You Must have a knowledge of web based tools and have a better than basic knowledge of Internet Marketing, web design, Social Media and SEO as you will be selling all 4.

Serious inquiries can reply to this post via email to set up a phone interview.

What makes him more unique than most I’ve met is his understanding of the importance of the Internet for growing his business. I would not describe Robert as computer or Internet savvy but one thing he almost instinctively knew was that his new business needed to be online and in front of the right audience. Believe it or not, I have to convince many people of this fact but not Robert. He has aggressively gone after everything we taught him about his new online presence from his website to his blog to his social media presence and like I said, in short order he has gotten the attention of all of his peers. “How did you grow so much so fast?” “What are you doing to get your business?” are just some of the questions that Robert is commonly answering. If I could describe Robert in a just a few words I would say he is a “make it happen” person and he “get’s it” and we’re darn proud that he chose us to help him get started.

Wanna chat with Robert? Wanna pick his brain about his new carpet repair business? Do you live in Phoenix and need a carpet pro?
Call Robert. He’s one of the friendliest people I know.

Robert Atlas
Phoenix Carpet Repair
115 N. Beautiful Lane
Phoenix AZ 85041
(602) 688-4186

This blog post was inspired by many years of working with home builders across the nation and most recently one builder that my company recently had the pleasure of working with (well, almost worked with). You see the builder in question approached us to get a proposal for some SEO work and after 2 weeks of research we provided them with a proposal and a solution to their problem. They wanted to virtually take over their market in the search engine results for the areas in which they build homes. A noble & lofty goal given that this particular market was very competitive and several major players were already in that space but at the end of the day it was doable.

So we have a problem and we have a viable solution. Done deal right? Nope. Last month the home sales for that area began to drop and the home builder lost two thirds of their expected sales for a six week period of time. That’s enough to get any home builders attention and I understand that but what makes me shake my head in confusion is the decision that this builder made and as I eluded to earlier, many many home builders make when sales begin to drop.

Pull the marketing budget.

Or at the very least halt all marketing efforts until things change. Why, why why? Can someone, anyone tell me the thinking behind this? Here’s a few things I know. Regardless of what the market says there is ALWAYS a buyer. They may not be coming in droves but they are ALWAYS there. With that being said when is it ever a bad thing to make sure you’re found when they’re looking even if it means you spent something to get that buyer? When can you not afford to have a first page presence in the search engines if that means that you get the most qualified buyer even when the market takes a dive?

After I spoke with the aforementioned builder about their decision I checked to see the traffic in their area, the area that they would’ve owned. I found that nearly 4 thousand people were searching for new homes in June. Even if that number is down by 50% that’s still 4000 searches. Wouldn’t just one of those buyers make a huge difference in your ROI?

You see, optimizing your site is a long term investment that ensures your presence in the search engine results regardless of what the market is doing. This means that when the market is good, you’re selling homes and when the market is bad, you’re still selling homes because you’re there when they’re looking.

So I ask these questions and I am seeking some helpful responses. Why would you pull your marketing efforts and budget in down times? Why would you not want to secure a piece of the buyers pie be it ever so small?

Allow me to offer some answers that I suspect are out there.
1.) You don’t believe in the Internets ability to perform.
2.) You think you have a deep grasp of buyer practices.
3.) You’re waiting to see what another builds does.

Please offer your input on this as it will no doubt be a learning experience for everyone especially for those marketing professionals that lose their job during these times.

Don’t forget to comment and thanks for visiting the Matrix.

1. Can you tell someone how to get to your site without having to spell anything?
2. Are the URLs human-readable or are they full of special characters and dynamically-generated gobbledygook?
3. Do you have an About page?
4. Can visitors tell what your site is about without visiting your About page?
5. Is your contact information readily available on every page – or at least from every page?
6. If not, what are you hiding from? Your customers?
7. Is your home page doing you any favors or is it merely an “Enter Site” gateway?
8. Do you have an RSS Feed?
9. Did you decorate for the holidays?
10. When is the last time you added new content?
11. Why has it been so long?
12. Is your site ranking highly in search engines for relevant keywords?
13. What about for your name? Or your business name?
14. What are your relevant keywords, anyway?
15. Is anyone linking to you these days?
16. If not, what can you do to make this happen?
17. Who are you linking to these days?
18. How long does it take your site to load at your mother’s house?
19. Do you need to download anything on her computer to even see your site?
20. What is the single most important thing you want a visitor to do?
21. Is that clear from looking at your site?
22. Does your site look professional, or does it look like a teenager’s MySpace page?
23. Do you link out to your other web presences (social network profiles, Twitter account, YouTube page, Flickr photostream)?
24. Is it clear what content is protected by Copyright and what is free to take and re-use?
25. What one thing can you do to your site today to increase visitors?
26. Are you commenting on blogs and building relationships with other site-owners in your industry or niche?
27. How does your site look on a mobile device?
28. An iPhone?
29. Blackberry?
30. Cheapo-plastic-freebie phone?
31. Amazon Kindle?
32. Is your site usable with images turned off?
33. On a computer with no Flash or Javascript?
34. In every web browser?
35. How many clicks does it take for a visitor to give you money?
36. Is your site “fine for the moment” or is it flexible enough to be fine for the next 5 years?
37. Are your ads annoying?
38. How easy is it for a visitor to leave a comment or write a review?
39. Can your site run without you?
40. Is the entire site backed up?
41. Is the important stuff backed up multiple times in multiple formats in multiple physical locations?
42. How long would it take to turn your entire site navy blue with white text?
43. Is this time measured in seconds (awesome), minutes (good), or hours (you’re doing things wrong)?
44. Is your branding consistent between your site, your printed material, your storefront, and you as a person?
45. Do your product descriptions sound like they were written by a person or by a mentally-ill robot programmed with the vocabulary of an out-of-work Madison Avenue ad guy whose last account was for one of those food processors they sell on TV at 2am?
46. Do you care about your website?
47. Is it important to you?
48. Are your readers and customers important to you as people, not just as eyeballs with wallets?
49. Would you be sad – actually sad – if your site disappeared tomorrow?
50. What would you do if it did?

Some say that you should post to your blog at least 3 times a week. Yea! Like I have the time to do that? Maybe 3 times a week for a professional blogger but not this chap. Anyway, who made that rule? Is it written in some kind of blogger bible somewhere? Is that the magic blog number? I think not and if you’re stressing because you just can’t come up with content for 3 blogs a week, stop it! I blog when I have something to say, have an opinion to share, have a lesson to offer or even when I want to rant about something. Healthy cynicism used constructively is a good thing and people love that.

You need to see your blog as your company playground. A place to be yourself because as I’ve said a million times, people want to to see the personality behind your brand and your blog is the place to display all of your imperfect, raw and uncut glory. If all you wish to portray is your perfect well rounded self then just turn your blog off now, we get enough of that in American politics.

What to say, what to say?
Several talking heads in our industry have already attempted to fuel the flames of creativity as it pertains to blog topics so I won’t do it again. (Although I will if you wish to contact me)

But I will say this, and listen carefully, stop thinking that your blog needs to be:

1.) Perfect: You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you try to hard to gussy it up all the time. You’re not writing a 5 page school essay so stop trying to be grammatically flawless. The people reading blogs these days are the same people that are using “words” like LOL, BRB, LMAO, GTG etc in their everyday lives and I guarantee that they could care less if your sentence is grammatically complete.

2.) Relevant to the industry: Really? Who says? Where’s that written? Not only that, but how boring is this approach? Why not share something about you, about the economy, about a new product you recently bought and liked, something educational, or like I said earlier; a rant? People are looking for reasons to engage and respond and if your blog just reads like more website copy then it ain’t gonna happen. How’s that for grammar?

3.) Riddled with keywords: Again, who says? More importantly why? Ok, ok I guess if the only reason you have a blog is to help you with SEO then go ahead and litter your blogs with keywords but then it’s not really an honest to goodness blog is it? It’s an SEO machine and if that’s your bag baby then more power to ya but whose to say that your non keyword content won’t attract consumers? Personally I’d rather do business with someone that I could sit and have a beer with over the person that’s all business all the time. Wouldn’t you? I’m jus sayin.

So there ya go. Andy Rooney once said “That life is like a roll of toilet paper – the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” So get to writing. The faster you start the faster you finish and the more comfortable you get.

Most of all, CHILL OUT. It’s not your company State of the Union Address.

Please share your thoughts – I wanna hear from you.

First stop is Home Creations.
Their most recent video was entitled “Joe & Makensie Tour Turtlewood“. Now I don’t know if this was planned or they just went with the flow but I was very inspired by its creativity. I think you will be too. Check it out and remember, this is just one woman with a video camera and her creativity.

Next up is Penn Homes and Lisa Pool. The best thing about Lisa is that she’s real and she’s raw. My favorite  kind of person anyway but what’s cool is that she’s not constantly pushing her homes but building relationships instead. She interacts on a personal level and pulls people into her daily life. Oh, and she’s always talking about the homes she selling. I wonder if those two facts have something in common?

Information is king when it comes to building great websites but information squeezed into every corner of the page is confusing. An effective website is a road map that leads your consumer to where you want them to go, not just a collection of information. Many builders make the mistake of treating their website like an online brochure by just offering information about their homes in as many places as they can in hopes that their consumers get the message.  Unfortunately this is not a clear message.

Consider for a moment how you or one of your sales professionals would present your home during a walk through with a buyer.  You would actually lead them through the home pointing out certain qualities and amenities asking closing questions all along the way.  Eventually the walk ends at the Salespersons desk  where you ask the buyer to purchase the home and close the deal.  What you wouldn’t do (at least hopefully) is wave your hand towards the home and say “Well, there it is! I hope you find something you like! I’ll be over here if you’re really serious about buying.” Now, you might giggle about that approach but believe me it happens. What’s worse is that you may not approach a walk in buyer that way but chances are you’re doing it online and may not even be aware of it. This dynamic is actually pretty typical because we’ve been taught in the past that websites are tools that you can just “set and forget”. Let the website do the presentation for you and maybe someone will like what they see and call you.  No doubt homes have been sold this way but I would argue that with the expectation of today’s consumers that mentality is gone. I’ll cover the mindset of the online home buyer a little later but for now, let’s agree that you no longer can afford to “forget” your website and have wishful thinking about its influence on your consumers.

So then what is the ideal website look like as it pertains to clarity? Remember the road map? Well, now it’s a treasure map and the treasure that the consumer finds is their new home, but the treasure map that is your website is actually designed to give you the treasure! A qualified lead from your targeted audience. Obviously if you sold a home to a consumer online without ever having to work to close the deal then that’s awesome but  let’s all live in the real world for a moment. The greatest treasure, besides the afore mentioned, that you could get from your website would be to have that consumer provide their correct contact information and request to be contacted for additional questions or more info on the home. Here’s the kicker. YOU MUST INSPIRE THEM AND THEN LEAD THEM TO YOUR ACTION PAGE!

A Facebook landing page is the default page that new visitors to your Facebook page will see. Normally, your Wall is the default landing page but with a custom designed FBML page you can give your Facebook visitors a little taste of your website. Take a look at some of the landing pages we have designed. If you’re already a fan of these pages you will need to click on the Welcome Tab to see the landing page.

For a $100 flat fee we’ll design your FBML landing page and show you how to upload it. For a short time we’ll throw in a Twitter page design as well. Give us a call, email us, text me and we’ll make it happen for you.

Hey, even if you do not wish to get a cool landing page let me know your thoughts on the ones above.
Thanks!

So there you are, coming in droves and appearing in my thread. Home Builders! I can’t say for certain but I think I’m connected to all of you or at least a fan of your pages. Way cool, but here’s the thing and I say this with nothing but love in my heart.

You’re doing it wrong!

Please take a moment and listen to what I’m saying because if you’re going to jump into Social Media then you have to make sure you’re using it in the most effective way possible as with any marketing endeavor.

Allow me to start with a story. As I mentioned before I’m connected to the bulk of home builders on Facebook which means that the bulk of the posts I read are from home builders. Duh, right?

Here is what I typically see. “This beautiful home…..blah blah blah” or “This new plan……blah blah blah” or “Come visit us at….blah blah blah”. What is this except for written commercials or as some like to call it, spamola. Now, before you get all frustrated allow me finish the point. The other day I took the time to pick just one these builders and I examined their follower list. I went through each follower one by one (more than 100) trying to determine why they could be following this home builder. What I found was a long list of industry people or industry businesses (like myself) along with what appeared to be friends from church, co-workers and a few that I just couldn’t tell who they were. Hopefully prospective home buyers right?

So, the question that begs to be asked is, when you’re posting this umm, spam; To whom are you talking to? Or in other words, who are you trying to sell? Who is seeing your advertisements? In the case mentioned above, no one that will be buying a home anytime soon if ever right? So to be completely blunt, it’s a waste of your time to post that stuff.

You see Facebook was never meant to be another place for you to place your ads. It’s meant for building relationships and allowing the consumers who follow you to see another side of your business. The real you. They want to know the personality behind your brand, the real, uncut and transparent you. If I’m a potential home buyer and I’m thinking of following you the first thing I’m going to do is look at your wall to see what you post. If all I see is “buy this buy that” umm, no thanks. But if I see you, you’re sense of humor, your comments about current events, your interaction with other people, your weaknesses and vulnerabilities then yep, I’m in. Sound strange? Not really. So many people have already said that Social Media is like a cocktail party. How would you respond if someone at a social gathering just walked up and forced his business card in your hand and started selling? Get the picture?

So this post could easily branch off to so many other topics about how to post, what to post and how to get your consumers to follow you but I’ll save that for a follow up post. First, I’d like to get your comments, responses and or reactions to this post.

Have you analyzed your followers? Do you know whose following you? If so, what kind of response do you get from spam like posts? I’d truly like to know. Leave your comments below.

P.S. If you wanna know which builder it was you’re gonna have to call me and I’ll let you know if it was you. If it wasn’t you and I can’t tell you who it was.

Search engines rank your site…

But users must be able to find what they’ve come for… Does one trump the other? In short, the answer is a resounding NO!

Sadly, most builders’ websites do neither well.

I’m going to borrow an example from the current advertising world to try and make an analogy:

Best Buy has a new product line. And the company spent big bucks promoting it during the Winter Olympics. The product line: their Blue Label laptops. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically Best Buy’s attempt (and it could really prove a winner) to respond directly to customer feedback. Based on customer surveys that asked computer users what features they’d most like to see in a laptop, Best Buy gathered all those wish lists and bundled the most popular features among them into this new line of laptops.

It may be a tall order, but Best Buy is betting that these user-designed laptops can’t lose in their market.

Back to my analogy…essentially this new line of “blue label” laptops is designed to be Best Buy’s most user-friendly machines. But underneath all this user-friendliness a machine also has to perform, and herein lies the relationship between search engine friendliness and usability.

Your website needs to be fine-tuned for search engines (site architecture, sophisticated but clean html, optimized graphics, meta tags, title tags, appropriate keyword density) but you have untold opportunity to work magic with users — as if this were a big blank canvas.

Maybe that’s too hard to believe?

Remember, one aspect of user-friendliness is ensuring that a site visitor finds what he or she expects to find after landing on your site. Do we know what that is?

It’s a good bet that a potential home buyer is looking for all or some of the following information:

• checking out your credentials
• wants to see your models
• want to learn about the surrounding community where your are homes are located

In addition to these bullet points, I have news for you: “what they’ve come for” may not be as easy to pin down as you might imagine.

From the moment one site visitor types a search query into Google, Bing or Yahoo! to the moment he or she clicks through to your site—they have expectations. They have expectations when they start shopping for a new home, in fact! They’ve already seen visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. For many people the idea of a “home” is intoxicating and can take our emotions and even our senses to very powerful places.

I suggest you consider these intangibles as much as you consider laying out all the technical specs of a house.

Listen to what BMW has to say:

“What you make people feel is just as important as what you make. At BMW we don’t just make cars, we make joy.”

If you can pull this off with your website while having it rank well in the search engines, then you will be among a very small percentage of builders.