What is missing for conversions at www.how2homestage.com

californiamoods · #1 (**permalink**) 11-30-2005, 01:40 PM

MSNBC says Homestaging is one of the top hot 29 businesses for 2006, I am optomized, I am #1 for my keyword (homestaging)in MSN, I use Yahoo ppc and am #2 for my keyword, Google has me at #19, I am indexed in dozens of high ranking directories, I have written articles for a few important national real estate sites, etc. I launched my site in September and I have had 2 conversions in all and they have been in the last 7 days. Can anyone out there see what my problem might be so I can fix it?

I will respond to all.
Thank you in advance,
Sheron Cardin
www.how2homestage.com

Paul B · #2 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 08:07 AM

Crucially you don't give any idea of who level of visitors you are getting. This is vital.

Also as a non-American native English speaker I have no idea what "homestaging" is! This could also be fairly important...

californiamoods · #3 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 09:31 AM

Hi Paul,
Thank you for your reply. I am not sure what you mean? The level of visitor or target market is a do-it-yourself type person who is selling their house and wants to get the most money they possibly can and sell their house fast. Anyone who types the keyword "homestaging" is familiar with the term and knows that you must staged your home to compete in the resale market. There is a "What is homestaging" page that should explain what it is. If you will go to that link at the bottom of the home page, you will find it. Let me know if that does the trick or not. I am curious if you had gotten that far.

Home Staging is decluttering, cleaning, repairing, and rearranging your own furniture and accessories to maximize the assets of the home for sale and turns it into a model home so to speak.

So what you are saying is after reading my home page you still did not understand?

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for taking the time to review my site... www.how2homestage.com

ccera · #4 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 10:54 AM

As a US Realtor, the "homestaging" concept is familiar to me. In fact, I liked your site so much that I sent you a link request. But (you knew there was a "but", right?) I am not sure that most of my clients would actually be familiar enough with the concept to type "homestaging" into a search engine. Maybe California homeowners are more savvy than their Virginia counterparts, but the goal is to attract as many potential customers as possible, right? ;) I would advise you to also optimize for keywords they are more likely to use.
Also, I would never have found the "What?" link and clicked it if not for your reply to Paul. Perhaps a descriptive text link to the "What is Homestaging?" page would serve you better.
In fact, your bottom links need some attention all around. They are hard to find and run together. Everything else about your site looks professional and meshes smoothly.
A couple of more quick ideas...your "products" page could use a picture or graphic in some of that white space; I assume colored text has a link, but only some of yours does, I had to mouseover to find out, which was more of a distraction than anything else; and make sure your off-site links open in a new window - you don't want to send people away and just hope they use their back button!
Good luck!
CiCi

Paul B · #5 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 12:27 PM

Hi Sheron,

What I am saying is two thing:

1) a conversion rate of say 0.5% would be about average for targeted traffic (prices being competitive etc). So 2 sales in the last week means little without knowing if you're getting 200 visitors a week or 200,000.

2) It may be that though your keyword 'homestaging' is well know in the trade, your average punter may well not have heard of it.

californiamoods · #6 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 12:55 PM

Thank you for the compliment and the very useful help! I was so excited about your suggestions that I have implemented many of them already. I will follow through on all of your ideas and have them remedied today! And I will be sure to address the linking opportunity with you and your firm. Check back later today or tomorrow to my site and see the improvements. Any keyword suggestions you have in mind I can focus in on and optomize?

www.how2homestage.com

Thanks again CiCi!

ccera · #7 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 01:36 PM

After searching Google and Yahoo, I would suggest "preparing your home for sale." There are about 11 million results on each SE, but they are very relevant to what you do. What's more, I didn't see ANY top results offering downloadable instructions like you do. (Note: SEs kick out "your" and "for" Just putting "preparing", "home" and "sale" in your metatags should work, then be sure to use the phrase in your content.)
Very important - in your description, I would get in there about $15.95 downloadable instructions and FREE "ask a question" service. NOBODY in top results is offering similar services from what I saw. This should help you get the clicks.
Other keywords you could try are decorating and curb appeal.
There is a lot more competition for these keywords and phrases than for homestaging, but also probably many more searchers, and your service seems unique enough to grab attention.
CiCi

ccera · #8 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 01:46 PM

Oh, I would keep the "do-it-yourself" bit in your title. That is what makes you different. Just get that price into your description, and the free offer as well and I think you will see results.
BTW, the "What is...?" is much easier to find now. :)
CiCi

CJacobson · #9 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 01:54 PM

Okay, I just gave it a quick look. I may be off the mark a bit... but:

The word "makeover" (if it's even a word) has a typo right at the top of the page. That makes me wonder if your e-book has been edited. I can't bear to read un-edited manuscripts. IMHO "home-staging" is a term that needs a definition next to it (somewhere in the banner perhaps?)

Your copy is directed mostly at homeowners. I'd focus more attention up front on realtors... and try to figure out a way to offer them cash when they refer their clients to you. (Telling them to hand out free duplicate copies of your intellectual property doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me. It de-values your unique ideas.)

How many people get distracted by all the INVITATIONS you've given them to LEAVE YOUR SITE? IMHO, those buttons on the right for donating to charities distract from your sales pitch!

I think most people think in terms of print media. Even when buying an e-book, they want to know: "Am I buying the equivalent of a book, or the equivalent of a magazine?" I don't think you're answering that question. $15.95 is a lot of money for a magazine.

I think you need to give people more of a peek at what's "between-the-covers". Who buys a book or magazine without opening the cover and flipping around a bit first? (Okay, maybe a few Amazon shoppers... but people AT LEAST read the reviews and testimonials. IMHO you need reviews and testimonials on your home page, and they need to be more obviously for the SPECIFIC product you're selling.)

I would never buy, or want to live in a "model home". Yuch! (I prefer houses that are a hundred years old or more.) Can you open up your offer to be more inclusive? Maybe you could include a few photos of older homes showing how they too benefit from your technique?

The "products" page is nearly blank. That's not good.

californiamoods · #10 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 03:13 PM

I am overwhelmed with the generosity of all your time to address my "Stuck in the mud" issues and my "Fix-it list" is growing. I am taking it all in.

Dear Paul B,
Could you direct me to the sites I can use to keep track of my clicks? I have Yahoo with an average of 200 impressions a day and about 10 clicks average. I do not know how to track the rest...

Dear ccera.
All your points and keywords are blazed in my mind and I am working on your suggestions right now. Your research efforts amaze me and I am greatful.

Dear Cjacobson,
Thank you for catching that typo...I hate them too...I just rewrote that line this morning and missed the change. The donation buttons were added last week for the holidays and I feel very good about them. I don't know how much harm they cause and maybe I will move them but the 2 conversions I have had were since they were up. My homestaging instructions are a tutorial or manual if you will, and the newsletter is seperate so you are right, I need to make that clear and give a glimps into the actual format of the instructions. Older homes...you got it! I have decorated hundreds and a great percentage of them are exactly as I left them...staged. A staged home is an organized home and can be put back together in minutes when a realtor calls or company calls. There are tricks, methods, skills, and planning in living a decorated lifestyle and that is what I have written. I hope you jump in and download the instructions for yourself and if there is decorating dilema that I can help you with, I am more than happy to do that...just ask.

I just want to say thank you again for all your support and ideas and I am getting right to all your suggestions as they feel right!

californiamoods · #11 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 03:26 PM

I used to live in Denver in the early and mid '70's and Colorado is for me the best home away from home I have ever known. Very special...but cold. Take care!

ccera · #12 (**permalink**) 12-01-2005, 06:51 PM

You are getting plenty of feedback, aren't you?!
Everyone has made a lot of valid points. As a Realtor, I have a different perspective than the others. Apparently, it would be good to either slant your marketing more towards Realtors or offer more explanation of the service for homeowners.
I plan to download a copy before the weekend is out (see, another conversion for you!). CJacobson is right about the free copy thing. Maybe there is some way to offer either a multiple copy discount for Realtors, or if, as I suspect, this is best viewed on the computer rather than as a print out, maybe there is some way you could sign up Realtors so that their clients could charge a download to the agent. In other words, have Realtors "join" in order to have a client input the Realtor's name or a code to charge a copy to their agent (at a discounted price, I would hope). The Realtor would simply give the client a link, and the client could download at no charge to the client. I, for one, would participate. I wouldn't worry too much about offering cash to Realtors, most would probably be glad to pay you for this just to help get their clients to cooperate in staging their homes!
CiCi

californiamoods · #13 (**permalink**) 12-03-2005, 11:24 AM

Hello CiCi and all,
I am not real clear as to how to offer a package to realtors but hope to come up with something soon. Does direct mailing work well to realtors? Do you actually look at bulk mail? (BTW, I sent my link to you last night) One option I am looking at is setting up an affiliate program as a publisher with commission junction. I can invite realtors to join in as an affiliate and that way they can make their commission...that's it! I have answered my self. Thanks for all your inspiration.

Sheron Cardin
www.how2homestage.com