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Dear Friend,

Welcome to the second in a three part series on optimising your website market.  

Now last week we talked about converting leads into clients, and this week we’re going to talk about getting more leads from your current website visitors. 

So next week we’re going to talk about getting more visitors to your website, and we’ll wrap  up the series with our web clinic where I’ll show you how to put it all together.  I’ve been getting lots of submissions for our web clinic, and if you’d like me to consider your website for the clinic, just send an email to marketingmonday@gmail.com.  And I’ve got some great examples to choose from so far, and I think you’re going to get a lot out of it.

Okay, so let’s get right to it and talk about how to get more leads from your website.

Now I’m going to give you seven ideas here and I’d like you just to think about these as mindsets that you can adopt here, and there’s some tactics in here too, but mostly the things that we’re talking about right now are shifting your mind first, because you want to think about things a little bit differently and that will guide your actions. 

Mindset 1: Know who’s coming to your site before they get there so you can be prepared for them when they arrive. 

Now that’s a different little mindset for you, but what would you do if you knew that the next 100 visitors to your website were looking for a condo, or that they were looking for a town house, or a luxury home or a golf course home, or an investment property, or any single target market that you can think of?  How would you approach your website differently if you knew that the next 100 visitors were all going to be looking for a very specific thing? 

You know, I bet it would be much easier for you, wouldn’t it?  I mean it would be much more relaxing that that was what’s going to happen, but often we try and make our website be multi-purpose, where you don’t want to leave anybody out, so you try and make the website apply to as many possible target markets as you can. 

And I’m going to show you some different kind thinking this week, and the first mindset of planning for your target market ahead of time is going to really lead into next week where we start talking about how to attract the right people, because if you know what your website is set up to do, and you know who you’re trying to attract, that 1-2 combination is very powerful, and it’s going to lead to lots of more leads for you.  You know, because if you know who’s coming to the site you’re able to optimise it for exactly what they are looking for.

Mindset 2: Realise your immediately viewable screen is the most valuable piece of real estate on your website. 

You know, the question that you want to ask yourself is when you go to your website, and I would encourage you to do this, go to your website and what is the first thing that you see?  You know if you know who your target market is, what they’re going to be thinking when they come to your website, would they say “Jackpot,” when they get there?  Would they feel like “I’ve stumbled on the gold mine of gold mines for exactly what I’m looking for?”  You know, would they say that?  Would your target market say “This is exactly what I’m looking for?” 

You know, whatever occupies that window when they arrive, the first things that they see that sets the tone for the whole experience.  So if they come there and immediately everything starts to click into place they start feeling like “This is the place that I’m supposed to be,” that’s going to be a big help for you.  You know, if your target is coming to the site and they’re looking for town houses and the first thing they see are pictures of town houses, and the first words they see are “Free information on how to buy lovely town homes in Winterhaven with zero down payment,” or “Lovely condos in Winterhaven,” whatever your target market is, the more things that you can get to click into place, to let them feel like “Yes you are in the right place.  You’ve absolutely arrive, and this is the site that’s going to give you all the information you need to fulfil whatever your selfish desires are.” 

That’s really what we’re saying here, because that’s the thing that your prospects have on their mind above everything else, is there own selfish desires.  What you’re looking to do is aim for your website to be a perfect match between what they’re looking for and what they’re seeing when they come to your website. 

Mindset 3: Make your website about them not about you. 

The most important thing that you can do is understand the difference between a lead generating site and a personal web page. 

What we’re talking about here is not about your personal web page, it’s not about a page where it’s all about you, because they don’t care about you, your prospects care about what they care about.  So your best course of action is for you to care about what they care about, and pretending you’re them will help you really get into that mindset.  You know, a couple of big mistakes that I see in this regard, first thing is that the first thing that I see when I go to the web sites, and I’ve been going to a lot of them, everybody who sends in a request for the web clinic or a submission for the web clinic, I go and look at their site, and more often then not the language and the tone and the sense that I get when I go to look at these sites is “Welcome to my web site.”  You see a big picture of you, the agent, front and centre, right there in the first viewable screen, often there’s more then one picture of you, you’ve got a big picture in the middle and then you’ve got another little picture off on the side, and the big telltale sign is when up in the navigation side on the left, if I see that the first button says “About me,” then it’s very crystal clear what the focus of this website is, you know? 

You want to look at the language that you’re using and the imagery that you’re using when you come to your website.  You want to get away from thinking that it’s yours, and you want to start thinking “You get,” instead of “I’ve got.”  Now that’s a little bit of a different distinction for you here.  Start thinking “You get,” instead of “I’ve got.”  ‘Cause when you say “You get,” you can’t fill in the rest of that sentence without filling in a benefit.  “You get a free report on how to buy lovely town houses in Winterhaven with zero down payment.”  “You get access to the MLS so you can see all the new listings that are on the market right now.”  “You get weekly updates of all the new town houses that come on the market.”  “You get a Saturday tour of all the town houses that you want to see in Winterhaven.”  See how just that language of saying “You get,” promises a big benefit, as opposed to “I’ve got.”  When you say “I’ve got,” it focuses on you and not on your prospects, so you can’t help but fill in that “I’ve got,” statement with language that is not very benefit oriented.  You know “I’ve got one of the largest real estate teams in Winterhaven.”  That doesn’t matter.  “I’ve got the backing of the largest franchise company in the United States.”  That doesn’t mean anything.  You know, when you start saying “You get,” you can’t help but focus on your prospects.  So look at your website and start thinking about “How can I use that kind of language on my website?” 

Mindset 4: Make an offer

You know so often we put up all these things on our website and we sit there and we expect that because it says “Email me,” or “Contact me,” that people are going to contact you.  You know we’re not wired like that, we’re not wired to take the first step in any kind of social situation.  You know we often force people into that position because we don’t make an offer, we want to appear sort of not pushy, if you want to say it like that.  We want to appear that we’re being accommodating and that we’re here for them, but we’re really forcing them to take the first step, which is a big obstacle for most people.  Here’s an example, here’s a story that I often tell, imagine if I brought you into my living room and I sat you down in the living room and I said to you “Hey, you know what?  I’m really happy you’re here. 

If you are hungry or thirsty there’s lots of stuff in the fridge, feel free to help yourself.  I’ll be over here in this other room if you need me, just go ahead and call if you need anything.”  Now how many of you would go and take something from my fridge?  You know, you wouldn’t would you.  Because it’s very, you know, it takes people out of their comfort zone, it’s not polite to ask.  But then again the corollary to that is that it’s rude to turn somebody down.  So you’ve got that as the big win. 

Imagine now if I sat you down in the living room and I came out with a plate of freshly baked cookies, and I said to you “Would you like a cookie?”  It would be very hard for you not to take the cookie because I’ve already got it here, I’m offering it to you, you can see the cookie, I want you to have the cookie, and it would be much more difficult for you to turn down the cookie then it would be for you to take one, so you’ll take it.  Now you would never ask me, if I said “Hey, do you need anything, or would you like anything?”  You’d never say “Would you go and bake me some cookies please?”  Because we never want people to go out of their way for us.  So the best thing that you can do on your website is treat it just like people are coming into your living room, and that you’re not just going to say “Contact me,” or “Email me,” or “Ask the realtor.” 

Don’t make people do those things because that’s not how we’re naturally wired.  Think about making an offer.  You know, what kind of offers can you make?  You can offer a free report by email.  You could offer free updates of new listings when they come on the market.  You could offer a free downloadable guide or e-book.  You could offer to search properties.  You could offer free hot list newsletter.  You could offer a Saturday tour of the homes.  You could offer a free seminar, or webinar or teleclass.  You could offer free video tours.  You could offer audio interviews with experts like a mortgage broker or a financial planner or a home inspector or a feng shui expert, what ever it is.  You could offer audio interviews, you could offer a weekly pod cast, all of these things that you can offer with an exchange. 

Mindset 5: Make it easy, easy, easy to take the first step. 

You know, have you ever been to a website where in order to get any kind of information or a free report, you have to fill out this four page form with your blood type and your bank balance and your political preference, you know, it’s an obstacle. 

It’s such an obstacle for people to fill out these forms, and that’s why so few people will fill out those forms.  You know the easiest thing to start with is to make it low resistance.  And the easiest and lowest resistance offer that you can make to start a dialogue with people is something that they can get in exchange for just their email address and their name.  That’s it, it’s very, very easy, it’s very low resistant, and once they have left you their name and their email address, now you’ve got a way to continue a dialogue with them.  So it’s the start of the relationship. 

You know, one of the keys that you want to try is that instead of making all these individuals offers where they have to leave their name and email address to get any one of them, try bundling all your offers together so they get lots of stuff just in exchange for the one email address, not once for each thing.  So if you’ve got a whole series of reports, rather then having people click on it and leave their name and email for each of the reports say “Get free access to all of these free reports,” and list all the title that you have, and then just put a free instant access where they can leave their name and their email address so that they can start that dialogue with you.  You know, the more that you do this, the more that you put these offers right up there on that home page, you’re going to find that you see the number of people who start a relationship with you by email increase exponentially. 

Mindset 6: Begin with the end in mind and always lead to the next step. 

You know, even though they start out with just an email address in exchange for a free report, or in exchange for searching properties, know that the email is going to lead to a dialogue and the next offer. 

You know, you have to start looking at this like a chess master, you have to start looking at this like knowing two, three, four moves ahead where you’re actually headed, and reverse engineering that this first offer of an email in exchange for a report on how to buy lovely town homes in Winterhaven with zero down payment is going to lead to a dialogue where you’re going to send people short, personal emails expecting a reply, where you’re going to lead them step by step to the next offer. 

So somebody who’s asking for a free report on how to buy lovely town homes in Winterhaven with zero down, the next step might be asking them “Hey Dean, would you like a list of town homes you can buy in Winterhaven that are for sale right now that you can buy with zero down payment?”  Or “Hey Dean, would you like to come on a Saturday tour of town homes in Winterhaven?”  You know, all these things where you can engage people in a dialogue, and ask them, or make them offers, ask them if they would like a cookie.  You know, ask them would they like an offer, would they like to come on this Saturday tour?  Would they like to come to your open house this Sunday?  Would they like to get a free list?  Would they like for you to email them updates?  Would they like your weekly newsletter?  You know, all of these things, don’t leave it up to them to ask for help, offer it ahead of time.

Mindset 7: Lather, rinse and repeat. 

You know, once you know the formula for turning visitors to your website into leads, you know, why not do it again and again and again? 

Why not do it for a bunch of different target markets?  You know, if you know the formula is that when people come to your website that the first think you want to do is make an offer where they will their name and their email address, and then once they leave their name and email address you continue and start a dialogue with them so that they’ll share the desires of their heart, who they are, what they’re looking for, the kind of house and the price range and the area, all the kind of things that you would need to help them, once they do that now you’re ready to engage them in a relationship where they can meet with you face to face, once you know that whole formula and you’ve got all the components of it working, you know, it’s easy for you to duplicate, its easy for you to do it in other target markets. 

You know, so you could have one just for town homes, you could have one for condos, you could have one for investment properties.  Any target market that you can think of, once you know how the make the basic formula work you can apply it to any target market that you choose.

So that’s it for this week, tune in next time and we’re going to talk about how to get more visitors to your website.  And I’m going to talk about how to get more visitors to your website without spending a ton of money, and without depending on the search engines.  So tune in next time and we’ll talk about how to get more visitors to your website.