Over the weekend, I installed Hello Bar on our little piece of internet real estate.
Look up at the top of the page and you’ll see a colored bar spanning the width of the page, practically begging you to click through to search for homes.
Which color bar you get is randomly assigned because at the moment, I am A/B testing various colors and text to see which is most effective. That’s just one of the slick features Hello Bar offers.
Real estate bloggers and those with more traditional sites know well (or should know well) the power of the “Call to Action” (CTA). I want, nay I need, visitors to this blog to do certain things ”“ primarily search for homes. That is what puts the food on the table, the shoes on the children — for myself and many of our agents. I also want people to request a short sale consultation, and read the blog. All of those calls to action help drive our business in one way or the other.
Getting people to click on those calls to action isn’t always easy. Countless studies have shown that website visitors spend precious few seconds on a web page. You’ve got to grab their attention quickly, but you can’t be obnoxious about it.
Enter Hello Bar.
It is super easy to set up and use, and they have a vey capable and hands-free way to A/B test different aspects ”“ color, text, time displayed on site ”“ of the bar. Statistics are included. Mmmmm, statistics”¦
I have no idea if a 0.26% click-through rate is good. But it is very interesting to see the differences that colors and text can make in click-through rates. This test has been running for less than two days, and over the weekend to boot (our lowest traffic period). I’ll let it run through the week before tweaking and re-testing.
Things I like about Hello Bar
It is far less intrusive than a pop-up.
A/B testing rocks.
Lots of variations available ”“ user definable colors, CTA text, link text and time displayed on-site.
Easy to interpret statistics. Know which variation works best!
Some very smart and internet marketing savvy people are already using it ”“ Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Seth Godin to name a few. If it’s good enough for that crew, it’s good enough for me.
Things I don’t like about Hello Bar
. . . Hmmm”¦ Well, you have to wait for an invite code if you’re interested in testing out the free version. Mine took five days to get. But wait! I have some invite codes. More on that at the bottom of the post.
What does Hello Bar Cost?
Funny you should ask. Hello Bar just changed their pricing model. Today. There is a free version that allows unlimited Hello Bars, A/B testing, stats and customization options. The free version is limited to 25 click-throughs a month. Three levels of the Pro (pay) version include all the free version has to offer plus the Hello Bar logo is removed, you can save customizations as “themes”, and you can insert an RSS feed into the Hello Bar (a great way to highlight your most recent post. Or pull in a recent blog post into a web site). Pro levels are based on monthly click-throughs (CTs): 100 CTs for $4.95, 500 CTs for $12.95 and 2500 CTs for $29.95.
What could a real estate type do with the Hello Bar?
What do you want to do? What is the goal for your blog? (You DO have a goal, don’t you?)
The obvious use is what I’ve done here ”“ direct people to a home search page. Some less obvious uses might be: highlighting a recent, or specific, article; newsletter signups; download an eBook/whitepaper (you can open a form with Hello Bar), ask people to Like a Facebook page, follow you on Twitter, or circle you on Google+; entice people to subscribe to your blogs RSS feed, and more. If you ponder the possibilities, virtually any action you want people to take on your website/blog can be highlighted with the Hello Bar. Highlighting actions = clicks on actions = good.
I want a Hello Bar invite code! How do I get one?
The guys at Hello Bar have been nice enough to give me 50 invites to give to Phoenix Real Estate Guy readers. All you have to do is leave a comment below saying that you want one. Be sure to include a valid email address when you leave your comment as that is how you’ll get your invite code. If you use the Facebook commenting, you’ll have to put your email address in the comment itself. If you use the WordPress comments (below the Facebook comments), just put your email address where prompted for in the comment form. I’ll send you an invite as soon as I can get to it (but it’ll be much faster than asking for an invite code though the Hello Bar site). Invite codes will be sent first come/first served. No whining if you snooze and miss it!
UPDATE! Even easier, use this Beta key: phoenixreg Just go to http://Hellobar.com. Click the “Sign Up Now” button. Enter your email address and click “Get Free” button. Enter phoenixreg in the “Have a Beta Key?” box. Click Submit. You’ll get a password in your email!
Disclosure: I get nothing, zero, zilch, nada for handing out invite codes (other than helping people try out a cool new thing). No free Pro account, no form of monetary compensation. Just a little hit of good karma ”“ and I’ll take all the karma I can get”¦
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The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
I would ilke one. I think I read about this one not that long ago. I was also considering ViperBar
Jay,
If you have the time and inclination you can send me an invite code to Hello Bar at [email protected]
Thanks!
Done!
Hi Jay – I’d love one. This seems like something I’d definitely want to review our my TechForAgent readers. Thanks for the write up!
I’d love to try this out Jay. Thanks for sharing!
Jay – Would love to try this out for So Cal.on my one WordPress site.
Thanks Jay! You have an extra, I’d like to be a guinea pig (figuratively, of course!)
I’d like to try it out as well…I’ve just had my site up and running on WordPress for a short time but this looks like a really great tool to use!
Am I in the first 50? [email protected]
Stand by folks. Having a little technical difficulty with additional invites. I suspect it will be resolved shortly!
I’d love to have one, too, Jay. I’m in the process of developing a new Headway site so this would be a wonderful add-on.
Count me in as well. Thank you…
Hi Jay –
If you have one left, I would love to try it out too!
Hi Jay, If you have an invites left I’d love to partake in the fun & games! 😉
Everybody ABOVE this comment should have an invite now…
Jay – I just saw a Facebook ad for HelloBar today and was wondering what it was all about. Now I know. Thanks!
It goes without saying that I’d be interested in an invite code.
I’d like the Hello Bar please.
@Matt, @Richard – invites sent
I will take one if you have any left! Cool tool!
Invite sent Aaron!
Thanks Jay – got signed up and am playing with it! I am trying it as a schedule a showing CTA on IDX detail pages… see if I get more showing requests!
Would love to try it. Thanks!
Hey Jay, sorry figured you’d be able to invite me from G+. 🙂
Wendy, Chase – invites sent…
Would love to try this if you have any left Jay. Thanks!
Ben, invite sent!
Hope I’m not too late – will be getting a new web site and have a WP.org under construction as well, which will be my primary site. Thanks! @ginakayRE
I assume you used the beta key from the post Gina? Because Hello Bar is telling me you’re email is already in use…
Thanks for the heads up Jay! beta key worked like a charm.
Good to hear Jason
Jay, ill give it a shot. Thx.
On its way Stephanie!
If you have extra invites, I would love to give it a try! Thank you for all you do for the RE community!
I actually like the Hello Bar a lot–it is nice, simple, and effective. Great post as always.
Thanks again for the free beta, Will you be doing an update with more data over time?
I’d like to give it the ole college try as well.
I love the idea of the Hello Bar. I think I have quite a few ideas on how to use it.
I have a real estate investing (and passive income blog) and an ATM business blog and many others…..I think a free report would be a good idea, or maybe it would be a good way to get people to your sales page of a product you have (or they have, of course.)
Great idea. thanks for sharing.
Not sure I should add another call to action for property searching on my website but what the heck, If you have any demos left shoot one my way.
On its way Jan!
I like that thing. I’ve looked at it before. It’s well done.
I’m hung up on paying someone ELSE for CTs on MY site.
That’s a tuffie for me,
Took me two years to get off of AdWords…
I wanna try it, Please!
Well, I had an “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment there Jay. I clicked into this post through my RSS and no Hello Bar… What is this post talking about? All the folks making comments can see it. Am I the only stupid one around here? Easy answer, (after several minutes of thought). Click on the home page. It’s there – Just not “here.”
Okay, so it turns out I am stupid. (Or Firefox is playing tricks on me). I just clicked through again and it’s “here.”
Hi Jay, If you have an invites left do I want to test it.
//Lennart
I wonder if changing up the CTA text may have a more powerful influence, something like Phoenix’s Best Real Estate Search is just a click away. Anyways, will be curious to see your follow up to this post once you have more data… I am going to install.
Has anyone tried the ViperBar? It’s a little different, but I thought I would check.
I just installed this on my website. Thanks for the heads-up, as I’m always looking for ways to move folks to my search features. I’d like to hear a follow-up regarding your experience with it.
Hey Jay ! are you a webmaster ??? nice site you got here, good work. I will begin work on something such similar. I hope it doesn’t take too long, web design is a tempered craft to say the least.
I’d also love to try this out if you still have a code available. Thanks for the info and offer!
Christy – check the update at the bottom of the post. It may still work (or may not, I’m not sure. This was written a couple of months ago…)