How To Generate Leads Through Your Website
By JD Esajian on September 15, 2014
If someone wants to find out about you and your business, the first place they look is online. They typically refer to social media sites, followed by a search of your personal website. Within ten minutes, a snap decision is often made – whether or not someone wants to work with you. This may not always be fair, but this is the way of the world in today’s market. Your website can be compared to a house you are selling, in that people will look at every inch and will often form an opinion within a few minutes of looking at it. If you want to generate or grow your business, you need to spend the time on your website. Take the time to improve your online presence and you will be more productive in generating leads online.
Many investors will spend weeks planning a direct mail marketing strategy, but won’t give their website a second thought. As hard as it may be for some people to believe, not everyone is on social media. That leaves your website as the first point of contact for many. If your website is old looking or not updated, your visitors will be more inclined to think poorly of your business. The alternative is a website filled with information that leaves people feeling that they know something about you and your business. Instead of spending time and money looking for one time direct marketing deals, you need to allocate some resources to making your website representative of your business.
It may sound cliché, but your website really is a blank canvas. You can do with it what you like and add almost any information that you see fit. The first thing you should do with your website is evaluate what your goals are and who your market is. Are you looking to generate buyers or are you looking to work with fellow investors on deals? Are you looking to give people an idea about you personally or are you going to keep the site strictly about your business? There really is no right or wrong way to answer these questions. Some investors will have pictures of their kids or pets on their home page while others will have only professional pictures of themselves. Before you decide what information you will have in your site, you need to determine your goals and what image you want to portray.
The most effective websites will feature a blog on the home page. If you are a skilled writer, you can write a few hundred words about anything you think is relevant in the investing business or real estate market in general and post it to your website homepage. This blog could be your starting point to attract visitors and begin the process of generating business. Your blog should be posted to all of the social media websites you are on, which could then be forwarded or shared with others. One post could end up being read by dozens of people who now have you in mind for the future. If you post every day you can generate a few new readers a week which, over the course of the month, can add up to hundreds of people.Perhaps even more importantly, good blogs have a tendency of getting linked to by larger sites. Should this happen to one of your blogs, you will notice a jump in readership. Viewership is the precursor to future leads.
While you don’t need to be a writer, you still have options at your disposal. If you are more at ease talking to a camera, you can post video blogs instead. While a combination of the two is preferable, whatever method you are comfortable with can be effective. Your video blog is shared in exactly the same manner that written ones are but videos can provide a greater sense of who you are. The key to any blogging is to be consistent with your content. If you post five times a week, it is five opportunities to get your name, face and message out there. A two hundred word blog or a ninety second video shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes a day to finish. The number of people you can reach in those five days can do more for your business than almost anything else you can do.
Your website can also contain any information for a current property you may be trying to sell in addition to any projects you have recently done. They will see your blogs, finished projects and a little bit about you. This should make any initial meetings more comfortable, as they will already have an idea of what you are and how you work. You don’t need to be an IT expert to have a nice blog. There are many companies and individuals that can set it up for you and get the ball rolling. All you have to do is provide the information you want and be consistent with your information.
A good website is the foundation for most businesses. A quality website can lead to interest from fellow investors or realtors that may want to work with you. What you put in will be what you go out. Having said that, it is important that you stay on top of it. If you focus on your website and post blogs for the next thirty days, you may be surprised just how much activity you can generate.