By now you realize just how many choices there are out there. It's endless but these are some of the most effective techniques I have found. Be sure to continue to share your success stories. As this is the final entry to the series I will publish some of your stories, congratulation to you all.

#25 Shift Your Ads to Search.

Most of you have heard about the shift away from print ad. I think social ads are a category where people are going to be shifting some of their spending but today I think you should shift your ads to Search. Tools like Google Ad Words that allow you to target those searching is a whole other subject. Buying a Google Ad Words campaign is relatively easy and I have material on that subject as well. But some guidelines you should consider is "keep it local".

It would be pretty hard, financially, to keep up with campaigns like Wisconsin, Madison, Chicago, etc. So focus on your long tail key words like neighborhoods ……... Probably the ultimate long tail search term – if you’re not already buying it – is your name! It probably behooves you to own the words around your name that will help reinforce your brand as they perform those searches. This goes back to the Google Ad Words campaign. The bottom line is it is very expensive to compete on large search terms.

#26 Get Creative With Your Creativity.

Old media is not dead yet. There are some great sites out here to help you. SpotRunner is one where you can create ads for placement on television. Basically they buy up inventory from your local broadcasters and then sell that to small business at a much discounted price. So if you are considering television I’d check out a site like SpotRunner.

Sprout allows you to build interactive banners and widgets which you can place through the local networks. Create some interactive banner ads that perhaps brings a feed of your local listings along with your contact information. AdReady allows you to create ads very quickly through their templates, you don’t have to be a graphic designer. There are some excellent templates allow you to quickly add your name, logo, contact information and message. Then simply go out and buy banner advertising on local media sites. SpotMixer is another site to do that and also allows you do to online video ads that are imported and mixed up for you right there - on the spot.

This is a great time to advertise. A down market is always a good time for people to establish themselves and gain market share.

A couple of really simple tips – going back to your listing pages, by coupling the widgets, banners and whatever you decide to do, you are going to want to have landing pages.

#27 Landing pages Are Your New Home Pages.

You are going to want to have landing pages that are custom to that particular promotion. If you were to do a custom website for a specific promotion with your local newspaper, using AdReady to purchase banner ads on the papers website, I recommend you make sure the URL that is being shared through that banner campaign was a specific landing page designed for that particular promotion. Landing pages are to be considered your new home pages. I think they need to be kept simple.

KISS = keep it simple stupid! (no offense)

Make a clear call to action on the page, what is it you want people to do. Once they’ve clicked through that social ad you bought on FaceBook, what is it you actually want them to do? Is it sign up for your newsletter, is it to login to your IDX search, what is it you want them to do with that campaign and make it crystal clear. Don’t clutter the page and make it personal. Welcome them in so they know they are in the right spot and it feels like a friendly spot, is directed at them and do not have the same home page and same landing page for every type user.

The thing about landing pages is – they are also trackable. You can track the activity maximize your profits. So ramp up your analytics.

#28 Ramp Up Your Analytics.

Make sure you have embedded tools like Google Analytics so you can measure each of your entry – landing pages. You can see how valuable your ad was on the local paper or how much value was derived from the pay per click ads you bought. Or how much did you get out of the social ads you bought on FaceBook? Making sure that you have those landing pages and tracking those landing pages will tell you how valuable your investment of time and money really was. This is critical information! If you don’t track your marketing dollar, how can you know what works?

Other tools that exist out there are: Woopra which is a real time tracking and analytics program, Clicky is another I could recommend. Any of these are great beginnings for your to understand what it is and who are the people that are coming to your website.

And finally:
#29 Pump Up Your Offline Efforts.

Important – lets not forget about the offline efforts. Pumped up efforts offline it is equally important as your online efforts. A couple of ways to use the online world to leverage your offline efforts are: tools like Upcoming or Meetup. You can use these tools to share information of your short sale, for foreclosure seminars, information to get the community together giving you the opportunity to meet folks face to face in the offline world.

Another neat idea you might be able to do is come up with your own font. You enter your own handwriting to Fontifier and they actually make a font of your script that you can upload to your computer and use in your marketing efforts offline. Caution: never use your real signature!

Moo is a service that creates business cards. The great thing about Moo is that each card has a full color photo on the backside of each card and you can have a different picture on every single business card. Cafepress is another way to create t-shirts, swag items or postcards all representing your brand. If you have a custom design you can use it to create your own custom designs.

Regarding post sale, obviously you want to followup and be involved in post sale good feelings after a sale. You may want to take advantage of a couple of ideas – check out sites like Blurb and Lulu  …..  sites that allow you to create really neat and beautiful books. These may be used for the buyer or seller after a transaction. Imagine, you sold a luxury boat or vacation or home, you can create a book to remember the event. The buyer will appreciate the closing gift.  Handing a hard cover book with "them" as the stars of this buyer keepsake will endure you for a long time and/or gifting the seller with a momentum of what they sold, how powerful.

Thinking back to Repackage, Repackage, you’ve taken a slew of really nice photos so use them. And that listing description, how nice to build a book and show your appreciation to your clients.

Well, now you have the material and ideas to excel in your market place. As others disappear from the market place - go after their lost market share. You will "Position Yourself for Success"!

I hope you found these Internet Marketing Tips helpful. We look forward to hearing about your success. Tell us your story at marcia@minocquamortgage.com or go to www.minocquamortgage.com for a link.
Knowledge is Power - and now it is yours!