From all of us at NDG Communications, we wish you and yours the very happiest of holidays. We hope you can take this time to relax, reconnect with loved ones, and prepare for a bigger and better new year. See you in 2009.
Tags: HolidaysYearly Archive for 2008
Last time, we 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. 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. If we can help you, please call or e-mail today.
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
Tags: ndg communications, optimization, search, SEO, traffic, web content, websitesDOES 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 basic but 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.
Tags: ndg communications, optimization, real estate marketing, real estate web marketing, search, SEO, web content, web traffic, websites
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. And make sure that all content is accurate and error free.
Stay tuned for the next part of this article for more new home sales insights from NDG’s Tom Nelson.
Tags: content, ndg communications, optimization, real estate marketing, real estate web marketing, search, SEO, websitesJoin one of the building industry’s most requested advisors and speakers, Myers Barnes, for an exclusive web seminar on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Myers Barnes is an acknowledged leader in new home sales and is known worldwide as one of the industry’s foremost expert authorities in real estate sales, management, and corporate growth.
A licensed general contractor and broker who climbed the rungs on the ladder of success one by one, Myers is a true entrepreneur with an active interest in property sales, homebuilding, and community development. Don’t miss the unique opportunity to see Myers in action and get unparalleled insights into new home sales.
For more information about when, where, and how to watch this exclusive web seminar with Myers Barnes, please click here.
Tags: marketing, ndg communications, new home marketing, new home sales marketing, real estate marketing, real estate web marketingHOW BUYERS FIND YOU IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Part 2
NDG President Tom Nelson shares 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.
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.
Tags: e-marketing, ndg communications, optimization, real estate web marketing, search, search engines, SEOHOW BUYERS FIND YOU IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Part 1
NDG President Tom Nelson shares 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.
If you haven’t figured it out already, your website is now the most fundamental marketing tool for new home salespeople, builders, and developers. In almost every case, prospects will visit websites based on search engine results, long before they ever visit the actual property site. In fact, they’ll most likely decide which properties to visit in person based on their visits to websites.
Recent research tells us that approximately 84% of homebuyers start their new home search on the internet. Their goal in this research process is to shop by elimination—to narrow their search down to just 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 you from consideration. So websites must be carefully crafted and include good and fresh content that is relevant to the prospect’s needs.
Stay tuned for the second half of this article from Tom.
Tags: Add new tag, e-marketing, ndg communications, optimization, real estate, real estate web, search, SEO, websitesNDG WINS BIG: Going for Gold at “The Nationals” Sales & Marketing Awards
Now in its 28th year, The Nationals is the nation’s largest competition for new home sales and marketing professionals and communities. The Nationals award show pays tribute to superior new home sales and marketing achievements by individual sales and marketing professionals, homebuilders and associates, and sales and marketing councils. The competition is presented by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and major industry co-sponsors.
This year NDG Communications landed two Silver Awards at the MAME (Major Achievements in Marketing Excellence) awards, entitling us to compete at The Nationals for Gold and national recognition. We are proud to share this achievement with Kaine Homes, for whom we won Best Brochure for a Builder, and Best Website for a Builder. Widely known for their proprietary, step-by-step process that leaves no detail to question, Kaine Homes provides extensive home customization options that ensure each new home they craft reflects the distinctive character of the homeowners, and the work NDG created for Kaine helps to reinforce and expand on that brand promise.
We look forward to The Nationals award show in Las Vegas on January 20th, 2009, and wish Kaine Homes the best of luck.
Tags: achievement, marketing, NAHB, ndg communicationsEveryone at NDG would like to wish everyone out there in blogland a Happy Thanksgiving. We’ll be sitting down to turkey with family tomorrow, but we’ll be back in the office Friday to keep things moving along. We hope you’ll have time this year to be with family and friends, and remember all the things that we have to be thankful for…Like gas going down to $1.89 and that new Starbucks opening on the corner.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
Tags: Fun at NDG, holiday, ndg communications
