Tag Archives: websites
Clicks On Your Website Count For Estate Sale Companies
Clicks on your website count for estate sale companies and we discuss the importance for those with websites.
Recently three different articles appeared in various publications or as Google Alerts about estate sales.
Only one article mentioned the name of the estate sale company. Two articles did not include or mention the names of the estate liquidation companies. Only the advertising listing website or credit.
Advertising listing websites are in business to host estate sale companies and showcase the company’s estate sales. Estate sale companies pay for these services.
There are several estate sale companies that are highly successful and they do not have websites. They use their email lists, Facebook, and then list their sales on one or two of the estate sale listing websites. To do this requires extensive marketing knowledge and knowing where to target your advertising.
If you are an estate sale company and have chosen to have a website you did so to increase your internet presence and viewership promoting your company and brand. Increasing your ranking on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or other search engines requires direct clicks on your website.
The Evolving World Of Estate Sales And The Liquidation Industry
We continue to watch the estate liquidation business evolve on many levels as 2016 begins with the continuing expansive growth across the United States. With over 15,000 estate liquidation companies and counting, there does not appear to be any slow down in sight.
There are estate sale listing websites and other sites now encouraging people to become estate liquidators and some even providing them with their recommendation for education. They are branching out to become a portal for the estate sale business and any other types of liquidation services; i.e. auctions, online sales, private sales, or business liquidations. The platform for some of these websites has grown exponentially to even include offering estate sale companies that they have vetted based on their criteria. Each organization, association, or society has their own vetting criteria.
This growth has seen several off shoots including educational sites, sites that teach the use of social media, and also companies that offer to provide social media services for estate sale company owners that do not have time to produce their own social media marketing with the increasing number of sales their company is handling.
A few years back the terms “bonded and insured” was what many sellers sought out in an estate sale company, however, today bonding is not important compared to having liability insurance.
More estate sale companies are also choosing to have an on staff appraiser, (ISA, ASA, or CAGA) and many have some or all of their staff professionally trained in working with seniors transitioning. The baby boomer generation is on the move and is responsible for a lot of the growth in the estate liquidation business.
Estate sale owners are more engaged with photography, videography, and staging with the importance they play in a competitive market. Many have attended schools, seminars, or taken online courses to become proficient.
Even books, guides, and magazines such as EstateSalesNews.com have emerged from the growth in the liquidation industry.
Take a look at the number of estate sales on starting tomorrow in many places and you can appreciate how times have changed in just a few years.
With all of this you can save $$$ and have a variety of choices of merchandise and places to shop so look for these estate sales and get shopping and saving.
Generating A Bigger Audience For Estate Sales – Advertising Is Crucial Part 2
Monday, February 23rd, we discussed five websites where you could include your estate sale company and website information. Today we will continue with more ways to grow the audience for estate sale buyers and sellers.
It is important to have print items as well.
Having a brochure (it can be two sided or a tri-fold) that describes your company and the services you provide is an excellent way of displaying your company and professionalism. It should include enough information that will interest perspective sellers wanting to call you and inquire further. It should include a some of your history, a few photos, your company logo, website address, and your telephone number.
You may want to consider (if your state or community permits) having magnetic signs made with your company name, logo, and phone number to go on the driver door and passenger front door of your vehicle. Some estate sale companies have gone to the extent of having their vehicle wrapped with advertising information.
Always have a stack of business cards at every sale. They are important for buyers and future sellers.
Having a small tripod that can be placed on a table near a cashier or staff member with notices of future sales is also important. It generates future interest. Just make sure it does not distract your cashier.
A guest book or email list near the check out is an excellent way to grow your email contacts.
Write your customers a newsletter. You can do this through various estate sale listing websites or Constant Contact. Keep them informed about sales and any news about your business. If you recently sold an unusual or difficult item let them know this. Also remind them what type of payments you accept and the terms of your sales. If you use one of several methods for orderly entry (sign-up list, numbers, etc) that should be included in every newsletter. Let them know about any new websites your company can be viewed on. You can even mention parking conditions at various sales. Keeping buyers (and future sellers if they would like to be included) informed is a vital way to get your message out to the public. Be sure to ask them to share your newsletter with friends or family as well.
If you have local newspapers that have readership you may want to advertise your company with them.
We also want to focus today on an important website that is often overlooked by estate sale companies. Pinterest. Estate Sales News uses this website to showcase estate sales and estate sale items. This is an excellent area to feature your sale photos and videos. We currently have 40 boards. If you are a member of Pinterest please visit us at this link.
Another new and popular website is Instagram. This site allows you to share social networking with photos and videos. It is another way to showcase your estate sale items, staging, and videos of your sales and testimonials.
We will continue providing information on audience generation and advertising next Monday.
Copyright © 2015 Estate Sales News. All rights reserved. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author, unless otherwise indicated for stand-alone materials.
Kick Off 2015 Estate Sale Companies And Be Seen And Heard
2015 begins with 7,000 plus estate sale companies, and there is a lot of competition to get the attention of perspective sellers and buyers. Financial success is determined by the number of sellers and buyers you reach.
Sellers are using search engines to find estate sale companies in their areas and buyers are using them to find estate sales. They are searching “estate sales” and what usually shows up in their search are the estate sale listing websites; EstateSales.Net., EstateSales.org, Estatesale.com, Estatesale.company, Tagsellit.com are among the most well known.
These companies utilize several ways to attract the attention of sellers and buyers, but one of the most important is search engine optimization (SEO). Wikipedia offers the simplest description of this “the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or un-paid (“organic”) search results.”
SEO considers what people search for when using Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc typing in what are called key words. Some examples would be estate sales, estate sale companies, estate sale commission, etc. Without getting to complicated a good example would be to type into a search engine what you are specifically looking for and observe what responses you receive on the first page. Many estate sale companies (as well as other types of companies) are unaware that the more often a company appears on page one of a search engine such as Google as the result of a search and the more frequently it is clicked on the more often it will appear on page one and it’s position on the page can move from the bottom upward toward the top. Google remembers and tracks everything. That is a good reason to have some type of analytics for your website (a topic for another day).
It is important when having a website created that whoever is developing the website seeks out what terms (key words) are being typed into the search engine. Either you or them should check out your competition by searching. These words should be incorporated into your website both on the visible page and in an area that is known as meta tags or head space and these are put within the code of your website not visible to the public. These are crawled (reviewed) by search engines. Keeping you on page one and as close to the top as possible is important. There are many companies both here in the United States and abroad that offer SEO so you don’t have to be a computer geek to do this. It may be some of the best money you will spend and you can also let your sellers know that you are keeping technology proficient for their benefit.
One consideration is the pay per click or ad space that is usually at the top of the search engine page after typing in and receiving the results of your search. This can be costly, so if you or someone you pay can optimize your site it can save you many dollars. The paid advertisers will always have the space or spaces at the top of the page.
Kick off 2015 by getting your website noticed and your estate sales seen. A great New Year resolution.
