"Register Now. You May Win a Porsche."

Web Power... Remember the quotation from Seth Godin, author of "Permission Marketing"? "Every commercial Web site should be set up to accomplish one goal. Your Web site should be 100 percent focused on signing up strangers to give you permission to market to them." Translation: Get as many e-mail addresses as you can. Of course, the corollary is that you MUST give your prospective customers something of value. The idea is that you should use the web and e-mail to establish and strengthen customer relationships. So how many real estate sites encourage you to register your address?

Good question. I'm sure that there must be more. But incredibly, I can only think of two sites that urge you to register. IDI, a national, full-service industrial real estate developer based in Atlanta, offers you the chance to win a digital camera if you fill out a one-page form. EquityHound, a new service for private placement investments in real estate, will enter your name into a drawing for a Porche Boxter. Yep, a car. The catch is that you must be an "accredited investor" and you must provide extensive personal financial information online.

Hey, I don't think that you really have to offer these kinds of fancy prizes. All that you need to do is to provide a value greater than the cost (which might be one more e-mail in your inbox!). Perhaps this could be rental comps, market statistics or project updates. It's not rocket science. But it does require diligence and continuity. So why aren't more companies focused on this type of customer acquisition strategy?

PikeNet Advertising... Here are three (less expensive!) ways to drive traffic to your web site. 1) Sponsor a Dispatch, 2) upgrade to a Channel Featured Link or 3) place your logo on the home page of PikeNet for a week. We're gearing up to sell advertising during the first half of 2001. Reserve your space early. Contact Eileen Circo ecirco@pikenet.com (Annapolis) or me at ppike@pikenet.com (San Francisco, virtually). For the full scoop, click the Advertising Info link in the right-hand box on the PikeNet home page.

--Peter Pike