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?

• They have a Captive Audience: Homebuyers in the Market, Ready to Buy
• Most are FREE, or are very cost-effective
• Realtor.com is the most utilized real estate website with a 6.7% share of the market (2009)
• RealEstate.Yahoo.com, NewHomeSource.com, Move.com, and Trulia.com all have considerable market share as well

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.

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.

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.

Now you really can see what is working, and deduce why or why not with your online efforts (including e-mail, advertising, and websites)—giving you the power to refine and adjust over time to maintain and increase positive results. Your content will generate the results, and tracking will ensure that your content is as well crafted and targeted as possible to create the most response over time as situations evolve.

Remember: Advertising is what brings you the first contact with the prospect; marketing is what happens when you respond. Analytics help measure both your advertising and marketing results. Now you can have true ROI metrics that spell out the who, why, where, when, and how.

Of course, it takes time to analyze. And of course it’s not black and white; there will be shades of gray, but this is what gives you the most clarity. There are also industry benchmarks available to help evaluate your performance against other competitors in your selected arena. For example, here are some recent real estate industry e-mail averages, courtesy mailchimp.com:

Open Rate: 22.84%
Click-through Rate: 4.24%
Soft Bounces: 2.02%
Hard Bounces: 4.31%
Unsubscribe Requests: 0.30%

And since almost all online advertising and marketing can be tracked if the proper steps are taken, there’s no reason to blindly assume or guess about what is working and what isn’t anymore. So, never forget that the key to your online success is the formula of CONTENT + TRACKING.

For the real estate industry (and practically every other industry), the key to online success is the formula of CONTENT + TRACKING. Today we’ll talk about why CONTENT is the fuel of your online engine.

So, an engine will not run with fuel. As you know, the gas in your car won’t last forever—you’ll use it up and will need to fuel up again to get further down the road. The same is exactly true of your online content. You’ll need to put new content into the system continually to keep your company moving toward your online goals.

Since consumers start their buying process online, your website must be the hub of all your activities. Even with the numerous social media platforms and channels available, your website must be the central core that radiates content outward, and receives, processes, and interacts with inbound communications.

Content is everything. Content is what brings consumers to you. But once they’ve seen it—unless it is complex or incredibly compelling—they won’t be back. Thus, ensuring that your content is changing, fresh, and answers the needs of your potential audiences is absolutely critical to the success of all your online efforts.

But what does “fresh content” really mean? It means that you’re telling your story continually; and not just your story, but also the story of how you can fulfill your clients’ needs. It means that your representation of your product must stay fresh as well, even if the product or service itself has not substantially changed. And it means that you are getting your content in front of as many targeted faces as possible—adapting for each new segment’s unique needs.

So commit to regular fresh fuel-ups of your website and outbound channels with fresh content, tailored to the wants and needs of your audiences. Otherwise, you’ll always be going nowhere.

Next Week: Why Tracking is King

See the entire album here.

“I ran across this factoid on page 15: Google and YouTube are serving 10 billion videos a month. The take-away was that people online would rather watch than read. So, I’ve been taking this insight to heart of late, even purchasing a FlipCam pocket video recorder and shooting some video on my own with the intent to integrate more of it into my news stories and blogs.”

Sarah then shares “lessons learned” from her experience with video, which are good recommendations for everyone beginning with online video production. Click here to continue reading Sarah’s blog and see her new video experiment results.

Connect the Dot.com’s in Your Online Marketing

for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages

A Step-By-Step Process to Staying Focused and On-Track in Today’s Market

NDG is sharing a roadmap with our clients and friends this year. It’s a roadmap to achieving online advertising and marketing results in 2010. In seven steps—steps, which we admit, are complex, and which take time and dedication to achieve—NDG will show you how to lay the groundwork for online real estate marketing and sales success this year. We’ll share one step per post, starting this week with:

Follow the Content Path: The Fundamental Components Required for Integrating and Flowing Your Data

What to do, where to do it, and how to make it all work together: Revealed below is NDG’s online integration map for flowing data (content) throughout the fundamental online marketing components for Homebuilders, Developers, and Real Estate Brokerages.

1. Utilize a Branded, Adminable, and Content-Driven Website

What does “Adminable” mean?

This term simply means that your website is easily updated with new content by non-programmers via a Content Management System (CMS) that allows you to modify the content on your website without the help of a programmer.

What does “Content-Driven” mean?

We mean that fresh content is critical to your success, just as gasoline is required to make your car’s engine go: Community Listings, Inventory Homes List, Customizable Interactive Floorplans, Product Photography, Customizable Driving Directions to Sales Centers, Homeowner Testimonials, etc.

2. Utilize a Customer Relations Management System  (CRM)

What is a Customer Relations Management System?

Software that helps organize, manage, automate, and ensure the quality of your company’s interactions with both sales prospects and buyers.  Utilizing a CRM system will help you convert browsers into buyers.

3. Export XML Data Feeds from your CRM to 3rd-Party Referral Websites

What is an XML Feed?

This is the programming code that feeds YOUR HOME LISTINGS into third-party referral websites such as NewHomeSource.com, Trulia.com, or Move.com, etc., automatically, ensuring your listings on these websites are current and accurate—without having to manage the data manually.

4. Connect with Social Media Platforms

What are Social Media?

These are the online communities, websites, and platforms (such as Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc) that allow people from any location on the planet to come together to share common interests. Social Media are today’s public relations.

5. Acquire and Analyze Website Analytic Performance Data

What are Website Analytics?

The hard numbers from your website and other online components that tell you who is interacting with you, or not, and why, where, when, and how. The proof is in the numbers, and the more you know and understand, the more you’ll be able to refine your approach and modify your outreach to create the greatest results.

By utilizing each of these fundamental components, and by properly flowing your content and data through them in the correct order, you can ensure that your online resources are structured for maximum efficiency, that no (or at least few) opportunities for exposure and connection with the right prospects are being missed, and that you are poised for the most return on your investment.

Next week we’ll discuss the fuel that makes this online engine run: CONTENT!

We know it seems overwhelming but, with a solid plan of action, and a commitment to seeing it through, your online presence will begin to pay measurable dividends.

IF YOU MISSED THIS YEAR’S SHOW: A complete PDF of the Red-Hot New Home Sales and Marketing Solutions presentation is now available for you to download at your convenience here.

And of course if you ever need help, NDG stands ready to create real solutions to your online marketing and advertising problems. You can reach us anytime at our website, on our Facebook Fan page, or by calling (877) 889-1848.

We wish you the Happiest of Holidays, and a Happy New Year to all.