Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

This is not a commentary about affiliate marketing and some techniques on how to convince just anybody to buy just about anything. It is rather a candid observation of how today everybody is focusing on promotion and sales and so much noise is raised about all kinds of products that it is actually difficult to tell what is really good unless you actually try it yourself or you take the time to do some research.

But who has the time to do a whole lot of research, particularly when purchases are often based on emotion? I see it all the time in my real estate business: people look for the first impact, they need to fall in love with the house or with the location or with the idea that they can own a piece of America, if they are buying from abroad. They seldom get into any detail at the beginning, they leave the fine analysis to their financial advisor or they just want the summary of it afterwards.

What they want is to feel they have made a good deal, that they are safe, that they have been smarter than somebody else, that this is much better that some frustrating deal they had done before. Whatever makes them feel good about it.

So you can’t really sell based on price only and you can’t definitely sell on the quality of the product only (although the quality has to be there). What people buy is the emotion you put in what you do and the passion that drives you in the first place.

Are you selling your passion? Your emotion? The very soul of your personality? Then you should be able to stand out from the crowd. In this regard, P.T. Barnum dictates: “Advertise your Business” as rule 15 of his book “The Art of Money Getting”. He also tells: “Those who deal with the public must be careful that their goods are valuable; that they are genuine, and will give satisfaction… Advertising is like learning—a little is a dangerous thing.” In 2009 were spent $ 12.5 billion in online advertising. A banner on a leading portal like MSN or Yahoo costs $ 500,000 a day, about the same a 30 second TV spot.

But then how can you advertise yourself on the Web effectively? Well, first you should ask to yourself, are there people on the Web that look for what I have to offer? Is your product or blog or service of interest to your intended audience? How big is the audience? Are there competitors and what are they doing? If you are really going to put your “soul” into something, then you’d better find someone who wants to buy it. And Google Keyword Tool can be your best friend in doing it.

Roberto Mazzoni