Blog

Google, Mobile, and World Domination

How are people going to find your website? You might have your own ideas, but the data says if you’re looking to be found online…it’s likely going to happen via Google. Don’t believe us? Put your seat belt on! Traffic coming from Google to builder websites jumped from 52% in 2013 up to 62% in […]

Read More »

Did You Miss the Facebook Webinar?

If you missed Dennis’s webinar in December, then we have some good news. “Facebook Fact & Fiction. Real Numbers. Real Engagement. More Sales” is now available on YouTube in its entirety, and you can watch in just 34 minutes. If you don’t see the video below, click here to watch it now. You can download […]

Read More »

Take the Marketing Pulse Survey Today

The end of the year brings an extra kind of excitement for us data nerds. We’re reflecting on this year’s accomplishments and focused on next year’s goals, but we’re also excited about the hunt for hard numbers; the numbers that tell the story of marketing successes and failures in 2014, and point the way to […]

Read More »

Facebook Webinar: Wed, December 17th at Noon CT

Next Wednesday, December 17th at Noon Central Time, we are honored to be participating in Smart Touch Interactive’s professional webinar series. For about 40-45 minutes, we’ll be discussing builder social media participation trends, the measurable results they’ve seen (and not seen), and discuss specific tactics that have proved successful in driving traffic. I really, really, […]

Read More »

Mobile vs. Desktop. Who’s on the Ropes?

In this final installment of the mid-year 2014 Builder Web Stats report, we dive into the trends of mobile device usage and traffic. Mobile device traffic has been on the rise since we’ve been measuring it, but has more recently hit some major milestones. Watch the video now for a can’t miss perspective on how […]

Read More »

Where Social Media wins and Twitter Fails

For many many years now, marketers have been beating the social media drum. With hesitation, many home builders have adopted some level of social media in their overall strategy. Even today, and rightfully so, we’re so often asked about the ROI of social media. Does it work? Does it help? What networks do we have […]

Read More »

Do you need more traffic? Or the right traffic?

All marketing budgets have their limits. I wish we could do it all. There are so many amazing opportunities in digital marketing, deciding where best to utilize those limited resources is not an easy decision. The best answers can only be given based on a personalized review of circumstances and goals, but the question is so […]

Read More »

Is a Bounce Good or Bad?

We’re now in our 4th year of Builder Web Stats reporting, and this may be the last time we include a global bounce rate statistic. After logging more than 10,000,000 page views, the ability to learn something valuable from this number alone may not be possible. “How does our bounce rate compare with other builders?” […]

Read More »

Awards. We got ’em.

On Thursday, May 1st, the Home Builders Association of Maryland, our hometown association, held its annual MAX Awards. As usual, we were excited to attend the party. The MAX Awards are like the Oscars for our local industry. It’s the night we get to come together as an industry and celebrate our successes as well […]

Read More »

Just a Heads Up – Scheduled Downtime

Good news! Builder WebPress servers are getting an upgrade. This means an faster page load times and an even better user experience for your website visitors. This upgrade will be taking place this evening between the times of 7-10pm EST and may have a minor impact on your website’s availability. Never fear. This scheduled downtime […]

Read More »

Builders Adopt the Mobile Web in a BIG Way

Builders responded to consumers demand for mobile usage in BIG way in 2013, with 86% now reporting having a mobile friendly website, up from 53% just a year ago. Like we stated in the Sales & Marketing Pulse 2013, not having a mobile website now puts you in the minority, and provides a uniquely poor […]

Read More »

We’ve already established in our post from yesterday afternoon that social media is easy to start, but hard to maintain, and even harder to maintain well. It seems as though, by analyzing our Pulse results, that more builders are leveraging outside help to manage, or at least supplement the management, of their social media efforts. […]

Read More »

Whether you’re driving traffic to your website through online channels such as directories and paid search, or your simply putting your URL on signage and marketing materials, then you know that the fruit of your efforts comes in the form of an online lead. As more and more online leads start to trickle into your inbox, hiring […]

Read More »

Social Media Goes Up. And Stays Up.

Its not news that home builders have embraced social media. However, we were shocked to learn that in the last 3 Pulse surveys, not one social media service included in our survey was used less than it was the year prior. This indicates that most of you that launched a Facebook page or a Twitter […]

Read More »

One of the many wonderful things about online marketing is measurability. While not everything that can be measured matters, few things matter more than where the leads that come into your website originate; specifically the prospects that turn into a sale. Google Analytics has a lot of fancy tricks and you can almost boil web visitors […]

Read More »

The countdown continues and we’re less than a week away from our arrival at the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas!  Don’t get us wrong, the fancy dinners and occasional  game of blackjack are great incentives to make the trip, but one of our favorite things about IBS is sitting in on as many education sessions […]

Read More »

We’re Getting Excited…

The International Builders’ Show is less than 2 weeks away and we’re busy connecting the dots from the Marketing Pulse 2014 survey results. We had an amazing turnout of builders, marketing folks, and other industry professionals willing to share their online experiences from 2013 and provide some marketing projections for this upcoming year. If you’re […]

Read More »

Take the Marketing Pulse Survey Today

There are two words in the world of online marketing that can make digital strategists alike beam with exaltation. Those words? Measurable data. Online initiatives often provide an insight to performance and consumer behavior not available with traditional marketing channels. Thanks to such tools as Google Analytics, we can track web traffic and conversions with […]

Read More »