The Sub-domain Versus Sub-directory Debate

A bi-weekly round-up newsletter of the best new construction and real estate marketing, sales, and news in the industry.

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In This Issue:

💡 The Big Idea: Which is better - sub-domains or sub-directories?
🐝 Industry Buzz: The latest marketing and real estate news updates.
🏆 Quick Win: Add an AI chatbot to your site with LiveChat.
🤖 AI Prompt Play: Our swipe-and-deploy AI prompt of the week.
🧰 Tech Check: Get stock photos for all your needs from DepositPhotos.
🏅 Marvellous Marketing: A standout social post from Eastwood Homes.
... and more!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
"Love the easy-to-digest format. Gives me a quick pulse check on the industry and some new things to try."

The Big Idea 💡

The Sub-domain Versus Sub-directory Debate

Which is best for your blog - a sub-domain or a sub-directory? The debate has been going on for years, with plenty of blog posts and research papers published on the topic.

We'll take a look at the differences between the two and examine what effects each could have on your site. We'll cover:

☑️ What kind of impact and factors a sub-domain or a sub-directory has on your site
☑️ How Google looks at ranking and its primary objective for searches
☑️ What you can do to make the biggest impact in your search rankings
☑️ and more...

Industry Buzz 🐝

📊 A Look At The 2024 Builder 100 List

The 2024 Builder 100 List has been published and while the top rankings remain largely unchanged, there has been a lot of movement in the latter half of the list. The list sees a handful of builders moving to the first page, with some previously unranked builders taking big jumps to make the list this year.

📊 National New Home Lot Supply Continues to Tighten

According to Zonda’s New Home Lot Supply Index (LSI), the first quarter of 2024 showed a tightening of supply across the nation. “Limited availability of desirable land near major job centers is pushing new housing developments further into the suburbs,” says Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda. With this surge in demand for lots in new developments, there isn’t enough infrastructure to allow builders to expand their communities fast enough.

📊 NAHB Announces 10-Point Plan to Tame Shelter Inflation and Ease Housing Affordability Crisis

With a national shortage of roughly 1.5 million housing units making it tougher for American families to afford to purchase or rent a home, NAHB has recently announced a 10-point housing plan designed to tame shelter inflation and ease the housing affordability crisis by removing barriers that hinder the construction of new homes and apartments.

Quick Win 🏆

Try implementing a simple chatbot on your site if you don’t have one yet. Using something like LiveChat, you can sort inquiries with a mix of AI and a real person. Helping your site visitors with simple questions in a low-key environment helps create a more positive experience with your brand. This also makes them more likely to convert and drive your lead generation efforts.

Tech Check 🧰

Sometimes you just need a couple of good images to finish up a project. Enter DepositPhotos - a fantastic library of over 270 million royalty-free images and vectors at your fingertips. Plus. they have a cool AI image generator! You can purchase by the image or packages, whichever best fits your budget.

AI Prompt Play 🤖

Personalize anything in [ ] to match what you need.

I am a [home builder in city]. Please help me create 10 Instagram post ideas that my ideal client will find valuable and will want to save for later. My ideal client is [first-time home buyers looking to stop renting and invest in their first home. They enjoy x,y,z things]. I want the tone for the posts to be [witty and conversational]. I want the posts to have a strong, attention-grabbing hook to catch the attention of my ideal client. Write me 10 Instagram post ideas that my ideal client will find insightful, unique, and relatable.

Marvellous Marketing 🏅

Stand-Out Social Post From Eastwood Homes
Today's stand-out social post comes from @eastwoodhomes on Instagram - we love these testimonial graphics they posted! Customer testimonials are important to share; social proof holds a lot of weight in purchasing decisions. These positive experiences show other potential buyers what they can expect with Eastwood. It’s also a great way to give praise to your team!

Just For Laughs

Points of Interest 🧐

📆  On this day

On this day in 1929, the very first Academy Awards ceremony took place. The first movie to win Best Picture was Wings. 

🇬🇧 Could Be Anyone

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who introduced laws requiring photo ID to vote, was turned away from a polling station for forgetting to bring his photo ID. 

💣  Sign Of The Times

A woman has been discovered living inside a grocery store sign in Michigan. Police estimate she’d been living there for about a year.

Whenever you’re ready, there are three ways we can help:

1. Visit our Home Builder Resource Library.
Find guides and resources covering many popular topics to help you sell more homes and grow your company.

2. Book a free Power Hour session.
Tell us about your company and what your biggest marketing challenge is, and we’ll give you actionable advice to put you on the fast track.

3. Hire us to do the heavy lifting.
Whether it’s project work, setting up HubSpot, or acting as an outsourced marketing department, you can rely on our 13+ years of digital marketing experience to deliver results.

About Velocity23

Velocity23 is a growth agency and has been specializing in digital marketing for home builders for 13+ years. As one of the first HubSpot partner agencies to specialize in the home-building industry, we’ve helped builders across the country solve their challenges with content marketing, lead generation, lead nurturing, and marketing automation. Our experience has led to the development of the Growth Engine Framework™️, a marketing system that’s helped our clients achieve:

🖥 7.3M+ website sessions
🙋 108,720+ leads generated
🏠 9,380+ homes sold
💰 $3.2+ Billion in reported client revenue

If you’re experiencing marketing challenges or you want to sell more homes and grow your company, book a call today and let’s see how we can help.

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