The real estate industry has experienced an amazing boom cycle during the past 11 years. Most of today’s agents have experienced only a raging market in the midst of incredible growth.
In 2005, according to recently published survey by NAR, 24% of all Realtors® have been in business one year or less and fewer than one third were in business last time the market took a dip.
Since the housing market has been a bit bumpy, some real estate agents have become alarmed. Newer agents, in particular, hesitate to spend any money to build their business. Even some “old hands” have cut or eliminated their marketing and advertising budgets and are running their offices with a “bare bones” approach.
Normally, I’m all for simplification. Usually, I would agree that if you aren’t making money, you should be wary of spending it. But in the current housing climate, I’d like to offer a few thoughts. Continue reading »
Tags:
business building,
marketing,
marketing you
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Let’s say you have decided that blogging really IS a good idea. And, you are ready to have a blog on your own website. The only problem you face is an innate abhorrence of writing.
So you are looking for an easy way out. You ponder the options… and determine that you should hire someone to do your blog. After all, this will get you blogging (that really “in” thing to do for your online marketing) and will make the whole process as painless as possible, right?
WRONG.
Since I am a blog advocate (and a freelance writer), I’ve had quite a few inquiries lately about blogging services. Writing about blogging has resulted in a page one ranking on Google for blog writing services. But, Google is a fickle friend, so I don’t expect to retain that ranking for long.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying quite a bit of web traffic on this topic and I get quite a few questions on ghost blogging. I want to address some of those questions here. Continue reading »
Tags:
blogging,
marketing,
marketing you
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I haven’t beaten the blogging drum in awhile, at least not publically. Of course I believe in blogging. It works for me, it works for others.
Like you, many of my clients come from referrals. The rest are a result of reading my articles and my blogs. It’s that simple. I preach blogging. I “walk the talk” of blogging. I do it and I encourage (and even coerce) my clients to follow suit.
I’m a believer, and I have a story to tell about a client of my own who is a recent convert. Continue reading »
Tags:
blogging,
marketing you
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The majorsearch engines now give less “weight” to keywords on your index page’s keyword meta tags. This is good news for those who have quality content, first-rate incoming and outgoing links and for those with thoughtful, effective URLs and excellent metatags in general. Here is how choosing the right domain names can make a big difference in your Web visitor count.
For those relying on heavily on the keyword metatag, those still stuffing location names
into links on the index page, and those still cooperating with “link farms”… the day of
reckoning (and loss of ranking) is probably already upon you.
However, keywords in your domain name and in your title meta tag still carry a great deal of “umph” with the search engine crowd. So…
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If you are rethinking your focus…
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If you are concentrating on your best services in a busy real estate office…
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If you are targeting your ideal client type…
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If you are planning to accomplish your 2006 goals with your website…
…you should carefully consider the URL you plan to use.
Continue reading »
Tags:
branding,
marketing,
marketing you
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The term “marketing” has acquired a bad rep. People equate “marketing” people with “salesmen” and that alarms me. It alarms me so much that I nearly dropped the term from my own business altogether.
Marketing, or at least my form of it, is (and always will be) about communication. Marketing isn’t about selling, it’s about serving.
It isn’t about what’s in it for the company, it’s about conveying — communicating — what’s in it for the client. Continue reading »
Tags:
business building,
marketing you
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Businesses on the web are blogging their way to marketing success. Blogging has become increasingly popular from corporate CEO to sole proprietors. How does this form of online writing help a company’s bottom line and who should consider writing a blog? More importantly, who shouldn’t?
A blog (short for web log) is a dynamic, regularly updated journal entry created in “real time” and uploaded to your website or blog server. For real estate professionals, it can be a fantastic marketing tool. It’s now hit the mainstream and if you have ever considered a blog for your Real Estate website, it’s time to move forward with your plans!
Continue reading »
Tags:
blogging,
business building,
marketing,
marketing you
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Real Estate Business Magazine published my article “Diving for Pearls” in the November issue. A client picked up a copy of the magazine while at the NAR conference in California, and sent it to me this week.
The article discusses the five steps you need to take to get listed in the local search engines and even discusses the importance of including GPS information in metatags.
I’ll be writing more on this topic in the future, since the importance of local search in increasing daily.
In the meantime, if you would like to read a PDF of the article, I’ve uploaded it HERE.
Tags:
marketing you,
real estate industry,
seo
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You have probably spoken with individuals who have listed their home and have waited anxiously as absolutely nothing happened. Eventually, their listing expired. They are probably disenchanted with the home-selling process in general and may be frustrated with real estate agents in particular. So why should you approach them? Because you now have an unparalleled opportunity to rise above the competition and SHINE!
Continue reading »
Tags:
communication,
marketing properties,
marketing you,
working with sellers
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As Valentine’s Day approaches, you cherish the sweet little things your loved ones say to you… but do you keep a file of the nice things your satisfied clients say? You should. Word-of-mouth marketing is essential for real estate success, so why not help spread “the good word” yourself? If you think that you don’t have testimonials, you may not be looking in the right places. If you don’t have a file in your marketing folder called “testimonials,” chances are good that you are missing golden opportunities.
Continue reading »
Tags:
marketing you,
web content
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RSS has become an important new wave in the world of the Internet. But you are still a little unclear about the whole concept. Learn more in this two-part series on RSS feeds, blogging and making your mark on the mobile web!
Continue reading »
Tags:
communication,
marketing properties,
marketing you,
technology
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