"Google is switching from simple keyword recognition to the identification of entities, nodes and relationships. In this world, “New York” is not simply the combination of two keywords that can be recognized. It’s understood by Google as a state in the U.S. surrounded by other states, the Atlantic Ocean and with a whole bunch of other, relevant attributes." Mashable
What does this mean in terms of your Business?
A client should be able to search for you on Google by your name and Google should return with a summary of the information found for your name on the web. A photo, pictures of things you've done, and websites related to your name. This will be displayed to the right of the Search Results.
This will be a great centralized point of contact through Google's interface for you and all of your associated points of contact ie. social media websites, blogs, profiles etc.
My concern?
My concern is that I wont get to control the related information. We've had issues with the Google Places app already in the past in terms of multiple agents in one location so I wonder how that will work when two Realtors have shared keyterms and content on their sites.
Bing is making similar changes, but from what I read, it's focusing on smaller segments based on typical searches, like Restaurants, Movies and Hotels. It will include apps, and tools relevant to that segment.
What can you do in the meantime?
Do a search for your name in any of the major Search Engines, make note of the first 10 sites that show up, these have a good chance of somewhat being associated with your Search after these changes come into play. And even though it's not just about keywords, it still is, so do a meta tag check on your website and ensure your website has your name as keywords.
Read up on it!
The face of search is ever changing, in order to maintain your search position it's best practice to keep abreast these changes, one of my favourite blogs for this sort of stuff is Mashable. They quite often post videos that are quick 20 seconds of information that can be helpful.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
The Story of Sarah; Lead generation by mobile means
In a previous post Prospecting
using a QR code I suggested adding a QR code to your feature sheets.
Did any of you try it? What were your results?
I had a discussion recently on the topic of First Time Home Buyers and how at their common age of 31 it puts them right in the most common age range for using smartphones.
This reminded me of a real life example, which I wanted to share with you guys.
The story of Sarah
Like Sarah, many first time home buyers have some challenges or fears to overcome before committing to making a purchase like a house. Even if the Open House atendee didn't convert to a sale directly, Sarah is still a viable prospect and we can still use mobile / content / internet marketing stragegies to convert her later.
How do we do this?
What we can do once we have Sarah's email address?
Don't spam her.... that's aweful, who wants spam! You want to provide Sarah with valuable information in a medium that she is comfortable accepting it in.
So what are the next steps?
Think mobile! Mobile marketing doesn't have to be complicated, many social media websites provide us with mobile mediums for FREE; Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds (Blogs), even your Email Newsletter.
In Sarah's case you'll want to send her an email that will invite / entice her to: like your facebook page, follow your tweets, set up your RSS feed from your blog on her RSS reader, and agree to receive your email newsletter.
Your success of conversion will depend greatly on the quality of the content you provide, and the strategy behind your posts, but social media marketing and mobile go hand in hand. Through these mediums you have the opportunity to educate your audience, and earn their trust.
Few facts about home buyers:
37% of buyers are first time home buyers
63% are repeat buyers
63% have drove by/viewed a home based on an internet home search
The average age of a first time home buyer is 31.
Few facts about smart phone users:
Nearly half (48.7%) of smartphone owners in the U.S. were between the ages of 25 and 44, with those in the 25-34 year old demographic making up the largest segment of the smartphone population.
Source: 2011 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (US)
US Smartphone Owners by Age
Survey of First Time Homebuyers
Did any of you try it? What were your results?
I had a discussion recently on the topic of First Time Home Buyers and how at their common age of 31 it puts them right in the most common age range for using smartphones.
This reminded me of a real life example, which I wanted to share with you guys.
The story of Sarah
Sarah is a first time home buyer. She and her common law husband have been on the market for a year or so now. They have some things to work on in terms off financing but they are well on their way with a plan to own a home in the next 24 months.
While doing drive bys one Saturday morning in a subdivision she's interested in, Sarah decides to visit an Open House. The Realtor on duty greats her and offers to show her around. Sarah enjoys the brief walkthrough, and the agent provides her with feature sheet on her way out the door.
Sarah pleased with the pleasant experience of her first Open House visit. She takes notice of the QR code on the Feature Sheet and scans it with her smartphone.
Sarah's phone is directed to a custom landing page that she can see from her phone. She emails the link for the house she just saw to her partner.
End Story.Now ideally Sarah would call the agent and put in an Offer on the home, but this wasn't the case.
When Sarah emailed her common law husband, her email address was saved in a database for future use.
- Facebook for Android, Iphone, Blackberry.
- Twitter for Android, Iphone, Blackberry.
- RSS Readers for Android, Iphone, Blackberry
- Email Reader for Android, Iphone, Blackberry
In Sarah's case you'll want to send her an email that will invite / entice her to: like your facebook page, follow your tweets, set up your RSS feed from your blog on her RSS reader, and agree to receive your email newsletter.
Your success of conversion will depend greatly on the quality of the content you provide, and the strategy behind your posts, but social media marketing and mobile go hand in hand. Through these mediums you have the opportunity to educate your audience, and earn their trust.
37% of buyers are first time home buyers
63% are repeat buyers
63% have drove by/viewed a home based on an internet home search
The average age of a first time home buyer is 31.
Nearly half (48.7%) of smartphone owners in the U.S. were between the ages of 25 and 44, with those in the 25-34 year old demographic making up the largest segment of the smartphone population.
US Smartphone Owners by Age
Survey of First Time Homebuyers
Monday, April 23, 2012
Chris Brogan - Creating Pathways
One of my favourite writers as of late has been Chris Brogan, he wrote the book Trust Agents I am reading and has been a guest speaker on numerous social media marketing and internet marketing webinars I have watched.
Recently I signed up to receive his email notifications and this letter he sent me on creating pathways really caught my attention so I thought I would share it with you.
This email really got me thinking. The things we do each day shapes and defines who we become. We must learn to leverage every opportunity optimistically and whole heartedly understanding that this moment has a hand in shaping our future successes.
If you'd like to read more of Chris Brogan, or to sign up for his emails, you can visit his website at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ or pick up his book on Amazon Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
Have a great day!
Gig
Recently I signed up to receive his email notifications and this letter he sent me on creating pathways really caught my attention so I thought I would share it with you.
Hey, Gigget!
The moment I decided to do more with music again, the world has sent me musicians. I've had great conversations about music lately. I brought a guitar with me on the road this week, and that led me to talk with other people carrying their guitars onto planes. The more I create a path towards music, the more it unfolds for me.
I watched Loral Langemeier speak the other day at a cool event called Infusioncon. Her book, The Millionaire Maker, was one of the smartest books I ever read about making money. She is probably a bit too extreme of creating a pathway to that kind of success, and yet, she's very successful at what she does. She also coaches others (through that book and other efforts) how to get on that pathway that makes one a millionaire.
My thought to you this week is simple: what are you doing to create the pathways you need to be successful?
My daughter is almost 10 years old. She's taken to calling herself stupid lately, and every time I hear it, I stop her. I reframe everything and point out that the more we say such things to ourselves, the more we're willing to believe it. Instead, I let her blame a moment, and then reinforce that she's smart. That's a path in the making, and I refuse to let her get on it. The moment we accept that we are stupid is when we truly are.
WHERE ARE YOUR PATHS?
The Hippie legend and fascinating spiritual teacher Wavy Gravy has the word "Smile" over his bed. It's the first thing he sees when he wakes up every morning. What's the first thing you look at? Your tweet stream? Your inbox? Is that the path you wish to choose to set your day? What word or words would you rather start every day seeing? Have you written out your intentions lately? If you intend to lose 40 pounds, that starts with the next meal, the next hour, now.
Now is the building block of the future. Now. You only have now. You don't have to answer "how" nearly as much as you have to answer "why." And then, you have to remember that you only have "now" to build that out with.
Worrying about making a million bucks is a lot less useful than figuring out what you'll do today to earn money in service of your bigger passions. Even if what you do TODAY is buy Marsha Collier's books on how to sell better on eBay and use that to fund your next big dream. Do you want to give yourself a 120K raise this year? You just have to figure out how to get 10K more a month. How? Well, you have to figure out how to get 2500 a week (roughly). Is that too much to start with? Take off a zero. Want to give yourself another 12K this year? Then figure out how to earn another 1000 a month. That's 250 a week. Can you do it? No question. Don't answer how. Just make that your path and your intention.
We will all live better when we keep our hearts and minds open to staying on our path. Oh, and your path is yours. No one else has to follow you on it. That's your business to deal with...
--Chris...
This email really got me thinking. The things we do each day shapes and defines who we become. We must learn to leverage every opportunity optimistically and whole heartedly understanding that this moment has a hand in shaping our future successes.
If you'd like to read more of Chris Brogan, or to sign up for his emails, you can visit his website at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ or pick up his book on Amazon Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
Have a great day!
Gig
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Real Estate Website Design Decoded
I wanted to take a moment to talk about Real Estate Websites. With so many options available, many Realtors are unsure where to look for good quality design that's going to help them with their overall Internet marketing objectives.
It is said that, these days, over 82% of all Buyers turn to the Internet first to do their first home searches. This means that any website you choose has to be SEO (search engine optimization) compliant first and foremost.
What does that mean? It means that your site must follow set of rules in order to get listed on major search engines like Google.
In Nov 2011 Google changed how listings are displayed on search results. There are over 200 different things it looks for in a site to get listed in top placement which has a lot of people confused and not knowing where to start.
I made a quick list of the top 5 things that your website provider needs to have in order for you to get listed on Google. Since most real estate website systems have a million different functions sometimes it can be hard to know what to ask for.
Top 5 things to look for in choosing your Real Estate Website:
1. Keywords: You must be able to control your own keywords, description and title as well as the verbiage that is located on your home page. What would your client type into Google to find your page? You should have control to add those words where they are needed without incurring costs.
2. Analytics: Otherwise known as web statistics, or where you go to check how many visitors you have to your site. It is important to be able to adjust your keywords based on what your user traffic says. If you think most of your clients would type in "keswick real estate" to find your Keswick webpage and spend all your time and effort seeding those words but your analytics software says the majority of your traffic is coming from "keswick mls listings" then you know either A. you need to adjust your keywords to match your content better, or B. you need to adjust your content to match your keywords better.
3. Content Creation: You've heard the term "Content is King" and whoever said that was absolutely right. In November 2011 Google changed their Algorithm for displaying top sites and sites with recent content rich with keywords and outbound links win over any else. This means your website should have the ability to Blog and create custom reports. The most recent updated of these need to be displayed on your home page
4. Social Sharing: There are a lot of people who would argue that this isn't necessary in a website and I think they are very wrong. With the quick rising of social media websites; facebook, google plus, linked in, twitter, pinterest, etc. we are seeing a new way clients and Realtors are interacting. If your website is not compatible for social sharing then you're missing out! Social media websites drive targeted traffic to your site, FOR FREE!
5. Mobile Access: Can your website be viewed from a mobile device? Have you tried? Take a look. Mobile access is on the rise and you can't deny this. With TREB just about to release it's new STRATUS and Realtor.ca releasing it's new APP more and more visitors will be viewing your site from a handheld device like a smartphone or a tablet and if your site is not available they will quickly move onto an Agents that is.
My next post I'm going to take a look at some really good Real Estate websites and show you how and why they work and hopefully this will help you invest wisely in web design that will work for you.
It is said that, these days, over 82% of all Buyers turn to the Internet first to do their first home searches. This means that any website you choose has to be SEO (search engine optimization) compliant first and foremost.
What does that mean? It means that your site must follow set of rules in order to get listed on major search engines like Google.
In Nov 2011 Google changed how listings are displayed on search results. There are over 200 different things it looks for in a site to get listed in top placement which has a lot of people confused and not knowing where to start.
I made a quick list of the top 5 things that your website provider needs to have in order for you to get listed on Google. Since most real estate website systems have a million different functions sometimes it can be hard to know what to ask for.
Top 5 things to look for in choosing your Real Estate Website:
1. Keywords: You must be able to control your own keywords, description and title as well as the verbiage that is located on your home page. What would your client type into Google to find your page? You should have control to add those words where they are needed without incurring costs.
2. Analytics: Otherwise known as web statistics, or where you go to check how many visitors you have to your site. It is important to be able to adjust your keywords based on what your user traffic says. If you think most of your clients would type in "keswick real estate" to find your Keswick webpage and spend all your time and effort seeding those words but your analytics software says the majority of your traffic is coming from "keswick mls listings" then you know either A. you need to adjust your keywords to match your content better, or B. you need to adjust your content to match your keywords better.
3. Content Creation: You've heard the term "Content is King" and whoever said that was absolutely right. In November 2011 Google changed their Algorithm for displaying top sites and sites with recent content rich with keywords and outbound links win over any else. This means your website should have the ability to Blog and create custom reports. The most recent updated of these need to be displayed on your home page
4. Social Sharing: There are a lot of people who would argue that this isn't necessary in a website and I think they are very wrong. With the quick rising of social media websites; facebook, google plus, linked in, twitter, pinterest, etc. we are seeing a new way clients and Realtors are interacting. If your website is not compatible for social sharing then you're missing out! Social media websites drive targeted traffic to your site, FOR FREE!
5. Mobile Access: Can your website be viewed from a mobile device? Have you tried? Take a look. Mobile access is on the rise and you can't deny this. With TREB just about to release it's new STRATUS and Realtor.ca releasing it's new APP more and more visitors will be viewing your site from a handheld device like a smartphone or a tablet and if your site is not available they will quickly move onto an Agents that is.
My next post I'm going to take a look at some really good Real Estate websites and show you how and why they work and hopefully this will help you invest wisely in web design that will work for you.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Prospecting using a QR code for Real Estate Professionals Tip #1
Prospecting Tip #1 (lol) Link your feature sheet to a custom landing page that lets Buyers download a PDF copy of your feature sheet.
Buyers can save a PDF copy of your feature sheet on their smartphone by scanning something called a QR code.
1. You need a landing page. This page should be simple, mobile friendly and include a feedback form to request the feature sheet download.
2. You want to have something called a autoresponder setup that will Thank the client for their request and automatically send them their requested document.
3. Make a QR code copy and paste the URL code of your landing page into the link I showed you and make and save your QR code.
4. Add the code to your feature sheet.
It works like this:
Buyer scans the QR code with thier phone and request the download of your feature sheet, your automatically thank them and send them their requested information. All leads should be recorded for later use.
Hope that was helpful!
Buyers can save a PDF copy of your feature sheet on their smartphone by scanning something called a QR code.
1. You need a landing page. This page should be simple, mobile friendly and include a feedback form to request the feature sheet download.
2. You want to have something called a autoresponder setup that will Thank the client for their request and automatically send them their requested document.
3. Make a QR code copy and paste the URL code of your landing page into the link I showed you and make and save your QR code.
4. Add the code to your feature sheet.
It works like this:
Buyer scans the QR code with thier phone and request the download of your feature sheet, your automatically thank them and send them their requested information. All leads should be recorded for later use.
Hope that was helpful!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Real Estate Website Options
Not every Realtor has the luxury of a personal web designer and they may not have a budget to hire someone to build their sites so I've made a list of some of the systems I have used over the years.
All these companies are:
- local
- offer similar services
- template design
- some customization for a cost
- idx listings
Money Maker 4 Agents
From their website: Moneymaker™ is also a real estate marketing system, client management system, follow-up system and listing presentation system. Our unbelievable online internet marketing tools will help you manage your entire real estate business.
Office Location: Mississauga
Price of Website: $50/month + $399 setup fee
Best for agents who need one system with tools to do everything.
Company Website: http://www.moneymaker4agents.com/
Real example sites: http://www.torontohomes-for-sale.com/ http://www.hodgeslodges.ca/
Real Web Solutions
From their website: Real Web Agent is a full software solution to which assists and streamlines your real estate business. Real Web Agent addresses all aspects of your client relationship management and online presence. Our tools are designed to work together to help you achieve optimal results.
Office Location: Toronto
Payment Options: $50/month + $295 setup fee, or $550 for the year with no setup fee
Company Website: http://www.realwebsolutions.com/
Real example sites: http://www.bh21.ca/ http://www.sterlingedmonton.ca/
From their website: Point2 Agent gives you a complete real estate Website, the industry's leading listing syndication network to deliver a steady stream of prospects, and built-in conversion tools to help turn prospects into clients. Point2 Agent software helps you build a website, build traffic and build clients - quickly, easily and affordably.
Office Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Price: $19.99 a month, first 3 months free.
Company Website: http://agent.point2.com
Real example sites: http://www.georginahomesforsale.com http://www.jarrett.ca/
From their website: Our online system showcases a large volume of real estate listings that are updated daily in many areas throughout Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Office Location: Peterborough, ON
Price: $350/year
Company Website: http://www.youronlineagents.com/
Real example sites: http://www.youronlineagents.com/remaxtrentvalley/ http://www.waynewinch.com
From their website: It's essential to build a solid Internet marketing foundation. RPS offers multiple levels of their website packages. Silver gives real estate professionals the critical elements of an Internet marketing strategy in an integrated easy-to-use package. Gold is for more established agents. And there is Platinum is for teams or brokers
Office Location: Eugene, OR
Price: sent email for quote
Company website: http://www.realprosystems.com/
Real example sites: http://www.nathanbangs.com/ http://www.lakecountyilhomes.com/
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
How the Real Estate Industry is Leading the Way in Social Media
4 days only!!!
This edition of the HootSuite University Lecture Series is available to the public for a limited time, and will be removed February 12, 2012. All HootSuite University students will continue to have access to our Lecture Series within HootSuite University.
WATCH THE VIDEO NOW! 4 Days Only!
If you missed the video, here are a few of my notes on what it was about.
Develop a Social Media Marketing strategy
No matter your platform for social media; Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Website, eNewsletter, you'll want to post content that is unique and intereactive. Ie. questions, original articles, photos and multimedia. Engage your audience, ask for Comments, Likes, and Shares and be sure to respond to all comments quickly.
The quality of your content matters! If you are not getting the level of engagement that you're looking for, you might need to re-evaluate your audience and re-design your content.
This edition of the HootSuite University Lecture Series is available to the public for a limited time, and will be removed February 12, 2012. All HootSuite University students will continue to have access to our Lecture Series within HootSuite University.
WATCH THE VIDEO NOW! 4 Days Only!
If you missed the video, here are a few of my notes on what it was about.
Develop a Social Media Marketing strategy
- What is your unique story?
- Your story becomes your brand.
- Who are your supporters?
- How will they want to connect to you?
- What content will be important for them?
- What kind of relationship do you want to have with people on your facebook/twitter/Google+ page?
- How much time are you willing to spend updating and posting?
- How are you going to track what works?
No matter your platform for social media; Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Website, eNewsletter, you'll want to post content that is unique and intereactive. Ie. questions, original articles, photos and multimedia. Engage your audience, ask for Comments, Likes, and Shares and be sure to respond to all comments quickly.
The quality of your content matters! If you are not getting the level of engagement that you're looking for, you might need to re-evaluate your audience and re-design your content.
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