o understand real estate marketing. But the only thing
marketing online, you first these people can say for certain
have to understand how is what has or hasn't worked for
consumers have evolved over them.
recent years. This article will
show you how to improve your A tactic that fails miserably on
online messaging to an "info one website could succeed wildly
savvy" audience. on another site. There is
testing, and then there's
Each year, more and more conjecture ... the key is to know
consumers go online to look for the difference.
homes and search for real estate
agents. Smart real estate You never know if something will
marketers know this, so they work until you try it.
venture online themselves, with a
personal marketing website. Marketing to the Info Savvy:
But simply having a website is To understand real estate
not enough. You must have an marketing online, you first have
effective website -- one that to understand how consumers have
moves the visitor toward that evolved over recent years.
all-important goal of contacting Consumers have become
you. increasingly skilled at using the
Internet as a research tool. The
The First (and Only) Law of Web glut of information we face on a
Marketing: daily basis has led to a nation
of "info savvy" individuals.
Seems everyone these days has an
unsupported opinion about what In short, the problem of
does or doesn't work in web information overload has yielded
the solution of information On the contrary, the average web
savvy. As a result, new skill reader is anything but
sets have emerged. handicapped. They don't suffer
from short attention spans --
Skills of the "Info Savvy" Web they enjoy heightened powers of
User: selectiveness.
* Able to quickly judge the value They don't scan pages because
of a website they're averse to reading -- they
* Able to recognize and assess scan pages because they know
the information "hot spots" of a there's a lot of bad websites out
website there, and they've developed the
* Able to skim and scan web pages tools to screen them with great
with brutal efficiency efficiency.
* Able to read selectively while
ignoring suspected advertising So if you want your website to
spots engage the reader, and ideally
evoke a response, you must first
Don't Underestimate Your Readers: get the reader to stop. You must
use words, images or a
combination of the two to tell
Read enough articles on web the reader, "Hey, you've found
writing and you'll hear the something worth your while. Slow
phrase "short attention span" down for a minute!"
used to describe web readers.
Nothing could be further from the If your website fails in this
truth. A short attention span regard, it fails entirely.
implies some kind of mental
deficiency, a handicap of sorts. On a personal marketing website,
the obvious goal is to motivate
or persuade the reader. To * Channel the reader toward the
channel them toward the desired specific action you want them to
goal. And speaking of "channels," take.
it's about time for an acronym. * Tell the reader how to take
that action.
SECTO: Stop ... Engage ... * Offer the reader an incentive
Channel ... Tell ... Offer. or reward for taking that action.
Keep SECTO in mind when building
(or having built) your personal Statistics show that 77 percent
marketing website, especially on of buyers use the Internet at
those pages where you're trying some point during their home
to evoke a response. search. With numbers like that,
your mission is clear -- you must
SECTO: have a website to stay
competitive.
* Stop the reader (perhaps with
your headline, imagery, or a The question is, what have you
combination of the two). done to make your website more
* Engage the reader with relevant effective than the websites of
content that delivers on the all your competitors?
headline's promise.
About the Author:
Brandon Cornett has worked as a web writer and advertising manager in the direct mail industry. He now dedicates his time to helping agents and brokers improve their marketing. His website guide and his free newsletter are both available at: http://www.armingyourfarming.com
Source: www.isnare.com
