Yep, back in the saddle again here at good ole Active Rain.  How far has the RE.net come since it's infancy in what seems like years (only 2006.)  Some might say it went back even farther than that on RealTown list server stuff at the creation of the ePro designation.  Yeah, I know most of you new "Social Media Guru" are googling listserv to see if you should pontificate on it, write an eBook on it, or retweet it and now you can even "like" it. 

What a lot of social media "experts" forget about the when jump into this, is the fact it will always be and continues to be a people business.  I still dwell on a simple statement made by Jeff Turner a looong time ago.  He is also is living example of it. YEO should trademarked and bundled up. It should be a prerequiste for every real estate agent that opens up a Twitter account and Facebook account.  A lot of people think it's about the numbers (actually we have trained ourself to play the numbers) because we better our odds at gaining new business. If you have been in this business (or any sales business) sometimes it's not the quantity but the quality of the numbers. 

Agents should be using the internet to bring themselves closer to their clients.  In the process you will find that others will find you for your honesty and expertise in the field.  RE.net doesn't lie.  You will be found out rather quickly.  Buyers and sellers are more intelligent than they every have been before with all the free information out there.  You just need to show them who you are and that you know what the answer are.  If you are online 8-10 hours a day (that includes blackberry and iPhone time too,) and you aren't getting new business or at least appointments from it, then you are doing it all wrong. 

Close the lid on the laptop and get outside and network with people that will actually give you business.  This is still a people business and the weather is fine.  Harness the power of the internet, but use it to your advantage not as a hiding place.

I found this on RISmedia and thought it would be good to forward on to you and have you start thinking about your web presence. One quick note about using “Real Estate” as a keyword, this is a most definitely a key search term but everyone is trying to achieve this high rankings phrase on their sites.  Some people pay big dollars for that search term.  But you have to ask yourself, do buyers and sellers REALLY search for “My town Real Estate” or is that just an ego search term for us in the industry?  If you go for the smaller more local issues that surround your market, you will have a better chance at reaching out to the public.  Sometimes it’s not just about “Real Estate” when building relationships with buyers and sellers.  This is called the Long Tail.  You start going for the smaller marketing terms in your area but you stand out as the expert in that area.  I think we call it a Niche market.  I can bet you, no I guarantee you that buyers and sellers are looking for more specific answers about the “real estate” in the area; shopping, schools, events, lifestyles, and the buying and selling process.  They are looking for a lifestyle that matches theirs, not just “real estate.”  I would think that knowing the area is more important that knowing that the house has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.  Yes the house is critical, but what they get out of the area is very important.

Ask Dave Ringold, an agent in my office, what just five sentences and one picture did this weekend.  Or better yet, just search “Fire on Bennett road Mt Airy“ It’s not real estate but he just got his name out in front of plenty (200+ hits) concerned people in the area.  It’s just that simple. I have been hounding him forever to start a blog of his own, but he used our office blog as a starting point. (which is starving for new information)

Can you guarantee your current market plan will get your name in front of that many people that quick?  Also ask him how much it cost him while you are at it?  Will he get direct business from it?  Not directly, but it did put his name out in front of plenty of readers (concerned about his market area.)   Isn’t that marketing?  Why do you put your faces on Shopping Carts, postcards, newspaper ads?

Everyone is looking for a silver bullet in this market, that silver bullet is WORK.  Marketing campaigns take time and effort, but mostly consistently and they don’t have to be expensive. Every “Real Estate Expert marketer” tells you that as they sell you the latest and greatest product for hundreds of dollars.  And everyone buys into it out of desperation. Stop spending useless money on get rich quick scams!  They tell you that because they want you to consistently buy their product and keep them rich for the long term.  Phone calls are FREE, most of the internet training that I can offer you is FREE, and emails are FREE.  Note cards and holiday cards are inexpensive.  Newspaper ads are expensive and ineffective.  Dave Stevens sent out a YouTube video last night that made me think of this one.  A vision of Students Today. (Mike Wesch has plenty of thought provoking experiments with his students called Digital Ethnography and check out his other videos as they are just as intriguing.) This is our future homeowner and they are graduating soon.

• 85+% of the buyers/sellers start on the internet
  
• 3% actually find their home in the newspaper or print.

Where do you spend most of your marketing money?  If you are successful at old traditional marketing like print and park benches, just imagine how successful you will be by going after the 85%?

Just food for thought…I don’t want you to change your ways or anything.  : )

OK this one isn't all that bad.  Margaret Woda tagged me with this one...And yes it gave me another reason to comeback and play in the Rain once again.  I have found other things to outside of AR has occupied a lot of my time and neglected to see everyone here.  Although I must say that a lot of the original members have ventured aways as well on to other venues.  This place has grown (not groan) so well and has help plenty of agent spread their wings and build their business. 

Margaret has been one that has kept one foot in the Rain and outside of the rain quite successfully.  I was pleased to see while going through my Google reader and reading Focus On Crofton that she recently joined my Brokerage.  Now I have a reason to stop by her office (it's below my Regional Managers office...and you know me, I am always pulled on the carpet for something.)  ; )

Back to the meme...

This one is rather interesting and as Margaret said depending where you would have tagged me would have inluenced the book I had within arms reach.  I can't consider myself a voracious reader, however I do pick up a book or two. 

• 1. Grab the nearest book.
  
• 2. Open the book to page 56.
  
• 3. Find the fifth sentence.
  
• 4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
  
• 5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
  
• 6. Tag five people to do the same
  
• *The one book that this can not be is the Bible*

So, what did you think I had next to me today???  No it wasn't one of those books. In my office, I have quite a few business and industry related books.  At home it would have been Photography or Social Networking/Technology books.  So here we go...turning, turning, lick fingers, ahh page 56...fifth sentence..

The danger of this stategy is that you will risk making a profit if the market falters or if the competition cuts the market share before you can raise the prices.  The strength of this strategy is potential momentum.  Starting a new-homes sales program is like starting a train.  It take a while to get it going; but, once you do, momentum becomes your best friend. 

Risk of making a profit???  That's not neccessarily a bad thing. So where did this excerp come from...This was a book that was given to me by a new home builder that appreciated some advice that I gave him.  "Master What Matters" by Brian Flook.  I have not read this one yet...obviously sparked my interest now. 

What I learned today::: 

• I still don't like Memes!  
• I need to read this book soon
• I really need to visit this builder again (B2B relationships)
• Thank Margaret for giving me a reason to write here again.
• I have a couple more books over there that need read.

I would love to pick 5, but not sure where to start.  I will pick from the middle of my subscription list.

	Palm Beach Real Estate and Loans - Marc Blasi PGA National, BallenIsles, Mirasol - Marc Blasi - Palm Beach Gardens, FL Last Post: 11/16/08 11:19 AM          Posts: 232
	Ann Arbor and Saline Michigan Real Estate Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate - Ann Arbor, MI Last Post: 11/16/08 09:32 AM          Posts: 467
	Teresa 's Blog Teresa Boardman - Saint Paul, MN Last Post: 11/16/08 07:33 AM          Posts: 321
	Real Estate Financing, The Insider's Insight On Mortgage Jason Sardi, Pennsylvania Mortgage Broker - Allentown, PA Last Post: 11/15/08 11:13 PM          Posts: 349
	ARDELL's Seattle Area Real Estate Blog ARDELL DellaLoggia - Kirkland, WA Last Post: 11/15/08 12:52 PM          Posts: 488 Have a great day.

Now that I have finished one of my personal task dealing with the Relay For Life in Frederick, I figure I would take on another...You have got to fill up all the free time we have on our hands lately with something creative.  I haven't posted a tutorial or anything in a long time.  Of course trying to keep up with JT and Cheryl Johnson is like running a marathon using a walker.

Anyways, I am looking for suggestions for a topic for a tutorial on Wordpress or Bluehost.  What do you want that you haven't seen here yet? I want to try out some new gadgets like tool boy...like JingProject.com. or some screen recording tool.

I am not ready to write a Joomla post yet.  My brain is fried...I will leave that up to Virtuallin show you.  

So, whatcha looking for?

Look no further. This owner is offering closing cost assistance and/or Down payment assistance on this 2 Bedroom condo in Frederick MD. Take a look...

490 Carrollton Dr, Frederick MD 3 Level Condo

490 Carrollton Dr, Frederick, MD 21701 View Map

Remodeled and ready!!!

Here's your chance to own a 3 level condo under $200k. Down payment assistance available. THIS IS NOT A SHORT SALE close as quick as your lender allows. Unit is updated and waiting for you to move in. Fresh paint, new carpet, Ceramic Tile in the Kitchen and Brand New Bathrooms. Spacious bedrooms. You are going to be spoiled with all the space for the price. Convenient to shopping, restaurants and places of worship. Quick to major commuter routes and major companies like MedImmune & Bechtel.

This property is waiting for movers!

Details

Asking Price:

$179,000

MLS:

FR6704795

Bedrooms:

2

Bathrooms:

1.5

# of Floors:

3

HOA/Maintenance Fees:

161

Subdivision:

Sans Souci Regime

Year Built:

1966

Property Amenities

- Range/Oven
- Sink Disposal
- Full Refrigerator
- Washer/Dryer

- Dishwasher
- Basement
- Patio
- Fenced Yard

- Central A/C
- Family room
- Dining Room

Contact Info

Bob Carney
Asst Manager, ABR, ePRO

Cell 240-285-4918
Dir 301-831-7500
Email | Website

OK you learned how to create a Wordpress.org blog using bluehost on Agentgenius’ blog. Benn did a fine job at explaining it. If you haven’t started yet, here’s a couple pre-requisites to this tutorial.

1. You need a bluehoust account. CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR BLUEHOST.COM NOW. (yeah, I get a referral, but come on you’re getting this info free)
2. Created a subdomain and installed Wordpress on it. (Use Agentgenius tut if not done yet)
3. A fresh pot of coffee. (or a six pack of your favorite beverage)

For the purpose of this Tutorial… I created “Subdomain.bob-carney.net” and installed wordpress on it. By doing this first, I can create a beautiful layout and get some links and information on it prior to launching it to the public. Maybe you want to test a couple variations and have a group review them. Just create another subdomain and install your blog platform on it. (Wordpress is by far the easiest, but its not the only open source software; nucleus and b2evolution) By the end of this tutorial, I will have www.gb4h.com as the assigned domain. You will still always be able to access the blog by typing http://subdomain.bob-carney.net.

On your Bluehost cPanel, your domain menu is where you will create your Subdomain and your Addon domain. The Addon Domain is where you going to click for this tutorial.

This next step takes place on your Domain registrar. For my domain GB4H.com it is registered at Godaddy. This next graphic is the Nameserver section. I changed them prior to make the changes on Bluehost, if you don’t do this first, you will be asked to enter your EPP code. This will need to be requested from your registrar. Godaddy has a link that you click to email to you. It’s much easier in my opinion to just change the Nameservers first.

Here’s your next step in the Addon menu. A key note here…DO NOT PUT “www” in front of your domain. In a sense you are creating another subdomain…in actuality, the “www” is a subdomain of your domain. (another note; if your domain is registered with Bluehost, use the drop down from top selection)

This is where Bluehost will link your previously created subdomain. (My subdomain is called “Subdomain”, I know creative!)

OK now, GB4H.com is assigned to Subdomain.bob-carney.net. They are one and the same anything that you do in cPanel to files will reflect in the other one.

OK, off to our wordpress site. Open a browser and type in your new domain. At this point when I type GB4H.com in the URL field, it takes me to my wordpress site, but the URL immediately changes to http://subdomain.bob-carney.net.

Sign in and head over to the Options tab. You will see the below fields with “http://subdomain.bob-carney.net” in both fields. This is what is telling the page URL what the blog domain is. So change the bottom one. You can change the top one too. I don’t see any problems if it remains as is.

OK now your done. You have just set up your blog. Like I said early this is great when you are creating a new site and don’t want the domain to show it off yet. Maybe you have the domain already on another blog…like wordpress.com (the free web-based wordpress blog)

One final tip before you go...since the site is new. Make this last change so you don’t lose any SEO opportunities. While you are in the options section. Go over to “Permalinks” and make the following change.

By selection the option with the title, you will enhance your SEO by including the title of your post URL. Google likes that. The later you do this in your blog, you will have to make changes to your .htaccess file (whole different post)

Well there you have it. Peace out.

Thanks to Josette Skilling for inspiring this post.