the online marketing system · pdf fileport by google and the national realtors association...

The Online Marketing System

Preview Of What You Will Learn

Sections:

Introduction..............................................................................................................5 Why Online Marketing

Building Your Company Website..........................................................................7Five Key Elements of a Successful Website Brochure Website vs. Squeeze Page Your Target Niche

Creating and Online Presence...........................................................................13 Strengthening Your Online Presence Increasing Your Conversions

Driving Traffic to Your Website.................................................................................15The Power of the Search EngineThe BlogosphereTracking and Retention

Social Media and Online Communities..................................................................19Social Media PowerhousesHow Does Social Media WorkCraigslist Marketing

Wrap Up..................................................................................................................23

You Will Be Able To:• Understand the initial stages of creating an online presence and how that will benefit your business

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Online Marketing System

For some individuals, the online world may be foreign territo-ry; but for most people in today’s society, clicking and typing is as natural as walking and breathing. The Internet is where they shop, where they read reviews on restaurants, or see what’s going on this weekend. It’s where they meet friends and maybe even their soul mate. The Internet has gone from a resource that would be useful to have, to something people are useless without. It’s not only accessible at a desktop com-puter either. The Internet is available most everywhere and you can even gain access from that sleek little phone you have sitting in your pocket.

The Internet has made such a profound impact in all of our lives. There has been a fundamental shift in the way homeowners market their homes for sale, and buyers search for homes. According to a 2011 collaborative re-port by Google and the National Realtors Association (NAR), 90 percent of homebuyers searched online during their home buying process. Searches related to real estate on Google grew 253 percent since 2009. Therefore, having a website to generate leads and sell your houses quickly is no longer an option, but a must.

The goal of a website should be to serve two main purposes: provide information, and collect information. In this system, we will walk you through the most important elements of building a successful website for your real estate business. Though it’s important to have a website, it won’t bring in business for you if no one knows it even exists. We will teach you how to build and strengthen your online presence and drive quality traffic to your website. This guide will not only help you market online for buyers and sellers, but you’ll also learn how to leverage the power of social media to network and generate massive leads online. This guide is here to give you an overall understanding of the digital marketing strategies that exist and how they can increase growth in your business.

“It used to be that if you wanted sophisticated marketing tools, you had to be rich. That’s not the case on the Internet.

Anyone can compete, just at different levels.”

- Chris Baggott

Introduction

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Although making phone calls and talking to people in person is a crucial element in building your business, you need to have a foundation first. Building a professional company website is the cement in that foundation. In this day and age, having a website for your real estate investing business is a necessity. In most cases, when someone gets wind of a product or a company, the first thing they do is look it up on the Internet. Because of this Internet reliance, when you send out direct mail and only list your phone number, there is a certain percentage of leads you are going to miss.

Building Your Company Website

Advantages of Having a Company Website

• Lead Generation - Online marketing has been a proven method in collecting leads and building your buyers list in a much more time-efficient manner.

• Credibility - People will search for you online to see if you are a legitimate company. They want to read reviews and feel comfortable working with your business. This credibility factor is also available for them 24 hours a day. In addition, other investors such as wholesale buyers or private lenders can learn more about your company.

• Showcase Your Properties - Being able to find a buyer for your properties is certainly a challenge. What a better place to showcase your hard work than on the greatest used medium for home buying? On your website, you are able to provide not only a detailed description of each property, but also photos, virtual tours, comps, and even a map of the neighborhood with directions on how to get there. Buyers are able to make quick and informed decisions with the click of a mouse, without even stepping foot onto the property.

• Multiple Streams of Income - When you reach the point where there is a lot of traffic on your website, others will want to start investing in your site. You can even offer advertising space for contractors or lenders.

• EVERYONE Is Doing It - There are going to be times where you want to break from the crowd, but this is not one of them. By not utilizing online marketing, you are only letting the competition run you over as they reap the benefits.

When you’re ready to start the process, you’ll need a Content Management System (CMS) to help simplify everything associated with publishing your written content, enabling search, allowing edits, managing the layout of your site, and many other helpful things you may not be aware of. A free option for a CMS system for business websites is WordPress. WordPress has been around since 2003 and has gained the most popularity amongst users. This is a great starting tool to help with web design and functionality. There are two different options:

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Wordpress.com currently boasts almost 70 million sites. It is popu-lar for being easy to use and free of charge. The average setup time is around five minutes.

Wordpress.org is a web software used to create a website or blog and allows you to get what’s called a domain name (yourcompany.com). You have to install a hosting company (like HostGator.com) and costs start around $4 a month. The setup of this website takes around 30 minutes.

Five Key Elements of a Successful Website It isn’t enough to just have a website. You have to make certain that you have a good website. This is going to be the most persistent communication vehicle that you have with prospective buyers and sellers, so you want it to repre-sent your company well. There are five main things you want to keep in mind when creating your own website for your company.

1. Content - Write your website content as if you were speaking with your visitor face-to-face, which will make them feel comfortable. Make sure to cover the main elements, such as the property descriptions, the prices and the benefits. Always keep in mind what people are searching for and make sure you have those words in your content. Use targeted marketing copy in order to speak directly to your perspective buyer. For example, if you want to target homeowners who need a quick sell, try using a title such as:

“Sell Your House in 9 Days!!”

2. Flexibility and Customization - When you are creating your site, pay attention to the control panel and make sure you understand how to customize your content easily. You’ll have to make changes frequent-ly; so this has to be an option.

3. Simple Navigation - No one wants to work hard for information. The whole point of using the Internet is to speed up the process. Make your website a place where visitors can get in and out when they’re in a hurry. Usually, there is a navigation bar along the top of the screen or along the left side of the page. This should be simple to use and not over-cluttered.

4. Multimedia - More and more people are attracted towards video content over written content. You will ultimately need written content for your site to come up on the search engines; however, you should begin to consider using video on your site as well to keep up with the times. This is a great opportunity to take a tour of a rehab and show what you did and where you did it. Video allows you to become an expert. Of course, you always want your photographs of your property to be top notch as well. Give people a reason to browse.

5. Lead Capture Ability - Although you should have a separate site for lead capturing all together, you should always include an area to collect names and emails on your main website. Below is an exam-ple from the CT Homes, LLC website. Notice how we offer a free newsletter and real estate information? People will visit this page for information. So in order to obtain their email address, we’ll need to prompt them to do so by offering free additional material.

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RememberOverall, your website should do three things:

- Showcase Your Company- Showcase your properties- Capture Names & Emails

Expense Report: Websites

There are no existing formulas to determine the exact cost of a professionally designed website. Freelancers can charge as little as $500, while some web agencies can charge upwards of $10,000. The cost breaks down to this:

Domain Name: $9/yearHosting: $75 - $200/year (depending on traffic and website features)Site Maintenance: $500 - $1250/year (depending on number of updates required)

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Brochure Website vs. Squeeze PageSo far, we’ve talked about developing a main company website that may have the possibility to capture leads. These types of websites are known as “brochure” websites or “catalog” websites. Catalog websites are multi-facet-ed, content-rich, and provide options to click around for a variety of information. As a more traditional site, your main page is great tool to show your credibility and provide a wealth of information.

However, if you are looking to concentrate specifically on driving traffic, you want to use what is often referred to as a “squeeze page” or a “lead capture page.” This type of website has one job and one job only: to generate leads. It is referred to as a “squeeze page” because you are trying to “squeeze” out information. When a person visits a squeeze page, they are required to put in simple items such as first name, last name, email, and zip code. Squeeze pages are single-action websites. Once the information is submitted, it goes in your list and they receive an email. However, once the initial information is submitted, it is a good idea to then have another form where the person is prompted to fill out additional information. If you put a complicated form up front, people are less likely to fill it all out. However, once they’ve committed to the simple form, the likelihood of them con-tinuing increases, giving you more information.

Three Websites Are Better Than One

While a main company brochure website is important for your business and credibility, you also want to make sure that you are reaching the right target audience. Therefore, having a separate site for your buyers and a separate site for your sellers is very important. There are several reasons for doing this. First, by directly speaking to your prospect, you can eliminate distractions and confusion on your website. If someone visits your website knowing exactly what they are looking for and get lost in the content, they may leave. Secondly, you will avoid running into negotiating problems with sellers. If a seller is able to see that you are trying to buy their home and turn around and sell it for $30,000 more than what you’re contracted to buy it for, there will be trouble. Although this means you’ll have to learn how to drive traffic to three websites rather than only one, ultimately, it is a better way to do business.


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Helpful TipUsually people fill out this form in order to get something out of it. You can offer something such as a copy of a guide or EBook you may have written on “How To Sell Your House In 9 Days” or “How To Find Cheap Bargain Properties”.

Example of a Squeeze Page


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Your Target Niche The term “niche marketing” is frequently used online, but most of the time it’s not used correctly. A niche, in terms of marketing, is a relatively small group of customers who have very specific interests and/or needs. When you are using a squeeze page, make sure you generate niche-specific leads for your business. Make these pages simple and clean with a clear specific message. Some niches you can target are:

Foreclosure Properties - Foreclosures, REOs, and short sales comprise a fairly high percentage of today’s transactions. Offering a free list of foreclosure proper-ties with a real estate squeeze page is a good way to take advantage of that.

Luxury Homes - Using a squeeze page for luxury homes can be quite useful when you are specializing in listing and selling high-end properties. Additionally, people like looking at luxury homes; so even if this is something out of their price range, you may still collect leads.

Eco-Friendly Homes - Energy efficiency is a growing business. You can attract and work with buyers looking for these specific types of homes by using a lead-capture page.

Lease Options/Rent-to-Own Homes – Many people would like to purchase a home, but cannot qualify for a conventional mortgage due to their credit. By using a squeeze page to collect these leads, you can provide special homeownership programs for their situation, even including credit repair.

Waterfront/Resort/Golf Properties - If the area is a community that has something to offer like a resort or wa-terfront, you can focus in on that with your page.

By targeting a group of people with very specific needs, you are actively finding the solution to the problem that these people may have. With niche marketing, there is typically less competition because fewer businesses online will take the time to research a smaller market segment. This means that you could be the one reaping the benefit.


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There is a difference between a website and a web/online presence. Your website is specifically where you serve your purpose and interact with potential leads. An online presence is your overall existence on the World Wide Web. When someone searches for you on the Internet, what will they find? Some people only have social net-works such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Others may have what is called a Blog, which we’ll get into later. If you want to be a successful real estate investor, you will have all of the aforementioned, and more. Creating an online presence is all about boosting your exposure and creating a stellar reputation. It’s how you market not only your business, but also you as a person. In order to do this, your presence has to be everywhere. This means having a website as your base, and then building off of that base by using links to drive traffic to your networks (social media profiles, squeeze page, blog etc.). Creating an online presence should not be thought of as a tre-mendous undertaking; but rather, a free task that can be gradually accomplished in these three simple steps:

1. Create a well-designed website to develop your brand and reputation

2. Cross-link social media profiles, squeeze pages and agent websites

3. Use social networking to communicate with clients, post pictures, and deliver new properties

Strengthening Your Online PresenceHow do you leverage and enhance an existing web presence and boost your exposure to market your business?

Write Strategically for the Web

Being able to write for the web is a science, and an important one if you want to have a successful online presence. Typically, people do not want to think very much when they are doing their research. They would rather skim things over and jump around to what catches their eye. So it is important for you to know what these things are. Overall, we’ve found that what gets people’s attention online the most are:

• Bulleted Lists • Short Paragraphs • Subheadings • Numbers & Symbols

• Bolded Words • (Parenthesis) • Periods. In. Random. Places.

Consistency is Key

The number one thing to building and sustaining your online presence is consistency. Marketing should be a daily and weekly activity. Once you have effectively implemented your websites, it’s important that you regularly update your content with new properties and new deals you are working on. Keeping things fresh will not only help drive traffic into your website, but will help it stay there. The more you share of yourself and your business, the stronger your presence will be and the greater your success and the success of your business will be. You also have to be aware of what is working and what isn’t working. Trial and error is a big part of marketing and you have be constantly trying new things and adjusting before you implement a new strategy.

Creating an Online Presence

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Never Stop Learning

In the world of technology, the only thing constant is change. There will be new technology, new tactics, and new information streaming all the time. Be sure to always be on top of your business and all the new trends that run along side with it. Missing this step can be catastrophic to your progress and overall success. So make sure to keep educating yourself and stay ahead of the curve. If this means asking your nieces and nephews what the new “it” thing is, then so be it!

Increasing Your Conversions A conversion rate is the number of potential leads that actually end up on your buyer/seller list, or “convert.” It is taking advantage of what you have (visitors) and turning it into what you don’t (leads). In order to have a successful website and a strong online presence, you have to maximize your conversions. This means you need to look at not only the volume of visitors to your website, but the quality as well. It takes only 20 seconds to lose a website visitor if you do not instantly capture their attention and engage them. You can have a thousand people click on your page, but if they all leave before receiving your message, then what’s the use? At the end of the day, your goal is to expand on your buyer/seller list. A lot of times, the energy is focused so much on getting your traffic flowing that people forget what to do when it actually does.

If a website has a low conversion rate, it is typically a fairly simple problem that, when solved, can make a world of a difference in conversions and improve the bottom line. Here are some best practices to help you become a converting expert!

Creating an Online Presence

Here are a few helpful tips to improve your website conversion rate:

• Keep it Simple - The more difficult you make your website to use, the less leads you will convert. A well-designed page is accessible. Have someone on a PC and a Mac computer try to access your site and make sure it works properly on all browsers.

• Be Open and Honest - If you are listing a property, make sure to include all the necessary details that a buyer or seller would want to know.

• Don’t Info Dump - Although you want to keep your visitors informed, one of the biggest mistakes a site can make is providing too much information. This goes mostly for text. If you visit a website and it looks like you have to read a novel, you would leave, right? This goes the same for requesting information. Don’t overload the visitor with questions that they don’t want to answer. Gather the small pieces first (name, email) and collect the rest when they’ve invested a little more time on your webpage.

• Establish Credibility - Having a web presence is your chance to prove your worth. Most people are extreme-ly cautious when buying or selling real estate. It’s important to establish trust with your audience right off the bat. Include an “About Us” section so that your visitors can easily read about your company and your background. Having testimonials from prior leads can help to calm the nerves of a first-time homebuyer, or someone who may have had bad experiences in the past. Don’t forget to include a phone number to call in case a question arises.

Design and content also play a part in trust. A poor design will automatically give off an unprofessional feeling. The first thought will be that if a company can’t afford a decent website, how can they be well established and trust-worthy of doing business with? Take pride in what you do and how you are represented.

• Be Memorable - A good site will include good information and not just be an online catalogue. It will have a notewor-thy name and maybe even a catchy line. Become an unforgettable company with a unique selling point. Don’t forget to add personality as well. Figure out what sets you apart from the competition, and flaunt it.

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Once your website is up and running, you have to start on the most important part -- putting it to work. In other words, you not only have to be out there, but you have to begin promoting your website and get people to notice that you are out there as well. To have an online presence, you need to drive visitors to your website; and in order to do so, there are a few strategies you can implement.

One of the most basic means of driving traffic to your website is to include the web address on all of your advertising and marketing pieces. This includes business cards, direct mail, newspaper ads, billboards, flyers – everything and everywhere your name goes,

your website goes as well. There are also more advanced techniques of driving traffic to your webpage. The basic components of today’s Internet marketing are known as PPC (pay-per-click) and SEO (search engine optimiza-tion.) Both of these serve as a form of measurement of your online traffic and the overall success of your site.

When you begin driving large amounts of traffic to your website, there are multiple ways you can monetize that success. For example, you can offer banner advertising opportunities for vendors (title companies, contractors, lenders etc). You can even start listing other investor’s properties on your site for a flat fee or a marketing fee (if a buyer came through your site) or you could even charge buyers a small nominal fee to access your exclusive listings, not available to anyone else.

The Power of the Search EngineThe first thing you want to consider when trying to funnel online traffic to your website is where the traffic is currently. One major source of online traffic is the search engine Google. Google gets about 80-85 percent of all searches. A search engine is computer software that is used to search data for specified information. On Google, or other search engines, you can simply type in keywords that you are hoping will yield the information that you are seeking.

When you look at a search result in Google, there are ten results that populate on the first page. They are also paid listings on the right-hand side. These listings are done from Google AdWords. Every time someone clicks on a Google AdWord listing, the company it is adver-tising for has to pay a fee. These advertised listings also can appear above the top ten listings – however, because they are advertise-ments, most choose to ignore them. Your best bet is to be in the top ten “organic” listings that are produced. Every time someone clicks on your organic listing, it is 100% free. Now that you know about this powerhouse search engine, you need to understand how to improve your ability to use it.

Driving Traffic to Your Website

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Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the traditional method of helping websites to come up on the top of that result list. Since these sites on the right were in the top three results, they have a well-executed SEO plan. SEO is not paid adver-tising. When you need to move up the search result ladder, you can work on getting your website more content specific by adding key words such as geo-graphic information and target niches. Monitor your progress to see what works. Search for yourself every so often and see how you’re doing. Remember, this is not something that happens overnight and could take a few months or years. Once you get things rolling, however, you will continually receive traffic. Search engines can be picky when finding relevant content, so here are some helpful SEO Do’s and Don’ts:

Helpful SEO Do’s & Don’ts

DO place in relevant content. Content is determined by the theme, the text on the page, and the titles and descriptions

DON’T over stuff keywords. Search engines see this as spam.

DO make sure to keep the perfor-mance of your website optimal and working properly.

DON’T purchase links if you are trying to use them for SEO, they will get you nowhere.

DO have content that can link to other sites as reference to prove your creditability

DON’T place too many ads and make it difficult for people to find content they are looking for, causing visitors to change their minds and leave.DO make sure that your site is easy to

navigate and provides a quality user experience


Helpful TipWhen you are naming your website, keep SEO in mind. You want to make sure that you can be easily searched and show up on top of the results!

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Pay-Per-ClickPay-per-click (PPC) is an Internet marketing formula that is used to put a price on online advertisements. These ads are the sponsored links that show up when you perform a web search in Google, or other search engines, as shown below.

This Internet advertising model is used to direct traffic to a website. PPC programs require the online advertiser to pay Internet Publishers an agreed upon rate for when an ad is clicked on. This rate is paid regardless of whether a sale is made. Typically, PPC works like an auction where advertisers place bids on keywords or phrases that they believe will target the audience. This allows advertisers to reach a target population while only paying when their ad is clicked. The major heavyweight in this industry is Google AdWords, which we’ve touched on briefly. With Google AdWords you can even show your ads on specific days of the week or hours in a day. This is an easy and cost-effective way to get traffic flowing. PPC marketing can also be very low-risk because you are always in control of every dollar you spend, and you only pay for results.

The Blogosphere Another way to help you drive traffic and increase your SEO is to have a blog. A blog, short for web log, is a personal website where you express your opinions on a regular basis. Think of it as a journal that is available on the web. When you write a blog, you are “blogging” and become a “blogger.” In real estate investment, you can blog about a house that you are rehabbing and update it each day, for example. This is important to do because having the ability to constantly communicate with your potential buyers is part of your work. You will find that as you go, people will become addicted to reading what you are doing and actually get excited about a property that they’ve yet to step foot in.


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Blogging not only offers traffic generation but SEO benefits as well, both of which are ongoing. For example, if you write about a foreclosed house in California, and someone searches for foreclosures in California, guess what shows up? Keep in mind that once a post is made, it will keep working for you forever, unless you take it down. Compare that to any other type of marketing you may be considering for your real estate investing company. Then take into account the number of ways each of your blog posts can be shared and spun to attract more traffic and generate more real estate investing leads. This includes syndicating your blogs to your social media profiles, and even using them to increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

If you compare the cost of creating high quality blog posts with sending out a direct mail piece, running a monthly print ad or even taking a shot at PPC advertising, blogging provides the best return on investment (ROI) to grow your real estate business.

Tracking and RetentionWith any marketing plan, you need to know whether or not it is working and bringing in leads. Therefore, it is important to track your online marketing results and have the right tools in place to measure your success based on the goals that you’ve set. Many people make the mistake of only tracking small pieces of information. You need to know if web traffic has increased or decreased, and by how much. If you want more home-seller leads, then you will need to know how many home-seller leads were generated. The percentage of repeat visitors tells you whether you are engaging visitors early in the process and bringing them back. A high bounce rate indicates pages that are failing to deliver on their promises. In order to monitor your success, there are several free and user-friendly options to get you started. Some of the most popular options are Google Analytics, Alexa, Stat-Counter, and Sitemeter. Make sure to do your research and figure out what works best for your business.

Expense Report: Blogging

Although you are encouraged to first try blogging for free and on your own, if you run into trouble finding things to write, or even how to put your thoughts into words, you can certainly hire a professional writer. Most investors do start out by hiring ghostwriters to blog for them. A ghostwriter can charge on average from $18-$25 per written page, unless a lower fee can be negotiated.


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When looking for a simple and effective marketing technique, look no further than social media. Some real estate investors may be skeptical about incorporating social media sites into their marketing plan, but this method has become one of the most efficient means of marketing a real estate business. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram… if you haven’t heard of these social networking sites yet, then you are missing out on some major op-portunities to find buyers, sellers, and even potential funding partners.

Social networking sites are more than just an area of opportunity for you to capture leads; it is also a source for mar-keting your company, yourself, and most importantly your credibility. Remember, there is a lot of stress involved with buying, selling, and even renting. People are more inclined to turn to social sites for recommendations. By getting your name out there, you are giving yourself the ability to show who you are and who your business is’ and also, you are able to receive these comments and endorsements from other people. This can result in a respected reputation.

Social Media PowerhousesAt the end of the day, the most valuable traffic tends to be on Facebook. So if you are looking to catch the biggest fish, start here first. Facebook is the largest social network cur-rently available. It is a private social space for people to com-municate with friends, family, and even co-workers. You are able to “friend” others in order to have access to what they display on their page, and in return, it allows them to have visibility on your page. Facebook also offers analytics tools to help you track the traffic you are getting. Some businesses have spent a substantial amount of money convincing peo-ple to “like” their page. Facebook has changed how the main user feed is displayed and often times requires the business to purchase a sponsored post in order for it to even appear in the user feed of your business page fans.

You also want to use Facebook to put a face to your name as an in-vestor. When people type your name into a search engine, typical-ly your Facebook account is one of the first items to show up. When creating your personal page, make sure that it is professional, and yet have a bit of charisma as well.

Twitter allows you to network and connect mostly with celebrities, brands, and trending topics. Self-promotion is common on this platform. You can regularly “tweet” (post) about your company, which can ultimately draw attention to your website. The key here is to tweet often with short, helpful, and targeted information. There are roughly four-hundred tweets sent a day, so don’t get lost in the mix.

Social Media and Online Communities

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LinkedIn is a site that lists your previous work history, skills that you have, and recommendations from those who have worked with you in the past. It is essentially your online resume. Make sure to keep this as accurate and up-to-date as possible. This is another common site that will pop up when someone types your name into a search engine, and is a more profes-sional measure of your credibility. Here, you’ll have an option for a status update you can use to drive traffic to your website.

Pinterest allows you to “pin” images to your own virtual corkboard. Each pin is placed into a category that you can create such as fashion, music, recipes, etc. Once you’ve pinned something, it is available for the rest of the social network to then pin and add to their boards. When you click a pin, you are directed to the website from which it was originally pinned. For example, if you pulled a picture of a remodeled kitchen from a specific website, the pin would be a picture of the kitchen, and the link would go back to the specific website that holds that picture. You can create unlimited boards to highlight all the unique parts of your company. Place a link on your website to allow others to “pin” it and your fans will generate traffic for you.

Instagram, owned by Facebook, is strictly a picture-sharing platform, which can highlight your properties and services in a very aesthetic manner. You can use Instagram to show a behind-the-scenes look into your business. Many use this platform as a push tool as well. In the real estate world, listings, open houses and tours are the main step-ping-stones towards making a sale. Use this tool to make those steps much easier.

How Does Social Marketing Work?It used to be that a monthly newsletter was enough, but with the arrival of social media, you now have the opportunity to stay top-of-mind on an ongoing basis. The key is to integrate social media into your pre-existing marketing campaigns. For instance, if you’re blog-ging, automatically post each new article on Facebook. You should also include links to your social media pages at the bottom of your email and the bottom of your website.


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In order to improve upon your skills and network in the industry, use social networks to search for your con-tractors, your Realtors, your investors, or any of your other key players. Sites like LinkedIn or Meetup provide spaces for real estate professionals to connect and learn from one another. There are even specific group settings such as the National Association of REALTORS on LinkedIn that are great places to connect with specialized pro-fessionals in the industry.

Sign up for an account on each of the big names and try to explore on your own as a user. Get a feel for how peo-ple communicate, where to post, how to put links onto the site, and how to upload photos. There are plenty of people who are familiar with them if you aren’t, so don’t be afraid to ask for help. Once you are familiar as a user, you can start to act as a marketer. If you received a new listing and needed to move it within a few months, here is a simple process you could follow:


Key Social Media Tips• Take the time to actually assess which types of posts really cause action and which get ignored. What gets

your attention?

• While offering value is wise, real estate investing companies who neglect to include regular calls to action are allowing the money to float by them.

• Ask questions, get people talking and use your social pages for market research.

• Make sure you are really pushing people to follow your social profiles at every opportunity from net-working events to emails and your blog.

• If you don’t have a strategy for funneling visitors through to contact you, the point is being missed.

• While there may still be a few good years left in social and the flow should never be shut off or lists abandoned re-member all marketing, like the real estate market is cyclical so maintain a good marketing mix.

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Craigslist MarketingCraigslist is one of many free online classified forums out there that can help market what you’re selling and buying. This particular classified forum is known for seeing over 50 billion users each month. On Craigslist, you have the opportunity to not only market your properties and services, but you can place links to your websites, social media pages, and of course your squeeze page. Remember, this is free marketing, which means you have open range to try out a variety of different techniques. There are countless ads you can produce – so this is a great way to start having your business working for you.

How does it work?Craigslist houses a multitude of advertisement pages that are created by users for free. It is the modern day classified page. You can narrow down your location to find what you need, where you need it. Categories includes on the site are: jobs, housing, selling and trading items, personals, and much more. The site has a very bland layout, but is easy to use for most people. After you create a Craigslist account, you can view and post listings, and keep track of them as well. Typically your classified will run for one week and automatically be taken down. Because of that, there are two things you need to do with your ad once created: Repost and Renew. After about 3-4 days, you’ll see the option to do so.

Come up with a new title for the same ad and see if that works better. Add different pictures, or maybe even take some items out, if the ad seems a little overwhelming. Simplicity can also bring in traffic. Some people have found that 1-2 word ads can bring in leads; however, it depends on your audience. Keep trying new techniques, but don’t dismiss the old ones because there is no limit to how many you can have… and you never know what might work and when it might start working. The fact of the matter is – technology saves time, so use it. We’ve found that once we finalized this system, our business started working for us, instead of the other way around.


Helpful TipInstead of getting people to call you, you can respond to ads yourself. In order to generate leads, head into the “apart-ments/housing” section where you may find individuals listing properties for rent. Most often, these are properties from homeowners who may be facing financial distress and are trying to rent their properties as a last effort to save them.

Expense Report: Craigslist

There are ways you can advertise your homes on Craigslist in a more attractive manner. There are two options: Postlets and Vflyer. Both offer free services, however Vflyer has advanced syndication services for monthly subscription fees.

Vflyer $12.95 – 34.95 /monthPostlets Free

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Wrap Up

#1BUILD YOUR

PRIMARY WEBSITEEstablish credibility, showcase

your company & properties, and include a name capture tool

#2CREATE

SQUEEZE PAGESKeep it simple to generate more leads. Create a page for your buyers & one for

sellers

#3INCREASE YOUR

ONLINE PRESENCEWork on boosting your conversion

rate by fine-tuning your website. Be consistent with everything you are doing online and never stop learning

#5JOIN SOCIAL

MEDIASet up accounts on all the big-time social media sites. Post regularly, share links to all of your sites, & constantly

networkONLINE

MARKETING

#4DRIVE TRAFFIC

Understand SEO and how to pull yourself into the top ten

results. Start writing a blog, be passionate about it & track all

of your results

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Wrap Up

Online Marketing TerminologyAdWords – AdWords is Google’s paid search marketing program .

Analytics – Also known as Web Metrics. Analytics refers to collection of data about a Web site and its users. Analytics programs typically give performance data on clicks, time, pages viewed, Web site paths, and a variety of other information.

Blog – Short for Web log, blogs are part journal, part Web site. Typically the newest entry (blog post) appears at the top of the page with older entries coming after in reverse chronological order.

Content Management System – Content Management Systems (CMS) allow Web site owners to make text and picture changes to their Web sites without specialized programming knowledge of software.

Conversion Rate – This statistic, or metric, tells you what percentage of people is converting.

Domain Name – A Web site’s main address.

Hyperlink – Often blue and underlined, hyperlinks, commonly called “links” for short, allow you to navigate to other pages on the Web with a simple click of your mouse.

Squeeze Page – The first page a person sees when coming to your Web site from an advertisement. This page can be any page on your Web site including your home page.

PageRank – PageRank is a value that Google assigns for pages and Web sites that it indexes, based on all the factors in its algorithm.

Pay per Click (PPC) – A common way to pay for search engine and other types of online advertising, CPC means you pay a pre-determined amount each time someone clicks on your advertisement to visit your site.

Search Engines – Search engines are places people go to search for things on the internet, such as Yahoo!, Google, or bing. Most search engines provide Web sites two ways of appearing: Organic (free) and Paid.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Making your site show up on the first page of a search engine.

Social Media - A type of online media where information is uploaded primarily through user submission.

Social Networking – A type of Social Media, Social networking Web sites allow users to interact and create or change content on the site.

Tags – Words or phrases used to describe and categorize individual blog posts, videos, and pictures. Correctly using tags organizes content for users and can help with visibility through SEO and social media optimization.

Web Browser – The program you use to access the Internet. Common browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla Firefox.

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This information is for educational purposes. We don’t believe in push-button profits—we believe in proven business systems, education,drive and hard work. We are committed to teaching you how to reach your goals. In promoting our educational programs, we illustratesuccess stories. We want you to know, students are not compensated for their testimonials. However, many of our most successful studentsjoin our team as Coaches and Trainers. As stipulated by law, we cannot and do not guarantee results or offer legal advice. As with anybusiness, your results will vary and will be based on your drive, effort, follow-through and other variables beyond our control. We believe infull transparency, and a high standard of integrity, that is why we encourage you to read our full earnings and income disclaimer by visitingwww.fortunebuilders.com/earnings-income-disclaimers/

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