Ask for the Sale

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!)

Google Searches: "New Homes" Search Volume Trends

What goes up, must come down.  After seeing "new home" related searches match their high point in July, we saw a substantial decrease in search volume traffic for the month of August.  A decrease is to be expected, as the selling season cools, and families prepare their children to go back to school.  The cyclical nature of the market along with the national market conditions have made this recent drop more extreme in comparison to other years. 

Below is a snapshot provided by Google Trends highlighting the August dip relative to the rest of the year. (Note:Google does not publish actual search volume quantities performed but they do offer this graph.)

Search Engine Marketing Strategies - PPC vs. SEO - Part 1

Part 1 of our Search Engine Marketing Series will focus on the basics of PPC.

Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote a website by increasing it’s visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) when someone enters a keyword phrase that is relevant to that website or business. There are 2 main types of results on a SERP – Sponsored Listings (PPC) and Organic (Natural) Listings (SEO).

The Sponsored Listings are Pay Per Click Advertisements that are created by an Internet Marketer or firm that wants to present an advertisement to those users searching for specific keyword phrases. These Sponsored Listings will show up at the very top of the Search Results Page or on the right hand sidebar. The Internet Marketer responsible for creating the Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns will assign a maximum bid to each keyword or group of keywords and establish an overall monthly budget that they are willing to spend on those designated keywords.

With each search performed on Google, the ad will post what is called an impression in the Sponsored Listing section. They will only need to pay for that advertisement if someone clicks on the displayed text ad and the user is then redirected to their website. This is referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. Initiating a PPC Campaign is rather simple to get started (you can see your advertisements posted within minutes of setting them up) but maximizing the amount of clicks you get for your money is a daunting process that deserves continuous attention and improvement by a PPC Expert.

Check back next week to learn about SEO - Search Engine Optimization.  Yes, it is different than PPC...

How to Capture AND Convert More Leads

To paraphrase the cartoon on the left, The greatest technology in the world won't guarantee you better lead conversion. You need to leverage the latest technologies alongside tried and true lead generation techniques to truly maximize conversion. This post is the first in a series that will help you generate and convert more leads. This post comes from Blair Kuhnen, VP of Marketing at BHI.

Simmons Homes is the leading builder in Tulsa. Tulsa, Oklahoma is a small, but good, homebuilding market. Being a smaller market, with limited relocation and easy commutes, lead volume for builders tends to be low. Many home shoppers are reluctant to give up their contact information and prefer to just visit communities without ever becoming a lead. Simmons has no problem generating lots of leads and converting a great many of them into sales. Here's how they do it.

First a little background. Simmons created an OSC program in October of 2005. When Simmons started their OSC program they were generating well under 100 leads per month. Since that time, they have added NewHomeSource.com, Move.com, NewHomeguides.com, and pay-per-click campaigns to drive up their website leads and third party leads. They have improved their monthly lead volume by 491%, plenty for an effective OSC program.

Simmons sees 20-25% of their total sales coming from their Internet leads. I spent some time this month with Mike Lyon, OSC for Simmons Homes, about techniques for converting more of these leads into sales. Mike is a master of online sales. His strength is in setting appointments. You can order his book on the subject here. After reading it, I would consider buying it just for his phone scripts. Continue reading this post. Click on the link to see the rest.

Builder Homesite Powering New Home Listings On Yahoo! Real Estate

The exciting news was officially announed today: Yahoo! Real Estate, one of the Web's leading online real estate resources, has collaborated with NewHomeSource.com, the most complete new home marketplace, to provide consumers the ability to search new construction homes listings from across the country. By joining forces with BHI, Yahoo! Real Estate provides users access to one of the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive new homes data available online.

Michael Yang, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Real Estate says: " New homes continue to be an attractive option for many home buyers. In teaming with BHI, one of the strongest players in the new home market, we can ensure our users have access to the largest selection of new homes being constructed across the country."

This is great news for all of our Builders. Early indications are that lead generation is seeing a dramatic improvement as a result of this partnership. It's a win-win situation for NewHomeSouce.com and Yahoo! Real Estate. Go to Yahoo Real Estate to try out the New Homes Search.