Advertising Appraisal Services

I check some of the top Internet search engines once in a while by doing keyword searches just to see if my information comes up.  I'm sure that you do the same in your area, most real estate appraisers want to know what people are finding when they do keyword searches.  I like to know if my firm is coming up at least in the first few pages of important keyword results.  So what comes up when you search for your firm?

If you pay for a "yellow page" directory ad you will likely find that your firm comes up on the Internet on the yellow page site when you do a web search for your firm even if you don't maintain a website.  Thus paying for a yellow page ad is a basic albeit secondary way that you can get your firm posted online.

Other free opportunities for a web presence include signing up with; Yelp.com, Angieslist.com, Craigslist.com, LinkedIn.com, Appraiserhub.com, AppraiserUSA.com, Appraisermatch.com and Zipappraisers.com.  These are just a few of the many Internet sites where you can get yourself posted as an appraiser without having to pay a monthly fee to maintain it.

The pay-per-click option has been used by many appraisers to get their firms viewed online.  In my opinion it's almost like paying for an ad in the classified ads of the town paper only it’s better because you only pay when someone is searching for the specific keywords that you are paying for.  I have spent hundreds of dollars chasing keyword searches and the money evaporates from my account and sometimes with relatively few assignments gained.  I'm sure that if I asked the search engines companies would spend a lot of time counseling me on how to better spend my ad money.  The problem is that I don't want to spend my life constantly setting up and changing ad campaigns. 

Whoever dreamed up the process for pay-per-click advertising must have thought that people would either be desperate to do it and thus willing to put up with any level of torture, or they simply didn’t care.  They seem to be saying to me “figure it out and deal with it.”  I have decided that for me it’s just not worth the effort and the cost.   

I have elected to not contact potential customers using direct e-mail ads.  I don’t like receiving SPAM and I’m not going to start sending it.  Personally I think this method of getting your business and name out there can cause more harm than benefit.

All appraisers know, or I assume that they know, that the appraisal business like most others has more to do with who you know than with how much you advertise.  If you are related to a prominent politician or a corporate executive with the power to direct appraisals to you, you don't need to worry about advertising.

Most of us have to rely on repeat business from established customers, word of mouth advertising, business cards and the circulation of our reports to get us new assignments.  Yellow page advertising and Internet ads are for most of us only supplemental methods that add only a relatively small percentage to our bottom line.

For more appraisal information contact Glenn Rigdon, MA, MRICS, ASA a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada appraiser via email at grigdon@cox.net or via his business website Horizon Village Appraisal (http://www.horizonvillageappraisal.com), or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website.

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