The Arcane Science of Lead Conversion (Really has Nothing to do with Real Estate)

The problem with online marketing for real estate professionals is the reality that learning online marketing has little to do with real estate practice. Remarkablogger confirms one of real estate’s online marketing principal missions – lead generation and conversion.

If visitors don’t take actions that result in profits, you are wasting your time.

You can do all the SEO work you like, but if nothing happens when visitors show up, you did it for nothing. You can pay tons of money in advertising, and you have thrown away every penny if nobody buys anything or signs up for your newsletter. You can write comments on other blogs and work through social media to attract visitors, but if those visitors just bounce right back out of your site without doing what you want, you’re leaving money on the table.

Mastering the tricks and vagaries of effective online lead generation are beyond the scope of 99% of real estate professionals. The industry knows this, and online real estate applications have historically aimed to simplify or automate online marketing presence for agents: read more

Posted by Pat Kitano on Jul 04, 2008 under Leads, Guest Bloggers

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The Long Tail of Blogging

My first real effort at blogging occurred almost two years ago on ActiveRain—and I was immediately hooked.

I loved the real estate blogging community with its running stream of commentary, sense of humor and predictable disagreements. We were all gifted with the opportunity to openly develop our voices and emerging blogging skills—and shared immense chunks and tidbits of knowledge.

We also discovered pretty quickly that Google and other search engines were following us closely—and sometimes loosely.

We learned about the power of the long tail, or how obscure information in the content of blogs and websites gets stored on the search engines—with some potentially interesting results. Let’s say someone searches the term “rimless shower doors” on Google.

In late 2006, there were Page One results for a listing (with rimless shower doors) we had described on our website in 2004. Today, a blog article I wrote in May 2007, Drag a Long Tail and See What You Catch (describing the rimless shower door finding), now sits on Google Page One results for that term.

I never intended to become a rimless shower door expert, but Google doesn’t know that. Nor, I doubt, did HomeGain blogger and Phoenix Realtor Jay Thompson ever intend for his read more

Posted by Roberta Murphy on Jun 30, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking, Guest Bloggers

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The Baby Steps of Blogging -Getting Started Blogging

1. Read Before You Write

What I always advise real estate professionals interested in getting started blogging is to go out and read other real estate blogs. You’ll have no trouble finding them. Just Google “real estate blogs” or type in your market followed by “blog”.

Reading other blogs will give you a sense of the topics discussed, the presentation, and the various writing styles of bloggers. The more you read the more you will know what folks are saying, and how they’re saying it. Some bloggers write short posts, others expound into treatise length. Many use images and video, some do not. Some are heavy on facts and figures, others heavy on opinion and their experiences. When done right (and I use that word loosely), the blogger’s voice -— their personality -— comes through the writing.

And that’s what you should strive to do -— find your voice and get it out there.

Besides, reading blogs gives you the visceral feedback of what you like and what you think sucks. (Avoid the stuff you think sucks.) read more

Posted by Joseph G. Ferrara, Esq. on Jun 27, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking, Guest Bloggers

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Selling Homes? Of Course, But There's More To It

Yesterday I was having a cup of coffee and a slice of blackberry cake in a coffee shop downtown Savannah. When everyone else finished their drinks and snacks, they left the plate and cup. Not me, no, I pick up behind myself, so I took my plate and cup to the front like I always do at such places and offered it to the person behind the counter. Now, a person who has a scintilla of service running in their veins would have accepted the plate and cup, thanked me and smiled.

Not this person posing as a customer service employee, no, she looked at me, slightly annoyed, and said, “Actually, would you take that down to the end of the counter?” I started to ask her if she wanted me to wash it, too. I just laughed and took it down to the end of counter, knowing no thanks was forthcoming (and there wasn’t).

This is an example of someone wanting a paycheck with no clue what it means to provide customer service. Did I get my coffee and blackberry cake? Yes. Was it good? Yes. Will I go back? I doubt it. The reason I won’t go back is because I can get the same good coffee and cake down the street with better, more personable service. I tried this place out and it failed to make me want to go back.

When I hear people confidently say about our profession – “I’m in the business of selling homes, darnit, not in the service business or socializing business or friend-making business, but the home-selling business!”—this appeals to my Hulk Hogan side, but it also leaves me unsatisfied with the posture.

Two people can be good at selling homes, yet one will be successful long term and the other will fade away into obscurity and mediocrity—why? Because of service. read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on Jun 20, 2008 under Best Practices, Guest Bloggers

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