First I’d like to commend you for sticking with me through the previous six installments.  We’ve covered a lot of ground, and hopefully you’ve been able to take something of value away from each article.  Now we finally come to the end.  We’ve discussed lots of topics, from technology to advertising.  From theory to practical application.  Now it’s time to help you assemble your own online marketing plan and what specific steps you need to take to put your newly formed strategy into action.  So let’s get started.

In the last installment, I discussed website basics.  I intentionally left off one part of the typical website: the capture mechanism or gateway.  Some call it the form or registration page, but whatever you call it, it is the most important part of your site.  As far as I’m concerned, it is more important than the website itself.  Yes, I really said that.  Let me repeat myself: It is more important than the website.

Ok, so we’ve talked about advertising — the value proposition in the ad, the call to action, the advertising key words, as well as sources of Internet traffic.  We discussed pay-per-click (or pay-per-visitor) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).  Now it’s time to talk about the actual website.  What do the customers see once they have clicked on your Internet advertisement?  In this segment we will be discussing everything about your website, from the website’s landing page, to the content, to the value propositions, to graphic appeal and finally to keeping those customers on your site for as long as possible, or to minimizing abandonment.

In this Part we’ll examine the subject of online advertising.  I am probably going to use some terminology that is new to you, but I will attempt to either keep it simple or provide explanations as I go so even the most un-tech-savvy agent should have no problem taking something of value away from this article.  I need you to forget everything you’ve ever heard about advertising while you read and I want you to turn on your common sense — not very common these days — and see if this doesn’t resonate with you down deep inside.  I believe it will, and I believe it will result in your changing the way you look at advertising, and particularly online advertising forever.

Let’s talk for a minute about science.  After all, I’ve made the assertion that there was a science to online lead capture.  So with my having made such an assertion, it is reasonable for you to expect me to back it up.  What do I mean by “the science of lead capture”?  In the introductory article I defined science as a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: e.g., the science of online lead capture.  From that definition, you can assume two things:  that I have used a very systematic approach and that I’ve identified certain principles with regard

I came across a thread Stephan Swanepoel started in the Real Estate Trends group on Inman News.  The subject of the thread and the title of this post were one in the same. While Stephan's article was insightful by itself, I was also intrigued by some of the comments.

In response to an underlying theme about leaving "virtual bread crumbs" as a way of establishing agent credentials, readers offered the following:

It looks like many of the traditional media just have to fight off one Internet battle after the other as Web 2.0 alternatives lay siege to longstanding methods of communication. With the blogging boom, the social community explosion and “texting and twittering” detonating together with the wide adoption of readily accessible and portable video, the transmission of ideas, messages and announcements will never be the same.

In June 2002 I got my real estate license and embarked on a brand  new career — selling houses!  I was excited.  I studied everything I could find.  I took classes.  I read dozens of books on real estate practice.  I couldn’t wait… and then nothing happened.  Don’t get me wrong — I did all the things that all the experts said I should do, but my results were very limited at best.

In setting prospecting goals, focus on three core areas: the number of contacts you should make each day and week, the number of leads you should develop, and the number of personal appointments you should set. Start with easily attainable numbers, so you can build up your energy, intensity, focus, and discipline slowly and steadily. You wouldn’t decide to run a marathon without working your daily and weekly mileage up over time, and the same premise applies when establishing and meeting your prospecting goals.  

Last night I received a comment on my previous blog post just as I was going to bed. This kind of post nearly always comes from somebody who wants to “ring and run” and someone who almost never identifies himself.  But it bothered me a lot, keeping me awake — it was hurtful and it was just plain not true, and I thought I would take a few minutes to share it  as well as share my thoughts about the comment. (I’m sure “Anonymous” never expected me to publish his comment, much less feature it in the body of a stand alone post.)