Mia's Blog

New Agent Coaching/Consulting???

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:48:18 -0600

Does anyone know of any good consultants or coaches that offer strategy consulting services to new agents? I am specifically looking that works on a monthly retainer. This is not for me, by the way...

Are You Ready for 2008 - HOW to take your business to the NEXT LEVEL

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:29:54 -0600

Are You Ready for 2008?

We've worked with several top-producing teams that do understand the value of monitoring their success and setting goals by constantly raising the bar. Each have their own way of doing this, but generally each team met weekly to discuss where they were in their forecast and what leads they had in the pipeline. This is a great start, but you can't take your business to the next level by checking off tasks on a list and not having a strategic plan to consistently open NEW doors.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1) Who are you marketing to? Has your target demographic changed? Most likely, it has - and it requires an adjustment in your marketing strategy. What changes are you going to make in 2008 to meet the needs of your audience?

2) What is your competition doing? The key to beating your competition is to know what they are doing and compare it to what you aren't doing. A quick way to stay abreast of what your competition is doing is to set up an RSS feed of recent news about them and the keywords that you both share. Conduct a keyword search (perhaps your competitions name and the name of your farm) on Google Blog Search , then click the text link that says "Blogs Alerts" on the left sidebar and enter your e-mail address.

3) What is your Unique Selling Proposition? You would be shocked at how many top producers can't answer the question: What differentiates me from my competition? Being able to answer this question, in 15 words or less is the key to taking your business to the NEXT LEVEL.

4) Where will my money go? Identifying how you want to spend your marketing dollars and strategically determining which tactics will offer the greatest ROI is one of the most difficult tasks for real estate agents. Remove yourself from the strategy-making and HIRE US to do it for you!

5) What am I being paid to do? Are you spending your time doing administrative tasks and NOT SELLING? Don't pay yourself $100/hr to add e-mails to your database and design listing flyers!

To start developing your 2008 plan (it's not too late) and GET OVER THAT HUMP ... complete our Needs Analysis and schedule your FREE consultation!

ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE GEEKS
Real Estate Geeks is a team of LICENSED real estate agents that educate and support our clients so that they can do what they do best - SELL!

We offer a variety of real estate marketing and virtual assistance services on a one-time, packaged, or retainer basis to include:

Listing Coordination & Property Marketing
Blog & Podcast Development
Social Media Marketing
Drip/Automated & General E-Mail Marketing
Digital Media & FIle Management

This is just a small sampling of our services. Download our FLYER here

END OF THE YEAR DEALS:

Save $150	Start off the year with a BANG!!! Become a part of the Real Estate 2.0 Revolution and GET A BLOG! CALL US NOW to get started! Purchase our Premium Real Estate Blog Development Package by January 8, 2008 and receive $150 OFF! Read more about this package here.
Offer Expires: 1/8/2008

Save 10%	CODE: D2007PM Impress your Sphere of Influence with our stunning Listing Flyers and Marketing Postcards. Check out our Sample Designs here. CALL US and redeem this coupon by January 8, 2008 and get 10% OFF of your first design (printing/mailing/postage costs not included in this offer) Cannot be combined with any other offer.
Offer Expires: 1/8/2008

Have a great post?

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:51:17 -0600

Submit it to Digg, InmanWiki and StumbleUpon. Many of us have those great posts once in a while (some more often than others) that get views in the thousands and comments in the hundreds...

I know we all have heard of these sites and constantly recommend them to others, but are WE taking our own advice - I know I haven't been...

Take advantage of the online news submission sites - they boost your links to your site, blog, etc. and are FREE PR!!!

Mia Orantes

Real Estate Geeks
Virtual Assistance & Real Estate Marketing

Toll Free (866) 239-2999

Company Website: <http://www.realestategeeksonline.com>

Read our BLOG for marketing tips & tech articles! <http://realestategeeks.blogspot.com>

GET STARTED: <http://www.realestategeeksonline.com/needs-analysis.html>

A cool property marketing idea...

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:27:48 -0600

Listing Cards

An associate mentioned to me that I should begin designing listing cards, which would be the size of a business card but a tad bit taller. You could basically make a flyer like the one below and and use a resizing program (ask me if you would like a recommendation of one on your platform - I use a mac for my designs) to resize the flyer to the desired listing card size. The agents contact info would be on the back...

If you are interested in having me design one for you... give me a ring ----->

Mia Orantes

Real Estate Geeks
Virtual Assistance & Real Estate 2.0 Marketing

Toll Free (866) 239-2999

Company Website: http://www.realestategeeksonline.com

Read our BLOG for marketing tips & tech articles!
http://realestategeeks.blogspot.com

GET STARTED: http://www.realestategeeksonline.com/needs-analysis.html

Increasing E-mail Deliverability: Do's and Dont's of Email Marketing

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:38:19 -0600

I spend hours writing content and finding that perfect image to go in my regular e-mail to clients and prospects. What sucks is that many of my beautifully done e-mails to which I dedicated my precious time go into the virtual circular file - the Spam folder, that is.

Here are some essential tips to increase your e-mail open rates and ensure fewer bouncebacks...

DO's

Analyze your e-mail statistics. This means that you must send your e-mails through an on-line platform, such as Constant Contact or iContact.
Get added to the whitelist. Double opt-ins are a great way to make sure that your e-mail reaches people's inbox.
Be consistent. Use the same template to send your e-mails.
Be descriptive. Use your From line and Subject line with care - accurately name your e-mails so that receivers know what they are opening.
Include required information. Your physical address and website address should be clearly visible on your e-mail. This is required by law.

DONT's

Avoid spam-trigger words and phrases
FREE
HIDDEN
STOP
COMPARE
COLLECT
CASH BONUS
PROMISE YOU
ACT NOW
AMAZING
APPLY ONLINE
BULK EMAIL
CALL NOW
CALL FREE
DO IT TODAY
DON'T DELETE
FANTASTIC DEAL
FREE CONSULTATION
"ADULT CONTENT OR PHRASES"
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
PLEASE READ
ORDER NOW
GREAT OFFER
LIMITED TIME ONLY
NIGERIAN
OFF-SHORE

Avoid Red Text. Red is not-only hard to read, but it also may trip a spam filter.

Avoid SHOUTING. Over-punctuation and use of capital letters makes it hard to read and dramatically increase blacklisting.

Avoid "click here" links. External click-through links should be described in detail. Readers want to know what they are clicking.

Avoid excessive use of symbols, such as multiple dollar signs ($$) in a row. Use just the necessary amount of dollar signs.

As we all know, e-mail marketing is a necessary evil to maintain our sphere of influence and top-of-mind marketing. Let me know how things go! Oh yeah, if I missed anything...post it!

Client Data Form/Profile Sheet

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 12:01:04 -0600

Hi,

Does anyone know what is in a Client Data Form?

I don't want to have to buy one, I'd rather create it myself.

What should I ask to avoid headaches?

THANKS!!!!

My Active Rain Blog Got Me on Inman News!

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:26:48 -0600

I just received an e-mail from Inman Wiki (the Wiki site division of Inman News) that my blog article "10 Great Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Website" is this week's featured article on the Inman Wiki site!

To view my article, check out: Inman Wiki Main Page

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

Mia Orantes

Real Estate Geeks

Virtual Assistance & Web 2.0 Real Estate Marketing

Real Estate Geeks Website

10 Things You MUST do in 2008 to Put Your Marketing in High Gear!

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:31:41 -0600

I hope you all have heard about Real Estate 2.0 and the importance of incorporating the latest technologies into your business during a slow market - if it's slow for you ;) ... Below I have listed 10 essential to do's to put your marketing into high gear and enhance your web presence for the new year!

1) Start a Blog

2) Add an IDX Feed to your website

3) Get a drip marketing account

4) Add a lead capture form to your website

5) Sign up on Active Rain

6) Get an RSS Reader

7) Automate your showing feedback requests

8) Create a marketing plan for the year

9) Create a MySpace profile and Facebook Page for your company

10) Hire a Virtual Assistant to do non-income-producing tasks so that you can focus on SELLING!

What are your top goals?

To start implementing these goals and more ... complete our Needs Analysis and schedule your FREE consultation!

Podcasting: Planning & Production

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:11:10 -0600

The key to Real Estate 2.0 is to connect with your past, current and future clients in ways and with the frequency that they prefer - e-mail, VOIP/phone, chat, instant messaging, podcasting, blogging/RSS feeds and of course, face-to-face. It's important to remember that new technology will NEVER replace good old-fashioned touchy-feely interaction, but the consumers of today want to know that you are available on their terms. Keep in mind that each segment of your customer base is different and requires different interaction.

Podcasting is just another way to connect with your audience/target consumer base. This is the second part of a three-part series on podcasting. This post will cover producing your podcast and a few considerations in terms of planning that should take place BEFORE you record your first segment.

To read Part 1 of 3 in this series, click here: Essential Tools for Podcasting

Planning Your Show

1. Goal Setting for Your Podcast

Just like any TV show or other type of production, podcasts should be narrowly focused and niched. Determine before your first show production:

What is the purpose of your podcast? Advertising listings, providing market information, discussing neighborhood/community issues and events, or marketing yourself as an expert of a particular topic...
What outcome would you like to achieve?

2. Identifying Your Audience

Understanding the demographics, needs, and interests of your audience is imperative to your podcasts success. Who you are speaking to will determine your content, voice, tone, and layout and more...

Is your audience local, regional or national?
How old are they? Are they family-focused, professionals, military, etc.?
What do they want to hear about? Would they want to hear from multiple experts or just you?
What tone and voice would they be drawn to?

3. Strategy & Content

Determining the frequency of production, the content flow, and how you will market and increase the consumption the podcast are considerations that should be thoroughly considered as they will determine whether your podcast will sink or swim.

Audio or Video podcast?
Search engine positioning
Dedicated URL for your podcast
Distribution - just iTunes or syndicate via multiple channels
How will you make your call-to-action clear for listeners and achieve the goals that you set in Step 1 above?

Producing Your Show

You will probably want to design a production timeline for your show (also know as Production Notes) that will outline the flow of content for your show. A sample timeline is below:

Production Notes
Roll show intro music
General introduction (name of show and introduction of host)
Topics overview (what is covered in this particular show)
Upcoming podcast events (could be upcoming open houses and community events that you will attend)
New items
Opinion piece
Wrap-up
Outro

Creating Your Podcast

There are some essential steps that are involved in producing a podcast and syndicating it so that others can find it:

Record your audio/video
Edit your audio/video
Conversion/Compression (file types)

MOV
AVI
M4V
MPEG

Upload content (test your URL link before posting)

YAHOO! Video
YouTube
Google Video
iTunes
Zune

Take a screenshot of a good video frame and paste into photo editing software and crop to (320x240 px)

This will be a link to your video (embed the video and use the screenshot as the link)

Link to yor podcast on your website and wherever else you would like

For professional podcast production and more tips visit the Real Estate Geeks website.

10 Steps to Open House Success

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:30:37 -0600

Seasoned real estate agents know that holding an open house is generally not the procuring cause of the sale. However, open houses can generate new leads and make a good impression on your seller. The short list below offers a few tips to make your open house memorable and generate as many leads as possible.

1. Feature all of your listings (not just the New ones) in your weekly agent Just Listed e-mail; mention any open house information under each featured listing

2. Feature all Open House information on your branded e-mail stationery

3. Bake bread or some other sweet-smelling treat

4. Compile a list of 10 nearby listings and attach your business card to distribute to open house visitors

5. Create a neighborhood fact sheet with school information, local restaurants, local map, and overview of community amenities

6. Require guest registration by signing Open House Sign-In sheet; if they don't sign-in they can't enter the property

7. Offer some kind of sign-up for your mailing list or e-mail newsletter list and provide an overview of what information they will get and how often - make the value clear!

8. Play relaxing music

9. Have takeaway articles about the neighborhood printed for visitors (these can sometimes be found in the local newspaper or magazine)

TIP: If you see an article about a neighborhood that you farm in the newspaper, save it for future uses such as this...

10. Follow-up with registered guests by sending a "thank you for coming" note or e-mail and add them to your drip campaign

For more great ideas and help preparing some of marketing materials mentioned above, give the Real Estate Geeks a call at (866) 239-2999 OR visit us on the web, click here.

10 Extras for Listing Presentations

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:01:58 -0600

Several clients have asked us "What extra value-added services can we offer in our Listing/Buyer Presentations to seal the deal?"

Here are some ideas:

1. Automated Showing Feedback

Homefeedback.com offers agents automated feedback requests from showing agents and emails the responses to both you and your seller...

2. Single Property Websites

Costs anywhere between $5 and $12 each month to host plus domain registration, if you don't use a provider like Agency Logic.

A FREE way to set up a Single Property Website is to use a subdomain on your existing website such as 123MainStreet.yourdomain.com

IDEA: You could have a template designed for your Luxury properties and a separate one for your non-Luxury properties and just plug in the photos and property information.

3. Syndication of their listing on the top 10 online classified websites (like Craigslist.org)

4. Professional Property Photography and Multiple MLS Photos

The number one thing that Internet home searchers look for during their search is photos. Let your prospective client know that you will give their home an edge in the home search process/

5. FREE Home Warranty (Costs around $400 for Single Family Residences)

6. 1-800/Toll-Free Property Voicemail Ad

7. A featured spot of the listing on your weekly/monthly print and e-mail newsletters

8. Enhanced Realtor.com Listing

9. YouTube Listing Video featured on your website

This also will increase the search engine rankings for the property and be sure to have a link to your website or the property website in the video

10. Bring goodies to the listing presentation.

Leave brownies or a pie with the Sellers to ensure that they think of you while making their decision!

To get a custom listing presentation designed for you with all of the bells and whistles, give the Real Estate Geeks a call at (866) 239-2999.

Essential Tools for Podcasting

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:15:10 -0600

It seems that many agents are slowly, but surely, becoming painfully aware of the rapidly-evolving technology that is at their fingertips to improve their efficiency, offer better customer service, and enhance their Internet presence. One of the new technologies that exist to keep you in-front of your prospects/customers and create more sticky content to your site is informative podcasts.

Although, the overall work required is far less than you would expect for the impressive end result, it may be more prudent to outsource such work to a professional virtual assistant or some other provider.

However, if you decide to go it alone (as I often like to do...so I can say that I gave it a try )... Here are the tools that you will need to get started. This is a 3-part series post that will include:

Tools for Podcasting
Podcasting Production
Advanced Postcasting - Getting Your Content to the Masses

Essential Tools for Podcasting

1. Powerful Computer

I won't delve into much technical detail about this, but most likely if your computer is less than 2 years old and free from memory-hogging software and viruses... you should be fine.

2. A/V Editing Software

PC: Windows Movie Maker for Video Editing; Audacity for Audio Editing (both are FREE)
Mac: iMovie for Video Editing; Garageband or Audacity for Audio Editing (both are FREE)

3. A/V Hardware

Built-in Mic
Wireless Mic (I recommend a Sennheiser Lavalier)
Studio-Monitor Headphones (not your Bose ones for your iPOD)
Speakers
Interview Kit - if you plan on conducting over the phone interviews, etc. (Purchase a telephone-recording adapter from Radio Shack)
Tripod
Video Camera (I've listed some minimum spec requirements below that you should consider when purchasing)

Digital DV
Mic Input
Handheld (not too bulky)
Firewire/iLink port
Manual White Balance
Image stabilization

Most store salesmen can point you in the right direction...

Check back soon for Part 2: Podcasting Production (to include a step-by-step how to and common timelines for podcasts...

Have a question... Ask the Real Estate Geeks and we'll e-mail you an answer in addition to featuring your question in our next blog post!

10 Great Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Website

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:28:24 -0600

In the age of technology when consumers are able to access information a the drop of a dime and your opportunity to grab their attention is short, it’s really important to develop and enhance your web content.

What do we mean? The average view time of a website is under 60 seconds… So, when a prospect visits your site, you must grab their attention and prove that your site has something unique and valuable to offer them in less than 60 seconds.

In addition, your content needs to be fresh and consistently updated. Otherwise, you can forget about a return visitor!

NOW, this doesn’t mean that navigational ease and attractive design combined with keyword-rich content doesn’t still weigh heavily on your site’s success. BUT, once consumers find you on the web - you want them to stay, have a cup of cocoa, and come back for more when they are ready to make a decision to buy or sell their property. Right?

Below, we have compiled a short list of some great content ideas to add to your site to enhance usability and increase the probability of returns to your site. These items can also increase the likelihood that your visitors will complete lead capture forms, join mailing lists, and (more importantly) recognize you as an expert in your industry and farming neighborhood.

So, without further adieu…

1. Calendar of Events

Google Calendar
30Boxes.com This is a great service that allows you to embed public calendars into your blog or site, add links within events to Google Maps (this is wonderful for Open House event items) AND it’s got a mobile version for viewing on internet-ready cell phones/PDAs

2. MLS Listings/IDX Feed

Well, if you haven’t seen your competition’s site with the ability to search and save the regional listings…what planet have you been on?

However, many real estate agents have asked me: How do we compete with the Trulia’s and Homes.com’s? The answer: YOU DON’T COMPETE, but you must offer a well-rounded and complete user experience. Prospects want to search properties - if you don’t offer it, someone else will.

Several options exist to incorporate IDX Feeds (for more information about IDX feeds, check out the MLS Listing Feeds/IDX category under Web Design on the right-side Categories section on this blog). You can add this a la carte to your site or purchase a web design suite (Advanced Access, Agent Image, and iHomefinder offer solutions)

3. Before/After Staging Photos

Is staging an integral part of your service offering to sellers? If it isn’t, it should be…but that’s another post! For those of you on the staging bandwagon, showcasing your talent and unique selling ability by posting before/after photos is a great opportunity to add fresh content. (Tip: Add before/after photos to your Seller Guides too!)

4. Blog Link

Absolute necessity folks! All of your online marketing campaigns and components should mesh and be intertwined with one another. A link to your blog in addition to RSS feed subscription links should be prominent on your home page AND throughout your site.

5. YouTube Videos of Your Listings

This is not a difficult thing to do! Many tech-newbie agents think creating and syndicating YouTube video footage is a time-intensive and expensive proposition. It isn’t! A camcorder, mic, and free downloaded video editing software is the minimum you will need. Ask RealEstateGeeks for more information or send us an e-mail!

6. Expert Q&A for Common RE Questions that You Field

Do sellers/buyers ask you the same questions over and over again? If so, it may be prudent to create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to your site.

Now this is a somewhat technically advanced feature to add and we don’t recommend taking this project on alone. Although, several Web Hosting providers offer this feature as an addition to their services (like bravenet.com and Advanced Access sites). If your hosting provider doesn’t offer this feature, subcontract this out to a virtual assistant (RealEstateGeeks can do this for you).

7. Live Chat/Meebo Widget

In accordance with the idea of Web 2.0 design, allowing visitors to speak with you immediately is a win-win situation for all. You show them that you are always available and technologically up-to-date.

Meebo is a instant messaging website that incorporates all of the top IM clients into one site that is accessible anywhere without downloading client software. Add your Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger accounts to one central location and chat with anyone anywhere in real-time!

8. Neighborhood Information

Discuss local restaurant openings, little league games, school openings/back-to-school nights, zoning meeting minutes, photos of local events, market stats/recent solds and reinforce to prospects and clients that you are an expert of their neighborhood. (Tip: A page should be devoted to no more than one neighborhood. A listing of all of the neighborhoods that you work in is just not enough…)

9. YouTube Video Tutorials of RE Topics (how to stage, how to …)

Drodio’s site, drodio.com, has taken advantage of video social networking with tutorials such as “How to make lowball offers…” and “How to buy foreclosure homes” ensuring that visitors will bookmark the site for future visits. The site has taken FAQ to another level.

10. Investor Content, Research Articles

Include the latest and most relevant bankrate.com content (bankrate.com allows webmasters to feature their content for free) or feature a great investment property each week.

For more ideas and to get started implementing these sticky features into your website, call the Real Estate Geeks at (866) 239-2999.

Benefits of Blogging for Real Estate Pros

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:23:21 -0600

1. Search Engine Marketing.

2. Direct Interactive Communication with prospects,
current clients, and past clients.

3. Brand Building.

4. Competitive Differentiation.

• Who are you? (personality, affiliations, interests,
etc.)
• What do you do?
• What differentiates you? (experience, customer
service, sales technique, networking, etc.)

5. Relational Marketing.

6. Exploiting Niches.

7. Media & Public Relations.

• Expect the media to call you, not the
competition.
• Have the opportunity to offer your opinion on
relevant news and topics.

8. Positioning as an Expert.

9. Lead Generation.

10. Cost vs. Benefit (Low Cost with High ROI)

Read more articles about Real Estate Marketing at http://www.realestategeeksonline.com

10 Great Content Ideas for Your Real Estate Website

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 04:12:19 -0600

Adding a calendar to your website is a great way to keep your visitors informed about what you are up to in their communities. Let them know about upcoming festivals, neighborhood watch meetings, new subdivision openings. You can even add upcoming open house dates.

Many of the popular web-based calendars (like Google, Yahoo and AOL) offer widgets that you can embed into your website. These will be in real-time and always up-to-date. If your website if hosted by a real estate web suite (like Advanced Access, for example) you can add a calendar to your site as part of the package.

The best and free web-based calendars that we recommend are below and we have given you some basic direction on how to add/embed your personal calendars to your site:

Google Calendar

30Boxes.com This is a great service that allows you to embed public calendars into your blog or site, add links within events to Google Maps (this is wonderful for Open House event items) AND it’s got a mobile version for viewing on internet-ready cell phones/PDAs

2. MLS Listings/IDX Feed

Well, if you haven’t seen your competition’s site with the ability to search and save the regional listings…what planet have you been on?

However, many real estate agents have asked me: How do we compete with the Trulia’s and Homes.com’s? The answer: YOU DON’T COMPETE, but you must offer a well-rounded and complete user experience. Prospects want to search properties - if you don’t offer it, someone else will.

Several options exist to incorporate IDX Feeds (for more information about IDX feeds, check out the MLS Listing Feeds/IDX category under Web Design on the right-side Categories section on this blog). You can add this a la carte to your site or purchase a web design suite (Advanced Access, Agent Image, and iHomefinder offer solutions)

3. Before/After Staging Photos

Is staging an integral part of your service offering to sellers? If it isn’t, it should be…but that’s another post! For those of you on the staging bandwagon, showcasing your talent and unique selling ability by posting before/after photos is a great opportunity to add fresh content. (Tip: Add before/after photos to your Seller Guides too!)

4. Blog Link

Absolute necessity, folks! All of your online marketing campaigns and components should mesh and be intertwined with one another. A link to your blog in addition to RSS feed subscription links should be prominent on your home page AND throughout your site.

5. YouTube Videos of Your Listings

This is not a difficult thing to do! Many tech-unsavvy agents think creating and syndicating YouTube video footage is a time-intensive and expensive proposition. It isn’t! A camcorder, mic, and free downloaded video editing software is the minimum you will need. Ask RealEstateGeeks for more information or send us an e-mail!

6. Expert Q&A for Common RE Questions that You Field

Do sellers/buyers ask you the same questions over and over again? If so, it may be prudent to create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to your site.

Now this is a somewhat technically advanced feature to add and we don’t recommend taking this project on alone. Although, several Web Hosting providers offer this feature as an addition to their services (like Bravenet.com and Advanced Access sites). If your hosting provider doesn’t offer this feature, subcontract this out to a virtual assistant (RealEstateGeeks can do this for you).

7. Live Chat/Meebo Widget

In accordance with the idea of Web 2.0 design, allowing visitors to speak with you immediately is a win-win situation for all. You show them that you are always available and technologically up-to-date.

Meebo is a instant messaging website that incorporates all of the top IM clients into one site that is accessible anywhere without downloading client software. Add your Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger accounts to one central location and chat with anyone anywhere in real-time!

8. Neighborhood Information

Discuss local restaurant openings, little league games, school openings/back-to-school nights, zoning meeting minutes, photos of local events, market stats/recent solds and reinforce to prospects and clients that you are an expert of their neighborhood. (Tip: A page should be devoted to no more than one neighborhood. A listing of all of the neighborhoods that you work in is just not enough…)

9. YouTube Video Tutorials of RE Topics (how to stage, how to …)

Drodio’s site, drodio.com, has taken advantage of video social networking with tutorials such as “How to make lowball offers…” and “How to buy foreclosure homes” ensuring that visitors will bookmark the site for future visits. The site has taken FAQ to another level.

10. Investor Content, Research Articles

Include the latest and most relevant bankrate.com content (bankrate.com allows webmasters to feature their content for free) or feature a great investment property each week.

For more information or for assistance adding these sticky features to your site, give the Real Estate Geeks a call at (866) 239-2999.

Creating Effective Landing Pages & Conversion Paths for Search Engine Marketing Campaigns

Mia Orantes (Real Estate Geeks | Real Estate Marketing & Web Design) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:15:42 -0600

I know, I know... What the HECK am I talking about, right?

Let's start with the basics: Have you ever clicked on a Google Sponsored Link or AdWord ad that appears at the top of your search results?

The vast majority of the time, clicking on such links will take you to a very long URL with some mention of Google and most likely a key or ID of some kind. This string of characters in the URL is a unique campaign identifier that allows for easier tracking of you online marketing leads.

In essence a landing page is the initial URL that you are directed to upon clicking the advertisement from the search engine. This is different from a conversion path - which we will touch on in a sec...

There are a few key benefits that are achieved when using landing pages in online marketing:

it allows online marketers to create highly targeted ad messages that match the original ad copy that generated a click;
it allows easy tracking of campaign results (E-mail, advertising, keywords);
it allows online marketers to create customized lead forms - ensuring that you gather the necessary information to transform a lead to serious buyer;
it allows for wasy analysis of metrics, thereby increasing the marketers ability to consistently improve the metrics.

Now for the juice... How do you create an effective landing page?

1. Identify your prospect. Understanding the demographic of your prospects and their needs will go a long way and it will shorten the amount of time that you will spend honing and revamping your landing pages. Tailor your message to the targeted visitor - that is what they will expect!

2. Keep your landing page neat and clean. Visual distractions are sure to kill your lead. The ad copy and design should match the landing page.

3. Capture their data or contact information and don't ask for too much information. Keep all information requests to a bare minimum, get just what you need to follow-up. Don't ever hand over the material that you offered in your ad copy before you capture the leads information. If the lead gets what they were after before you can identify them, you can forget about transforming the lead into a customer!

4. Be concise and to the point. Reinforce the ad or offer that got them to click in the first place, capture their data, let them get what they were after and let them out! (in that order)

5. Make your privacy policy prominent and clear. In this digital age, consumers highly value their privacy. Assure them that you will maintain their privacy and the likelihood that they will give their contact information to you greatly increases. Check out truste.org for help.

6. Remove irrelevant navigation. Once again, the purpose of this page is to capture your lead and assure them that they are where they want to be. Don't give them any reason to think that they should stray away from your page - especially before they give you their information.

7. Keep important conversion messages above the fold (above the bottom of the page before scrolling) and in the center of the page. Make it easy for the lead to stay with your message and convert to a buyer.

8. After the lead leaves, FOLLOW-UP! Aggressive, but curteous, follow-up is key to online conversion!

Conversion Paths

A conversion path is a multi-step, but linear, process (allowing the marketer to ask the prospect: "Are you more interested in X or Y?"). Once the marketer has segmented the visitors by determining exactly which product or service they are seeking, they can more easily target the conversion message to the prospect. Conversion paths generally offer a much higher conversion rate, because it is a more tailored message and give the prospect a choice.

Tips for Improving Conversion Paths

1. Keep your initial page (segmentation page) top the point. Don't overwhelm your visitors with multiple choices, two or three is best.

2. Keep the path clear and visually lead your prospect to the well. Buttons or links should be prominently displayed on the page above the fold and should not be overshadowed by side bars of irrelevant information or other offers.

3. Thank the prospect for their time and conversion.

4. Track the metrics/statistics of all pages within the path!

Keep in mind that these strategies come into play once you have a somewhat sophisticated online ad marketing campaign underway.

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