This graph represents a study comparing advertising on websites with search terms (gray), display ads (orange), and both (blue) and the effect they have on sales versus a control group seeing no online advertising. According to the article, 18 separate businesses were tested to determine what type of advertising affects sales online and offline. Since our sites are database driven, think of the term “search ads” to include new home listings, location searches, and/or price range searches on a site like www.NewHomeSource.com. “Display ads” are simply banner ads which show up with the results of a user’s search.
Note** -- the most successful increase is offline sales when display and search term ads were presented to the potential customer online within the same time period. This is the first study we’ve seen effectively measuring what online marketing does for offline sales.
We know, based on our reporting, driving directions are requested more often than leads or website click throughs; this is, however, an independent third party, testing online-to-offline conversions through 4 business sectors, showing that Internet advertising brings more people to your door than to your website. You don’t have a product to sell online, so picture these results in your industry, where they must come to your door to buy…
A link to the original article online is below the graph:
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=F0804H&ml_issueid=BR0804&ml_subscriber=true&pageNumber=1&_requestid=294432
So what does this mean? You should be listing online with more than one website (our service places you on more than 15 other industry sites); you should run banner advertising; you should use engagement tools including video and interactivity, and you should be sure your onsite sales agents are asking the hard questions. With gas at $4.50 per gallon, your signs aren’t bringing them in… signs are just the last thing they saw.
We know the market is a little rough right now, but this kind of research is encouraging as Internet marketing is so much more affordable than offline efforts. If there is anything I can do to assist you in your marketing online or off, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.
Chad Bria
Sales Manager
Builder Homesite, Inc.
cbria@builderhomesite.com
480-370-3141
 Builders are looking for cheap marketing options with major impact these days, and now BHI's New Home Source Professional team has created a way to reach buyers across multiple media outlets and still have change to spare. BHI's latest innovation, "Mobile Marketing," allows potential homebuyers to text message (SMS) a customizable code to BHI from their phone, which builders can use over and over again on billboards, TV, print ads, and more.
Buyers instantly receive a text with a mobile web URL to view high-res community photos, community descriptions, floor plans, and even request a salesperson's call. The website is custom designed for easy phone navigation. This new opportunity is a great way to attract interested passers-by and generate leads for a relatively low cost. Text the code 3529 to phone number 49469 to see a sample.
With traditional advertising dollars now transferring on-line, this is the question that most companies are now scrambling to discover. And with the rising costs of Pay Per Click Advertising, the opportunity to receive free traffic (not cost per click) from Search Engine Optimization Initiatives is more attractive now than ever before. It is no secret that Google owns most of the market share in this space (Google - 69% Market Share, Yahoo - 14% Market Share, & MSN - 10% Market Share). They revolutionized the search industry and their search algorithm is as much as a mystery as the coca-cola formula.
Or is it?
There is rumored to be over 200 different attributes to the Google Search Algorithm. Each differently weighted and having a different effect dependent on the age and competitiveness of your industry. Most understand the importance of keywords and their ability to highlight to the search engine spiders what each of your web pages is actually about. But what most have yet to grasp is the very foundation that the Google Search Algorithm was built on: the measurement (PageRank) of each web page based on the overall value of links pointing to that page. Google's ability to calculate each page's value based on it's Internet Popularity was what set Google apart from Yahoo and AOL at the turn of the century and to dominating the search space today. They do not hide this from all of us, publicizing it on their site and in every interview, but marketing professionals and SEO's alike still tend to focus primarily on keywords, meta tags and on page optimization. Why?
Because that is all that we can control. Is is impossible to control external factors and it is extremely difficult to build links - there are no guarantees. But if you do work with us as a BHI customer/partner - there are options. Please contact us now to learn more...
 Green Homes – and Green Homebuilders – are Hot!
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has honored K. Hovnanian Homes for the number of Energy Star Homes it built in New Jersey last year. Energy Star homeowners can save as much as a third on their utility bills over the life of the home, especially when compared to homes that meet standard building codes.
K. Hovnanian has been building New Jersey Energy Star Homes since 2001 and built 1,587 single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums in New Jersey in 2007 that qualified as Energy Star. Is your company building green? Let us know!
 According to several recent trend reports about how consumers buy and sell homes:
- 85% of home buyers used a real estate agent to search for a home, and 80% used the Internet (up from 77% in 2005)
- 22% used the Internet to get neighborhood information
- 81% of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home bought it through a real estate agent
SOURCES: Luxury Institute Survey; Pew Institute & American Life Project; NAR Profile of Buyers & Sellers; RISMedia; MarketWatch.
 Sometimes, not changing is a good thing. According to the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released this week (March 17), builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes stayed the same for March, and NAHB experts predicted recovery later this year.
“NAHB applauds the Federal Reserve’s aggressive actions in response to escalation of financial market pressures,” said David Seiders, NAHB chief economist, in a press release. “Provided that the necessary actions are taken promptly, a housing market recovery most likely would take shape by the second half of this year.”
The NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as either “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.
The index gauging current sales conditions for newly built single-family homes held firm at 20 while the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers stayed at 19, following a significant gain in February. For more: http://www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?sectionID=0&newsID=6447.
(Photo credit: PennyWise, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)
 Besides keeping track of how many of us live in the U.S. (281,421,906 as of April 1, 2000), the U.S. Census Bureau also tracks, on a monthly basis, a wealth of construction and housing statistics.
Specifically, the Bureau measures the number of housing units authorized by permits, started, sold or completed, and the dollar value of all construction put in place that month. It also tracks residential construction in 30 metropolitan areas across the country each quarter and the sales of new single-family homes in those areas each year; and keeps tabs on the dollar value of residential improvement and repair work each quarter.
In addition, the Bureau’s Census of Construction Industries, taken every five years, gives a comprehensive overview of the construction industry. For more information and links to other industry-related resources, log on to: http://www.census.gov/const/www/index.html.
(Photo credit: Woodsy, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)
An article in this week’s Nation’s Building News online edition recaps a presentation at the recent International Builder’s Show in Orlando about closing new home sales – a good topic anytime, but especially valuable now.
The piece includes sound advice from industry experts, including that sales offices and communities should highlight visible signs of activity, such as “sold” signs displayed prominently on homesites and updated community maps with sites marked with “sold” icons.
The article also reiterates that, not only is it a good time to buy a home, but from a financial standpoint, it’s also a smart time to buy a home – and sales staff should convey that to potential buyers. Mortgage rates remain at low levels, so showing customers the money they’d potentially pay out even if rates increased by one percentage point could be just what they need to convert them from browsers to buyers.
Other points in the article include negotiation tips and getting referrals from existing customer. For more, check it out online at http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2008-03-10/Sales+and+Marketing/index.html.
(Photo credit: Woodsy, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)
 Call it a little “housing humor” – or not.
Falling into the category of “who knows, who cares, but oh my that’s interesting,” the American Dialect Society, a group that’s dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, plus other languages, says the selection is based on a word’s importance.
“When you have investment companies losing billions of dollars over something like bundled subprime loans, then you have to consider whether [a word is] important,” said Wayne Glowka, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society in a press release. “You probably also want to think about paying off that third mortgage.”
Other home finance-related finalists included exploding ARM (loans that explode beyond the borrower’s ability to pay for them); liar’s loan/liar loan (money borrowed under false pretenses); NINJA (No Income, No Job or Assets); and the always popular scratch-and-dent loan (a loan or mortgage that has become a risky debt investment, especially one secured with minimal documentation or made by a borrower who has missed payments.
(Photo credit: Nksz, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)
Builders with excess inventory to move should concentrate on what might just be the one segment of the market with the funds to move it: “seasoned” homebuyers.
According to an NAHB study released at the International Builder’s Show this year, those buyers who are 50+ “have substantial equity in their existing homes and greater accumulated wealth," says Mark Stemen, senior vice president with K. Hovnanian's active adult division in the mid-Atlantic and a member of NAHB’s 50+ Housing Council.
These buyers are all about lifestyle – and a very active one at that – so don’t give ‘em rocking chairs on the front porch. Rather, it makes more sense – and might just mean a sale – if you give them space to park their plane, scooter or vintage Aston Martin; a marathon training group; wine tastings; and progressive dinner clubs.
(Photo credit: R. Borsanell, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)
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