Is Real Estate on your Client's Bucket List? You Bet It Is
I was thinking about this topic last week when I was finishing up my goal sheet for 2010. I personally have two real estate purchases I am working toward that effect my immediate goals for 2010. One is to purchase a single family residence in Lake Geneva within the next 3 years. The second is to work toward purchasing my dream real estate property, a log cabin, within the next 10-15 years, close to the time that I plan to put my business up for sale.
Am I alone in creating real estate goals? Absolutely not. Despite any current economical woes time marches on. For any old dreams that may have died with the struggles of the economy new ones will arise. It is a human desire to have a home. I would call this desire an instinctual need that predates to humankind's first footsteps across the earth. While shelter is a basic need, a home is what everyone desires.
A place where you can mark the kitchen wall with your children's height.
A place where you can retire with ease and comfort.
A place where you can put your first mark of adulthood after college pays off and you land that real job you've been working toward.
A place where friends and family can come and hang.
A place where you can lay our head after a busy workday.
A place where you can grow and watch things grow.
It's true that everyone wants this place called home.
So as you toil through your market this year remember that regardless of where some of your clients are at today....it will not be the same tomorrow and tomorrow can change in a day or a year.
Keep in touch and keep your marketing steady and valuable. Keep giving and offering help. Keep in mind that the desire to have a home will never change.
Regardless of any cycle we are in, real estate will be on your client's bucket list so make sure you are top of mind to help your clients when they plan to fulfill their dreams. It could be sooner than you think.
Week of 12/21/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
Free Keyword Tools from Wordstream
Try these free keyword tools to help you effectively target your market using longtail keywords in your SEO and PPC campaigns.
Free Keyword Niche finder- The results in keywords show up with buckets to the left-hand side of the word. Click the bucket and get additional keywords for your marketing campaigns, blogging and content based efforts online.
Free Keyword Group- Groups your keywords to help you launch your online marketing campaigns.
These free tools are very smart keyword prospecting tools-the essential start for your online marketing. Very useful tools for real estate marketing with savvy keywords to effectively catch and win the long tail strategy.
10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
Real time search is alive and well on Google. How can you make sure what you are saying gets
the people you want it to and is blocked from those prying eyes you don't? Enter Nick O'Neill's blog posts to help you manage your Facebook account, content, and conversations.
The post covers:
Friend Lists
Facebook Search Results
Google SERP
Photo Tagging
Photo Albums
Relationship Status
Applications
Contact Information
Wall Posts
Friendships
This post is a must read and at the end of the post there is an option to have the PDF version emailed toi you. Take ownership of your account and check into your Facebook settings.
Google Can Change Your Title Tags
Google may just change your title tags to be more relevant in search results to users. Nick Stamoulis reviews thetitle tag topic in his blog post with the official video from Matt Cutts of Google explaining snippets and title tags.
The video is only about 3 minutes long and well worth the viewing.
Also take note of a comment from Chris McElroy on this blog post which gives good advice on how to maximize your effectiveness (relevance) of title tags so they aren't changed.
A 10 Step Guide to Video Blogging
Video blogging can be intimidating even for people who are used to being in front of an audience or meeting clients in person on a regular basis.
A blog post from Garin Kilpatrick of Blogging Tips on some simple and useful tips for vlogging. At the end of the post there is a useful video from Scobelizer with some more vlogging tips.
Videos are becoming increasingly important in online marketing and are getting high SERP rankings as well as the basic fact that people like to go online and view videos.
In relation to vlogging, I found a cool little gadget in the December edition of Rachel Ray's magazine. It's called YooStar and it let's you put your moving image into movies and t.v. shows. It has a tripod, a small camera and a portable green screen to allow you to film and then add your image.
Very cool and it's under $200.
Twitter 'Teaser Campaign' Promotes One-Day Sale: 5 Steps to A One-Day Conversion from Tweets
An article from Marketing Sherpa on how Threadless.com used the Twitter Platform to create a
one day sale that resulted in a 4% conversion from Twitter.
This post breaks down the following five steps of Threadless.com's campaign in detail,
Have a strong follower base
Send tweets that tease the promotion
Create contest to encourage re-tweets
Tweet the sale
Measure response
This article is a good guide if you plan to do a special one day promotion. Especially good to add
Real Skillz wishes everyone a happy holiday filled with joy and peace. I am grateful to have such loyal subscribers, readers, friends, followers and fans. It is an increasing motivation to find the most practical and useful marketing tools and ideas online because of you.
Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant.
This is only the second post I have reblogged but I thought it was absolutely hilarious Living in Wisconsin where we get plenty of snow, and having lived in Florida where as a high school kid I so wanted snow I can truly appreciate this little diddy.
BTW, I laughed so hard I think I snorted my tea through my nose at the end. Everyone can use a good laugh, no?
Enjoy and please comment back on the original post.
I was sent this two Christmas' ago by an old buddy. I laughed so hard I couldn't get rid of it so I saved it to share every Christmas Season with everyone! Enjoy!
Diary of a snow shoveler, probable location - North East
December 8 - 6:00 PM It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!
December 9 We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a lovelier place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had! Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!
December 12 The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment! My neighbor tells me not to worry- we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.
December 14 Snow, lovely snow! 8 inches last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish l wouldn't huff and puff so. December 15 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.
December 16 Ice storm this morning. Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.
December 17 Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. God I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.
December 20 Electricity's back on, but had another 14 inches of the damn stuff last night. More shoveling! Took all day. The damn snowplow came by twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying. December 22 Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white shit fell today, and it's so cold, it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss. By the time I got undressed, pissed and dressed again. I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter, but he says he's too busy. I think the asshole is lying.
December 23 Only 2 inches of snow today And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she, nuts?!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.
December 24 6 inches - Snow packed so hard by snowplow, l broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the son of a bitch who drives that snow plow, I'll drag him through the snow by his balls and beat him to death with my broken shovel. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been! Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the damn snowplow.
December 25 Merry freaking Christmas! 20 more inches of the damn slop tonight -Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. God, I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the microwave.
December 26 Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.
December 27 Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze; plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1,400 to replace all my pipes.
December 28 Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. The BITCH is driving me crazy!!!
December 29 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?
December 30 Roof caved in. I beat up the snow plow driver, and now he is suing me for a million dollars, not only the beating I gave him, but also for trying to shove the broken snow shovel up his ass. The wife went home to her mother. Nine more inches predicted.
December 31 I set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.
January 8 Feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?
We are heading into the homestretch of 2009. Hopefully you have been working on your business plan for 2010 or already have that nailed down. Before you throw in the towel on 2009, unless you're on vacation, consider seeking out the most of these last days by marketing the best deals from your local real estate inventory.
You've got 15 Days of Selling Before 2010.
Real estate discounts and returns are the products you should be marketing for after Christmas sales
.
Take a page from a retailer's playbook. Emphasize the discounts and returns in your market. Highlighting the real estate inventory clearance on your blog or website. Use the WOM (Word-Of-Mouth)factor through informing your social networks about your clearance sale.
Talk about your real estate inventory clearance by getting out of the house and getting your meet and greet on (fondly referred to as belly to belly). Advertise in your local paper IF IT MAKES sense and the readership is still there.
Take a listen,
Rewind and Replay of the REO Example on Slow Mo'
Write about how returned houses make good deals for buyers
Describe the process of buying REOs.
Give local stats on REOs.
Provide links to REO listings on your website/blog
Ta Da- A real estate marketing strategy for consumers who like to capitalize on real estate discounts and returns.
(Break into song)
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way
Oh What Fun It is To Ride
Surfing on an Internet wave
Hey
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way
Oh What Fun It is to Ride
The Momentum of a Clearance Tide
6 Days of Selling Before 2009. Real estate discounts and returns are the products you should be marketing.
Happy Holidays
Quick Thought: If you are in snowbird land right now, you could reach out and cross promote a real estate associate whose got some great warm weather specials for local consumers who are crying the winter blues (vacation homes, retirement homes). Your net gain is when those prospects call you, you qualify them, and place an outbound referral.
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals. Real estate marketing services include
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.
Week of 12/14/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
25 Essentials for Exceptional Email Campaigns
Complete a quick form and gain access to download this free guide from Lyris on how to create email
email campaigns. A few tips that caught my eye included:
Focus on quality over list size.
Test something every time- like deployment date/time, subject line, offers
Define your email value proposition.
Be prepared for email devices and social media.
There are a total of 25 tips and each tip gives solid examples and how to's. It's a solid no fluff guide for email marketing and a good read for any real estate professional who sends email campaigns and newsletters.
Along with the video there was an interactive multimedia application that allowed people to play a "water game". The Iphone app for the Barclaycard Waterslide Game in July of 2009 was the #1 free app. in 57 countries.
The results discussed in Eyeblaster's Case Study: BarclayCard Challenges Finanacial Advertising Conventions were:
13.7 million impressions
4.6 million unique users
Total interaction rate was 58%.
All that traffic from a K.I.S.S. Concept of fun in the form of a silly water slide and a water game.
The EConsultancy's Innovation Awards 200: The Winners
I have picked a few of the worthy winners that stood out in categories that I felt relevant to real estate:
1. Innovation in Affiliate Marketing- EBay Partner Network-rewards affiliates based on number of transactions and length of customer's value.
In other words: Click to-transaction to-repeat transaction. Good study for any real estate professional considering advertisers on their blog/website.
2. Innovation in ECommerce-Glasses Direct-Has an Augmented Reality Video Mirror that allows customers to "try on eyeglasses" with views from different angles.
I can't wait for the day that this type of app. creeps into the real estate industry and moves virtual tours to a different level allowing prospective home buyers to walk thru houses as they are and truly get a feel before they go out in the field. This type of app. could save a lot of time and heartache but the key would also be to enable the buyer to walk the neighborhood, similar to roving about with Google Earth.
These are just a few of the checklist of considerations this video breaks down for solopreuners and business owners who want a solid online offering.
This is not without concern from the online webmaster and SEO communities who are concerned that social media may be dwarfing the static web and the credibility of information may become even more watered down in the process.
This type of search itself is a disruption to the older search methods but emphasizes the importance of getting your brand disbursed in many places online and creating full profiles and syndicating your blog to those profiles. It also further emphasizes and re-defines the importance of a content powered strategy. Content is text, audio, video, micro blogging and conversations across platforms on the worldwide web.
Are you actively engaged and involved?
Real Skillz appreciates its fans and is showing an attitude of gratitude. Every day in December look for a freebie tool/site posted through the Real Skillz real estate marketing fan page on Facebook. I'll tell you where to find it and how it is useful to your business.
Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant.
Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate professionals. 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.
How Deep Does Your Blog Content Go? 73 Resources to Help You Write Better and Create Blog Content that Blossoms Online
I have chosen these resources to help you dig into your blog deeper and create content that will expand your current skill set. Writers are constantly honing their skills and perfecting their efforts, digging deep into the bowels of their works and often their mind and souls in the process. Given that blogging is a form of writing, and both writers and journalists have been exercising the skills of their trades before blogging came to be I have taken care to comprise this list mainly of writing and journalism resources that are relevant to blogging.
Here are 36 Resources to Help You Write Better and Create Blog Content that Blossoms Online
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.
Week of 12/07/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
Personalized emails, Website for sales agents boost response: 5 Strategies to Lift CTR 23%
An article from Marketing Sherpa that discusses how a cruise agency integrates their email marketing and website offerings to consumers to create a winning proposition for their sales agents. There are noticeable similarities between this cruise agency's marketing campaign and a real estate franchise/company's marketing campaign and a few noticeable improvements that could be integrated into a real estate company/franchise's marketing campaign.
The article reviews the cruise agency's 5 step strategy,
Customize website on the fly
Send customized emails from sales agents
Automaticallyroute leads to sales agents
Use internal emails to notify agents of leads actions
Send automated follow-up email to solicit trip reviews
This article is well worth the read. I found items #4 and 5 of particular interest. Reviews are particularly important to future prospects and customers and to tweaking and fine tuning your sales and service process.
Aardvark
I learned about this tool from ReadWriteWeb's Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2009. It's free and simple. Sign up, connect with your social circle via Facebook
Connect, and choose which topics you are willing to answer questions about. This tool will find people to route your question to and you receive any answers directly in your inbox. According to ReadWriteWeb's blog post the website has a 85% response rate.
I signed up this morning. Answered one question and asked a question to which I received two answers to in 3-5 minutes.
Think about social search here and this tool makes absolute sense by using the power of your extended network to gather information that you want/need to know.
Even better, here is the opportunity to answer questions you have knowledge and expertise in from those who are seeking it proactively.
Exclusive: Writing Better Copy for the Web 2.0 Landscape
Create multiple versions of headlines and sub headlines to find the ones that work the best.
Be as short as possible.
Be relevant.
Be credible.
It's important when you are writing a blog post or website copy to adopt a different style than a magazine or hard copy marketing collateral so your readership and usability remain intact and viable.
SCORE.org's "Create An Online Presence"
A valuable online workshop sponsored and presented by CoCentric for Score.org. Register online and gain free access to this on demand video about having a website built. This is a great video to watch before having a website built or even if you are considering revamping your old website. It lends tips that include what to budget for when having a website built that include,
What is the cost of the design?
What is the cost of the hosting per year?
What is the cost of the domain name per year?
What will it cost for maintenance and updates per year?
These are just a few of the checklist of considerations this video breaks down for solopreuners and business owners who want a solid online offering.
Landing Page Optimization Silver Bullets
A blog post from Tim Nash on Web Marketing Today about how to optimize landing pages. Each set of
tips is broken into three categories,
Less is More
Personalize It
Test the Offer
I really liked this tip under test the offer, "Repetition of the call-to-action in multiple screen locations and formats".
In fact, I think these categories- Less, Personal, Test, could be applied to many types of actions in online marketing when you break it down simply.
Real Skillz appreciates its fans and is showing an attitude of gratitude. Every day in December look for a freebie tool/site posted through the Real Skillz real estate marketing fan page on Facebook. I'll tell you where to find it and how it is useful to your business.
Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant.
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.
Scouring the Internet I have chosen 70 Forums and discussion groups that have had active participation within the past thirty days and have a real estate theme or topic of local information and are geared toward interactivity with consumer rather than real estate professionals only.
Using these websites a real estate agent can,
Get involved directly in discussions.
Observe and gather topics of consumer interest to blog about.
Find topics of consumer interest for guest blogger post topics.
Use to build a successful marketing campaign (See the last item on this post for more information on how to).
Combine with Question and Answer Websites for a powerful online internet real estate prospecting plan= Free Lead Generation.
Pick and choose forums and dicussions based on your niche, area(s) of expertise, and locality.
Here are 68 Forums for Real Estate Agents to Connect with Consumers
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.
I am entering my third year of blogging professionally and have enjoyed my journey immensely. When I started blogging I wrote to real estate consumers. After I started that I began to write to real estate professionals through my blog here on ActiveRain.
Both of my blogging efforts (B2B and B2C) required consistency, dedication, and a desire to learn what my blog readers wanted to know and how I could best provide and convey that information to them. My progression on my professional blogging journey has provided me with many lessons from my blog readers that I have been able to develop into effective writing strategies. I want to emphasize that this effort and these lessons did not come overnight.
The biggest lesson I learned was to listen to my blog readers. Most of what I have learned has been as a result of listening to what my readers were looking for, what they resonated with, and what they did not. Listening has been the greatest tool for my blogging efforts. When I blogged to real estate consumers, using tools like analytics when comments weren't as frequent helped me to understand what real estate consumers wanted to read and know.
Today I want to share with my blog readers the lessons I have learned in a cohesive fashion. One of my difficulties with blogging was trying to gather all the great information I was reading and learning in one lesson book. It always seemed to be scattered and no matter how great it was, sometimes difficult for a novice blogger to piece together.
Here is a Real Estate Blogging Tool Kit from Real Skillz for you to enjoy, use, and share
Choose the theme of your blog
Choosing the theme of your blog is critical to your blog's success. About 8 months ago I revisited my blog on Active Rain and realized that my blog posts lacked a consistency in theme. When I dug in and further analyzed my blog I realized I was writing more inspirational posts than marketing posts.
While I want my blog to be a healthy balance reflective of my personality,beliefs, and business abilities, my lack of consistent marketing posts was underscoring my skills and diminishing my business opportunities. I am glad I was able to catch this in my analysis and turn my blogging efforts around.
If I were given a do over, I would have spent the time to carefully consider the theme of my blog, from header, to description, sidebar to content and start off on better footing. Instead I did this by going through a remodel halfway through my blogging efforts and the remodel has paid off. I have increased my page views, PageRank, and readership by at least 25% and that figure increases monthly.
I have also increased my business (my end goal) by remodeling and sticking to my blog theme.
Here's a thorough exercise to create a new blog theme or remodel your old blog's theme.
You can write great content and stick to your blog theme, but if no one visits and reads your efforts are wasted. Create relationships by reading and commenting on other blogs, both inside of your social networks and by seeking out and reading local blogs in your market area. Reading and commenting strengthens your blogging efforts. It makes you visible to the blogosphere and the internet community at large.
Another recommended strategy is to submit your blog to blog directories. This takes time to do but it does have its rewards. Make sure to syndicate your blog to your social networks and include a link to your blog in your email signature.
Keep your Content Consistent with your Blog's Theme
If you took the time to remodel your theme or create your theme you might still run into a trap from time to time of keeping your content consistent. One such pitfall is the inevitable blogger's block. Here are 5 ways to work yourself into blogging mood. Another pitfall is when you find yourself blogging about everything and anything other than what your target blog audience (this will differ based upon your blog's purpose, goals and of course theme) may care to read or know. If the goal of your blog is to inform and make connections with real estate consumers here are there detailed steps for consistent real estate blogging.
Use Your Blog as a Tool for your other Real Estate Marketing Efforts
Embrace a content centric marketing strategy. Google loves content, people love content, and content can be the maestro of all of your other marketing efforts if you work on synchronizing your blog. You'll find the notes of your posts will create a perfect harmony for your other real estate marketing efforts.
Use your blog's body of work to make connections and create business opportunities offline. Your blog strategy can be integrated into an offline marketing campaign. Here's how you can do it.
Remember that to blog is to tell your Never Ending Story
Until you stop blogging altogether, blogging is your neverending story. It takes an effort and willingness to create fresh content that your blog readers want to read. As you learn more about blogging or there become new ways to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or new places to promote your blog you will need to dig back into the guts of your work and make renovations. I have been pruning my blog for the past three months in an effort to increase my effectiveness and reach my blog goal.
Following these 5 simple steps I have seen an increase in my blog grade by 18%. The great part is that I am not even done with this exercise so I know the effectiveness will only increase. The one bit I would add to these steps is to test your blog's speed. Speed will be an important component when Google Caffeine is launched after the holidays and is just a good common sense measure for increasing usability.
Enjoy your Real Estate Blogging Toolkit from Real Skillz
I hope you enjoy this real estate blogging toolkit. I have tried to cover the topics I feel of importance to real estate professionals who blog and if you read through you will find instructions on theme, content creation, consistency, commenting, visibility, seo, listening, storytelling, competitive analysis, analytics, and creating an integrated marketing strategy.
If I'm missing something you expected to see, please don't keep it a secret. I'm listening. Tell me by commenting.
Week of 11/30/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies
2009 Online Holiday Shopping Trends: Interview with ComScore's Andrew Lipsman
Similar to the growth of online consumers shopping for real estate, business for online retail has increased. Online retailers have helped to keep revenue for from falling further in the negative as there has been a "20% growth rate in new buyers to the channel."
What I found extremely interesting in this article was this comment, "...Amazon is...becoming [consumers] first search engine when they know they're in the purchase funnel."
If you think about search this is fascinating. Now we have people using all these different forms of search- Twitter for real time and Amazon as a "niche" shopping search engine or purchasing decision engine. It really makes you think about marketing and how people are finding brands to purchase from and emphasizes that search goes beyond Google.
Good real estate marketing should move beyond Google.
A blog post from DirkTheCow on the Social Media Today Network about the "blame game"
bandwagon and how to circumvent this behavior. A few worthy tips to take away include:
Learning from your mistakes- "embrace failures and mistakes as something to move on from"
Positive affirmation- "people who affirmed their ’self-worth’, were less likely to point fingers."
Keeping the end goal in sight instead of ripping into another professionals' goals and efforts will only help you reach your goal more easily and maintain a level of integrity. Biting your tongue and walking away with your fingers off your keyboard helps too.
I know. I practice it regularly.
Stockpiling Blog Articles Gets You Ahead of the Game
as a book of inspiration to help keep the flow of blogging fresh content. The post makes some easy
to follow points to help keep bloggers block at bay, but I would have liked it anyway for the beginning
description of a blogger,
"Publishing this text in a blog gives you a sense of accomplishment. And having a permanence of legacy gives you a taste of eternity".
In my seminars I say something similar, "When you blog you now have a brand that is archived on the Internet and will remain part of your legacy" and even professionals who don't blog yet get that.
I often see their heads nodding up and down as they take notes.
The way that Nicole says it gives it a more poetic justice. Well said.
Build Brand Through Online Forums: Giveaway offer Receives 83%
forums that resulted in a 83% CTR (Click-Thru-Rate) and an increase in sales. The article outlines and
details the following six steps of the campaign,
Create a high quality freebie
Build landing pages to accept requests
Identify appropriate forums
Write customized post content
Post content to forums
Important take away- Get involved where consumers are active. Question and Answer websites and forum are fertile ground for marketing campaigns and new business.
Real Skillz appreciates its fans and is showing an attitude of gratitude. Every day in December look for a freebie tool/site posted through the Real Skillz real estate marketing fan page on Facebook. I'll tell you where to find it and how it is useful to your business.
Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant.
have two real estate purchases I am working toward that effect my immediate goals for 2010. One is to purchase a single family residence in Lake Geneva within the next 3 years. The second is to work toward purchasing my dream real estate property, a log cabin, within the next 10-15 years, close to the time that I plan to put my business up for sale.
eal estate professionals through my blog here on ActiveRain.
