By Matt Gerchow
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this article.
Internet Marketing… You Need A Website
Every Real Estate Investor Should Have a Website!
Your website can be used as part of a “Credibility Kit.” A “Credibility Kit,” is just a collection of information that you can present to your sellers that will show them that you are a real business professional and not just someone looking to take advantage of them.
You can put testimonials up there that you get from sellers of past deals or letters of recommendation from your insurance agent, Realtor, mortgage broker, or anyone you have good business relationships with to show that you’re a legitimate professional.
Not only does a website give you some upfront credibility, but it gives people a way to find out more about who you are and what you can do for them before they contact you. By building credibility you will take some of the skepticism out of the seller, and you will find that you get a more flexible and cooperative conversation from the seller that could lead to an accepted offer.
One of the most important uses for a website is to help you pre-screen your prospects. You can provide a feedback form for your prospects to fill in the details about the property they are selling (asking price, location, mortgage balances, reason for selling, etc.). This information can be automatically emailed to you and then you can be armed with deal closing information when you return the call.
It’s a fact that a large percentage of homeowners will look to find information online before they start the process of selling their home. With some simple search engine advertising, and by adding your address to all your marketing material, you can drive some of that traffic to your website and cash in on it.
Keep in mind that you want to have your website content setup as a “resource” for your visitors, not necessarily a sales pitch about how you can buy their house.
If you have a good source of information about various ways to help them with their current financial situation, you will be perceived as someone that is looking to help, rather that take advantage of their unfortunate situation. This is the critical step to building the relationship you are looking to establish.
How to Work with Web Designers – Don’t!
Thank God for duplication through software. Imagine if people hadn’t bought into Bill Gates’ view of how software should be created and distributed. We would all be operating a self-developed version of Microsoft Word or Excel. I have built software from the ground up and it’s a pain. Just this morning I got off the phone with a web contractor that’s two months late on a simple project. So far of the six or so companies I have worked with, only one company has successfully completed a project with any sort of resemblance to the original bid price or time frame. And then on the next project they failed miserably.
Software is complicated. Unless you truly are o.k. with spending long hours dwelling in frustration, you might try buying or leasing a website that someone else is losing hair developing.
Hope this helps,
Matt Gerchow
If you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com, Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one teaching technique. – Michael Harman 817-457-7572 mchfun.business@gmail.com
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