Diary of a UK Property Investor – www.hbfinvestments.co.uk

Once property investors have their great discounted investment property leads coming in from newspapers and referrals and they are buying properties and making money, it is then essential to build an online marketing presence.

I have put online marketing as a lower priority for generating leads from newspapers for a number of reasons:

1. it takes allot of knowledge, cash, skill and resilience to build a great website that actually generates business.   So it takes time for property investors to build the cash flows necessary for the investment and also to find the right people to build your site in the right way so it makes you money!
2. you need to be in a position to operate nationally if you are to make the most from online marketing.  If you are not able to operate nationally as effectively as you are locally then you will be wasting your time and money. 
3. it’s far tougher on the internet than in the local papers.  The competition you will have to beat to clinch deals from leads generated online leads is usually much better organised and equipped than the local guys in the newspapers.  You will have to really sharpen your customer service pencil if you are to compete effectively online.
4. Online marketing is a ‘black art’.  Adwords, pay per click, search engine optimisation, anaylitics etc  are all the buzzwords in the online marketing game.  People who want your money to build you a website will blind you with buzzwords and you risk wasting your money.  Some web designers will build your site to generate leads. Others will build your website so it is informative or looks good. Be very clear about what you want your website to achieve and then be even more canny and careful about who you choose to partner with to do your online marketing!

My advice is once you have an efficient and scalable business system that is generating good profits from local advertising AND you have the right partner you trust to build your online markeing plan, then [and only then], consider scaling up nationally and build yourself a great website.

Source:  David Coughlin – HBF Investments