Hi fellow Active Rainers! Just wanted to post a quick post as I was readin on one of my many networks and there was a post about a Virtual Assistant who was targeted for one of those internet scams where they send you a money order for more money than you agreed on and you are to wire funds that you get from cashing the money order to someone for them.
This Virtual Assistant had answered a Craigslist ad for a women who said she was moving to the area and needed someone for only a few hours a week. She checked her out online and viewed her website everything looked good. But turned out to be a scam.
The Virtual Assistant needed additional equipment to complete the work for the potential client the client agreed to purchase the equipment needed. She also agreed to pay a much higher rate than normal, she also hired the Virtual Assistant without a phone call or any discussion. The client also would not (she "forgot") to send the Virtual Assistant her contact info.
Then the Virtual Assistant got an email stating that client had sent her a money order for $2000 she was to keep $100 for the equipment that they discussed, then she was to wire the $1900 to a cousin who needed a heart transplant.
The Virtual Assistant received the money order and called Money Gram to confirm validity of the money order. Money Gram told her that the money orders were no good as they had numbers that had already been previously cashed money orders.
The Virtual Assistant of course did not deposit the money orders but did do a search for the lady by name on the Internet. She did find the lady on Facebook and she had posts on her page that someone was using her name for this scam.
So when we get a lead sometimes checking online is not enough, make sure you get contact info for the lead, speak with them on the phone and follow your gut instincts. If something sounds to good to be true it probably is.
DID YOU KNOW..... Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can be used to screen your leads to make sure they are qualified.
You and your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can come up with a script that works for both of you that has specific questions to help asses the seriousness of your leads. If you have any paperwork, questionnaires or anything else you like to have your leads fill out then your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can manage these tasks for you. This can often be a time consuming task for a Realtor. Let your Real Estate Virtual Assistant take this task off of your hands!
If you are working with a mortgage broker you can have your Real Estate Virtual Assistant send any leads that are not pre-qualified to your mortgage broker. Your REVA can follow up with both the mortgage broker and your lead to make sure that the process has been started and keep up to date as to what is going on and where they are at in the process. Once they are pre-qualified this will help to aid in the search for a home for both you and the buyer.
If the lead is a seller you can have your Virtual Assistant schedule the listing appointment, fill out information pertaining to the property and assist you with any listing presentation tasks that you may need. She/he can follow up with the seller to confirm the appt and make sure everything goes smoothly.
DID YOU KNOW..... Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can be used to market well, YOU!
Now we all know your REVA can be used to market your properties but did you ever consider to have your Real Estate Virtual Assistant market you. Each business should be marketing their services at least 30 minutes everyday. This can be a time consuming task but this is something that your Virtual Assistant can do for you. You know how useful your assistant is when it comes to marketing your properties give it a whirl and have your assistant create a couple of marketing pieces that can be marketed online or off for you on a daily basis.
This can include your farming campaigns, expired listings and FSBO campaigns, online and offline marketing and warm/cold calling. Your assistant can post items online and schedule direct mail pieces to be printed and mailed. Some additional marketing can be blog posts about your services or what great services you have provided to a recent client. Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can also manage your referrals from previous clients to post in your website or in your marketing collateral.
I have to admit that this week Twitter Tuesday had me feeling like Toast. Not like eating it this week but feeling like it. So I apologize that as much as I wanted to get the Twitter Tuesday Tip out yesterday I just couldn't get the energy together to do it. The good thing about being under the weather is that I have had a chance to spend time playing around learning a few more Twitter tools. As many of you know I wrote ablog a few weeks ago on Tweetdeck. Hopefully you have had an opportunity to check it out and learn your way around.
Today's Twitter Tip is Hoot Suite which is very similar to Tweetdeck with a few KEY advantages. Don't we all send out Tweets wondering "am I wasting my time" or "is anyone even reading my Tweets"? With Hoot Suite you can track how many people have clicked on a link in different Tweets. Just think, you could tell your sellers that you listed their house via Tweetlisteronn Hoot Suite and 10+ people linked today via Twitter and 140 total for the week. Not only does this show your seller that you are marketing their home; it shows them that you are tracking the results and ahead of the curve on technology. Try different wordingto generate traffic to your website with different key words and see what generates more traffic. In addition tracking HootSuite has the ability to schedule Tweets to happen later. Now you don't have to constantly be retyping posts or trying to remember to Tweet about your listings and business it will happen automatically for you when you scheduled it. You can also promote your business at different times of the day to get more exposure to people in other areas that may be on Twitter at different times of the day. Maybe you are having an open house from 1-3 on Sunday and know you wont have Internet connection at the house...just schedule a Tweet in advance reminding possible buyers to stop by.
**Caveat** Please do not use this as an opportunity to put Twitter on autopilot to spam out your listings and beg people for business. It is important to understand that Twitter is a conversational tool and the fastest way to lose followers is to only talk about your business or constantly throw ads at them. Try to have a good balance of conversation and auto Tweets for business purposes. If you build relationships with people on Twitter they will help Re-Tweet your business information if they find that information valuable to their followers.
Check this video out to learn more about Hoot Suite. Check back and let me know what you think after you track your first Tweet. I would love to hear some feedback.
Did you know...that you can utilize your Real Estate Virtual Assistant to contact your buyers list and to create a marketing "schedule" to keep in contact with your lists and COI?
Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can assist you in setting up a schedule for contacting your buyers/sellers and COI. If you had your assistant call 25 leads a day that is125 leads a week and 500 leads a month! Calling 25 leads a day should take about an hour a day this is a great way to start the momentum of reaching out to your leads and COI. As time goes on you can have your assistant incorporate emails, direct mail and other great pieces into your marketing plan.
Week One: Call 25 leads a day
Week Two: Call 25 new leads a day and email 125 leads from week one ( doing a mass email for all as BCC should take a very short time)
Week Three: Call 25 new leads a day, email the 125 leads from week two and take a break on the week one leads.
Week Four: Call 25 new leads a day, email the 125 leads from week 3, send out a direct mail to the leads from week one and take a break on the leads from week 2.
To simplify this process have your leads put on a drip email campaign and have your assistant call the 25 leads a day and work in some direct mail pieces into your campaigns. Keep in constant contact with your database keep everything updated this will help to utilize these contact lists that you have built.
Remember out of sight out of mind let your leads feel like they have a personal connection with you. Make sure to have detailed notes in your CRM file for that lead. If you speak to the lead and they mention a new job or a new baby etc make sure and mention that in the next phone call you can say, so have you started your new job? or how is the baby doing? Little things like this go a long way!
This is just another way your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can assist you and eliminate some of the "headache" work.
Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can assist you in setting up previews and showings for your buyer clientele. A good Real Estate Virtual Assistant will get the showings set up with a scheduled time have it all mapped out and include all showing information. Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can also provide feedback either online, email or via phone to those listing agents.
Your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can also assist with the showings and feedback of your sellers. Your REVA can assist with setting up and scheduling buyers agents to show your listing, confirm appointments so there is no mix up and request feedback from the buyers agents. Your REVA should also be preparing a report for your sellers once a week on any showings that took place with their listing and include any remarks or feedback on their home.
This is just another way your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can assist you and eliminate some of the "headache" work.
As a blogger here on Active Rain it's obvious that we get excited over SEO, or free search engine optimization tips and tools that will make our lives easier. We put a lot of thought of thought into drafting and organizing posts that will help make our blogs easy to find by consumers using our keywords to search what interests them.
What if you could have a handy keyword tracking tool, right next to you, guiding you as you write a blog post? Well, now you can!
If you are a Firefox browser user, there is a new add-on called SEO Blogger that sits in your sidebar as you write, and optimizes your post by allowing you to pick your optimized keywords, and it will keep track of how many times you insert the words or phrases for you! (as you can see I've selected some keywords to use in this post, and it is keeping track of them for me;) You can use thissearch engine optimization software for your ActiveRain blogs and for your outside blogs and others like Wordpress. It's a great way to save time while blogging!!
There’s a couple of different ways to add content to the wall of your Facebook Business Page. While I am a big fan of Business Pages, I am also highly critical of Pages that offer nothing compelling or engaging to the Fans. Part of your engagement plan has to be adding compelling content to your wall. How do you do that? Here’s four of the most common ways.
The RSS:
You can have the content auto post via an RSS feed. This is how most people will do it. It’s automatic and they just set it and forget about it. Your viewers will have the ability to “comment” and “like” this from their stream. Links go direct to your post and are DO Follow. The text chosen will be the first section of words from your post. Do your posts all have wonderful attention grabbing content in the 1st paragraph? They better if you plan on using this method. While the feed you grab may include pictures they won’t show up on the wall here, just text.
The Embeded URL:
Within the Status Update Box (“what’s on your mind?”), by entering the link into the text itself, Facebook will recognize that and create a link for you. You cannot create the anchor text for this link but it does take the reader directly to the intended destination directly. That could be a good thing when compared to the next option. The link within your status update will have a No Follow attribute to it. Like the RSS, your viewers can “comment” and “like” this from their stream.
The Attach a Link:
Under the Status Update Box you’ll see the ability to attach a link, a photo, an event and so on. By adding your link, Facebook will scan the post for images and text. Here you can pick a thumbnail image, edit the anchor text, and even add additional text. We all know pictures engage others. Many times your post has a great image that brings it all together. You can chose that image for the thumbnail and it will show up on each of your fans streams! The link created is DO Follow as well. Not only will your readers be able to “comment” and “like”, they’ll also be able to “share” this with their friends! Cool! All good right? Not so fast. The resulting page that you linked to doesn’t load directly. Instead it loads as a iframe within Facebook. You’ll know because you have a Facebook toolbar at the top of the post. How does that effect SEO? What about your analytics? Does an iframe’d visitor even register as a hit? Things to think about.
Facebook Notes:
The Notes function is somewhat of a hybrid. Much like the RSS version it brings in the content via a Feed. It can put snippets of the post into your stream. That stream will have No Pictures and No Anchor Text. Follow or No Follow? It doesn’t matter, the link in the feed doesn’t take the reader to the post. Instead it takes them to the Notes Box within Facebook. Depending on your outgoing feed and the way Facebook feels that day, the Notes Box may have a single picture (or not). Be careful using Notes as links within your original post become a redirect in the Note Box and often times are broken. Nothing kills return readership like bad links. Like the Attach a Link version readers can “comment”, “like”, and “share” from their stream.
That’s four different ways to bring in compelling content to your Facebook Business Page. Which one is best for you and how will you use it? Next up, we’ll talk about your Landing Page.
So you've heard about using a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, you've heard how its a great way to amp up your productivity and allow you to do more business.
You've heard that you can use a VA only when you need one..sort of pay-as-you-go and that sounds like it actually might suit your budget. All you need now are some hot prospects and to shop some pricing and rates..easy enough. You are are sure you can find your VA for $10-$12 an hour real quick.
But...you get a rude awakening. Your ideal VA is going to cost you between $30-$55 an hour, depending on the service.
Why? I bring this up only because of a common MISCONCEPTION. The word "assistant" is giving you the wrong impression.
Running a real estate business takes business savvy. Tech savvy, Marketing savvy, Financial savvy, Internet savvy, Social savvy and think outside the box savvy. It takes alot of talent to keep the momentum going..contacting leads, managing your database well, planning and EXECUTING marketing campaigns, learning all the new technology and staying on top of your online precense. All of this is an investment in your time..time that could be overwhelming you, to the point that you are having a hard time keeping up the momentum. I won't even mention balancing your people skills, phone skills, sales skills..that is your department.
So in the corporate world, busy executives like you know that having team members that can handle some of the time consuming tasks is what it takes to be the best CEO of their companies. They don't do it all.They have people. Talented and effecient people. Let's take a look at some of the salaries of these talented individuals who keep the CEO on top of his or her game.
Executive Assistant: Salary: $40,000-$60,000 annually plus benefits
Internet Marketing Specialist: $50,000-$70,000 annually plus benefits
Social Media Marketing Manager: $60,000-$120,000 annually plus benefits
Transaction Coordinator: $30,000 annually
Webmaster: $45,000-$55,000 annually
Photoshop Professional: $40,000-$55,000 annually
Website copywriter: $50,000-$60,000 annually
Add in for free: real estate knowledge, training and experience
The above positions are the basic specialties that you will find in my particular business and many VA's like me. We are trained, we are experienced and we run our own companies as our own CEO's. We pay our own taxes, our own insurance etc. just like you. We pay for our office equipment and supplies. We pay for our training. All of it..just like you! We are worth our pay-scale just like you!
40 hours per month with a VA is an average of $1400. $1400 equals $16,800 a year. No employee taxes, no office equipment, no benefits. So when and if you start looking for your "assistant" ....get that word out of your head, and look at what you are really getting. You are getting a full fledged professional who takes their business very seriously..as much as you do.
Get to know your partner, they will get to know you, and after a while you will be amazed at the fabulous and effecient business you are running. Partnering with a real estate virtual assistant is an investment, an investment in you!
If you are on Twitter are you announcing your Twitterxistence (I know that is not a word LOL) in all of your other outlets - blog, website, other social networks, e-mail and so on. Make it easy for people to follow you on twitter by adding gadgets and/or buttons. You can add them on each individual post, on comments, on your e-mail signature etc. etc.
I know this has been written about in some capacity or another a few times around here, but thought it might be time to spread the word again. This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get e-mails about.
By-the-way TwiTip is an excellent blog to subscribe to. You learn something new every day!
Here are a couple of samples of the buttons
How do you get the buttons?
Follow these steps: This works with Firefox, not sure if the same applies with Internet Explorer.
See a button you like - RIGHT CLICK your mouse. A menu pops up. The 4th item down on the menu says - SAVE IMAGE AS - CLICK on that Another box pops up that prompts you to save the image Save it where it makes sense for you to save it (I save it in my pictures folder under Twitter folder that I have made) I rename the image to something I can remember! Save. Now the image is saved somewhere in your computer. To insert the photo to your blog post, do as you would inserting any photo. It's a good idea to link it to your twitter profile - which allows people to click on the twitter image and get right to your Twitter page and follow you.
Check to make sure the link opens in a new window. (If you need more details or help on how to do this - feel free to e-mail me and I'll be happy to help you out)
This is what mine would look like html (with the link)
Using this image
<a href="http://twitter.com/kennarealestate" title="Follow kennarealestate Rita Burke on Twitter" target="_blank"><img src="/image_store/uploads/7/3/2/6/2/ar123377755626237.png" height="128"alt="Follow kennarealestate on Twitter" width="128"/></a> This would be your Twitter username
This would be where you have the image uploaded - I uploaded this on Activerain
Notice the alt= text on the uploaded image - GOOGLE reads this text, make sure you put something there that you want to be found for!
You can use the same code to insert this to your Activerain sidebar, which you have to do from Activerain - Your Home - Settings - Blog Description
This blog is presented by Skye Hawk with At Your Service! Virtual Assistant Specialists offering tips and tricks for the savvy real estate professional. At Your Service! provides professional real estate virtual assistance to the real estate industry.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Please do not use this as an opportunity to put Twitter on autopilot to spam out your listings and beg people for business. It is important to understand that Twitter is a conversational tool and the fastest way to lose followers is to only talk about your business or constantly throw ads at them. Try to have a good balance of conversation and auto Tweets for business purposes. If you build relationships with people on Twitter they will help Re-Tweet your business information if they find that information valuable to their followers. 
As a blogger here on Active Rain it's obvious that we get excited over SEO, or 
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So you've heard about using a 
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