Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate Website Options

2012-02-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

Not every Realtor has the luxury of a personal web designer in their back pocket and they may not have the budget to build a complete custom website. Over the years I have administored a plethora of Real Estate websites and have made you a list of the most common site providers I have come across below.

All these companies offer similar services, template design with customization available for an upgraded cost and a yearly fee.

The only one of these sites that stand out to me is Point2, they don't lock you into any yearly contract and they offer you your first 3 months free. This is a particularly lovely option for brand new real estate agents.

Also, after having worked on all these websites, I much prefer the SEO capabilities of Point2.

If you're a Realtor in need of a website, check out the list below:

Comparison List of Real Estate Website Providers

Real Web Solutions
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
Price: $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/

Money Maker 4 Agents
Moneymaker™ is also a real estate marketing system, client management system and 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
Company Website: http://www.moneymaker4agents.com/
Real example sites:
http://www.torontohomes-for-sale.com/
http://www.hodgeslodges.ca/

Point 2 Agent
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
Price: $19.99 a month, first 3 months free. NO contract!
Company Website: http://agent.point2.com
Real example sites:
http://www.georginahomesforsale.com
http://www.jarrett.ca/

Your Online Agents
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

Real Pro Systems
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/

How the Real Estate Industry is Leading the Way in Social Media

2012-02-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

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

What is your unique story?
Your story becomes your brand.

Know your audience

Who are your supporters?
How will they want to connect to you?
What content will be important for them?

Know your goals

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?

What should I post?

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.

Facebook Timeline was never and "Option"

2012-01-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the new Facebook timeline? What do you think?

There is good talk and bad talk on the web these days about Timeline. The profile update date is looming ahead and some people are just not ready to make the switch. But Timeline was never an "option" it's an "upgrade" to the profile page on Facebook and not really something as users we have control over.

I've been using Timeline since the beginning of open beta and truthfully, at first, I too hated it. I didn't like how big everything seemed to be and how slow the page took to load. But since then I've gotten used to looking at it, and it's kind of grown on me.

I love the way it summarizes our past months and years worth of data by prioritizing the posts we made, the photos we uploaded and the places we've been. I love how it groups things like checkin's and displays them on a map. With time, I grew to love Timeline, and I think once you get over the initial shock of the changes you'll get to love it too.

Originally, Mark Zukerberg introduced Timeline during his F8 Keynote in 2011.

"Imagine expressing the story of your life where you have all the recent stuff you have done and all the most important and meaning full things from your life are highlighted and called out for you to see right there. Because these are the unique moments of your life imagine an expression that is beautiful." ~ Mark

I'm not sure how "beautiful" timeline is exactly but the genius behind the use of data "collected" from facebook is staggering. What we're going to see are more Apps designed to make use of the information you share. Apps that sort and analyze and display the results in ways you'll find amazing. This is where we'll find we gain control over what our Profile's look like. Something MySpace mastered that Facebook has yet to adopt.

What I am hoping to see in the future is the same idea of data management used on our business pages. Already my head swims with ideas of a mapping tool for handling open house locations and Real Estate blog posts.

What most users don’t know is that the new features being introduced [in Timeline] are all centered around increasing the value of Facebook to advertisers. [1] 845+ Million users to date, and we can't all be wrong. So I guess what I'm saying that given time, we'll all see the changes we want and the apps that customize the display of Timeline is how we're going to get it.

~ Gig <3

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012

2012-01-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

This post is a little overdue, I'm aware, but I've been a busy bee re-designing prospecting plans for Realtors and updating databases all over York Region in preparation for the 2012 Real Estate market.

What's your New Years Resolution?

My New Years resolution this year is to operate my 'business' in a more streamlined manner and to create more content. This year is about learning the best method for each aspect of my business and to find a way to create a system to make it work for itself. This way I can focus more attention to writing and development for content creation over multiple mediums within the housing and internet marketing industries.

Pretty good eh. LOL.

You can come up with a great New Years resolution for your business as well, it's just about knowing where to start. Let your New Years Resolution for your business guide you throughout the year to keep you focused.

Where you going to start?

If the answer to this question isn't apparent, maybe you need to start there...
You must ASK the question first, to FIND the answer.

Sounds so simple doesn't it?

So what question do we ask? What that question is exactly has to do with your type of business.

How can I make more sales this year?

A ha! A great question! You'll definitly find some direction there. How would you like to generate more sales? Marketing? Advertising? Branding? Would you like to increase your referral base? Have you contacted your past clients? Do you have a contact list to contact your past clients.

The questions you pose about your current methods of practice can lead you to find the answers, which will tell you where to start in making a change for business this year.

Einstein says insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.[*]
This year is the year you let yourself out of that routine. If what you tried last year isn't working, try something different. If you KNOW that, but don't know WHAT to do to fix it, START asking questions on the WHY of WHAT you want to KNOW! Then look for answers. lol.

Gosh, i sound like Yoda, sorry for that, but in all factuality.... he's a pretty smart... green dude.

Don't Take My Word For it! Listen to Yoda!

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

"Clear, your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind the plot."

"Much to learn, you still have."

"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."

"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

Don't procrastinate. Write those New Years resolutions! Start with asking yourself a question about why you do business the way you do. For every question, find an answer. Your path will reveal itself.

Have a great year everybody!

Happy 2012

Google Changes Search Ranking Algorithm

2011-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

The latest update concerning Google's algorithm has created quite the stir among SEO experts, webmasters and website owners making them re-think their marketing tactics in anticipation of the change.

The change is simple and is Google's attempt at improving internet search results. The change aims to lower the rank of low quality sites in search results. This means a surge in the rankings for news websites and other socially integrated websites and a drop in rankings for sites containing a large amount of advertising

What does this mean for you?
Content rich websites with unique frequently updated content free of ads will do better on the Search Results then others. If you've been thinking about starting a blog, this is a great time. Blog updates with great content on your homepage can help keep your #1 position.

Google is constantly changing
Each year Google changes it's search algorithm up to 500 times! While most of these changes are minor, every few months Google rolls out a "major" algorithmic update that affects Search results. For a list of the Big Changes to Google, visit this site

Timing Twitter and Facebook Posts for Realtors

2011-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Finding the time for social networking can be tricky when you're a Real Estate agent but after attending a very informative online seminar (Webinar) hosted by the boys at Argyle Social I think I can give you a good idea when you should be scheduling in time to Post to Twitter and Facebook.

The data Argyle Social used was compiled from their Social Media Management Software which means it's limited to Facebook and Twitter posts run through their system.

They measure engagement is by the number of clicks on posts/pictures/etc.

The data is divided by posts by B2B (business to business) companies and B2C (business to consumer) companies.

Real Estate B2B
As a Realtor you can classify your B2B network as other Realtors, Brokers, Builders, Mortgage Brokers, Banks, Home Inspectors, etc. As well as any business owners that you've decided to prospect to, or with.

Real Estate B2C
Your B2C network are your Past Clients, and any current Buyer/Seller leads.

So when is the best time to post to Twitter and Facebook?
After reviewing the data, I have determined that the following days are ideal for posting updates to ensure a higher rate of engagement:

B2B:
Facebook: Monday and Friday
When: During office hours
Twitter: Monday and Tuesday
When: During office hours

B2C:
Facebook: Sunday
When: After Dinner
Twitter: Monday and Tuesday
When: During office hours

Happy Social Networking Realtors!

7 things you need to know about working from home

2011-10-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Sun posted an article today on the 7 things you need to know about working from home. Self motivation isn't on the list, but it's a huge determining factor for your work from home success. Realtors who have an office, but no deadlines know more then most how hard it can be to keep the drive going.

Perhaps you too can relate to this list:

7 things you need to know about working from home

Enjoy :)

How Realtors Can use Twitter to Grow Their Business

2011-06-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

Real estate professionals are always looking for new ways to increase their list of potential sellers and buyers. Twitter gives them access to a huge group of people and allow Realtors to focus on local networking.

Here are ways to use Twitter to attract and engage your audience:

Find Followers:

1. Search for keywords like "sell house" + "[your city]" and find people who have tweeted about selling their home in your town. Follow them. Most of them will follow you back.

2. Follow everyone you know. Follow everyone they know. Retweet as often as possible and become their biggest fan.

What to tweet?

1. Tweet your new listings! Submit a shortened link direct to the listing using a sevice like http://bit.ly so you can keep track of the viewers.

2. Tweet community news and information and cross promote events within your community.

3. All new blog posts! Everytime you blog about a topic, tweet your blog post. Again, shorten all links with a service like http://bit.ly to keep track of individual visits.

4. Tweet about local amenities! Check our your local newspaper, did you see that a New Dominos Pizza is going up at the main intersection, Tweet about it. Curious passerbyers will concider you in the "know" if you tell them what's up with the construction first. Your twitter page can become a central hub of community information.

5. Tweet how home owners can maximize on their investment. How can they get more money on the sale of their home?

6. Link to news articles about positive events within your town or neighbourhood.

End Notes

Always remember to use hashtags when you tweet. Use your city, neighbourhood, municipality, real estate district or whatever, but always be consistant with what other agents are using for the same areas. #keswick #realestate #openhouse #georgina

CRM Software for Real Estate

2011-05-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

CRM stands for Contact Relationship Management. This is you managing your "relationship" with your clients. Sounds simple but when you're so busy it can be hard to remember to contact past clients. Over the past years working with Realtors I have come to know quite a few different approaches to CRM, all of which are effective in their own way.

These two are my favourite programs to use:

Top Producer:
Pros: Online access, Mobile application, everything you need to run a successful real estate business. Top Producer Campus.
Cons: Hard for beginners
Price: $45/ month + Add ons

My favourite part of top producer is the "Plans Management" ie, an automated To Do list that can be setup after each transaction to remind you to contact the client throughout pre-determined time period. These plans are completely customizable too. Set them up for anything and keep on top of everything.

IXACT Contact
Pros: Much simpler then other CRM softwares on the market.
Cons: No other features.
Price: $35.95/mo + HST

For a Realtor, Ixact just doesn't cut it. There's no property management system at all, but for other business' owners in the Housing industry it's great. The new setup Ixact offers is easier to customize and setup is done by email. An Ixact representative will do the integration for you if you already have your clients in an excel database.

CRM Software Enhances an Integrated Marketing Plan

In order for any CRM system to be effective you must sit down and develope and integrated marketing plan with points of contact that the CRM system will prompt you for. You must maintain contact with a client throughout their whole home ownership process, not just through the transaction itself. If managed properly an Integrated Marketing Plan can return referrals and repeat clients effectively.

CRM can also be known as CRP Client Retention Program, in either case it is the scheduled follow up of clients over a long term period and are a great way to keep in touch over the years your clients are in their homes.

Work the Top of Your Database with Facebook!

2011-05-10T08:55:00.001-07:00

Follow and friend your top 150 contacts for great results.

Have you ever heard of the "Dunbar Number"? According to Wikipedia:

"Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person."

According to Dunbar the limit is 150 people. (Researchers debate this, with the number ranging as high as 290). However, 150 is a pretty good place to start, especially if you have a large database of contacts.

One great way to keep tabs and keep in touch with these contacts is to friend them on Facebook Recent labeling options on Facebook provide you with powerful ways to target status updates, share certain posts with only select members.

UPDATE: Feb 6th 2012

Fabulous video on creating Friends Lists in Facebook, very helpful video that helps explain this process much better!

Prospecting using Mortgage Seminars

2011-04-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

A relationship with a good Mortgage Broker can be a valuable tool for any Realtor.

If you are new to the Industry, or looking for a way to increase your sales volume hosting Seminars may be the way to go.

First Time Home Buyer Seminars target those clients who have never been in the housing market before. Carefully nurturing these leads can mean repeat sales business and referrals for you over the course of your relationship with them.

5 Strategies for Successful Mortgage Seminars

1. Create a Facebook Page specific to your Seminars, invite all attendees to "Like" you and keep them up to date on rate changes, credit management tips, etc.

2. Tweet or Blog about your upcoming Seminar and give a deadline on when you sign up.

3. Send an email to all past clients inviting their family and friends to the seminar.

4. Design Drip Mail targeted at each client and call it a home ownership plan. Personalize each of the letters for that particular client and their situation.

5. I strongly suggest using a 5 year plan for credit rebuilding programs and keep regular contact throughout the term. Be a service and a help to these clients and earn a reputation for life.

Remember, the purpose of these seminars is to build your contact base. First Time Homebuyers can take time to nurture and convert to sales because most don't have the savings or the credit rating necessary to complete a purchase right now. That doesn't mean that they wont though, and if you find good people that you genuinly become a service to, you will receive referrals from them at every stage in the process.

Also, you'll want to consistantly use the same Mortgage Brokers for your seminars and make sure to refer their services to your clients. First Time Homebuyers tend to get attached to the first people they spill their financial issues to, and if you're willling to help, they'll be loyal clients for life. Mortgage Brokers return referrals in power of sales by ratio of 3:1, 3 mortgage referrals, 1 power of sale listing.

First Time Home Buyer Seminars are a win:win:win for all those involved :)

Creating a FACEBOOK PAGE for your Real Estate Buisness

2011-04-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

It's question and answer time again Realtors!

I've gotten a lot of questions in the past month about setting up Facebook Fan Pages for Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Brokers and various other small businesses. The biggest Question is HOW? Facebook doesn't make it easy to setup your own fan page so most people are setting up separate facebook accounts for their businesses. You don't need to do this. Here is a step by step guide on how to setup your Facebook Page for your Real Estate business.

1. Go to the top of your facebook page and type in "Pages"

2. This will bring up the Facebook Pages Application. Click on that.

3. The next page looks a little confusing, but in the upper right corner you'll see a button that says "Create Page" click on that.

4. This is where you create your page. Click on the first option, Local Businesses. Fill out the information for Real Estate.

Welcome to your new Facebook Page!!!

In order to edit your facebook page log into your facebook account and either type pages in the search box to bring up the application, or look on the left hand side where all the game apps are, and you'll see Pages and Ads. Click that to edit.

Best of luck everybody!!!

Send me an invite once you get your page setup :) :)

Top Producer 8i and Social Media Integration

2011-03-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Are you already using Top Producer for your client management? You can now manage Social Media accounts with it.

Here's a video on how it works: Social Media Management for Real Estate

QUOTE FROM TOP PRODUCER:

" The Social Media feature of 8i has been re-envisioned with an improved interface and layout, making it easier to post information to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, and easier to read and respond to your Contact's social media posts within their contact records. For a complete overview of all Social Media features, watch the Video Tutorial"

Knowing that Top Producer has made it easier to manage your Facebook and Twitter posts, I am confident you can sucessfully integrate Social Media into your marketing plan this year.

Good luck guys, and as always if you have any questions please feel free to leave them for me here or on my facebook account and I'd be happy to answer them :)

Gig :)

Twitter for Real Estate: About Followers

2011-03-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

If you haven't signed up for a Twitter account yet you can do so here TWITTER SIGN UP

Today's tutorial is about following and setting up followers on Twitter and how to effectively use this to market for Real Estate.

Followers are like subscribers, people follow your twitter account so that they can read your Tweets, or status updates.

The idea with Twitter is to connect with people, but don't go Follow happy and follow just anybody! To be effective your followers should be targeted followers, not just random accounts.

Targeted Followers are past clients, present prospects, local businesses, and anybody you know is going to be interested in reading your tweets.

In researching this topic recently I came across a very good YouTube video. It's got a step by step instruction on finding "Targeted Followers" using an online tool at http://www.twellow.com

Twellow is the YellowPages of twitter. Once you connect your Twitter and Twellow accounts you should fill in your profile so that you're profile comes up under Realtors for your area.

Next Search for Twitter Users by category. Think targeted followers and geographical location, for most of the Realtor's I know this is going to be GTA.

Search Toronto in the category of Real Estate and 56 pages of Twitter users come up. Most of these are other Realtor's, investors, mortgage brokers and other people in the housing industry. The key is looking into the followers of these Twitter Users. Chances are there is a few Toronto, Twitter Savvy buyers who have followed some of these people with established Twitter accounts. Toronto Buyers that maybe ready to get out of the big city and move to Bradford, Keswick, Newmarket, or anywhere else in the North Treb Districts.

The next step would be nuturing your followers and growing your following by use of informative or at the very least regular information about your Sales Area.

I'll write more on what to Tweet about in another blog post, for now Good luck and happy follower finding :)

Gig ~

QR Codes for Real Estate.. continued

2011-03-01T09:58:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a lot of reading on using QR Codes in Real Estate and the reason's why people use them. In the last couple months I've noticed a lot more articles about QR Codes for Real Estate popping up.

Articles like:

Tech Savy Agent

QR Code Press

If you read the article here, it says "Many younger buyers today practically live on their smartphones. QR Codes are one way you can get their attention and their business." This is means changes for you. Changes in how your leads will be managed.

QR Codes link to a webpage from a SmartPhone. The landing page should be simplified, branded, and have a way to contact you, like a feedback form, for lead generation.

QR should be put on Signs, Feature Sheets and Business Cards at minimum.

You can also add QR Codes to Billboards, Bench Advertising, Bus Stop Ads, Vehicle Decals and Magazine ads.

Once you start using QR Codes you'll see that most of their leads will come in by email. The convenience of requesting more information at a road side stop-and-scan of your sign means more people will be willing to ask questions that they may have not bothered to ask if they needed to go home first to use a computer to ask them. Make sense?

What people are saying is that most of the leads will be in the 25-30 age range. Many will be young couples, married or common-law or have young children. Many will be first time home buyers.

How we manage young, first time home buyers is by being attentive and informative. We want to help them. Many will remain loyal to the voice that helped them out of a bind, or gave them support when they needed it. You'd be suprised how many first time buyers shy away from the housing market based on fear alone.

If you need help linking your website to a QR Code, let me know. I can customize a code that will link to your website. I can also help you redesign your feature sheets, business cards, billboards and other ads to include your custom QR Code.

Send me an email for more information.

Using EZCodes for Real Estate Promotion

2010-12-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

Have you seen these pictures anywhere lately and wondered what they were? They're 2d barcodes, also known as EZCodes or QR codes. You scan the code on your smartphone with the a bar code scanner app and it brings you to the webpage it was programed to.

I first saw the code in a magazine Rogers sent me about smart phones. My husband has an Iphone so I had him download the ScanLife app. After registering for ScanLife and using the ScanLife EZCode Generator , I printed out a custom code. My husband tried it and voila, It worked, first try!

The web page I put in came up immediately! Ha! Immediately I started thinking we have something great here. A way to link print media and online media.

How is this useful for Real Estate?

It's known that almost 80% of all home searches happen online. People are comfortable using the internet to manage their Real Estate. Most people these days have smartphones. Either an Iphone, Android Phone, Palm, or Blackberry.

I see EZCodes being used for personal promotion; think business cards, post cards, newspaper ads. Anywhere you have that's in paper, promoting you as an agent is now instantly connected to your webspace!

This is a business card design with the code on it. Go ahead, scan it. Even on your computer screen it will still take you to the agent's website.

The biggest use I think is on Feature Sheets.

Make an EZCode for each one of your Listings and place it on the Feature Sheet. Use a grab line like, "For additional informaiton, Scan the Code!"

Every feature sheet is now connected to your webpage. Just like that!