I’ve been enjoying helping you with your real estate website. It’s always a pleasure when I get a call or email from an investor who gets their first leads, and better yet, their first deal through their web advertising. Today, I just wanted to reach out to you and ask you a personal question – how well is your online marketing engine working?
Earlier this week I sent you some great social networking sites (oh yeah, and there’s more of those to come) to help you take the bull by the horns and get your message out there online. But I wanted to also tell you some ways to get traffic to your website, both internet-based as well as direct methods.
You see, the one thing I have found after coaching nearly 100 students personally, and that is that there are basically 2 types of investor students out there. The first kind of investor student is the one who gets every information product out there, doing the shotgun method, and never really getting ahead. This comes from a scarcity mentality. Meaning that they don’t trust a single method well enough to get just a few deals done, they are trying to find the hidden secret. Ultimately this person will run out of money or time or energy and give up before their efforts bear fruit.
The other kind of investor student doesn’t accept excuses or the word “no”. They are determined, they take responsibility for their own business and results, and keep focused on the activities that have proven to produce results, even if it doesn’t appear to work immediately. The main difference is that the folks who make it happen are ferociously resolute in making their goals happen and are not afraid of hard work.
Now, I don’t believe that you have to work sun up to sun down to be a successful and profitable real estate investor. In fact, most of my more profitable deals were completed in less than 5 hours of work. Some of my most profitable weeks, I worked less than 10 hours and made more money in that week than I used to make in several months at the j-o-b.
What I have found is that anyone serious in today’s real estate market needs at least 2 websites. But not just any old 2 sites (specifically referring to these replicated deals that are cookie-cutter and look like everyone else’s). You need websites that brand you and your company, that convert traffic into real leads and ultimately into customers.
Once you have your websites, you will need to get focused on getting traffic to those sites to make your efforts worth while. I remember the first 3 or 4 websites I had. I was so excited to finally be online. But nothing happened after 2 months. Why? Because I didn’t have traffic. So let me share with you a few quick tips to get traffic to your websites, some free, some paid.
1) Social networking sites (also known as Web 2.0). You should join communities online where you will attract clients or partners. Remember you need both buyers and sellers, and sometimes you find a partner from time to time. Try more popular sites that the general (non-investor) public will know.
Facebook
Squidoo
My Space
Twitter http://twitter.com/charlesdudley
LinkedIn
WAYN
Classmates
Reunion
By the way, did you know you can use sites like You Tube, uStream, Flickr and PhotoBucket to post your investment properties online? Again, all of the above sites are free. Which ones or how many should you participate in? Well, I think try to add 1 per week, keep track of all your usernames and passwords so you can visit them weekly, and be sure to add a personal photo when you can so you can connect with your potential clients and customers. Is this worth it to get a few extra deals this year? I hope so, that is why you are in business. The other great thing about social networking is that over time your leads generated will grow exponentially. This is more of a viral effect for your website traffic. And just think of all the friends you can make!
2) Are you blogging yet? This is a free website for you. Do you know that there are folks who make a full time income blogging today? This is a great way to get your name out there online, build a network, generate traffic to all your websites, and yes – get real estate deals. Try www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com to get your blog up and running.
As an investor – you should make a posting for each real estate deal you have. If you are buying or selling. What kind of deals you are looking for and even how you might sell your deals (wholesale, contract assignments, lease-options, retail, etc). You should also make 2-4 postings each week to get higher rankings in the search engines. Feel free to write your own articles or post copies of others’ articles with topics that you are interested in (just remember to give credit to the author if you do). This content on your blog will get you ranking higher on search engines, specifically targeting your customers needs – and doesn’t cost you anything but a little time.
This is also very fun – so don’t delay in getting your blog up right away. Feel free to also visit and comment on others blogs as a way to get friendly back links to your sites – and that positive feedback will also encourage others to visit yours, and make your blog a viral site.
I will be explaining a few more concepts for free and inexpensive traffic in the next section of this article:
Here are a few of the topics we will cover next week:
3) Craigslist
4) EBay
5) Pay Per Click advertising
6) Other online traffic ads, forums, ad exchanges
7) Direct marketing methods, postcards, business cards, flyers, magnetic signs, bandit signs, etc.
I want you to realize that there is no ‘magic bullet’ out there to get you leads. Most of these methods are like planting seeds – they take time and watering to grow and produce fruit. My encouragement to you is to begin to plant your orchard and don’t quit or give up easily. For most marketing to be truly effective takes an integrated approach. Your potential clients and customers will generally need to see your business ads 5 to 7 times (impressions) to make most people take action. That is why your uniqueness and branding will be so important to work on (versus a typical “we buy houses” cookie-cutter approach).
I want to encourage about 2 things very quickly.
If you have any real estate investing or marketing questions, please feel free to email them to me at mentor.dudley@gmail.com . I will be conducting my monthly open Q&A call this Monday, July 14th at 9pm EST. My special guest mentor and trainer will be one of my best friends, business associates and REI mentors – Carson Carter. With over 33 years of experience and 8-figures of real estate transacted – you will have a chance to hear from him and I both, as we answer your most pressing needs. So watch for the registration link for this free training call and get your emails off to me asap. Mark your calendars for the call time.
Secondly, if you truly want an inexpensive yet powerful way to learn some internet marketing skills, saving you the thousands of dollars I personally paid to learn these strategies, check out www.SuccessWithCharles.com and join this educational program and be a part of my success team.
To your success!
Charles Dudley
www.reidominator.com
PS – If you want a great hosting service for your websites for only a $1 30-day trail, check out www.realsuccesshosting.com
PPS – If you want the best autoresponder / list manager program available today, try it out for free for 30 days at www.realsuccesslistmanager.com
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