Not long ago, as part of an art presentation I was giving for my daughter’s third grade class, I directed the students to use their laptops to log on to a clever website (mrpicassohead.com) where users can create their own Picasso-inspired masterpieces. Before I was able to get to the site myself, nearly all of the children had logged on, jumped headfirst into the site’s interactive toolset and were creating their own artwork. By the time I stood to walk around the class to answer questions, my own daughter had captured a frame grab from the site and converted it into a customized screensaver, while another child was already e-mailing a copy of the file to his parents.
Is there any question about how this generation of future homebuyers will look for their new homes?
Well over half (57%) of American households have broadband and they spend more than 30% of their media time, online. According to a 2008 NAR survey of Home Buyers and Sellers, 87% of homebuyers said they used the internet as a resource when researching residential real estate. That’s 2% more than those who said they consulted a real estate agent! Does this mean that Realtors are no longer relevant and/or that traditional advertising is dead? Not by a long shot!
The survey also reported that a healthy 47% of searchers looked at newspapers or other print ads (5th place, behind Internet- 87%, real estate agents-85%, yard signs-62% and open houses-48%). And that of the 87% percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home—well, 87% of those folks eventually purchased through a real estate agent! These statistics tell us that real estate marketing (still) relies on strategic, integrated marketing utilizing both on- and offline media to deliver targeted messages to various audiences; and on the expertise of trained professionals to help homebuyers navigate the market and assist them with these large, life-changing transactions.
But, what about those third graders?
I suppose the critical point is that they’re in third grade– and still growing and evolving. And unless you are in denial about the Internet’s importance to marketing, you should be continuing to evolve, as well! Your media mix —whatever it includes—will ultimately run through or revolve around your website. It is, or at least it should be– the hub of your marketing wheel. And while it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the seemingly unlimited creative possibilities of Web 2.0 with its streaming media (web video), mobile media, blogs, widgets, podcasts and syndication technologies like RSS (really simple syndication), there’s no excuse not to understand the basics of online marketing. If you are not getting the desired results from your website, here are some helpful hints and best practices to consider before investing in a potentially under-performing site.
1. Avoid 100% Flash websites. My creative brain loves the slick, dynamic look and seamless experience all-flash sites can provide, but search engine traffic is an important part of our clients’ business models and search engines can parse little content from Flash-based sites relative to HTML and CSS. In addition, if you have a lot of site content, or think it will need to be updated more than 3-4 times a year, then it makes sense to stay away from 100% Flash for budget reasons. I prefer balancing usability with creativity by combining HTML and CSS with some Flash, as a little Flash can go a long way to enhance user experience when used creatively and intelligently.
2. Mission Critical: Content – For successful search engine optimization (SEO), content is king. Your site should provide valuable information that references specific terms and concepts unique to your site with text on as many pages as possible, weaving keywords into compelling copy. Often, it’s not the broad keywords you might have imagined people are using to find you, but very specific ones. Search engines typically index the first 500 words of copy on each page. Site maps (outlines of your site) help search engines, as well.
3. Always use title tags, or page titles, that are relevant to the content of specific pages. Title tags define page titles, which are seen at the top of the browser window. Search engines place significant emphasis on this text when conducting searches and returning results. In most cases, your titles should describe what you sell and where your business is located. They should be succinct (usually not exceeding 75 characters), strategic and compelling since this is the link text in search engine results. Besides a good title tag, you should have a good description tag, which is hidden text that search engines use for page summaries. These should also be concise (1-2 sentences), informative (tell me what I can do here) and clear (what is the content of the page).
4. Avoid title tags with too much competition. A Google search for “Jacksonville real estate” puts you in competition with a universe of 3,050,000 other pages with the same links. “St. Johns County real estate” reduces it to 411,000. “Ponte Vedra Beach real estate” drops it 244,000. Try to be specific and localize.
5. Remember that conversion is your ultimate goal. Top placement may be a by-product of successful online marketing, but conversion is king. SEO is just one part of the process. To be effective, your online marketing should convert visitors into customers. This means considering such factors as your own unique selling points, calls to action, site navigation, conversion and conversion path.
By simply keeping these few principles in mind, you should at least be on equal footing in the competitive online marketplace. More likely, you’ll find yourself ahead of many and might even be able to teach your third grader a thing or two!