Kim's Tips and Tricks for Marketing Real Estate Online

Make It Easy For Them!

2008-02-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

What makes Apple's iPod so much more successful than the many other good mp3 players out there?

Two things: good marketing, and product usability.

These two things are inseparable. If you drive all the traffic in the world to your website, but it's cumbersome and difficult to use, they will leave in droves, and you will have accomplished nothing. If you spend a fortune on creating the most user-friendly product that your client would want but you don't tell anyone about it, you've just wasted your money.

So let's look at what it means to make your Real Estate website user-friendly...An excellent resource for all things in the field of Usability is Jakob Nielsen's site useit.com.

What you WON'T find on his site is a pretty webpage with a lot of pictures and flash animation. In fact, there isn't a picture to be found. It is a very utilitarian page--just text links--but very easy to use.

Now I know that a Real Estate website is different. Images are part of creating a distinct brand. But before you shell out hundreds of dollars to add lots of flash to your website, think about the purpose that it's going to serve. Is it going to make your site look more professional or enhance your brand, or is it going to slow the load times of uses who have slow connections and frustrate people? Every element on your site should be well thought out.

According to the article Usability 101, usability has 5 key components:

Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

From Usability 101:

Why Usability is Important

"On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave. Note a pattern here? There's no such thing as a user reading a website manual or otherwise spending much time trying to figure out an interface. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the first line of defense when users encounter a difficulty.

The first law of e-commerce is that if users cannot find the product, they cannot buy it either."

Usability and marketing are two sides of the same coin--both are vital for your business if you are going to succeed. I'll talk about what makes for good usability and good marketing in future posts...

Don't Lose Traffic to Your Competitors

2008-02-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Are you losing business because of a poorly designed site? Have you ever sat down next to someone as they visited your website for the first time? If not, you might be in for a surprise...

This article is not specific to Real Estate, but it highlights the importance of usability in a website. If you aren't designing your site with your clients in mind, you ARE losing business to your competitors...

Good Web design can mean good business

By Amy Zipkin

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Web site for Sophia Brodsky's day spa in Philadelphia, the Body Klinic, was pretty rudimentary until a college student walked into the spa a little more than two years ago with an irresistible offer.

As she tells it, the student, Nathaniel Stevens, said that for $10 he would take her existing site and redesign it to drive traffic to her salon. If she got more business, they agreed, he would get additional money. Brodsky, a Russian immigrant, whose interests run more to cranberry facials than the Internet, thought why not.

Brodsky now maintains three Web sites and estimates that they have brought in thousands of dollars in business. "Now," she said, "people are coming to my Web site daily."

But small business owners like Brodsky who have a Web presence are still a minority. In its first survey of small business Web sites last April, Jupiter Research found that just 36 percent of all businesses with fewer than 100 employees had a Web presence.

Still, the Web as an alternative yellow pages is drawing increased attention. The Kelsey Group, a market research company in Princeton, New Jersey, estimates that sales revenue from Internet Yellow Pages and wireless and other searches will increase to $13 billion in 2010 from $3.4 billion in 2005.

Those small business owners who venture online say the experience is generally worth it, though the learning curve may be steep.

Recognizing this, online advertising companies with names like Yodle, Weblistic, Webvisible and ReachLocal are springing up to help manage the sites.

The Web was not on Brodsky's mind when she put down $165,000 in 2004 for a spa that grossed about $6,000 a week. The spa was not even computerized at the time.

Experts generally advise small business owners not to establish a Web presence unless they have time to keep it updated. Jean Pratt, assistant professor of information systems at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Clair, said, "If someone doesn't maintain a Web site, it does become more of a detriment because competitors are keen on making theirs part of a marketing strategy."

A static site may damage the credibility of the business, she added.

Jody DeVere, president of askpatty.com, an automotive advice site for women that started in 2006, said she was determined not to let that happen.

To avoid spending $50 to $200 an hour for a Web developer, she spent several weeks learning how to post feature articles, blog and tag entries properly. To gauge the site's effectiveness, she enlisted a group of 20 women, including her daughter and two daughters-in-law, forwarded links and asked for comments.

The reaction was positive, though at least one said she was not sure what she was viewing, asking, "Is the site geared for women's questions about the car business?"

Steve Krug, author of a Web usability guide, "Don't Make Me Think," says that what looks great to a business owner may be totally lost on a user unfamiliar with the site.

He suggests business owners watch their site being tested, devoting several hours a month to the effort.

That's a feeling K. Rudolph knows well. She runs Native Intelligence in Bethesda, Maryland, selling computer security and security awareness training courses. The company started a Web site about a decade ago but took a workshop based on Krug's book in 2003.

During his presentation, Krug singled out her site's graphics and asked participants if they knew what business Native Intelligence was in. The first person to answer thought bright colors and cartoons meant it was designed for children.

"Watching someone use your site for the first time can be a humbling and enlightening experience," she said.

Rudolph and her then business partner spent about three quarters of their time over the next two weeks revamping the site, trying to answer questions Krug posed like, "What can I do on this site?"

Now Rudolph sets aside several hours a month to watch as many as three users in succession navigate links on the site. She enlists friends and acquaintances to cast a critical eye.

Native Intelligence has prospered since the site's revamp in 2003. The company's gross income rose to $1,094,000 in 2006 from $483,000 in 2003, although Rudolph says that she does not know how much of the increase was due to the Web site improvements.

Brodsky said that she used to favor winning customer recognition by developing new product offerings. But Stevens, who was just starting an Internet company, showed her that a versatile Web presence was also crucial. Stevens created two Web sites that mirrored one another. One, www.thebodyklinic.com, features a local telephone number, with area code, that had a picture of a brownstone front and clickable foliage that leads to the spa's various services. The site has generated a 10 percent increase in sales since Brodsky - now a Web convert - redesigned it in October, she said.

Its not quite mirror double, www.thebodyklinic.net features a toll-free number and was intended to track calls. He and Brodsky agreed that she would pay him for each individual click. Her phone calls on that line are monitored so she can tell how much customer traffic the site is generating.

Her Web budget has grown to about $1,000 a month, Brodsky said, but her weekly gross is now $8,000 to $10,000 a week, up from $7,000 in the past two years.

A sign of the times?

2008-01-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

My First Website and What You Can Learn From It

2007-10-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

I happened to have reason to want one of the images on it, and I pulled up the very first webpage that I ever built today...Boy have I learned a lot about website design, SEO, etc since I first built that page!

I'm almost too embarrassed about it to show you, but since I see my clients' sites day in and day out, I suppose it's only fair...So here it is: My very first website and please keep in mind when you look at it, that I was probably only 19 or so when I built it, and I added the last picture to it before I came to work for Z57.

So don't laugh too much...

I'm exposing my past website blunder because it is a perfect example of what NOT do when designing a web page. If you don't know what I mean, check out The Top Ten Worst Website Mistakes that I posted on my site a while back, for a refresher in the basics of good design.

Incidentally, I pretty much just keep that old site around as a reminder of what I have done, and where I've gone from there.

Blogging and SEO

2007-10-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post because it's about 4:00 am and I'm still awake reading about Search Engines and SEO.

I used a tool from yahoo to check how many links I currently had to my website KimMorlan.com and I was surprised at how many of them had come from my blog. Why am I telling you this? Because I really haven't been actively linking to pages on my website, yet my blog of course is a great source for links to my site.

You should also read this article that explains the differences between the various Search Engines. It's really good. Here's another page he's written, with a section (you have to scroll down) called General Theory on SEO and the Web.

Ok well it's now approaching dawn...I think it's time for bed...

How to List a Home So It Sells Fast in a Down Market

2007-09-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some tips to sell those listings faster...

U.S. median home prices have been falling and the inventory of existing unsold residences rising. About 4.6 million homes are currently on the market. That's nearly a third more than a year ago and it would take 9.6 months at the current sales pace to sell them all, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Make sure listings are priced appropriately.

- Keep your seller's expectations realistic regarding price and what upgrades are needed to make the home marketable in the slow sales environment.

- Don't use dated comparables. A home that sold a month ago was probably put on the market 5-6 months ago, before the downturn, and doesn't accurately reflect what the home should be priced at today

- Sellers need to expect to pay for expertise, experience and aggressive marketing (making now a bad time for agent commission discounts). If anything, now is the time to pay an extra commission, especially to buyers' agents. In this market, it is often taking two good agents to make a deal go through.

- Buyers may be having a tougher time getting a good mortgage, due to the recent tightening of credit, so sellers should be willing to consider financing a part of the deal themselves, if possible.

- Remember PEA: Price, Maximum exposure through advertising, and Accessibility. If the listing isn't hitting all three of these points, the chances of it selling go way down.

- Make the property shine for showing: make sure repairs have been made, and if necessary, have the property pre-inspected prior to escrow to make sure that the seller has the chance to identify and fix any problems that might prevent a sale.

Don't forget traditional sale practices:

- Make sure the MLS and any web exposure involves detailed descriptions, and great photos.

- As a Realtor, make sure that the property is seen by as many eyeballs as possible. This means listing it not only in the MLS and on your website, but on classified ad sites such as Craigslist, Trulia, Google Base, etc.

- A great flyer is a must. Make sure the flyer box is always stocked.

- Make sure people are seeing the property. Invite neighbors (who might have friends interested in moving to the area, have a broker's open house, and several buyer open houses.

- Make sure your sellers are able to have the home accessible and in a condition for showing seven days a week (between 9 am and 7 pm daily).

Increasing your website ranking - Content & Links are Key

2007-09-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

My clients ask me all the time how to increase their ranking in the search engines. While you can indeed take steps to improve your placement, it really takes patience and the willingness to devote the time, in order for you to see results. Ulitmately, you will probably want to hire an SEO company to do the work for you (if your goal is to be on the first page of the major SE's), since maintaining a website's SEO can be a full-time job in itself, but if you would like to give it a try on your own, read on...

There are two keys to getting good rankings:

1. Content
2. Linking

What kind of content is good Web site content?

- Sticky content-meaning unique, relevant content that makes your prospects stay at your site.
- Content with lots of images and/or multimedia.
- Local, relevant content that changes not only day-by-day, but hour-by-hour.
- Highly visual and/or functional content.
- Viral content that people want to share with their friends, family and
colleagues.

Some ideas to increase quality/quantity of content:

- Write a monthly article about your topic
- Write a page about your keyphrase/product/service
- If your headers don't have your keyphrase in them, then be sure to add it Make sure the titles on all your pages relate to the content of the page Write, write, write (and then write some more!).

Some other things search engines consider when determining ranking:

* links to your site,
* what is written in those links,
* who is linking to the site that links to yours,
* what are the keyphrases used in those links,
* what is the quality of the site that is linking to yours,
* how many other links does that site have,
* how many links out (and to what sites) does your site have,
* and other such criteria.

How do you get links?

It all starts with having good, unique, content on your site. No one will link to you unless you offer quality information about your subject. If you are in real estate, you must offer information about the area you work in. If someone wants to buy a home, first he/she will want to learn about it, so you will need to have good local resources about it.

The next step is to find other sites that would benefit from your site's information; sites whose clients would potentially want to buy or sell real estate in your area.

Some potential types of site to link solicit links from:

- sites that promote activities in the local area and the nearby areas
- nearby water parks and ski hills
- nearby towns
- lake and boating associations
- local construction web sites

How do you solicit links?

Be prepared to spend some time, and have patience. Send out personalized emails instead of mass emails (spam) to the sites that you want to have link to you. Be friendly, and point out the benefits of linking to your site. If you are lucky, maybe 1 in 3 emails will get a response. It can be frustrating and discouraging, but is ultimately worthwhile in the long-run.

Many sites don't ever update their content, so your site won't get the link because simply because no one ever makes changes to the site. If you can tell that a site hasn't been updated in years, don't waste too much of your time on them.

Follow-up is very important as well (just like in working website leads). Until you get a flat-out rejection, keep saying "Hi", and keep it personal. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of what sites you have contacted, and what you have written or said--you want it to seem like they are the only person you are contacting.

Finally, don't forget to submit yourself to as many legitimate directories as possible, such as the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org). Getting listed in DMOZ and other directories counts for a lot in all the big search engines.

When submitting to directories, take your time and choose the right category to submit to. Make sure you read how they want their descriptions and titles written, and then write them that way. This is the key to getting into the directories.

Soliciting links is a very time-consuming (and frustrating) venture, but it is essential to getting good rankings in the search engines. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Getting your first link is like getting your first sale. It is just as hard - and just as satisfying.

I drew from these sources when creating this post:
Content Is King, But Linking is Queen
Content is King: Online Content to Attract More Consumers to Your Website

Why Proper Staging Is So Important

2007-07-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

[click on image to view large version]

If you're not staging your homes these days, you may be losing out on sales...

Ok I admit, this is pretty much just a shamelses excuse to plug one of my favorite web comics (The Unfeasible Adventures of Beaver and Steve) but staging IS important....

5 Tips For Creating Good Landing Page Copy

2007-07-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

(this is inspired by http://www.copyblogger.com/landing-page-makeover-seomoz/, with my own spin on it for Real Estate specific landing pages)

1. Remove all the extraneous material from the most valuable real estate on your landing page - the area “above the fold”, the visitor’s first screen view.

This actually is just a good rule of thumb to follow when designing ANY website. Keep in mind that not everyone has a huge widescreen monitor or a high resolution setting, and put the most important stuff where everyone will see it without having to scroll down.

2. Add a compelling, benefit-rich headline.

Use a headline establishing the promise to the visitor right up front. You need a central headline that encapsulates the value proposition of the product offering. Remember that you always need to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” This is especially critical for the “cold” visitor who has no prior relationship with you, such as you will get from advertising traffic.

3. Start “building your case” with a strong, introductory paragraph.

Always focus on creating a need (such as the desire to easily search all area homes without hassle), then explaining why they need to go to YOU to get it satisfied (you let them search everything in the MLS by simply clicking a button). Remember, you are selling the sizzle, not the steak. Orient them, empathize with them, give them the context as to why this service will make their lives easier and make them happier. Your job is to show them why they need your product/service - and need it from YOU. Again, these principles are good rules of thumb for marketing in general.

4. Eliminate the passive 3rd person voice from your copy.

Passive voice, 3rd person writing drains energy and excitement from your copy. Change every “they” to you. Don’t tell me about a feature, tell me how I’d use it, how I’d benefit from using it. You want to create urgency with your words and create calls to action, not bore people to death.

5. Too much content paralyzes and confuses.

Keep the page clean, simple, and easy to follow. You don’t want people getting lost or confused and leaving. Make it clear what you are offering, and what the prospect will get in return for giving you their information. If you are truly providing something of value in exchange for requesting a bit of personal information, most people will comply, as long as they understand how that information will be used.

Save Time and Effort: Host a Tour Of Homes

2007-06-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

Traditional Open Houses are not effective at selling homes--less than 1% of homes are sold as a result of a traditional open house. Open houses can be a huge waste of both your time and your client’s. In the vast majority of cases, they don't benefit you, the seller, or the buyer.

Instead, give a Tour or Parade of Homes. A Tour of Homes gives buyers the opportunity to view several homes in one afternoon (saving them time), and represents a great way for you to easily showcase several of your listings at once (saving you and your clients time).

Here's how to do it:

Advertise the tour as running during a set period of time—for example between 1:00 and 3:15 on Saturday. Find about 5-6 homes (in a similar price range) to put on the tour, with each home "open" for a specified 10 minute period of time (allowing about 15 minutes between each time to get from home to home). For example, house #1 might be open from 1:00-1:10, house #2 from 1:25-1:35 etc., depending on the distance between each home. Tell your Prospects that they can meet you at any home on the tour during its specified time.

There are several benefits to this approach for both you and your sellers.

The tour of the seller’s home is over quickly, so they don't have to give up a whole afternoon of their weekend (and neither do you!).
The tour format will attract a larger number of motivated buyers than a traditional open house, and buyer prospects are generally better qualified.
Thirdly, a tour of homes tends to set up an auction-like atmosphere, as multiple buyers all viewing the same house at one time tends to create a fear of loss in those buyers who are interested in the home. This will end up benefiting your clients by leading to a faster sale with a higher price.

Even if you currently only have small personal listing inventory, you hold a beneficial Tour of Homes. All you need are a reasonable inventory of homes for your Prospects to view during the tour. There’s no rule that says that those homes have to be your listings.

Ask another agent (or two or three) in your office and if you can "borrow" their listings for the tour. Specifically, ask them if you can hold an open house of some of their listings during your intended weekend.

The agents may ask why you want to do this. Explain to them that it will give you an opportunity to get face-to-face with some prospective buyers. In return for giving you this opportunity, you'll be giving their listings some bonus exposure. You'll find that the agents are usually more than happy to let you do this.

Baby Name Optimization

2007-05-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Why stop at optimizing your website/business? Today's web-savvy parents are naming their children with SEO principles in mind...

The tips below are excerpted from the (funny) article Baby Name Optimization by David Berkowitz.

Below are ten tips for baby name optimization. Note that while this is tongue-in-cheek, these best practices can be applied to your business. You'd want to research potential business and product names for what listings come up in major search engines, and you'd often be wise to apply many of the baby name optimization tactics that follow.

1) Write a press release the day your baby's born with the baby's name in the headline, and optimize the entire release. As soon as the little one takes its first breath, he or she can even appear in the body of Google's natural search results thanks to universal search.

2) Buy all potential domain name misspellings of your baby's name. If you're blessed with ample foresight or come from an ages-old tradition of arranged marriages, buy versions of the last name of any potential suitor you have in mind. Redirect the names to your baby's main dot-com domain.

3) Film the birth and syndicate it to dozens of video sites. One of those sites will have to be around by the time of your kid's communion or bar mitzvah, right? On your primary domain, optimize the video by tagging every second of it so those clips are accessible to search engine spiders.

4) Blog as if you're the baby. Then, when your kid is old enough to blog, you can hand it over to your child, or you can go on blogging as if you're his or her therapist.

5) Tag your baby.

6) Create a Wikipedia entry for your baby. If it's rejected, claim that one of the parents is Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, David Arquette, Oprah, or all of the above.

7) Googlebomb your baby's domain around the phrase "world's cutest baby," "future Nobel laureate," or "Harvard class of 2025." It reminds me of an old joke, where a parent is asked how old her children are and responds, "The doctor is three and the lawyer is two." The scary thing: some parent is reading this column right now and starting such a Googlebomb.

8) Digg your baby.

9) Be sure to update meta tags every so often, as your kid's prom date would be horrified to see "spitting up" and "potty training" as some of his or her most relevant keywords.

10) Every few years, change your child's name to something new that has less search competition. Though beware... this will bring an entirely new meaning to the phrase "your baby's in the sandbox."

More On Developing Your Niche...

2007-05-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

SRES (senior real estate specialist); ABR (accredited buyer representative); commercial properties; new construction; land development; luxury homes; vacation homes and condo/co-op markets....

All of these are common niches that an agent may decide to specialize in. I've written in the past about how to Use Niche Marketing to Increase Your ROI, but here are a few more things that you should do if you are going to focus on a niche market...

1. Acquire all possible accreditations relative to the niche

2. Become a member of, and active in, any groups, societies or organizations, both locally and nationally (internationally,) who cater to the specialty

3. Create professional-looking marketing pieces and an have an Internet presence that articulates your qualifications in the niche of choice

4. Know the folks in your marketplace who are involved in your niche. For example, if your specialty is SRES, you want to introduce yourself to senior centers, assisted living facilities, and attorneys that specialize in estate planning, as well as participate in senior activities, offer relative seminars, etc. Cultivate ongoing relationships in all areas.

5. Network with other real estate professionals within neighboring communities (not necessarily those served by you) who also pursue your niche. There is nothing more powerful than a committed mastermind group to move all members forward.

Based on an article from Broker Agent News

Your Real Estate Humor for the Week

2007-05-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just need to push away from the grind of the computer and laugh a little...I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Happy Hump Day!

Some Realtor Humor

When they say ___ and what they really mean...

* SOPHISTICATED CITY LIVING - Next to a noisy bar.

* OLD WORLD CHARM - Has some woodwork, needs cleaning.

* CONTEMPORARY FEELING - Has no woodwork, needs cleaning.

* CLOSE TO LAKES - Impossible to park from April to October.

* WIDE OPEN FLOOR PLAN - Previous owner removed supporting walls.

* SECURITY SYSTEM - Neighbor has a dog.

* NEEDS TLC - Major structural damage.

* UPDATED KITCHEN - Sink no longer overflows.

* MOTIVATED SELLER - Has been on the market for 14 years.

* CONVENIENT - Located on freeway entrance ramp.

* MINT - Someone has spilled mouthwash on the carpet.

* NEUTRAL DECOR - No murals of nudes, or Elvis, but has brown walls.

* MOVE IN CONDITION - Front door missing.

* COZY - No room larger than 9 x 6.

* LOWER LEVEL FAMILY ROOM - Ping Pong table over sewer opening.

* LIGHT OPEN SPACES - Many holes in walls and ceiling.

* OUTSTANDING - Painted purple, sticks out like a sore thumb.

* A WEALTH OF PERIOD FEATURES - Yourself, dry rot, rising damp and an electrical circuit best operated in rubber gloves and wellies.

* BOX ROOM - Suitable for accommodating one or two large cardboard boxes ... folded.

* BY PRIVATE TREATY - If it went to auction it would never reach the reserve price.

* COMPACT - Tiny.

* COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S RESIDENCE - No longer suitable for agricultural tenants.

* DECEPTIVE APPEARANCE - It looks terrible.

* DELIGHTFUL RURAL LOCATION - In flight path of nuclear bomber base.

* EASILY MAINTAINED - Requires at least two gardeners and live-in maid.

* EXTENSIVELY MODERNIZED - Former DIY owner had a breakdown under the strain.

* FOR THE GARDENING ENTHUSIAST - Grounds like a jungle.

* LOCAL AUTHORITY GRANTS AVAILABLE - About to be condemned.

* MUCH SOUGHT AFTER - It's been on the market at least twice before and still no one wants it.

* OWNER EAGER TO SELL - If it goes within a week the subsidence cracks won't be noticed.

* PARTIAL CENTRAL HEATING - The room above the boiler can get warm in summer.

* PERIOD RESIDENCE - Built in the last two years.

* QUIET, SECLUDED SETTING - On site of proposed dormitory town.

* RARE OPPORTUNITY TO BUY - No one else want's it.

* SELECT NEIGHBORHOOD - Beside sewage works.

* SOLD - Unless idiots like you offer a higher price.

* SUBJECT TO NEW INSTRUCTIONS - They have just discovered death watch beetle.

* UNSPOILED - Planning permission granted for field next door.

* UNUSUAL FEATURES - No roof.

* UNUSUAL LOCATION - In the path of a projected motorway.

* USEFUL OUTBUILDINGS - No inside toilet.

* WELL SITUATED - In full view of the neighbors.

* WITHIN EASY DISTANCE OF - Next door to a pub and opposite a sex shop local amenities.

The Keys to Using Internet Marketing to Help Make You Money

2007-05-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

By Kim Morlan
Kim’s Tips and Tricks for Real Estate Marketing Online

For most real estate professionals the market has changed dramatically. Several years ago, a simple presence in the field was enough to be successful and earn a good living; but today a much better strategy needs to be utilized, just to stay on the playing field.

The most critical objective of a Real Estate website is to capture the contact information from a visitor so that a pipeline of prospects can be developed.

Additionally, web leads then need to be worked effectively and in a time-sensitive manner, to see a successful ROI.

Building a pipeline begins with attaining contact information (email, phone, what they are looking for/what they are selling). [If you have a traditional direct mail program in place, then a street address is vital as well. While direct mail can still be of value, e-mails can be powerful, better targeted and less expensive.]

For example, by grouping your prospect base into categories (like single family vs. condo buyers or buyers vs. sellers), you can send out e-mails that are tightly aligned with someone's interests. You will experience a much better response rate by segmenting in this manner.

Here are some ideas to boost the effectiveness of your Website and online lead generation efforts.

1. Take advantage of the opportunities of online marketing: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing.

SEO, also know as Organic or Natural Search is the process by which a site is designed to get good placement in the search engine results, for the keywords that you are targeting.

Key ingredients of SEO include having interesting and unique content on your pages, search engine friendly website design and effective back-linking and reciprocal linking (getting other websites to link to you).

Each major search engine has a paid component to its search results as well. This involves paying for site visitors on a per click basis (pay-per-click or PPC).

There are a series of variables that need to be considered when starting a campaign. These include keyword selection, geography (where do you want your listing to show up) and bid strategy (how aggressive do you want to be? What is your budget? etc.).

While a PPC program can be a good way to drive traffic to a site, the average agent doesn’t have the time to manage such a campaign on their own.

When free-time is limited, I suggest that the agent use our Buyerlink program instead of PPC, to drive targeted buyer traffic to their site by city of interest. Buyerlink is similar to search engine PPC, but it does the work of finding the buyers for you (through PPC, organic placement in the search engines, and web ads) and it allows you to simply sit back and let the buyer leads roll in.

2. Keep the content on your site fresh, accurate and specific to your targeted market and area. For example, it's a big turn-off to arrive at a site with inaccurate information, generic text, or links that don't work. Additionally, people want to work with someone that they see as an expert in what they need. Create a compelling reason for someone to search for properties on your site, rather that just going to realtor.com. [Check out the article Keep Web Visitors Coming Back For More for more information about creating good content]

3. Make it as easy for someone to contact you via e-mail as by telephone. Prompt follow-up is also critical. The statistics tell us that most web visitors expect a response within an hour from a web inquiry, and that they will end up working with the first realtor that they come in contact with, so make sure you get back to them before they have a chance to reach out to a competitor.

And as already mentioned, make sure you get complete information from each person, as you personally communicate with them, so that you can maintain multiple contact points.

4. Utilize a contact management program. There are a number of these programs on the market today that will allow you to keep in close contact with those who warrant it, schedule others for contact later on, and also segment the database for mailings (as described above).

5. Study your competitors’ sites and learn from their mistakes. Although most sites have similar attributes, others are unique with varying degrees of success. Look at other agents’ sites as if you were the client, and see what you like and don’t like.

Also, many Realtors have sites through the companies that they are representing (Prudential, Century 21, etc.) and think that this is enough of a web presence. The truth is that unless you have your own personal site, most people will never find you online [try trying to find yourself without searching for your name on your broker’s site, or Realtor.com]. A personal site allows greater flexibility, and will help to increase your online visibility and number of leads.

If you are just relying on a page on your broker’s site, you will get lost in the dust, and will miss out on leads. Having a site of your own is essential for both creating your own personal brand and funneling leads into your pipeline.

The conclusion: Lead generation is in your control. Hard work, strong organizational skills and a willingness to embrace e-mail/the Internet, are important ingredients to attaining impressive results in a tougher marketplace.

Using Niche Marketing to Increase Your ROI

2007-05-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

Are you throwing your marketing dollars away by marketing to too broad a segment of the housing market? The key to successfully seeing a return on your marketing investment is to find a niche market that you know well, and making yourself the expert.

Attempting to market yourself to an entire geographic region is the fastest way to waste money in real estate because you will never sufficiently differentiate yourself to any one market to be top of mind when the consumer looks for an agent.

Niche marketing is the process of focusing on a defined segment of a much larger market.

Within Real Estate, there are thousands of different niche markets a real estate professional can identify and serve. Some examples of a niche market include marketing to a specific neighborhood, horse farm owners, first time home-buyers or beach front properties.

So, how do you develop your niche?

Step 1: Identify your niche.

- Write down all the possible niches you could serve based on your location, expertise and interests.

For instance, if you choose to focus on a neighborhood, write down the 20 or 30 neighborhoods (with approximately 500 homes each) closest to where you live and work.

- Consider your expertise.

Do you speak a second language? Do you understand a new home owner's issues? Are you also a mortgage broker? Do you love animals? Do you have a connection to senior citizens? What are your hobbies (music, cars, sports, traveling)?

Every one of these things can evolve into a powerful niche for you.

Local school parents could be another great niche. For example, lets assume you have three kids in the local schools. The needs and concerns of parents with kids in the same school may be a great niche. It narrows down your focus from the whole town, to 500-1,000 families. You can easily get involved with the school and your target consumers by starting a parents newsletter or being active in school functions. Over time, the community will begin relying on you for this information and understand you are a real estate agent with their best interests in mind. When these parents (consumers) consider buying or selling a home, or giving a referral, you will be at the top of their mind.

Step 2: Define your niche market as specifically as possible.

- Ideally you should be able to generate a list of addresses, resident names, phone numbers and emails for your niche market.

- In addition, you should write down as many of the niche market attributes as possible.

What are the homes like? (new, old, expensive)
What are the residents' concerns? (safety, a new park)
Where do buyers come from for these homes?
Where do the residents get their information? (TV, magazine, HOA newsletter, online)
Where do they go to school? (private, parochial or public)

This detailed description of your niche will help you reach them in an efficient, effective manner. If you don't know them, how can you deliver value? Additionally, by working on this definition, you will know what areas to educate yourself on to be effective. Remember, your goal is to add value to everyone in this niche through every interaction you have with them.

Step 3: Develop A Marketing Plan.

Before taking action, develop a marketing plan to serve this niche. Initially, you may ask yourself, "what do I have to do to become valuable to this niche?"

Maybe you need to attend HOA meetings, learn about local politics or learn about the tax advantages of a second home. Whatever it is, become an expert.

Next, determine how best to reach this niche.

- Where does this niche get its information?
- Is it through meetings, via email, with a targeted website or postcards?

Third, develop the specific marketing materials that will appeal to this niche. You have to cut through the clutter, so be specific.

Talk directly to their needs and concerns. Don't go for typical real estate marketing collateral and content. Be creative, push the envelope, give them something to remember. If designed successfully, your read and response rates will be much higher than anything you have sent out previously.

Finally, continue to educate yourself about this niche. Write down your plan and stick to it. Be in it for the long term.

Taking the time to work through these steps will pay huge dividends. Your focus will help you clarify what steps you need to take, who you need to talk to, what you need to learn and how to improve your communication to this audience.

You will know that you are on the right track when consumers begin to react positively to your messages. They will thank you for the information, pass it along to friends and, best of all, they will be happy to refer you to others for their real estate needs.

source: Broker Agent News

Are You Wasting the Leads That You Get?

2007-05-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

How long does it take you to follow-up with your website leads? If you wait longer than 24 hours, you could be throwing them away. Here are some recent stats that should give you pause:

- 73% of consumers who use the Internet to search for homes expect a call from an agent within four hours, according to the California Association of Realtors

- Of those, 23% expect a call within a half-hour

- Another 21% expect a call immediately

Internet buyers want and expect a responsive agent to call them as soon as they show interest in a property.

- In fact, the expectation for immediate response is so strong that the vast majority of Internet buyers work with the very first agent who calls them, our research has found. If you don't give them the fast response they expect, then they will give their business to whichever agent calls them first.

source: RISmedia

8 Ways To Instantly Drive Traffic Away From Your Website

2007-05-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was just reading Z57's Marketing Insider post on How To Lose A Real Estate Website Visitor in 10 Easy Ways and it got me thinking about the elements of good website design, especially from a marketing point of view. This is a subject that I am constantly discussing with my clients, as there are some pretty horrible Real Estate websites out there.

I have previously written and posted articles (my own and from other marketing sites) about having an effective website, but here are some more things to think about as you work on improving your Real Estate site...

How to Drive Traffic Away From Your Website...

1. Give Web-visitors Too Many Options and Choices

Studies have concluded that the more choice that you give people, the less likely they are to make a decision. Some choice is good, but too much choice creates confusion.

A well designed website explains, directs, guides, and focuses visitor attention on the things that are of real benefit to your visitors and to your company.

Every business provides a variety of products, services, and information to their customers, but these things are not all of equal importance. Your website is a place to focus attention on your core marketing message, not a place to provide a shopping list of everything you are able to do and every product or service you may be able to offer.

2. Give Web Visitors Too Much Information & Text To Process

Good website design is about more than technology and aesthetics; it's about deciding what information needs to be presented and what information needs to be left out. If you are truly an expert in your field, you should know what information is important to your customers in order for them to make a decision. Too much information or text that is too wordy, is like too much choice--it confuses rather than clarifies. Focus on delivering meaningful content in an easy-to-scan format, or risk having your visitors hit the exit button.

3. Give Web Visitors Too Much Non-relevant Content

The only thing worse than overloading your website with more information than visitors can absorb is confusing them with useless and non-relevant content.

Non-relevant content is content that doesn't advance your major purpose: to deliver your marketing message in an informative, engaging, entertaining, and memorable manner. If it isn't relevant, dump it.

4. Give Web Visitors Too Many Irritating Distractions:

You cannot sell someone a product or service they do not want. A real prospect is one that needs the same information you want to provide; the art of sales is directing potential clients to relevant information, and presenting it in a way that visitors see your product or service as fulfilling their needs.

5. Give Web Visitors Too Many Red Flags

Website visitors are constantly looking for red flags that tell them that the site they are visiting should be skipped as soon as possible.

If you want to make sure visitors WON'T deal with you, make sure you don't provide any contact information. Not providing contact names, phone numbers, or a mailing address is a sure sign that you won't look after any problems that arise from a transaction.

Your website must be designed to build trust and foster a relationship, not scare people away.

6. Give Web Visitors Incomprehensible Page Layouts & Make Your Pages Stretch Into Infinity

Good design, proper page layout, easy and consistent navigation, and well organized information, helps visitors find what they're looking for and provides a pleasant, efficient and rewarding experience for the website visitor.

Website designs that rely on technology and gimmicks, rather than focused content, coherent organization, and articulate presentation, are designs designed to chase traffic away.

7. Drop the third-party ads.

On the surface, third-party advertisements and banners may seem like a good way to make some extra cash from your traffic, but these ads become so distracting, visitors either get fed-up or click on one of the links that takes them away from your site. Whatever few bucks you earn from these ads, you are loosing by chasing real customers away.

8. Give Web Visitors Too Many Reason To Click-out

If you really are determined to fail, make sure you provide website visitors with as many reasons as possible to leave your site: irrelevant links to your favorite sites, links to your broker because you're too cheap to put IDX on your own site, or any combination of the reasons mentioned above, all contribute to driving traffic away from your site.

Based on Jerry Bader's article 11 Ways To Drive Traffic Away From Your Website

Differentiating Yourself in a Crowded Marketplace

2007-04-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Are you communicating to all of your clients and prospects with a one-size-fits all methodology? If so, you may end up losing out on business due to an inability to capture the individual needs of your clients.

I have preached the value of niche marketing to my real estate clients for years, as a way of differentiating themselves in the crowded real estate marketplace, and yet still too many Realtors end up marketing themselves and their services as if all real estate prospects have the same needs and wants.

Differentiation is key.

Differentiation of yourself from other Realtors, that is, by demonstrating your understanding of buyer's/seller's needs and their areas of pain. People buy from people who understand them and that kind of differentiation is rare.

So how do you differentiate yourself? Here are some suggestions:

1. After giving a brief overview of what you do, hold back the rest of your pitch and start asking questions about how they currently handle the issue that your service addresses.

2. With your questions, help them to describe where their source of pain lies. (i.e. what is too costly, what is time-consuming and inefficient, what's not generating results).

3. Reiterate their pain and outline the implications of maintaining status quo.

4. Paint a picture of an ideal world for them that addresses their areas of pain (the world they would have if they used your service).

5. Ask them if they would be interested in learning more about what you have to offer.

Ultimately, a conversation that reflects your understanding of their needs is the differentiation that will capture their attention. It's important to listen to your clients & prospects before you start to sound like everyone else and you lose them.

Based on the article What Makes You Different?

Are you likeable?

2007-04-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Being likeable might mean the difference between a lot of business and none. Read below to find out what makes a person likeable, and find out what the 7 components of likeability are...

(excerpted from Broker Agent News)

What makes you likable?

We find a plethora of opinions as to the specific elements that contribute to likeability. Tim Sanders in his book, The Likeability Factor notes these 4:

1. Friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others
2. Relevance: your capacity to connect with others' interests, wants, and needs
3. Empathy: your ability to recognize, acknowledge, and experience other people's feelings
4. Realness: the integrity that stands behind your likeability and guarantees its authenticity

7 Components of Likeability

Through research and experience, these seven elements are integral for "likability":

1. Positive mental attitude
Likeable people exude a positive mental attitude. That does not mean they are silly or giddy. They don't ignore hardships or failures, but consciously reframe those difficulties and negative emotions to healthier positive ones. Positive means that you can find a better direction out of a problem, rather than wallowing in the problem or negative emotion.

2. Non-judgmental
The truly likable are non-judgmental. They recognize that everyone is trying to get by the best they know how, and they treat everyone with respect and understanding.

3. Open
Passing critical judgment is a sign of inflexibility, a highly unlikable trait. The opposite of that is what we call "openness." The truly likeable are open to new people, other ideas, and different ways of doing things. They demonstrate openness in their behavior, the tone of their voice and in their language.

4. Secure
Likeable people are, "comfortable in their own skin." They don't feel the need to talk over, correct, constantly make jokes or laugh nervously. They don't brag, talk incessantly or hide behind details or humor.

5. Vulnerable
One of the most likeable characteristics is vulnerability. People who can say, "I don't know," who are able to admit mistakes or show a sensitivity, are seen as more likeable.

6. Able to get outside the Self
Those whose primary focus is on themselves rate low on the likeability scale. Conversely, those who are secure in themselves and able to turn their focus outward rate much higher. It's part empathy - our ability to recognize, acknowledge and experience other people's feelings, which is a key attribute of likeability. This is more than the ability to be empathetic. It is the exercise of this ability. It is about becoming relevant. We become relevant in the lives of others when we learn about their interests, wants and needs.

7. Like me

We like people who like us. We also like people who are like us. As humans we are constantly seeking points of similarity. We look for and are attracted to people who are like us in terms of values, interests and experiences. Studies suggest we are also attracted to people who physically look like us.

More Exposure: Familiarity Breeds Likeability

Recent studies have shown that more exposure is sufficient to increase the likeability of a person (or an object). In short, we are more attracted to and tend to like people who are familiar to us. So, in a selling situation, if the prospect likes you a little when you meet the first time, he may like you even more the second time and so on. With that in mind, your objective is to continue to increase the numbers of exposure to your prospects.

Why Aren't You Blogging Yet???

2007-03-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

I jumped on the blogging bandwagon last year, and since then I've been hearing nothing but good things about how blogs can help you with your real estate business. That said, I have precious few clients who are actually blogging.

So, in the interest of increasing interest about blogging, here are some reasons why you should be blogging about real estate:

You'll enhance your branding by giving people a more dynamic way to find out about you and your services.
You'll increase your search engine positioning for your website.
You'll give people a reason and a way to interact with you.
You'll become known as an expert when you use your blog for a specified purpose or to give information to a defined niche.
You'll learn a lot from the other bloggers who are generously sharing ideas.
You'll become part of a bigger community of online people who are demonstrating what Web 2.0 is all about.

source: Broker Agent News

Marketing 101: 2 Things To Remember If You Want To Be Successful

2007-03-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

1. It's not all about you.

I hate to break it to you, but today's consumers don't care about you. All they care about is what's in it for them. In fact, research on web behavior has shown that if you put your picture on your website, you will lose up to 50 percent of your visitors (and the younger the person is, the more likely they are to be turned off by your face).

What does this mean?

You can still use your picture on your website, but put it on your "about me/us" page.

Always remember to write your copy (either website text, emails, or marketing materials) to answer the "What's In It For Me?" question. If you can't tell them why they should care, you need to rethink what you are trying to say.

2. Sell Benefits, Not Features

When writing your marketing pieces, you must identify the emotional reasons that someone would want to purchase the property, and spell these out--not the features such as bed/bath count, amenties, etc.

Why is it better to offer problem-solving information than a straight sales pitch?

Because nobody who bought a drill wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. A clean hole. An accurate hole.

Therefore, if you sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes, not about drills!

Or take lipstick, for example.

What woman out there buys lipstick because of what it's made of? (If they did, I assure you that there would be a considerable decrease in lipstick sales!) Instead, they are buying it's beauty-enhancing ability, and it's long-lasting, won't-kiss-off staying power.

***NEVER mention a feature without mentioning its benefit to the client.

Features are qualities or characteristics of your product or service.

Benefits are the favorable results that your prospective customers gain by using your product or service.

***Benefit statements are often referred to as selling the “sizzle”, not the steak.***

Keep these tips in mind, and you will see your success soar!!!

The Internet Buyer/Seller's Clock is Different From Yours

2007-02-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

One of the most frequent complaints that I hear from my clients is that the leads from their website never pan out into anything. People fill out their lead capture form, but when they try to call or email them to follow up, they are met with disinterest or silence.

But internet leads are fundimentally different from traditional real estate leads, and unless you start developing a long-term follow-up strategy to handle them, you will lose out on this very important and valuable source of business.

One of the more popular recent statistics claims that only 3% of Internet leads turn into closed deals.

Does this mean that only 3 percent of Internet seller leads sell their house?

Of course not. It's more like 30 or 40 percent…but only if you follow through with your follow-up.

According to realtytimes.com, of more than 1 million leads captured online:

7.3% sold within 3 months
22% sold within 12 months
40% sold within 28 months

Rory Wilfong and Dave Conklin, founders of GetMyHomesValue.com, have this advice:

"Agents just have to remember there's a door to every house and if it's not knocked on, they have no idea if it's a good or bad lead," cautions Wilfong, "You have to shake that person's hand, then be the judge."

"If Rory & I were to become active agents again, we would subscribe to a lead generation service," adds Conklin, "but we wouldn't expect to make any money for six months. The problem is most agents expect to make money next month with the people they meet today. It rarely happens that way. The Internet has made it easier for buyers and sellers to find agents very early in the game, whereas a person used to just come to the real estate office when they were ready to act."

What does this mean for you, as a real estate agent? Persistance is key in making internet leads pay off for you. Internet leads will close, but not necessarily in the timeframe that you are expecting. In order to incubate the lead until they are ready, it is imperative that you have good lead follow-up systems in place.

Drip email campaigns are a MUST!

Testimonials: Selling Yourself with Authority

2007-02-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

5 Tips for Getting And Using Testimonials in Your Business

Tip #1: "How do you get testimonials?"
Well, the answer is easy. It starts with your commitment and willingness to get them. Once you make the decision you're gonna go after them, the rest is almost an afterthought. No kidding.
The first step is to put the "testimonial gathering process" into your business sequence. What does this mean? It means that sending a testimonial request letter should be part of your post-closing checklist...right next to "send a closing gift" and "change the home status in MLS."

The second step is simply to ASK. The trick is when and how to ask.

I personally recommend asking for testimonials immediately after a successful close - especially if it was a difficult close that required a lot of your attention and skill to complete successfully. This is the time when your client's "happy gas" is flowing and they're really excited about buying or selling their home.

Tip #2: How do you ask?
That's simple too. Create a simple one page letter (with a second sheet attached for their testimonial) that explains WHY you want a testimonial. Open your letter with something like:

Dear [client name]...

" In today's world it's difficult to know who's a true professional...who you can trust...and who's most competent to help with your home buying/selling needs. My strategy is not to talk about myself or my company, but to share comments about my service performance from my best clients.

And that's why I'm writing to you today. Would you mind sharing some of your thoughts about your experience in working with me? Your comments will help others who were in your situation to better understand why I am their best choice for real estate services."

Next, you'll want to lead them into how they should write their testimonial - so you get strong comments. Do this by sharing questions with them: How much money did I save you? Did I help make the process easier for you? Was my knowledge helpful? Did I go above and beyond to help you? The more specific they make their testimonial, the better.

Next, you want to include with your request a Pre-Address, PRE-STAMPED envelope so they can simply drop their comments back to you (and by enclosing the pre-stamped envelope, they're not about to throw a good stamp in the trash - so they'll be more motivated to fill it out. Psychology at work, my friend.)

And here's another idea: A lot of smart agents will meet their clients and take a photo of them in front of their new (or now-sold) home. Then they'll ask for a few comments they can use. Now you have a photo, AND a comment - even more power.

Tip #3: Make your testimonials believable.
Don't get a great testimonial and weaken it by putting their first and last initials. It causes skepticism in the reader. Put as much information as you can get away with in your testimonials: first and last name, photo, city, state...some agents even put in their client's phone number. WOW! That's a real, believable testimonial, don't you think?

Tip #4: Accumulate as many testimonials as you possibly can.
You can never have too many testimonials. Also, your testimonials will each demonstrate a different benefit or experience people had with you. So you can sort your testimonial bank by the type of benefit people received from you: Saved time, saved money, arranged special financing, solved a specific problem, revealed how you are different, etc.

Tip #5: When you get 'em, FLAUNT 'em.
Don't be shy with your testimonials. Use them in as many places as you can imagine. Want a few ideas to stimulate your mind? OK, how about...

• Use them in your ads, farming letters, post cards, articles you write, etc.

• Put them on your business cards, stationary, and other visible places.

• Put them on the wall in your office: create a "Wall of Fame."

• Use them in all your sales letters - especially farming letters or newsletters

• Integrate testimonials into your listing presentation - many agents use a "success book" that's a 3-ring book of testimonials they leave with their client after their presentation (if they don't get the listing right there). It'll force you to go back, plus your clients will be amazed at all the positive comments and benefits (proof!) of working with you.

• Use testimonials on your web site. One agent had a great testimonial she used as the headline of her home page! It said (I'm paraphrasing): "You Are the Only Agent I Would Trust for Our Real Estate Needs..."

source: Broker Agent News

Internet vs. Traditional Home Buyers

2007-02-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

Have you made the move to embrace the internet as a means of conducting your business, or are you still working entirely in the offline world? Here are some statistics that should give you pause:

From a recent study of the 2006 California Real Estate market by Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist and vice president of the California Association of Realtors® (CAR®):

- 92% of Internet buyers found their agent on a Web site; 63% found them through an Internet search engine; 0% of Internet buyers found their agent through brochures, flyers, yard signs or mailers to their home

- In 2000, 28% of people said that they used the Internet as an important part of their home-buying and selection process. In 2006, 70% said they did

- 86% of home buyers started using the Internet as part of their process before they started looking for a specific home; the other 14% did after they started looking, but before they contacted a real estate agent; that means that 100% of buyers surveyed started looking at homes first, agents second.

- fully 81% of Internet buyers stay with the first real estate agent they choose to contact

- Internet buyers spent an average of 4.8 weeks doing research before contacting an agent; traditional buyers only 1.7 weeks. That means an Internet buyer is better prepared and twice as less likely to waste your time

- Internet buyers bought a home on average after spending 2.2 weeks looking for a home with an agent; traditional buyers spent an average of 7.1 weeks

- Internet buyers previewed an average of 6.7 homes with their agent (they had already eliminated ones they did not wish to see), traditional buyers previewed 15.4 homes; an average of just under nine fewer wasted showings per customer

- Number of agents an Internet buyer interviewed, on the median: 1; Traditional buyers? 3.

- 69% of Internet buyers said response time was extremely important.83% of those buyers chose email as their favored communication method with their agent. 0% chose "in person."

- An incredible 97% of Internet buyers said they would use the same agent again. Traditional buyers? 50%.

So what does this mean for you? Adapt or die. As more and more buyers go entirely online to find their next home, there will be fewer and fewer traditional buyers out there. Now is the time to shift offline marketing dollars (brochures, newspaper ads, etc) online, so that the internet starts making money for YOU.

No matter where you are, these data and trends are coming at you. You must get on board or you will be literally run over and left behind.

Content Ideas: Guerrila Marketing For Blogs and Websites

2007-02-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

According to Wikipedia, Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional way of performing promotional activities on a very low budget. Such promotions are sometimes designed so that the target audience is left unaware they have been marketed to and may therefore be a form of undercover marketing (also called stealth marketing).

The best Guerrilla Blog Methods for Real Estate:

(from RSS Pieces 11/03/06 post)

1. Hold a contest to incite people participate. Sellsius recommends a home holiday decorating contest or look at Teresa's pumpkin contest. Or check out this SEO contest. I've also seen Realtors take pictures of various buildings in town and ask people the exact address for the contest.

2. Create a blog war to emotionally engage readers

3. Offer a day where you answer 5 reader questions as your blog post. This will incite readers to contact you directly to submit their questions.

4. Hold a weekly local trvia game in a post where you ask a piece of local trivia and see who gets the answer. It helps people participate and you learn some crazy facts in the process.

5. Hold a town tour of scary places with stories or important places with the historical value through either a vidcast or pictures. Do it once per week on the same day and you will be suprised how people respond. It will help you connect with the local community which is exactly what you want to do!

Are you chasing leads to exhaustion?

2007-02-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

Are you spendinging all your time and effort always chasing new business? If so, you're wasting time and money.

Consider the following:

1. Repeat business costs about 60% less than generating new business.
2. Volumes of research shows how staying in touch is the best way to generate referrals.
3. Each transaction has the real potential of being the source of six more transactions when the agent diligently nurtures that initial relationship
4. Having a large database of past clients demonstrates to potential new clients your history of success, provides extensive testimonials and generates proof of ongoing business, which positions an agent to sell that book of business when he or she is ready to retire.

Check out this article from Realtor.org on the 5 Groups That You Should Be Contacting Monthly

Don’t underestimate the power of consistent communication. By contacting these five groups once a month, you’ll achieve a steady stream of referrals.

Writing Good Ads to Get the Phone Ringing

2006-10-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between an agent who makes money from their marketing and one who doesn't? Ad copy!!!

In our advertising-saturated world, if you're not writing unique, clever ads that stand out, your marketing dollars are going to waste, as most consumers will "tune out" 95% of the marketing around them. (Think about your own habits. How many commericals do you actually watch?)

The tips below are a good starting point for writing any ad. - Kim

The basis of Adwriting 101 is tied to the acronym AIDA. Remembering these four elements of a good ad will make you more money.

A ttention: How does your ad grab their attention? Write a great headline. Do something different or unusual with your layout or photo
I nterest: Give them the information they are looking for and make them think this is the house for them.
D esire: Stimulate their desire with the benefits and emotional reasons.
A ction: Tell them what to do next. This will come naturally if you've done a good job at the first 3, but make it easy for them to reach you or use a 1-800 response line.

Top 10 Tips to get that phone ringing:

10. Always include the price & location. As a buyer reads ads, they are trying to eliminate the ones that don't fit. When there is plenty of inventory, they will not even call if the price isn't there. To increase your effectiveness, do your homework and know the alternative homes that would fit their needs.

9. Link to Online Pictures Consumers love multiple pictures. Include a link to additional photos on your website. By sending them to your website for additional information, you will capture more prospects. Over 80% of buyers are searching online as well.

8. Offer A Virtual Open House If the media you are using has an open house section, advertise a link to your virtual tour of the house. Do this in your weekend newspaper instead of holding a real open house!

7. Turn The Features into Benefits Don't just list the features. Tell them why they will love the location, the cozy fireplace, the gourmet kitchen. A large yard can offer a place to relax with plenty of room for pets and kids.

6. Play To The Emotions People buy houses based on emotional reasons. They are trying to either to avoid pain (be it emotional, physical, or spiritual) or to gain pleasure (be it real or anticipatory). Ask a question or make a statement to involve their emotions.

5. Include Financing Get from your lender details of several loan options and advertise using the terms in the ad. . A headline of "Can you Afford $1000 per month?" will attract renters that don't realize that they actually could afford to buy. Take care if you add financing terms to be in compliance with Regulation Z.

4. Target Your Market Is this a golf course property? A gated community? A first time buyer home? Write your ad to appeal to the most likely buyer. Give them the benefits! An ad for an investor would focus on bottom line numbers. An ad for retirees would feature benefits of the 55+ community.

3. Write to Their Type Is your most likely potential buyer a Baby Boomer? A retiree? A young professional? An environmentalist? What are their values and concerns? The words and style you use to appeal to each different type of buyer matter.

2. Use Creative Words Bring the adjectives back! Bring alive the activities their family will enjoy. Paint a picture for them of those rooms so they can see themselves cooking gourmet meals in the spacious kitchen! Get your thesaurus out and make your descriptions outstanding and inviting.

1. Call To Action Give them a reason to call. "Won't last long at this price!" "Call today before it is gone."

Source: Broker Agent News

Advertising Online & Achieving Success on the Internet

2006-10-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

Below is an excerpt from an article that I found on Broker Agent News. It highlights the 3 basic things that you should be doing if you have a website. If you aren't, and you need help with any of these, please give me a call (or email me) and I can help! -Kim

Today, 54% of people choose the Internet over the newspaper to look for a home. For that reason alone, if you are not dividing your advertising dollars with at least a nod to this reality, you are throwing good money away.

As an individual agent or brokerage, what can you do to be on the Internet and achieve success? Here are three simple strategies.

Register a consumer appealing domain name . Most broker or agent domain names contain some portion of your name. For example, www.BettySue.com (Note: the domain names used in this article are used only as examples and may or may not point to an existing website). This domain could potentially scare away potential clients who are not ready to be called by an agent. Register at least one consumer related domain name to use in your advertising efforts. For example, www.BuySanDiegoCondos.com or www.FreeRealEsateInfo.com. These domains placed in advertising are much more compelling for clients to click on or to visit. It's about them and not you.
Make your website all about the client – NOT you! Time and time again we se brokers and agents plastering "I'm #1" all over their websites. They believe that saying that they are the best means people will want to work with them. What's wrong with this? Most online visitors are looking for information to benefit themselves, not to red a full page resume about the agent. Make sure your websites message is geared toward the prospect or client. Content should read "Find out what your home is worth" or "Find your dream home at a price you can afford." Make this text link to interior pages of your website where they can perform these tasks.
Gain traffic to your website. If you're like most other Realtors, you aren't having enough success with your website because no one can find you on the Internet if they don't already know your name. Work with an expert who can make it so people looking for homes in your neighborhood come to you when they describe what they are looking for. For example, if you are trying to capture relocation business to your area, optimize your website to be found in search engines for local searches like "San Diego County Relocation."

Now you are asking yourself, how will this all pay off?

NAR confirms that 77% of home buyers begin their home search online
The wealthiest Americans are the largest group of online users.
The majority of homebuyers consider online detailed property information to be extremely valuable in their search for a home.

The importance of Internet presence is already greater than newspaper presence for real estate professionals, and it will continue to climb. Start now and be solidly established and you'll be happy you did. For the last incentive to start now, consider this: next year at this time, most of your competitors will be that much further ahead of you if you don't get started with an Internet Marketing strategy.

source: Broker Agent News

4 Steps to Drip Email Marketing Success

2006-10-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

1. Don't try and email your list of 300 clients and prospects manually. This can be very time consuming and tedious. I still see real estate professionals thinking they can handle this on their own. If this sounds like you, you are wasting precious time.

2. Do subscribe to a drip marketing campaign system. This will automate the process for you. Begin arranging your client and prospect lists into some predefined campaigns. I've seen this range from a first time home buyer campaign that will run for six months, and send up to 2 or 3 emails a month to each contact in that campaign. I've seen systems with predefined client email campaigns with targeted emails on touch points for the audience who already bought a home from you.

3. Split your email list into specific neighborhood or demographic segments. Customize your email content to match this target audience. For example, if there is a hot condo market or neighborhood in your area, send relevant emails to this group. Demonstrate that you're knowledgeable in your market.

4. Track the results. It is very important to understand your email statistics. When you have 110 prospects in one campaign and only 2% of that 110 are opening the email - it's time to reevaluate. Be sure to check if you have valid email addresses and you are sending relevant content to that target group.

Home Staging Tips to Help You Sell Fast

2006-09-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between a home that sells quickly and one that doesn't? Often it's the little things that will make the difference when trying to sell a home...

* Test all door and cabinet knobs. Replace mis-matched or inexpensive hardware for a quick update. Buyers rarely can get beyond a knob that comes off in their hand as they attempt to use a door.

* Take the time to paint walls, trim and ceilings. Keep adjoining rooms in the same color palette which will make your home appear larger and flow better. Clean up spills from messy painters. Hire professionals to paint mullions on windows and staircase spindles.

* Slipcover mismatched furniture in a room that requires visual unification.

* Discover ways to organize day-to-day room needs. Substantial wicker baskets or square stainless steel or brass can organize magazines, remote controls and toys. Books provide a good look, but vary them by laying some down and standing some up.

* Wallpaper is considered fill-in-the-blank decorating . No two people have the same taste in this instant decorator wannabe. If it's more than three years old, take it down and paint in a neutral color. And wallpaper boarders are out.

* Simple furniture rearrangement can bring new life to a tired space. Float sofas and coffee tables away from walls for a designer look. Use area rugs to anchor furniture groupings on bare tile and wood floors. Place groupings of candles and clear glass bowls filled with natural potpourri, fresh fruit or glass crystals on side and coffee tables.

* Make sure there is balanced lighting in every room for dusk and evening showings. Dimmers help set the right tone.

* Polish and wax hardwood floors to brighten and blend an old finish.

* Clean every surface until it shimmers and shines. Clean can seal a deal. Don't forget the windows.

* Purchase the best quality carpet pad which can make any new carpeting "cushy", and home buyers love cushy. Stay away from shag styles, buyers know it won't be around long in style cycles.

* Streamline window fashions. Heavy drapes are in the minority. Think "let the light shine in" when placing placing blinds and shades. Light and bright can overcome other issues with home.

* Freshen-up closets with closet organizers to maximize storage space and paint a neutral washable color. Make sure buyers can see the back of all closets and cupboards. Lighting is often overlooked feature in closets, but buyers will always turn on lights when viewing a closet, big or small. Thinning closets, cabinets, basements, attics and garages will also help your storage spaces look larger. If you can't part with items, rent a storage locker to hold items for decision making later.

* Don't forget the basement, dark, dirty and musty basements are a turn-off to buyers. Add extra lighting, paint the floor and vacuum out all the cobwebs. Organize storage areas and take the time to clean the washing machine and dryer. To spruce up the hot water heater and furnace, wipe down with a strong cleaner. Scrub the laundry tub and sweep left-over leaves out of exterior stairs and window wells. Run a dehumidifier to reduce basement moisture.

* Take a good look from the street or road at the front of your home. Look for shrubs that are over grown or dead and remove and replace with shrubs that are to scale to your home. Small inexpensive bushes send the wrong message.

* Limit yard ornaments to a favored few. Excess ornaments can make yards look busy and buyers might want them included in a purchase contract.

* Paint and refresh yard lights, flagpoles, mailboxes, window boxes, fences and trellis. Don't forget the swing set or play equipment.

* Replace broken bricks on terraces, cracked concrete patios and steps. Eliminate trips and falls on property showings.

* Restore screens on porches and lanai's. Dirty, rusty and ripped screens limit functionality to homebuyers.

* Don't l eave pets unattended for property showings especially when you know they can be aggressive or territorial around strangers.

* Have carpets and area rugs cleaned before showing your home to potential buyers. Those allergic to animal dander and hair, even if they can't see your pet will know when their eyes and nose start to alert them to an allergic reaction. Many will not purchase a home that poses strong allergy problems.

* Pick up dog droppings in the yard. Buyers out to take a look at the roof don't want any "take away".

* A barking dog or overly friendly cats can kill a showing. Be pro-active and take your pets off site for showings. Hire a dog walker to occupy pets if you can't be home.

source: Broker Agent News

Referrals: the best source of leads

2006-07-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

As you grow your real estate business, you should find yourself working more and more from referrals. Are you setting yourself up for success? - Kim

Know Where Your Next Lead is Coming From

Word of mouth versus working by referral

by Brian Buffini

While the summer months may be heating up, we are in a real estate market that has witnessed a significant cooling-down period. With longer listings, rising rates and an increasing inventory, we are now seeing what a normal market looks like. This is a cyclical business. Never static, market fluctuations can be expected as a matter of course.

You cannot afford to stand still and wait for business to show up at your door. This is no time to rely on word of mouth; it’s high time to get engaged with actively building your business—by referral.

Word of mouth versus working by referral may not sound like a choice between two extremes, but there is a vast difference between the two.

Word of Mouth

A word-of-mouth business is about waiting. You sit in your office hoping that the work you have done will speak for itself and people will naturally refer you to others. Now, while the work may speak for itself, the likelihood of people automatically referring you is very slim. Remember this: people do not lie awake at night worrying about how your business is going. This simply does not happen. Just as you don’t have time to worry about how all those you know are doing in their businesses, they too are busy with their own concerns and must be reminded that you appreciate their referrals.

Word of mouth is an unstructured way to do business. It lacks control in that you don’t know what a client is going to say about you—whether it’s positive or negative. For instance, a transaction goes awry for reasons you could not control. Clients know when you are doing your best and when you aren’t; they know when things cannot be controlled and when they can. Working by referral requires that you consistently perform at your best; if you don’t provide excellent service, you won’t be someone they can put their name to, and the word-of-mouth advertising you get might not be so positive.

Being passive with your business means you are not actively searching for clients. Relying on friends and family to send random referrals your way is a very unsteady foundation for your business. Everyone wishes that leads would come rolling in with minimal effort, but to build a thriving business, you need to get out there and get face-to-face with people. This is where working by referral stands out.

Working by Referral

Working by referral is the best way to generate a steady stream of high-quality clients. Keeping your name at the forefront of your clients’ minds and being associated with exceptional service is what it means to work by referral. It is a philosophy of exceeding client expectations and literally becoming their Realtor for life. It truly is the noblest way to do business—client trust based on your character and competence. When reminded, clients will sell you better than you could sell yourself, especially during the transaction. However, if they don’t know you would like them to refer others to you, it probably won’t dawn on them to do so.

You must be proactive about telling them you work by referral, not once, not twice, but repeatedly. So long as you do a great job, staying in contact with a systematic Client Appreciation Program can guarantee your working-by-referral business. Implementing systems in your business puts you in a stronger position to succeed. It’s why our clients see the incredible results they do—far above the national average.

There is a clear difference between random, passive referrals and proactive, intentional lead generation:

Word of mouth = waiting

Working by referral = finding

Word of mouth = passive

Working by referral = proactive

Word of mouth = fearful

Working by referral = certainty

Word of mouth = inconsistent

Working by referral = predictable

Everybody hopes to get referrals, but unless you have proactive systems in place, you’ve got a word-of-mouth business—not a working by referral business. The great strength in working by referral is the peace of mind in knowing you can rely on a steady stream of leads—regardless of what the market is doing. It’s up to you; passively wait for word-of-mouth clients or proactively build business by referral. RE

Brian Buffini is the founder and chairman of Buffini & Company. For more information, visit http://www.buffiniandcompany.com/.

Prospect Follow-Up: 3 Common Mistakes

2006-07-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

This is excerpted from an article by Craig Proctor (http://www.brokeragentnews.com/news/residential/2006_7/7_21_2006_wm_1153540009.html), from the Broker Agent News website. Are you making any of these mistakes? It could be costing you business. - Kim

Mistake # 1: Expecting a prospect to call back

I had a guy on the line who was ready to list his house, and I was trying to nail him down for an appointment. He was putting me off for some reason—either he had to check his daytimer, or he had to check with his wife to see what time was good for her. Whatever his reason was, I didn't push it. I told him to call me back with a good time to meet.

Well, he didn't call me back and I guess I forgot about it. In my mind, I guess, I'd already converted him and we were simply down to the formality of when to meet. But when I checked the hot sheets about a week later, I saw that he had listed with another agent before I had a chance to call him back.

My big mistake was leaving the whole thing in his hands. I should not have let him off the phone without setting a meeting time. What I should have done was set a tentative date with him so the onus on call back was now on his shoulders. If I'd said "Okay, why don't we tentatively say Thursday at 3 pm, and if that turns out to be a problem for you, give me a call back. Otherwise I'll be there Thursday at 3 pm", now suddenly it's his responsibility to firm that up. I don't have to call him back. He knows that unless he calls me back, I'm going to show up at his house Thursday at 3 pm.

You should do the same in your business. If you find that a prospect is putting you off for some reason, arrange a tentative time so that the onus is now on them.

Mistake # 2: Delaying a prospect who is ready to list

The second mistake I made was putting off a lady who was ready to list. I had called this lady on a Wednesday night to follow up on a special report request she had made. She admitted that she was ready to list her house and wondered if I were free that evening. I can't remember why I wasn't—it wasn't convenient or I just didn't feel like going out at that time. Whatever it was, I set up a meeting with her the following Monday.

Well, Monday morning I got an email from her to cancel the appointment because she'd listed with another agent on Sunday night. So my big mistake this time was putting off someone too long who was ready to list. If your prospect is good, make your appointment as close to "now" as possible—a half hour after your telephone conversation would be good. The more time that elapses, the more things that can go wrong.

Mistake # 3: Lacking Clarity when Communicating

I have modified a line in my call back script that used to say: "Would you prefer to buy first or sell first?". What I found is that my prospects didn't really understand this. They'd answer that they supposed they really wanted to do both at the same time—they didn't really understand what I was asking them. I thought this was just me, but I was listening to some tapes of some of my coaching members the other day (as I reviewed and critiqued their call backs) and I found that their prospects were saying the same thing.

The new wording attempts to clarify the issue by saying it this way: "Would you prefer to make an offer on your next home before you list your present home for sale, or do you want to sell the home you're in before you make an offer on your next home?" Clearly, what you're trying to establish is whether you should be treating them as a buyer or a seller.

When asking this question, make this distinction clear to them. Ask them whether they think they'd like to list their present home first, before they start looking for their next home (i.e. get a sense of outside interest in their home before they commit to moving), or whether they want to start looking for their next home first before they actually take the step of listing their current home (i.e. get a sense of their interest in what is out there before they commit to moving.) Their answer to this question is important as it will help you understand which offer to communicate first. Making the correct offer to prospects should not be guesswork. If you ask them, they'll tell you.

Are you prepared to win their business?

2006-07-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Smart consumers will interview several agents before choosing someone to work with. About.com recommends that each buyer/seller ask the following of their agent before chosing who to work with. Are you prepared to answer them?

1) How Long Have You Been in the Business?
The standard joke is there's nothing wrong with a new agent that a little experience won't fix. But that's not to say that freshly licensed agents aren't valuable. Much depends on whether they have access to competent mentors and the level of their training. Newer agents tend to have more time to concentrate on you. Some agents with 20 years of experience repeat their first year over and over. Other 20-year agents learn something new every year.

2) What is Your Average List-Price-to-Sales-Price Ratio?
Knowing the agent's average ratio speaks volumes. Excluding sizzling seller's markets, a good buyer's agent should be able to negotiate a sales price that is lower than list price for buyers. A competent listing agent should hold a track record for negotiating sales prices that are very close to list prices. Therefore, listing agents should have higher ratios closer to 100%. Buyer's agent ratios should fall below 99%.

3) What is Your Best Marketing Plan or Strategy for My Needs?

Buyers will want to know:
• How will you search for my new home?
• How many homes will I likely see before I find a home I want to buy?
• Will I be competing against other buyers?
• How do you handle multiple offers?
• Do you present offers yourself?

Sellers will want to know:
• Specifically, how will you sell my home?
• What is your direct mail campaign?
• Where and how often do you advertise?
• Will you show me a sample flyer?
• How do you market online?

4) Will You Please Provide References?
Everybody has references. Even new agents have references from previous employers.

• Ask to see references.
• Ask if any of the individuals providing references are related to the agent.
• Ask if you can call the references with additional questions.

5) What Are the Top Three Things That Separate You From Your Competition?
A good agent won't hesitate to answer this question and will be ready to fire off why she is best suited for the job. Everyone has their own standards, but most consumers say they are looking for agents who say they are:

• Honest and trustworthy
• Assertive • Excellent negotiators
• Available by phone or e-mail
• Good communicators
• Friendly
• Analytical
• Able to maintain a good sense of humor under trying circumstances

6) May I Review Documents Beforehand That I Will Be Asked to Sign?
A sign of a good real estate agent is a professional who makes forms available to you for preview before you are required to sign them. If at all possible, ask for these documents upfront.

Buyer will ask for copies of the following:
• Buyer's Broker Agreement (is it exclusive or non-exclusive?)
• Agency Disclosures
• Purchase Agreement
• Buyer Disclosure

Sellers will ask to see:
• Agency Disclosure
• Listing Agreement
• Seller Disclosures

7) How Will You Help Me Find Other Professionals?
Let the real estate agent explain to you who she works with and why she chooses these professionals. Your agent should be able to supply you with a written list of referring vendors such as mortgage brokers, home inspectors and title companies. Ask for an explanation if you see the term "affiliated" because it could mean that the agent and her broker are receiving compensation from one or all of vendors, and you could be paying a premium for the service.

8) How Much Do You Charge?
Don't ask if the fee is negotiable. All real estate fees are negotiable. Typically, real estate agents charge a percentage, from 1% to 4% to represent one side of a transaction: a seller or a buyer. A listing agent may charge, for example, 3.5% for herself and another 3.5% for the buyer's agent, for a total of 7%.

9) What Kind of Guarantee Do You Offer?
If you sign a listing or buying agreement with the agent and later find that you are unhappy with the arrangement, will the agent let you cancel the agreement? Will the agent stand behind her service to you? What is her company's policy about canceled agreements? Has anybody ever canceled an agreement with her before?

10) What Haven't I Asked You That I Need to Know?
Pay close attention to how the real estate agent answers this question because there is always something you need to know, always. You want an agent to take her time with you -- to make sure you feel comfortable and secure with her knowledge and experience. She should know how to listen and how to counsel you, how to ask the right questions to find out what she needs to know to better serve you.

Source: About.com

Coping with a shifting real estate market

2006-07-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

What are the signs that your business may be experiencing slow death?

Determine whether each of the following statements is "true" or "false" for you.

1. I regularly attend conferences and training in search of innovations that will give me a competitive edge.

2. I have mastered the scripts and dialogues that allow me to obtain listings at the right price and to obtain price reductions where necessary.

3. I have an Internet marketing program that includes both organic and pay-per-click strategies.

4. My assistant and/or I respond to all Web and telephone inquiries as soon as possible, but always before the end of the business day.

5. I use an automated lead follow-up program that allows me to respond to Web inquiries instantaneously.

6. I either own or am considering purchasing a tablet computer so I can go paperless within the next 12 months.

7. My Web site consistently generates good leads that I convert into closed business.
8. I track market statistics and have mastered the scripts and dialogues that allow me to work effectively with both buyers and sellers.

9. I publish a regular e-mail newsletter that goes out to all of my clients as well as to my sphere of influence.

10. I use blogging to build my Web site traffic.

SCORING: The more "false" answers you have, the more likely your business will suffer from the deep changes taking place in our industry. While it's not necessary to do all of the items outlined above, failing to do them places you at a competitive disadvantage.

Can Myspace.com and other Social Networking sites help your RE Business?

2006-07-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

The media have been making a big deal recently about social networking sites such as Myspace. They tend to focus on how it is being used by teenagers, but their articles usually leave out any serious discussion about how social networking sites can be used to help spread the word about your Real Estate business.

Below is a link to an article that talks about Social Networking and how you can use it for Real Estate.

Social Networking in Real Estate

http://www.raincityguide.com/2006/05/02/social-networking-in-real-estate/print/

Simple Steps to Increase Your Marketing ROI

2006-07-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

The article below was writen by our marketing manager here at Z57...She makes some good points - Kim

10 Simple Secrets to Explode the Return on Your Internet Marketing Buck
by Melani Broman

Internet marketing has many powerful advantages over traditional advertising. Home buyers and sellers are actively looking for your services online and customers who find you online are the warmest, most qualified leads. Measurable results can be felt instantly and the average cost of a lead is often lower than that of other media.

[stat: Industry reports predict that real estate ad spending in online media will surpass print advertising in 2009]

Read these top 10 tips and become a marketing genius. Never say "I think" unless you don't. Be certain and improve online profits and optimize your Internet investment immediately.

1. Become truly "marketing minded." When agents think of marketing the majority think of sell, sell, sell. There is another dimension, branding, ensuring that you meet customer needs in a way that is different from your competition. Ask yourself: Do my customers really see me as different from my closest competitors? Use your website as one of the tools to differentiate yourself. Provide reports and local resources and become the local expert.

2. Register optimal domain names. Registering domain names has become as easy as buying a gallon of milk at the grocery store. Register your name, and variations unique to the area. Most importantly, make sure to secure www.YourCityHomes.com, www.YourFarmingArea.com and all other variations. We've seen agents register a domain and have their top competitor register the '.net', so don't forget to register .com, .net, .biz, regardless if you use these domains.

You are not alone if you have a domain name that looks similar to this - www.youragency.com/office3/agentname. This is not an optimal domain, it's too long, hard to remember and doesn't support your overall brand identity.

3. Create a user friendly website design. Make your website is easy to read, navigate and find. You will still see a lot of agent websites with black backgrounds and small yellow text - this is not easy on the eyes. Focus on usability first, with your visitors goals in mind so they can easily navigate through your site. If your visitors cannot find what they want quickly and easily, they will simply go to your competitor who is just a click away.

[stat: Of homebuyers, 57% select the first agent they visit]

4. Include advanced home search functions on your website. The top reason consumers visit real estate websites in the first place is to SEE LISTINGS. A lot of websites display the whole MLS, how are you separating your home search function from other agents? Get IDX, provide free home updates via email, add rich media virtual tours and take advantage of the many enhanced mapping capabilities on the market.

5. Optimize your site with rich content, meta tags and body copy. Understanding and selecting the most effective keywords that potential visitors are using to arrive at your website is essential to optimize your Internet investment. Use tools like WordTracker and prepare you list of keywords. Remember the importance of keyword prominence and place your keyword phrases early in the body text of the page. Try to craft the beginning text so that it is appropriate to be used as a description of your site. Using techniques such as these will increase your chances of being ranked in the top search engines, thus increasing the number of visits to your site.

[stat: 74% of today's consumers use the Internet to search for homes versus 52% who use the newspaper.]

6. Accelerate your website traffic. Putting a website online with no marketing strategy is money down the drain. One step to driving traffic to your site is search engine optimization and gaining top search engine rankings, which can often take months. Agents who are looking for immediate results can use pay for performance traffic programs. For example, you can bid on local areas or keywords and receive website inquiries from potential buyers in those targeted areas within 72 hours.

7. Measure Link Popularity. Measure and monitor with tools like MarketLeap. Link Popularity refers to the quality and the quantity of external links to your website and it is one of the most important criteria used by the search engines to determine your site's ranking. The benefits of increasing your site's Link Popularity are:

Improved search engine rankings, particularly on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Direct increase in traffic via links from other websites. Ask for reciprocal links through your business network. Real Estate is largely based on building a strong referral network, which will help you grow your business.

Warning: Enhancing your Link Popularity through reciprocal links is an important traffic building strategy, but it is not a quick fix. It may take two months or longer to see the effect of your new incoming links on your search engine rankings.

8. Evaluate where your website stands now. Measuring your Internet marketing investment and website conversion will help you to improve your returns in the future. Set clearly defined objectives so you can go back and compare against what you hoped to obtain over the year. For example, you set a goal to obtain 30 hot leads from your website in the next 60 days and to close 3 new homes.

9. Invest in a lead management system. Consumers are becoming increasingly more demanding when it comes to response time. They want quality information and fast. Take advantage of systems that do the work for you, while you are out showing homes. Automatically send out new listings and email updates, keep your prospects engaged and build long term relationships.

[stat: 65% of real estate consumers on the Internet expect a response time of four hours or less to their online inquiries]

10. Partner with a real estate Internet marketing expert. Home buyers and sellers are using the Internet at alarming rates. In the long run, agents who don't embrace technology will get left behind. Most successful real estate agents and brokers are turning to marketing experts to assist them with their Internet marketing strategies. It is essential to partner with a company that offers a complete agent solution, campaign management, website creation and lead generation. Do not choose specialists who do not fully understand the complex needs of agents.

It goes without saying, the Internet has had a tremendous impact on the real estate industry. Take a look at your current internet marketing strategies and compare those to what your top competitor is doing. The truth is that Internet consumers are plowing into real estate portal sites looking for your listings. You just need to have a proactive Internet marketing strategy.

About the Author: Melani Broman is Online Marketing Manager at Z57 Internet Solutions, a real estate Internet marketing company based in San Diego, California. Founded in 1998 the company employs over 200 individuals and specializes in complete eMarketing campaign management, website creation and lead generation. Discover 17 reasons why most real estate websites fail AND find out what others are doing to make their websites lead generating machines here. To reach Melani, please email melani@z57.com

Is your business "Shrink-Proof"?

2006-06-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Now that many are predicting popping bubbles and a mass-exodus of less experienced real estate agents from many markets, it's time to take a look in the mirror and evaluate yourself. Are you able to withstand slower times? I read recently that only 40% of ALL Real Estate agents have a webpage (even a free one offered by their broker!!!).

Considering that close to 80% of people are starting their home search online now, this tells me that many many agents aren't able to change and adapt with the times. Are you one of them? Are you going to be left in the dust, or will you adapt to a shrinking, changing market? - Kim

Strategies for a Shrinking Market
How Pepsi and Baking Soda can help you fight a slower real estate market
by Will Dylan

It seems that the more you read these days about the market for real estate, the more you hear the terms "cooling" or "shrinking". While nobody can be certain if or when some local markets will see a real slowdown, forward thinking real estate agents are now busy "shrink-proofing" their businesses - that is, trying to find ways to minimize the damage that could be caused to their personal incomes by shrinking real estate sales.

Changing Markets are Nothing New

Real estate agents are certainly not alone when it comes to dealing with the potential of a shrinking market. Some of the biggest, most popular brand name companies in the world have faced cooling or shrinking markets in their respective industries.

Guess what? They are still around, and in some cases, doing very well. These companies took a strategic approach to handling a slowing market, and the results have been impressive.

But what do Pepsi and Arm & Hammer have to do with your real estate business? Well, both are focused on selling something (a product or a service) to someone (a consumer or client) to make money (commissions). In some ways, what Pepsi or Arm & Hammer do for a living is no different than what you do.

So as you think about how to keep your personal income where you want it to be in the face of a cooling market, learn from the smart, simple strategies used by some very big companies.

Launching New Products/Services

Pepsi has always been the number two player in the cola market. Despite Pepsi's sharp marketing and Coke's disastrous flirtation with "New Coke" about twenty years ago, Pepsi eventually realized that they weren't going to surpass Coke in the cola wars.

Faced with the prospect that their market for cola sales was limited by their runner- up position, they did something radically different for a cola company. They stopped chasing just the cola business, and bought brands like Gatorade, Aquafina, Quaker, Walkers, Tropicana, and more. They kept their cola business going, but also started offering products in other markets, such as Quaker Oats, Aquafina bottled water, and so on.

The result was that Pepsi could offer a complete line of products to consumers, and didn't need to count on cola sales alone to make money. Coke, on the other hand, still counts on sodas alone for most their profits.

Applying the Pepsi strategy to your real estate business, think about what you sell right now. For many of you, 100% of your income comes from commissions earned on the purchase or sale of homes. If people start buying less of this service (i.e. in a slowing housing market) your personal income is certain to fall, since all of your revenues come from this one source.

Could you start diversifying your services? Here are just some examples of services related to real estate that you could start offering to provide additional sources of revenue for you.

Home Staging Services - It seems there are entire cable channels dedicated to the art of staging a home. The impression these shows have created for the public is that good staging has value, and helps homes to sell quicker, for a higher price.

Could you help clients stage their homes for sale? You could use the service as a free offer if a client lists with you (a sales promotion to drive listings) or you could charge a fee for the service (a revenue driver).

Advisory Services - An increasing number of clients are listing homes for sale by owner, to save on real estate commissions. The typical response of the real estate business has been to go after these listings, and attempt to convert frustrated homeowners into listing clients. This approach works in some cases.

What about an alternative approach? Clients who list on their own are bound to need some advice and guidance, but are clearly reluctant to pay the full commission associated with a listing to get it. So why not charge a consultation fee to advise these clients on an as needed basis? Since you are selling your knowledge, you wouldn't be restricted by geography, meaning a whole state could be your trade area for this type of service.

Education - There are thousands of new real estate agents out there, striving to get better at their craft. As an experienced agent, you could sell your time to consult to these agents. (You could handle these sessions out-of-market, meaning you wouldn't train your direct competitors!)

Entering New Markets

Believe it or not, baking soda used to be just for baking. As society changed and an increasing number of families moved to two incomes, there was less free time for at-home baking. Such a trend should have drastically cut sales of baking soda, right?

Arm & Hammer had other ideas. They started promoting the odor absorbing qualities of baking soda. Before you knew it there was a box in every refrigerator in the nation. When that market reached capacity, they started promoting the cleansing properties of baking soda, and you can now find it in such products as toothpaste and underarm deodorant.

The baking soda business recognized their primary client base was shrinking (stay-at-home parents/spouses who bake regularly), and started targeting new markets to drive growth. Same product, new customers. In this case, the new customers were people who valued cleanliness, either in their fridge, or in their smile.

If the market in your area is on the way down, what's on the way up? Where are your next customers going to come from?

The Baby Boom generation (often called "Boomers") are now in their 50's and 60's, a common stage in life where they might contemplate a move to a quieter community away from the city. Have you targeted this market with information about selling?

Alternatively, if you work in an area outside the city limits, have you worked with your local chamber of commerce to promote your town as a great place for people to relocate to when they are tired of living close to the city?

Is your area seeing an influx of new immigrants to the country? If so, you could target this community and increase your presence as a buyer's agent as more newcomers choose to move into the area.

Using Strategy to Build a Better Business

The market may slow down around you, and there's little you can do to prevent it. What you can do is control the key elements of your business strategy, like the products you offer and the markets you target.

You'll still be in the real estate business and you'll still be selling homes, but you may have a modified product lineup or new target markets to help you build a stronger business.

It might even be "shrink-proof".

*Always check regulations in your local area when considering new products or services.

About the Author: Will Dylan is a professional marketer with a major corporation, and author of "Marketing Like the Pros: Real Estate Edition," an audio presentation that puts corporate marketing strategies in the hands of local real estate agents to help them grow their business. His website is www.marketinglikethepros.com

Conveying to the Seller it takes to make the house show it's best

2006-06-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

If you are not sure what to tell a person, here are a few tips and you can search "Real Estate showing tips" on the web to find many more. (excerpted from here)

1. Less is usually better than more, less pictures, less furniture, less on the walls, less on the counters and less on the floor.

2. Lighter is better than darker. Put bulbs in every fixture, the highest wattage recommended in darker rooms. Turn on all lights and open all curtains.

3. Freshen up paint. Shampoo rugs. Expose hardwood. Wash windows. Make bathroom fixtures and kitchen surfaces shine.

4. Place a few planters with fresh flowers near the entrance, mow the lawn, trim the edges, and in winter (in the north) keep it shoveled, salted, and/or sanded.

5. On the outside paint the most street visible areas. Stand in the street and look at the paint or siding, shudders, curtains, plants, grass, drive way, roof, chimney, etc.

6. Trust your instincts: If you think something should be done, generally you're right, do it!

A Poorly Designed Site Is Costing You Customers

2006-06-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Mike Parker works for the SEO that Z57 has partnered with, to offer SEO to our clients. He is at the forefront of internet marketing and search engine optimization, and often has really good articles with tips about improving your website...the article below is a good example.

Online Marketing: A Poorly Designed Site Is Costing You Customers - Could Yours Need Updating?

Commentary by Mike Parker

It’s no secret that as things get a little tighter and everyone is looking to maximize results from every tool in their arsenals that the first tool real estate professionals should consider is their Web site.

“I have a good one!” is the prevalent opinion (Before saying that you have a good one, please remember that over 80% of all Americans rate themselves as “above average” drivers. Just as 80% of drivers can’t be “above average,” neither can 80% of real estate Web sites, either!). Are you getting any sales from your Web site? You should be, for the Internet is where people look for homes. If you are not, there might be some simple things you can do to change the situation.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that although the site may look pretty (or not), from a performance standpoint, well, it’s frequently a “handyman’s special.” We know this because the first thing we look at when someone contacts us is their Web site and the home page and title tags on that Web site. You would be surprised to know that we have commonly found situations where the site builder FORGOT to finish the title tag, making the site impossible to be found by the search engines. What is a “title tag?” Well, go to any site. Hit “view” on your horizontal navigation bar, then scroll down to “page source.” A window will open, showing you your title & meta tags, things you may not be familiar with or never thought it necessary to focus on.
You do need to focus on your title tag, however, for with a poor one, it is exponentially harder for you to be found when anyone goes looking for a neighborhood. Generally speaking, you don’t want your tag too long or too short but you DO want it to tie in to key words on your homepage and to the towns you truly service. As an example of how simple this fix can be, a new customer had “Central Pennsylvania Homes for Sale” as his title tag with his business in Harrisburg.

That just isn’t going to do it, because generally, folks search by town or region; e.g., “luxury homes Salem Oregon” or “homes near lake Winnipesaukee” and the like. And that’s a good thing; just search for the name of your city and state and the words “real estate” or “homes for sale” and see what the engine says the search depth is (Use Yahoo or MSN for most reliable link totals). You see, in search, it is all about pertinence. Your title tag should be pertinent to your selling area. “Central Pennsylvania” is not really pertinent to any one of the hundreds of towns and cities in that region, hence performance for that phrase won’t be outstanding. “Harrisburg homes for sale” IS pertinent to a Realtor in Harrisburg, and it is a simple thing to have your tag changed to one that is pertinent .

Then, there’s the “Pictures, pictures, pictures” home page. It’s pretty, but it isn’t effective in positioning you because search engines can’t read pictures: they read text and content. Or, the “I’ve got more links than anyone in the world, right here” home page.

Unfortunately, that confuses the engines, too. Not to mention your prospects. You’d be amazed how many otherwise smart real estate people have links that lead off their page to another site and never return to THEIR site! That’s not good. If these things describe your Web site, sometimes it’s just better to put a clean new page up on the site you have had for a few years. You keep the same URL but you put a clean and focused home page up for the search engines to more easily find.

Last in this line of what makes sites hard to find is the “Mothership” site. A customer told me she was paying a well known association over $800 a month for a site that never brought her one lead.

This is what can happen when you choose the monolith or “mothership site” over having your own site: Oftentimes, no one can find you on such sites, so no one comes to you to purchase a home from all your Internet work.

Don’t have your “Internet Marketing” program consist of a page buried on a “mothersite” that Houdini couldn’t find amidst 10 billion pages of content on the Internet today.

Many more sites would work better if these simple cautions were considered or evaluated. Many more buyers would better connect with sellers. Many more real estate professionals would make more money and more sales. Check your site: 1) title tag well done? 2) too many links and pictures? 3) Is your site harder to find than a needle in a haystack, buried among so many others at whatever.com?

Coracle provides these services free of charge with every subscription. But if you don’t want us to do it, get someone to make these simple adjustments to your site so you can perform better on the organic search results: the results that buyers trust most. Your site is no good if no one can find you. If no one can find you, you have a bad site, no matter how pretty it may be.

The final measure of “a good site” is not what it looks like, but about how many SALES it brings you. Chances are good that you might not need to buy “lead generation” programs if your Web site is a good one, for if it is, you already are receiving real measurable sales from it. Your Web site should be your strongest Internet marketing tool.

Mike Parker is director of sales and marketing for Coracle, Inc., the First Page Search Recognition company. To request a copy of “Online Marketing Special Extra: 15 tips you can use to make real money” e-mail info@CoracleInc.com. Visit www.CoracleInc.com for more information.

Follow up is Key!

2006-06-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

This article has a good plan for following up with the cooler leads. As the market slows, those who have good follow-up strategies in place will be fine...Those who relied on cherry-picking (or low-hanging fruit) for all their business may have a harder time...

3 Persuasive Strategies for Nurturing Move-Up Buyers or Renters
by Demian Farnworth

Transactions, not leads, are the true currency of real estate.
That's why it's so important to make follow up a priority on your leads you generate. If you don't nurture and close those leads, even a 1,000 leads a month won't save you from burnout, the blues or bankruptcy.

Understandably, following up on even 100 leads in a month is a lot of work. That's why if you do generate a lot of leads then you should probably cherry pick only the financially qualified and highly-motivated, which, by the way, is a sound strategy.

But let me throw something at you? By simply nurturing the leads that may be further out in the sales cycle, you can easily double the number of transactions you close every year.

But there's a catch. What's it worth to you to close twice as many deals a year as you do now? Thirty, forty, maybe even sixty more hours of your time a month?

If you said more than forty hours of your time is the maximum you are willing to sacrifice, then you'll be please to know that the following strategy will take you less than an hour a month to implement.

Here's How It Works
Once a month take the leads that you didn't follow up on - the ones that you have a name and address for - and split them into two categories based on their address: renters and homeowners.

Now, for the addresses that are obviously apartments send a letter like this for renters.

3-step Move-Up Homeowner Strategy
In first letter you are simply making contact with the renter. You're introducing yourself, sending them the MLS sheet on the home they called about and MLS sheets on 3 more comparable properties. You go so far as applauding them for making a decision to get out of the rent trap. You close with an invitation to meet face-to-face or simply call.

After thirty days, if you haven't heard from them, send a second letter.
In this letter you are including three new MLS sheets for homes like the home they originally called you about. In addition, you are giving another very strong incentive to get out of the rent trap. This time you have a piece of proof - a Harvard University study done that demonstrates that homeowners' assets and wealth grow over 70 times faster than renters. (Although Senior homeowners were the topic of the study, the information is relevant to renters of all ages. Very powerful stuff.) http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/finance/w05-8.pdf

Send the final letter if you haven't heard from anyone in over 60 days from the original call. This third letter really puts a push on the renter to get out of the rent trap by tugging on that emotional heartstring of pride and fear. It also offers an opportunity to sit down with you and discuss issues like down payments, financing and renting versus homeownership.

3-step Move-Up Homeowner Strategy
Now, for the group made up of homeowners, send them the first homeowner letter. In this letter you are doing the same as the renter letter - introducing yourself, sending MLS sheets - except your not including the information about avoiding the rent trap. Again, it's a close with an invitation to meet face-to-face or simply call.

After 30 days, mail the second homeowner letter. Here you are just checking in, informing them if there has been any change on the status of the home they originally called about and sending a couple of MLS sheets for comparables.

For the homeowners, the final letter takes a new approach: in this letter, you are asking them to call you and leave some information behind. They can receive a free over the phone market evaluation simply by calling your toll-free call number. In return you're going to send them an over-the-phone market evaluation. What you're trying to do here is get them thinking about selling their house - even if they are three or more months out already.

Imagine the Benefits
If you want to tap into every ounce of opportunity you can, opening the door to transactions as wide as possible, then this easy, 3-step letter program is exactly what you need to do.

Cherry picking is good when there is plenty of good going around. But especially when the market slows down, you want to have plenty of ripe plants in the ground to pull up when other areas slow down.

One agent said that by following this approach she was able to raise her transactions from 5% to 11% each month with the leads she generated. That means if you can generate 100 leads in a month, then you'll get 11 transactions out of those 100 leads in the next twelve months. And that kind of momentum will build until you have an unstoppable transaction machine.

About the Author: Demian Farnworth is the Copywriter for Proquest Technologies and the Editor for The Real Estate Insider and Writer/Editor for In the Zone, both real estate marketing email newsletters. To learn more about Proquest Technologies simply visit http://www.realestategrowth.com. Or email Demian at demian@proquest-tech.com

Referrals: How to use them to grow your business

2006-06-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

He's trying to sell his services, but I think his info about handling referrals is good...

Want Loyal Clients? Let Them Know They’re Appreciated!

Commentary by Brian Buffini
from RISMedia http://www.rismedia.com/index.php/article/articleview/14959/1/1/

I’ve now spent over a decade teaching people about building business by referral, and I often meet agents and lenders who wonder why their clients don’t refer them to others.

This business can actually be very simple, but it requires a systematic approach to building a high-referring database, regardless of the state of the market. First, people have to want to refer you—i.e. you must do a good job for them. If you take care of their needs and concerns before, during and after the transaction, you build a strong loyalty and they’ll be happy to refer you to others. The key is to remind them that you appreciate referrals and this is where you must implement systems to ensure this occurs. Your past clients must be reminded that you work by referral and would appreciate the business.

This element is critical and cannot be overemphasized. People want you to stay in contact with them. You might be reluctant to call them, yet what I see over and over is that people are happy to hear from you. Introduce them to what I call a Client Appreciation Program.

In my own business, I implemented a Client Appreciation Program (CAP) to stay in touch with my clients. This was just one element in the referral systems that grew my real estate company, and is now an integral part of what we teach to our members.

A CAP is basically a systematized care program. It communicates both your trustworthy character and your professional competence through written communication and personal contact. To successfully work by referral, the CAP has three steps that must be followed diligently. This is not about mailing out something to your clients and then just forgetting about it. It is about committing yourself to the building of relationships based on competence and character. Zero in on your A+ clients, and follow through on all three steps:

1. Send out a monthly Item of Value to your database (we produce millions of these every month so our clients have a first-class product to send to their database)

2. Follow-up with a phone call or a short visit (Pop-By)

3. Send a Personal Note

Why should you do this? The Client Appreciation Program helps you put the “Give, Ask, Receive” principle into action, allowing you to give value, ask for referrals and receive them! It’s the best way to produce a steady stream of referrals by consistently staying in touch with your “A” clients. Sending out an Item of Value, similar to the ones we produce for our Realtors and lenders, gives you a great reason to have personal face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with your database. You ultimately end up working with clients you enjoy and they’re glad to hear from you.

Client Appreciation: Step by Step

Build, sort and qualify your database.

Send a letter with an Item of Value to past clients letting them know of your commitment to doing business by referral.

Send introduction letters to those with whom you have never done a transaction, and introduce them to your CAP.

Send out letters to only as many clients as you can call or Pop-By within the following couple of days. Continue to do this until you have gone through your entire database.

Make calls to qualify each person as to their likelihood of referring you to others.

Further explain what the CAP is and get their permission to keep them on your program.

Follow-up by sending a personal note.

Every month, we send our members Items of Value to mail to their database, but we also remind them that they themselves are the real Item of Value! The CAP is simply a way to remain at the forefront of your clients’ minds whenever they hear of someone who wants to buy or sell a home. It can be difficult to communicate your value, but when you allow your clients to refer you to others, they will always do a better job referring you than you could ever do.

Send out your Item of Value on a regular schedule every month. Your clients will come to expect it. One of the greatest gifts you give to your clients is your time. Be sure to follow-up after you have mailed the Item of Value with a phone call or a Pop-By.

Get feedback from your clients. Ask them if there is anything they would like to see as an Item of Value.

Put other businesses on your CAP mailing list. Identify and qualify reputable businesspeople to whom you can refer your clients, and from whom you can receive reciprocal referrals.

Consistently resort and qualify your database. It is about quality, not quantity in your database.

Results:
A client of ours met a judge at a community meeting. She added the judge to her CAP, explaining that she sends out informative mailings to keep in touch with individuals who send her referred business. The judge thought her mailings were very well done, and two months later, recommended her services to an attorney that needed help with an estate sale. The referred attorney called our client to handle the transaction. It was a $3 million estate! Our client double-ended that sale and earned a commission of $120,000. This story highlights the power of adding qualified people to your database and following up with an Item of Value on a monthly basis.

It’s important to remember that the CAP is a complimentary service you provide to clients if you want to work exclusively by referral. It is two- dimensional in that it is designed to communicate both your character and competence. To generate results, the items must be professional and followed up with personal contact. In these days of lengthening market times, implement an appreciation program for your current and past clients. You’ll build the thriving business you’ve always dreamed of.

Brian Buffini is the founder and chairman of Buffini & Company. For more information, visit www.buffiniandcompany.com.

SEO is the future...

2006-06-09T15:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I would do too much of #3 (outside of possibly messing with the metatags), but this is an interesting article...

Real estate search goes organic
Marketing tricks aim to ensure high Web placement

Friday, June 09, 2006
By Bernice Ross
Inman News

How can you maximize your return on your Web advertising campaign with a minimum amount of cost? Going organic is the solution.

There are two primary ways to advertise on search engines such as Google, MSN or Yahoo. The first is called "pay-per-click." This type of paid placement is based upon how much you are willing to bid to be placed above other bidders. In contrast, "organic" search placement is based upon how well the key words on a given Web site match the search terms the user selects. It is also based upon how many people click through to the site, whether or not they stay on the site, how long the site has been in existence, as well as a host of other complicated factors.

Given that organic search costs you nothing and pay-per-click can be quite expensive, obtaining good organic search placement can be a huge win for your business. For example, I recently received an e-mail from a man who was trying to market a condominium project using pay-per-click ads. He was paying $20,000 per month and getting virtually no response. As this example illustrates, pay-per-click programs can be extraordinarily expensive. Prices are especially high if you're bidding in a metropolitan area or against well-funded companies who specialize in Web marketing.

The auction mentality makes big bucks for search-engine companies such as Google, MSN and Yahoo. Click fraud is another huge issue that few discuss. In contrast, organic clicks actually help you achieve better placement.

As an individual agent or brokerage, what can you do to be on the Web and achieve high organic placement? Here are three simple strategies.

1. Get "granular"
Rather than tackling a mountain of advertisers, think of picking up grains of sand. For example, there may be tremendous competition for terms such as "Portland homes for sale" or "Kansas City real estate." Competing for these terms will be exorbitantly expensive.

In contrast, there is virtually no competition for names of specific subdivisions. You may be able to achieve excellent placement by setting up a single page on your Web site devoted to "Bermuda Dunes golf homes, Palm Springs." Another search term might be "Golf course properties, Bermuda Dunes." Set up the page and register a separate URL with Network Solutions or GoDaddy.com. For example, you could register BermudaDunesGolfHomes.com . Pack this page full of words that reference, golf, properties, homes for sale, Bermuda Dunes, Palm Springs, etc. Although this page may appear to be a separate Web site, Web visitors simply land on a different page on your main Web site.

You could also do this based upon languages spoken or types of careers. For example, if you are fluent in Spanish, you might register "SanAntonioCasas.com" Another alternative would be to register "Homes4LATeachers.com" or any other site that references a specific geographical area in conjunction with a profession.

2. Start a blog
Currently, many search engines will give users higher placement if their site has a blog. The advantage of blogging is that you are adding content every day. Furthermore, if you have regular readers, they will visit your site repeatedly for new information.

The more visitors that you have, the better your organic placement will be. In terms of what to include, consider updating your sphere of influence on local events, funny stories, or with ideas on how to save them time and money. If you're not good at writing, hire a virtual assistant to handle the posts for you. You can have a quote of the week (or of the day if you're really ambitious), interesting tidbits from Inman News, or other resources that consumers will find to be interesting.

3. Misspell major terms
There is a substantial part of the search-engine industry that focuses on setting up Web sites that misspell one or more words in the search. One of the most commonly misspelled words is "Realtor." A slightly different approach is to check for spellings based upon common typographical errors. Also, when you visit a site such as GoDaddy.com, they give you additional suggestions for terms you may use.

Regardless of the approach you elect, remember that obtaining free or organic search placement is a process. Experiment with different terms and monitor the number of hits you receive and convert. If one approach doesn't work, experiment with others. Another important point to remember is that search is unlike traditional "right now" business where people are ready to take action now. Instead, Web buyers must be courted for 6 to 18 months before they are ready to take action. Whether you are embarking on a pay-per-click program or seeking to improve your positioning by using organic search, your success will be contingent upon your patience, your willingness to stay in regular contact for up to 18 months, and your willingness to constantly monitor and adjust your advertising campaign.

Bernice Ross, co-owner of Realestatecoach.com, has written a new book, "Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters," available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.

The Top 10 Dumbest Mistakes Buyers/Sellers Make

2006-06-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Mistake #1:
Not knowing how much they can afford before they make an offer. The easiest way to avoid this mistake is to get pre-approved for a mortgage by a lender so you know in advance exactly how much you can afford.

Mistake #2:
Not realizing in advance who the real estate agent represents. Most people think that the agent they are working with is working for them. But unless they are working as your buyer representative, they represent the seller.

Mistake #3:
Not realizing that the wrong mortgage can cost thousands of dollars in needless
interest and taxes. Check with your accountant before you make your final decision on which mortgage you are going to choose. Your CPA will be able to tell you what the long-term effects will be on your income.

Mistake #4:
Not discovering hidden defects before they buy a home. One of the most expensive mistakes is also one of the easiest to avoid, by having a professional pre-purchase home inspection.

Mistake #5:
Not knowing how much credit can affect their ability to buy or refinance a home.
Before you buy a home, many of the clouds on your credit history can be cleared up
or even eliminated. Your mortgage professional can help you review and prepare
your credit file in advance.

Mistake #6:
Basing their asking price on needs or emotion rather than market value.
Many times, people make their pricing decisions based on how much they paid or
invested into their home. This can be an expensive mistake. Overpriced homes take
longer to sell and eventually net the seller less money. Consult with a professional
real estate agent. They can assist you in pricing your home correctly from the
beginning.

Mistake #7:
Failing to "showcase" their home. First impressions are the most important. Experience shows that for every $100 in repairs that your home needs, a buyer will deduct $300-$500 from their offer. Thoroughly clean and prepare your home before you put it on the market if you want top dollar.

Mistake #8:
Signing a listing contract with no way out. Most traditional real estate agents want you to sign a listing contract with no way out. When you list you home with Best Local Agent Team, you can cancel your listing agreement at any time, no questions asked.

Mistake #9:
Choosing the wrong agent or choosing them for the wrong reasons. Many homeowners list their home with the agent who works for the biggest company. You need to choose the agent with the best marketing plan and track record to sell your home.

Mistake #10:
Not knowing all of their legal rights and obligations. Real estate law is complex. The contract that you will sign when selling your home is legally binding. Small items that are neglected in a contract can wind up costing you thousands of dollars. You need to consult a knowledgeable, professional who understands the ins and outs of a real estate transaction.

2006-06-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Internet inquiries are very different from traditional offline leads.
Success depends on understanding this difference.

* Internet buyers spend an average of 5.9 weeks considering the purchase of a home before contacting a REALTOR®, compared to 2.1 weeks for traditional buyers.

* Internet buyers spend an average of 4.8 weeks investigating homes and neighborhoods prior to contacting a REALTOR®

* Having done significantly more research than their traditional buyer counterparts, Internet buyers spend less time looking for a home once they began working with a REALTOR®, spending just 1.9 weeks on average, compared to 7.1 weeks for a traditional buyer

* The typical Internet buyer also visited fewer homes with their REALTOR® than the typical traditional buyer. Internet buyers visited an average of 6.1 homes with their REALTOR®, whereas a typical traditional buyer visited 15.4 homes with their REALTOR®.

* Internet buyers tended to be younger than traditional buyers with a mean age of 38.5 years, compared to 43.5 years for traditional buyers.

What does all this mean to you?

What this means is that the Internet home buyer is not the same homebuyer you thought you knew. They take longer to choose a REALTOR®, but that’s because they are beginning their process much earlier in the game. (It doesn’t require much effort to decide one day you want to browse around online and start looking for some homes. It’s a bit more of a commitment to set aside an afternoon to go driving around looking for open houses). What’s most important is that these people WILL BUY. In fact, once they choose you as their REALTOR®, they’re actually BETTER buyers. They don’t shop your services as much, they usually have more money, and they’re better educated (both about buying a home and in general).

Where most REALTORS® have difficulty is seeing past the extended initial phase that Internet buyers are so well known for. Instead, they usually are seen literally throwing this business away and writing it off as “bad leads.”

Your ability to effectively manage and maintain the Internet buyer during their initial phase of home buying is what will set you apart from your competition and ensure your success with some type of traffic program.

Your initial follow up with an inquiry is a critical stage in the process.
Poor follow up stops everything in its tracks. When it comes to following up with inquiries, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

1. Immediacy is crucial: A unique attribute of the Internet is that information is accessible immediately. Because of this, Internet users have developed into a very impatient, “now” culture. If you do not respond to an inquiry within 12 hours (at the most) of receiving it, your chance of losing their interest increases dramatically. Best practice is closer to a 0-15 minute response time. Because of this, the auto-responder built right into your landing page can be your most powerful tool. Be sure to customize this auto-responder to your specific needs.

2. Ask leading questions: Many Realtors make the mistake of putting a sentence like “If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask.” Then they wonder why no one replies to their emails. Be sure to ask questions which provoke an immediate response. Initiate the conversation, rather than waiting for them to decide they’re ready to talk to you.

For Example:

• Are you looking for a place with a pool?
• Are you looking for a 1 or 2 story house?
• Do you have children? If so, are you looking to move within a particular school district
• I know the commute traffic here is pretty bad sometimes. Where will you be working?

3. Include a value proposition for your website: Getting someone to come back to your website is important. You increase your brand awareness every time you are able to get yourself in front of them. Be sure to include a reason for them to go back to your website other than the reason why they went there in the first place. Just ask yourself, “What else do people buying a home in my area want to do on my site, other than search for homes?”

Inquiry Incubation
Due to the need to hit short-term sales goals, many agents will focus all of their attention on working “hot leads.” Focusing too much on this can cause several problems in your marketing strategy:

• The cost of generating a “hot lead” can easily be more than 10 times greater than the cost of generating any other lead.

• You will experience harsh lows in your sales pipeline, when all the “hot leads” sell. You end up being caught in a vicious cycle of actively searching for the next “hot lead” at a very high cost.

With Internet-based marketing, the key to driving down your cost of acquisition and maximizing the benefits reaped from your advertising dollars is to practice effective inquiry incubation methods. This means to not just focus on the hottest leads, but to also identify the warm and even cold inquiries and nurture them over time into hot inquiries. You must implement an effective inquiry incubation cycle, with regularly scheduled “marketing touches” that are aimed at building credibility and brand awareness, and also presenting strong value propositions. By doing this, you create a much more balanced approach to long-term and short-term lead generation.

Writing an Effective Sales Message

2006-06-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

The 10 Ingredients of an Effective Sales Message

1. A compelling headline

2. Attention-catching sub-headlines

3. Bulleting list of features and benefits

4. A few intriguing questions to engage the prospect

5. An incentive for responding promptly

6. An assurance or guarantee of satisfaction

7. A testimonial or endorcement

8. Some background on your experience & ties to the community

9. A call to action (urge them to call, visit your website, stop by your office, email an inquiry, etc.)

10. A P.S. used as a place to put a reminder, a special offer, or added incentive

Real estate dinosaurs still roam the earth: Technology leaves some agents in prehistoric times

2006-04-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 28, 2006
By Bernice Ross, reposted from Inman News

Do you follow up on your e-mails promptly? Are you advertising using pay-per-click? Do you conduct digital transactions? Do you use transaction-tracking platform? Are your lead generation and lead follow-up systems automated? Do you know about Oodle, Trulia and Zillow? Do you use text messaging? If not, you may be on the verge of becoming a real estate dinosaur.

In the 1960s, the mantra of the baby boomers was: "Don't trust anyone over 30." Today, of course, boomers are still trying to hang on to their youth. Sadly, unless agents who are over 40 are prepared to make a quantum shift in how they do business, there's a high probability that their style of doing business will soon become extinct.

On the other hand, the under-40s may continue to struggle with building their business because Boomers still control 54 percent of the listing inventory. No matter what generation you are in, to thrive in today's rapidly changing environment, you must balance the best of the old with today's technological innovations.

I recently spoke with a small group of agents whose manager had organized a training course around my book, "Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters." One of the young agents asked if I still recommended 800 Call Capture (IVR) systems as a strategy given all the changes in technology. She based her question on the fact that she does everything via e-mail and text messaging, and seldom uses the phone. I explained the importance of call capture in terms of tracking advertising return on investment (ROI), providing better service to consumers, and most importantly, obtaining correct contact information from people who call on our sign, print and Web advertising. When agents explain how these tools help sellers obtain the best possible price for their property, they normally will sign a listing agreement on the spot. In response to her comments, one of the more than 40 agents said that he only wanted clients who would call him. When I mentioned the importance of using new technologies such as texting or the new search-engine products, he wasn't interested. The younger agent emphasized how that every one of her friends used these tools when they were looking for property.

This event highlights an important bifurcation that is taking place in our business. The younger the agents are, the more likely they are to use technological tools in their business. Furthermore, they are less inclined to pick up the telephone and more inclined to communicate via e-mail or text messaging. The same is true for our clients in this age group. They expect e-mail and text communication, and they also expect their agent to use the latest search and technological tools. When they inquire how you will market their listing and you respond by outlining your print advertising program in the local paper, their response is, "Why would you want to do that? Aren't you going to advertise on Google, MSN, Yahoo and craigslist?" They expect you to respond to their inquiries instantaneously just as they do when they receive a text or e-mail message. This is difficult for those of us over 40 since we often have trouble just tapping out a single e-mail message on our PDAs.

In contrast, one of the most stunning things you may observe about today's teenagers is how they can carry on up to 10 online conversations simultaneously. Because our younger clients have grown up with technology, it is easy for them. More importantly, if you want their business, you must be comfortable using technology to work with them when they're ready to buy.

On the other side of the coin, older clients are often ill at ease with e-mail. Many would prefer a telephone call. In fact, many boomers will not use their PDAs to text simply because their fingers are too stiff to do so. This age group expects personal contact rather than just e-mail contact. E-mail may seem too impersonal. Furthermore, many still read the newspaper and enjoy looking at pictures in print media rather than electronic media.

Ultimately, if you want to avoid becoming a real estate dinosaur or if you want to capture the over-40 crowd's business, you must be willing to communicate with your clients in the style that they prefer. When you work with a buyer or seller, ask them how they want you to communicate with them. If the client expects text messaging, know that quick response is critical. If you are working with someone who is over 40, he/she is more likely to demand a face-to-face meeting or contact via telephone. Be flexible.

Most importantly, however, if you plan to stay in the business for more than two or three years, now is the time to start making substantial changes in how you do business. Educate yourself on how to market using the various types of search engines. Purchase a tablet PC and go paperless. Start taking the steps today to be a technology early adopter. In the race for business, the one who has the best technology and the best systems is usually the one who wins.

Bernice Ross, co-owner of Realestatecoach.com, has written a new book, "Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters," available online. She can be reached at bernice@realestatecoach.com.