What are some of the important components of great Real Estate Websites? Let’s see…

Are you happy with your current Online Marketing Platform? Bigger question…are you comfortable sending a new buyer or seller to your site? You’re a Real Estate Professional and you are also a small business owner…so, why on Earth would you sit on your ass and let your website hold you back from becoming the Real Estate Rock Star you want to be?!?

All Real Estate Websites have these 5 components…does yours?

Cutting away all the fluff and puff associated with the idea of a great website, the real simple and honest real estate websites only need 5 things:

1. A Home Search – Not just a simple form to fill out…but a Home Search that indexes each and every listing as their own individual, indexable page that shows up on the search engines driving traffic to your site. Also a Home Search component that allows you to add community pages to your site…an attractive ‘Featured Listings’ and ‘Sold Listings’ display and of course, the OMNI-IMPORTANT QUICK SEARCH window that appears on every single page of your site! Take a look at Spot-On Connect  for more info on a great IDX plugin for your site.

2. A Professional Video – Without a single doubt in my mind, this is the most under utilized yet highest impact piece of any Professionals Real Estate Websites. Spending just a few hours and a couple hundred bucks to have a professional, green screen video that can be your calling card for you home page is the best time and money you could ever spend for your website.

3. A FREE ebook – Sounds daunting! Really, allowing your visitors to download an ebook that was written by you can take literally a couple of hours to write! Using nothing more than a Word or Publisher Doc, you can take a series of blog posts, or a well laid out buyers or sellers guide and convert it to PDF just like that. Want a cool looking cover, go to www.myecovermaker.com create one for FREE! Or spend a couple of bucks and have access to their entire library of killer ebook covers you can make yourself!

4. A Blog – OK, OK…I’ve talked until I’m blue in the face about this! To truly compete in todays Real Estate Market you have to have a reason for people to come to your site if you’re not on the first page of Google. Your ability to become a resource as well as a source through your blog is HUGE! Couple this with the ability to integrate and syndicate your blog to multiple social media outlets and what you have is an Online & Inbound Marketing Platform that allows you to create your own traffic and drive visitors back to your Real Estate Websites.

5. A Contact Form – Last, but certainly not least…you need to have a form that allows visitors to sign up for stuff! Whether it’s a FREE ebook or your weekly email newsletter…having the ability to add subscribers to your database is at the very heart of maintaining a healthy flow of business.

Now, aside from the cost that prohibits you from getting all these things for your site…what’s stopping you? Oh, and by the way…you can have all 5 of these components and more for as little as $699.00! That’s less than $59 a month or around $15 a week or $3.00 a day…DOES IT SOUND COST PROHIBITIVE NOW? 

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Want to get a high quality video…let Real Estate Resource TV show you how!

You’ve seen those very attractive videos on websites and even TV. The ones where you see those amazing images and graphics displaying behind you as someone is speaking. Now you can have the same high quality video for your own web and blog site thanks to Ben Brashen and Real Estate Resource TV.

Nope, this ain’t for everybody! Ben and his team are only looking to offer this dynamic opportunity to those full time Real Estate Brokers looking to get into business with a team of real estate movers and shakers. If this is you, then contact me directly at 206.228.1900 or send me a message on my fan page to get more information about this unique offer!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

I never thought I’d need to post a top 10 reasons you don’t want your site hacked blog…

It has been quite a week! On Monday I woke up to find that my beloved website had been infiltrated and taken over by Islam Terrorists! How did I know they were Islam Terrorists? Because the site look like crap…it had horrible grammar…Oh, and it was from Islam Terrorists!!!

Now I have no intention of rattling on about how to protect your site and your server from these no good losers…because I though I did but they got in anyway. No…today I’m breathing a sigh of relief and in honor of my sites timely return, I’m going to simply have a little fun and leave you with this fair warning…

Do whatever it takes to protect your site and your server by conducting routine checks on your stuff. Be diligent with your security measures and most importantly, give my new friend in Chicago Thomas Raef and his awesome company We Watch Your Website a shout…he saved my online life!

Top 10 Reasons You Don’t Want your Site Hacked by Islam Terrorists:

10. It could have been worse…I could have been hacked by an Islam Porn Site.

9. Their web design was poorly laid out and their choice of fonts was ridiculous.

8. My website has just been added to the “TSA No fly list”

7. These guys are incredibly ugly and do not photograph well at all.

6. There was no place to leave a comment.

5. They kept playing this background song from Burqa Betty and the Jihads…it wasn’t even one of their good songs either!

4. I just received 3 web design orders from Afghanistan…

3. I now feel the need to grow a really long scraggly beard and wrap a towel on my head. (too far?)

2. I keep getting friend requests from Homeland Security.

And the Number 1 Reason you don’t want your site hacked by Islam Terrorists…

It’s almost impossible to blog in Arabic! 

So, now that my site is up and functioning again without the addition of some very unwelcome guests, you can count on more rants about my exploits and in particular, the great work of We Watch Your Website and all they did to get rid of these morons and best of all…set me up so I don’t have to go through this again!!!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Blogging makes you SMARTER!

Are you still looking for a reason to blog? Stuck in the mindset that “nobody wants to read what I have to say”? Let me dispel some of the myths that have many standing on the sidelines of business while those of us who are blogging are not only in the game…we are winning the game!

Once you understand that for most who are blogging for business, the idea of good content is to simply exchange information for the opportunity to get into a (business) relationship. It’s at the very heart of how we’ve been doing business since there were doors to knock on and phones to cold call with!

The art of blogging is that defined line in the sand if you will of having an ability and a forum to get ahead of your colleagues while creating a platform to communicate and convert conversations into desired business relationships!

3 ways blogging makes you better at your job

1. Information in…information out! – The first and likely foremost way that blogging makes you better at your job is the constant demand to KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW! When you are both the source and the resource for information, you become indispensable and irreplaceable as a business owner or an employee!

2. Drive to Thrive – If you are at all in the social media world, you know how quickly the technology is changing and evolving! On a daily basis, there are new apps and new ways and means to utilize those apps for your business. Staying informed as to what the “next thing” will be, increases your awareness for the current and future likelihood you will be that go to person!

3. Creating an Inbound Marketing Funnel – Last but in no way least, blogging allows you to reverse the way you market yourself or your company. Instead of broadcasting your wares, at a significantly higher cost of sale I might add, you are adding information by way of administering a remedy to a symptom. In essence, your blog made its way to someone who was looking for an answer to their online question! This creates a pulling or inbound affect as you have drawn that visitor to you via your blog rather than pushed your wares with no real explanation of why they need what you have!

People will buy and/or engage with you and your product if you help them understand WHY they want your product…not because you HAVE a product you think they need!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Does having a blog site for your business really get you more business?

Are you blogging? Still think you have nothing to say or have little idea what to blog about? You’re not alone! In my humble opinion, I’d wager on a very safe bet that the number of people who don’t blog greatly out number those who do! And all I can say to those who don’t utilize a blog site for your business…THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT BUSINESS THAT’S COMING MY WAY!

Now, if you’re like many who have come to the realization that blogging and having a powerful blog site for your business is no longer a matter of if but when…allow me to let you in on some fun stats as well as 3 reasons I think you need a blog site TODAY!!!

You need a blog site for your business…and here’s why…

These 3 reasons really start out with the 6 major benefits of having a blog site for your business. Now, I’ve posted these bullet points several times over the years but they always bares repeating as they’re the single most important reasons to blog.

• Word of Mouth Marketing – Having others share, repost and retweet your content
• Top of Mind Marketing – Always being in front of consumers when they are ready to buy
• Credibility Marketing – Having an online platform to make yourself stand out
• Return/Repeat Marketing – Having your content available for years and years on Search Engines
• Pattern Interrupt Marketing – Making people think about your product
• Permission Marketing – Allowing your brand and product into their lives

3 Reasons to have a blog site for your business

1. Businesses who blog have more web traffic.

2. Online Marketing (Blogging) cost less than Offline Marketing (Mailers, print ad) AND HERE’S THE FUNNY THING…They’re the same thing!

3. Businesses will spend more money with online advertising than they will in print advertising FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY!!!

I make no apologize for telling it like it is…

Blogging has revolutionized my business and essentially transformed me and my career. I now have more business and more opportunities than ever! If you’re interested in knowing the how’s and why’s of blogging and more importantly, getting started with an SEO (Search Engine Optimized) powered Blogsite, give me a shout!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Customizing your WordPress site is easy…take a look.

Are you just starting out with your WordPress site? Want to learn some basics that won’t make you pull your hair out? This quick tutorial post is intended for those who are brave enough to take the plunge and ready to make some simple adjustments to their site!

So you’ve got a WordPress self hosted site! Great. Now it’s time to get busy making some minor tweaks to get this baby humming…let’s get started!

Taking a step back, the first step is to sign up for a paid WordPress account and host it using the multitude of hosting companies…I use Bluehost.com but really, you can’t swing a dead web developer without hitting some site that will serve your needs! (click the link to get started. I have an affiliate agreement and get paid a small commission when you sign up for Bluehost.com using this link).

WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

When you decide to go with a paid WordPress account or WordPress.org, you’ll find so many more freedoms you can explore that you simply can not do on the FREE WordPress.com! At the start, you’ll very likely start out with a standard WordPress theme called Twenty Eleven…this theme is FREE! In fact, the only cost for the paid WordPress is really the hosting which runs around $80 to $100 a year! You’ll find thousands of FREE WordPress themes once you sign up for hosting and get your site started…most of these themes should be more than enough to get started!

Use these fun and easy WordPress tips to do some tweakin’

1. Getting rid of those pesky comment boxes - One of the first things you may want to eliminate from your site is the comment box that appears EVERYWHERE on your site. Granted, these have their purposes on your blog posts and are a vital component for that all so important engagement we all talk about…but there’s no real need for one on your home page. To make these go away, simply go to the upper right hand corner of your site and find the Screen Options tab. Go ahead and click to open and find either the Discussion and/or comment boxes and uncheck. If you only see discussion, check the box and then scroll down  to uncheck the allow comments box.

2. Linking your Header to another site - The Twenty Eleven theme (as well as many others) allows for a very nice sized header (288px high X 1,000px wide)…why not use this to link to another site like a home search or an order form? Here’s how…Just go to your (General) Settings and change the Site Address (URL) as shown below…it’s that easy! Now you can design a custom image for your header which could include a call to action image like “Click here to Search for Homes in your area” or “Hit this button to order your…” You get the idea!

3. Turning your Blog into a Website - One of the major shifts in the look and feel of WordPress is the ability to make your once “blog looking” blog…less, well…blog looking! Today’s consumer is looking for more than just a series of posts when they land on your site! The confusion I run into time and time again in my classes and presentations is the common misconception that WordPress is only a blog site…nothing could be further from the truth.

First off, you need to build a pair of pages. One should be titled ‘Home’ and the second titled ‘Blog’. By going to your Settings and then clicking on Reading, you now have the option of turning your WordPress site static and identifying the pages you want for your Home and your Blog. See the illustration below. Your Front Page is now your home page of your website and your Blog is identified as your post page.

I hope this was helpful. Certainly, there are hundreds of tips and ways to go crazy on your site. Add to that the level of plugins and add-ons like contact forms as well as graphics and you’ll see how far out you can go! If this was enlightening, please feel free to leave a comment or tell us some of your challenges and we’ll do our best to address them in an upcoming post!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Don’t let your social media efforts fall short of your target market!

Are you finding the challenge of your social media efforts overwhelming? Trying to understand the how and why of integrating all your social media networks? You’re not alone! Putting together a balanced online marketing attack is often times far more easier said than done! For some, the concept of using online marketing along side their established offline marketing efforts can lead to frustration and in some cases…out and out abandonment of any inbound marketing strategy at all! Let’s see if we can help identify and recognize 3 ideas that might help even your marketing scale!

Make your social media efforts a whole lot easier!

The first step to all this is to realize it’s not that difficult. Don’t over think this stuff! Ask yourself this question, “Why is offline and outbound marketing so simple?” The uncomplicated answer is that pushing your wares to your target market is easy and for the most part…straight forward. You find a medium that has a large viewership and you place an advertisement…simple right?

There is really no difference in your social media and online efforts. The slight variation on this theme is instead of pushing your wares through an offline marketing campaign, you’re pulling your target market towards your wares through multiple online networks to a web or blog platform where they can assimilate your info at their pace.

In essence, instead of telling me what I need to consume (offline marketing)…you are explaining to me why I need to consume it (online marketing)!

3 ideas to help you and your social media efforts

1. Integrate and syndicate - Make sure your online and inbound marketing funnel is pulling your target marketing in 1 direction! This is vital as you may only have one shot at getting a consumer to engage with you.

Your social media efforts should begin and end on your web or blog site! Create a social media pathway from and to your online marketing platform by delivering your information that is syndicate automatically to multiple networks. Link your fan page to twitter…have your tweets automatically go to your Linkedin…make sure you’re syndicating to Google Plus as well as all your groups and subgroups on your network using social media sharing plugins.

2. Be the resource not just as well as the source - Maybe the hardest challenge for some. Instead of telling…you need to be informing! I might know I want your product so tell me why I need your product! If I have an symptom…give me the remedy in the form of a blog! This can certainly be the bane of many marketers as it is a marathon and not a sprint.

3.  Remember the 6 benefits to Online Marketing - Some of the biggest AHA’s I get from those I teach and consult is when I explain the multiple marketing advantages of all this! Getting the attention of your target market is one thing…keeping it is another!

• Pattern Interrupt Marketing…They need to be reminded about your wares!
• Top of Mind Marketing…and reminded often!
• Word of Mouth Marketing…once reminded, they should be reminded to tell others!
• Credibility Marketing…By telling others, they increase your validity!
• Permission Marketing…Now your target market is coming to you…and wanting your info!
• Repeat Marketing…Once your info is online…it stays online forever!

Online is about Conversation…Offline is about Conversion!

In the grand scheme of things, using your online and social media efforts is really nothing more than having a conversation with potential consumers…getting that “invite to market to them”! Once that invitation has been extended…you’re one and only mission is to get them offline and into a business relationship that culminates into a dollar productive activity!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Inbound marketing is more affordable…more instantaneous…and perfect for your outbound marketing efforts!

Are you seeing a shift in the way advertisers are plying their wares? Notice all the facebook and twitter icons at the bottom of just about every ad you see on TV and in print? Often times you can’t even see their URL or page name but that doesn’t really matter…what they are telling you is we are online and we use inbound marketing in unison with our outbound and offline efforts…and so should you!

If you consider the fact that online and inbound marketing is roughly 65% less expensive than conventional print and TV ads, you immediately gravitate to trying to understand how you can and should incorporate an effective, consistent and sustainable inbound marketing campaign for your business! Let’s take a look at some easy tips to use your inbound and outbound marketing in tandem.

5 Ways your inbound marketing can make your outbound marketing better

1. QR Codes – The much maligned member of the inbound marketing world. This red-headed step child you see in just about every magazine ad is the poor QR (Quick Response) Code. The reason this lowly, misunderstood creature is shunned so is beyond me! The realty is you should be slapping these babies on every piece of offline and outbound marketing you have! They are FREE…they are ridiculously simple to create…and they can send vital information about your wares immediately to a mobile user with a click of an app! What’s the best and worst place to put a QR Code?

Best Place (Your offline material are perfectly suited for these puppies…go crazy!)

• Business Card
• Post Card
• Flyer
• Brochure/trifolds/pamphlets
• Newspaper/Magazine ad

Worst Place (QR Codes can not be used if it wet or dark so stop putting them in places they do no good)

• For Sale Sign
• Your Website
• Your A boards
• Anywhere outside
• On your car

2. Business Cards or Mailers – Get folks online using your offline efforts. Driving traffic to your web and blog sites, fan pages, twitter and Linkedin accounts as well as your YouTube channel and so on is vital to take the first steps in creating a business relationship. Offering an easy to read link along with the very recognizable social media icons will give your intended recipient the ability to look you over!

A large part of all this is the ability to create credibility with your consumers and the best way to do that is to have a kick ass online marketing platform!

3. Handouts at a presentation or event - I’m always encouraging people to get engaged with folks offline through events, classes and seminars. Whether you are simply attending one or actually teaching, always have a good supply of high quality handouts with all your inbound and online information ready to make the sale. HINT: Add an order form to the back of your hand out if you are able to…get that sale right then and there!

4. Create an ebook that has hyperlinks to your online sites and QR Codes built in - Sure, I may be crossing the event horizon here with an ebook but there are some who will print these up and hand them out to there friends or family! The fact that ebooks can be both an online as well as offline piece makes them ideal for this purpose!

5. Lastly, any Swag or promotional gimmicks you use - This may not fit into every ones budget but there are those who give out the occasional pen/pad combo or the coffee mug and so on…No better place to slather your web and blog site addresses and the proverbial facebook and twitter icons!

I hope this was helpful in getting those creative juices flowing! Remember, many online users and consumers can find you from any number of your offline efforts! Todays end user is using both online and offline mediums to get what they want…and so should you!!!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Are you looking for Inbound Marketing Ideas that breakdown the mystery of how all this stuff works!

I’ve been asked by a couple of clients over the past several weeks for them help on inbound marketing ideas and more importantly, to give them a better understanding of how it can help their business. And like most things…I thought this was a great subject for a blog post. So here goes!

Simply put, inbound marketing is an action where you are pulling folks towards your information rather than pushing it out to them. When enough folks are looking for what you are talking about (providing content via a Blog for example), your ability to get found becomes magnified through online searches and indexed pages. In short, if you know something that someone else wants to know and you blog about that, you have created an inbound marketing platform.

Many Inbound Marketing ideas are easier said than done!

The action to create an inbound marketing platform is easy to draw up on the chalkboard…not always so easy to implement. For one, it takes some time to built the like, know and trust factor that comes with all of this! Your inbound marketing idea must have some longevity or it’s really all for nothing.

Second, you have to be consistent with your message and content (or knowledge) and have a platform (blogsite) to publish your content online.

You must have a remedy for their symptoms or you will not have much success with all this!

Lastly, you want to put a pretty red bow on all this by creating a CRM or email & social media campaign that helps you create an OMNI-PRESENCE and top of mind experience for your viewers.

Creating your brand through this process is a good inbound marketing idea

To summarize…

1. Get your consistent content published
2. Make sure it is the remedy to their symptoms
3. Utilize an email & social media campaign to get your content noticed
4. Remain diligent with your inbound marketing to create the like, know and trust factor.
5. Always deliver what you promise!

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO

Do you track how many days it takes you to go from first contact to close?

As a recovering real estate Broker, I recall many conversations with fellow Brokers about the average time they spent from the moment they met a new client to the time that meeting turned into a closed sale. It almost became a badge of honor to see who spent the most time working on a lead! Of course, all kidding aside, this is a real number we all have to be aware of…isn’t it?

Todays real estate broker (or really anyone in sales) has to account for the lag time from contact to close! And what happens often times is we tend to forget that marketing is a round the clock and around the calendar activity. Not something we do when we slow down or when we run out of clients…but a full time, 12 month a year sport that requires effort and consistency!

Does your real estate market have a busy time and a slow time?

Traditionally, almost every market experiences its peak times. This is generally a time of plenty for many. The active real estate Broker can sometimes be remiss during these high times to plant the seeds for the less that time of the year when sales and leads are hard to come by!

Couple that with the real likelihood that any business opportunity will generally take an evolution of 30, 60 or even 90 days or longer to go from contact to close…and you begin to realize how easy it is to get stuck on the ups and downs of the dreaded real estate roller coaster.

Contact to Close…filling the gap by filling the pipeline!

Many of the great real estate Brokers out there will tell you, “It’s not your primary job to find product (homes) for your clients…it’s finding clients for your product!”

Case in point…a good listing (home for sale) should produce at least 2 viable buyers for other homes. The old adage ‘You list, you last’ makes a clear argument for filling the pipeline for future business.

Can your online marketing efforts produce the same effect? Absolutely! If you are a community based Broker and you have a very good site with a strong Home Search, you have every listing in your market at your fingertips. Getting visitors to your site is not unlike putting a for sale sign in the front yard of a home…it’s all about exposure and getting lots of eyeballs on your product!

Selling Houses is NOT your primary job! Marketing your Online presence through your site is your primary job!

And the beauty of a good site is it’s working…even when you’re not!

OK smarty pants…how do I market my online presence!!!

• Blog about your community…OFTEN!
• Google/Facebook/Bing Ads
• Using Proper Keywords
• Craigslist Blasts
• Social Media Syndication (putting your posts on Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin)
• SEO Campaigns
• Powerful IDX (Home search)
• Direct folks to your site through flyers, brochures and mailers
• CRM Email Marketing
• TELL PEOPLE TO VISIT YOUR SITE!

These 10 bullet points are all the things I use to get the kind of traffic I receive (11,000 unique page views last month) to my site.

What do you do to get traffic to your site? How has your online marketing success translated in to closing that gap and filling that pipeline so your contact to close is no longer about riding that real estate roller coaster?

SOCIAL MEDIA 411 | Social Media Integration | Online Marketing Help | Facebook Training | SEO