Archive for April, 2010

6 Key Tips to Maximizing Testimonials on Your Website

April 29th, 2010

Many of us know that testimonials are important to our business, but imagine using your testimonials in creative ways throughout your website to help you with niche marketing and lead generation. Below are six tips to maximize your testimonials in your overall Web presence that will guarantee a return on investment.

1. Change your page name from “Testimonials” to “Raving Fans.” This creates a synergy that you have a connection with your buyers and sellers way beyond the average testimonial letter. Show that you go the extra mile for them! Add that button to your homepage so that people can get to it fast. Remember your potential buyers and sellers are interviewing you online well before you even know it.

2. Take your testimonials to a new level with video. Bring your clients’ experience to life by adding them creatively to your website.

Take a look at http://kathytoth.com/raving_fans and see how engaged you feel about the agent.

3. Create a YouTube Channel with your name where you can feature your testimonials. The benefit of featuring your videos on YouTube is that video has outstanding results for ranking on the search engines.

4. Ask for testimonials that relate to the experience or the farm area you work. If you have helped a homeowner sell their home in a specific neighborhood, have them mention the name of the neighborhood in their actual testimonial. On the neighborhood page of your website, have that specific testimonial on that specific page. What’s another benefit to this strategy? This allows for well-positioned keywords to be on your site for search engine purposes.

5. Sprinkle unique testimonials on different pages throughout. Imagine having a testimonial about how you sold your clients’ house after they had it listed with another agent? Instead of having this buried in a long list of testimonials, add that testimonial in your home-selling section or your CMA response form. Check out http://lindahall.com/home_market_appraisal as an example. This is a powerful strategy that relates to what they are thinking about.

6. Leverage your testimonials by adding a “Raving Fans” category to your real estate blog. If you have the video, link to that as well for maximum effect!

Feel overwhelmed?  Call Crooked Tree Press for assistance!

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Posted in Realtors, Social Networking, Tips, Web 2.0

Three Tips to Get the Most Out of Twitter

April 26th, 2010

“I have nothing to say.”

I have heard this over and over again, not just by real estate agents, but by many people who are trepidatious about getting involved in Twitter.

To many, Twitter has become more useful as a way to tap into what’s “going on today” than to broadcast their own messages. And once you get acclimated to Twitter, you might just find you have something to say after all.

Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, said, “Naysayers should simply log onto their Twitter home page and search for a topic they are interested in, whether it’s their favorite sports team, the name of their company or a topic in the news.” Within a minute, they understand the appeal, he said.

Here are three ways to make Twitter work for you:

1. Create a custom feed. Find people to follow by searching Twitter directories. My two favorites are WeFollow or Just Tweet It. Remember, to get followers at first you must follow others!

2. Create lists. Lists are fantastic — and a GREAT way to organize people you follow. You could make lists for news sources, fellow (real estate agents), geographic areas, etc. This way you can click on that list to see what those specific people are talking about. I just created the Inman Team list as a place for people to contact the right person at Inman News (i.e., editorial, marketing, advertising, etc.) If you don’t know who the best users are on a favorite topic, look for lists on sites like Listorious or by checking profiles.

3. Check out the most discussed topics in your area. We hear it over and over again, but real estate is truly a local business. Find out who is around you locally and what they are chatting about. Some Twitter apps, like Tweetie and TwitterLocal, let you search posts near you. Check the Web site Happn.in to see the most discussed topics in your area.

BONUS: Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Once you’ve gotten your feet wet, use Twitter to ask questions such as the best place to grab a bite to eat in a new city, marketing tips, or anything else you need an answer to!

Some questions Realtors could start asking via Twitter are: “What’s the best marketing tool that is working for you?” or “What is the most effective thing Realtors are doing to convert leads to sales?” These questions open the door to conversation and networking!

What are you doing to make Twitter work for you? Would love your feedback — please leave me a comment below!

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5 Ways to Jump-Start Your Business

April 22nd, 2010

I just finished reading an article on Inc.com about 25 ways to jump-start your business. There are five that really seem to apply to real estate agents and brokers.

1. To focus on truly urgent matters, first, clear your schedule

As an business owner, you don’t work 9 to 5, Monday though Friday. Sometimes you need to put down your cell phone and, as Inman News Publisher Brad Inman says, “Look up!” Feeling overwhelmed? Clear your schedule in order to really refocus on what needs your attention. It may be time to say no to some things, and even to some clients. See point No. 2 below.

2. Shed your problem clients

I have witnessed agents who are so desperate for a paycheck that they hang onto the wrong type of client until they are completely drained and end up compromising way too much. The sign of a successful agent is the ability to walk away, if necessary. Ask the tough questions about your clients: ”Are they worth it? Are they being realistic? Are they keeping me away from other opportunities?”

3. Turn freebies into a search-engine-optimization play

Search-engine optimization can bring more traffic to your site and, hopefully, more leads! The most effective way to optimize your site is to encourage other sites to link to yours. How? Offer something free! What is your specialty? What are you really good at as an agent? Marketing? Staging? Negotiating? Whatever you are really good at, write a “white paper” on that topic and give it away free. People love free and it will help optimize your site.

4.  Turn Tweets into cash

According to the Inc article, “Rose Associates, an 80-year-old real estate agency in New York City, searches key terms such as ‘moving to New York’ on search.twitter.com. Whenever another Twitter user types one of these top phrases, a member of Rose’s marketing staff sends (the user) a message offering real estate listings or related service. The result? A hundred qualified leads a month.” Why couldn’t you do something like that for your local area?

5. Find some amazing interns

More often than not, agents don’t need a full-time assistant. They need help when they have specific listings — help with marketing or an extra body to be at their listing to meet the photographer or inspector. Maybe they need help for two months to get their “digital life” organized — their database, their computer, their files. Why not search for an intern?

Check with your local colleges and use your social networks, Craigslist or LinkedIn. An internship is a great way for someone to get real estate experience (and, in some cases, even college credit!)

These are great tips for real estate rpofessional as well as anyone starting a new business.  The key is to work smarter, not harder!

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Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders

April 19th, 2010

Top 5 Real Estate Social Media Blunders:

1. Talking about yourself to no end. Enough about me, let’s talk about ME! Yes, social media is social — but at some point, it is NOT all about you. This is tough in real estate, where you learn from every marketing person to “sell yourself” and “you are your brand” — which is true — but many people (especially the Gen X and Gen Y crowd) don’t want to hear all about you. They want to know about the interesting things going on in the community, in their neighborhood, local market stats, and other things that make what you do valuable to them.

2. Only posting your listings. Major faux pas!  Luckily, I have not seen as much of this lately, but it’s still happening. You can post your listings — but make sure you post other great content (see my ideas in No. 1 above).

3. Copying content and claiming it as yours. Big no-no here. There is so much great content out there — it’s fine to use an excerpt of something and then credit the source, but don’t copy someone else’s  material and claim it as your own.

4. TMI. There is a fine line between being social and giving out too much information — no need to tell your social network everything and anything!

5. Speaking the same on Facebook as you do Twitter. Maybe this is my own irritation, but whenever I see hashtags and “@” signs on Facebook I cringe a little. The language on Facebook is different than Twitter. I think it’s fine to duplicate messages on both channels (especially since a lot of people are only on one of the channels and not both), but if you do, take a moment to adjust your language to be more “Facebook-friendly.”

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Spring Cleaning for Your Web site

April 16th, 2010

Let’s be honest — when is the last time you updated your Web site?  For most, it’s a couple times a year.

In 2010, it’s no longer OK to have a Web site that is static — one that just sits there and never gets updated.

If you are thinking of updating your site, it is easier now more than ever. More and more users are moving to a WordPress platform. It’s easy to use and edit, there are tons of great templates, and it’s search-engine-optimization friendly (search engines love WordPress).

Plus, there are more and more plugins available practically every day on WordPress.

If you are like most agents, you have a site you either got for free with your brokerage, or you paid someone to design it five to 10 years ago and really haven’t done much since.

Here are five things to look at when re-evaluating your site:

1. Am I getting leads? If so, how many? If you are not consistently getting new leads from your Web site you are missing the boat. I know: “But most of my business is from past clients and referrals!” That is great!

But imagine if on top of that business you were getting five solid new leads a month. Five leads a month multiplied by 12 months equals 60 solid leads (by solid I mean people who are truly interested in buying or selling within three to six months).

2. Do you know what your web traffic is like? If not, sign up for Google Analytics. It’s free and super easy to install. Many people consider analytics like accounting, but for your Web site, it’s a crucial part of monitoring your success!

Pay attention to your site’s “bounce rate” — the percentage of visitors who leave your site without clicking even one page deeper into it. A high or rising bounce rate is a sure sign that your home page is boring or off-putting.

3. Is my content fresh? Think about the last time you went to a Web site only to realize the content is old. The fastest way to have people leave your site is to have stale info. By using a platform like WordPress you can easily add new content, such as first-time homebuyer tax credit info, a link to your e-newsletter, events in your area, market stats, and your blog (if applicable).

You also need to schedule time in your monthly calendar at least twice a month where you will update your site — the first and the 15th, perhaps.

4. What is the first thing people see on my Web site? Take a hard look at your home page. Every link, every image, every word should have a purpose. I am a big believer in simple and easy-to-navigate Web sites. One of my favorite sites is Nest Realty. I only wish more info was “above the fold,” but overall I think Nest does a fantastic job of having the right balance of information on it’s home page.

Also, make sure when you are looking at your home page you have easy-to-find social media links, such as links to your Facebook page or profile, LinkedIn profile and Twitter profile.

5. Make sure your Web site is easy to figure out and loads fast, says Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist. The biggest way you can lose people is having a complicated site that doesn’t make sense to the user.

The best way to test your site is to have someone try it who has never looked at it. At a recent Real Estate Connect conference, the marketing team at Redfin talked about the power of having someone struggle with your site right in front of you.

Have a few people sit down in front of you on a computer, and just watch them click around on your site. What do they click on? Where do you see them hesitate and struggle. You will be DYING to instruct them, but resist! Just watch and you will learn so much.

The bottom line is: No one will care as much about your Web site as you do. It is up to you to take back your Web site and make sure it is doing everything you need it to do!

Need some help updating your site or with other time consuming, but necessary tasks?  Call Crooked Tree Press today!

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