This video features Brian Kinkade of Cherry Creek Professionals Realty who presented at the August 2009 HomeGain Nation Live Real Estate Forum in San Francisco.

Brian focuses on the value proposition of HomeGain’s online marketing system, AgentView — Internet exposure, blogging and home listings — all of which are key marketing components to REALTORS’ success.

Learn why these are important and how to effectively implement them into your business.

Get ready to take some notes because this experienced REALTOR packs in a lot of powerful information about marketing that you may never have heard!

Watch the AgentView session video: “Exposure, Blog, Listings”

Keep checking back as we will be adding more videos!

Watch more session videos

Also see more HomeGain Nation real estate videos on the HomeGain YouTube channel, on the HomeGain Nation Blog. and in the HomeGain Media Center. Continue reading this post

A Realtor’s story about how he went from being a skeptic to a raving fan of blogging, online marketing and HomeGain’s AgentView program

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Kinkade of Cherry Creek Professionals Realty in Colorado to get his insight about the AgentView real estate marketing program and how it has increased his ability to connect with new clients and expand his business.

Hear our brief HomeGain Radio Clip:

Highlights:

Continue reading this post

When I was just a young pup in the real estate business, a mentor of mine spoke a few words that I’ve kept tucked away in the back of my head to pull out when I need to. 

He wisely spoke, “no matter how you attempt to generate business, it always gets down to going nose to nose and belly to belly with people.”

I can’t help but think about his words many years later as social media has taken a big bite out of my day. Five years ago neither blogging nor tweeting was in my vocabulary and posting photos on Facebook or Flickr wasn’t in the picture (excuse my pun). 

In the last two years, I’ve been to more than a few conferences and attended a whole bunch of technology panels. Heck, I’ve even been a panelist several times myself. What I found is that many of the “experts” may be whizzes at social media but they aren’t experts in real estate.

Don’t get me wrong, I learn a lot from these folks about technology. I take good notes and put what they have to say into practice. But it suddenly occurred to me that something is missing from the resume of many real estate social media speakers and panelists: real estate experience. (As in selling a whole bunch of houses kind of experience.) I worry that newcomers to the business think that social media is the magic bullet when it really should only be a part (maybe a small part) of their prospecting efforts.  Continue reading this post

Bad advice number 1

“Dont pay for leads.” “You are crazy if you pay for leads.” “The leads you receive are worthless.” “You can generate your own leads if you are worth your salt in real estate.” 

I listened to this one for awhile. It did make sense, at first. I was working day and night to try to generate my own leads and I got plain burned out. So, I decided to give HomeGain a try. Technically, yes, I am paying for leads. Oh it is so nice to have leads come to me instead of spinning my wheels. Now I have time for other things like, meeting people!

Bad advice number 2

This one is very controversial. “Don’t pay for enhanced listings on Realtor.com.”

I listened to this one from some very well respected folks in the industry. Well, I got a really nice listing and I gave in and got the enhanced listing package. I grew very tired of trying to explain to sellers why their listings aren’t showing multiple pictures. “Suzy Seller down the street has an enhanced listing.” Sellers don’t care about the politics of Realtor.com. They just want to ooh and aah over the listing on Realtor.com. They will go there to check on it. Even if you give them a hundred other websites to look at, they WILL check Realtor.com. And I do get leads from Realtor.com. Good ones.

Bad advice number 3

“Blogging is a waste of time.” “You are a Realtor not a blogger.”

Ok, I admit I am not a blogger. I try to blog. I am a real estate broker who happens to blog. I blog my listings and real estate news. Maybe a few jokes and community news now and again. It is very eclectic. It is MY blog. I can do whatever I want, darn it. Now I am even blogging on multiple sites. And the sweet majic is…..SEO! Can you say number one on Google?

Continue reading this post

You are a blogger — a publisher in your own right — and you have the ability to cover all types of local stories. Your goal as a blogger is to involve your community in your blog so that they are encouraged to visit regularly.  Think of yourself as a reporter, out to cover a story.  This provides a wonderful opportunity to connect with people in a non-Realtor way.  

Here are 6 practical tips for “going local” on your real estate blog:

1. Attend community events.
2. Take a lot of photographs.  (Remember to ask permission to take and publish anyone’s photograph.)
3. Hand out your blog/ business card to everyone you meet, tell them about your blog and encourage them to visit to read about your coverage (yes, they will also see all the other content).

Continue reading this post

Use “spider posts” for new developments. Write a body post mentioning all the new developments, with location, builder, price range, amenities, etc. – a real master reference work. Then pick each one out for “leg” posts and talk about them again—maybe include a new or special listing. It’s a good idea to write about new developments or buildings because they often make the local news, whether in newspapers, magazine or ads. Folks wanting to know more will Google the name and find your spider post. That’s the power of blog marketing.

Blogging Tip courtesy of the HomeGain Blogging School Professor, Joseph Ferrara. Sign up for AgentView and the HomeGain Blogging School.