You wouldn’t go to a business meeting in gym shorts and a T-shirt or be rude to a prospective client.  

As a home builder, you must present yourself as professional, so if you’re careful about how you present yourself to one or two clients, doesn’t it make sense to be cautious about how you present yourself to thousands of clients online? 

With the ever-increasing centrality of the internet in our lives, you must maintain a professional, easy-to-use website. Finding homebuyers online and keeping them engaged has never been more important. The world of web design moves rapidly, and it’s critical to keep up with the latest trends. 

On the other hand, you have a limited budget. This is important to consider when deciding whether to replace your homebuilder website, hire a homebuilder website developer, make a few updates to your homebuilder web design, or leave it alone.

Here are five factors to consider when deciding to update or replace a website:

• Understand Why You Want To Change Your Website
• Your Website Should Reflect Your Goals
• A Website Needs To Be Mobile Friendly
• Navigating A Website Should Be Easy
• Make Sure Your Website Fits Your Business Model and Near-Term Plans

Understand Why You Want To Change Your Website  

Do you want to change the look of your existing website? Maybe update the content writing for builders? Or, are you interested in significant structural changes (like adding pages, removing navigation items, installing virtual tours and other features, etc.)? 

The answers to these questions matter greatly because they can help point the way forward. It’s often easier and more affordable than business owners think to make minor improvements to a website. Over the long run, however, it’s cheaper to begin with a clean slate if you need significant changes.

Your Website Should Reflect Your Goals

 If your existing homebuilder website accomplishes what you need, you probably don’t need a total redesign. Conversely, if you are embarrassed by the look of your site or it lacks essential features like a shopping cart or a mobile-friendly layout, then you shouldn’t hold onto a design that isn’t working. 

There are both strategic and technical elements to this issue. If your website and homebuilder logo aren’t helping you to attract homebuyers or create a strong brand, it’s probably costing you money. If it runs slowly, produces error messages, or is otherwise difficult to use, those issues must be addressed promptly. 

A Website Needs To Be Mobile Friendly

Being mobile-friendly is now more critical than being desktop-friendly. Over half of internet traffic worldwide is from phones and mobile devices.  Your home builder website should be mobile-optimized. 

According to Quick Sprout, “mobile-friendly content just means that content appears well not just on desktop computers but also on smaller mobile devices. That means the text is easily readable, links and navigation are easily clickable, and it’s easy to consume the content in general.” 

Try this Google tool if you don’t know whether your site is mobile-friendly. There are plenty of excellent examples of mobile-friendly websites if you need inspiration.

Navigating A Website Should Be Easy

Customers have short attention spans. People are used to instant access to information. If a customer can’t figure out how to navigate your site, they may leave. You probably know your website like the back of your hand, but they don’t. 

• Make Sure The Navigation Is Easy and Clear
• Understand Human Behavior And What They Are Searching For
• Install Search Functionality On Your Site

Make Sure Your Existing Website Fits Your Business Model and Near-Term Plans

Although most homebuilders come to us for website redesigns because of aesthetic issues, error messages, and related problems, these should be secondary concerns.  

The best reason to talk to a business web designer is that you want your online presence to match your real-world business and development plans. 

In other words, if your company is growing or changing, your website should also. Never forget that your online builder marketing automation aims to support your business growth targets, not just to keep up with the competition. 

Finding the Cost-Effective Web Design Answers that You Need:

If you’re like most homebuilders we work with, you probably wish you could afford to replace your website every year. However, the realities of timing, budgets, and other constraints mean you must occasionally settle for more minor changes and improvements. 

 Our designers, programmers, and business growth experts can help you find a strategy that maximizes your marketing budget and business opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and see how we can help you discover the best way forward!

Visit Power Marketing for a digital marketing plan that produces results.

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By blogging regularly (1-2 times a month), you send important signals to Google or your target audience. The first and probably the most apparent positive thing about writing many different blogs is that you’ll be growing the collection of content on your website. This gives you a much better chance of being relevant (Google’s primary search result criteria) to a wider variety of search queries and search intents. If you write a blog about ‘outdoor living’ or ‘sustainable homes,’ your content can attract people interested in that subject, and so on.

I like to think you’re stranded on an island with unlimited fish trap nets. How many of those traps are you going to set? With each additional trap, your chances of catching dinner increase. It’s the same way with blogs – with each one you write, you increase the chances of getting a potential buyer’s attention and your overall digital footprint.

Recency is another critical signal you’ll send to Google by blogging regularly, which measures how old/new your website’s content is and how often it changes. Google tends to supply a searcher with a list of the most relevant and most recent/up-to-date results.

Take, for example, a search for “Vikings.” In 2010, a search for “Vikings” likely turned up a Wikipedia article about the history of the Viking people. In 2019, if you search for “Vikings,” you’ll probably get an article about the History Channel’s hit show Vikings.

Recency is also essential because of how the Google web crawler/spider works. Essentially, Google sends out a virtual robot “spider” that crawls around the World Wide Web, “indexing” or making a copy of nearly everything it finds. Those copies are what you see listed when you search for something on Google. When the Google robot continually returns to your website and sees nothing new, it makes a note to wait longer until its next trip back. If it finds something new – like a blog post and keeps seeing new blog posts every time it comes- it will signal that your content is always new and up to date, hence being worth frequent ‘crawling.’

This is a big reason why SEO shouldn’t be treated like a diet – because it’s a lifestyle change. Your competitor can surpass you as soon as you lapse in keeping up with it (in this case, blog writing). If you live in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay, the image of one crab pulling another one down in a crab basket so he cannot escape is an image you recognize. Search results are very much like that. When you think you are at the top, a competitor ‘crab’ pulls you back down a notch.

You may wonder, “I’m a homebuilder; what would I blog about?” Blog about trends and things that are current. Blog about energy-efficient building techniques or building sustainable homes. Blog about staining concrete or material use. Blog about something trending nationwide (hint: use Google Trends) and cleverly relate the trending topic to your company. Take a look at what your competitors or national builders are blogging about. Put yourself in the homebuyer’s shoes – what would be helpful or interesting for them to read? If it’s trending nationally or regionally, try to jump on the bandwagon and strike while the iron is hot.

The post Blog Regularly appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Reposted from InfusionSoft Blog Manager Ellis Friedman.

The great thing about blogging is that it doesn’t take very much time. Writing – aka typing – is pretty easy; brains are an endless well of engaging, useful, informative content, and all those thoughts flood so easily and consistently onto the keyboard that bloggers frequently find themselves desperately wishing for a good old fashioned case of writer’s block.

And that’s why you can and should totally start a blog. Now.

Was that convincing? Because as someone who literally blogs all day long, let me be the first to tell you that everything in the first paragraph is an outright lie. It took me 20 minutes just to write this far, and the actual typing is such a minor part of what actually goes into maintaining a blog. That’s not to say it’s not doable – it might be my full-time job, but we post every day – and that is very likely not what your blog would need.

So do you really need a blog? A lot of conventional online marketing wisdom says Yes, absolutely! But you might be surprised, because the answer is Maybe, but also maybe not.

Can you consistently produce content?

You cannot write three blog posts in a month and then never touch your blog again. I mean, you can, but it would be a waste of the time you spent writing those three blog posts, it would be a waste of virtual space and most importantly, it would bring you zero benefit, tangible or intangible.

If you’re going to blog, you need to commit to it like you would commit to a dog. This thing has got to be fed and walked at regular intervals – ideally, a minimum of once a week. Can you do it, or can you pay someone to?

Do you have the time for a blog?

You have the ideas, you have the writing skills, you have the verve. OK, but do you have the time? Being consistent is vital, but if you don’t have time to produce worthy posts, a weekly half-hearted attempt isn’t your best option. We’ve seen how much readers love our productivity posts, and based on those analytics, I’d wager a guess that you readers are a little crunched for time.

So be sure that if you start blog, you have the time for it, because I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty time consuming. The best way to overcome this hurdle? Block off time on your calendar to work on it.

Will a blog directly impact your business?

So many people who get over the time and consistency hurdles end up abandoning their blog anyway because they’re not seeing any return from their efforts. That’s not necessarily because they’re not doing it right – it could simply be that a blog is not the right vehicle for their business.

How do I know if a blog is right for my business?

Ah friend, I will tell you. Start by asking yourself these questions:

Do your customers have pain points that a blog can solve?

The key phrase here is “that a blog can solve.” This is a tough concept to grasp, so I asked our social media specialist, Jill Jones, for a bit of clarification. Here’s the gist of what she said:

Let’s say you rent out a photo booth as your business. Your service is a one-time thing, a luxury and it’s part of a larger thing (a party). You could blog about party tips or photography tips, but doing so wouldn’t directly impact your business. Why? Because party décor or food ideas won’t impact a potential customer’s photo booth rental decision. Though you’re being resourceful and it’s a topic in the same wheelhouse, it’s not driving your bottom line.

Blogs are much more likely to have an impact on things that are recurring or always present in your house or your life, including but not limited to items like clothing, food, housing, or beauty products. 

Of course, that isn’t always true. A wedding florist, who like a photo booth provider provides what is usually a one-time luxury expense, could run a blog about what flowers mean, what flowers are in season or how to mix flowers and see direct impact from that.Why? Because telling a potential buyer what’s in season around their wedding date or which flowers indicate love has a direct effect on a customer’s purchase decision.

Do you have useful, informative content to share?

That’s what a blog comes down to. They say any publicity is good publicity, but let me tell you that any content is NOT good content. Content is both a strategy and a tactic – it is not a magnet that suddenly attracts eyeballs and business. Make sure the content you produce is created to drive people toward your business. So if you don’t have anything useful to say, don’t say it at all.

Do you know how to write well?

Whoever is going to lead the charge on a blog, whether it’s you or someone you’ve hired, must know how to write well. They need to know about voice and tone, how to engage with your specific audience, how to do research to become an authority and most of all, how to actually get words on a page (trust me – the hardest part of writing is the actual writing part).

If you’re outsourcing content writing, Fiverr is not an ideal solution. Sure, it’s quick and it’s cheap, but for an important, ongoing project, it probably won’t produce the quality or consistency a blog needs. If you’re getting a different person writing your content every time, it will show, and any potential readers will not take your blog as a serious voice of expertise and authority.

Is your content going to be in line with your brand?

This is where knowledge of voice comes in – your blog needs to be in line with your brand voice and values. That’s why I have a job; in addition to writing, I ensure that all the content we post falls under the umbrella of our cohesive voice. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t get posted. All blogs need a gatekeeper.

Do you have a distribution plan?

No, this question is not too far ahead to plan for. The whole point of having a blog is to get people to read it, so you need a plan in place to, you know, get people to read it. Are you going to share on social media? Which channels? How will you know it’s working? Will you have guest bloggers on your post, or guest blog for others to have cross promotion? How will you determine which writers you’ll use or for whom you’ll write?

What’s the point of a blog?

Not to get existential on you, but what’s the point? What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? Are you doing it because “people” say you should and you think “Yeah I’ll give that a go”? Not a good enough reason.

You need to know exactly what value you’re aiming to derive from having a blog. Is it to establish yourself or your brand as a thought leader in your space? To generate leads and drive sales? Grow brand or product awareness?

Blogging rules of thumb

• Start with one blog. Don’t get all eyes-bigger-than-your-stomach on this thing and think that you could start five blogs segmented by location or topic. Just start with one.
• If you already have content you publish – like a YouTube show or a podcast, consider whether adding a blog is really worth it. Start small – you don’t have to boil the ocean in a day.
• Know where your content will live and how it will be found. It should be accessible from your homepage, not just by direct visits or Facebook posts.
• You must know who your audience is before you start anything. Since the whole point is to solve their pain points, you have to know who they are and what they need before you type a single word.
• Know the story you have to tell and make sure it’s in line with your company mission. Is there a specific thing you’re trying to accomplish or a vision you’re trying to realize?
• As with most things in marketing, starting and maintaining a blog comes down to having a greater purpose and goal and tailoring everything to that vision.

Ellis has spent a lot of her adult life chest-deep in small business adventures, especially the year she spent opening the Beijing branch of a Shanghai-based air purifier and lifestyle business. Most of her experience stems from her diverse media background in film, magazine publishing, blogging, and photography, but she’s also a published author and Infusionsoft’s blog manager. Ellis has an idiosyncratic fondness for grammar, style, and sarcasm, and fills most of her time away from the keyboard tasting scotch whisky, traveling abroad, and hiking.

The post Do You Really Need A Blog? appeared first on Power-Marketing.

Every business has to a story to tell, and your blog is the perfect outlet for sharing this information with your audience. If you’re not blogging and your competitors are, they’re tapping into an audience you’re neglecting. Next time your prospects need advice, products or services, they’ll seek them from your competitors, not you.

5 Simple Content Ideas For Blogging Success

Blog About Upcoming Or Recent Events

Unless you’re sitting in a dark and dingy basement ahrell day (How has your business survived this long?! No, really, I want to know!), chances are you’re constantly out and about, attending trade shows, conferences, networking events and meeting new faces to help put your name on the map. These experiences are prime blog real estate. Where did you go? What did you see? Who did you meet? What does this mean for your business? Give shout-outs in the form of links and broadcast your honest opinions. Here is an example of a blog post our Maryland SEO company wrote about a marketing conference we attended in D.C.

Blog Readers Really Appreciate Lists

We’re all cognitive learners — we thrive on organization, and we love other people to do the organizing for us! Be it number or bullet form, lists work online because people tend to skim instead of reading line by line like they would a book. Lists help delineate chunks of content, making information easier to digest. They help readers quickly get up to speed on a topic, plus they’re more likely to share your content if they feel they’ve acquired value.

Who Isn’t Intrigued With A “How-To” Blog?

Think of how many times you’ve had a problem — a flat tire, for example — and typed “how to change a flat tire” into a search engine. Like lists, how-to articles make reading and retaining information easy. These posts help solve your readers’ problems and convince them what you have to say is worth their time. And, the higher the quality of your content, the better your search engine optimization MD.

Client Testimonials Make Great Blogs

No matter how long you’ve been in business, odds are you have at least one happy customer willing to share his/her experience. Customers rely on reviews to determine if a product or service is worthy or not. Seek your most satisfied customers and ask them a few detailed questions about your customer service, quality of products or services, how you met or exceeded their expectations, and so on. Demonstrate how you met their needs, and add quotes and anecdotes to help build your credibility.

Have Some Case Studies? Blog About ‘Em

Have a success story worth bragging about? Do it! Consider writing a blog post that explains how you helped a specific customer improve his/her life with your products or services. Use actual data (ex: the percentage of clicks your real estate website design had before your SEO campaign compared to after) that translates to your market. Charts and other visuals are very effective, so give your readers something besides just words to look at.

A few final tips: After you’ve written a new blog post, remember to optimize for SEO by incorporating your keywords (see tips here). Don’t forget a call to action — a statement that redirects readers to another section of your site or encourages them to pick up the phone, visit your store or seek out your services some other way. And, always share your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites.

Still not confident in your blogging skills? From creative copywriting to copy-loaded blog content, our Maryland marketing team can leverage the power of the written word for you. We can write and edit any copy you need, and show you how to make your content better, stronger and more powerful. Give us a call at 301-416-7861, or click here to learn more.

The post Internet Marketing MD 101: 5 Content Ideas for Your Blog appeared first on Power-Marketing.