Today the world of web design and blogging moves as quickly as the real estate market itself. Just as real estate listings are updated daily, web marketing techniques are constantly changing and improving. To stay competitive in the real estate industry, your website has to be effective.

Last Friday, the Southern Web Group participated in a seminar offered by the Cobb Association of Realtors called Hands on Tech Day. Drew Barton of Southern Web Group discussed “what to do and what not to do” on your web page.

The Hands On Tech Day was limited to 20 participants. Realtors had the golden opportunity to update the look of their web pages, learn how to start their own blog and much more. A compelling, navigable website equals improved profits for realtors.

Today’s real estate customers want to visit an easy-to-use website with updated information. Often your website is the first impression prospective clients have of your real estate business. Does your website design reach out and grab your visitors? If it doesn’t, they’ll quickly leave to visit competitors’ websites to find what they want.

If you haven’t updated your website or added a blog, you’ll be left behind in today’s fast-paced online business marketplace. The web marketing techniques that worked last year are already stale this year. Remaining aware of current trends equals greater success for your real estate business. You can even host a web marketing seminar of your own to empower your real estate team members.

The Southern Web Group also published a new site for Idee Design last week, which is featured in the screen shot above. Idee Design is an excellent example of a powerful first web page. White picket fence gates encourage visitors to open them and enter the web world of Idee Design. Once you enter, links to information are easy to find.

Make the most of your online real estate by learning the latest web marketing techniques. Update your website, add an interesting blog and watch your revenues soar!

When you have an online business, you’ll receive plenty of solicitations from self-proclaimed SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gurus. If it was as easy as these alleged experts make it sound, everyone would be doing it.

Just a few years ago, SEO was as simple as finding a few great keywords to add to your titles and web copy. Include some links pointing to sites then watch the website’s rank go up in a few weeks and suddenly – you were an SEO expert!

SEO has become much more complicated. Using too many keywords or posting tired old copy can actually cause you to rank lower in the search engines. Yesterday’s tactics no longer work today.  There is no easy magic formula for SEO success.

To remain competitive while SEO strategies continually change, get help from a reputable SEO professional.  An SEO pro will strategize with you so your business website does its job.

According surveys conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), the pay scale for SEO professionals is good. “Of those respondents with up to one year’s experience, 60% reported annual salaries in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. Compensation tracks strongly with experience. At the next level, two to three years experience, almost 34% reported salaries in the $50,000 to $80,000 range. At the more seasoned end of the spectrum, of those professionals with nine or more years experience, just under 40% are earning between $90,000 and $140,000 annually.”

SEO professionals don’t earn those kind of bucks for nothing. Real SEO professionals have a proven track record. Word of mouth travels quickly online so you really have to know your stuff to be considered a pro these days.

Avoid glossy ad campaigns, ongoing solicitations and persistant pop-ups.  Usually these SEO gurus don’t make money for anyone other than themselves.  Bargain basement prices and inflated promises are often signs you’re dealing with a pretender rather than a pro. 

DIY solicitations are also hype.  Would you perform your own dental work?  Do you hire an accountant for your taxes do get the highest returns on your money?  Hiring an SEO professional yields far better results than doing it yourself.

Review SEO professionals carefully.  Ask for a list of current clients.  Contact several businesses to discuss the success of their SEO and PPC campaigns. Do your research so you know you’re working with a legitimate SEO pro.

Enlisting the services of an effective SEO professional is a solid investment .  An SEO professional helps you develop a successful SEO and PPC campaign for your website. The right formula from a skillful SEO pro makes your web business more noticeable and profitable.

On November 11, we sent out our November Newsletter to our valued customers and friends.  The newsletter contains information about our new SEO service, our email marketing program and our referral bonus program.

Click here to read a copy of our November edition.

Businesses are gearing up for a difficult holiday season. Rising expenses and stagnant salaries mean Americans are spending less. According to a recent U.S. Commerce Department report, individual American expenditures fell 0.3 percent in September from August. This drop is the biggest since June, 2004.

With American spending less rather than more as the holiday season draws closer, businesses need to take a new approach. What can mean the difference between success and failure for your business this holiday season? A navigable website design, compelling content, effective email campaign and secure eCommerce store will put you ahead of the competition.

A navigable website makes it easy for your visitors to find what they want right away. Information is assembled in a clear, logical fashion. Links are operational so it’s easy for your visitors to take action. Include search options and useful content about your products and services.

Avoid using tired content and articles that were rehashed everywhere else on the web. Keep your content fresh, informative and unique. Become a valuable resource so visitors want to return and tell others about you.  Use SEO tactics to move your rank up in the popular search engines.  Maintain a blog to post ongoing holiday updates.

A well-planned email campaign gives your visitors additional reasons and reminders to take action. Have a newsletter to offer sales and coupons and announce new products and services. Discuss industry updates. Stay in touch with your visitors so they want to stay in touch with you.

Finally, a secure eCommerce store makes it simple for visitors to makes purchases from your website. Make sure to have site signs indicating the existence of an SSL certificate so visitors know their transactions are secure.

With the American public tightening their belts before the holidays, you need a plan for success. Update your website design and initiate an email campaign to engage your visitors. Don’t wait until the last minute or you may lose serious holiday profits.

You found affordable web hosting, created an attractive website and established an ecommerce store filled with great products. So why don’t any of your visitors actually buy?  If your website does not clearly indicate the presence of an SSL digital certificate, potential buyers leave fearing security risks.

Sending data over the Internet is risky without a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and a digital certificate that enables your customer to communicate safely with your ecommerce website. Unlike visiting a retail store in personal, customers cannot see who they are dealing with online. An SSL certificate gives them the reassurance they need to do business with you.

An SSL certificate assures your customers that your website is really who is claims to be . A website without an SSL certificate could be a pretender set up to gather personal information for scams or identity theft. If your website does not have an SSL certificate, people might not believe it’s legitimate.

When customers see an SSL certificate, they know the credit card number and banking information they use cannot be intercepted. Account numbers are encrypted so thieves cannot gain access to them for ill use. Further, the data sent and received on a secure website cannot be forged or tampered with. This gives website visitors the confidence to buy from your ecommerce site rather than leaving.

Your ecommerce website should include a dynamic seal, which a code provided by your SSL issuer to prove you have one. When a visitor clicks on the code, a page is revealed that provides information about your SSL certificate and its registration.

Give your website visitors a reason to trust you and buy from you by displaying an SSL certificate. Even if you have all your other ducks in a row, if you don’t have an SSL certificate you won’t be making the profits you should.

Our recent entries discuss the importance of having a business newsletter.  In the modern business arena, newsletters keep you connected with clients and prospects.  Providing useful information makes you a valuable resource people trust.  Newsletters can also be shared, making it easier for others to spread the word about your services.

So what makes a newsletter campaign work?  There are several ways to make your newsletter more effective so it stands out from the competition

Provide valuable content. Plenty of competitors use the same tired, reworked content.  Make sure your newsletter provides fresh content people won’t find elsewhere.

Use a structured, easy-to-follow format. Cluttered newsletters are difficult to follow.  Links should be locatable and working.  Avoid using oversize images that take extra time to download.  Clients will read your newsletters if they can quickly peruse them for valuable information.

Avoid capitalization, exclamation points and puffery.  Newsletters with excessive capitalization and exclamation points look unprofessional.  Steer clear of puffery and false claims that may challenge your legitimacy.

Use a compelling subject line.  Summarize your newsletter with a catch phrase in the subject line.  Ways to grab attention include asking a question, establishing a need and creating mystery.

Present pertinent information right away.  The beginning of your newsletter should summarize its contents. Pertinent facts should be presented immediately to draw your readers’ attention.

Include a call to action in your newsletter.   Your newsletter should provide a call to action for clients to answer, such as clicking a link or requesting additional information.  Make it easy for readers to take action.

If all this seems overwhelming, there are professional newsletter services that can do all the work for you.  Developing an effective newsletter equals greater credibility and profits in today’s competitive business world.

We discussed the importance of having a business newsletter in our previous blog entry. From keeping in touch to sharing your overall vision, a newsletter reminds people you exist by offering useful information after they visit your website. But do newsletters make an impact on your bottom line?

The Facts

Let’s consider a few recent statistics about newsletters and email campaigns.

• Forrester reports that in 2008, so far more than 250 billion dollars in business to business spending in the United States was influenced or driven by email.

• The Direct Magazine annual forecast survey revealed email was a top marketing medium for direct marketers with 72 percent sending it to customers, 50 percent sending it to prospects and 55 percent ready to increase their budgets for email marketing – which must mean it’s getting results.

• Datran found 80 percent of marketers feel email is the strongest media performer with a higher return on your investment than search.

Can Spam

Are you free from the CAN-SPAM Act because you have a legitimate contact list? Developing a contact list through your newsletter means the people receiving it have a legitimate interest in your business. While this minimizes the possibility of sending spam, there are other ways your email and newsletter can be problematic:

• Don’t use a misleading headline.

• Subject lines should not be deceptive.

• Newsletters must always provide an opt-out method to recipients.

• Identify the newsletter as advertising and include a legitimate postal address.

Most people are online not just for business but for shopping, paying bills, searching and doing research. Receiving informational newsletters is an easy way to be updated in just moments. The convenience of opening your reliable newsletters rather than searching around makes you a valuable resource to clients and potential customers. As more businesses develop newsletters, people will expect them from legitimate resources. Prove your credibility and don’t be left behind by the competition by sending your own newsletter.

Most websites offer visitors an opportunity to subscribe to their newsletter. By clicking on a link and providing their email address, readers can receive the latest industry news and updates. What is the purpose of a newsletter and why does your business need one?

Gather Contact Information

Gathering contact information is the most obvious reason for having visitors subscribe to your newsletter. By offering free updates, you get the opportunity to get contact information from visitors to your website.  Without the option to sign up for a newsletter, you lose the chance to turn a visitor into a contact. Make sure your website discusses your privacy policy. People will not provide their basic contact information unless they feel reassured you won’t be sharing it with anyone else. Sending out a newsletter helps you to legitimately build your database for future promotional efforts.

Keep In Touch

Without spending endless time, money and resources, a newsletter helps you stay in touch with all your contacts. Instead of writing letters, making telephone calls or getting in touch with people individually, you can send a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletters to keep your business name in front of your contacts.

Become A Valuable Resource

Your newsletters should provide pertinent, compelling information your contacts will not readily find elsewhere.  By offering interesting, enlightening content in your newsletters, you will become a valuable resource to your clients. Clients who value your newsletter are more likely to do business with you.

Gain Credibility

Once your newsletters are considered a valuable resource, you gain credibility in your industry. Clients and other professionals will turn to you for advice and updates. You may even gain additional profits by writing your own ebook and blog to provide additional information.

Build Relationships

Some clients know what they want right away and take advantage of your offerings during their first or second visit to your website. Other clients prefer to research their options and review various companies. Sending a newsletter builds relationships. As potential clients peruse other websites, they may forget about your business. When they receive your newsletter, it reminds them you are still in the game.

Share Your Vision

A newsletter can be shared with others. Encourage your readers to forward copies of your newsletter to friends, family and business associates who may also be interested in what you provide.

A business newsletter can turn website visitors into profitable clients.

Recently we published a website for CP Professionals, a company offering commercial real estate solutions. Unlike a residential real estate website, this commercial site has a crisp, professional feeling that relates to other businesses immediately. Instead of a photo of a residential home or business proprietor, there is a small screen shot of a building across the top. The main page features an easily navigable logo with options for landlord representation, tenant representation and investment brokerage and consulting. Visitors can easily click on these links to find what they want right away.

The top link on the website is the company’s mission statement and values, proving their commitment to providing outstanding service. At the bottom of the links along the left side, the company address and telephone number is clearly listed for added credibility. To get direct telephone numbers, fax numbers and faces to go with the business, visitors click on a link for team members. A link to market reports offers additional valuable resources to visitors with just two clicks. The contact link makes it simple to get in touch with someone at CP Professionals right away so visitors can TAKE ACTION.

We also published a website for consulting engineers, LeBlanc Welch. Their home page includes engineering photos along the bottom with clear statements about how the company faces challenges and offers solutions. The answer to the question, “Why LeBlanc Welch?” is easily found as the first link on along the left side of the home page. Visitors are brought to a page that outlines LeBlanc Welch’s plan to define, design and deliver, proving the company’s credibility and commitment to a vision.

Additional links are simple to find along the left side of the LeBlanc Welch website. Visitors click links to find out the services and markets available, along with the projects LeBlanc Welch is working on. Visitors can find out “What’s New” in the company by clicking a link. It is simple for visitors to TAKE ACTION by clicking the contact link offering a physical address, telephone number, fax number and email addresses.

Navigable, eye-catching websites with clear links and useful information give your visitors a reason to TAKE ACTION. If your visitors fail to TAKE ACTION right away, don’t despair. Capture their email addresses so they can get receive your newsletter for the latest industry updates. Our next blog entries will discuss the importance of a compelling newsletters to build trust, relationships and profits.

In our last blog entry, we discussed the importance of getting prospective clients to TAKE ACTION. To get in the game, you need a professional online presence with a well-designed website and an active blog on a platform such as WordPress. But how do you stay in the game and get people to do what you want?

Although we offered an example of a real estate business website in our last entry, all types of businesses can take advantage of the following simple techniques to call visitors into action:

Avoid the long and winding road. Have a navigable website so visitors can easily find the what they want and pay you. If customers cannot easily locate what they need and find a secure payment method, you will lose them.

Give them what they want. We all think we have something important to say, but is it relevant to your visitors? Research your target market so you know what they want. If you give visitors what they want, they will come back for more.

Put yourself out there. Don’t be a mysterious, faceless business that lacks credibility. Provide contact information on your website, including a telephone number and physical address. Post testimonials from other satisfied clients. If you service high end clients, get permission to include their logo and/or testimonial on your website. Post photos of key business players.  Offer money-back guarantees when applicable. Show you are taking security measures to protect the privacy all data shared on the website.

The only constant is change. Your website is always a “work in progress”. Use effective visuals to draw visitors’ attention to important information. Change your headlines, move around page elements and experiment to see what get the best results.

Get fresh. Update your content regularly. Ask visitors to provide their email address to get free newsletters and updates. Provide valuable resources. Your visitors won’t come back unless you give them a good reason to. Each time visitors return, they are more likely to take action.

Get real. Bring your business, website and blog to life. Let everyone know about the real people who make the business happen. Talk to your clients in a friendly, upbeat way they can clearly understand. Don’t talk down to your visitors or become overly familiar. Keep your tone light, personable and informative.

Get to know SEO.  Using Search Engine Optimized (SEO) content makes your website and blog rank higher on the search engines.  SEO content includes relevant keywords so it’s easier for visitors to find you.

Time is of the essence. Encourage the buyer to take action sooner rather than later. Offer discounts for visitors who act right away. Discuss market developments and how the buyer is at a greater advantage if they buy now, before everyone else does.