Downtime is a Good Time: Brush Up Your
Internet Marketing Plan

Jennifer Hoppenrath - Z57 REALTOR® Resource

1. Is your website customer based?

Too often we focus on telling potential clients about ourselves at the cost of focusing on why they are coming to our website to begin with. Are they a buyer? A seller? Do they know what they want? If they need a manual to navigate your website or have to wait for tedious biographies and images they are likely to go someplace else.

2. Are you pre-qualifying leads as often as possible?

Leads are important, but you need "real" leads from "interested" parties. To ensure you receive these, you want direct responses from targeted campaigns. Providing relevant information such as home price evaluations, home tours, and community statistics in exchange for contact information is a good way to ensure your leads are legit. The more specific a concern your offer addresses, the more specific the lead. Use this time to review your website offerings and make sure they are targeted and relevant.

3. Is your Internet marketing cyclical?

A solid Internet marketing plan is cyclical in its nature. A prospect finds your website via a search engine, traditional ad, or word of mouth. They fill out a lead generation form and receive email from you over time to establish a relationship. These "drip" emails encourage the prospect to return to your website on a regular basis. Even once your prospect has become a client, it's important to keep in touch with email and newsletter campaigns to capture referrals and repeat business. Do you keep "touching" your farm with email campaigns?

4. Are you utilizing your auto-responders effectively?

One of the first triggers to beginning a cyclical marketing cycle with a prospect is to fully utilize auto-responders. In addition to simply confirming that the prospect's email has been received, this is your first opportunity to communicate with your prospect. Offer them incentives to return to your website. Provide coupons and valuable links above and beyond what your prospect is expecting. Being personable and exceeding their expectations is what your Realty is about, right? Make sure your auto-responder shows your prospects this. It's your first chance to establish contact.

5. Have you partnered with a technical consultant?

Let's face it. Technology is often confusing and almost always time consuming. You're focus is on customer service, not programming. When it comes to website maintenance and report compilations, smart Realtor's leave it to the experts. Hiring a consultant or assistant to take care of these tedious tasks reserves your time for the critical objective of superior service and closed transactions. This follows the age-old wisdom that if you can't do it well yourself, hire someone who can.

6. Do your Internet and Traditional marketing compliment one another?

Your online and offline marketing should be integrated. Every single print piece you produce should have your website address and email printing clearly on it. Your website should list your physical address and phone number. Your answering machine should refer people to your website as well. Remember to be specific when referring a prospect to your website. Give them three specific reasons why they should visit, such as viewing your available listings, home value calculators, or community information. The more specific the reasons, the more likely they will actually visit your website, the more likely they will be to give you a lead, and the more likely that that lead will be pre-qualified.