No way. Not in a million years will the Yellow Pages no longer be the mainstay of appraisers' promotional efforts. Welcome to the future. Let's face it. Appraisers do not have unlimited budgets for advertising. Television, radio and even newspapers are probably not an option for most appraisers. The two traditional options are word-of-mouth and those unattractive Yellow Pages offered by your local telephone company. But do they work? Most appraisers do not know. Yes, they get calls from phone book surfers but the website traffic is far better.

"Nobody wants to thumb through a heavy telephone book," reflects Deborah Wieditz, GG, "when they can surf the web and read all they need to find an appraiser." She added that from a business perspective, Yellow Pages are expensive by comparison and too small to work effectively as a silent salesperson.

        The Web Bayou

Faster than a speeding bullet, Google became a multi-million dollar business that dominates the Internet's search engine market. Telephone books have almost become obsolete by comparison. Whether it be Google, Yahoo, or other search engines, more and more people simply search online for local services.

Websites today are one of these three types or a combination of more than one. 1) Yellow Page-like ads; 2) information sites; 3) stores. Appraisers fit nicely into the first two categories. You want to exist in cyberspace as well as educate them. Write down the questions your customers are asking you as a base for building your education section of the website.

A domain name is needed. If you can secure a domain name that is your business name, that is the best. If the domain name has the word "appraiser" or "appraisal" in it, that is even better. Search engines will favor such domain names with more desirable listings, closer to the first pages offered for a keyword search.

Advertise the website. Have it on your business cards. Avoid stating your domain name in all lower case letters. The website name should be easy to read at a glance. Avoid all lowercase lettering. Consider using "AppraisalsByMary" rather than "apprasialsbymary."

To build a webpage requires programming. There are programs that do the coding for you but expect to spend time learning the software and also anticipate limitations. The other options are hiring a website designer or using a jewelry industry oriented websites services to help build your site.

There are two personality types that develop websites. Designers equate to artists. Coders or programmers liken to scientists. Most designers become frustrated with rendering computer code and programmers think that changing the color of a font is art. Therefore, do not expect a programmer to be good at designing a website. Either design it yourself or retain a designer to work with your coder.

        Selling Saltwater to Sailors

Most people look at appraisals as a necessary evil. Their insurer requires an appraisal. If you have invested time and effort in perfecting your appraisal prowess, then take it a step further and learn to sell your services. View them as a product. Sell your product.

If you have sold merchandise you know that the best salespeople know how to close. The same applies to web pages. You are selling your product and even though you are not face-to-face with your customer, you need to close.

Every high volume salesperson will tell you to add ownership. The moment they hand a piece of jewelry to a prospective buyer, they will say, "Your ring looks so great with what you are wearing." Ownership is a powerful motive to buy and a valuable technique to close a customer. Say "Your appraisal . . . " instead of "The appraisal . . . "

Websites seem to be almost an abbreviation of what should be stated, or a rambling of articles that work better than a sleeping pill. Instead of finding a middle ground, it is better to offer both. Have forceful paragraphs of few words and offer a link to more detail if the visitor needs more data. The scientists will appreciate the in-depth web pages and the unscientific shoppers will like the quick statements.

Finally, do not overstate your credentials. Appraisers have the bad habit of displaying their professional designations like battle ribbons on a puffed out generals' chest. Ask your current customers what it is that attracted them to use your services over a competitor's. You may be surprised at what they deemed a most important key to their decision making.

Written by Bill Hoefer

<sup>1. Published in Gem Guide, November-December 2008.
2. Illustrations - IStock.com.
3. Illustration - Antique post card owned by author.</sup>