Eric D. Colburn, PLS

Before I get to this article about marketing a land surveying business online, first a little about how you might be reading this post. This is my first endeavor in creating a post exclusively for you, a Premium Member. Congratulations on joining my site as a Premium Member!

With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few glitches and bumps in the road: If you, as a Premium Member to this site, had any troubles accessing this post, then please let me know about your experience. If you’re not a Premium Member you will be asked to register in order to read this post.

Now let’s get down to business

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What Are Your Customers Buying Motives

Have you ever thought about your customer’s buying motives? If you’re working on marketing land surveying services, either for an ongoing concern or for a new business you’re planning on starting, then this is a key question to ask yourself. More important, is to know the answer!

To answer the question of what is motivating, or will motivate, customers to by your land surveying services it’s also helpful to answer the following questions:

• What are the reasons that your customers buy from you?
• Why do they need your services and products?

I would also look into answering these questions, too:

• Are groups of customers motivated for different reasons?
• What are the fluctuations and changes in customers buying motives? If so, why and when do these fluctuations and changes occur?

There are many concepts and ideas to master in developing a marketing plan for your professional land surveying company. But first, I think, is to answer the above questions to understand exactly what are your customers buying motives.

The Professional Land Surveyor Podcast (PLSP)

Shownotes – Episode 2
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PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY

In this week’s PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR SURVEY I’m asking the question:

What is Your Favorite Social Networking Site?

In the last two or more years I’ve seen more and more professional land surveyors, engineers, AutoCAD users, and designers using social networking sites like Facebook, Land Surveyors United, Linkedin, MySpace, Twitter, and Tumblr. These are just a few of the more popular social networking sites on the interwebs nowadays. While I don’t know which ones will still be around in another year or two, which is equal to eons in “Internet-Years”, but I do know this:

Social networking is here to stay, so join the revolution or get left behind!

If you or your professional land surveying business haven’t implemented social media and social networking to boost your marketing, brand, and branding efforts, then I suggest you start to do so immediately. If you haven’t already done so, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to improve your business, brand, “awareness”, and build relationships with your customers (existing and new). After you take this week’s Professional Land Surveying Survey about your favorite social networking sites, you’ll find a list I’ve created with my links on these social networks so that we can connect. Contact me if you are new to social networking and are interested in working with me to use social media marketing in your business.

Take This Week’s Professional Land Surveyor Survey! Read the rest of this entry →

Just a quick note about the Professional Land Surveyor Newsletters. If you already subscribe you no doubt have noticed that I’ve added a few new features to these weekly newsletters, which I hope helps you to broaden your knowledge of other professionals and specifically helps you to navigate the social media sites making a few new friends, clients, and business partners.

If you haven’t already subscribed to my newsletters, I invite you to do so. You can subscribe to the following Newsletters:

• Professional Land Surveyor Newsletter – Generally a Monthly Newsletter.
• Professional Land Surveyor Digest – Receive Weekly and Monthly updates of the latest posts, a weekly message from me, and more!
• Sponsor Email List – Receive special offers and updates relevant to sponsors and vendors.

If you haven’t already delved into social media, and maybe more important – social media marketing – this is a fantastic way to meet your fellow professionals and market yourself and your company.

If you’re not already into Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, now’s the time to sign up and learn about each other, what we each have to offer, and perhaps, share a little about yourself.

Here are the great sites on the web, terrific twitterers and facebook friends you can find in our newsletters and more if you subscribe:

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World Wide Web

In the past years it has become more commonplace for surveying companies to have their own website. What has surprised me, though, is how many land surveyors I come across that still don’t have a website (or one that’s rather clunky) and don’t have email addresses that match their company brand.

There’s no reason to have an email address like “RomeoDanceStud[at]aol.com”, or worse, which doesn’t match your company name/brand and may reveal personal information which is both unwanted and unprofessional, too!

I know from experience that getting the complete package including great website hosting, a powerful website,  a unique branded domain name, and matching branded email addresses, at an affordable price, can be a challenge.

But this is what I do, so I want to help land surveyors like yourself succeed in this important area.

Having a branded domain name, website and email addresses will improve your business by looking more professional to your existing and new clients. Improving your company’s search results and connecting with your clients with tools like a blog will also help your business to grow.

Introducing my Professional Website Package for Professional Land Surveyors (or anyone else)!

Please note that the price is introductory only for the Month of August!

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Advertise on EricColburn.com the Professional Land Surveyor Source.

It’s been one year since I created EricColburn.com and I’m delighted to report that EricColburn.com is now one of the leading sites, if not THE LEADING SITE, for professional land surveyors on the internet.

One of the many things that I’ve learned is to tell your story and to share what you’re passionate about. This is what I’ve tried to do, and I think it has been successful.

Here’s a Short List of What I’ve Accomplished, So Far:

• Over 17,000 Monthly Visitors to EricColburn.com.
• Traffic Rank below 425,000.
• US Traffic Rank around 100,000.
• 50 minute average each day users spend on EricColburn.com.
• 40 Daily page views per user for EricColburn.com

What Does This Mean for You?

• EricColburn.com is very popular with the professionals you are trying to reach.
• EricColburn.com is ranked about 2 to 3 times better than other land surveying sites in the world and about 3 to 5 times better in the United States.
• Not only are more professionals coming to EricColburn.com, but once there, they stay for almost an hour and view 40 pages, on average. Compare that to other sites where visits are for a couple of minutes and for several pages, at best.

These statistics are from Alexa. Check out Alexa yourself and enter EricColburn.com or any other site for comparison at Alexa.com/siteinfo. Once there, just enter the site you want statistics for and press the “Go” button. Let me know if you find a land surveying site that ranks better than EricColburn.com! Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s start off with two sides of the value proposition, external and internal. External value is what you’re striving to provide your clients and the perceived value, in their minds, your clients receive from your services. Internal value is everything that improves and grows your professional land surveying company, which most of the time your client never sees and often doesn’t fully appreciate, but is extremely important nonetheless and is often ignored.

Your Clients Want it All!

Hey, your clients just want their survey done cheaper, better and faster: That’s not asking too much, is it?

The internal value of your professional land surveying practice needs to be cultivated and grown. I’m making the distinction, between internal and external value, but they’re tightly connected and while the internal value at first may not be all too important to your clients, I still recommend that you include the benefit of this value when marketing and promoting your business.

The real value in any professional land surveying business is often overlooked. Too often we equate the procedures employed, the equipment we use and the paid for outcomes to completely define our value.

Much of What We Do Has Remained Unchanged.

Much of the mathematical concepts we use is ancient and hasn’t changed in centuries. The equipment we use, while constantly being updated and improved upon, mostly reinvents solutions for largely unchanged tasks. The outcomes of our work or deliverables if you will, while having changed in format and medium are still, in the end, the expression and explanation of the professional land surveyor’s opinion and judgments.

It’s all important. You have to know the math, you will see improvements from using newer, more modern, equipment and using the latest and best CAD program to produce good looking quality work is very important. However, I believe that you need to look at your business from a different perspective that holds those core external values intact and transcends your current perception of your professional land surveying company’s value.

Your greatest value is in your processes and in your data. Simple.

5 Business Value Concepts for the Professional Land Surveyor:

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Social Media Marketing – Nine Ways to Maximize Marketing Dollars Step 9 of 9 Steps.

Content Management – 9 Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Dollars Step 8 of 9 Steps.