Action Items | Let’s Get Right With Google

Google has a couple of different links you can use to update your publicly facing profile with them.
Make sure both are properly filled out and looking good.
Google AboutMe
Google Profiles

I know you will probably never use it, but if you haven’t already, you need to sign up for Google+
It is important to make sure Google knows to tie your name, your profile, your website, your testimonials, your logo, and your business details all together.
By taking the time to properly sign up and fill out the above, you will lock in your Google Identity.

The other best reasons to use Google Plus:

(Keeping this simple so you see the value)
Demographics – Where FB leans under 40 and female, Google+ leans over 40 and male. Interesting huh?
Instant Spidering – Want a blog post to get spidered by Google immediately? Share it on your Google+ page.
SEO Boost – If your content is shared, reposted, or liked (+1 its called on G+) Google will consider your content exceptional, and place it better.
If you found the above tips helpful, you should really subscribe to future updates.
Upcoming posts include how to get those shortcut links under your website in the search results like this– you wont want to miss it!
Now if only your website represented your business as professionally as you feel it should.
We can help!
Drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover!

The post Simple Must Do Steps To Build Your Real Estate Profile With Google For Better Ranking appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

• Your brokerage can supersede your efforts at claiming the address of the office.
  There can be only one business at that location. So it might be best to use a home office location or a specific suite number if possible.

Once verified:

• Add photos, including your headshot, logo, and images that you use in your other branding.
• Get reviews! Make sure some favorite clients visit the page and leave some 5 star reviews. Google will also pick up reviews from Facebook and Yelp.
• Share some content (blog post, quick insight, or the like) post it – get something fresh up there.
• The background/cover image for your business profile is currently set to be 1086px by 611px.
  You might need a designer to help you with this, or head over to Canva.com and work out something slick.

Another quick tip! Place your business directly onto Google Maps.
Zoom into your physical location, and right click on the area where you want to be located. There is an option to “Add a Missing Place”
If your business profile is verified (see above), and the address matches the location you are pinning, you can just fill out the quick form and bam! your business appears on Google Maps.
That will be enough to get you on the google results maps, unless all your competition just read this post as well.
If you found the above tips helpful, you should really subscribe to future updates.
Upcoming posts include how to best improve and leverage your personal Google profile – you wont want to miss it!
Now if only your website that comes up when you google yourself represented your business as professionally as you feel it should.
We can help!
Drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover!

 
 

The post Hey REALTORS®, Have You Given Yourself a Good Googling Lately? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Create an infographic.

A few years ago I created this infographic about How To Ensure Your Success As A Real Estate Blogger.
After publishing it on this website, I pinned it to Pinterest.
I had at times noticed that it was repinned quite a bit, but never paid much mind to it. Then yesterday I looked at the stats and see that it has been re-pinned over 3,100 times. Holy cow! I looked at the stats on all my other pins and see that of nearly 300 pins my second highest pinned image is 66 times (and the 3rd highest is just 33 pins). That’s almost 50x the amount of pinning!
The thing is, creating that infographic took me 50 times longer than any of the images I posted on Pinterest. So you could say I got out of it what I put in. And I haven’t created another infographic since then because of the time it took to do that first one (a few hours).
That is until today!
Turns out making infographics is no longer the massive chore it was just a few years ago.
Using a tool Canva.com you can create a great looking, super-shareable infographic in about 30 mins. If the results are anything like my first infographic, I plan on doing a lot more of these.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.

How to Make a Successful Infographic

The above infographic was designed to be easily noticed and digested. Below is a little more insight on the included 8 points: 

Get Inspired

Rather than staring at a blank canvas, look at what others have done successfully before you. Save a few favorites for inspiration and borrow from them the ideas you need. This site has a ton of great examples that will get your creativity flowing: DailyInfographic.com. This Pinterest Board has a ton of Real Estate related Infographics.
Once you have a solid inspiration, you can use Canva’s infographic templates to design your vision.

Wireframe

Sketch out the whole concept on paper. It’s much easier and faster to work with the rough draft it than with the design program. I also found that I was able to come up with several solid ideas for future infographics as I was sketching out this one. Now I have a notebook with a bunch of pages of ideas all ready to go.

Use Canva

Canva.com – they are just what the novice designer needs.
Drag and drop content, simple editors, tons of free templates and graphics, and most importantly: guidelines to keep everything in place. I loved using it to create the infographic above. You can also buy premium graphics for as little as $1. I was able to keep my project free by designing some of my own images for the icons – which is another nice feature: upload your own graphics.

Think Mobile

My website analytics show that 40% of my audience is mobile. But the analytics on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest profiles show that number to by upwards of 75%. So at this point, I would design the infographic for the mobile audience. Keep the message clear and simple. Overly complicated infographics with lots of images and data will not be appreciated by your mobile audience.

Contrast

Contrast gets you noticed. Contrast draws attention to the flow of the message. Use bold colors, bold fonts, attractive images, and enough white space to keep your audience on track.

Blog It

All your best content should originate on your blog. It will last forever there, well organized, well indexed (SEO), and clearly attributed to you. From there you can share it everywhere else.

Share It

Great content is meant to be shared. Get it in front of as many as you can and then let them do the rest of the work. I shared that original infographic just 1 time on Pinterest, and it was re-pinned over 3100 times. I’m going to dust it off and share it on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Recycle

Not only does the infographic make for great blog content and social media fodder, but it can be incredibly useful on your website pages. If you create an infographic on the Home Selling Process, this would be an amazing asset to your Selling pages on your website. If you have your website in mind when you consider your infographics, you can really make use of them over and over.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.
 

The post How to Be Successful Posting On Pinterest – The Infographic appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, the newest social media phenomenon, you may be missing out on a key component of a rounded Internet strategy.
Pinterest has taken the lead in “buzz” among social media early adopters. And for good reason.
Pinterest is the fastest growing website in Internet history.
It’s extremely visual, fun and easy to use, it lets the Pinner’s personality shine and gets you great backlinks. By creating “pin boards” for photos you find online you can arrange them in visually interesting ways and backlink to photos from your own blog or web site, or from other favorite sites that might appeal to your followers.

Here are the Top 6 Reasons you should begin Pinning on Pinterest:

1. It’s fun!

Pinterest is high on the fun factor, and easy to use.
This is not a social media site that will take a lot of time to learn or use. Check out a few people who you know are on Pinterest and you’ll get the idea very quickly. The visual quality to the site means you can scroll through the Pins of the people you follow for a few minutes at a time, or for hours. You do not engage in conversations, so you can come and go whenever you like. There is the option to like someone’s pin, rep-in it or comment on it.

2. It Lets Your Personality Shine.

If you love old cars or picket fences or country barns, you can dedicate one of your pin boards to photos of those things. You’ll quickly connect with people who have like interests.
Mix those pin boards in with boards dedicated to listing photos, or your town’s best restaurants, or architectural styles in your area and away you go. You’ve created a personable way for people to get to know you.
Beware of self promotion or in-your-face marketing. You don’t want to turn people off to your pins before you even get started. Pinterest should not be used only as a vehicle to promote listings, rather it’s a place you can post beautiful photos to show your followers the types of homes you represent.

3. It Creates Links to Your Website.

One mistake I made early on was uploading my own photos. I seldom do this anymore, and only when I want to pin something I won’t be able to put on my web site first.
The best bang for your buck is to craft a blog post and insert a photo you also think would be great on Pinterest.
If you’ve been blogging for awhile or have a robust web site, go back through old posts and find photos for Pinterest. You can pin something you posted two years ago and create an instant backlink to your site from an old post. Pin photos from web sites or upload your own, but don’t steal them (as in from Google Images.) Copyright laws still apply.

4. It Enhances Your Keyword Strategy.

When you pin a photo, you also create a caption. Consider how you can use the captions to focus on specific keywords within your Internet strategy.
If you want to be found for “Tulsa,” have a pin board or two that focus on Tulsa.
Pin photos of the area or local Tulsa happenings – and use “Tulsa” in your captions. Do you want to be found for “Beachfront in Bimini?” Use the opportunity to write about beach property and the beauty of Bimini, then pin the photos to a Beachfront in Bimini pin board on Pinterest.

5. It’s a Digital Memory Enhancer.

We’re all prone to forgetting.
Surf the Internet for more than a few seconds, and you’ll undoubtedly think, “I should come back to that.” Or, “That’s what I want my garden to look like this summer.”
While there are many outstanding sites for cataloguing articles, RSS feeds and ideas, Pinterest lets you catalogue photographs. You’ll be pinning to create connections, but a hidden use is to give you ideas.
By going back through your pins later, you may remember a blog post you wanted to write, or a better way to photograph your new listing.
Are you helping your daughter plan her wedding or a close friend renovate his kitchen? The photographs on your boards will remind you what you liked about the cool new kitchen design you saw. Don’t forget to pin the photo when you see it – it won’t enhance your memory if you don’t get it on your board.

6. You and Your Boards Can Be Followed.

An interesting feature on the Pinterest site is that you can follow a person, or just follow one of their boards.
Some of your friends may want to follow everything you pin, and all of your pin boards. But the country barn lovers might only follow that board and skip the board you have on gardening. If you’re into contemporary design, you might find a lot of people following that, and fewer people following your pictures of cats. That’s OK. Pinterest lets people connect around shared interests.
Pinterest is growing exponentially at a mind-boggling rate. As mentioned above it is the fastest growing standalone site in the history of the Internet – which leads us to believe that it is not only worth participating in, but something that looks to have staying power.

And best of all, it’s a natural fit for real estate.
Visuals of homes, design, colors and landscaping are all beautiful on Pinterest. You now have the opportunity to craft your own visual expression of yourself and your brand with a single click. So get Pinning!
Not sure who to follow? Here are a few allstars from the RE social space:
Lani Rosales
Eric Bouler
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
Mike Bowler
Thanks so much for the article Gretchen!
Gretchen Faber is an incredibly professional Realtor in the Denver, CO area.
Check out her Pinterest page and her awesome blog: LifestyleDenver.com.

The post 6 Reasons Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Pinning on Pinterest appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The following article was written by our Dean of Education: Daniel Bates.
Much has been written on the subject of social media being used to generate leads and most of it has not been positive.  In most cases, this is due to a misuse of the tools and not the tools themselves.
When I teach social media marketing to students, I do not approach it as a one-size-fits-all-instant-cure and I don’t hype it to be something that it isn’t.  I try to look for a way that a specific agent can use it to reach their specific audience and develop a plan with them on how to accomplish this.

1. You Don’t Get It.

You’re scrambling so hard to find these things called “leads” that you can’t see the forest through the trees.
Everyone that you come in contact with isn’t a lead, they’re a human being and they want to be treated like one, not as a potential stack of money.  Social Media is about building relationships.  If you’re not looking to build relationships, then you shouldn’t be participating.

2. You Don’t Play By The Rules.

Rules were meant to be broken right?
Well not social etiquette rules.
The same way that not smiling while extending a hand to shake upon meeting someone new can ruin your chances of making a friendly impression, so can failing to follow simple social media etiquette.
I always recommend that agents establish at least a month of social participation on social networks before promoting a business agenda.   But most importantly they need to understand the harm in spamming.  Nothing will degrade your sincerity and ‘friend’ value quicker that thoughtless self-promotion in the public forum.

3. Your Entire Audience Is Other Realtors.

I see so many agents get caught up in the numbers game; measuring their success  by how many followers/fans they have compared to their competition.
It is so common to see real estate agents pitch themselves in Realtor-Centric blogs, groups and fan pages.  The common byproduct of this is that these same agents also follow a huge amount of other agents themselves, hoping for them to return the favor…and they do.
But what good (other than the slim-chance-referral) is that?
Real estate agents are the last people you want following your professional activities because they skew your results.
I make a particular mention, when I use my own efforts as an example in a class, that the students please not “like” my page, because when I reach milestones I want to know that those are real-life fans that I have a chance of doing business with.
If you are doing your job correctly, then your content should be very uninteresting to agents outside of your geographic area, anyway.
There is the exception where you are recognized as ‘doing it right’ and other agents follow you as a great example.  In this case you may not be able to stop the movement, and it could help boost you to a larger than life status.   In the meantime, just try to keep the groups separate in your head and don’t be afraid to delete agents who try to butt-in on the conversation.
You worked hard for it, they didn’t.

4. You Don’t Draw A Line Between Personal And Professional.

Your Social Media feed includes pictures of you overindulging at a party last weekend, a new real estate listing, an abstract thought or quote that means nothing to anyone, a blog post about buying a home, a “checked-in” at McDonald’s, your prized Golden Artichoke from Farmville, and a real estate video that makes me motion sick.
If you did have any chance at success it was ruined when you sat down in front of the keyboard and spammed your friends with business and exposed your personal life to your business contacts. On Facebook the separation is simple (and demanded by FB terms of use):  Keep your friends on your Personal Profile and create a Fan Page for the “Business You”.

5. You Forgot The Golden Rule.

You can’t expect others to help you unless you’ve taken a moment to help them.
Or, if you prefer “treat others as you wish to be treated”.
The “Gimmees” of the world don’t last long with social media once people figure out that they have a one track mind.

6. You Haven’t Figured Out That Real Estate is Boring.

You take the advice to create a fan page and but then you go and name it “John Smith, Your Kalamazoo Real Estate Expert, a Smith and Smith Realty & Associates Real Estate Agent”. You then proceed to post all of your listings and market data graphs pulled from your MLS without an explanation of what they mean.  This follows with the frustration that no one joins your page and so you decide to re-re-re-suggest the page to your friends.  When they still don’t join you just go back to posting the data on your personal account and everyone, including your spouse decides to hide you from their feed.
Instead, consider creating a page around your niche in which you discuss not only real estate, but local news, pictures, facts, and events of interest to that niche.
Try promoting other local FB pages’ activities, include some local pictures and fun facts, and then sneak in a real estate article or two.

7. You Leave People Hanging.

When people DM, PM, or comment you don’t respond promptly, or at all.  This leaves the impression idea that you’re not interested in fostering a relationship.  We live in an instant gratification society and failing to respond to an online request within a reasonable amount time (as defined by the other party, not you) will cost you business.
Fortunately, FB has just started to notify fan page admins of wall postings in addition to comments, which had been a problem for many that didn’t check their page(s) at least once in the morning and evening.  So no excuses!

8. You Chase Your Tail.

You’ve got the same 10-100 people who are subscribed to your blog, following you on twitter, and  liking you on Facebook and most of them are close friends and family that didn’t want to hurt your feelings.
They either ignore your content or participate just to boost your ego.  Either you get the hard truth, or you end up fooling yourself that you’ve got great content and an attentive audience.
If you aren’t reaching a new, broader audience, you need to consider a few things:
Perhaps your message is missing the mark or just plain uninteresting.
Or, maybe you just need to raise the bar and market the page more effectively to find a larger audience.

9. You Spend All Your Time Reading.

Rather than coming up with a game plan of who your audience is and what they want to experience, you simply start a fan page and begin mimicking what you’ve seen done by other agents.
There is nothing wrong with following other agents who are great examples.  The challenge however, is that most are poor examples and nothing but a loss for your time investment.
Stop paying attention to online chatter and spend more time working on your own content.  Figure out who your audience is and what it is that they want you to talk about.

10. You Don’t Care that Everyone Can Tell That You Don’t Care.

After watching the umpteenth evening news story (by a reporter who doesn’t grasp social media) on how social media is important, you are finally inspired to build up your online presence.
You create an account on Facebook and Twitter, put links up to these accounts on your website(s), break rules 1-9 and then setup an automatic program to post your blog feed to your account.
Predictably, you forget your login/password because you never visit either again.
Anyone that happens to stumble across your message sees the tumbleweed rolling across the ignored prairie and exits via the back button and on to your competition’s account.
If you could relate with any of the above, we have good news for you.  This week on Tomato University we are offering the following 3 Social Media classes at 11PST / 2 EST:

• Introduction To Social Media Marketing On Social Networks on Tuesday
• Facebook Fan Page Marketing For Real Estate Agents on Wednesday
• Facebook Advertising: Building A New Audience on Thursday

The post 10 Reasons You Will Never Generate A Lead Through Social Media appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The following article was written by our Dean of Education at Tomato University: Daniel Bates.
I recently attended a conference that included the administrators of 20 non-profit organizations. The topic shifted to them discussing their internet presence and nearly all raised their hands when questioned as to whether they had a website/blog with roughly the same number indicated that they also used Facebook for marketing their organizations.
The topic of logo/branding came to light and it was common to send the instructor to their websites to see an old logo and their Facebook account to see the new logo.  This was not a planned occurrence, however nearly everyone in the room expressed their frustration about the inability to change their website layout. They all noted that Facebook simply makes it much easier and more convenient to control the few things that these administrators needed to do and as a result their sites were becoming more and more outdated.
This experience was not entirely eye-opening as I’ve talked to hundreds of real estate agents who come to the Real Estate Tomato from bad webmaster/hosting experiences where they are unable to easily update their site or fix things (something that agents should always consider before settling on a $1.99/month hosting). I didn’t, however, expect the numbers that I witnessed that day and one person asking if they should give up on the site and move to Facebook.
I’ve seen some social media advocates pitch this idea before and couldn’t be more opposed, so here is my argument for why Facebook should not replace your blog:

Misinterpreting the Numbers

Many agents don’t install or regularly check analytics on their blog to truly understand the number of visitors they receive on their site vs. the very small number of fans (I refuse to call them “likes”, it just sounds too stupid) that they have on Facebook.
They also make the mistake of focusing on total number of fans instead of looking into their insights and studying their feedback responses and the number of “active monthly users” on their fan page.
This ‘insight’ is clearly a much more accurate number of people who you are reaching with your message.  The bottom line is that if you have 500 fans and only 100 active monthly users, than you are only marketing to 100 people.
Your website is probably reaching far more (and different) people than that on a weekly basis.

Missing Your Market

While FB continues to grow each month, it has gobbled up less than half of all US users.  Don’t get me wrong, this an astonishing number rivaled only in amazement by the vast number of users who still use Internet Explorer.
My point is, unless you work in a market where you only work with clients under 25 years old, you are greatly excluding yourself from your total market by only focusing on FB marketing.  I dare say that you are even exiling yourself from the one source that can deliver more leads than any other source; Google.
Use FB as a supplement to your blog and create a richer connection and experience between you an your fans, but don’t neglect more than half of the market not plugged in on Facebook.

Limiting the Experience

While FB allows you more opportunities to share, including more characters, video, pictures, links, and even FBML tabs, these all pale in comparison to the things that can be done with a well formulated blog post.  I can build an argument (like the one here) and back it up with supporting points, examples, embedded videos, maps, image galleries and more without concern of a character limit.  I can then deliver news of that post to some of my audience through social media (including FB), but I can also reach the rest through the search engines, RSS readers, and email subscriptions.
I’m not trying to push you away from FB. When used properly, FB can be an extremely effective tool for reaching a significant portion of your potential market in a fast and direct medium while building meaningful relationships. You simply need to weigh your options and consider all the consequences before making the decision of where to focus your marketing efforts.

The post Should I Replace My Real Estate Blog With My Facebook Page? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

When I talk with someone about what they are doing for their current online marketing strategy, I more often than not hear them mention: “I’m using Twitter” [among other things, of course].
To date, none of people I have spoken with claim to have ‘done business’ because of it.
However, that doesn’t immediately disqualify Twitter as a pragmatic use of one’s time.
Twitter can play a beneficial role in one’s marketing effort but in order for it to work, perspective must be drawn and considered.

Expectation of Your Twitter Audience.

Twitter is a very whimsical environment.
You think that you are being asked to be profound with just 140 characters.  The reality is that none of your followers have that expectation of you, so relax.  They are looking for something to make them smile, pique their interest/curiosity/inspiration.  For most, the easiest way to accomplish this by linking to an article, picture or video… not with a static statement limited by 140 characters.
Consider their expectations and work to provide them with what they consider and item of value.  By posting that item of value on your blogsite, and linking to it from Twitter, you bring them to the environment where you have the best chance of earning that trust you need to develop a relationship with a future client.

The post Twitter and The Real Estate Blog appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Success in Real Estate is largely due to who you know.
The more Whos, the more opportunity you create for yourself.
Creating a database of regular contacts has always been a sound strategy for real estate marketing.
Mailing Lists
Rolodex
Walking Farm
Past Clients
Friends/Family
Business Contacts
Email Database
Blog Feed Subscribers
Facebook Friends
Twitter Followers… and now the Hashtag: #

Why follow Hashtags instead of just keywords on Twitter?

Hashtag 101: When Twittering, by adding the # in front of a term (like this: #conan) it automatically groups your post with any other post that included the same #term.  This term ‘group’ can be found by using http://search.twitter.com and searching for the #term or directly from your homepage on twitter in the search box.
The use of a Hashtag signifies that you are intending to group your updates to that specific term.
For Example: You may Twitter a phrase like “on fire in Santa Barbara” that could have many contextual meanings, whereas using the Hashtag #sbfire makes it clear as to what conversation you are contributing.
Although a search for “Santa Barbara Fire” may yield more results, and therefore arguably be a better way to find out information about the fire, it is the intention of those using the Hashtag that I am interested in leveraging.  Users of the Hashtag are looking to be grouped together on purpose: they want to hold a conversation as a group.
Want to follow the absolute latest group chatter on the Manny Ramirez bust? #manny
Updates on the aporkalypse? #swineflu

Participating with Hashtags on Twitter.

It struck me just how useful Hashtags can be when I started jumping onto search.twitter.com to get the latest chatter on topics interesting to me.  And, just as importantly, I could join in, instantly.  I could address the audience directly, by including the #topic.  Additionally, I could address at least one participant with @membername.  The global and group connection was obvious.
Participating with Hashtags on Twitter is an easy and sure-fire way to gain exposure beyond your follower list.  Note, just as the comments you leave on others’ blogs need to be relevant and engaging in order to earn you any click-value, the same applies to your Hashtag Tweets.
Make an effort to be heard, and you will gain an audience.  Add to the white-noise, and you will be ignored.

How does using Hashtags help me generate more business?

Being recognized as the expert in a niche is solid way to gain the trust of your audience. Trust is the most important element in effective sales. By establishing yourself as the voice of a (relevant-to-your-business) niche Hashtag, you promote your savvy on the topic.
Grow your audience (the Whos), they recognize your expertise, and you have just created more opportunity for yourself.

Take for example what we have done with #reblogtip

Our normal blogging advice articles are generally well thought out and at least 500 words (this one is 1000+). Being restricted to 140 characters forces us to deliver something of value, at a glance. But, it also gives us the opportunity to deliver something of value more often because of the convenience of brevity.
Adding to the frequency of your advice creates more exposure and more opportunity. Tethering pithy advice to a Hashtag makes for a great collection of your work. Showcasing will make it easy for your audience to recognize you as the expert of the niche!
Some hypothetical examples of Hashtag niches:
#SDshortsales
#miamibeachRE
#capecodloans
You get the idea.
Regardless as to whether your audience understands the significance of your use of Hashtags, the value is in the grouping and branding of your snack-sized knowledge blasts.  My intention is to help you establish mind share for a brand and a niche.  The Hashtag is for your convenience as much as it is for those following you.

When do I use my niche Hashtag?

Chances are you Twitter about a broad range of topics.  Your niche Hashtag should be reserved for the updates that are clearly meant to be grouped together, carry value, and add to your recognition as being the expert in the topic.
Just as you may have several categories in your blogging, you can manage several Hashtags as well.  Refrain from grouping too many together at once.  The idea is to hone the niche, not confuse the audience.

Many are still confused by the potential value and effectiveness of Twitter. Going back to the first sentence of this article, it’s very much the ‘who you know’ that accounts for a lot of your success. Twitter can be an efficient manner to grow the Who, and with a Hashtag strategy you can strengthen their perception of you as an expert.
It is no surprise that the articles you write on your blog are not being read by the majority of your sphere. But you keep writing, knowing that every article is content in the bank.  Content that helps you be found in the search engines.  Content that continues to establish you as the passionate and dedicated expert that you are. It is just as true that most of your Tweets will be missed as well.  Yet by separating your brief blasts of advice from the rest of your Twittering static, you can create a cache of content that can be leveraged just as effectively as your fine-tuned blog articles.
Quick Tip 1: As with all things new to you, that you hope to learn, spend some time watching others use Hashtags.  Go to search.twitter.com and locate the Trending Topics.  Or just do a search for some topic, and add the # just before the word.  You can also follow multiple conversations at once at TweetGrid.
Quick Tip 2: follow @hashtags on Twitter. They will automatically follow you back, and then your Hashtags will be tracked by hashtags.org.
Quick Tip 3: Your competition can easily piggy-back your Hashtags, just as a community will start to use the same Hashtag to come together on a topic.  To showcase your input, do a search for your Twitter ID coupled with the Hashtag. Example: retomato #reblogtip. Use this URL when showcasing your Hashtag online, keeping your visitors seeing just your posts and others’ response to them.
Resources:
http://hashtags.org/
http://search.twitter.com
http://tweetgrid.com/

The post Real Estate and Twitter – Use Hashtags to Dominate a Niche. appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Don’t Get Caught On Your Knees Sifting For Gold
When You Could Be On Stage, Making A Lasting Impression.

I am so proud of the real estate industry.  You’ve come so far!
In the latter half of the 90’s decade, as the Internet promised to be a modern gold rush, yet curiously, Realtors showed little interest.  It wasn’t until just recently that the Realtor’s personal website was accepted as an obligatory expense.  The irony is that now it has little chance of being effective.
But today, I actually have faith in the real estate agent’s embrace of the Internet as an effective marketing tool.
As much as the $500 brochure website of yesteryear catered to the ego of the Glamour Shots® agent, it failed to jibe with their gregarious nature.  Affable and outgoing agents couldn’t recognize any immediate relevance to their obvious business model; network, network, network.
Yet now, with the rise of Social Media, Realtors are feeling much more at home online, recognizing the opportunity to leverage the Internet as a viable networking tool.
Where it once seemed that Realtors needed to be dragged into the 21st century, they are now marching forward in droves.  A rush, if you will.

But there’s a problem.

In the rush of 1849, where 100’s of thousands broke from their traditional lifestyle in search of riches in the hills of California, there was no guarantee of success.  For every nugget of gold discovered, there were thousands left holding a fruitless shovel.  River panners spent back breaking days sifting through the silt of the river bottom only to discover enough flecks of gold to keep him fed, and yet hungry for more.
As it turns out, those that were making the best living during the gold rush were those that sold the equipment (shovels, maps, mining tools, waterwheels, hydraulics, etc.)  to the prospectors.
This rush for Realtors to leverage Social Media for ready-to-act home buyers and sellers is proving to be a similar environment.  Shovels, pans and picks have been replaced by Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain, SEO and the endless list of consultants willing to sell you a few hours of their expertise (maps, if you will).
It might sound like I am tearing shingles off my own roof, for I am an “equipment” provider.  My intent, however, is to bring some clarity to the social media fog in which I see most participating Realtors aimlessly wandering around.
Almost no gold came easy.
And just doing what everyone else was doing made it harder still.
But there were fortunes made, when the proper systems were implemented.
It wasn’t about the map, the shovel, or the pan.
It was about organizing the community to work for you.

To be successful as a prospector there was a formula:

1. Get there early to stake out as much land as possible.
2. Build an outfit of contractors to do all the heavy lifting.
3. Provide tools and equipment.
4. Establish strong vigilance in an effort to prevent any ‘unaccounted-for’ gold.

Let me paint another picture.

For most, participating in social media is like going to a rock concert.  You find yourself surrounded by people that all have a common interest (be it AC/DC or real estate).  You like the familiar, loud music, you like the energy of the crowd, you feel connected.  But, at the end of the show, there are only a select few that the whole crowd remembers.  It was those on stage, leading the audience to be connected, who made the biggest impression.
So with your efforts in social media, you need to make the choice: Are you going to be on stage, making the lasting impression?  OR  Are you going home in an overpriced souvenier T-shirt, telling all your friends how great it was?
For prospectors, making a fortune during the California gold rush was so challenging because the effort and investment of organizing an outfit to do all the heavy lifting was out-of-reach for most.
Social Media on the other hand has made it all too easy to organize a formidable community.
Now, to be successful in leveraging that community to “work” for you, it is your responsibility to get up on stage, in front of them, night after night, and start leaving an impression.  If you go to the show just to hold a lighter, you’ll always be just a face in the crowd.

To be successful in social networking there’s a much easier formula:

1. Get there early to develop the largest amount of followers as possible.
2. Regularly Provide Relevant, Compelling, Eye-catching, and Impressionable content for the community to consume.
3. Update your status regularly with Relevant, Compelling, Eye-catching, and Impressionable bite-size content.
4. Participate (comment, message, tag, nudge and friend) in the Greater Community to grow your reach, relevance and influence.
5. Lather – Rinse – Repeat.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn to use these social tools of today.
Be certain, they aren’t going away.  The generation coming up under us will make sure of that.

Streets Paved With Gold

Tidbit of trivia for those that made it to the bottom of the article: Streets in Northern California mining towns were in fact paved with gold.  Slag from the mines was used to reinforce dirt streets.  Before the dust, dirt and mud again covered it completely, the kids in town would pick through the rubble, occasionally finding discarded treasure.

The post Lost In The Crowd: Realtors Fail To Effectively Leverage Social Media. appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

It’s About the Contact, Not the Conversation

By Brian Brady

Google calls me “America’s #1 Mortgage Broker” but funding loans is not what I do for a living.  You might consider yourself to be a “real estate consultant” or a “short sale specialist” but I assure you that your job is not selling houses.
You and I are Marketers…Salespeople…Client Attractors.  Our number one job is to find prospective clients.  Now, I know that many folks detest that role. Nobody likes the pushy insurance agent at the Chamber of Commerce meeting or the overbearing stock broker at the family picnic.  In contrast, many of us embrace the Web 2.0 revolution as a way to generate business.  Certainly, blogging is one medium to attract clients BUT…
Blogging ain’t enough if you want to put up big numbers on the scoreboard. I play this game to win so I’m all about scoring points.  Every day, I want to hit a grand slam, catch one in the end zone, score a hat trick, or hammer three-pointers.  I EXPECT to win, every single day, because of my social media strategy.
Five years ago, I started learning how to use social media to circumvent the pending “Do Not Call” legislation.  Since college, I always made my living on the telephone.  A typical day consisted of me rooting through my rolodex, with two-phones glued to each ear.   That damned “Do Not Call” list threatened my very existence
LinkedIn changed all that, in 2003.  I was invited to LinkedIn and found that I was the only mortgage guy in a roomful of well-earning tech folks, who owned homes.  Myspace came, in 2004.  I honed the rich demographic data to connect me with REALTORs by creating and promoting a group called MLS on Myspace.  Active Rain was a no brainer.  Facebook is the perfect combination to mix both consumer direct and professional referral platforms.
Folks on the ClueTrain might suggest that social media are “all about the conversation”; I couldn’t disagree more.  It’s all about the contact.  Your social media efforts, which include blogging, need to have some sort of ROI if you intend to thrive in business.  I measure my ROI by contacts made daily.  My goal, every morning, is to find five new contacts who give me permission to market to them.  I engage in pull marketing through rich content and engaging hooks (I’ll discuss those hooks on the webinar).  It’s designed to be non-intrusive and qualifying, always getting participants to “raise their hand” but it starts with the contact.   If you’re blogging your little heart out and nobody’s reading you, you’re like that tree that fell in the forest.
Let me give you an example.  The Facebook status bar is a tremendous tool; it’s like Twitter with pictures.  I feed the Facebook community by sharing things about my life:
1- I rejoiced when the Phillies beat the Rays to win the World Series
2- I listen to George Strait
3- I voted for Mc Cain
4- I lock mortgage rates below 5%,  for selected clients.
When I dropped that sub 5% rate, on my Facebook status bar, every disco lovin’, Obama supporter, from Tampa Bay, wanted to talk to me…WHY?
…because I hold their interest.  They needled me on Election Day, hated me when the Rays lost the World Series, and were appalled that a guy in suspenders listens to old-school country music but I hold their interest.  I love people so that gives me a leg up on the competition.  I congratulated them when President-Elect Obama won and taunted them throughout the World Series but I love the contact.
The contact then, becomes a conversation.
Do I troll the social media, looking for likely candidates, then spam them with a friend request? Absolutely!  I love people…seriously, I LOVE them.  I think everybody I haven’t met is just a friend in waiting…and so should you.  THAT is our job, folks. The buying, selling, and financing of houses is the easy part.
PS:  Every time I speak or offer a webinar, some REALTOR says “Well, he’s a lender.  It’s different for him”.  That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.  I get more business from consumers than I do from REALTOR referrals and those consumers come from my social media efforts.
PPS:  If you don’t like the webinar, we’ll refund every penny we charge you for it.
PPPS:  That was a joke; the webinar is free.  See you in two weeks !
—
Thanks Brian, we are thrilled to have you on the Vine!
Read more from Brian Brady:
Brian’s Website
Brian’s ActiveRain Blog
Brian’s Post Archive on the BloodhoundBlog
P: (858)- 777-9751

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