Tag Archive for 'websites'

Why CONTENT is QUEEN

Published
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NDG
on February 12, 2010
in articles, e-marketing and real estate marketing
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Continuing our discussion from our previous post, 2010 Online Marketing Fundamentals, we now turn to the importance of content.

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

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NDG’s 2010 Online Marketing Fundamentals

Published
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NDG
on February 3, 2010
in advertising, articles, e-marketing, new home sales marketing and real estate marketing
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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.

dataflow3

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!

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Does Your Website Get a Passing Grade?

Published
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NDG
on December 16, 2008
in advertising and marketing
. 0 Comments

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

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Driving Web Traffic, Part 2

Published
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NDG
on December 11, 2008
in advertising, marketing and real estate marketing
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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 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.

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Driving Web Traffic is Job #1

Published
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NDG
on December 9, 2008
in advertising, marketing and real estate marketing
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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.

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The Hide and Seek of Search

Published
by
NDG
on December 2, 2008
in articles, marketing and real estate marketing
. 0 Comments

HOW 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.

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The New Civista Health Website

Published
by
NDG
on November 20, 2008
in advertising, articles and marketing
. 0 Comments

Helping a Hospital Connect with the Community:
The New Civista Health Website

NDG recently completed the design and execution of a brand-new website for Civista Health, the parent organization that owns and manages the Civista Medical Center, the preeminent hospital facility in Southern Maryland.

Civista.org

As the healthcare leader for Southern Maryland, it is Civista Health’s mission to help create a healthy future for all those they serve. NDG provided a dynamic new tool to help Civista in that mission: the new Civista website.

Now Civista can provide all the information the community needs to take charge of their own health, and all the information they need about the medical center, in a single online resource. From the new health resources page, which provides brief and easy-to-understand articles about almost every health concern, to presenting the latest health news, the new Civista website is truly a comprehensive portal to good health.

Visitors can use the new Civista website to find a doctor, download a welcome kit for those who will be patients at the medical center, send a card to a patient, and view the newest arrivals at the Online Nursery. NDG also developed a new section of videos where users can watch Civista staffers share their experiences, watch patient testimonials, and even take a video tour of the brand-new facility. And, a new blog from the President will share news and insights each week.

With their new website, Civista Health can now truly say Good Health Starts Here.

See the new Civista website for yourself: www.Civista.org

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