I’d like to share an excellent new article with you from Tom Nelson of NDG Communications. Tom’s a respected industry expert on new home advertising and marketing, and this article is from the NDG communications blog. Tom believes there’s enough evidence to think the bounce in home prices and values is right around the corner, and provides four marketing fundamentals we should all consider and practice in preparation for the bounce. –Myers

From the Washington Post:
"The battered housing market appears to be on the mend, with sales climbing nationally and prices leveling off, even rising in some spots….On Tuesday, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller price index, a closely watched gauge, showed that single-family-home prices rose 0.5 percent from April to May, the first monthly increase since 2006. Earlier this week, the Federal government reported an 11 percent rise in new-home sales from May to June, the largest monthly gain in nine years."

So, according to a key indicator of the housing market, for the first time in nearly three years home prices actually rose month-over-month across the nation. Foreclosures have slowed as well as lenders address new loan-modification programs, and economists think there’s now enough data to show that the housing market is  recovering and even bottoming in some parts of the country. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal reports this indicator data as a possible “change in momentum” for the housing market.

Now that reliable data shows that the bottom is being reached across the nation, it’s time to prepare for the bounce in your market. But your budgets are still tight, and you’re not even sure how to prepare after such an extended downturn. Here are the four marketing fundamentals every homebuilder or real estate brokerage should be doing to prepare for the bounce, with little cash expense required:

1.    Follow Up: Odds are, you already know the person who’s going to buy that house. They’ve likely already visited the community if not the very same unit. Go back to your prospect list and follow up.

2.    One Person’s Inventory is Another’s Content: Utilize the free and low-price targeted online advertising available to you, including trulia.com, zillow.com, newhomesindex.com, move.com, craigslist.com, realtor.com, google base, and others to give the right online searchers numerous opportunities to encounter your offerings, all at incredibly low cost or, at some sites, for free.

3.    Reach Out: Nationwide, more than 50% of all new home sales in 2008 were through a realtor. In fact, some builders saw this figure rise as high as 90% in the last year. It’s not enough to have just an introductory event and send out an occasional postcard. Your outreach must be coordinated, consistent, and actually connect—create events that encourage realtors to bring their clients to experience what your products or communities have to offer, stay up-to-date, and boost the frequency of your contact with them. Get more solid advice on Realtor Outreach from the NDG Blog.

4.    Start Listening: All those nifty social media tools like facebook and twitter are just the means to an end. We’re not just using them to be using them; we’re using them to have a new kind of conversation. Social media channels aren’t like the old, 1-way, broadcast channels where you just yelled at people, frequently. Online, people are talking back, and you must hold up your end of the conversation by genuinely listening and honestly responding. Listening will give you incredible insights; not listening will become dangerously reckless.

Commit to doing these four marketing fundamentals, and you’ll be cost-effectively connecting with your prospects and opening new channels in preparation for the rebound.

Posted In: New Home Sales

In this post, we continue our discussion of how to properly reach out and engage Realtors in your sales process.

Remember, what the realtor wants more than anything is more REFERRALS. Even with cash incentives, the realtor may feel compelled to pass on some or all of this benefit to their client to get that coveted referral. So if you can structure a program that offers the realtor other incentives in addition to bonuses and good commissions—such as trips to a spa, or travel gifts—you’ll provide a spectrum of rewards that will help you attract more realtors.

And, if you can provide just as many rewards for the realtor’s clients such as upgrades or additional options, or help with costs or down payments, you will have given the realtor every reason to bring clients to your property.

Contact is also very important—It’s not enough to have just an introductory event and send out an occasional postcard. Create events that encourage realtors to bring their clients to experience what your community has to offer, and do them more often. Provide give-away gifts or drawings that reward both the realtor and client for attending.

Always remember: Providing incentives is the key to successful realtor outreach, and that without realtor participation, you’re missing possibly more than 50% of your potential sales.

Stay tuned for more from real estate advertising & e-marketing expert Tom Nelson of NDG Communications.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing, Real estate courses, new home sales management

Frequently we come across blog postings, white papers, and articles in magazines regarding the use of Flash-based websites and its negative effect on search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Almost unanimously, many who claim to be experts condemn the use of Flash and label the technology as a "death wish" for those who wish to achieve high search engine rankings, especially on Google.com.

The Facts: Optimizing Flash is not easy, but far from impossible.

Flash is now a viable technology that helps create rich online experiences and, with common sense tactics, can be optimized to target search engine results. Innovation in Flash website development practices, combined with other development technologies (like JavaScript) can now help produce high Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings for Flash websites.

In July 2008, Google and Adobe (the developers of Flash) announced a joint-venture update to resolve the Flash/SEO issue. The introduction of Google’s Flash algorithm means most Flash sites are, by default, search engine-friendly—assuming your programmer is up to date on the latest techniques required to effectively optimize Flash.

Of course, some issues remain, but these are being addressed and industry-standard work-around solutions have been developed to make Flash a viable technology to use for websites. And with Google now capturing 64% of the search engine traffic, and providing reliable indexing of Flash sites with their new algorithm, Flash should be a major component in the technical palette of every web designer and programmer.

Still Not Convinced? More in-depth technical explanations of these techniques can be found online. There are many sources where more specifics can be provided on actual SEO for Flash tactics.

Here are some examples of Flash-based websites with effective SEO from the NDG Communications portfolio:

VillagesOfSteepleChase.com

This Flash-based website is optimized for several key phrases, but our main phrase is "Townhomes in La Plata." Our Google SERP (search engine results page) has this site ranking consistently between #2 to #4.

ChesterRiverHomes.com

Using the search phrase "Chestertown Waterfront Homes," the Google SERP ranking for this Flash-based website is consistently #2 or #3.

So, while Flash is not necessarily the best choice for every website, it has been proven in usability research to enhance the overall user experience by making a site more interactive and intuitive. Remember, you have approximately 4 seconds to really grab a website visitor’s attention and help them make the decision to stay and consume more of your content. For now and the foreseeable future, Flash is still the best technology available to website designers to achieve real engagement and to convert visitors to registered users, and it can now be properly indexed by the world’s most dominant search engine, Google.com, ensuring that SEO goals are attainable.

Stay tuned for more from real estate advertising & e-marketing expert Tom Nelson of NDG Communications.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales, New home sales marketing, new home sales management

By following some basic rules, we can ensure that we see real returns on our signage investment, ensure that we’re giving sales staff everything they need to get traffic flowing, and remove any room for excuses. Here are some more fundamental rules for making sure that we get the most from our signage.

TEMPORARY SIGNAGE:
These signs, while temporary, are absolutely invaluable for driving traffic. They include A-frames, flags, spinners, etc, with messages such as "Now Open", "Event Today", "Decorated Model," etc, and they should all naturally list the property name and contact information including phone number and website address should those interested not have time to stop for your event.

PROXIMITY BILLBOARDS:
Rental outdoor signage like billboards can be very cost-effective, despite what you may have thought about their cost before. Rather than using these signs as branding for your company’s offerings and lifestyle, etc, these should be used as very large "directional" signs that are simple, basic, and to the point: OPAL POINT / NEW TOWNHOMES / NEXT LEFT" and of course, again, you must include the property website address.

READABILITY & CONSISTENCY:
Finally, what makes signage effective is ensuring that it is engaging and attention-getting while also being easy to read, easy to pull the essential information from (see the criteria for "Entrance Sign" above), and ensuring that all signs are consistent—that is, that each clearly looks like it came from the same property. When signs do not appear to be all from or for the same property, they are confusing to the prospect. And consistency helps build recognition, further maximizing your investment.

There are of course more kinds of signage, and things you can do with them, but these are the essentials you must follow to make sure your signage is really working for you as hard as possible.

Stay tuned for more from real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson of NDG Communications.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Management Training, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing, Real estate courses, Sales Management, new home sales management

In this post, real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson shares insights on maximizing your signage investment to pull as much traffic as possible.

What brings traffic? Quality websites that are optimized for search engines to find easily. But beyond that, the second biggest source of traffic is still the most fundamental and traditional type of advertising: Signage. We often make many excuses for why traffic is down, and usually the culprit that sales people point to is "poor signage."

By following some basic rules, we can ensure that we see real returns on our signage investment, ensure that we’re giving sales staff everything they need to get traffic flowing, and remove any room for excuses. If your website is pulling qualified traffic and your signage is too, then the only thing left for salespeople to do is close the deal. No more excuses. Let’s make signage work as hard as possible for us.

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF NEW HOME SALES SIGNAGE:

THE ENTRANCE SIGN:
The entrance sign must be highly visible, easily readable (even at 55mph+), share product type, amenities, phone number, and most importantly, the website address.

MODEL/SALES CENTER SIGN:
The model or sales center sign must include model name (if applicable), hours of operation, phone number, and again, most importantly, the website address.

DIRECTIONALS/BANDITS:
Directional routes should be well mapped out. Directional signs should help buyers find your communities and capturing buyer interest in your property. These signs also let “drive-bys” know there is a home on the market in the neighborhood. The signs should be clear and easy to read; 20×24 is recommended. The routes should be driven every weekend to ensure proper placement of signs.

Stay tuned for the second half of this article from real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Customer Service, Marketing, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Management Training, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing, Real estate courses, Sales Management, new home sales management

In this follow-up post, real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson shares more on how website searches are used by prospective homebuyers and how you can make sure your website is as close to the top of their list as possible.

As I mentioned last time, with interactive advertising the advertiser now has total control of budget—meaning they determine how much they are willing to pay for each click, and how many clicks they will pay for in a pre-determined period.

And, with the fully detailed reports of the campaign’s performance provided by the various ad venues (Google AdWords, AdSense, Realtor.com, etc.) you can now actually see and determine what works and what doesn’t to refine your approach to maximize the return on your online advertising investment.

This is the true advertising revolution: You are now in control. You determine what is spent, where it’s spent, and when to change course to ensure your share of the prospect pie. And you do it armed with hard and accurate information about your results.

Stay tuned for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Management Training, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing, Personal Development, Real estate courses, Recommended Blogs, Sales Management

In this post, real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson shares more on how website searches are used by prospective homebuyers and how you can make sure your website is as close to the top of their list as possible.

Last time, we talked about the fundamentals of making sure your website is as close to the top of the list as possible for prospect internet searches. Implementing those changes is critical, but the process takes time. And since we know that time is money, and that we have sales goals to meet every month and quarter, let’s discuss what you can do while you’re working on improving your search rankings. If you can’t get to the top of the list organically (that is, without paying for it, by relying on the fundamentals of your website’s content for search engine optimization), you can buy your way to the top, often for a very competitive price, and even with small and limited budget.

One very effective form of internet advertising, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), is flexible, measurable, and highly effective. Providing the campaign is professionally managed PPC advertising can provide an excellent return on investment, enabling you to reach potential customers at the right time, right place, and right cost.

What is "Pay-Per-Click"? When you search for something on google.com, you’ll see both a list of websites in the main column, as well as narrow column of "paid-for" websites in the right-hand column. These are essentially ads for your website that appear based on specific keyword searches. You determine which keywords or keyword phrases are appropriate for your prospects and your property, for example "Waterfront lots in Charles County" or "St. Louis Townhomes."

While it may appear that this approach could be costly, "Pay-Per-Click" is really "Pay-Per-Performance" because you only pay when a user clicks through to your website, rather than paying for each time your ad is displayed. This is a vast improvement over traditional print advertising which relies on the reader actually remembering what she or he read to use later, and cannot prove its effectiveness. Better still, with Pay-Per-Click, you get to actually bid on these search terms or phrases rather than just paying a set fee, and you can control when your ads will appear, as well as control your total budget—you determine how much you will spend in a given time period.

And, because this is interactive advertising, you can now truly see what works—and what doesn’t, so that you can fine-tune your approach over time to maximize your online advertising investment. Then, if your website has a clear and compelling message, the probability of conversion (an online registration) is high, and an in-person visit from the prospect is now much more likely, giving your sales team the opportunity to make personal contact with the prospect.

Stay tuned for the second half of this article for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales, New Home Sales Management Training, New Home Sales Training, New home sales marketing, Real estate courses, Sales Management, new home sales management

In this post, real estate advertising and e-marketing expert Tom Nelson shares more on how website searches are used by prospective homebuyers and how you can make sure your website is as close to the top of their list as possible.

Last time, I gave you some hard facts about the importance of search engine optimization for new home sales websites, like the fact that 84% of homebuyers start their new home search on the internet. So you understand WHY you need to be concerned about making sure search engines rank your website as high as possible. Now, here’s the HOW. Below are some fundamentals you must consider when creating your website in order to help search engines connect you with the right prospects who are searching for new homes.

It is estimated that 47% of all website visits come from direct navigation (that is, a user typing the website address or URL directly into the address navigation box). Therefore, your website’s address or "URL" should be simple and intuitive — as close to the community’s name or brand as possible. The closer your website address to your actual property’s name, the easier it will be for prospects to locate you online and for search engines to connect your website with the right prospects.

A website’s architecture (the pages of content and how they are structured together) and the actual content of the website’s pages themselves have a direct impact on the way search engines interpret the site’s information and determine its relevancy. So, the better your content, the more relevant it is to your prospects, and the fresher it is, the easier it will be for prospects to find your website via search engines. When you update your website often with news, events, and more detailed information, the search engines notice this and will boost your ranking higher so that you can be found more easily. Websites that never change will begin to fall further down the list. The lesson: Stay fresh.

Websites use special "tags" in the actual programming code to help search engines understand the content of your website. The Title Tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings. Limited to 68 characters including spaces, the title tag description is what appears in the clickable link on the search engine results page and is incredibly important in helping your website get better search rankings. Each page in your website can have a separate title tag that describes the page’s content. Remember, the title tag determines what your prospects will see when they’re searching for new homes online and find your website’s listing, and will help them determine whether to click your link, or to skip it and move on. So make sure you take advantage of this simple but most important programming tag to connect with your prospects.

Having other websites link to your website can boost your ranking with some of the search engines and substantially increase the flow of traffic through your site. Just as having new and fresh content regularly added to your website will help improve your ranking, the more links you have between your website and others the more search engine optimization benefit you’ll be able to realize.

There are many, many more methods and strategies for helping your website achieve better search engine results rankings, but the ones we’ve discussed today are among the most fundamental and a good place to start. My company, NDG Communications, has helped countless clients boost their rankings to get more qualified leads, increase registrations, and help establish communities with our effective SEO services and e-marketing capabilities.

Stay tuned for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Blogroll, Customer Service, Marketing, New Home Sales, Sales Management

Ready to see how your website really measures up when it comes to driving qualified traffic? Use this professional website assessment checklist to see if your website is making the grade and or if you could use some improvement. Scoring is based on a 1 through 10 system—1 being extremely poorly represented and 10 is extremely well represented. Be honest and objective.

WEBSITE GRADING CHART

URL (short, simple, intuitive) _____/10
Download Time (size of home page) _____/10
Look and Feel (readability) _____/10
Require User to Download Additional Software _____/10
Homepage on One Screen (above the fold) _____/10
Unique Selling Point (USP) or Value Proposition_____/10
Ability to Take Action (Key action points provided)_____/10
Feeling of Wanting More (depth of site)_____/10
Contact Details_____/10
Credential Validation (certifications, associations etc.)_____/10
Statement from Management_____/10
Useful Information_____/10
Level of Interaction_____/10
Use of Valuable Graphics_____/10
Use of Valuable Animation_____/10
Reviews, Testimonials, and Certifications_____/10
Content Presented in Digestible Quantities_____/10
Up-to-Date Information_____/10
Available in Multiple Languages_____/10
Accessibility for the Disabled_____/10
Disclaimers & Terms of Use_____/10
Easily Usable Site Structure/Content_____/10
Useful Title Tags_____/10
Description Meta Tags_____/10
Site Directory/Site Map_____/10
ALT Tags_____/10
Partner & Affiliate Links _____/10

TOTAL____/270

SCORING:

240 points or more: Excellent work; are you one of my clients?

200-240 points: Great effort, but more work is required to drive traffic and sales

100-200 points: Seek Professional Help

Less than 100 Points: Critical Warning—Get Help Fast

Stay tuned for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Marketing, New Home Sales

DOES YOUR WEBSITE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO DRIVE TRAFFIC? Part 2

With the website being the most fundamental marketing tool, and the hub of all information, here are some additional critical factors to consider for your sales website:

CONTACT DETAILS
Providing immediate contact details such as email addresses and telephone numbers on the home page will give the site an open feel and add a personal touch, thus increasing user confidence and instilling credibility.

CREDENTIAL VALIDATION/TESTIMONIALS
Providing the kinds of information that establishes credibility and consumer confidence, such as awards, is a useful way to build trust with the consumer. Providing independent comments on positive experiences (applicable to the product or company) will have an even greater impact—instilling confidence in your brand and qualitatively boosting the consumer’s perception of the quality of your product and company.

STATEMENT FROM MANAGEMENT
This content will share the vision and values of the people who envisioned and are building the community. This information provides credibility and legitimacy for the property.

UP-TO-DATE
All content published on the website should be recent and up-to-date.

DISCLAIMERS & TERMS OF USE
It is very important to supply the appropriate disclaimers, terms of use, privacy policy, and other legal terms.

Stay tuned for the next part of this article for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Customer Service, Marketing, New Home Sales

DOES YOUR WEBSITE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO DRIVE TRAFFIC? Part 1

In today’s market, new home consumers are spending up to eight weeks doing their research online. Their goal in this research process is to shop by elimination—to narrow their search down to three communities that fit their desires and then make an on-site visit. If your website does not effectively tell your story or resonate with the consumer, you will lose this battle before you ever realized it began.

Consumers will not contact you to clarify your message—they will simply eliminate your product from consideration. With the website being the most fundamental marketing tool, the hub of all the information here are some key considerations:

UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP)
It is extremely important that the user can immediately ascertain the value of the site’s purpose and the usefulness of the content. The unique selling proposition should be clearly stated on the home page. Remember, current research tells us that we have 4 SECONDS to tell your user who you are in order for them to continue to invest their valuable time in your website.

KEY ACTION POINTS/ CALL-TO-ACTION
This site should be richly interactive and encourage user participation from the outset. There should be direct links to key action points immediately visible on the homepage. The website should provide a means to engage in a discussion with the user and encourage the next step—direct contact via an online form, email, or phone call.

DEPTH OF SITE AND LEVEL OF INTERACTION
The site should strive to completely engage the user. The goal should be to create a website with such compelling and engaging content that the user stays as long as possible on each visit, and revisits the site frequently. Also, as a medium, websites are especially tailored to present content through the combined use of text, graphics, and animation—offering a huge potential to convey content and meaning to users. Therefore, a website should be as interactive as possible to take advantage of the great opportunity to engage users

AESTHETICS/USE OF VALUABLE GRAPHICS
Successful websites are founded in firm and established design principles. Graphics should add value to the website, and never reduce the readability or performance. It is important that the look and feel of a website be a positive and compelling visual reflection of the product through the use of colors, fonts, and graphics.

USEFUL INFORMATION
All content presented on the site should be of the highest quality. Animations and graphics are to support the content, not compete. It is important to ensure that your message is clear and your intent is obvious. Ensure that all content is accurate and error free.

Stay tuned for the next part of this article for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Blogroll, Marketing, New Home Sales

HOW BUYERS FIND YOU IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Part 2

So your website has fresh and relevant content—but even the best website in the world will not lead to conversions if prospects never even know about your website.

It is therefore critical to ensure that, when prospective buyers who should be your prospective buyers are searching the web, they find your website. The process of helping your website connect with people you want to find it is called "Search Engine Optimization" often abbreviated as "SEO."

SEO is a set of an ever-evolving set of methods to help your website achieve the highest ranking possible in search engine results. And while the specifics of HOW it’s done can be a bit complicated, the WHY cannot be overstated. Here are some incredible facts: According to Forrester Research, 81% of internet users find websites via search engines. In addition, the first 3 positions in "organic" (that is, non-paid) search engine results are viewed almost 100% of the time, and the 4th organic position was viewed 85% of the time.

In total, 90% of all Internet search engine traffic goes to the top 30 organic search results. And with 84% of homebuyers starting their new home search on the internet, you can see the overwhelming importance of proper Search Engine Optimization in getting prospects to your community.

So, that’s the WHY. Next time we’ll begin to discuss the HOW—the specifics of how you can make sure your website has effective content, and is effectively optimized for web search engines to be able to connect you with the right prospects.

Stay tuned for the next part of this article for more new home sales insights from real estate e-marketing expert Tom Nelson.

Posted In: Blogroll, Marketing, New Home Sales