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Jul
31
$2B More Just Approved For ‘Cash For Clunkers’
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Online Marketing | Leave a Comment
The House has just voted and approved an additional $2 billion into the popular but fiscally-challenged “Cash for Clunkers” car purchase program. The bill was approved 316 to 109. House members acted very quickly when learning from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program was close to running out of money. If you have a clunker, now is the time to let the government recycle it for you.
For more details on the program, see our previous post.
Jul
31
Cash For Clunkers – You’re Not Too Late!
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Online Marketing | 1 Comment
The White House said Thursday it was reviewing the wildly popular “Cash for Clunkers” program. A survey of 2,000 auto dealers found they may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program. There have been concerns the $1 billion budget for rebates for new auto purchases may have been exhausted in only a week.
According to Reuters, “The ‘Cash for Clunkers’ car rebate program has not expired.” A White House advisor said, “If you wanted to buy a car this weekend, go do it. The program is still there. It has not been suspended, and I can tell you there is a real flurry of activity working with the agencies, the Congress, to ensure we can continue this and get the funds there.”
What is Cash for Clunkers?
The Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS, aka “Cash for Clunkers”) is a new government program created to give a boost to the flagging auto industry and the economy. If your car (or truck) qualifies for the CARS program, you can trade it in and receive a tax-exempt $3,500 or $4,500 discount from the dealership towards purchasing or leasing a new car.
Trade in Your Old Car Clunker for a New Car Allowance
Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with owning a car that’s reliable and easier on the air. You’ll finally be able to take AAA off speed dial while you breathe in a heady whiff of new car!
Now go do your patriotic duty, and buy a new car already. You owe it to your country!
Who Qualifies for the Cash for Clunkers Program?
In order to qualify, your car must:
- Have been manufactured within the last 25 years
- Be titled in your name for at least the last year and free of any liens or other legal claims
- Have a combined city/highway fuel economy rating of 18 MPG (miles per gallon) or less (Factors that will affect your rating including engine size, transmission type, and number of cylinders.)
- Be driveable
- Be insured and registered to you for the entire year preceding the trade in
CARS/Cash for Clunkers FAQ’s
Q: What do I need to bring to the dealership when I bring in my trade?
A: Bring documentation establishing the identity of the person who currently owns the car, preferably the title, and proof that the vehicle has been continuously insured over the past year.
Q: How much money will I get?
A: That depends. If your new car’s fuel economy is 4 – 9 MPG higher than your clunker, you get $3500. If the new car gets 10+ MPG higher, you get $4500.
Q: How do I find a CARS Participating Dealer?
A: The official list is posted on CARS Dealer Locator page at http://www.cars.gov/index.php/dealer-locator
Q: What will happen to my clunker?
A: All cash for clunkers trade-ins will be disposed of in salvage yards. In order to receive your credit, your car has to be scrapped.
Q: What should I consider before I participate in this program?
A: Figure out if the actual value of your car higher is than the government rebate. Also consider your budget and if the rebate you will receive is incentive enough to justify the new car purchase.
Q: Does the Cash for Clunkers bill apply to used car purchases?
A: No. The bill is for new car purchases only.
Q: Does my new car have to be made by an American manufacturer?
A: No. You can buy any new car: foreign or domestic.
Q: How long will the Cash for Clunkers program last?
A: Through November 1, 2009 at the latest. Sooner if the program runs out of money before that date.
Q: Do I need a high FICO score in order to qualify?
A: No. The CARS program is not linked to any credit approval process, but you will have to qualify for a new car purchase.
Jul
29
Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal: Important Details
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under SEM - Paid Search, Search | Leave a Comment
- Microsoft will power Yahoo Search (paid and organic).
- Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide sales force for both companies’ advertisers.
- Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide sales force for premium search advertisers.
- Microsoft’s AdCenter platform will provide self-serve advertising for both companies.
- Prices for all search ads will be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.
- Future battles:
- Google AdWords vs. Microsoft AdCenter
- Google AdSense vs. Microsoft PubCenter
- Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo!
- Appears Yahoo is exiting search in a material way.
- Yahoo expects to fully implement the combined effort within 24 months of regulatory approval (early 2010).
WOW & WOW
Jul
28
Microsoft & Yahoo Agree on a search alliance…
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Search | 1 Comment
According to Reuters, Microsoft & Yahoo have agreed on a search alliance. The deal should be announced within 24 hours. MSFT will not pay Yahoo the $500M-$1B upfront fee it was seeking. Microsoft AdCenter will be used to power Yahoo search and Bing will be at the core. Of couse, nothing is done until it is done and the deal may still fall through. We’ll see.
Jul
27
What does it take to make real estate leads work?
Posted by Adam Carabetta, Director, Retail Real Estate Operations
Filed Under Lead Generation, Real Estate | Leave a Comment
In last week’s blog, we asked for feedback to help make our online lead generation program better. In that discussion, there were many great ideas and a couple of recurring themes. You requested transparency about what a real estate lead generation program can and can’t do.
Here is what we believe is essential for transparency:
- To be effective, a lead gen program will cost approximately $1,000 per closed deal
- On average, an agent will close between 2%-8% of the total leads received
- Close rate will vary based on: lead quality, follow-up, selling ability
- Success requires patience, about 50 leads over 6 months is necessary before transactions close
- With online leads, many phone calls (5-6 per lead) are expected to an individual lead
- For 100 leads, the approximate breakdown you will receive is as follows:
- You will be able to reach 50 leads
- 30 will be interested in your services
- 2-10 will close
- Develop a system to measure return on investment for your spend on this and other marketing programs so you can compare apples to apples
- Once a close rate is achieved, if you want to sell more houses, you can simply purchase more leads based on your processes and return-on-investment
- Following the above steps will allow you to proactively grow your pipeline and build consistency in your business
You don’t have to take our word that Reply.com works, please review our testimonials. If you give lead generation enough time and follow the process – you will close sales.
Reply.com Testimonials from real estate professionals who have used our service:
“One third of my current listings came through Reply!. It is definitely a numbers game, so you cannot plan on every lead working for you. But you can plan to develop relationships with the leads, and get them comfortable with the work you can do for them. This has been a great source of business for me, allowing me to meet and develop new clients.” – Mark Griese
“Over the last year I have done $2 million in sales and have gotten a $30,000 return on my investment from the Reply! program. Currently I am working with two sellers and one buyer I met through Reply!. I would recommend this program to anyone who is persistent. It may take buying a few prospects, but the transactions will follow!” – Debbie Leiba
“Working with Reply has been very good. Unlike other companies who promise a certain quantity of leads and don’t come through, Reply! always fills my quota. My goal is to have a quality conversation with at least one potential buyer every day, and Reply! helps me do that. Reply! is a great tool to help you build your pipeline and make some sales in this market!” – Matt Green
Let’s look at the various potential earnings (assumes an average commission of $5000/house sold):
- 4 Deals Closed – 8% Close Ratio = $20,000 in commissions Total Spent: $2,750 Profit = $17,250
- 2 Deals Closed – 4% Close Ratio = $10,000 in commissions Total Spent: $2,750 Profit = $7,250
- 1 Deal Closed – 2% Close Ratio = $5,000 in commissions Total Spent: $2,750 Profit = $2,250
In their own Words (video of Agents who have been very successful with us):
- To Your Success,Adam Carabetta
Jul
20
Open Debate: Lead Gen Sucks? You Make it Better.
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Enhanced Clicks, Lead Generation, Lead Marketplace, Real Estate | 1 Comment
Today, we are running on Active Rain’s home page to ask Realtors, what they want to see in a lead generation program. We’ve been providing marketing services to real estate agents since 2001, and feedback from our network of thousands of real estate agents helps guide our product offerings. We offer a variety of marketing programs to meet the marketing needs of individual agents, and you have the opportunity to influence our lead generation products.
If you could control the manner in which you purchase leads, which features would you like to see? What would you change about your current lead generation programs?
- Lead-Buying Controls
- Pricing
- Geo-targeting
- Budget caps/lead volume controls
- Starting/stopping ad campaigns
- Cancellation policy
- Lead Quality Controls
- Contents of a lead (name, phone #, etc)
- Lead validation
- Credit policy
- Lead scoring/ratings
- User Interface Functionality
- Viewing & managing leads
- Reporting
- Customer Service & Account Management
We appreciate all feedback, and we look forward to hearing from you. Click on the links below to learn more about the suite of Reply! lead generation products.
Reply! Real Estate makes lead generation simple to use for even the busiest real estate professionals. Within 5 minutes you can set up your account and begin receiving leads. In 3 easy steps you can pick the areas in which you wish to receive leads, how many prospects you want to receive monthly, and you can even track, manage, and follow-up with all your contacts. You ONLY pay for valid leads, and you will always have 72 hours to return a lead with invalid contact information.
Realty Now is a great solution for part time agents who are new to lead generation. With this program, you can view all the leads in your area FREE of charge. You can pick only the leads you want to purchase. And best of all, you only pay for the leads that you pick!
Reply! Lead Marketplace: The Reply! Lead Marketplace is our newest product, and we place control in the hands of the Realtor. The Reply! Lead Marketplace system uses dynamic, auction-style pricing, which allows real estate professionals to choose the price they’re willing to pay for each type of lead. Learn about the additional controls at www.Reply.com.
You can check out the feedback “live” from real estate agents here.
Jul
20
Yahoo’s Earnings – Good, Bad and Ugly
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Online Marketing, Research, SEM - Paid Search, Search | Leave a Comment
Yahoo’s Earnings. The good, bad and ugly.
- Rev: $1.573 billion (down 13%)
- Pageviews up 7%
- Search revenues down 15%
- display revenues down 14%
- Yahoo’s net income rose 8 percent to $141 M.
- Operating income fell 17 percent to $101 M.
- Yahoo’s search advertising revenues on Yahoo-owned sites declined 15 % to $359M .
- Yahoo announced a deal with AT&T to sell local online ads.
- Yahoo mail developing an initiative around improving the ad experience for consumers. They call some of their ads a detriment that cheapens the Yahoo brand.
Well– where does that leave us… MicroHoo anyone? according to Techcrunch, sources say a search deal is imminent. but Yahoo may be pushing for an acquisition. To me, both sides need the search deal to create a meaningful competitor to Google. Microsoft reports earnings on Thursday.
Jul
17
Google’s CPCs drop 13% Y/Y!!!
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under SEM - Paid Search | Leave a Comment
According to Jefferies, Google delivered in-line 2Q results with 15% growth in paid clicks but a 13% decline in CPCs y/y. WOW — a drop in CPCs — who would have thunk it!!! Paid click growth was 15% Y/Y. Surprisingly, pricing (CPC) showed a sequential uplift of 5% vs. our flattish expectation, and indicates that pricing seems to have troughed in 1Q vs. our expectation of 3Q. Higher CPCs mean a higher level of keyword bidding and/or improved monetization. On a Y/Y basis, CPCs were still down 13%.
To see their earnings presentation, please review the full post.
Jul
17
MicroHoo or Bing + Yahoo Display?
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Click Marketplace, Lead Generation, SEM - Paid Search | Leave a Comment
Reuters is saying that Microsoft and Yahoo are close to the never-ending search / online advertising deal and that it may be announced next week. For those of us that follow the industry, the two companies have been talking for over a year. What I find interesting is that with or without Bing’s $100M offline advertising budget Google’s dominance is not being challenged. I am sure it will take time to penetrate Google’s search share and perhaps a combined MicroHoo attempt could be the fuel to make it happen. Google has about a 65% search share and MicroHoo would have about a 28% share — that is interesting.
As reported, the current discussions revolve around Microsoft paying “several billion dollars to take over Yahoo’s search advertising business with guaranteed payments to Yahoo,” but Yahoo is likely to maintain their display advertising business. For context, Yahoo is scheduled to report quarterly results next Tuesday, and Microsoft on Thursday – good timing for an announcement – huh?
I wonder why Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, IAC, AOL, etc have not embraced lead generation as a third revenue stream after search and display? Or why, all the companies have not addressed the significant inefficiencies that result from geo-targeting on their platforms. Here are some of our thoughts.