Tek Tips

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I am glad my previous article has proven useful. Boy, can I feel your pain! When I had my brick and mortar computer business, I ran a commercial on my local cable channel. It was fairly cheesy, but I was proud of it. The production cost me about $1,500.00 and then, as I recall, it was about $1,500 a month to run it, with a 3 month obligation. I got a couple of calls, but I had delusions of grandeur, and I was hoping for the stars. When the teaming masses failed to line up outside of my shop, I realized I had a pretty steep reality check coming. Now, I understand that I really needed to run the commercial for several months before there would be any tangible results (the ad people warned me of this), but the bottom line was; I simply couldn't afford it. I learned some hard lessons.

With that said, the reason my ad failed was due to a few things. First and foremost, it went out to an broad untargeted audience. Secondly, to reach me they would have to write down my phone number or email and remember to contact me (or get up from the couch ...). Beyond that, I didn't have enough capital to gain any name recognition. Moreover, I was paying every time it aired. YIKES! For me, it was a recipe for disaster.

Knowing all of this, I would have been far better off investing the money in an Adwords campaign (I will put the Adwords link back up.). I am not saying that cable isn't good. It just wasn't my best option. I was a small businessman (ok, a nerdy businessman, but nevertheless ... ) just trying to keep everything floating, I needed to maximize every dollar. In my never humble opinion, pay per click programs do just that. You can get millions of impressions, gaining name recognition, but pay nothing until you actually receive a customer. What happens from there is up to you.

In addition, it is very difficult to get someone from the "real world" to visit your site. Think about it, it's far more compelling (and easier) for someone to click an ad than it is to see your name on a bus stop bench somewhere and remember/write down your web address, then go home, fire up the computer, and go to your site. Same goes for flyers, business cards, ballons, magnets etc ... In the same breath, MAKE DARN SURE YOUR WEB ADDRESS IS ON ALL PRINTED MATERIALS! After all, it only takes one, and if somebody is that motivated, you want to make certain they can find you.

For any advertising, particularly Internet, to be effective the right people need to see it. In the case of a REALTOR® those people need to be:

Additionally, there are many more things to consider. Although, I am not a marketing expert by any means, it has been my experience that It's a trade off between money and time. The less money you are willing to spend, the more time you will need to put in to get the results you are looking for. Of course, the inverse is true as well.

So, how to advertise and not go broke you ask. It's tricky, but it can be done.

Regarding your website, there is a boatload of different approaches, with new and innovative tools and techniques appearing everyday. Some are *ahem* a bit more productive than others, but we will take a look at a few. You can do a lot, but it will involve a certain amount of “sweat equity” and will require good deal of tenacity.

What I recommend:

1.) Exchange links with industry related (but not competing) sites. i.e. Carpet Cleaners, movers, builders etc… This will help you gain some link popularity in Google, which will boost your ranking as well as provide direct traffic via the links.

2.) Publish how to’s, tips, advice, or whatever you can think of, to online news sites, or where ever you can. Make sure they link to you. This again will help build ranking.

3.) Post in online community forums (can be about any topic) include a link in your signature. *whatever you do, do not mention your business. It is considered bad netiquette and may get you banned. You can talk about it if you are asked, but don’t sign up for a forum, then advertise your biz…

4.) Add a tips/tricks area on your site and encourage industry related sites to link to it.

5.) A blog can help. Again link to your site!

6.) Text is king. Text gets indexed, a search engine can not read images! (though it will index the alt tags!) The more text, the better you will generally do in the search engines. (don’t go overboard though.)

7.) If you are going to spend the dollars then I recommend Google Adwords. They are legit, and effective. I can not vouch for anybody else. I have used them for a long time to great effect. I have a link on my last article http://southbayaor.com/TechCorner.html

The best way to get a good ranking is to work on the link popularity… I hope this helps and I am really glad you like the articles. I will keep them coming! Good luck!

As always, if you have any good ideas, I am all ears.

Good Luck and e-mail me to have your question answered!

All information contained in the article is the opinion of the author and is offered for use with your discretion and without warranty of any kind. Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of The South Bay Association of REALTORS® or its affiliates. Written By: Marc Everlove All rights reserved. Marc Everlove may have affiliations with some, or all companies mentioned.