Article 1 in a series…

The internet has transformed the face of business expanding our potential market from local prospects to a national audience. Daily interactions with customers are both automated and nearly cost free. Despite the complexity in nature of the world wide web, tools now available in the market place make usage simple; fast; and inexpensive.

Maximizing the use of the internet to expand your business and explode your profits requires four basic components:

  1. URL – the web address for your website. You can reserve your web address at GoDaddy
  2. Hosting – A service that connects your site to the World Wide Web. I like HostGator.
  3. Auto-Responder – controls your list and allows you to easily send emails. aWeber is anexcellent service as is GetResponse.
  4. Website – the actual site to which you drive traffic.

Before designing your website you should understand the purpose. Is it a Branding page; a Sales page; or a Capture page?

Always drive new traffic to a Capture page first. It is designed to do exactly as the name implies “Capture” the visitors’ contact information (Name & Email address) using some sort of enticement (such as a Free Report) as incentive for them to enter their information.

The auto-responder is used to store and collate your customer list; but more importantly is the vehicle used to send out emails. Email messages can either be pre-loaded and delivered on a pre-determined time frame based on the day the customer was added to the system; or sent to the entire list at the same time.

The pre-scheduled emails are ideal for building trust and rapport. Lay out a series of messages that introduces you personally and describes the benefits to the customer of doing business with your organization.

Think of the Branding page or Branding site as the standard company website. This is the site your customers visit to learn more about you and your products and services. The Sales page is the site to which you drive customers to advertise a specific offering (For example: a house for sale).

So here is how you can use these tools in your real estate investing business. Let’s start with Sellers. Advertise to a targeted list of motivated sellers and drive them to your opt-in page offering a Free Report on a topic of interest to them, such as how to sell their house quickly.

Once they opt-in to your site, begin sending a series of messages about who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. With each email be sure to let them know that you want to buy their house and you can make an offer in 24 hours. Link them to a sales page that contains a form for them to complete about their property. Once they submit, the information is emailed to you to call them and close the deal.

Treat investor buyers similarly. Drive targeted traffic to a unique opt-in page designed specifically for buyers. Once they opt-in, load the system to send them a series of emails about you and the types of deals that you provide.

When a house deal is available for sale, send emails to the entire list and drive them to the sales page which provides all of the details of the property. The more details and the more pictures, the more offers you’ll receive.

In part 2 of this series we’ll discuss more about selling deals using the internet.

Expect abundance,
Lou Castillo