A Kentucky writer’s musings . . .
while actively pursuing a perfect balance between cutting edge mobile technology and voluntary simplicity
Entries tagged under ' realestate marketing '
Written April 6, 2008 in Real Estate
Although all the houses (and features) aren’t directly related to Tiny Homes, I just love this website, aptly named “Off Beat Homes” which displays unusual homes, details and treatments. I particularly like the idea of a tiny house with a fairytale styled roof. (Isn’t that sweet?!?!)
You may also enjoy looking at these unusual home and [...]
Simplicity is the key to effective communication. When you give someone your business card, you want them to remember your name, what you do and be able to contact you (or recommend you to someone else). You also hope that your meeting (in person or virtual) is a memorable one.
If you have a business website [...]
If you are building your first independently hosted blog for your real estate business and you have decided to go with WordPress, you have already made a great decision.
Now, there are some other items to consider:
In addition to the Real Estate keyword help I offered in an article on WickedWordCraft.com, I also found this cool “right here, right now” tool from SEO Book. Give it a spin!
Are you curious about WordPress as a publishing tool for your online success as a real estate professional? I was too. And I’ve been using WP on my own blog for some time now. I must say, I love it!
I’ve helped several clients switch over to WP. They love it. Currently I’m in the midst [...]
If you have a website, you need a custom 404 page.
Why?
Because there is nothing LESS “sticky” than a standard 404 page and you want a “sticky” site to retain visitors
Because you want to deliver the BEST personalized service to your clients online and face-to-face
Because you hate 404 pages yourself
Because getting a generic “Error 404: Page [...]
I’ve collected a few great resources for the entrepreneur, solopreneur, or small business owner below and hope that others will add to the list any great resources I’ve failed to mention.
At the end of last year, I blogged about the buying power of women in the real estate arena over on ActiveRain. Now, having just made a move from the country (where I own a farm) to the city (where I’m begrudgingly renting for the next 18-24 months), I’m even more firm in my conviction [...]
It’s been awhile since I’ve really “dug in” where SEO is concerned. Basically, I’ve been working under the assumption (a fairly good one, IMHO and in my humble experience online) that if you build good content, organize it well and use common sense when titling your articles, posts and web pages — that the readers [...]
Brian Brady, over on BloodHoundBlog.com urged Realtors to stop selling houses in a blog post this weekend. Amen, I say! The alternative? Build memories, of course! He says:
“Neighborhoods don’t have character, they have Characters. Weave these Characters into the stories you tell when you talk about your market. Characters are what entice us. They [...]
You know, I love Google’s offerings. I use alot of them. I have a gmail account. I use Google Docs, analytics, customized search pages. Google IS my home page.
I’ve always felt that the sign of a good education was not what you know as much as how good you are at being able to "ferret out" any information you need on any topic. I thought this before the invention of Google, and I think that Google has enabled the masses to be more "educated" by my own definition.
Google is how I work and play without having to store an inordinate amount of detailed information in my head — I know how to find it… on Google. But there have been a few people (myself included) lately, that have become a bit concerned with the sheer mass of information Google now possesses about individuals.
Are you bored with the same old “tired” farm materials? Do you want
innovative and creative… but all you can afford is the service you
already have? Is it the same service your competition is using — or a
markedly similar one? Do you want your direct mail to catch the eye of your target market? And, are you on a shoe-string budget?
There is a way to make your stuff stand out… without a huge time and money investment…
Here begins today’s rant. It follows yet another call from yet another real estate agent (and genuinely nice guy) that has been taken for a ride, financially. This has been bugging me for awhile, even before the most recent call (I get several of these a month, BTW). I’ve talked with my own clients about it, and I’ve probably run off a few potential clients with my blatantly bold and brash “brutal” honest opinion on this particular topic.
The fact is, real estate agents are an easy mark. They believe in and look for a silver bullet to fix all their online and offline marketing woes and they are willing to buy false “Holy Grails” over and over again.
They don’t get what they want from one company (even though what was advertised was exactly what they did want)… so they go on to the next company and buy yet another “service” — another “software program” — another online lead generator — another “one size fits all” website, etc, etc, ad nauseum…
And they wonder why they never quite make it to the big leagues. They wonder why their overhead is so high, their profits so low and why the concept of personal “free time” is a misnomer.
I’ve HAD IT!!!
(Not with these agents… but FOR them!)
I’ve been watching with some interest lately as the podcasting phenomenon has entered into the mainstream.
During my research I’ve found some excellent examples of the use of podcasting and, more interesting to me personally, the use of video podcasting.
For instance…
Well, it’s finally started to happen. I’ve been telling my clients for many, MANY months to be more careful with their use of gratuitous links and spamming the search engines (in particular Google) through these methods. I’ve been expecting the blast to happen in the last three or four rounds of algorithm changes for Google, and I’m honestly disappointed that it hasn’t happened sooner. But, that tide is now turning, finally.
I accepted a new client last week. He asked me for help with his marketing approach. He was disappointed in his return on a recent direct mail campaign and needed a bit of direction on this and and other marketing issues and projects.
He had done several things right:
1.) He had his assistant hand-address the envelopes.
2.) He had her attach REAL stamps to each envelope.
3.) He had included a small, unique give-away item in each envelope.
4.) He hand-signed each letter.
After sending out several hundred letters over the course of three weeks, not a single response was logged. So he called me…
Jeff Aughey of AlphaHomes.com has been selling real estate for 17 years, and has been specializing in homes in Alpharetta Georgia since 1994. He says that he discovered in college that sales was much more interesting to him (and was a better fit for his personality) than the engineering career he was pursuing at the time. After “doing the math” he decided that he could do what he enjoyed most, and could make a good living at it. He prefers to be his own boss and likes commission-based sales because they keep him motivated and busy.
Anyone who knows Jeff knows that he lives by his cell. It’s never out of arm’s reach. He even admits (sheepishly) that he keeps it on his bedside stand at night – just in case of emergencies. He uses his Treo exclusively and considers the home phone the ‘property’ of his children.
Professionally, Jeff prides himself on his quick response times and his ability to stay constantly available to his clients and prospective clients.
More women under the age of 45 have college degrees than men, according to a new report by The Media Audit (International Demographic, Inc.).
The trend has been growing rapidly, and the figures show how quickly the less educated gender of a few decades ago has become the more educated gender of today. There is an even bigger margin between the genders in minority groups, according to the report.
As the competition increases for marketshare on the world-wide-web, the local folks are carving out their own piece of this pie. How about your website? Does it compete on the local level? It should.
One of the first steps my real estate clients take is bundling up every single scrap of marketing literature, materials and what-not that they currently use, or have used in the past — and they send it to me to review.
Usually their business cards, letterhead, brochures and other marketing pieces are cluttered with a slew of phone numbers. So many, in fact, it’s a point of distraction.
Why make your clients and your potential clients work to reach you? Why shouldn’t making the decision to call you be decision enough? Why must they then decide if they want to visit you on the web, email you, call you at home, dial the “main number,” dial the direct line, call your cell, send a fax or punch in your pager number?
I recommend that my clients do what I’ve done… get a single business number.
Want to know how to have a single, perfect phone number? (And for those of you with brokers that require their number on your materials, you can at least whittle it down to two.)
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