A Scary Place   2
Organization of this Book   3
Does It All Seem Too Chaotic?  4
Finding Some Order  4
Centralized Internet Marketing Model   5
Now What?  6

The Basics  13

Defining Your Position  13
Defining Your Target Audience  14
Defining Your Internet Marketing Goals  14

Beyond the Basics 15

Positioning: What Is it? Why Is it Important?  15

Standing Out from the Crowd: How Do You Distinguish Yourself?  16
Identifying Your Position  20
Checklist: Identifying a Market Position  20
Create Your Unique Market Position Statement  22

Your Audience(s)  23

Create a Target Audience Profile  24

Your Goals: What Do You Want Your Site To Do for You?  27

Web Site Marketing Goals 29

Review Questions 29

The Basics 31

Beyond the Basics 33

A Clear Statement of Your Unique Market Position   33
Content That Supports Your Market Position   33
You Are More Than a Collection of Awards   35
Real Estate Content   36

Finding the Right Home. Finding Comparable Homes   38
Information on Financing   39
Choosing the Right Community   40
Schools   41
General Interest Sites with Local Information   43
Finding the Right Agent   46

Content of Interest to Your Target Audience (Besides Real Estate) 47
Content That Enables and Encourages Visitors to Interact With You 48

Review Questions 51

The Basics 52

Appearance  52
Organization  53

Beyond the Basics 55

Appearance 55

A Web Site Is Like the Clothes You Wear 55
The Front Door 56
Dress Code 57

Organization 61

Links to other sites. 63

Review Questions 66

The Basics 72

Search Engines 72

Register your site with the major search engines. 72
Use pertinent, effective keywords, titles, headings, and text. 73
Test the search engines regularly. 73

Directories 74

Beyond the Basics 75

Search Engines  76

How Search Engines Work  76
What Information Search Engines Provide  77
Registering Your Site with Search Engines  79
Use Pertinent, Effective Keywords, Titles, Headings, Captions, and Text  81
How Does Your Site Rank? Test it with Various Keywords 85
Search Engines that Rank Sites by Popularity 87

New Search Engine Strategy: The Open Directory Project 88
Directories 89

General Internet Directories: Appliances to Zoos 89
Yahoo! A Special Animal 91

A Final Word on "Getting Found"… 93

Review Questions 94

The Basics 96

Listings and Enhanced Listings, Banner and Tile Ads 96

What are they? 96
What do they cost? 96
Where should you put them? 96

Reciprocal Links and Banner Exchanges  98
Signature Links 100

Beyond The Basics 100

Listings and Enhanced Listings  100

Buying Search Engine Enhancements: New Developments  101

Banner and Tile Ads  103

Costs  105
Where To Place Ads on the Net 106
Community Information Sites 107
County Web Sites 109
State Web Sites 109
Specialty Sites 110
Internet Service Provider Sites 110

Real Estate Directories 112

International Real Estate Digest 112
Real Estate Library 113
Realty Times 114
Real Estate ABC 114
Realty Locator 115
Associations of Realtors® 115
Your Firm’s Web Site Directory 116
For Sale by Owner (FSBO) Site Directories 116
Real Estate-Related Site Directories 117

Webstep Top 100 Free Links 118
Reciprocal Links and Banner Exchanges 119

Reciprocal Links with Other Real Estate Sites 119
Reciprocal Links with Commercial/Retail Web Sites 120

Banner/Link Exchange Services 120
Dealerships 121
Sponsorships 122
Signature Links 123
Bridge Pages 124

Review Questions 126

The Basics 127

Public Relations 127
More Visibility 128

Beyond the Basics 129

Public Relations 129

Newsletters, Online and Off, Dealing with Real Estate and Marketing 130
Becoming Your Local Newspaper’s "Real Estate Columnist" 131

Publicity on the Internet 132

Usegroups 132
Bulletin/Message Boards, Guestbooks 134
Romancing Your Web Site Administrators 134
Yet More Ways ... 135
Signs 136
Other Ways To Encourage Your Target Audience To Visit Your Site 137

A Final Word on "Getting Found" … 138

Review Questions 139

The Basics 141

Beyond the Basics 142

MLS Search Site Advantages 142
Property Searches 142
Finding an Agent 143
Realtor.com™ 144

Property Listings 145
Name and Links in the "Find a Realtor®" Directory 147
Agent Page or Link to Your Existing Web Site 148

Homeseekers.com 149

Property Listings 150
Agent Directory 150
Agent Profiles 150
Homeseekers.com’s Killer App: CityNet 151
Tools To Promote CityNet Service 154
New Service: "The Listings Find the Buyer" 155

ListingLink, LLS 156

Agent Tools 156

Microsoft’s® HomeAdvisor™ 159

HomeAdvisor™ Agent Tools 160

Cyberhomes® 161
HomeScout - iOwn 162
Home Gain - Internet Marketing Tool For Listing Agents 162
Other Sites with Homes or Agent Directories 164
Links "To and From" 166

Review Questions 167

Why E-Mail Is Critical to Your Marketing Success 169
What’s Different About E-Mail 169

Learning the Language 170

The Basics 173

Beyond The Basics 175

Your E-Mail Marketing Approach 175
Effective E-Mail: Listening Back 176
E-Mail Etiquette (or "Netiquette") 179
Sending Property Information 181
Sending a Web Page by E-Mail 182
E-Mail Lists and Spam 182
Filing Your E-mail 183

Review Questions 185

Writing More Readable E-Mail Messages 187
Sample E-Mails to Buyers 187
Sample E-Mails to Sellers 192
Sample E-mail to Your MLS Site Visitors 194
E-Mail Masters 197

Review Questions 198

Phase 1: Tasks, Timeline, Budget 199
Phase 2: Establish Your Web Presence 199
Phase 3: Expand Your Internet Marketing Reach 199

Phase 1: Tasks, Timeline, Budget 201

Internet Marketing: Planning Checklist 202

Phase 2: Establish Your Web Presence 203

Steps to Establishing Your Web Site 204
Your First MLS Search Site Presence 205
Revise Your Key Print Materials to Add Your E-Mail and Web Addresses 205

Phase 3: Expand Your Internet Marketing Reach 205

Revise Your Key Print Materials To Add Your E-Mail and Web Addresses 205

INDEX 235