• Calls-to-action do best “above the fold” – the space where your webpage is viewable to the user without having to scroll down. Accord to heat map analysis, anything “below the fold” will only be viewed by 50% of people who visit the page.
• Your web designer might kick and scream about this, but if your call-to-action blends in too much with your site design, it won’t stand out as much. You want as many eyeballs to land on that call-to-action as possible, so use contrasting colors to make the CTA stand out.
• Whenever you create a new blog post, choose an offer that’s most relevant to the content of the post. Then add a call-to-action to the bottom of that blog post linking to the landing page for that offer. Informational offers such as ebooks, guides, and webinars do very well in this space, because people reading your blog likely are eager to get more free information from you.
• Make it clear in your brief paragraph and/or bullet points what the benefits of the offer are. It’s more than just listing what the offer is comprised of; it takes a bit of spin. Instead of “Includes specifications of product XYZ,” say something like “Find out how XYZ can increase productivity by 50%.” In other words, convey the value of your offer clearly and effectively.
• When creating a thank you page, not only can you bring back the navigation, but you can provide other links to keep the lead engaged. You can include calls-to-action to the next step in the buying cycle, link to your blog, encourage them to follow you on Twitter, ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, and more. You can do a lot more with your thank you pages than just adding tracking code!

Click here to read the free HubSpot White Paper yourself!

Introducing RAINMAKER SOCIAL, the one-of-a-kind collection of tools to enhance your RAINMAKER MEGA SITE and bring it into the Social Age. Social Media and “social search” have arrived. And, the future is now. Here’s why:

• “Inbound links are a good measure of authority, but they are slow. In a social media world, a relevant piece of content on a subject could become outdated in minutes.” – RAINMAKER SOCIAL users love the easy-to-use share tools in the new system compared to the out-dated (and slower) inbound links. With the share tools, you can constantly share content and stay relevant without the wait!
• “Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter are battling over the future of search. It is clear to all of these internet giants that social search is the future.” – These companies basically decide what user’s search. As they enhance Social Search, we all will be taken along for the ride too. That’s why it’s important for RAINMAKER SOCIAL users to hop on the bandwagon now so you get an early start on the future ahead of your competition.
• “Google+ is the fastest growing social network ever.” Google+ is not important – not yet — in the inherent contact database sense like Facebook. However, going forward Google will be using Google+ as its main source of social search data. Because Google is the #1 search engine in the world (no surprise there!) that makes Google+ an important tool in Google’s Social Search Rankings. Bottom line: Social search is coming on fast. Ride the wave…don’t get drowned by it.
• “Facebook’s current share of the search engine market is miniscule… why does Facebook not have at least a negligible portion of the search market? Simple: Private data. … The limitations of private data make Facebook a weak search engine and subsequently resulted in very little usage.” – This however has changed recently with the inclusion of the ability to select your own privacy settings with each individual post. RAINMAKER SOCIAL users are now sharing via the PUBLIC option that is now included. Use this public option as much as possible and you will build a pool of data and results that optimize your chances of being found through Facebook search.
• “Social search is really about more personalized search engine results.” – Search in the future will be personalized. That’s why RAINMAKER SOCIAL users are building their personal search network today.

Don’t miss out on the future. Check out www.RainmakerSocial.com for more information and order today to get a jump on your competition!

For more about integrating search and social marketing read this excellent, free whitepaper: www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-whitepapers/

Jesse Hickman

Were retail sales up in your area? If so, consumers may have a renewed sense of security, edging toward making purchasing decisions that they have been holding back on for several years. Besides buying electronics, household items, etc., they may now be back in the mindset to purchase something larger — like real estate. If there have been fewer layoffs by major businesses in your area, new growth in a niche business in your area, or simply stability where there was none, these consumers may be ready to make a move in real estate.

Take advantage of the momentum after the busy holiday season to ramp up your marketing. Reinvest in your business with renewed efforts at lead generation to attract the attention of new home buyers — and sellers too! Reassess your marketing — add appropriate electronic and print campaigns to find leads in niche areas you may have dropped in the recent past. This spring’s real estate market could be a different one than in the past. Are you ready?

The opportunities are endless and the impressions you’ll get as an advertiser are great.  Consider these facts from Forrester Research about e-book users:

7% of adults read e-books.  This number is expected to double next year, making almost 1 in 5 adults reading e-books.

Of those who own e-book readers such as Kindles, 41% of the books they read are in e-book form.

The e-book market is expected to grow from $966 million in 2010 to $3 billion by 2015.

As you plan for future marketing opportunities, don’t forget e-books in your mix.  You might find local, independent publishers seeking sponsors to get a book published — and advertisements might be the winning option for you.

If you’re an e-book user, how do you feel about ads in your e-books?  As a real estate professional who markets themselves, how do you feel about advertising in e-books?

According to Burst Media who conducted a survey in November of this year, a little over half (54.9%) of those surveyed considered dynamic ads “annoying and distracting.”  Never fear.  If you remember the early years of banner ads and other online advertising, everyone thought they were annoying and distracting as well.  Banner ads haven’t disappeared just because of that sentiment early on.

Dynamic, targeted ads are likely here to stay as evidenced by those who “like” the ads:  35.2% (one third) of 18-34-years old respondents, 25.1% (one quarter) of those age 35-54 years old and 16.7% of those 55 and older.

In terms of whether respondents like — or dislike — a company more after seeing a targeted ad from them, the ads have little impact:  17.4% after visiting the advertiser’s website say they have a better impression of the company or product as a result of seeing the targeted ad, while a worse opinion is held by 10.9%.  In the survey, men (23.2%) are more likely than women (11.6%) to come away with a better impression of a company or product after seeing a dynamic ad.

What does this mean for you?  Your target market can be reached with targeted ads.  Take time to learn about dynamic advertising possibilities.  You might be surprised at the response you get!

Share your experience with targeted ads.

You really need to take the time and energy to analyze your email and mailing lists and determine who is a cold lead, a hot lead, a prospect, a client and a long-term contact. And, you need to determine among those groups who are buyers and who are sellers. Further still, you should work to find out other details among the buyers and sellers including those who are relocating, down sizing, moving up, first-timers, etc.

The task is time consuming, but it is also vitally important. Consumers — like your home buyers and sellers — are bombarded with marketing messages constantly. The minute that you mistakenly market to them incorrectly (sending a seller-topic message to a first-time home buyer, for example) you lose them. Because it’s obvious to them that you don’t know what their real estate goals are, they are less likely to tune in further to your messages and trust you with their real estate needs.

If you’ve fine tuned your marketing to speak to the recipients’ specific needs, you are more likely to hold their attention, gain their trust and continue the conversation to build a relationship toward new business.

Segmenting your email and mailing lists is a necessary task. Building off of yesterday’s post about getting more detail in your database, be sure you track all the details you can about the leads, prospect and clients you communicate with daily. This depth of information will help you create marketing messages to your lists that are relevant and engaging.

Share your list segmenting successes with our readers. How do you keep the messages relevant for recipients?

Despite not hearing back from them,  you just keep on emailing.  Be careful with your emailing lists and re-examine your email list metrics routinely.  Your email needs to be relevant to the recipient in order for them to open it.  It needs to have a targeted message and call to action.  You need to ensure that the person is still interested in purchasing or selling a home in your area.

A recent study by Return Path analyzed 40 emails sent by businesses to former customers.  Despite the previous customer not opening, clicking or buying from the business for over a year and a half, these businesses continued to send email, averaging 9 to 11 messages per month.  Additionally, these continual emails revealed the following:

• Only 12.5% of the businesses tried to win back these customers with a special offer or message aimed at getting them to reactivate their buyer status.
• Only 1 business sent an email asking if it was okay to continue sending email, despite the inactivity.
• None of the businesses offered specifically to change the frequency of emailings or content.
• None of the “reactivate” email messages were customized based on the customer’s previous purchase.

How can you battle email inactivity?

• Ask your recipients questions within the messages to get them engaged.
• Regularly offer a short survey or poll to gather useful market information and gauge their interest.  F
• Frequently re-ask your subscribers if the email frequency is suitable for them.
• Ask them if the content if relevant or if they’d like different contact from you — perhaps they’ve already sold their home or purchased a new one and have a different need for your services.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals.  Perhaps their housing needs are set, but they may know someone who needs your services to buy or sell a home.
• Customize your messages for different segments in your email list.  ”One size fits all” won’t work for prospects at different points in the decision to buy or sell a home process.
• Send invitations to special events, seminars, open houses, etc. that you or your firm offers.

Let us know how you ensure your email marketing list is a vibrant and active group of people who are still interested in buying or selling a home.

If you don’t know what you’d write about, here are some great titles that could get you started.  Remember to think local when you write as home buyers and sellers are always eagerly looking for information specific to your neighborhood.  You are the expert in your neighborhood for real estate information; you are a great resource!

• How To Find A Professional Real Estate Agent (and extoll all your experience)
• How To Buy A Home In A Distressed Market
• Top Strategies For Selling Your Home In A Buyer’s Market
• The Best Way To Sell A Home In YOUR TOWN
• How To Buy A Home For The Best Price In YOUR TOWN
• The Ultimate Home Sellers Guide For YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
• The Complete Home Buyers Guide: YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD EDITION

The list goes on and on in terms of what you could write about to get buyer’s and/or seller’s attention….and business.

Let us know if you’ve published and e-book and what it’s done for your business.

Everyone is familiar with the big standards in online advertising — Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.  However there are a lot more options available that can drive traffic to your online website, blog, microsite, Facebook profile or Twitter feed.

If you are target marketing a certain segment, you can find exactly the right advertising network that specializes in that niche — or attracts those with that interest or characteristics.  And, the benefit of pinpointing a specific group of home buyers and sellers is that your advertising is likely to be more successful!

Let us know if you’ve used any advertisers outside the big four and what your experience has been.  Perhaps you can add to this extensive list with your favorites to find new home buyers and sellers?

Be sure that if your business is in the Street View on Google Maps, that the location is correct.  The last thing you need is an eager home buyer or seller driving to meet you at the office and not being able to find you!  To correct the accuracy of your business location on Street View, visit Google’s Fix a Location Marker to adjust the location marker.

What other ways do you ensure that your business can be found on electronic sites?