Real Estate Marketing Drips

3 Simple Ways to Touch-Up Your Internet Presence for Effective Real Estate Marketing

3 Simple Ways To Touch-Up Your Internet Presence for Effective Real Estate Marketing
 
 
First impressions do make a difference.  Here are three simple ways to keep your Internet presence effective for real estate marketing and make it outlast the competition.
 
 
 
1.  Email addresses
 
Let them work or you.  Instead of sending clients to a yahoo, gmail, or even aol address send them to your primary business domain- yourname@yourname.com. 
 
Send spam to your yahoo account. Make your domains work for you.
Register for newsletters with a gmail account.
Track business from your blog by using a different domain.
 
Domains can be purchased cheaply right now and to add an email service is truly pocket change. The biggest take away is to give clients a true domain that brands you, not aol, gmail or yahoo.
 
 
 
2.  Margin of your blog
 
You have numerous opportunities to brand yourself on your blog and I have discussed this topic before.  Yet with each new clever widget invented comes an opportunity for a company to fill up your real estate with their name, their brand, and their offerings.  Before you add a widget next time think about what you are trying to accomplish in that space on your blog.
 
  • Are you seeking credibility? Awards might be good widgets to have.
  • Are you trying to make it a contact capture mechanism? Try a newsletter sign-up for widget or click to call/text widget.
  • Are you trying to have consumers visit your website- Add links with good keyword anchor text that sends them to pertinent pages on your website.
  • Are you trying to promote other companies and ditch your offerings?Add all sorts of widgets that are fresh out of the box and ready to take your internet traffic that you blog hard for.
 
It is true that sometimes the simplest things can be the most effective.  The details can make or break you EVERY TIME.
  
 
 
3.  Analyze Your Web Presence and Your Competitors
 
You may not be a web designer but being a real estate professional you know that analytics and Analyze your web presence and your competition's web presencecompetitive analysis is important.  Carry this thirst for information from the offline landscape to your online presence.  You can use HubSpot's website grader product to analyze your website.  Don't just stop at your website. 
Test your real estate competitor's websites with this tool and compare the differences.
 
Tracking a competitive advantage is so much easier to do online then offline because in business matters no one is trying to be a secret on the worldwide web.
 


Keeping your brand online and top of mind requires maintenance.  Don't let your brand start to sag and become dormant.  Use these touch-ups to freshen up your brand and stay on top.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read:

5 Tips on Choosing the Right Days to Market Your Real Estate Services Online

The Top 5 Ways to Prune Your Real Estate Blog

Ten Ways to Analyze and Measure to Make Sure Your Online Marketing Efforts Aren't Half Baked

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**************************************************************
 
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.
 

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or bloggingcontact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

 

 

 

8 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • March 10 2010 04:04PM

2/06/2010-2/28/2010 RealSkillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

2/06/2010-2/28/2010 RealSkillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

 
Ten Types of Landing Page Goals for PPC Campaigns
 
A blog post from Search Engine Journal about how to get results from your PPC campaigns.
Many real estate professionals ask about the effectiveness of PPC campaigns.  Effective PPC campaigns start with good landing pages.  The blog post gives you ten ways to meet your prospecting/conversion goals.
 
Not to be missed are #2 Leads, #3 Up-sell or Cross Sells, and #4 Video Views.
 
 
 
5 Steps to Successful Facebook Advertising
 

A blog post from DuctTape Marketing with simple tips and how to's on creating good advertising for Facebook.  A few great take aways include:

 
  • Choose the CPC (Cost per Click) Model yields a better ROI.
  • Create multiple ad versions and test for effectiveness.
  • Use the Facebook Insights Tool to monitor interaction.
  • Create your ad sponsoring free content or an event is a more effective way to draw people to your pge than using traditional push marketing ads. 

 

 
 
#Spon, #Paid, and #Samp: New Tags for Shilling on Twitter
 
Good article from ReadWriteWeb with a link to WOMMA's Social Media Marketing Disclosure Guide and the tags you should use when tweeting about a company/product that you are receiving something from in return.
 
Paid sponsorhip guidelines are important to pay attention to and keep up with online.  This article is a good resource and at the very least should be bookmarked for near future reading, especially if you do any affililiate marketing or have sponsors on your blog/website or promote through your social marketing and microblogging efforts.
 
 
6 Approaches to Your Company Blog
 
A blog post from ReadWriteWeb for their ReadWriteStart channel (for entrepreuners and first time start-ups).  The post breaks company blogs into 6 different category types.  The Operations category would be relevant to real estate brokers as would elements of the Research category. 
 
hype cycle for emerging technologies
 
 
Make sure to check out the diagram in Figure 1.  Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2009.  The diagram anticipates that corporate blogging is two years away from mainstream adoption.
 
Creating a theme for your blog is an important exercise and will keep your efforts on target and your readers loyal and true blue.
 

 

 
Longtail Keywords:  Using Keyword Phrases that Make Sales
 
 
A good article from ClickTalez about creating longtail keyword copy that makes sales rather than emphasizes giving away free information.  There is a time and balance for both in online marketing and if you always advertise free, you are running from push sales.  A balance of push and pull should be in all of your online marketing efforts in order to grow your revenue and not become a philanthropist in the process.
 
Terry explains how to balance out your keywords by defining and giving examples between commercal longtail keywords and informational longtail keywords. She also provides the use and relevance of both.
 
In this post there is a gem in the comments section where a commentor recommends using a free tool for keyword research thats sits alongside your blog editing screen by Wordtracker called SEO blogger. 
 
The tool will help you to define your commercial and informational longtail keywords as you edit your blog post.  Very cool.
 
 
Subscribe to BloggingInTheRain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog


 
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*************************************************************
 
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience servicing real estate industry professionals.
 

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

 

 

 

 

3 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • March 08 2010 08:48PM

1/24/2010-2/05/2010 RealSkillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

1/24/2010-2/05/2010 RealSkillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
 
 
How to Create An Incentive for Visitors To Fan Your Facebook Page 
 
A blog post, day 17 in a series from John Haydon on how to optimize your blog with social media, that concentrates on Facebook Fan Pages.  Haydon's tips are easy to follow and involve creating content for Facebook Fans that visitors
can't see using the static FBML application.
Facebook Business Page Fan Only Content
 
This content should be useful to your Facebook Fans. 
Haydon mentions his own Facebook Fan Video that are not available elsewhere.  I would suggest reminding your fans that
if they have Facebook friends who could use this information then to please recommend they become a Fan of the page
after they have received the special content.
 
is also recommended reading. The tip on thanking fans for joining
is a traditional technique that makes common sense.
 
 
 
How to Recruit a Guest Blogger

An article from Website Magazine on a topic that I see real estate professionals desire to enter into yet many struggle to carry through- adding guest bloggers to the mix.  The article gives solid tips on recruiting guest bloggers includes:

 
  • Offer a link with keyword anchor text at top of post and body of post to guest blogger's website.
  • Give stats on number of blog subscribers and newsletter subscribers.
  • Post bio and photo of guest blogger.
 
I strongly recommend you visit the full article on guest bloggers and check out the bonus section which includes a tool you can use to find a guest blogger.
 
Using guest bloggers can really help to lighten your load and make your blog even more valuable to readers. Creating an Editorial Calendar will further help recruit and retain guest bloggers and generate traffic to your blog.
 
 
 
 
 
10 Free Online Sales Tools for 2010
 
 
An article on BNet from Geoffrey James about online sales tools to help sales professionals.  The entire article is extremely useful and cleverly organized.  The list is broken down into what each tool does, how it helps you sell, if it has any drawbacks,
why it's free (really clever section IMO), the name of the vendor, and where to get it. Very nicely done.
 
Of all ten tools noted in the article I found these three to be especially useful for real estate professionals:
 
  • Xobni- A  plug-in for Microsoft Outlookthat displays a live stream of social information about your contacts inside Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 by pulling information, including photos, from the web, LinkedIn, Facebook, Hoovers, Twitter, and Salesforce.
  • The Ultimate Cold Calling Tool from BNet- Categories of objections that you can click open and use one of the responses in your cold calls. They also have The Ultimate Prospect Qualification Tool.  Nice two-fer for real estate professionals.
  • DemandBase-Desktop widget that lets you know what businesses are visiting your website, what search terms they use to find your site, and which pages they visit.
 
These sales tools should pack some power to your sales calls and marketing efforts to help rev up your effectiveness and seal your deals. 
 

 
 
Email + Social Bookmarking=Instant Rankings
 
An article from Dr. Ralph Wilson of Web Marketing Today that gives really simple steps to a good link strategy using your blog readers and email marketing database.  The article gives good concrete steps to follow and emphasizes that there is no magic formula, these steps involve dedication and hard work.  The article also includes a real life example of a successful campaign and emphasizes the need to ask your readers for a social bookmark by creating a call to action in your email newsletters and website landing pages.
 
These links back to your online newsletter and landing pages will help increase not only your link popularity but get your voice spread virally among your subscribers friends creating additional opportunity to increase your database. 

 

 
 
Integrate SMS and Social Marketing

A post on the MarketingSherpa Blog from Adam Sutton discussing the importance of considering multiple channels to reach customers to grow your database.  The article discusses the fact that social and mobile marketing are effective when they are coupled with email marketing.  As stand alone efforts SMS and social maketing are currently less effective than email marketing. 

 
If you think about the stand alone rule for offline marketing, for example running a mailing campaign like postcards, where you need at least eight impressions before the customer recognizes the brand it makes sense that adding multiple online channels to your marketing campaign would increase the effectiveness. 
 
It also makes sense that while some prospects might not immediately sign up for your SMS, a prompt on a Facebook fan page and an email campaign outlining the value and he WIIFM if they take the action might prompt them to do so. 

 

Subscribe to BloggingInTheRain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog


 
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************************************************************************************
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals. 
 

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

 

 

19 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • February 14 2010 10:11PM

The Top Top Three Tips to Become A Blog Originator and Build your Brand Identity Online

The Top Three Tips to Become a Blog Originator and Build Your Brand Identity Online

 

Is blogging dead?  This is the question that seems to resurface every time a micro-blogging platform gains more visibility, new features, and higher traction.  To me it is like a comparison between a quick bite to eat and a great home cooked meal or an elegant dinner with fireside dining. 

Sometimes I need information and conversation that is quick and fast, other times I might want to opine and banter back and forth soaking up the prose along the way and digesting an idea to let it permeate my thought patterns and hopefully create something great as a result.

....Or just be satisfied with a belly full of good conversation among people I respect.

 

What might just be dead, though, is the regurgitation of tired topics.  As bloggers we need to create content that matters to our readers.  As business bloggers we have the tools at our disposal to see what is relevant to our readers and write about new topics and old topics with a brand new bent. 

Blogging for business is about establishing your brand, your presence, and your authority on a topic and owning it in your own unique way.

Blogging for business is one of the greatest tools available for real estate professionals to brand their business online.

 

Here are the Top Three Ways to Become a Blog Originator and Build Your Brand Identity Online

 

Create a theme focused blog

 

Deliver on the real estate goods for your blog readers

Create a theme for your blog and stick to it.  Start tracking categories on your blog so you can be mindful of the topics you are blogging about and if those topics are staying consistent with your blog's theme or if they are starting to run off track.  It's easy to meander on your blog and if you do this consistently you are shooting your brand in your foot and run the risk of losing readership and business in the process.

 

Need help finding a theme?  Use this blogging workbook designed to help real estate professionals decide on a focus for their real estate blogs and create a strategy for blogging and micro-blogging.

 

 




Develop your Blogging Voice

 

The stronger the dialog, the stronger the brand; the weaker the dialog, the weaker the brand.

~ Larry Webber

 

Content is big business online.  How do you create and maintain originality while still remaining a water fountain of information that your readers thirst for and pass on to their friends and family?  The answer is to develop your blogging voice.  You can do this by working on traditional writing exercises that will help tone and strengthen your blogging muscles and allow you to feel more at ease letting your personality seep through your blog prose.  Here are 36 resources to create blog content that blossoms online.

Developing your writing skills will allow your blogging voice to seep through your blog posts and up the emotional value in your real estate blog posts.

 

 



Use and Protect Your Blog's Property Wisely

 

Once you have developed a readership and gained traction in the blogosphere for your nichConsider and Act Wisely on your Branding Options. Today is a New Day for Your Businesse market make sure to use and protect your blog property wisely.  There are many widgets and applications designed to make blogging easier and at the same time pull your readership to those companies internet property and away from yours.

You will also find that if you make a big impact online by working your blog with dedication there will be other professionals eager to have you open up your blog to their services and products.  Choose your affiliations wisely and keep your reader's needs in mind FIRST before you recommend other professionals products or services whether it be in a blog post or by an ad on your blog. 

Your association by link, blog prose, widget, or ad will be attached to your brand and your name for all to see.

Consider your blog as a primary Internet storefrontto showcase your products, services, and unique selling proposition BEFORE considering outside resources for your readership. 

 

Consider all these components of your blog as branding opportunities,

 

  • Blog Header
  • Call to Action in the Footers
  • Blog Post Headlines
  • Blog prose in each post
  • Outbound links
  • Interlinking
  • Tags
  • Photos
  • Images
  • Blog Margin/Side Bar
  • Groups you join to Promote Blog Posts in a Community
  • Name of Your Blog
  • Blog Post Topics
  • Blog Archives
  • Blog Categories
  • Alt Tags

 

 

Don't miss another opportunity to build your brand identity online through your blog.  Use the top three tips and become a blog originator.

 

Subscribe to Blogging in the Rain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog

 


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*************************************************************************

Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

30 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • February 08 2010 10:40AM

Week of 01/18/10- 01/23/10 Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Week of 01/18/10- 01/23/10 Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real
Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
 
 Developing Perusasive Content for List Building
order to build your contact database.  The article breaks down persuasive content into
three categories:  logical content, credible content, and emotional content and cites general
examples of what type of content satisfies these categories.  After reading the article I would
keep a cheat sheet handy that outlines each category and a brief summary of what it means. 
When you write your blog posts start marking them Logical, Credible, and Emotional.  Keep a
notice of which type of posts you lean more heavily toward.

If most of your posts, for example, lean toward the emotional category and you are blogging
for business, you need to revisit your blogging strategy and mix in more posts under the
categories of logical and credible to draw business.  If none of your blog posts have an
emotional bent, you need to create a strategy to create blog content that has an emotional value
so new readers and subscribers can connect with you.

Balancing your content is a winning real estate marketing strategy.

  • Use Chrome, Stay Focused:  New Plug-In Limits Frivolous Browsing
 
An article from Jodie O'Dell of ReadWriteWeb that discusses two plug-ins to help keep
you focused and manage how you spend your time online.  One plug-In noted is
LeechBlock for Firefox and the other is StayFocsd for Google Chrome.  Time
management is a fundamental business necessity and online time can seemingly evaporate
if you don't track, monitor and stay disciplined with your activities.

These two plug-ins help you get the job done online by cutting out any wandering you may have
along the way.
 
 

  •   The Eight Elements of Contagious Ideas
           
            A blog post from Dan Zarella that breaks down eight tactics you can use to help make your
            online marketing campaigns spread virally.  Zarella is known as a viral marketing scientist and
            the tactics explained are done so in an analytical fashion.  The post is worth your time and if you
            like crunching historical marketing with a new media twist it will be worth your read.  Some take
            aways include:


            Influential users share content more frequently than average social media users
            Twitter proves this to be true.

            Unique Ads get the most attention. The Geiko commercials illustrate this point.

            Present old information/messaging in a new package for a powerful message resonates                      with readers.-Stir up your blog and create remixes of your posts that are classics.

 

            Read the whole post for all eight elements of contagious ideas.

         

 

  • Ten Ways to Make Wordpress More Useful

 

          AN article from Jon Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing on Wordpress Plug-Ins.  While I found 

          that most of these plug-ins made sense, here are four that I think are especially worth a look

          from real estate professionals:

 


          Wishlist Member- A paid membership site or course site.  Think about training for real estate                       professionals or even course training
        on real estate topics for real estate consumers.
         Sociable- Adds links to social networking sites to consumers can share your content online.
         Related Content- Displays posts that are contextually related to your blog post.
          MoFuse- Creates a mobile friendly version of your blog.

      
       There are many plug-ins for Wordpress so it's nice when a simple blog post can make the cream

       rise to the top.

  • YouTube Basics for SEO
 
 
         A blog post from Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive with excellent video marketing tips. 
         The full post is power packed with some easy how to's and ah ha moments.  Some great
         take aways include:

1. Put your URL as the first part of the description for every video you post.
2. Thank webmasters/bloggers who embed your video and ask for feedback and a link to your website.
3. Post your videos and a text description on your website not just YouTube.

This is a really easy to follow SEO post and well worth the entire read.  Reynolds not only explains
the how but the why in practical terms that are more real people speak then tech speak. 


Get to know me on Facebook as a friend and if you like what I'm doing I'd be honored for
you to become a RealSkillz Real Estate Marketing Fan.

 

*******************************************************************************
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals.  Real estate marketing services include
 
  • Blogging- See my Blogging Tune-Up Website for Details
  • Social Networking
  • Niche Marketing
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Branding- See my Branding Sanity Website for Details
  • Offline Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Special Events Promotion and Marketing
  • Holiday Marketing
  • Marketing Campaigns
  • Email Marketing (Content and Design)
  • Reputation Management
 

If you treat real estate as a business then Real Skillz is a desirable real estate marketing solution. Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

6 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 31 2010 08:26PM

Week of 01/10/10- 01/18/10 Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Week of 01/10/10- 01/18/10 Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
 
 
  • What's Motivating the Social Relationship Between Consumers and Companies?
A new chart from Marketing Sherpa exploring how consumers interact with companies who use social media.  The report follows Max Connectors (people with more than 500 social connections), Daily Users and All Respondents.  The reason most consumers friend/follow companies is because they want to learn about special sales followed closely by wanting to learn about new products/features/services.
 
Keep this in mind when marketing reduced listings, posting new inventory, and discussing new housing bills.
 
 
  • SEO CHALLENGES FOR 2010 WITH AMANDA WATTLINGTON
 

An insightful interview with Amanda Wattlington, SEO expert, on three SEO challenges for 2010 which include Google page loading speed, localization, and personalization.
 
 


What Wattlington has to say about localization and personalization is especially important.  Remember that your offering should be as full as possible on your social media profiles because not all visitors will go to your website.  Make sure to claim your business in online local directories.
 
 
  • Which Is Worse for Your Brain:  Texting or Pot?(Hint:  Pass the Pipe)

An article from Richard Young of BNet that cuts into the stress of the real time web and gives some no nonsense advise on how to deal with it. 

A few stellar tips include,

Set a time to check for messages in the afternoon and use your brain for more important tasks; Turn off any alarms that notify you of email as it comes into your inbox.

Organize your thinking visually.

Break down complex information into sub-groups

Delegate more often.   

 
       Working online makes it difficult not to fall into the trap of 24/7 availablity.  This article helps provide tips  
       on being less robotic and more human. Just as important it emphasizes that your effectiveness increases
       when you are less tapped into a wired environment.          
 
  • Ten Musts for Marketing to Women on Facebook
This article from Brette Burrow on Mashable discusses how to market to women online.  Women account for over 56 million Facebook users and are the purchasing decision makers in most households.
 
Here is a Summary of the Top 10 Tips:
 
  1. Create an emotional connection with your fans.
  2. Design a post series that readers can rely on and is useful to them.
  3. Share new products/services with your fans and help them take advantage of new offers online.
  4. Quit being redundant.  If you repost news to your Fan Page offer additional value.
  5. Consider widgets that allow a transaction to occur right from your fan page (For real estate this could be a free home evaluation or access to listings; For mortgage professionals this could be rate quotes or daily rate summaries).
  6. Respond to feedback and criticism.
  7. Share the positive and address the negative.
  8. Let your customers know about supply shortages or website problems.
  9. Provide quality information in your Facebook posts and on your Facebook Fan Page.  Stay away from spammy advertising. 
  10. Answer questions on your Facebook Fan Page.
 
Women are in the majority when it comes to making financial purchases and decisions.  This is a helpful list to keep in mind as you are creating a
Facebook Fan Page Strategy.  Also check out this summary notes report- "Marketing to Women".
  • The Mad Scientist of Cold Calling
 
An excerpt from an interview with Geoffrey James of BNet and Dr. James Oldroyd on the science of cold calling. There are some really fantastic metrics in this post which include,
 
       The best times and day to qualify leads are between 8a.m.-9 a.m. and 4-5 p.m. on Thursdays.
       Sales leads in the financial industries remain live or 24 hours.
       Your focus shoud be on the newest leads first.
 
The full Lead Response Management study by Kellogg can be downloaded here and includes information on getting people to your website, creating effective lead capture website forms, contacting web leads and great stats and tactics on lead generation.      
 
        The report is worth the read and the timing strategy tip are excellent. 
 
Use it in conjunction with these five tips on choosing the right day to market your real estate services online to create an effective prospecting schedule for your real estate business.


Real Skillz is grateful to have such loyal subscribers, readers, friends, followers and fans.  For more practical tips and how subscribe to the Real to's Skillz Real Estate Marketing Newsletter.


Get to know me on Facebook as a friend and if you like what you're reading then please do me the honor of becoming a fan.  
 
4 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 20 2010 11:22AM

Five Tips to Create Emotional Value in Your Real Estate Blog Posts

How do bloggers maintain loyal readership and gain new followers?  Most bloggers discover over time that the way to do this is to blog consistently and satisfy your readers by giving them what they want.  In business, this is information, given freely and regularly, about products and services.  Timely news, how to's, and real life real estate stories are all blog fan favorites, but they need to be intermingled with a special seasoning to make an impact.
 
That special seasoning is emotion.  PPC Advertising, online marketing, and sales all use emotional triggers because they are proven winners.  You can create emotional value in your blog posts to wow readers into referral sources and direct buyers of your real estate services.
 
 

Here are five tips to create emotional value in your real estate blog posts

 
 

Research-Mix up Your Blog with High Traffic Trending Topics

 
Check trending topics on Google and Twitter.  View a few of the blog posts and articles that are written based on these trending topics.  What triggers your emotions in these online works?  Record the phrases that stand out when you read them and draw an emotional response from you.  Keep these notes on hand when you write your blog posts and need to find way to draw a similar response.
 

Analyze-Craft a Great Headline

 
 
Provide a balance of good SEO strategy and emotional value in your blog posts at the onset by creating a headline that makes use of longtail keywords and hits an emotional trigger.  Use a copywriting tool for your headlines called the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer.  Use this tool to set your blog posts on target from the get go.  The headline analyzing tool helps bloggers makes sure their headlines will make the right impact for their readers.  This tool also helps you stay on track with the theme of your blog posts by sorting it into one of three categories: spiritual, empathetic, or spiritual which will help you make sure you are on track with the theme of your blog posts.
  

Create- Write First. Edit Second

 
Allow the words that come to your mind to flow freely without thought to spelling, grammar or allowing your inner self criticizing writing demon to stop you in your tracks.  Limit your distractions from IM and Email by using the WriteRoom application for Google Docs.
 
When you are done writing the words exactly as they come to mind without any censoring then you can go back and edit your blog posts.  If you edit as you write you are, without a doubt, editing the emotional potential of your posts before it has the chance to hit your computer screen.
 
 

Enhance-

Add Graphics that Invoke Emotion
 
Read this blog post from Cathy Moore, "How to add emotional impact with evocative images".  Great images can evoke emotion in your readers beyond the prose of your post.  Moore's post breaks down the use of graphics into these five categories with specific details and how to's,
 
  1. Choose your stock site carefully
  2. Search the site for the concept
  3. Think of opposing similes
  4. Avoid culturally specific images
  5. Manage your images locally
 
After you read this post you will have a whole new view on the impact of images.  It is seriously that good.
 

Learn- Get A Clue from Creative Works

 
Watch some film footage, and more specifically, watch footage from animated movies.  One of my favorite inspirational resources to draw from are Pixar films.  Pixar's movie "Up" manages to portray a whole lifetime in five minutes.  It is utterly amazing and a craft of genius.  It is a high caliber example of how to create and hold the end user's attention through eliciting an emotional response within a short time frame.  If you want to really observe how to create an impact I recommend watching this film.
 
Here's another example of Pixar's ability to create emotion through creative work.  View this short scene from Toy Story 2 and notice how it triggers emotion.
 


 
You can recreate this same effect by using multimedia in your blog posts.  Adding video and audio is good way enhance your blog post topics.  Another method is to publish Speechless Sunday and Wordless Wednesday blog posts.
 
 
Use these five tips to create emotional value in your real estate blog posts.  Remember thought, that these tips will mean nothing unless you do the ground work.  Take a step back to breathe, live, laugh, and love.  This is where the best inspiration comes from. 
 
The rest are just meaningless methods without this foundation.
 
 
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
—
Maya Angelou
 
 

Bookmark and Share

 
 Subscribe to BloggingintheRain, a Real Estate Marketing Blog
 
  
*************************************************************************************
 
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals.  Real estate marketing services include

 

 
  • Blogging- See my Blogging Tune-Up Website for Details
  • Social Networking
  • Niche Marketing
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Branding- See my Branding Sanity Website for Details
  • Offline Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Special Events Promotion and Marketing
  • Holiday Marketing
  • Marketing Campaigns
  • Email Marketing (Content and Design)
  • Reputation Management

 

 

If you treat real estate as a business then Real Skillz is a desirable real estate marketing solution. Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

 

 
 

 

 

25 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 14 2010 03:34PM

01/01/10-01/09/10- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

01/01/10-01/09/10- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
 
 
  • Clear Hyperlinks Increase Conversions
A blog post from Todd Follansbee on how not to confuse your visitors with hyperlinks and how to make sure sure your hyperlinks are getting the most mileage.  Take his hyperlink text quiz and make sure to check out the tips under "Make Text Hyperlinks Do More". The first one is discusses "Call to Action". 

"Call to Action" are my three favorite words in marketing. Good marketing does nothing for sales without a clear call to action.
 
  • Tweetpsych
 
Tweetpsych is a Twitter application created by Dan Zarella.  Tweet Psych provides Twitter psychological profiling for both users and lists.  Each factor is represented in a bar graph as a percentage over/under the median of Twitter users with a description listed in the results section under the bar graph. 

I learned that most of my tweeting is about work and I tweet the least about media. 

Tweet Psych used in tandem with Twittergrader's tweet cloud really lends a clear perspective to your tweeting efforts and could keep you in check and on track.



  •   The 2010 Social Media Marketing Ecosystem

         

 A blog post from Dave Fleet on Social Media Today of the vast ecosystem of social media marketing and what to look ahead to in 2010.

 As you start to read it you may want to shy away because of the intricacies in detail (even in the diagrams) and the layers of marketing butplug through.  What I would like you to take note of is the first chart which lists the type of media and then the elements mentioned under the "ideal corporate social media system".

Note that the diagram has a corporate website and social media hub as the center of all other Internet marketing activities:  Facebook,Twitter, YouTube.

I recommend that you map out your own current social media initiatives and see if they put your corporate website and social media hub at the center.  You can use a simple pen and paper or a mind mapping software to help in this task.

Are all of your activities on social media marketing venues directed toward your corporate website and social media hub or do they not have a clear path home and a call to action?

If there's no clear direction home, time to get to work and work on creating an effective social media marketing strategy.

 

  • High Performance Analytics
       
A Feature article from the February 2010 edition of Website Magazine.  This article is well worth the read as it emphasizes the importance of analytics in your online marketing activities.  The author discusses KPI (Key Performance Indicators) that include Visitors per Conversion, Lead or Order, Cost per Lead, and Stickiness.  It also gives four key tools for measuring website speed and load times.

The website also discusses Video Analytics, social analytics, and CRM analytics.  I would bookmark, print, highlight and use this post when planning your analytics and looking at factors that you should be measuring and the tools that can help you with those measurements.

It will be very clear after reading this article that measurement should be part and parcel of all of your marketing endeavors.

Real Skillz is grateful to have such loyal subscribers, readers, friends, followers and fans.  For more practical tips and how subscribe to the Real to'sSkillz Real Estate Marketing Newsletter.

Get to know me on Facebook as a friend and if you like what you're reading then please do me the honor of becoming a fan.


*********************************************************************************

 

Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals.  Real estate marketing services include:

 

  • Blogging- See my Blogging Tune-Up Website for Details
  • Social Networking
  • Niche Marketing
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Branding- See my Branding Sanity Website for Details
  • Offline Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Special Events Promotion and Marketing
  • Holiday Marketing
  • Marketing Campaigns
  • Email Marketing (Content and Design)
  • Reputation Management

 

If you treat real estate as a business then Real Skillz is a desirable real estate marketing solution. Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

 

 

 

10 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 12 2010 08:27PM

A Simple Twitter Cheat Sheet for Real Estate Professionals to Generate Leads, Brand Your Business, Create Referral Partners, and Manage Your Reputation

A Simple Twitter Cheat Sheet for Real Estate Professionals to Generate Leads, Brand Your Business, Create Referral Partners, and Manage Your Reputation



 

Why Twitter? The news is in....Twitter users will now have an added advantage of their conversations appearing on the search engine results pages of Google and Bing.  I have seen the indexing of tweets on Google as well as on Bing firsthand.  Twitter can be used to brand your business, lead generation, to create referral partners, and even retain business through responsive reputation management. If you haven't started adding Twitter into your online marketing, it's time to engage. 


When to Tweet


 

You can tweet everyday of the week.  Make sure to to tweet on Wednesdays and Thursdays for maximum effect as they are the most active days of tweets and retweets as found by HubSpot's State of the Twittersphere June 2009.




Where to Find Local Peeps on Twitter

There are many directories and Apps for Twitter to help you find locals.  Submit your twitter handle(s) and follow locals.  Become engaged in local conversations on Twitter.
 
1.  Twellow- Twitter Yellow Pages.
2.  GeoFollow- Location based Twitter Directory.
3.  Local Tweeps- Zipcode level Twitter directory.
4.  twvite- Find and attend a local tweetup(locals who twitter meeting together offline.
5.  Twitter Local- Gives you a feed of tweets based on location.
6.  Nearby Tweets- Find twitter users in locations near to where you live.
7.  Happn.in- Tracks local twitter users near to where you live.



How to Customize Your Background On Twitter


First impressions are important for branding and your background page on Twitter is no exception. Your Twitter background is a great opportunity to brand your business.
Your Twitter followers will look sometimes before they leap. First impressions are important.

Here are 7 free applications you can use to customize your background:
 

1. Twitter Patterns- Abstract twitter patters you can use for free for your Twitter background.
2. Twitbacks- Free customized twitter background with full about section.
3. Twitpaper- Free Twitter themes.
4. Prettytweet- Customize your twitter background.  You can add images, change color and change text.
5. TwitterImage- Free backgrounds grouped in various categories.
6. Freetwitterdesigner-Create custom twitter backgrounds.
7.  Twitrounds- Free Twitter backgrounds.




What to Tweet


Twitter is a great way to prospect for business and engage in conversations. 
 
Here are a few ways to find some useful things to tweet about and get people's interest.
 
You can join Twitter here.
 
1.  Twitter Lights-Application that lets you highlight information you find interesting and send as a Tiny URL to Twitter.
2.  WhatTheHashTag- Tracks trending hashtags and other hashtags on Twitter.
3. Tweetag-Search for topics on Twitter and setup alerts to get notified when your keywords are being talked about on Twitter.
4. Twitlink-What links are being shared and what is being tweeted on Twitter.
5. StufftoTweet- Popular topics on the worldwide web.
6.PlusPlusBot- Karma on Twitter.

7. Twitter Answers- Ask questions and get answers on Twitter.


Use the powerful tools of Twitter to enhance your online marketing strategy



How to Monitor Tweets to Generate Leads and Retain Business

Monitor Keywords Topics, and Links on Twitter...Then Engage.  These 6 applications will help you track keywords and topics on Twitter allowing you to monitor your brand and generate leads.
 

1. Tweetbeep- Set up alerts that will be sent to your email when your topics/keywords are tweeted.
2. Tweetscan-Do a search for keywords and get results sorted by most recent tweets.
3.  Samepoint- Tracks conversations across the web based on your keywords.  A must use tool for prospecting and marketing.
4. Tweetmeme- Tracks the most popular links on Twitter.
nces.
5.  Monitter- Allows you to monitor multiple keywords in a grid in real time on Twitter.
6.Twitscoop- Robust application for tracking keywords, topics, and conferences.

Best CRM for Twitter-Hootsuite- Manage your contacts by grouping, manage multiple twitter handles (user accounts), keep searches running, synch up with your Wordpress blog, analyze your twitter traffic and so much more. 


These tools are recommended twitter tools to create an effective strategy for lead generation, reputation management and branding for real estate professionals.  Do not use all the tools.  Choose one or two from each list that will get the job done for you.  I have whittled down the Twitter applications from the worldwide web and there are probably a half dozen new Twitter applications born for every one that already exists every week.  Don't concentrate on that.

Concentrate on the tools that will make your Twittering effective and then just do it.  Stop by and make sure to say hi to me while you tweet.


If you enjoyed these tips then sign-up for the weekly Real Skillz Real Estate Marketing Newsletter which has a static Twitter column with Tips to make your twittering efforts effective.  It's delivered to your Inbox every Tuesday.

For All Real Estate Professionals

For Email Marketing you can trust




For Real Estate Professionals Who Are RealSkillz Clients

If you're a current RealSkillz client look in your inbox for the debut of the RealSkillz Real Estate Marketing newsletter for clients with tips on how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and new how to's.  This newsletter is only for clients and will debut on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

**************************************************************************


Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals.  Real estate marketing services include

 

  • Blogging- See my Blogging Tune-Up Website for Details
  • Social Networking
  • Niche Marketing
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Branding- See my Branding Sanity Website for Details
  • Offline Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Special Events Promotion and Marketing
  • Holiday Marketing
  • Marketing Campaigns
  • Email Marketing (Content and Design)
  • Reputation Management

 

If you treat real estate as a business then Real Skillz is a desirable real estate marketing solution. Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

 

 

26 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 08 2010 01:10PM

Planning for an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy IS the Shift in 2010. How Does Your Real Estate business stack Up?

Planning for An Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy IS the shift in 2010.  How does your real estate business stack up?

Marketing Sherpa has just released the 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report.  You can download Marketing Sherpa's Executive Summary on Social Media Marketing for free without filling out a form on their website.

The summary is worth the read and provides valuable insights to help you plan your social media marketing strategy. 


Some significant observations noted in the report include:

  • Lack of an effective social media marketing strategy is one of the most significant challenges facing marketers
  • The human factor will account for nearly 60% of social media marketing expenditures next year including staff salaries for blogging, content development, social monitoring, etc.
  • All Business Sectors will be increasing their budgets significantly for social marketing in 2010.  The average hovering around 50% while some sectors will be increasing their budgets for social media marketing by nearly 80%.
  • Lack of an effective social media marketing strategy is one of the most significant challenges facing marketers.

The executive report discuss social media maturation by organizations and the levels of maturation.  It cites that Forty percent of companies are moving toward the transition phase where the emphasis is on planning a social media strategy.

Don't skip past the chart on Aligning Social Marketing Objectives with Corresponding Metrics.  This chart is useful to help you determine the metrics you want to achieve in your social media marketing efforts.

So how can you achieve this experience?  Start by not throwing spaghetti up against the wall and seeing if it sticks.  You need to look at your business goals and your current marketing strategy and see where you can add social media marketing methods to achieve an optimized, competitive, leadership strategy in your marketplace.  You need to become consumer friendly 'cause the consumers are already out and they are talking, with or without your presence or your voice.

Make a decision to commit to consumers and the consumer experience.  Take a look inside your organization....is there someone who can help your company or solo business take these steps, now?  Develop a plan, now?  Transplanting current employees or contractors from one position to another unsuited one to forage into social media marketing might allow you a lucky strike or it could be the pitch that strikes you out.

Just remember, for every 30-60-90-120 days it takes to get it done, your customers are 30-60-90-120 days ahead of you. 

Some will just be gone.


If you enjoyed this post learn more about creating an efficient social media marketing strategy by reading,


*******************************************************************

Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals.  Real estate marketing services include,

 

  • Blogging- See my Blogging Tune-Up Website for Details
  • Social Networking
  • Niche Marketing
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Branding- See my Branding Sanity Website for Details
  • Offline Marketing
  • Online Marketing
  • Special Events Promotion and Marketing
  • Holiday Marketing
  • Marketing Campaigns
  • Email Marketing (Content and Design)
  • Reputation Management

 

If you treat real estate as a business then Real Skillz is a desirable real estate marketing solution. Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com.

14 comments • Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant • January 07 2010 11:38AM