Do you track the response you get from your direct mail campaigns each time you send one out? I hope that everyone said yes, because you should be. Tracking your response from each mailing is the only way you can figure out if it’s working like it should. It’s imperative that we spend those precious marketing dollars wisely in our business.

The two main groups of people I mail to regularly are probates and absentee owners.  I have never sent a direct mail campaign out to probates in the month of December for obvious reasons. Previous mailings have also taught me that absentee owners are less likely to respond to your mailing the closer it gets to the holidays. A lot of these folks don’t want to fool with selling a house even if they NEED to sell it.  It has been my policy not to mail to absentee owners past the first week of December, and not to mail probates at all in December for as long as I have been in this business.

What about January?

Probates

I have always resumed my mailings for probates at the very end of January, typically around the last week of the month. The last thing someone wants to get in the mail at the first of January is a reminder that their loved one wasn’t here to share in the joy and celebration of the holidays.  So like previous years, I held my big mailing until last week. One half went out the last week in January, and the other half will go out this week.  I have already gotten a couple of calls that look promising.

Absentee Owners

Absentee owner mailings were always started up again around the middle of January. Until last year this schedule always seemed to work for me.  What I noticed both last year and this year in January was that I got a terrible response rate from that mailing. I would even go so far as to say it was a dismal failure, not to mention a waste of money. I got very few calls on a pretty big mailing.

I am really at a loss to explain this. When it happened last year, truthfully I thought it was a fluke. Now that I had the same experience last month, I’m not really sure what the answer is. Is it that folks just aren’t ready to deal with those “extra, unwanted” houses at that particular time of the year? Or is there another reason? I really don’t know.

If anyone has had a similar experience I would love to hear about it.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Response Rates for Direct Mail at Different Times of Year

Recently we started running some split tests for our Facebook real estate marketing ads, and one of the ideas we tried is known as the “Where In” campaign. In other words, this is a way to pull in traffic via Facebook by displaying an advertisement that portrays a local landmark, which visitors can guess at for a chance of winning a prize.

After making some very simple yet extremely effective tweaks to the original copy, we were absolutely shocked by what we found. In fact, I think Josh Schoenly nearly peed his pants when he discovered that by altering 3 specific components, the click through rate (CTR) literally jumped by 2,000%!

How Our Facebook Real Estate Marketing Campaign Improved Exponentially

1. The Image: As you will see from the video below, one of the most important factors to improving CTR’s is by utilizing a catchy photo. Think of this as interruption based marketing versus actual search intent.
   
   Therefore, with Facebook paid ads, you want to make sure that you find a way to jump off the page. By shifting from a generic stock photo to using a very small image of the actual location, users had a much higher interest. Tip: make this just small enough that people have to visit the page for better visibility.
2. Advertised Location: From Ryan’s first ad, we find out that using “Central Pa” in the copy was far too broad. Therefore, it helps to keep your Facebook real estate marketing as targeted as possible. Especially when utilizing the “Where In” concept, people are much more likely to guess at something if it falls within their local area.
3. Demographics: Finally, by changing the targeted demographic from “within 10 miles of York” to just the city, we were able to cut our audience by about 35,000. This helped to remove those irrelevant impressions without sacrificing our reach.

Critical Facebook Ads CTR Benchmarks

Now, Josh will show you more of the nitty gritty below, but here are just a few important factors that you’ll want to keep in mind when running tests for your Facebook real estate marketing:

1. Cut out any advertisements that fall below a CTR of .025%
2. Continue split testing whenever you are between .025 and .05%
3. Anything above the .05% benchmark is great, and over .1% is absolutely bananas

So, click play below to watch this case study and discover how we achieved a CTR of over .2%…

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How We Improved Our Facebook Ad’s CTR by 2,000%

I’m a big believer in always testing new marketing ideas. After all, an idea you think is never going to work may turn into a blockbuster method and get you a ton of deals. In fact, just this morning I had a friend of mine email me and tell me that he was in a cab and he asked the cab driver about adverting on his roof on the triangle shaped thing.

The driver told him it was $50 a month and my friend asked me if I thought it was a good idea. What I told him was that I have never advertised before on the top of a cab, but for $50 a month he should absolutely test it out. However, you have to test it the right way so you’re seeing if you get your money’s worth.

I told him to get a new (local) phone number that was to be used on the cab sign only. He should not use his regular phone number because he might not be able to properly track the calls. He can get a new phone number for cheap through a variety of companies such as ringcentral.com.

The two month test…

He’s decided that he’s going to do the test for two months and I think that’s a good amount of time. It’s certainly worth it to invest $100 when you have the potential of making $5,000 on wholesale deal or $30,000 on a lease option deal.

However, after two months if he hasn’t gotten any calls or deals then he needs to cancel his agreement and move on. In fact, this is what you need to be doing with every single type of marketing you do.

If you’re running marketing right now that you’re not tracking, you are making a big mistake. Because if you’re not tracking it then how in the world do you know it works? You don’t. For instance, every time I send out a letter or postcard I always track the results to know if I have a winner.

Also, here’s the dirty little secret about marketing.

The most successful people who make the most money do the most tests and fail the most often. I have had many “brilliant” ideas over the years that bombed. However, when you end up with a winning letter or marketing method you exploit the heck out of it and it can make you a small fortune.

Fact is, I have one letter right now that when I send out I know the phone is going to ring off the hook and I’m virtually guaranteed a deal. It’s my “go to” letter but it cost me a lot of money to discover.

So, what you need to do right now is to sit down and write all of the marketing methods you are using. Then you need to see if you’re tracking those methods and if you’re not, start today. Then you’ll be able to figure out which ones are profitable and before you know it you’ll start making a lot more money because all of the marketing you do will be tested and proven.

Daniel X O’Neil

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Advertising on the top of a cab?

Did you realize that you could currently be sitting on a mound of cash for your business? Leads that are literally ripe for the picking? And in fact, most of your competition is probably not taking the necessary steps to liquidate this real estate marketing goldmine into consistent closed transactions.

What I’m referring to is the power of email marketing. You may have heard that the money is in the list, and this is definitely true to a certain degree. However, the flip side to this statement is that real profits are in how you choose to incubate and covert those leads into business over time.

This is the most common error that real estate professionals can make when it comes to using email. In fact, I have personally witnessed more missed opportunities than I would like to admit of people who spent loads of time and money building up their funnels, only to never truly follow up post opt.

When utilizing this real estate marketing tactic, you may come across varying reports of how often you should stay in touch with your readership. Regardless, consistency is key. Truthfully, we have discovered that when our clients submit at least 2 emails every week, they experience a much better response, less spam complaints, and higher conversion rates than if they only chose to do so sporadically.

Of course the answer is in how you balance this. Each niche and market may be slightly different, but the principles remain relatively the same. Find a pattern that seems to fit your audience best, and then provide them with exactly what they are looking for on a consistent basis.

Here are 4 More Tips on How to Have Great Success with Your Email Campaigns:

1. Pretend You are Writing to Your Best Friend: I cannot stress enough how powerful this one real estate marketing tip is alone. Imagine the loads of emails and junk that your audience is receiving on a daily basis. Simply by creating copy that seems real and genuine instead of formulaic will greatly improve open rates. Both in the subject line and body, find ways to stand out from the crowd and sprinkle in some humor or unique spins once in a while.
2. Include Calls to Action: Always have some form of a call to action in the body of your emails. This should be something that will get your audience to engage with the material. Whether it’s trying to get an interested buyer to look at a house or simply to check out your newest post on your real estate marketing blog, find a way to get people interacting. Be sure to include this several times throughout the body of your content for best results.
3. Keep it Simple: Any email content we create for our own campaigns is always clean and simple. Instead of messing with all types of banners, colors, and other distracting features, we just use plain Jane text. Having too much can take your prospect’s attention off of what’s most important…following through on your calls to action.
4. Ask for Referrals: Finally, always remember that each person is in a different stage of the buying cycle. Therefore, it is unreasonable to think that everybody is a true prospect. This is the group of people that may need to incubate for some time. So, be sure to include something like the following whenever you are featuring a property:
   

   Not ready to buy but know someone who is? We have plenty more properties just like this! Please feel free to pass this message along to friends or family. (you get the idea)

These are just a few great examples of course. Do you know of something that has worked really well for your own real estate marketing campaigns? Please feel free to share below!

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4 Tips for Creating Killer Real Estate Marketing Emails

Many new real estate investors find an entry point into the world of real estate investing through a strategy commonly referred to as “wholesaling.” Wholesaling is essentially a business model wherein the wholesaler puts in the time and effort to secure a contract on a potential real estate investment. Once the property is secured by a contract, the wholesaler markets the property to other investors at a slight mark-up. Most wholesalers add an additional 3-5 thousand to the price of the property as their fee for finding the deal.

While there are numerous strategies for finding good investment properties, many new wholesalers neglect to spend a proportionate amount of time learning how to market these deals. By far the most effect strategy for marketing and selling wholesale properties is building a large list of local, active real estate investors.

I have found over the years that getting to know other real estate investors and wholesalers can be a huge benefit to just about any real estate investing business. Where some people might assume investors are cut throat, secretive and greedy, I’ve actually found that getting to know other investors and wholesalers in my market has been extremely helpful. The truth is, every investor goes through cycles where they may be in the market to buy a property or unload a property. Having a strong network and list of local investors is an excellent tool for acquiring and disposing of properties and allowing your business to stay dynamic.

As such, building a large list of local investors (even those that you may perceive to be your competition) should be a top priority for any wholesaler.

Here are a few suggestions for building your list:

1. If you can access your local MLS, dig through your geographic area and look for properties that are or have been listed as a “fully renovated” property. This is typically an investor who bought the property at a discount with the intention of renovating and selling at a profit. This type of investor could be an ideal candidate for your future wholesale deals.
2. Network at your local Real Estate Investing Club. Most active investors want to be put on your list and kept abreast of any new properties you may have.
3. Always call the investors on the other end of the “We Buy Houses” signs. These are typically active investors who may have an interest in your properties as well.
4. I also suggest calling landlords. There is no end to the amount of advertising that landlords use to market their properties for rent (ie. Newspapers, MLS, bandit signs, Craigslist, etc) It is highly likely that a decent percentage of landlords in a given area would have an interest in receiving your latest wholesale deals as possible buy and hold properties.
5. The courthouse steps is another great place to network with investors. Take your business cards with you and ask for as many email addresses as you can. The monthly auction can be a great resource for investors if you are willing to put yourself out there.

While there are many other strategies an investor could employ to build a list, the important thing to remember is consistency. Continue to add names to your list and continue to email good deals to investors to keep them interested. You’ll soon learn that the more investors you add to your list, the more deals you’ll find yourself involved in – both on the buying and selling side.

Photo: Feliciano Guimarães

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5 List-Building Strategies For Wholesalers

For those of you who conducted a search on Google Wednesday morning, you probably came across a graphic just like this. At first, I chalked this up as being just another creative rendition of their typical colorful logo (like the Martin Luther King one they featured on Monday), but there is much more to this than meets the eye.

In fact, I myself was in the dark (no pun intended since Wikipedia decided to “black out” their site for a day in opposition) with this until I started searching through some Google Plus results to get my daily dose of inspiration. And at the very top of the “What’s Hot” section, Google posted a link to this article, which highlights some proposed legislation better known as SOPA & PIPA.

Now, I’m typically not one to get all jazzed up about some negative hype (aka “news”), but this certainly caught my attention. Although there may be some positive aspects to what Congress is proposing here, I’m going to focus more on the end of things that could potentially impact small businesses according to several cited sources throughout this article.

How Could SOPA & PIPA Affect Your Real Estate Business?

If you are focused on keeping an active real estate marketing blog, you are already aware that maintaining a website free of spam comments and copyright infringements isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Sure, everybody reading this post does everything possible to provide necessary disclosures in order to remain fully compliant, but even then people are constantly faced with certain gray areas.

As you know, the internet is constantly changing and along with that so are the laws and regulations that are introduced to maintain order. Therefore, when a bill is proposed such as SOPA & PIPA which could potentially impact not only small businesses, but also the very platforms they use for their real estate marketing, it is a huge cause for concern.

For example, as Seooutsourcingchick.com and Pointclickproductions.com point out, there are certain areas that must be very closely monitored such as: who posts on your blog, what type of content and pictures you display, how certain content is cited, and when it is appropriate to reference a particular source to name a few.

Of course, I’m no expert on this legislation or what is truly to come about with all this, so any legal professionals out there are welcome to share their thoughts as well. However, in a worst case scenario, these proposed laws could severely limit how content is displayed, found and monitored. Think about how this could potentially impact social sharing giants such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube for example!

Now the outcome of this whole ordeal may not turn out to be as terrible as many sources are currently reporting, but only time will be able to tell. How do you feel about the SOPA & PIPA legislation? Please share any insights you have below…

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Will SOPA & PIPA Stifle Online Marketing?

How can you make your real estate marketing efforts differ from your competition? When considering the traditional mindset behind a typical squeeze page for lead generation, a majority of the time you will find that marketers will offer something of value in exchange for an email or contact information.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is one of the most effective ways to pull in more leads for your business when you provide a very strong and compelling offer. We absolutely love it, and this strategy has worked wonders for our own business, as well as for our clients as well.

On the other hand, as more and more professionals continue to grasp the power behind using squeeze pages as a part of their real estate marketing plan, it pays to be a little different every once in a while. So today, we’re going to reveal a nifty little tactic, which is better known as…

The Reverse Squeeze Page

There is certainly no denying that today’s online prospects are savvier than ever before. As we have seen with constant Google algorithm changes, overnight .coms, a constant influx of new and better technology, plus information that travels at the speed of light, nothing can contend with high quality products and services.

In fact, this is the only way to survive and thrive in today’s online marketplace. Therefore, in order for you to convert a high percentage of leads utilizing this real estate marketing tactic, you will need to constantly find ways to completely knock your visitors’ socks off. Otherwise, you can rest assured that each person will quickly be returning to where they came from in order to go tapping on your competitor’s door.

So what the heck is a reverse squeeze page and how can it help to effectively produce more opt ins for your business? Very simply, it is providing your audience with a ton of free and great content up front before you ever ask for any of their contact information.

How Does the Reverse Differ from a Traditional Squeeze?

The mindset behind this strategy is as follows: way before you ever request for your prospects to make any type of commitment, you will be able to prove to your audience that you are trustworthy and competent. And how many of your competitors are currently doing that with their real estate marketing?

Hence, this begins a gradual descent down a very slippery slope. First, you grab your prospects’ attention by providing an article, report, video course, webinar, “secret” list, etc. jam packed with enough information that folks will feel they got their fill even if they don’t choose to opt in.

Sure you may lose a few people here and there (tip: have calls to action throughout your content in order to continually draw them in), but those who grasp how awesome you and your stuff really are will be quick to join your list. Plus, you better believe that they will be on the edge of their seat the next time you post or email something.

Therefore, why don’t you consider giving this real estate marketing tactic a try and see how it works for you. To get you started off in the right direction, Josh Schoenly will share a few quick examples with you in the video below…

Access the links Josh refers to in the video right below:
Reverse Squeeze Page Example 1
Reverse Squeeze Page Example 2
Reverse Squeeze Page Example 3

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What is the Reverse Squeeze Page?

Are you still struggling with the idea of creating and maintaining a real estate marketing blog? For those of you who need a little extra inspiration, I wanted to share a story with you today about Ruth Hamilton. As the world’s oldest blogger, Ruth boldly chose to share her wisdom, beliefs and insights until she passed away just three months short of her 110th birthday.

Yet, this was not Ruth’s only life accomplishment. Additionally, she served as the first woman ever in the New Hampshire legislature, worked in real estate and restored old homes, hosted a radio show, lectured across the country, and wrote various newspaper articles. Ruth was truly a remarkable woman, but she lived according to very simple life principles that we can all choose to adopt.

Building Your Real Estate Marketing Blog One Step at a Time

I believe that if Ruth were still alive today, she would strongly emphasize how much you really have to offer your chosen audience. Here is a woman who never fell short of producing new and fresh content. One glance at her blog and you will discover that she passionately took time to invest in it consistently.

Even in her early 100’s, Ruth grasped the power behind utilizing the web to reach out to those she was meant to help. When forced to move into a nursing home as her body (but not mind) began to deteriorate, she didn’t offer up excuses or give up on making a difference. Ruth took action.

In a similar manner, investing your time and energy into a real estate marketing blog will help increase your chances of building your business and providing unique wisdom and expertise. Making every effort to offer each prospect high quality and useful information every week will ensure you quickly produce a very strong following.

“I Was So Close to Adolf Hitler, I Could’ve Shot Him”

Additionally, Ruth placed the importance of getting her video content out on the web above her fears of what she looked or sounded like. All of her submissions were short, sweet and to the point. Yet, each piece always contained some bit of interesting or compelling information that people loved.

Because of her care for and interest in people, Ruth will continue to be remembered. She didn’t allow age, circumstances, or fear to hold her back. Likewise, you can do the same for your real estate marketing blog. How has Ruth inspired you today?

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Real Estate Marketing: The Story of the 109 Year Old Blogger

If you’ve been following any of the recent posts on creating squeeze pages for your business, you already know that real estate marketing videos are one of the most essential ingredients to generating better conversions and rapport. Without this key element, it is much harder to build a personal connection, because they help people to engage with what you are saying and offering.

Although this is something that most would agree with, the amount of real estate professionals that are truly putting this into action greatly differs. If I had to guess, many people are not very comfortable whenever that bright gazing light flicks on. There is just something about creating videos that can stop them dead in their tracks.

That is why I have chosen to feature another real estate marketing video today, in order to help work through some of these illogical fears. In fact, most of you reading this article are probably extremely charismatic and comfortable around people, yet your entire demeanor may change in a matter of seconds when it comes to creating videos.

Perhaps one of the reasons is that your material and smiling mug become “etched in stone.” Therefore, if you say anything stupid or make the wrong moves, you could quickly become the object of judgment or ridicule in front of countless unforgiving eyes.

A Quick Lesson From the Video Marketing Master Himself…

One thing that I heard internet marketing guru Frank Kern say before is that you need to make every effort to visualize yourself speaking to your best friend. And if there is anyone that you should take advice from when creating real estate marketing videos, it’s definitely this guy. Why? Because he has learned the art of being himself!

Kern just seems to have a knack for making you feel like you’ve know him for years. He’ll make you laugh, cry (ok maybe not), and will always get the point across in a very simple and effective way. Most of the time you’ll find him wearing beach style shirts and sandals while jamming out on his guitar.

Now this may take some practice of course, but please believe me when I say it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, I would venture to say that people will be more inclined to connect with your real estate marketing videos, because you are being natural and human. So don’t try to be Frank Kern. Just learn from his example and be you! Otherwise, people will see right through you.

Therefore, have a little fun, crack a joke or two if that’s your style, and stumble over a word here or there. Remember, it’s more about how you say it than what you say. Just simply speak with confidence like you do every day whenever wheeling and dealing.

Yet Another Video Marketing Case Study

For further motivation, be sure to check out this very short video shot by our man William May. As you’ll find in his brief introduction to his squeeze page, William didn’t even try to be perfect. He in fact purposely drops the book and laughs at himself to break in the audience. Pretty simple stuff huh? So what will be the angle for your next real estate marketing video?

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Who Said Your Real Estate Marketing Videos Had to be Perfect?

Can Facebook real estate marketing really be an effective strategy to help generate more leads for your business? There are some who may argue that simply driving traffic to a website which has a ton of visual distractions and the ability to only produce “likes” out of the box could be a waste of precious time and money.

Yet, with an 800 million+ user network that now rivals giants such as Youtube, there has to be some way to take advantage of this enormous opportunity, right? Of course with this form of marketing, there are certain steps that need to be followed in order to fit the mold of what Facebook has to offer.

Facebook Real Estate Marketing Campaign Produces a 33%+ Conversion Rate?!

We’re in the business of lead generation, and thereby thrive on testing out innovative solutions to constantly help improve ROI for our clients. Sending traffic to some form of lead capture or squeeze page offer happens to be one of the best tried and proven methods to consistently churn out leads at a rate of 15-20% or more.

So the following results may shock you. Recently, after running a few test campaigns in various markets on Facebook, conversions for clicks to “likes” has jumped to an average of about 33-40%! And the best part of this whole process is that it can all be achieved for free or only several dollars a day using Facebook paid ads.

Birdseye View of this Killer Facebook Real Estate Marketing Strategy

Now obviously those fans that “like” your page will have to go through an “incubation” process in order to turn fans into business. So, be sure to watch Josh’s detailed tutorial below, and you’ll discover how to painlessly convert each lead utilizing Facebook’s “private fan page community” to your advantage. But for those who want the Cliff’s Notes version, here’s a quick outline of the whole process:

1. Send traffic to your Facebook page using either paid ads or Craigslist.
2. Build a foreclosure deals (or your specific niche) lead capture landing page where people have to “like” the page in order to view the deals or search results.
3. Once they “like,” they’ll be taken over to the Facebook thank you page which displays the results. We are currently using Realbird to generate the listing information.
4. Then message each new fan privately via Facebook to see if they want to receive emails of the most recent deals.
5. Continue to post new and fresh content to your page’s wall using some of the real estate marketing ideas Josh provides below in order to keep top of mind status…

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Turn Likes Into Leads With Facebook Real Estate Marketing

In spirit of this Christmas season, I thought it would be fitting to reference one of the holiday movie classics as the perfect parallel for today’s lesson on real estate marketing. In fact, since my wife and I just sat down to watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” starring Chevy Chase last night, it is still very fresh in my mind.

However, for those of you who may be a little rustier, here is a link to a part of the film when Clark Griswold (played by Chevy Chase), finally receives his long anticipated bonus check in the mail:

Yes this is a hilarious break from reality, but what exactly does it have to do with your business? Well surprisingly, my intention was not just to waste 5 minutes of your life. Instead, I want to highlight one disastrous mistake that real estate professionals can tend to make with their real estate marketing campaigns and how you can avoid it. We’ll refer to this concept as…

Aspiration vs. Desperation

Can anyone else relate to the following? When I had initially started my professional career wholesaling houses, I constantly felt the sting of desperation early on. This always came as a result of not having enough leads or potential business in my pipeline to keep me busy.

As a result, I would constantly go into “freak out” mode and start massaging my dead beat leads for all they were worth, checking emails and phone messages every hour, dwelling on what I would do to keep paying the bills, or becoming consumed with all the potential “what if’s.”

Similar to Clark Griswold, all my eggs were being stashed in one basket. Instead of actively pursuing new opportunities or implementing innovative real estate marketing ideas, I would start playing the victim game and temporarily forget that I alone was in control of my circumstances and future.

Yes, I’ve been there and never want to go back…neither do I wish this upon any of you. There is a solution when you’re faced with this dilemma. Don’t let anyone else dictate what your business or income will look like. Instead, you call the shots by taking action and never looking back.

Learn how to be a person who aspires to succeed by conducting some of the following:

1. Formulate new ways that you can build up a stronger referral base.
2. Produce real estate marketing videos full of testimonials similar to my man Tim.
3. Reach out to other spheres of influence within your industry.
4. Set up as many systems as possible, such as email follow up campaigns which will get prospects to raise their hands instead of you chasing them.
5. Test new offline and online marketing pieces and measure your results. Pitch that which fails and improve those things that succeed.
6. Invest in courses, books and seminars that will teach you how to become better professionally and individually.

In other words, become so singularly focused on those things that only help to improve your bottom line that you naturally sift out those time and money leaches. If you adopt this mentality for your real estate marketing plan and business, your life will be infinitely better because of it! This I can promise you.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What if Clark Griswold Bought & Sold Real Estate?

According to a recent article submitted by Inman News, there are more foreclosures being processed right now than ever before. In fact, just between the months of September and October alone, foreclosure starts jumped by 5.7%. On the other hand, Inman has also reported that the long term outlook for foreclosure properties looks positive.

Therefore, as banks strive to unload large inventories of homes over the next several years, many investors and agents alike can greatly benefit from this golden opportunity. So how can you begin to progressively take action with your real estate marketing plan in order to effectively target the right buyers and sell even more deals?

Introducing Foreclosure Home Squeeze Pages

One strategy that we have found to work extremely well when building a buyers list is by using foreclosure specific squeeze pages. Whether you are working with investors for quick flips, first time home buyers or seasoned veterans, everybody is always looking for a great bargain deal.

And one of the simplest ways to lure cold traffic right into your funnel is by offering a free weekly list of foreclosure and bank owned properties. In fact, this real estate marketing strategy alone is such a powerful hook, that conversion rates could easily hit 30% or greater when properly implemented.

For example, by producing a similar template to the two featured below, you will be able to easily drive traffic from Craigslist, paid ads, videos, social media, etc. Plus, you will instantly start building rapport with your audience, by providing the most updated list and perhaps a few bonuses sprinkled in as well.

Sample Real Estate Marketing Templates

Notice that with both options, the title instantly stands out with large, colorful, bold text and even some emphasized power phrases. Of course, your message should be tweaked to speak to your own local audience. Additionally, you can consider including a bonus right below the headline that will give people a little more motivation to sign up for your weekly emails, such as:

• 100% financing options
• Free report on purchasing your first foreclosure property
• Video trainings that can be immediately accessed on the thank you page
• VIP pass to secret auction listings, etc.

Although a high percentage of people will opt in to your lead generation funnel either way, it helps to make this a “no brainer” for your visitors. Both real estate marketing templates provide arrows (the red one actually moves) to direct the eyes straight to the opt in form along with a catchy image.

However, you will undoubtedly increase conversions if you replace the picture with a live action video of you explaining to your audience exactly what they will get and how you can help them throughout the process. As indicated on the second template, it’s also wise to include a weekly best buy along with the list of properties you send.

Finally, make sure that you take advantage of bullet points or text that hammers the benefits and really grips their attention. And always, follow up with those who sign up to receive your real estate marketing updates to prove that you are trustworthy and truly interested in their business. This alone will separate you from nearly 50% of the competition.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How to Setup Foreclosure Based Real Estate Marketing Squeeze Pages