Does Social Networking Confuse You?

Social Networking is rapidly being embraced by builders and developers seeking ways to interact with online buyers. From business networking on LinkedIn, to Realtor networking on ActiveRain and anything and everything on Facebook and MySpace, social networks provide opportunities to build personal and corporate brands while building online networks.

Still don’t get it? Here is a great video showing how Social Networking works - Video: Social Networking in Plain English

Target your Social Networking campaign to drive traffic to your website. Contact MLC New Home Marketing to learn how.

How Quickly do You Respond to Buyers?

Recent Internet Marketing surveys show that homebuyers expect a faster response time from email. According to the California Association of Realtors Internet vs. Traditional Buyer Survey (2007- 2008), 94-percent of Internet buyers expected a response within 4 hours or less in 2007. This compares with 67-percent expecting a four hour turn around on response in 2006.

Is your current email marketing program set up to respond this quickly? Do you have a system in place to work a homebuyer lead through the system to become a sale? Does your Internet marketing program inspire homebuyers to take action?

Home Builders and Developers wishing to take their email marketing and Internet Marketing program to the next level should contact MLC New Home Marketing.

eBlast Management

It is important to stay in touch with clients, vendors and potential clients through the use of eBlasts. These are a powerful tool that can help homebuilders and developers reach their desired audiences when used effectively. However, when used improperly eBlasts and email marketing can become flagged as SPAM.
We recommend that you use a program such as iContact or Constant Contact for your eBlasts. Programs such as this provide you with many necessary features. You can time the release of your email, check to see who opened it, see the website links they opened and more. Best of all these programs provide one touch unsubscribe -- an important feature in today's world.
For more information on how you can use eBlasts to gather business intelligence on your homebuilding company, visit MLC New Home Marketing.

Stage Coach Bandits Take the Internet. . .

Stop applying the shotgun approach to your marketing efforts.
Identify your target through sound Internet Marketing strategy.

Pictured: The MLC New Home Marketing Internet Strategy team and Carol Flammer with Flammer Relations hold up the Wells Fargo Stagecoach at the International Builder Show in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month.

The MLC team attended several Internet marketing seminars at the show. Many homebuilders were discussing launching new sites or revamping old ones. Much focus continues to be placed on generating traffic and leads via the Internet. Many builders seem to be abandoning traditional media in favor of Internet marketing and online advertising.

Builders will still need to do their research to uncover progressive Internet concepts as many of these concepts are not yet in use by mainstream ad agencies. Both the technology and know-how exist for builders and developers who seek fresh interactive ideas. Interactive ideas that will bring them the traffic they seek.

Tracking - What Are Your Site Visitors Telling You?

• What do visitors to your site really think?
  
• Are they finding the information they need?
  
• How long do they stay?
• What do they do on your site?
• Where do they leave your site?
  

Answers to these questions and many more can be found in your tracking reports. It is important to have more than just a pretty website. Are you potential homebuyers finding what they need on your homebuilding or development site?

Tracking provides you with more than just the number of visitors on your site. A good tracking program and educated analysis provides the information you need to improve your Internet marketing program, as well as give you information on page views, lead generation, best referral sources and more. Tracking is an excellent way to streamline your Internet marketing dollars.

Mitch Levinson of Mitch Levinson Consulting and MLC New Home Marketing recently gave a presentation to the Atlanta SMC on tracking. A copy of the power point is available at MLC New Home Marketing.

Get Home Atlanta Campaign

Most of the people reading my posts here at New Home Marketing are located in the Atlanta Market. For those that are not in Atlanta, I want to mention what the home building industry supported by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association (GAHBA) is doing as a reaction to all the negative press out there about buying and purchasing new homes. They have launched a public relations campaign called 'Get Home Atlanta'. Read all about 'Get Home Atlanta' at the Atlanta Real Estate Forum.

Should Builders Blog?

There is a lot of confusion about what a blog is and what it is for.. Some TRUE bloggers claim that blogs should be informational and not advertorial. I see blogs as both. For builders and marketing professionals, its a good way to get information out there so that people can find it.

Carol Flammer with Flammer Relations has recently launched a new service for homebuilders and developers - Read more about TopBuilderBlogs.com at the Atlanta Real Estate Forum

Read the article "Announcing Top Builder Blogs"