January 29, 2009
I was reading online that in an internet study conducted last year by Piper and Jeffries, 50% of all searches conducted on Google and the like, have “Local Intent.” This means the consumer is being more specific with their search and attributing it to a certain city, state, zip code, etc. For Example:
Universal Search Term: “relocation companies”
Local Search Term: “Chicago relocation companies”
In the report they focused on the fact that while someone might put in “relocation” and only the big companies across the nation will come up, a localized search like “Chicago relocation” evens the playing field. With more detialed search criterias, a local company is more likely to appear in the search results than before.
Real estate searches in general seem to be fairly localized but I think this is a good time to take a look at your content and see if you are maximizing this trend. Localizing your website and blog will help your SEO and help you rank higher on the search results.
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January 23, 2009
In the coming days we will be posting some of the information packed videos from the Inman Real Estate Connect 2009, held in New York City, January 7-9. These videos contain valuable, quality content and are definitely worth watching.
The Welcome Address is posted below but to see the entire collection please click on the Inman Connect category to the right or click here. Keep checking back for more.
Enjoy! And let us know your opinion on what they have to say.
A presentation by Bradley Inman, Founder and Publisher of Inman News. What will the market and industry look like over the coming years?
I am excited to announce that the new Helen Adams Realty website is now live! With multiple tools and new features the website is sure to increase usability for their customers as well as their agents.
I must credit the Helen Adams’ team for their cooperative attitudes, their efficient communication and their great contributions to the success of their new website. Challenges were met on both sides with earnest attention to solve them in a timely manner, resulting in a live site on schedule.
The Helen Adams site is barely a day old and already receiving some strong feedback:
Edith a patron of Helen Adams says, “This is a very efficient and friendly site! I am finding more houses…”
Stewart, a frequenter of the Helen Adams property searches commented after seeing the new site, “Thank You Scott…You guys by far have the best website of any realty company in Charlotte, so I am happy to see this. Thanks!”
I am very excited to see that Charlotte searchers are enjoying the new site and look forward to our relationship with Helen Adams Realty.
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January 19, 2009
I recently read a very smart blog about the genius marketing methods of the late Walt Disney. The post, “How Would Walt Disney Market in 2009?” gave an outline of lessons to learn from the master.
“As companies try to get their voice ‘out’ in the overcrowded, fragmented, 24×7, blog-filled, multi-dialog, Mad Money Cramer kind of world of 2009, executives need to think carefully about their core stories to customers, employees, and investors – and to use all relevant media to orchestrate the message across the global information network.”
John Sviokla named six key strategies that Disney mastered. I think we can apply these key strategies to the real estate business as well. Here is my take on the six key lessons to learn from Disney:
- Know the story is king. “Humans like to read about humans” - every message that you send out when marketing either your brokerage, yourself as a realtor or the properties you are representing should at some point tell a story. I find that most Realtors give a great story about themselves on their brokerages’ “About our Agents” page as well on their own websites. When searching for a Realtor that message can really help potential consumers connect with them. For some reason their story will resonate with certain people and hopefully get them to pick up the phone and call that Realtor. (more…)
