Face it, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out as a realtor on the Internet. As a legitimate business professional, it must be frustrating to realize that much of your advertising just isn’t getting through to your best prospects. These days your prospect is well equipped to block, filter, and kill most of your advertising – even if they legitamately asked for it. Tough anti-spam filters block your emails – even though your prospect requested it. Pop-up blockers may prevent your prospect from seeing information that they need and would find useful. Simply, your prospect’s marketing radar is more sophisticated and getting your message under it is quickly becoming harder than infiltrating U.S. airspace.
Real Estate professionals need an unorthodox solution and shockingly the answer is literally right in front of your face. If you are a frequent user of eBay, Yahoo, or Google your probably already know about a cool, stealthy, viral, tool that is appearing in browsers on millions of desktops. Its called a toolbar and I kicked myself when I realized that I had overlooked its power. A toolbar is an easy plug-in that can be quickly downloaded and installed in your browser. A toolbar can include a search function, one-click access to your website, a pop-up blocker, the options are practically endless.
Since a toolbar sits on your desktop, at eye-level this marketing resource can be a powerful, useful, and effective way to drive qualified traffic to your site. Check out www.realtorinternettips.com/toolbar.htm for an example of what a toolbar looks like. The good news is that you don’t have to be a computer programming whiz to get started with Toolbar marketing. Many excellent software tools exist to get you started within minutes.
Here are some quick ways that you can use a toolbar for your benefit:
1. Neighborhood Home Alerts:
Most toolbars that I’ve tested have an instant-update function that will update the toolbar with new information right in front of your prospect’s eyes. You can use this feature to list new homes and alert your prospects within minutes. This is a savvy way to keep your listings top-of-mind and beat other agents to the punch. Also, your listing clients will be impressed with how quickly you are able to get the word out on on their new listing.
2. Homebuying and Listing Articles and Tip Sheets:
Real Estate clients are ravenous consumers of any information they can get. A Real Estate Toolbar can give your prospects one-click access to useful articles and tips. You can quickly write small concise step-by-step articles and quickly make them available to your prospects through your toolbar. This technique is a powerfully effective way to build credibility with your best prospects.
3. Quick Link to Site:
You’ll be amazed how difficult it is for your prospects to remember and type in your URL. No matter how simple your website address may be – prospects always seem to find a way to get it wrong. Many of the toolbar applications let you import your logo or name and create a button that allows “quick-click” access to your site. I have a confession to make – I rather click the logo in my toolbar to check on my site versus having to type in the URL! Basically, the easier it is to get to your website – the more successful it will be.
4. Contact Me Now Button:
I’ve seen this technique pull in a lead a day for one agent that actively uses toolbars to promote their business. It’s simple – place a link to your “Contact Me” form as a button in your toolbar. I admit that this sounds simple – but the power of this technique comes from what you name your button. You see, you can name the button – “Contact Me” which will get a very low response or “Get Advice” which will light-up your email inbox. I encourage you to check this out for yourself – I’m sure you will be pleased with the results.
Unorthodox and stealthy marketing is what seperates the top-producers from the rookies – check out the power of the Toolbar for yourself and be pleasantly surprised.
Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead-generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide – written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at http://www.RealtorInternetTips.com
