Monthly Archive for March, 2010

New White Paper — From Website to Web Presence

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by
NDG
on March 30, 2010
in e-marketing, marketing, new home sales marketing and real estate marketing
. 0 Comments

“Today’s Home Builder exists in a world of inter-connected online communities, yet many are not fully adjusted to the need for a well-designed and user-friendly website, let alone the many other ways a builder must exist online” says a new white paper from New Home Feed, which makes the case for creating more than just a robust website, but also “a thoughtful, nuanced web presence.”

NDG Communications CEO Tom Nelson was quoted in the document: “Homebuyers now start their buying process online first, using many different web resources to shop by elimination—deciding which precious few communities they will actually visit in person. Online success requires you to be where your prospects are looking, continually ready with the fresh content they’re looking for.”

Read the New Home Feed Blog HERE, and Download the White Paper HERE.

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Eyes, Clicks, and Real Results—Online Advertising Basics for the Real Estate Industry

Published
by
NDG
on March 24, 2010
in articles, e-marketing, interactive, real estate marketing and web
. 1 Comment

Continuing our series of posts about real estate and homebuilder online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010, this week we’ll discuss the basics of online banner ads and how they fit into your 2010 marketing plan.

“Banner” or “online display” advertising can be found on every search engine, and on many news and portal websites. These ads can be targeted to specific consumers based on their browsing habits and on the demographics associated with each website’s content. And setting a budget is easy: You decide how much to spend and where within a specific timeframe, meaning you can test your ads for a very small cost until you have refined for the most results, and that you can easily control costs.

Best of all, you can not only measure how many impressions—how many people were actually exposed to the ad—but also how many people clicked the ad as well. Most banner advertising is very cost-effective, with the average cost per click (CPC) under $2, and the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) at approximately $10.

For several years, fewer and fewer people have been clicking on banner ads, raising the question of how effective banner ads really are. Current research shows that low number of clicks doesn’t necessarily mean banners don’t work; online culture and consumption habits have changed over the years, and there is a great deal of evidence that regardless of clicks, banner ads contribute greatly to increased visits to websites. According to one report, “Within one week, consumers exposed to a display ad were 65% more likely to visit the advertiser’s site than users who never saw the ad. Even at four weeks, people exposed to displays ads are 45% more likely to visit the brand’s site.”

And, if you still doubt the importance and effectiveness of banner advertising, just look at where other media buyers placed their money in 2009: “TV ad spending fell 10%, magazines dropped 17%, newspapers and radio each dropped 20%, and outdoor fell 13%. The only major growth area: Online ad spending. Internet display ads increased 7% in 2009.”

Remember, you control the budget, so you can test your outreach to ensure the most return on your investment. Like all other digital advertising and marketing tools, banner ads are an effective component of a larger plan, and they too must be linked to real and meaningful content to help prospects on their journey toward becoming your customers.

Next time, we’ll discuss E-Mail Marketing and its role in your online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010.

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They Do the Hard Work For You—3rd Party Online Referral Sites

Published
by
NDG
on March 11, 2010
in advertising, articles, e-marketing, interactive, marketing, new home sales marketing, real estate marketing and web
. 0 Comments

Continuing our series of posts about real estate and homebuilder online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010, this week we’ll discuss why and how to integrate your website listings content with 3rd Party Online Referral websites, such as NewHomeSource.com, Trulia.com, or Move.com—automatically—ensuring your listings on these websites are current and accurate, without having to manage the data manually.

An XML feed is a simple way to share your listing information with other websites. An XML feed allows you to publish as frequently as you need to, and modify the relevant fields (price, availability, square footage, etc) as often as you need to.  In order to help provide their users with relevant content, the referral websites will allow you to link your feeds to them, thus propagating your offerings further and creating more frequency and exposure for your listings.

WHY should you share your listings with these websites?

HOW do you share your listings with these websites?

By setting up an XML feed from your website to the 3rd party vendors of your choice. Your website or technology partner can help you organize your listing data into a standardized set so that your information is always represented accurately. This requires that your information utilize the correct fields and structures, as well as content tags. While the intricate details can be complex, the big concept is that you’re making sure your information is set up so that it can be shared effectively with the people who are looking for it—web-savvy homebuyers who are searching for your new homes.

Next week, we’ll discuss Banner Advertising and its role in your Online Advertising and Search Engine Marketing plans.

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Integrating Social Media into Your Online Marketing Plan

Published
by
NDG
on March 5, 2010
in advertising, articles, e-marketing, marketing, new home marketing and real estate marketing
. 0 Comments

Continuing our Step-By-Step Process to Staying Focused and On Track in Today’s Market, this week, we’ll discuss how Social Media can help you distribute your content online to help achieve your search engine marketing and optimization goals, as well as help you achieve real authentic customer engagement.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter—there’s a growing number of social media channels and platforms out there. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and off course trying to be everywhere, so we’re going to set the record straight about what you should, and shouldn’t, expect from your social media marketing efforts.

Make sure to review NDG’s online integration map for flowing data (content) throughout the fundamental online marketing components for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages.

NDG recommends that our clients have a living strategic plan for implementing, engaging, and monitoring your social media outreach. While social media can help build brands and maximize publicity efforts, do not expect these marketing components to instantly drive traffic or sales. Social media platforms are recommended because of their word-of-mouth generation capabilities and because of their wide-ranging reach across many varied demographic audiences. Do NOT abandon all other forms of marketing; rather, integrate social media into your current marketing strategy and, most importantly, your corporate website.

As a first, fundamental step, develop a blog to serve as the “content repository” to feed timely, relevant content to your corporate website. This same content can be distributed via a Facebook fan page. Then,  you can add other platforms such as Twitter and YouTube to your mix as you develop more content appropriate for these digital meeting places. Your website is the hub of all your marketing and advertising, and from this hub are distributed communications, each tailored to the channel you’re using.

Finally, remember that Content is Queen, and especially so for the social media. If you’re just shouting the same stuff down these channels, you’re wasting your time and money, and potentially damaging your brand and reputation. The ROI on your social media outreach will be directly influenced by your investment in generating good content, because this is what will help your Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) rankings grow higher and higher, and create more authentic engagement with your prospects—not repeating the same weak content over and over, which will just get you ignored by both your prospects and the search engines.

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Pay to Play Until You Can Go Organic: Search Engine Marketing

Published
by
NDG
on March 1, 2010
in advertising, e-marketing, marketing, new home marketing and real estate marketing
. 0 Comments

As new home sales expert Myers Barnes often says, “It’s Online or the Breadline.” According to the National Association of Realtors, more than 90% of new homebuyers are starting their research and selection process online, shopping by elimination to determine which communities they will visit in person.

Your goal is to have your website appear on the very first page of search engine results pages (or “SERPs”) when your prospects search under the keywords associated with your website and its content, and have it appear there “organically” — that is, without resorting to paid advertising to help maintain this first-page ranking. This is no easy and simple task, nor does it happen overnight, but with testing, vigilance, and perseverance, you can achieve this goal.

Search Engine Optimization (or “SEO”) refers to improving your search engine ranking via non-paid methods. This is different from Search Engine Marketing (or “SEM”), paid search engine advertising that can help you eventually achieve your search engine placement goals without any financial investment. The most prominent example of search engine advertising is Google AdWords.

Keyword research will help guide the ongoing development of your paid search engine advertising, so that you can allocate minimal funds to test your advertising first. Once you have positive results, roll out your complete, tested & proven paid advertising. Remember, your goal is to have your website appear on the first page of search engine results. With a combination of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, you can achieve this goal, and then eliminate the expense of paid search advertising once you achieve sustainable “organic” first-page ranking.

Next week, we’ll discuss the facts and myths of how “Social Media” such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can help you distribute your content online to help achieve your search engine goals.

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