But, for those who also advertise and market in the various media, as many of us do, what's the best investment of your time and money.
- Run an ad in a monthly magazine...for a month
- Run ads in a weekly newspaper...for a week
- Place ads in a daily newspaper...for a day
- Put evergreen content on the Web for...ever or years at the least
With just about every thinking person using the Internet now, and with 80%+ using the Web in their real estate research, few would argue that there is business to be gained with a website or blog. The newness of social networking draws more criticism, with many asking "has anybody actually gotten any business from Facebook or Twitter?"
In case you're unfamiliar with the term, "evergreen" in relation to your Web content means material that isn't date sensitive. It is information and written material that will still have value years from now, like instructional material about title insurance. Now, let's think about this. All of those timelines above are the same, whether you write something that will be of little interest weeks from now, or evergreen content. All of them except the Internet.
So, where is your time and money better spent? Should you be laying out ads for a newspaper, ads that won't be seen again after a few days or a week? Or, should you be writing ads and evergreen content that will be on your website or blog to be found with a search years from now? I think the answer is obvious.
Will you see immediate business from it? Unlikely. Will you see business from it down the road? Very likely. The mistake many of us make is to equate value with immediacy. It will take a while, as well as a lot of online material, to build a web presence that will generate leads to business. But, if not seeing it next week is keeping you from doing it...well, I'll bet you'll be sorry later.
