Paid Search Marketing Campaigns That Work

Find buyers searching for what you sell with Adwords, Google says.

Yahoo Search Marketing asks, Instead of looking for customers, what if they found you?

In the past few years, businesses of all sizes have rushed to capitalize on the benefits of paid search. The advantages are well known…low start-up costs, shorter lead times, opportunity for global reach or local targeting, and more accurate campaign tracking.

The potential benefits are clearly compelling, but what’s less obvious is how to create consistently effective paid search campaigns. Smaller and medium-sized businesses have found that do-it-yourself paid search can be difficult and time-consuming. Larger businesses that outsource have learned to be wary of search-marketing scoundrels who are better at promoting their own business than promoting yours.

That said, there’s a growing body of research and best practices for success in paid search marketing, and you shouldn't miss out because you don’t have an extensive knowledge of the of the online channel. Many of today’s most successful search marketing campaigns developed over months, not years. With that in mind here’s a brief checklist to keep paid search advertising pointed in a profitable direction. Make sure it’s:

Action-oriented: Clearly, your primary goal is to have prospects click your ad for more information, so it’s OK to be direct. Don’t make people think too much. Include a clear call to action like “click here” or “learn more” for better results.

Attention-getting: Your online ad has only a split second to gain attention. Use attention-getting headlines and bold images to make your ad stand out. If you use Google Adwords, you’ll have the ability to test and improve your copy with as many as three versions of your ad.

Brief: The most effective online ads contain a simple, easy to understand message. Keep your ads short and to the point. Use simple, high-impact words. The place to provide additional information is on your landing page or website, not a text or banner ad.

Offer-oriented: To drive site traffic, specific offers work better than general invitations. Offering a discount, time-sensitive offer or something that’s FREE are time-tested techniques. For example, free shipping or discounts for first-time customers can drive click-thrus.

Customer-focused: In getting your message across, it’s easy to forget that customers are scanning your ad to learn how they can benefit, not to learn how great your company is. Clearly explain how your product or service solves problems, makes things easier or improves profits.

Professional: If your ad includes graphics, use a professional designer to select appropriate colors and fonts to gain attention and ensure your ad is readable. Use only high-resolution, professional images in your online ad. Quality design suggests a quality company.

Relevant: Do visitors arrive at your ad by typing in a search term? Try repeating the term in your ad. For example, if you want to attract visitors using the search phrase "real estate websites" make sure "real estate websites" is prominently displayed in your ad – you’ll get higher click-thrus.

Going somewhere: The ad is only part of a chain that converts visitors to buyers. Make sure your ad clicks through to a page that’s relevant to your offer. If your ad offers a 10 percent discount, make it clear how visitors can get the discount instead of making them figure out what to do next. Landing pages pick up where the ad leaves off, providing specific information and next steps. Targeted landing pages generally outperform home pages when it comes to converting visitors to subscribers or buyers.

Tested: You may have heard the quip that “All opinions are useless, including this one.” The same might be said about search marketing advice. Don’t take opinions and second-hand research to heart. Learn and use the analysis tools included in your paid search account. It may be true that in general, Google skews male or Yahoo is better for consumer marketing than B2B, but you’ll never know until you test. You may even check out MIVA.com, a smaller search player that’s making a play for the #3 slot behind the big guys.

Regardless of which search marketing provider you choose, check out the conversion-tracking tools included in your account. It may take a little homework on your part, but there’s no substitute for knowing which search terms are effective, what visitors are searching for, and what each click and conversion costs. The information is worthwhile not only for search marketing, but the lessons learned can then be applied to other marketing channels and campaigns.

For more real estate marketing ideas, articles and free downloads, visit eNeighborhoods

Does your website have a perception problem?

Months of inventory. Tighter mortgage money. Continuing sub-prime blues. Your real estate marketing message doesn't matter. Wait, what was that last one?

It sounds harsh, but it's completely true. One of the hardest principles for real estate professionals - and all advertisers - to accept is that their intended message is not really important compared to audience perception. You may spend countless hours carefully honing your brand image and value proposition, but you're just the sender.

First, your message passes through the Internet, a channel with its own challenges for online marketers. Then, the audience on the receiving end of the channel defines what your message means by the actions they take (or don't take). Your message is not what you intend, but what your audience perceives and acts upon.

So what can you do to make online marketing effective? One key is managing visitor perceptions. In fact, aligning three types of perceptions – personal, peer and credibility – provides a powerful formula to move prospects to take action. Think of these perceptions as a three-point strategy to improve response:

1. Personal perceptions

Personal perceptions are what website visitors think of you and your value proposition. Agents typically spend most of their time managing personal perceptions. The most important success factors include presenting information clearly, specifically, and in the right order. It sounds simple, but if you visit a dozen real estate websites, you will find lots of focus on wonderful agents and brokers, and considerably less information on benefits for prospects and clients.

- A clear value proposition should answer this important question for site visitors: Of all available agents, why should they choose to work with you?

- Use your Web presence to clarify the benefits of doing business with you. This goes back to your unique value proposition...can you do something for the website visitor better than everyone else? If so, make it clear. "Contact me for all your real estate needs" sounds vaguely positive, but it's a weak call-to-action if you want prospects to pick up the phone.

- Many agent websites also have no clear starting point to get visitors' attention, and no reason for them to become further engaged. Interactive marketing gurus Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg call the process of converting prospects to satisfied customers AIDAS - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action and Satisfaction. Jumping ahead to the Action without establishing Interest or Desire means trouble. In marketing, as they say, marriage is better than a one-night-stand.

2. Peer perceptions

Peers may include current and former clients, and other professionals involved in the real estate transaction. Peer reviews and testimonials can be critical to conversion success. A recent study by Deloitte Consumer Product Group found that 64 percent of online shoppers read reviews by other consumers in deciding whether to buy. More than 80 percent of the survey’s respondents said reviews affected their buying decision, and a remarkable 98 percent found consumer reviews “very” or “somewhat” credible.

Adding testimonials can make your website more effective, especially if for newer or lesser-known agents. Be sure your testimonials are current, brief, and mention specific benefits you provided. "Fred is wonderful" is not as good as "Fred helped me find an affordable home near an A-rated elementary school." Adding client photos can help personalize a testimonial, particularly if that person is well-known in the community. The moral? Don’t blow your own horn. Ask your loyal fans to do it for you.

3. Credibility perceptions

Accreditations and association memberships are important sources of credibility. For real estate professionals, these may include the REALTOR® designation, as well as various accreditations such as Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR), or certified residential Specialist (CRS). Also, don't forget to include academic degrees and other licenses and certifications that may help.

To make the most of credibility indicators on your website, be sure to explain their significance. Don't just add an e-Pro logo to your website, explain how that training benefits clients who work with you. Have other academic degrees? Use these on your Web site and in your promotional materials. Prospects may not know what a GRI is, but they are familiar with a CPA or MBA, and may have one of these designations themselves.

Even in traditional mass marketing, when there were three fuzzy television stations and no Internet, consumers controlled their perceptions of marketing messages. Today, consumers have even more control and more options to manage their media experiences. Digital video recorders, SPAM filters, pop-up blockers and do-not call lists are all popular ways to fend off unwanted advertising. To make your marketing messages more successful, check them for perceived value and credibility before sending them out to the world.

For more real estate marketing ideas and insights, visit www.eneighborhoods.com

Can You Get Rich with the Right Real Estate Niche?


Many agents are reluctant to position themselves as specialists, for fear of limiting their earning potential. A broad range of potential customers is both a blessing and a curse for real estate agents. If you're a generalist, nearly everyone you meet is a potential client. On the other, being all things to all people can lead to unfocused business plans and lackluster results.

In reality, there is little risk in foregoing commissions you don't have a reasonable chance to earn. Few agents have the time and resources to market to a very broad audience, so choosing a professional niche in which you can excel makes sense.

In addition to helping you differentiate your services from other real estate practitioners, you can build credibility and focused expertise. Better still, as you you develop a reputation for a specific area of expertise, you are actively reducing competition for your services.

Now all that's left is choosing a highly profitable niche. To help you get started, here are some suggestions for highly lucrative niches, and also some to avoid:

Good agent specializations:

- Homes near top-rated schools
- Equestrian properties
- Income-producing properties
- Waterfront or beachfront properties
- Townhomes
- Vacation homes
- Historic properties
- Green or energy-efficient homes
- Ranch or farm properties
- Upscale and luxury real estate
- Mountain views
- Active retirement communities

Bad agent specializations:

- Agent with obvious toupee
- Agent still using high school yearbooks photo
- Agent whose car always needs vacuuming
- The Bad Haircut agent
- The agent who repeats lines from Sienfeld episodes
- Agent who never wears socks
- The too-much-perfume agent
- The agent who talks about her cats
- The really irritable agent
- Agent who also sells Amway and Herbalife
- The agent who could use a shave
- Agent with a comb-over
- Agent who apparently doesn't own an iron

Obviously, some niches are better than others, and there are still plenty of real estate agents out there trying to please everyone.

The bottom line: Prospects today are not looking for a salesperson, they are looking for a trusted advisor to guide them through important financial decisions and complex transactions.

Does your professional niche brand you as a a real estate expert, or someone who sells real estate? As author and sales consultant John Graham says, it's better to be known for knowing something, not just selling something.

Charles Warnock is Marketing Director at eNeighborhoods in Boca Raton, Florida. eNeighborhoods provides powerful marketing tools for real estate professionals, including Neighborhood Reports, CMAs, Buyer Tours, NewsLetters, Maps / Aerials, and the InstaLead Marketing System. eNeighborhoods is part of Dominion Enterprises, a leading provider of real estate media and marketing services.

www.eneighborhoods.com
Charles writes often on interactive marketing, marketing strategy and real estate marketing.

Looking for a profitable niche?
Try neighborhood schools specialist!


It’s hard to overstate the importance of neighborhood factors such as school quality on the home buying decision, yet few agents seem to be known as "schools specialists." Agents can gain a competitive advantage by becoming an expert on local schools. By providing objective information about the school's current programs, test scores, teachers and librarians, prospects can make better buying decisions.

Most real estate pros are well aware of fair housing issues and the dangers of providing unsubstantiated opinions about local schools. In the past, some real estate pros have run into trouble talking about "good" or "bad" schools based on opinion or other subjective criteria. One way around this issue is to provide consistent information from reputable sources to all your prospects regarding local schools.

In other words, provide objective information about the school's current programs, test scores, teachers and librarians and let prospects decide for themselves. Here are some great ways for real estate pros to help buyers size up local schools:

Student-to-teacher ratio – Unusually large class sizes may be cause for concern. Sources such as eNeighborhoods have this information as well as librarian-to-student ratio and facts such as expenditures per student and what percent of total school funds are spent on instruction. Again, this information may not show good or bad, but it provides a useful way to compare schools.

Standardized test scores - Standard scores such as SAT and National Merit Scholar awards can provide insights for current students’ academic performance.
Faith-based real estate – Have buyer prospects already expressed interest in a specific type of church, temple or other house of worship? This may be an important factor in their choice of schools.

Play to your strengths - Just as real estate agents promote their specialties, many schools are happy to tell you about distinguished programs in sports, science, technology or the arts. What are the school’s clubs and associations? Knowing how to match a prospect's children with a school where they can follow their dreams can quickly lead to a sale.

Show, don’t tell - Create a map showing the names and locations of local schools to use in your presentations and reports. If you have a mapping tool, you may add personal notations like “Here are the practice fields for future soccer stars!”

One effective tactic that's sometimes overlooked is a personal visit to neighborhood schools. Request a tour for yourself and take photos, make notes, shake hands and meet people. What buyer wouldn’t be impressed by photos and firsthand local school information in a marketing presentation or on an agent website?

Don't hesitate to call the administrative offices of local schools and ask if it’s possible to take clients for a personal visit. It will deepen your own knowledge of local schools and demonstrate your neighborhood expertise to school administrators. Local teachers, principals, school-board members can make excellent contacts for your business.

To learn more about incorporating school information into your marketing materials, take a complimentary eNeighborhoods online training class.

Six tricks: Keep marketing content in context

For veteran copywriters and content providers, it's always gratifying to see research highlighting the effectiveness of text copy to attract online visitors, persuade them to take action, and ultimately drive sales. Text copy will always be a key driver in marketing and sales, but in the evolving online, multi-platform world, it's no longer sufficient to seek comfort in the "content is king" credo and write on.

Why? For all types of marketers, the true north of actionable content has always been to make it relevant and deliver it to the right audience at the right time. These same principles apply across platforms, whether content is distributed through Weblogs, streaming media or podcasts.

But as people become more sophisticated and diverse in the types of content they consume, the application of simple rules becomes more difficult. Is your content breaking news or old news? If you're not sure, here are six tricks to ensure your content retains its regal status:

1. Mind your medium: Today people have the opportunity to interact with more types of media than ever before. Your message could be delivered through an animated billboard, podcast or a branded desktop application. You probably wouldn't send the same content to a senior corporate executive and a 19-year-old gamer. But many organizations will try to reach both target audiences with the same marketing channel. While television may reach both parties, it may not be the most effective way to reach either one. It's said that more than $50 billion is spent annually on television advertising, but young males may spend more time playing video games.

2. In your eyepath: Eye-tracking is an increasingly popular way evaluate web pages because eye movements provide insights into the human thought processes that cannot be derived from surveys and self-reporting. On a very practical level, eye-tracking has confirmed things like scanning behavior and "banner blindness" in web users. Although studies have underscored the relative importance of text versus graphic content, they have also shown that people habitually scan rather than read, skipping large portions of text on every page they visit. Use color, bolding, bullets and subheads to break up copy so it can be easily scanned.

3. Target your list: Direct response diva Lois Geller champions a quick formula to identify the components of success in direct marketing campaigns: The offer and list are each responsible for 40 percent of campaign success, with creatives accounting for the remaining 20 percent. You may have extremely relevant and valuable content, but if it's sent to the wrong list, you won't make a connection. The best practices of direct response marketing have been developed for more than a century, and they still provide valuable direction in the 2.0 world.

4. Use the right offer: All the persuasive and elegantly written copy in the world can't make up for the wrong offer at the wrong time. If your campaign is underperforming, and you’re fairly certain you are sending the right creative to the right audience, then you probably have the wrong offer. There aren't that many moving parts... time to test some different offers to see what's most attractive. If this offer-list-creative trio is beginning to sound like the old CLUE board game (Mr. Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick), it should. Put the three together in the right combination and you've found the killer (marketing campaign).

5. Keep it in order: It sounds basic, but a quick survey of print ads, emails or web pages will yield plenty of examples of putting the cart before the horse. The problem of ordering your message becomes more difficult as technology provides people with more and more control over how they consume media. In many cases, a solution is pitched before a compelling business problem is outlined. In others, the proposed solution may follow the problem too closely. Especially in more expensive or complex sales, let your content and campaign establish relationship with successive degrees of involvement. Print, broadcast or interactive, the right content in the wrong order is a recipe for mediocre results.

6. Consider the source: While telling your own story is an essential skill for marketers, sometimes it's better to let someone else take the podium. A great rule of thumb from Marketing Experiments is to back up your own claims with data, while leaving qualitative praise for your product to customer testimonials. The same can be said for online credibility indicators such as seals and certificates. Placing the Verisign logo or Better Business Bureau seal next to your checkout form is probably simpler and more effective than creating a long explanation of why prospects should trust you with their credit cards. And if you can get Steve Jobs, Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki to say anything at all about your product, that would help too.

Seven The Hard Way – Reasons
Real Estate Websites Don't Work

More and more, your first point of contact with prospects is your agent website.

Your first – and often only – chance to impress prospects is a valuable opportunity that’s often wasted. Avoiding a few common but critical mistakes can mean the difference between success and failure. If you’re looking to provide a compelling, interactive client experience instead of a tired online brochure, here are seven mistakes to avoid:

1. All about the agent. It seems counter-intuitive, but the focus of effective agent websites isn’t agents – it’s consumers. Your photo, sales awards, accreditations, nicknames, community activities family background are far less interesting to site visitors than they are to you, and they belong on “About us” section, not the home page. Instead, capture attention with local images and current, relevant content that’s not available on other real estate sites. To draw attention to your skills and achievements, it’s often more effective to get success stories and testimonials from clients and colleagues, rather than blatant self-promotion.

2. The three-second rule. Web researcher Joseph Carrabis suggests it takes visitors just 3-5 seconds to decide if website information is interesting enough to continue reading or click away. In this "attraction phase" visitors scan the page and quickly decide if they want to invest the time to explore further to see how content relates to them - in other words, what's in it for me? Try scanning your website as a first-time visitor would. Is the information you’ve provided to capture their attention up-front and prominent? The questions that site visitors have in mind – What’s on this website? What’s in it for me? What services does this real estate professional offer? – need to be answered very quickly.

3. The language of the dog. On the subject of effective website content, e-business author Jeff Eisenberg likes to say “Speak to the dog, about what matters to the dog, in the language of the dog.” In other words, use language and terms appropriate for your audience. For example, do you know what search terms people are using to find your website? You can get a quick idea at a website called www.digitalpoint.com. Click Webmaster tools on the left, scroll down and click the Keyword Suggestion Tool link. Then, enter search terms that people are likely to use when searching for your services. You may be surprised to see how small variations in phrasing affect the number of daily searches performed. To boost site visibility, try incorporating popular search terms in your page titles, descriptions and headlines.

4. A road to nowhere. Successful real estate practices have a clear path from prospecting, conversion and sales, to repeat sales and referrals. Yet, many real estate websites lead nowhere. There is a vague notion that site visitors will click around, find the information interesting and hopefully contact the agent or broker. If you have not defined measurable goals such as newsletter signups, phone calls, email requests for information or special report downloads, it’s difficult to say whether or not your site is successful. Design your website with clear pathways to your conversion goals, and measure them. If you’re driving paid search traffic to a road-to-nowhere site, consider applying that money toward creating a better web presence for your business.

5. All take, no give. The ethos of the Internet is something-for-something. You might give up your name and email address to receive a newsletter or special report, or take a survey in return for a chance to win prizes. Yet, many agent websites offer no incentive for visitors to take some desired action such as providing contact information. Do you offer a free home valuation, Neighborhood Report, newsletter, coupons, business directories or links to local resources? Since many visitors are in the just-looking stage and aren’t ready to pick up the phone and call you, you can provide different touch-points at various commitment levels to make it as easier to begin a dialog with you.

6. Content isn’t king. In an effort to attract as many prospects as possible, many agent websites try to be all things to all people. A laundry list of real estate services is not compelling content, and this type of “information overload” can give site visitors with the idea that you don’t offer any particular expertise that would benefit them. Old listings, typos and outdated articles can all make visitors click away in search of competing websites with better information. And remember, content doesn’t begin and end with text. Photos, animations, virtual tours, maps and charts should also be high-quality and up-to-date.

7. Fire your nephew. You don’t still have a website that was created in 2002 by someone’s nephew, do you? In three seconds, your website can give visitors the idea that you offer quality services or that you lack attention to detail…not a good quality for real estate professionals. You don’t need the latest blogs, podcasts and 3-D animation to be successful, but your site should be of comparable or better quality than your industry peers. Make it a point to visit the sites of local and national competitors to gather ideas and see how your site stacks up.

Charles Warnock, eNeighborhoods Marketing - A Dominion Enterprises Company