The Trump Blog

The Untapped Online Market - Beyond the Americas

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:45:00 EST

Overseas Consumer and Business Landscape - at a glance...

As the internet economy is gravitating towards maturity and a global landscape, business owners have the opportunity to expand their customer base beyond the shores of America. The easy and democratic accessibility of portals like B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) sites have made the consumers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America a potential goldmine for marketers. The realization of targeting the local populace has dawned upon every internet business owner worth their salt. While Google is indisputably the grand daddy of search and sales, there are many major pockets of consumers who do not use Google as their primary search machine. This market dynamic has given rise to internet marketing strategies like Internationalization, Geo-Targeting, and Localization - which is the collective exercise of making your business portal visible to non-English searching consumers. It would be a business folly to miss over half a billion potential online users if your online offers are only being seen by North American consumers.

The new science of search - beyond English...

Search Engines have assumed the role of traffic regulators in this frantic world of online persuasion. Every customer is being eyed by your competitor. The game of keyword ranking has gone beyond being cut-throat; SEO specialists and search engine copywriters are having a field day catapulting the unknown products and services of their clients to the top of search engine results. But, can we employ the same SEO strategy for North America and Asia? Will it yield the same ROI or sales conversion? These are very pertinent questions...

At a minimum, we should deal with the issues of language and characters. Your organization could have similar web sites written in different languages for a targeted country. Of course, only large firms with deep pockets can have 200 versions of their site using 200 languages, but what if you wanted to target the European market as your first overseas region? Well, the fact is that over 50% of online users in Europe are located in Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. The last time I checked, our British friends can understand the English language pretty well! So to reach out to over half of Europe we only have to deal with localizing our sites for German and French speakers. Obviously, there are other languages spoken in Germany and France but most business is conducted in German and French - so, we should be safe with that localization strategy in Europe.

The culture of search - culture of the land...

The traditional marketers would join the chorus echoing that cultural aspects do play a big role in marketing strategies of large corporations. But, on the internet, aren't we supposed to be one tight-knit democratic family of marketers and consumers? The short answer is, no - nothing could be farther from truth. So, while an understanding of the cultural values and pitfalls are indispensable for an internet marketer, cultural soft-spots should also be utilized with efficacy by internet strategists. Cultural homework is the need of the hour if your internet marketing activities are permeating into countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, France, the Czech Republic, or India. While a thumbs up sign might signal “good luck” for North Americans, it is also an insulting gesture in many other countries. One ignorant use of such a gesture on your site and you are toast! So, for SEO implementation, one must deal with content writing and multimedia objects that enhance communication and conversion - not the opposite!

Business beyond Google...

Google has transitioned from a searching mechanism to a fully established and operated 'verb' - even endorsed by major dictionaries like Webster and Oxford. The pervasiveness of Google as a business channel is indisputable, but is it the end game for internet marketers. Traveling halfway around the world might give us a fair idea about the internet consumer landscape - China, which has the largest number of net citizens is dominated by its local search engine, Baidu (with over 60% reach) - while Google captures 25% of Chinese searchers.

So, while Google is integral to the internet marketing strategy, a visceral understanding of the local culture, language, and search behavior is paramount for success. To make the issue even more complex, in the case of China, we can (correctly) argue that for conversion purposes, the percentage of those who use Google search engine are more likely to buy from your e-commerce store or to engage in B2B trade than those who use Baidu. On the other hand, if your goal is to publicize certain products to Chinese adolescents, Baidu might be the better choice. How about Brazil, Russia, South Korea and many other countries? Should your SEO strategy focus on better ranking on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or hundreds of other local and national search engines serving countries outside North America? Your marketing think-tank must know the answer based on the audience and demographic analysis of your business.

Getting the right clicks - in the right place...

Google Adwords aka PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is synonymous with 'quick bucks'. The bulls-eye approach of PPC has caught the fancy of advertisers - and guess who’s making the real buck? You guessed right - the big boss Google. The contextual relevance of these PPC ads triggers a sympathetic response from potential consumers. But one aspect that distinguishes PPC from its long-term counterpart, SEO, is the complete Geo-targeting capability that it provides to the advertisers. The interesting fact in this advertising gourmet is that you can restrict your ad consumption to a set of zip codes - that's called extreme targeting. So, the consumers can be pinpointed not only within a linguistic domain or country but within a city or county - thanks to the extremely versatile Geo-targeting features of PPC.

Getting social with your customers...

The face of social networking plateau changed with the maturation of Facebook. However, even before we could realize the invasion of this virtual society, the space was reverberating with innovative social players like MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Flickr. Social network profiles are being used as corporate billboards to announce new products and services by even the most seasoned of marketers. We all know the value of consumer psychology and consumption pattern in business strategy, but it takes a herculean effort to know the mindset of a consumer prior to the purchase. That's where these social networks act as a bridge between buyers and the sellers. So, while business owners are busy establishing a network with potential buyers, vital consumer behavior is also being extracted, contributing immensely to future marketing initiatives.

However, proactive and business savvy companies use social media to build long-term relationships and to establish three-way communication between themselves, the customer, and the larger community. It is so easy to use a social and business networking site such as LinkedIn.com to connect with your prospects in Asia, Europe, South America, and beyond. Yes, it is also true that many individuals and firms on other continents have a front-person who can speak English to conduct business with North American firms. Yet, imagine how your knowledge (and use) of foreign languages, cultures, and symbols could substantially increase your chance of success. A multi-lingual site capability not only ensures a higher conversion rate but also a higher number of views from potential buyers.

Against this backdrop of SEO and PPC, two of the most effective market motivators are the targeted Emails and Articles. Email and Article marketing is still the preferred choice for many of the companies and small business owners. Emails and Articles, crafted with Geo-precision and with an eye on the audience, can still change the momentum of the market in your favor.

In effect, China or Middle East or European Union can still bend towards your website as long as you can get them to listen to you - right words with the right pitch.

The Celebrity Apprentice

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:16:00 EST

by Meredith McIver

The Celebrity Apprentice has a two-hour premiere this Sunday, March 14^th, at 9 p.m. on NBC. This season we are featuring Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, Carol Leifer, Holly Robinson Peete, Summer Sanders, Maria Kanellis and Selita Ebanks on the women’s team, and the men’s team consists of Bret Michaels, Darryl Strawberry, Michael Johnson, Bill Goldberg, Sinbad, Curtis Stone and Rod Blagojevich. As before, each celebrity has a special charity they are fighting for, and fight for them they do. You’ll see a few meltdowns, some great entertainment along with some lessons learned, and Don Jr. and Ivanka and I will be there to follow the teams and watch their progress. Yes, I fire people along the way but in the long run, everyone wins, including the audience. It’s a great time for everyone--so tune in for the best Celebrity Apprentice season yet. See you on Sunday night!

Meredith McIver is staff writer for The Trump Organization. She has co-authored four books with Mr. Trump, including the bestselling new book Trump 101: The Way to Success. She and Mr. Trump are currently working on a fifth book too. Stay tuned for further news!

Questions to Ask Before Listing Your Home with a Real Estate Agent

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:04:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

It's common knowledge that today, 87% of buyers are searching for homes on the internet. They are still using real estate agents to buy the homes; however, buyers are going to the internet before and during their home search in greater numbers each day.

Now, let's say 87% of all buyers were searching in your local newspaper for a home. Would you hire an agent who ran 1 ad a month in the newspaper or would you prefer to go with the real estate agent who ran an ad everyday? Dumb question, huh? But it's not...many sellers are still not asking the right questions regarding the internet presence of their real estate agent in marketing their property. "My agent has a website and my property is on the site" is not an acceptable online marketing strategy for your property.

Here are some questions I came up with and I hope they will help you in finding a real estate agent who can successfully market your property in 2010:

1. On how many websites will my property be advertised?

2. Will my property be featured on any of these websites?

3. Do you have your listings professionally photographed or do you take the pictures yourself? If you take them yourself, can I please see a sampling of the quality of your photos?

4. Do you create a video of my property and post it online? If so, where do you post it?

5. On which classified websites do you advertise your listings? (i.e. Craigslist, Backpage, etc)

6. Do you create a single property website for each listing?

7. How do you make sure my property ranks high in the search engines?

8. Do you create interactive floorplans of your listings?

9. How will you market my property to buyer-agents and how will you get feedback from them for showings?

10. How will I be kept in the loop with regards to showings, feedback and marketing activities on my property?

11. Will there be a text-for-info, Voicepad or other form of marketing on my "for sale" sign for potential buyers who drive by?

12. Does your Company have a website? How will your company be advertising my property? (Remember, when you list your home, you are listing it with an agent of a company...they BOTH should be advertising your property)

13. What phone number will buyers call to get information on my home? Does this number connect them to a recording, an office, an answering service, a cell phone?

14. If a buyer leaves a voice mail or an email requesting more information about my property, who gets that message and how quickly is it responded to?

15. What other marketing activities will be done? Newspaper? Magazines? Open houses? Direct mail? (These are not nearly as important, but even marketing that is 1-5% effective can help as long as is does not become a waste of valuable time).

Tina Merritt is an 11 year veteran Real Estate Agent and Trainer based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. She holds a degree in economics from Virginia Tech and post-baccalaureate from Virginia Commonwealth in real estate and land development. As an avid social networker and internet marketer, Tina helps real estate agents, loan officers and affiliated industries embrace technology. As a real estate agent, Tina primarily deals with marketing and selling properties deemed "hard to sell" and also works with real estate investors helping them build and/or liquidate their portfolios for maximum profit.

Deducting Travel Expenses for Investment Properties

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:40:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

A tax deduction often overlooked by investors is the cost of travelling to their own properties as well as the cost of travel when looking for new properties.

Travel expenses connected with the management of your real estate investments are deductible if they are ordinary and necessary.

A few rules regarding the deduction of travel expenses:

1. At least 50% of the time you spent away on travel must have been spent doing business related to your real estate investment business. The primary reason for travel must be business as well.

2. Taking a week long vacation to Hawaii and attending an open house while there doesn't count.

3. Expenses that are commonly deductible include: travel, lodging and meals.

4. You can get creative...while the costs of bringing your family with you may not be deductible, if you hire those family members to do landscaping work or other maintenance activities, then you may have another deduction.

5. Everyone's situation is different and you should always consult with a professional accountant for tax advice.

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When a Tenant Violates the HOA Rules...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:32:00 EST

by Tina Merritt

A few years ago, a client of mine was relocating overseas. When I asked about what his plans were for his rental property, he said, "Oh, I'm not worried about it. The tenants are on a multi-year lease and the HOA will keep them in check".

Well, that is not the case. In most states, the HOA has no governing authority at all over tenants; only over members.

Yes, it is the landlord's responsibility to enforce the rules and regulations of the HOA. If there is a fine or penalty for the tenant breaking a rule, the fine is levied against the landlord. It is up to the landlord to get reimbursement from the tenant for the fine.

To help avoid problems, landlords should always give tenants a copy of the HOA rules and regulations and have them sign a document stating they have read and agree to abide by the guidelines of the HOA. Landlord's should also give tenant contact information to the HOA to be used in the case of an emergency.

It is inherently problematic to have a landlord as a middleman between the HOA and tenant. Even worse is a rental property manager added in the middle as well. If you are a "hands-off" landlord, you may want to re-think your position when dealing with a HOA. Let's look at an example:

Landlord owns a property occupied by tenants and handled by a property manager. Tenants go out of town and have a friend house-sit for the weekend. Friend decides to take a swim in the community pool and when finished, leaves a towel hung over the balcony railing of the home. The hanging towel is a violation of the HOA rules and a neighbor calls the HOA, who calls the owner, who calls the property manager, who calls the tenants, who call their house-sitter. Doesn't seem very efficient and appears to be an easy way to upset the neighbors. How about just speaking directly with the adjoining property owners, explain that you are a landlord who cares about the community and your property, give the neighbors your number and ask them to call you personally if there is ever an issue?