| This is the time of year when visions of sugar
plum fairies and next year’s marketing budget should be dancing through your head.
But something new has been added---Internet marketing. How does your Internet marketing
budget fit into your overall promotional budget? Here’s one way to find out. First, list this year’s main ad budget categories. These might
include: Newspaper ads, door hangers, direct mail to farm lists, business cards,
letterhead, brochures, signs, flyers, photos, etc. Each category should have sub-heads, so
under "Newspaper," you might have, Los Angeles Times, The Register, Home Town
Newspaper, etc., then under those you might have Business Card-sized ad; listing ads,
classified ads, etc.
Alongside each subhead you make two columns. In the first
one, you write the dollar total of what you spent this year. In the second column you
write what you think you ought to spend next year. When you are done, you
have a basis for planning your promotional budget for 1999….except for that new
category—Internet marketing.
You arrive at your Internet ad budget by first factoring in
the "essentials" that you need in order to avoid losing share of market to the
growing number of Realtors® getting into web marketing.
If you don’t yet have a web site, get one made. Budget
at least $1,000. Sorry, that’s what it takes for even a minimally-effective site.
Then add monthly charges from an ISP for hosting the site at about $40/month or $480/year.
Budget an additional $500 for changes you’ll want your web site designer to make
during the year.
You’ll need "bridge site ads" to drive
consumers to your site. Bridge site ads are your links in big real estate home/agent
search sites. When a consumer clicks on your link in a bridge site, they go to your web
site. Here are the essential bridge sites to be in:
(Prices are approximations): Your link and photo in
NAR’s Realtor.com site: $250. Why? Because Realtor.com likely gets used by more
consumers nationwide to find homes and agents than any other site on the Web. If
you’re not there, you’ll certainly lose sales to other agents in your town who
do have a link there.
Homeseekers.com: $180. Why? Same as above. Also, they’re
best known in Orange County and they update listings twice daily. You’ll even get a
full page site for your money which, in effect, gives you a second web site to help
you get found. Homeseekers just bought Genstar Media, a popular web site design firm
(http://www.genstarmedia.com), plus Focus Orange County (http://www.focusoc.com), a
massive compendium of County information that you can tap into. They’re publicly
traded, too (HMSK) and I regularly buy their stock.
Ired.com: (International Real Estate Directory) This monster
site, with agents listed by county/city, offers a free basic link, and enhanced ones for
only $100/year. Go for enhanced and stand out above other agents in your area. Ocar.org.
(Orange County Association of Realtors). Smart consumers seek agents though the local
Board of Realtors. Be there waiting. $39/year for an "e-card," (mini-web page)
linked to your web site.
Listinglink.com. This huge home/agent search site is the
default one for CAR at http://www.car.org. Basic presence costs about $140/year for a
"bronze" page that gives you an additional web site besides your main
one. Did you know that you have a free web page from CAR? It’s already waiting there.
Just go to it and fill in your details.
HomeAdvisor.com. This is Microsoft’s brand new and huge
home/agent search site. As of this writing, the agent-search function is not finalized.
However, we expect this excellent, easy-to-use site to give NAR’s Realtor.com strong
competition. Initial word is that costs for agent presence per-city may be high. But,
given Microsoft’s ad budget, HomeAdvisor may become the consumer favorite, thus worth
the cost.
Other major home/agent search sites include Homescout.com,
Cyberhomes.com, Homesite.com, followed by dozens of lesser ones. Some offer free links
that you should get to direct people to your main site, plus enhanced links (at
reasonable prices) that place your name atop those of other agents serving your city or
region.
Very Important: Have a link or banner ad in the real estate
section of your local community web site such as http://www.sanclemente.com. Consumers
search for homes and agents "by-city," so be sure you are one of the agents
there to gain an edge on your peers.
The sites highlighted above are only the basic ones
that you ought to be in if you want to compete with web-savvy Realtors. If
you’re one of the ones who got a site just so you can say that you have one,
ignore everything said above. But recognize what you’re doing with your decision.
Right now, only 20% of Americans regularly use the web. But the number of regular
users will skyrocket in the next few years. Unless you plan on retiring very soon,
you’ll need to "get with it" regarding web marketing or keep losing share
of market to peers. This budgeting guide for web marketing will help you get where you
need to be. |
