I just wrapped up another real estate oriented web site campaign. As usual I am often flabbergasted by the mere nature of these campaigns and the people who put these together. Even though the format for these campaigns are clumsy at best they often mirror mistakes I see in other campaigns in different industries. The premise for these campaigns usually center around one web site and one domain name. It is falsely perceived that the web site's branding strength will be dependent on how clever the domain name is. This becomes a non-issue in the grand scheme of things and when you think about how many web sites are out there trying to accomplish the exact same thing in the marketplace. What you really need is a way to create more online awareness and online presence. WHERE IS YOUR MARKET? There are free tools you can look up on Google to help you narrow down your market. In fact you can get pretty precise with this by going to http://www.google.com/trends . This will tell you where your specific audience is in a geographic location. The toolset is a little limited because you can only type in a couple of words to look up a particular subject. But still, it's a lot better than gnawing your teeth in your sleep and fretting over the details. I would think that in a mortgage and real estate market you would want to get REAL specific on your location. I am surprised at how many real estate professionals take this very casually online. More than often I am surprised at that these tactics are often ignored. The numbers are astounding. I feel for the entrepreneur who has to shell out a small fortune for direct mail. These postcards and letters rarely reach the right prospects. I can tell you stories about how these slick, highly polished pieces of direct mail often make their way to the garbage can. I ran across one campaign that was $15,000 dollars to produce. This postcard campaign got no results. Obviously the business owner was upset and wanted to stop the bleeding. Without flinching the business coach who ran the event coldly told the business owner to run the same postcard campaign three more times. He stressed that if he ran it over again, (to the tune of $60,000) he could get a 4% response rate. Or maybe he could get a 2% return on his postcards if he was somewhat lucky. It wasn't much to go on and the business owner slumped back into his chair. You see – I think that's terrible. Not only is the prospect out of luck he is clueless on what to do, where to go and how to go about his business. In fact, I will say this outright because I think you need to hear it Mr. Real Estate professional. The other thing that really irked me was the advice given on door hangers and other types of direct response mail. I got some news for the hopeful people of Michigan. The people have left the state. A healthy real estate boom begins with people and that's bottom line. It is a little hard to sell to a memory of what used to be. I find the conditions in Michigan horrifying to say the least. I also find the situation there to be relatively sad and out of touch with reality. There is an online component to this entire mess that seems to be missing. I find this to be very critical to success. Many web sites out there in the marketplace are floating in space. They are not anchored down by any keywords or are focused for any niche population. Most real estate web sites are a lot like junk mail. They never get found and they simply never get read. The real estate market is loaded with dead ends and headaches. But all of this can be easily avoided by finding your right target market. You need to go where the fish are. A lot of real estate sites I see by Remax, and others lack the essential online "guts" in their web pages to ever get listed. They are not equipped to be indexed or found online in any way. Worse, real estate professionals get a web site because they think that's the way to do business. They never spend any time with it. They never direct people to it in any way and they never try to steer prospects to it for any reason. In short, nobody sees the darn thing. Getting a web site and then not looking at it is pretty reckless behavior. I mean, if I had a choice to do that or nothing I would choose nothing. It makes perfect sense to me if you are not even going to be looking at it. The only thing a web site is good for is leverage. I use mine to save myself the headache of talking on the phone to unqualified prospects. I personally detest talking on the phone so why would I want to spend the entire day talking to broke people? There are a lot of people in the field who are that lonely and want to talk to a complete stranger. There are a lot of desperate women out there who need a man and will call businesses looking for weak minded men to hook up with. As pathetic as it sounds there are a lot of people out there who are just broke and bored. I am clueless to why anyone in this situation would want to solicit vendors – but they do. I show these people my web sites and get them off my phone. I only deal with serious minded individuals and you should too.
Article source: http://www.articles3000.com/Real-Estate/149313/Online-Real-Estate-Marketing-and-Drilling-in-the-Wrong-Place.html
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Internet And Business Online – The Act Of Interdependence
The best role of business online is that of interdependency. We’ve all heard the old saying, “No man is an island.” When it comes to online business this is especially true.
If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.
It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.
Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.
In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.
Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.
This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.
The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.
In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.
Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.
It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.
I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.
Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.
Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.
Article source: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4134.shtml
If a business owner who takes their business into the online world determines they will be self reliant and never accept the help of anyone then that individual will not be in business long enough to change their minds.
It is accepted fact that the greatest tool for long-term exposure to your website is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Without it potential customers can’t find you. It is unreasonable to expect that you can adequately develop a website without optimizing your website for the best possible search engine ranking.
Search engines also place a high value on sites that have links placed on existing sites. These ‘backlinks’ demonstrate to search engines that others trust your site. By placing your link on their website these other businesses indicate a trust and recommendation for your site.
In effect the two strategies listed above rely exclusively on what others can do for you when it comes to your online business.
Shirley Temple once proclaimed in her movie Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, “I’m very self-reliant.” American westerns are filled with lines dealing with pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and holding down the fort. Many of us have grown up to believe if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves.
This thinking is in opposition to the rules associated with an online business.
The online world can only exist because people share. Individuals share technology, but the also share links, reviews, blogs, forums and a wide range of other marketing strategies that find a commingling of interdependency.
In online business you are as dependent on others as they may be on you. Unlike the word ‘dependent’, the term interdependent indicates a mutual dependency. In other words you are depending on others to help provide links back to your site while they are equally dependent on you (or others) for the success of their business.
Have you really taken a proactive approach to networking? It’s possible you are reading this today and you’ve never considered asking someone else to place a link to your site on his or her online business site.
It can feel awkward depending on others to achieve online success especially if you’ve been lead to believe reliance on others is also a sign of imposing on their otherwise brilliant generosity.
I suppose it could be a deep-seated sense of pride that makes it hard to consider the need to ask others for help. However, the truth is depending on others is really what has made the Internet possible. The growth of this online world is comprised of a link of computers, networks and servers that are connected in a way that provides the maximum benefit for all.
Building an online business can feel a bit like trying to build a house of cards. Without the ability to rely on the other ‘cards’ around you it is virtually impossible to build.
Interdependence. This is the essence of online business.
Article source: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/computers_and_internet/article_4134.shtml
Effective Internet Advertising
Free internet advertising is one very important method for promoting your products and services to thousands of free ads. You've probably found this article because you did a search for "free advertising" on an internet search engine. If you have taken the time to research search engine placement, methods of obtaining a high search engine ranking, or Internet advertising, you have probably heard of Google Adwords.
Two of the most popular and successful advertising techniques on the Internet are pay per click campaigns and natural search engine optimization campaigns. If your company is not competing at the level it should be, perhaps it is time you looked into focusing more of your time and efforts into Internet advertising techniques that are successful. You will not only get the best results with a carefully designed system for generating Internet advertising for your blog, but you will also be able to sustain good results over a long period of time, which is what serious business and successful entrepreneurship is all about.
With a good well designed selling system in place, not only will you be able to get the best results while generating Internet advertising for your blog, but success will be virtually guaranteed. This difference with blog advertising rates is important because in the print media world, ad rates can not go below a certain point because if they do, the publication will cease to be profitable. In the print media, space is limited by the cost of production which keeps ad rates high and makes the balance of content versus advertising critical to the financial success of any print publication that relies on advertising.
Free internet advertising makes it easy for you to put free ads on several of the premier quality web sites whenever you want, for free. You know that you are visiting the forum merely for the free advertising for your website but it is better not to make this obvious if you want other members to react well to your advertising.
Internet forum etiquette demands that you spend a little time "lurking" ie logging in at the forum and reading previous and current threads before you even think of starting to use the forum for advertising. Whether you write your own articles or pay a ghostwriter to write your articles for you, the combined cost of creating and distributing your article is far less than the value of advertising that you will receive in exchange for the reprint use of your article. When you write articles that are consistent with the topics that your potential clientele will read, you are able to consistently target the people you need to reach with your advertising. If an advertiser is already paying 20 cents per click and your blog Internet advertising rate card charges them what works out to about 5 cents per click and there is a promise of the same or an even better conversion rate, you have won over that advertiser.
I have been paying for traffic and one of the best sources of targeted traffic is through pay per click search engines (PPC) or pay for placement search alternatives like Google adwords or Yahoo Sponsor Listings, formerly Overture. Google adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Listings are the kings of pay per placement search engines. And if you are in a highly competitive niche, the cost per visitor in pay per click search engines is pumping up day by day.
Source from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_4204.shtml
Two of the most popular and successful advertising techniques on the Internet are pay per click campaigns and natural search engine optimization campaigns. If your company is not competing at the level it should be, perhaps it is time you looked into focusing more of your time and efforts into Internet advertising techniques that are successful. You will not only get the best results with a carefully designed system for generating Internet advertising for your blog, but you will also be able to sustain good results over a long period of time, which is what serious business and successful entrepreneurship is all about.
With a good well designed selling system in place, not only will you be able to get the best results while generating Internet advertising for your blog, but success will be virtually guaranteed. This difference with blog advertising rates is important because in the print media world, ad rates can not go below a certain point because if they do, the publication will cease to be profitable. In the print media, space is limited by the cost of production which keeps ad rates high and makes the balance of content versus advertising critical to the financial success of any print publication that relies on advertising.
Free internet advertising makes it easy for you to put free ads on several of the premier quality web sites whenever you want, for free. You know that you are visiting the forum merely for the free advertising for your website but it is better not to make this obvious if you want other members to react well to your advertising.
Internet forum etiquette demands that you spend a little time "lurking" ie logging in at the forum and reading previous and current threads before you even think of starting to use the forum for advertising. Whether you write your own articles or pay a ghostwriter to write your articles for you, the combined cost of creating and distributing your article is far less than the value of advertising that you will receive in exchange for the reprint use of your article. When you write articles that are consistent with the topics that your potential clientele will read, you are able to consistently target the people you need to reach with your advertising. If an advertiser is already paying 20 cents per click and your blog Internet advertising rate card charges them what works out to about 5 cents per click and there is a promise of the same or an even better conversion rate, you have won over that advertiser.
I have been paying for traffic and one of the best sources of targeted traffic is through pay per click search engines (PPC) or pay for placement search alternatives like Google adwords or Yahoo Sponsor Listings, formerly Overture. Google adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Listings are the kings of pay per placement search engines. And if you are in a highly competitive niche, the cost per visitor in pay per click search engines is pumping up day by day.
Source from: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_4204.shtml
Internet Marketing And A Future Financial Focus
One of the prime motivations for Internet marketing is that you don’t want to be in the same place you are right now - in 12 months.
In every business the predominant idea is to set goals that help you conduct business smarter, learn lessons faster and bring more business to your site.
The problem is many entrepreneurs tend to stay focused on their bottom line and to product fulfillment issues. By doing so they may indeed find themselves in the same place 12 months from now. They may also find their business has declined in total sales revenue.
How is that possible?
This is an interesting question especially when, from all appearances, the business owner IS paying attention to their business and that the sales are brisk. It can also seem baffling when it appears that the business owner is busier than they have ever been.
The problem may be that some of the details of business should be delegated to other employees, especially if the business is of significant size.
The sad truth is some business owners are spending too much time in the mailroom and not enough time in long-term strategic planning. Online business grows as new ideas are developed and implemented.
It is not unlike an architect spending all his or her time developing the entryway of a new luxury hotel while failing to draw up plans for the rest of the building. It looks nice from the outside, but the inside is in disarray.
What this means, in the broadest terms, is that you need to pay attention to all aspects of your online business. If you don’t feel adequate to manage certain aspects of the business then find someone who can. When you neglect certain aspects of your business you will almost always run the risk of a loss of long-term business. You will also be subjected to feast or famine cycles where you may have more work than you can handle for a period of time and not enough work for an equal or greater length of time.
It’s a given that you find your business to be an important part of your life. You have invested a lot in the success of your business and that investment is too great to simply allow glaring marketing omissions to go unchallenged.
Sometimes business owners adopt an out of sight - out of mind mentality. They avoid those things that are not on their immediate radar. They push back all those things that are not fires to attend only the tyranny of the urgent.
Internet marketing is one of the very first things to be cast from view for many businesses. The reason this is true is because the role of marketing seems to have little intrinsic value for those online shops that are currently doing a brisk business. It appears to be a sign that they did everything right and can move on to the role of bean counter.
Learn the art of balancing your business interests and include marketing as a prime component for achieving future goals.
Source From: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_4209.shtml
In every business the predominant idea is to set goals that help you conduct business smarter, learn lessons faster and bring more business to your site.
The problem is many entrepreneurs tend to stay focused on their bottom line and to product fulfillment issues. By doing so they may indeed find themselves in the same place 12 months from now. They may also find their business has declined in total sales revenue.
How is that possible?
This is an interesting question especially when, from all appearances, the business owner IS paying attention to their business and that the sales are brisk. It can also seem baffling when it appears that the business owner is busier than they have ever been.
The problem may be that some of the details of business should be delegated to other employees, especially if the business is of significant size.
The sad truth is some business owners are spending too much time in the mailroom and not enough time in long-term strategic planning. Online business grows as new ideas are developed and implemented.
It is not unlike an architect spending all his or her time developing the entryway of a new luxury hotel while failing to draw up plans for the rest of the building. It looks nice from the outside, but the inside is in disarray.
What this means, in the broadest terms, is that you need to pay attention to all aspects of your online business. If you don’t feel adequate to manage certain aspects of the business then find someone who can. When you neglect certain aspects of your business you will almost always run the risk of a loss of long-term business. You will also be subjected to feast or famine cycles where you may have more work than you can handle for a period of time and not enough work for an equal or greater length of time.
It’s a given that you find your business to be an important part of your life. You have invested a lot in the success of your business and that investment is too great to simply allow glaring marketing omissions to go unchallenged.
Sometimes business owners adopt an out of sight - out of mind mentality. They avoid those things that are not on their immediate radar. They push back all those things that are not fires to attend only the tyranny of the urgent.
Internet marketing is one of the very first things to be cast from view for many businesses. The reason this is true is because the role of marketing seems to have little intrinsic value for those online shops that are currently doing a brisk business. It appears to be a sign that they did everything right and can move on to the role of bean counter.
Learn the art of balancing your business interests and include marketing as a prime component for achieving future goals.
Source From: http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_4209.shtml
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)