Question

Topic: Website Critique

Want More Subscribers To My Real Estate Newsletter

Posted by Anonymous on 4/4/2006 at 2:05 PM ET 450 Points
Greetings to All:

I'm a Realtor in San Francisco. I have a blog called www.sfrealestatebuzz. The postings also go out in a weekly email 'newsletter' to about 275 recipients (who are all personal contacts or prospects that have come to me through other marketing efforts.)

I want my website to bring in more subscriptions. I have a 'sign-up' link, but have only attracted one subscriber that way. She signed up about 6 weeks ago.

I already have other ways of adding subscribers. Don't need counsel on that. What I would like are ideas on how to get a higher 'opt-in' rate through my website.

The site is about 3-4 months old I had 14,000 hits last month. Previous months have been +/- 8,000. I'm thinking that a number of these are 'meta crawlers' who may get triggered by new weekly postings (although you may know better than I do about that).

Questions:

1. Is one subscriber per 8,000 hits per month a low return? Or about right?

2. What ways can I modify the site that to make more visitors subscribe?

Things to keep in mind as you answer my questions:

I am not a 'web-head' who has scads of time to meta tag my postings or exchange links with other sites and then check to see where I rank on Google or Yahoo!, Other than making modifications to my site and then tracking number of new subscribers, I'm not prepared to buy new software or services to monitor traffic. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to traffic for me. My target subscriber market is very narrow and I have other ways of driving new, quality visitors to my site. I'd rather focus on website content and modifications to make the visitors that show up opt-in.

Extra points will be awarded for ideas that are suited to my target market. These are sophisticated folks who I think will be turned off by blaring offers of "FREE REPORTS" or "SIGN UP FOR EXCLUSIVE OFFERS" or "THE SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL REAL ESTATE INVESTORS." You get my drift. . .

My ego is fragile. And my content is very popular. And my subscribers adore me. I've only had about 4 opt-outs over the time the newsletter has been running. So please don't trash my site. Be gentle please.

Thanks.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 4/4/2006 at 4:27 PM Accepted
    your site is not up right now...
    but I agree with the comment.. Offer an incentive for folks to sign up. Most people would die for 14,000 hits a month.
    I can hardly wait to see your site.
    Frank Hurtte
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 4/5/2006 at 2:35 AM Member
    Slightly off track I know, but let natural search help you get more visitors and more sign-ups.

    Within your HTML, pay particular attention to:


    Use the

    ,

    tags
    Use ALT tag through-out for your images
    Ensure your keywords are on all your pages, at least 3 times!

    I will take a closer look at your site later.

    Good Luck

  • Posted by ReadCopy on 4/5/2006 at 2:43 AM Member
    CHange your primary keyword from "Free Business/Consumer Guide" to "Free Business Guide" AND "Free Consumer Guide".

    Your Title tag has too few words. I recommend that your Title should have 3 to 28 words instead of 2 word(s) it has now.

    Your keyword is not present in the Title tag! It should appear at least once while it doesn't appear at all. Put the keyword into your Title tag or you'll have a frail chance to rank high.

    The META Description tag is missing! This tag is not so important as it used to be, however a lot of search engines display it as your page description in search results. So you must make sure your page has a meaningful and good-looking description.

    In your main page add keyworks in BOLD

    Add keywords to the start of your tag, use it as an intriduction to yourself

    Again, use the

    and tags and add your primary keywords to them.

    This will improve you ranking on Google, Yahoo! and MSN

    Good luck

    If you need any further advice, then please get in touch.

  • Posted by ReadCopy on 4/5/2006 at 2:44 AM Member
    Whoops, almost forgot, read this article on how to optimise pages that have frames: https://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167901
  • Posted on 4/5/2006 at 5:43 AM Member
    Hi - I just took a look. I have just bought a house in the USA and was really interested! Except it won't click through to your listings..

    Let me know when it's up and running and I will let you know how to get more people to sign up to your newsletter. That's what I specialise in.

    Peter Hobday
  • Posted on 4/5/2006 at 1:48 PM Member
    To the Smith Team - can you explain that last remark: that your site isn't meant to click through to your personal listings?

    Surely houses are what people look for in a realtor? Or are you just keeping in touch with your contacts who already have a house in mind?

    It would be helpful to see just what your newsletter offers! The link fails when I click on 'Newsletter'. Nor can I find the 'sign up' link you mention anywhere on the site.

    I understand your comment about your ego being fragile, but those points are puzzling!

    Peter Hobday

  • Posted by ReadCopy on 4/6/2006 at 2:03 AM Member
    cblase, I appreciate you didn't ask for a info about getting better natural search listings, but IT IS the most cost effective way for people to find you, you objective was "I want my website to bring in more subscriptions", natural search is one great way of doing that. If your potentials visitors do not find you, they will find someone else online!

    Ignore search engines at your peril!
  • Posted on 4/6/2006 at 4:16 AM Accepted
    Cece - thanks - now I see the site, and it's very good! I can see why you are proud of it - it reads well and you offer valuable information.

    I work on the propertysecrets.net website - copy and marketing advice, and here's what you are doing wrong and what you have to do:

    1. You are posting all your newsletters on your site. So visitors don't need to sign up to get them

    2. Offer 'SF Real Estate Buzz Extra', where those who subscribe receive extra information not contained in your general newsletter posted on your site.

    3. Those are the easy bits. There is more you can do, but it will need small changes and additions to your site design.

    4. Your articles are of high quality and that kind of content will attract visitors, because that is what I do on my own Subscriptions Strategy website. You don't want millions of sign-ups, just those who like what you are about.

    So there is very little you need to do. Well done and good luck!

    Peter Hobday
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