information you need to determine what marketing is working and what isn’t. (more…)

Over the next 5 posts, I’ll share with you 5 ways to find qualified prospects using real estate marketing online.

One of the frustrations real estate agents face is finding qualified prospects. No one likes to spend their time and money on people who are not able or not interested in buying or selling a home. Yet, this is what many agents do each day in their quest to close a deal.

You know it doesn’t pay to spend time with someone who isn’t going to buy or list a home with you. So how do you find qualified prospects?

Here’s the first of five ways to find qualified prospects using real estate marketing online:

1. Target a niche marketing.

A marketing strategy designed for everyone isn’t a strategy. It’s a waste of time and money. You need to find your niche in the real estate market and focus your marketing time and money on that market.

No matter what market you choose, you will eliminate a percentage of the real estate market, but you can focus on this market and make it your own. You will know that you are marketing to people who are most interested in your services.

I know right now you’re probably saying to yourself, “I can’t narrow my market by choosing only one niche.” I beg of you to try this method. It’s proven time and again to increase your profit by bringing in more clients, creating loyal clients who come back to you and reducing money spent on marketing that doesn’t work because it’s too broad and too generic.

Exactly how do you determine your target market? First, you examine yourself. Who is your very favorite type of client to work with and what’s the best geographic area for that client to buy and sell in? You need to get as specific as possible. Identify your ideal client and geographic area by answering the following questions: (more…)

What makes real estate marketing online a real plus?

1. Large number of potential buyers: Studies show that over 71% of home buyers in the USA shop for a home and a real estate agent online. Everyday more people are signing up on the Internet. The average age of the home buyer is decreasing, which means today’s homeowners and buyers are basically growing up in the computer age.
2. Online home buyers are better to deal with: In general, online home buyers are more experienced than those who do not use the Internet. They are usually willing to pay more then the normal home buyers. They are said to be long-term clients for real estate agents. (more…)
   
   

   
   
   

Is your real estate marketing online too complicated? Do you want to streamline your real estate business? Ready to accelerate it? Make it simple.

Complex does not mean better.

Spending days on the “perfect” blog wording may actually hurt it.

By the time you find the perfect domain name, you could have had an entire website built.

As you hammered out the ideal postcard, you could have made 20 calls on expired listings.

Here’s what I know I can do…

• Write (just about anything)
• Give lead generating advice about real estate marketing online
• Speak for instruction or motivation
• Build relationships with clients and peers

That pretty much sums up my real estate marketing online business. Simple.

Outside of that I either outsource it or ignore it. I have no clue about programming or accounting. Everything has to be perfectly clear for me to move on it - and complex isn’t clear.

What about you?

Are you over complicating your real estate business?

Are you spending too much time trying to learn something that has a short lifespan or that someone else could do for you?

Invest most of your time in long-term assets related specifically to money making activities in your real estate business. What attributes and skills are going to serve you and others best over the long-haul?

If you want to take advantage of a short term fad without the uphill battle of education - then outsource it. (more…)

Is your real estate marketing online bringing in leads? If you answered no, one of the things you’ll want to do is discover the answer to the following question…

Who is visiting your website or blog, where are they coming from and what are they doing while on your site?

By tracking visitors to your site, you’ll get the knowledge you need to improve your real estate marketing online and start bringing in leads.

The best free tool available today for tracking visitors is Google Analytics. This free tracking tool provides tons of valuable information for determining where your guests come from and what they’re doing. (more…)