Thane Tennison

By Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager, BDX

One of the greatest benefits of online advertising is the ability to track performance and make data driven decisions.  As a marketer these data points allow you to qualify performance, optimize spend and manage ROI.  However, without the proper tracking elements in place before you begin, it can be much harder to understand which advertising channels are driving the greatest value.

There are lots of software solutions to help online marketing managers track and analyze performance including Omniture, Webtrends, and Google Analytics; most of the builders we work with have Google Analytics installed.  The service is free and automatically integrates with other Google services such as paid search.  Google UTM Tracking Codes allow marketers the ability to track activity from third party sites like listings on NewHomeSource or a banner campaign. Tracking URLs are quick and easy to set up and can provide a wealth of information regarding performance of listings, banners, emails and more. At BDX, we’re a strong advocate of implementing tracking not only to help our clients highlight performance, but also to help us improve our products and services.  

The following is how you can implement tracking codes and keep them organized.

I recommend keeping a consistent naming convention. This will pay dividends when you want to look at performance over a long period of time or when comparing two different channels.  Google’s UTM codes are case sensitive so “BDX_listings” and “bdx_listings” can appear as two separate line items and distort actual performance.  A consistent naming convention will also help keep things organized. Having some campaigns labeled “Banners” and others “Display” will create a lot of extra work when reviewing performance.

WHAT TO TRACK:

Campaign Source:  Where are you receiving your traffic? For builders this could be from BDX, Realtor.com, NHSPro, Zip Realty, Trulia, Zillow etc.  Keeping the source consistent will also help you understand the services you have with each product. For example, if you have listings with BDX as well as a banner campaign you’d want keep the source for both as “BDX.”

Campaign Medium:  The medium is the type of service.  Listings, banner, email are the most common mediums used by builders.  By consolidating into these three buckets it’s easy to compare performance of all your banner campaigns or traffic from all or your listing services.

Campaign Name:  The third level of segmentation helps you differentiate creative and offers. If you’re running the same art across multiple networks this field should be the same for each network.  Many builders who advertise across multiple markets will identify the market here. It makes for any easy filter when you want to compare performance for a particular division.

Campaign Content: If you’re doing A/B testing between offers or have multiple links from the same source you could use the content filter to drill into performance for each link. For example, if you wanted to differentiate incoming traffic from Realtor.com listings vs. the Realtor.com Ryder Sign, you could differentiate using the “content” field.  For advertisers who want to review ad performance by size I’d also recommend this field.

As a marketing manager, you’ll need as much information as possible to manage and optimize performance and I would recommend adding UTM tracking to every link and paid media source.  However, starting with a plan and maintaining a clear naming convention will make it easier to review performance year over year and allow for greater and easier segmentation.                                                                                                     

Below is an example of how I would set up some common links used at BDX.

 

With tracking codes in place, you will be better equipped to make the smart decisions and optimize for a better ROI.  For example, you might find that you’re getting a great rate and a lot of traffic from one advertising vendor but the traffic tends to have a high bounce rate and those consumers don’t convert into home sales while other more expensive channels drive more value and therefore may have a better return.  You may decide you want to test a new marketing initiative and need an established benchmark to gauge success and justify the program.

  If you have questions about setting up tracking links or creating campaign goals in Google Analytics please feel free to contact me.

Thane Tennison is the Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

 

 

 

 

By Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager, BDX

Last month the BDX network served over 2.8 million clicks. However, not all of those clicks were sent to an advertiser’s website. Many of those clicks were identified as Bots and filtered out of our reporting. The Bot Filter is just one of the services BDX provides to help optimize performance for our builder advertisers. 

Bots are a piece of software that scan websites and follow web links to create an index for major search engines. They’re not something a consumer would notice in their regular online activity but can have a profound affect for a webmaster looking at traffic and click trends.

In our BDX Ad reporting we typically see Bot Traffic as spikes in click thru activity for a builder.  For example, a builder may average a .20 Click-Thru Rate (CTR) but occasionally performance will spike to five percent over a short period of time.  By cross referencing the domain and IP we can typically identify and block the bot. However, other Bot Traffic is not as obvious and may appear as regular click activity.  This is especially true if an advertiser is running GIF/JPEG files that will record all click activity (the Javascript in a SWF File or Ad Tag will typically filter the bot click).

In our review of Bot Traffic BDX has identified a series of browsers and IPs that represent three percent of all traffic but as much as twenty percent of the clicks for our builder advertisers. These clicks are recorded in our ad server but may not appear in a builder’s Google Analytics (After all, Google runs several bots of their own and automatically filters that traffic).  The result is a natural discrepancy between publishers’ reports and what a builder sees in their analytics. Meaning publishers could report a high number of clicks & high CTR but the advertiser sees relatively little value.

By implementing the Bot Filter BDX is able to provide more accurate reporting that closely aligns to a builder’s backend reporting across all of the BDX advertising products from BeBack to Realtor.com. With more accurate reporting, we can better work with our advertisers to optimize their campaigns and improve our product offerings.

Many publishers and ad severs do have a bot filter included in their service and will only capture known bots identified by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. They don’t actively manage new bots regularly introduced into the market nor do I think most publishers apply the same level of scrutiny as BDX to identify these occasional spikes in click traffic.

If you’re working with a publisher and running online campaigns I’d recommend auditing performance to ensure numbers closely align to what’s reported.  Setting up UTM tracking codes and developing campaign goals in Google Analytics are some easy ways to help track performance across different channels and optimize your media flight. As many of our advertisers work with limited resources it’s important that they have accurate data to make the right decisions regarding their marketing efforts.  At BDX we work with several of our advertisers to help set up campaign goals allowing them to truly understand the value of their online advertising. 

If you’d like additional information on some of the unique services BDX provides to optimize builder campaigns or assistance in setting up tracking in Google Analytics please contact me at traffic@thebdx.com.

Thane Tennison is the Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

By Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager, BDX

You may have heard about the newly updated NewHomeSourceProfessional.com (NHS Pro).   The site has recently gone through a complete overhaul and looks great.  The new format, similar to the New Home Source platform, allows builders to better showcase their homes and communicate offers to agents.

Agent outreach is a priority for the BDX in 2013 and a big priority for builders.  Agents represent the “repeat home buyer” and as the BDX expands its relationships with local MLS organizations we’ve seen an increase in traffic and ad impressions.

By advertising on NHS Pro builders have an opportunity to reach this typically “local” audience with unique and relevant advertising. Promoting an agent sales program or grand opening event can convert web traffic to foot traffic and provide measurable results. More importantly, builders are reaching active agents with buyers that need a home, which is a great advantage of subscribing to NHS Pro or one of our MLS partners.

For the past few days we’ve been testing ad performance for local builders and while volume is still building for some markets, we’re seeing consistent performance of a .20 click through rate (CTR).  Performance for individual campaigns ranged from a .44 to a .07 and a median performance of a .19 CTR.  I’m pleased to see that non-agent specific messages would perform so well and anticipate more targeted messagin to show stronger results.

The new NHS Pro allows BDX to clearly identify and isolate active local agents.  This means we can target agents with specific messages and by using re-targeting we can reach them on the sites they visit the most such as celebrity gossip or college football.

If you’ve done online advertising to reach local agents, I’d love to hear about it. Whether it’s Facebook or a pay per click campaign I am interested in the goal and results.  If you’d like to discuss marketing strategies to reach area realty professionals please contact us.

Thane Tennison is the Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

 

Builder Advertising on FacebookIn 2011 Facebook became the largest Ad Network of all publishers representing almost 1/3 of display inventory.  Historically, I’ve not been too thrilled with Facebook performance. It’s had a reputation for high bot traffic, low clicks and relatively poor backend conversion.  I’m also convinced that to be successful with Facebook an advertiser needs a series of creative offerings since the high-frequency can result in ads getting stale quickly and losing their initial performance.

However, through some recent updates we can now retarget BDX new home shoppers in the Facebook marketplace ad position.  I was skeptical at first, but with the success of retargeting it was definitely worth a test and I’ve been quite pleased with initial results.

We started the initial test running a ‘generic’ ad driving people back to NHS.  We then rolled out a series of Market Specific ads leveraging our creative best practices. Since then Facebook Retargeting is one of our strongest advertising channels in terms of total conversion and bounce rate is in line with what we’ve seen with other retargeting ads.  That’s a big win.

What I think is most exciting is that our participating BeBack advertisers can also take advantage of this opportunity.  We’re extending Facebook retargeting as part of the BeBack offering at no additional cost for our builders.  Now, a builder truly can reach their users ‘everywhere’ and at the same rate as their previous campaign.

In addition to increased reach and improved conversion this is a big opportunity for builders to leverage the social aspect of Facebook.   Imagine retargeting a consumer who’s visited your website with an ad on Facebook and asking them to ‘fan’ your brand or to share ‘the home of their dreams’ or get their friends opinion on one plan vs. another.  Their truly is a whole litany of marketing strategies that can be applied to BeBack –  especially when incorporating a social component.

For more information about BDX BeBack retargeting or how to integrate Facebook Ads with your existing BeBack campaign contact your local sales rep or email info@thebdx.com.

Thane Tennison is Advertising Manager for the Builders Digital Experience and manages advertising for hundreds of homebuilding brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

I’m not sure if you’ve seen it yet, but Realtor.com is launching a new redesign of the Search Result pages.  Currently the site is only in beta with plans for a full launch later this week.  The Realtor.com Product Team has adjusted the layout to improve navigation and help consumers better manage the thousands of homes available via the MLS.

With the redesign they’ve also changed the layout to include a 300×250 ad position at the top of the page.  When I first saw this position I thought ‘this is the perfect place for video.’  The 300×250 ad position closely mirrors that of the 3:4 formats you’d see with traditional TVs.  The above the fold placement and proximity to content further peaked my interest.

I’m a fan of video ads because it’s captivating. And, when reaching a consumer who’s in the market video can help them picture the home they’re looking for and make them aware of amenities they may not have considered.

We often espouse the benefits of how display provides ‘consideration for search’ but video takes it to the next level by allowing advertisers to highlight multiple features.  Consider pans across home plans, green spaces and community amenities.  With an ad like this, I’ve changed the search from looking for a home to looking for a neighborhood or a lifestyle.

Moving beyond the value of ‘just a home’ is important for builders and developers as they try to differentiate their product from the re-sale market. Online video ads are an easy and cost effective way to achieve this goal – especially if the materials are already produced.

Brad Smith, our Director of Video production has done a great blog series on video best practices. When translating video to an ad there are a few best practices I’d encourage.

  1. The video should tell your story WITHOUT SOUND. A lot of publishers have restrictions on video ads to improve the user experience.  Can you imagine shopping for homes while a work only to be interrupted by a loud video ad popping up?  The video should work independent of sound and the VO should highlight new points.  Considered graphics to capture key elements.
  2. Maintain a consistent Call-To-Action.  I like using space at the bottom of the ad to provide a consistent CTA for my home shoppers.   Consumers should clearly know what action you want them to take and that maybe before the video ends.  On average consumers only watch about 50% of a video so having a consistent on-screen call to action is important.
  3. Keep your video ads short. The goal of the ad is to captivate and drive action. If you have a long format video you’re looking to drive traffic to consider a teaser video ad that directs the consumer to the full length video.  Keeping videos short also improves the load time for the ad and ensures that consumers will see your message instead moving onto the next page while it waits to load.

If you’ve run video ads in the past I’d be curious to learn about your experience and what worked and what didn’t. If you’ve not considered running video ads or would like more information about how to repurpose your existing videos for online marketing contact The BDX for more details.

For more information about this blog post or BDX Video ads, contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager or contact your local Representative.