Real Estate Marketing Drips

Three Online Marketing Assumptions You Might Be Making and How You Can Correct Them

In the 24/7 world of online marketing that now includes interactive social media and blogging strategies, it is easy to get caught up in new web 2.0 tools and not work on remaining consistent and improving the work that has already been created.  Pruning my blog and improving my online marketing presence this week has been an enlightening experience this and I wanted to share my findings and solutions with you. 

Here Are Three Online Marketing Assumptions You Might Be Making and How You Can Correct Them

1.  Your Online Business Profile Should Be Brief

One common assumption about online business profiles is that less is more. While you shouldn't write an epic biographical novel, your online business profile should include relevant information: Background, Services, Testimonials, and Contact information. Spice up your online business profile by telling readers about YOU, the person, not just the business professional. 

It's a good idea to create one basic online business profile in a document processing application (I use Google Docs).  Obviously your ActiveRain profile will be different than your Facebook profile which will be different from your profile on Twitter.

If you save one master profile you can pull content from it to create a different profile for each of your social networks.

You want your profile to be tempting enough that prospects either pick up the phone and call you or they email you.  Do not make the assumption that prospects will read a paragraph about you and visit your website for more information.  You need to capture your prospects attention on the platform in which they found your profile.  The content in your business profile should keep visitors intrigued and reading. 

Remember, if visitors don't stick who cares about the click. 

Almost every single client that has called me from my real estate marketing profile on ActiveRain has picked up the phone because of an emotional trigger related to what I wrote....which would be the softer, more personal side of who I am and what makes me tick.  How do I know?  I asked the ones who didn't tell me, though many of my prospects and clients have told me this as soon as they had me on the phone.

Know-Like-Trust + Experience and Knowlege= Contact From A Prospect

Here's a resource for further details on how to create an engaging online business profile in 5 simple steps.

2. Your Blog Readers Will Know All the Places You Have A Presence Online

It can seem confusing, based on the concerns from some in the real estate blogging community and social media marketers at large, whether you should "maintain the purity of a blog" by not adding calls to action.  Well rest assured you can maintain a quality blog and add a call to action for your blog readers.

Most good marketing has a call to action and the most valuable property of your blog is the post itself. 

Both a call to action AND your blog are two great tastes that DO taste great together.  The formula you want to write is: Valuable Property + good marketing=Call/Email of a prospect. 

Do not think for a minute that other marketing professionals do not have a call to action in their blogs. You will find calls to action in the footers and links of blog posts across the blogosphere.  Remember that socialize buttons, RSS text links/buttons, email links, website links, and phone numbers are all important calls to action that should be incorporated into your blog posts. 

Strategically you will want to vary your calls to action based on the keywords and content of each post.  This will be easy if you have an online marketing strategy.

3.  Your New Blog Subscribers Will Read Your Older Posts

Most of your new blog subscribers will read from the day they subscribe forward.  Sometimes they might dig back a week or two....but further isn't likely UNLESS YOU...

Point readers, new and old, in the direction of your older posts.  Many of your blog readers will read other bloggers online and your older blog readers may miss a few of your blog posts as they have other bloggers they follow.  Point your readers in the direction of your older posts.  When you write a post, link to 2-3 other blog posts you have written in the body of your post (if applicable) or in closing as recommended reading. 

Not only will you be providing your readers with a valuable resource on the same topic as your blog post, BUT if you link wisely, you can also win by increasing the Google Juice to the blog post.

Fresh New Post Content + Recommendations to older related blog posts= Value to your readers new and old

All Good Marketing Intentions Succeed with Action

If you are making some of the aforementioned assumptions in your online marketing now is a good time to start correcting them.

As my good friend Anne Marie Malfie made the point, frequency is a required action for successful online marketing.  You must not only go backward and correct the 3 online marketing assumptions you may be making but moving forward you need to implement these ideas into your online marketing strategy and take action frequently.

If you enjoyed this post about online marketing then you should read,

• Advertise Online Only What You Are Willing to Answer
• Your Internet Appraisal Shouldn't Be A Drive By Valuation
• Pre-Spring Cleaning:  How to Stage Your Internet Storefront and Create An Engaging Online Marketing Presence
  

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Stuck in a Rut? The Top 5 Ways to Change Up the Ambiance and Get In the Mood to Blog

The Scenario:  You sit down at your desk ready to crank out another local real estate post.  You may or may not have your topic in front of you but this is the time you have allotted to write and you are bound and determined to crank the words out and then as you begin to type.....

BLANK-----BLANK----You got nothin'.

You are stuck in a blogging rut.  You need to change up the ambiance and get in the mood to blog.

There's no blogger I know who hasn't gotten into this rut before.  Even the best laid plans fall flat sometimes...sometimes they just don't fall at all.  So how do you get the words to disperse among the blank white screen staring before you?  You've gotta find your comfort zone and get in your groove. 

Continue Reading Stuck In A Rut? The Top 5 Ways to Change Up the Ambiance and Get In the Mood to Blog...

Spin Timeless Classics and Rock Your Blog Archives

What are the timeless classics that live in the archives of your blog?  Your blog should be well stocked with a variety of posts that will rock the prose of time.  As you look through your blog can you pull out a dozen or more posts that a real estate buyer or seller can turn to for advice, inspiration, or information? 

If your mission in blogging is to educate homeowners or buyers I bet you can find these posts.

Once you spin some timeless classics on your blog take these steps to gain traction and mileage from your hard work.

• Keep your posts that have a shelf life clearly labeled in your archives and make them easy to find for your blog visitors.
• Repurpose the content from these posts in your newsletters or on your website in lieu of the boring canned copy that comes with some websites on topics like relocation or first time home buyer tips.
• Syndicate these posts to article directories.
• Create a lens on Squidoo for post topics that will be part of an ongoing series on your blog.

How are you finding the sweet spot in online marketing to become a real estate baller?

Grant me two guesses....

By pulling consumers to blogs through the use of carefully choreographed keyword verified prose that stands on point like perfectly trained prima ballerinas poised and positioned on the first and second pages of Google.

By keeping consumers on blogs and enlightening them with the tales of REO, Short Sales, and Housing Bills, peppered with memorable memes and client recantations.  Content is King and you are looking to score some base hits.

How do you hit a home run?  Where's the sweet spot that grows online readership and Word of Mouth Marketing?  How can a real estate blogger get loyal fans outside of the professional real estate community?

You can syndicate blog posts, create groups, and answer questions on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Yahoo Answers, Trulia and Zillow and you should because these are all tools in your sales kit.

So focused is this path of routine workaday action of SEO and Tech Tool Mastering  before many real estate bloggers that the "old school" lessons of meet and greet start to get buried under home plate. 

It's ironic that the overshadowed old school method of meet and greet when employed online will lead you to the sweet spot,

• It will require your time.
• It will require you to engage in reciprocation.
• It will require you to get involved with your local community on a more "hyper-local level".

How do you find the sweet spot in online marketing and become a real estate baller?

The Sweet Spot is to engage in online community building at the "hyper-local level" and you can do it in communities online that already exist full of dedicated bloggers who aren't real estate professionals but local citizens. Get ready to do some door knocking by reading, writing and commenting on some citizen journalist and local blogger websites. 

I have begun to do this myself and it's a slow but rewarding process.  In my initial stages one thing is clear to me...local bloggers much like bloggers who write for their profession are loyal and they've got each other's backs.  Their blog rolls are populated with other local bloggers and their posts selflessly promote their fellow writing friends. 

Check out their readership numbers and their Page Rank.

They have got the game right.  They have community and they have fans. Are you ready to get started?  Have no fear, I have done some of the searching for you,

A Good Stepping Stone this list from SourceWatch has 103 Local and National Citizen Journalist Sites.

To satisfy your visual search craving check out this Citizen Journalism Google Map with a drop down and push pin feature to get to find your local citizen journalists.

You can do a search for local bloggers on Google and compile an initial list.  In my Google Blog search for Wisconsin Bloggers there were 116,599 results,

You can tweet on Twitter to find local bloggers,

And get results,

The key is consistency and I'll be the first to admit, since I launched my community endeavor almost one month ago I've been remiss in this.  My marketing blog has been my first and primary focus and goal but my back to basics business plan reminds me that building my business through my local community is important as well.

 A Real estate professional can build a solid community both online and offline.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

-Margaret Mead, American Cultural Anthropologist, Margaret Mead books

"Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she'd added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success)."

- Thomas J. "Tom" Peters : US author, lecturer, mgmt consultant; coauthored best-seller, In Search of Excellence Tom Peters (1942 - ) Source: The Pursuit of Wow!, Page: 117

"When I was trying to popularize the concept of the Internet -- ten or 15 years ago -- I came up with this concept of "the 5 Cs." Services needed to have content, context, community, commerce, and connectivity. After that, when I was trying to think of what the key management principles were to build into the culture, I started talking about the Ps. The P's were things like passion, perseverance, perspective and people. I think the people aspect is really the most important one." 

-Steve Case : Gaia Child Steve Case

How do you find the sweet spot in online marketing and become a real estate baller?  Be a real estate blogger who faces, interacts, and builds relationships with consumers.  Become a real estate blogger who builds a community.

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A lesson on the current economic climate

" I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.  Some come from ahead and some come from behind.  But I've bought a big bat.  I'm all ready you see.  Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"


A lesson on transparency

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who don't mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"


A lesson on finding your OWN voice in blogging

"Today you are You, that is truer than true.  There is no one alive who is Youer than You"


A lesson on social networking

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose."

A lesson on trying new things

"If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good."

A lesson on brevity in blogging

"So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads."


A lesson on commiting to a business that you are passionate about and have a plan around.

"And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.


A lesson on social media marketing/networking

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."


A lesson in the "risks" of love

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

100 Years Later:  Dr. Seuss's lessons on blogging, social networking, and the passion of life.

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Blogging, Social Networking and a Passion for the marketing life are Real Skillz consulting specialties.  Need real estate marketing advice from a practiced professional?  Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com

Blogging is a consistently effective tool if you have a strategy to reach your goal.  Without a strategy you can become tired, stressed out, ineffective, and overworked.  The goal in pull marketing should be to work to pull clients to you, not to work to pull yourself apart.

Creating an effective blog strategy that doesn't leave you numb is a job that Real Skillz is ready, able and willing to handle. 

It's really simple.  I need to know the URL for your blog, your greatest challenges, your biggest accomplishments and your end goal.

I will personally review your blog digging through it in search of,

• Creative and Captivating Content- Original or Ordinary?  Can I hear your voice or is it stifled?
• Smart and Effective Linking Strategy- Are you linking? Where? To Whom? 
• Focus on a Target Audience- Can I find one?  Who is it?
• Usability- Can I read through your blog easily.  Is your display welcoming or daunting?

I will also be searching through the internet analyzing how you are marketing your blog,

• Commenting- Where? How often? When? Are you being effective with your content?
• Time Management- How often are your blogging and how much time are you spending marketing your blog?
• Focus- Do you have one?
• Syndication- Where?
• Offline- How and Where?
• Personal Branding- Does it exist in your blog and in your blog marketing?

I will prepare an analysis and then a custom blog strategy.  I will send this in depth report to you and give you a few days to review it. 

You will also be provided with a blog writing and marketing strategy.

You will receive a one hour conference call.  We will discuss any questions you have regarding the analysis, strategy, and beginning of your new journey.  A 30 day check up is included with this service to make sure all the tires are in alignment and you're running along smoothly.

Any subsequent checkups will be at your discretion and your need.  I am providing a customized program to you. It's a tune up not a contract for indentured servitude.  My goal after your tune up is to feel firmly empowered, gassed, and ready to go.

If you are seeking increased business, personal branding, and a blogging strategy that works for you rather than a one size fits all solution or throwing everything against the wall hoping some of your efforts will stick call me at #262-203-5231 or email: rebecca@realestateskillz.com

I have priced this service at a very affordable level and cannot take more than 25 blog tune ups a month because of the amount of work involved for each one.  Each client's needs are so varied in scope and nature that I am not willing to sacrifice service for volume...even though I have set the price at a point that is humbling for me.  It keeps me honest and real.

Reciprocity. It's all about give and take and I am doing so very respectfully so that anyone who wants to can participate. 

I am providing exclusivity for solopreuners who sign up for this program. . So if you are a real estate agent, mortgage broker, stager, or home inspector I will not be helping your competition.

This eliminates any conflict of interest and allows me to concentrate on a plan that will be aggressively competitive and crushes the box for my clients.

Back to the money.  Let me define affordable...

This tune up will is no more than the cost of buying,

• A suit on sale
• A nice pair of shoes
• A cocktail size purse
• A pendant necklace
• A nice dinner out
• Golf and Lunch at the Club
• 50% of your weekly grocery bill
• One spa service
• A tune up on your car
• Putting your child in a sport or activity for the season...well I take that back, probably this service will cost you 1/3 to 1/2 of that.
• 1/2 of a monthly utillity bill for a 1200 sq. foot house

Need I go on?

Seriously affordable. 

Before you consider muting your voice or start Chasing Pavements Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com

If you like my free guidance and support you ain't seen nothing yet my friends.  Try the paid verson.  You don't have to have a superstar's money to be in my show.  If you need time to sell real estate and create and maintain an effective blogging strategy you are welcome anyday.

Twitter lovers you can DM me.  I check my DM's regularly.  Now I am off to teach social networking to local Wisconsin Female Entrepreuners.  What a rush...it feels very empowering.

You can sign up for the RealSkillz blog tune-up in a few easy clicks.

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**PLEASE NOTE:  SINCE THE TIME THIS POST WAS WRITTEN THE BLOG TUNE-UP PRICING HAS CHANGED TO ACCOMODATE THE AMOUNT OF HOURS SPENT PER CLIENT PROJECT.  PLEASE SEE WEBSITE FOR DETAILS:  HTTP://BLOGTUNEUP.BLINKWEB.COM FOR DETAILS**

It's an interesting internet world these days.  To say the times are changing is a reality that's understated.  To say that moments are changing each and every day is closer to the truth. 

Illusions are becoming echos of the past.  Illusions have been the reality of real estate for over a decade.  Look where we all are now.

The freedom of information online is not a deterent to business, but when artfully executed, it is a moneymaker.  If you are just getting started in social networking and blogging I want to encourage you to let the information flow freely.  If you have been online awhile and have not reaped the benefits of your work this may just be where your stumbling.

The first blogger who schooled me on the importance of giving free information online was Missy Caulk of Ann Arbor Michigan.  One of the first posts I read was a post Missy wrote about what she included in her pre-listing presentation.  I read this post and my jaw literally hit the damn floor. 

I couldn't believe it.  Missy was giving away some prime storefront property.  Real estate agents whom I had spoken to for the past 17 years had always been so protective of their marketing information.  They never wanted me to sell my advertising to their competitors, but they always wanted to be where their competitors were.  I shook the disbelief welling inside of my eyes.  A smile started to creep unto my face as a wave of refreshing tranquility seeped through me.  What a great way to do business was all I could think.

Let the information flow through you and pull clients to you.

When I first got started blogging my writing was stiff.   The sheer task of getting up every morning and writing felt like a 60 lb. weight was tethered to my back.  My first month or two was literally painful and each post that I kicked out felt vaguely reminiscent of the birthing process of my three children minus the wonderful miraculous results at the end.

My posts were stale, boring, and completely lacking of any unique flavor.  I did have a coach who had been encouraging me to follow the crowd.

I realized that the more rehearsed I sounded the less I liked what I wrote.  The more I tried to write what other people wrote about and how other people wrote, the more labored my blogging became. 

One day I jotted down a few notes during a small epiphany I had while playing monopoly with my children.  I realized that I could use the same process I had for creating my marketing ideas as I could for creating topics for my posts.  The process became easier and a few months later I wrote one of my favorite posts Ever.

I came to understand that expressing myself freely was being the best blogger that I could be.

The more I wrote the more rhythmic I became.  The more I treated blogging as a conversation the more likely my readers were to engage.  I liked to talk, but I really started to love listening. 

My blog readers' conversation, without a doubt, is better than my initial posts could ever be.  Web 2.0 it's about you, it's not about me.

If free flowing information is the vein of a blog, then listening is the blogger's life blood.  The Art of listening makes or breaks the most well planned and successfully executed marketing strategy.  In the end, if you are not listening you lose touch with your clients, your mission, your focus and your purpose. 

You lose site of what interactive means on the web.  Stop pushing and start pulling.....let go.

I also came to a point where it became increasingly difficult to tolerate views that were opposed to change.  As a blogger I had begun to take a journey and I learned that even though I was taking that trip there were those that refused to ride with me.  The lip service grew to a point where I could no longer be transparent and continue on my cluetrain.

I ended up changing venues and continuing my ride and surrounding myself with like company.

I've said it before and I will say it again, let the information flow through you and pull clients to you.  Blogging is YOUR journey.

Blogging Posts

• My 2008 Blogging Revelation.  Blogging to Consumers Opened My Eyes
  
• We've ONLY just BEGUN...to blog
• "I'm New to Blogging...Can you help me out?
• Your blog's content is a commodity.  Treat it like one.

DIY Real Estate Professionals have fun.  Real Estate Professionals already using a marketing consultant feel free to share these ideas with your advisor.

Real Estate Professionals in general- Here's an open invitation to get to know me. 

• My email address
• My phone number #262-203-5231
• My DM on Twitter- @rebeccalev 

Or read my posts until I have piqued your curiosity.

I don't have any plans to blog tomorrow.  I do have plans to spend the day listening.

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Looking to hone the inner blogging voice in you?  Seeking a focus in your blogging efforts that incorporates social media marketing?  Real Skillz is on the case.  Visit the Real Skillz Blog Tune-Up Program.

You can also Call #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@realestateskillz.com for more information.