Real Estate Technology Blog

5 Tips on Choosing The Right Days to Market Your Real Estate Services Online

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:06:21 -0600

Very informative post by Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant

Via Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant (Real Skillz-Clear Marketing for Your Real Estate Vision):

How to Choose the Right Days to Market your Real Estate Services Online

Effective real estate marketing online has a lot to do with timing. There has been a lot of research conducted, mainly for industries outside of real estate (i.e.retail, hospitality, automotive) on the best days and times to market services and products online. Implementing the right timing to deploy marketing campaigns into your online marketing strategy is an effective way to ramp up your results.

Here are 5 tips on choosing the right days to market your real estate services online

1. Tweet Midweek-

You can tweet everyday of the week but for maximum effect make sure to tweet on Wednesdays and Thursdays as they are the most active days of tweets and retweets as found by HubSpot's State of the Twittersphere Q42008.

State-of-the-Twittersphere -

2. Publish Your Most Important Blog Posts Midweek

Frequency of great original content is still important in building your readership and traffic to your blog. I recommend to my clients that they blog a minimum of 3-5 times per week to be considered as a true content provider in the eyes of their readers.

That being said when is the best time for a blogger to publish their meatiest, most important blog posts? Darren Rowse of Problogger addresses the timing factor in When to Publish Blog Posts-Timing Considerations,

"If I have a very important post that I want to get as much attention as possible I generally will publish it on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning (my time)."

Rowse's post also gives some advice as to publishing posts on weekends and holidays that is worth the read as well as the comments on the post (82 so far).

Roger Parker of blogforprofit.com recommends that if you were to only blog twice per week to publish those blog posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Clearly publishing your most important blog posts midweek is a winning strategy.

3. The Weakest Link for Email Marketing is Saturday

You may have several email campaigns in your real estate marketing campaign: email flyers, email follow-up, email newsletters. Email marketing is a heavy hitter for real estate professionals but when is the most effective time for you to deliver your messages to your prospects and customers?

According to EMarketer.com the best days of the week to send email marketing are Mondays and Tuesdays and the least effective time by nearly 50% is Saturdays.

The best advice I found and agree with is to survey your email subscribers and ask them when they would like to receive emails from you.

We are approaching the holiday season so it is important to consider the times that people are online and actively shopping. Study these deployment times statistics provided on the emailstatcenter.com website before launching any niche holiday real estate marketing campaigns.

4. Engage your Fans on Facebook on Tuesdays

In findings from Virtue SRM (Social Relationship Manager) the best days to post on your Facebook Business Page is Tuesdays, followed closely Wednesdays with Mondays coming in #3.

**Allow me one deviation~ What I find more or equally fascinating is the 6.49% CLR (Click Thru Rate) of marketing campaigns such as polls and incentives that are run on Facebook business pages. Fans are clearly interacting with their friends on Facebook in a big way and their interactions are also being seen by their friends.**

5. LinkedIn Users Are Active In the Morning

According to a small study by SenderOK Statistics report which was based on a sample of 440 anonymous users the most activity on LinkedIn occurs in the morning.

"LinkedIn use is predominantly an 8AM-Noon activity with very, very little activity in the evening. Of particular interest is that LinkedIn users tend to arrive at work earlier than Facebook users do....Those serious early morning LinkedIn users will spend an average of 29 minutes reading real Email before they get around to checking your connection request which they could have read first if they wanted to."

While this is a small sampling of members on LinkedIn and their behavior I can attest that this mimics my LinkedIn use. The first online activity I do in the morning is to check my email(which of course includes my blog activity) and the first social network site I check is LinkedIn and this occurs normally between the hours of 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Take into consideration the times and days that people are online and engaging in these online activities when you create and implement your online real estate marketing strategy.

Once you taken action use an analytics tool to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. Tweak the times you deliver your marketing messages based on your analytics and direct feedback from your recipients.

Get your game on and use the 5 tips on choosing the right days to market your real estate services online.

Subscribe to Blogging In the Rain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog

Join Me on Facebook. Tuesday I'll be posting a discussion about marketing to women.

***************************************************

Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

All online rental ads are not created equal

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:55:36 -0500

In fact, many factors determine whether a rental ad will be successful at attracting renter leads. With so much information and so many choices on the internet, rental marketers need to make sure their ads catch - and hold - the attention of potential renters.

This week, we're highlighting one of our members' ads that received over 40 phone and email leads in one month... 40! For those who like to keep track of the numbers, that's less than a buck a lead (Single-family rental ad = $29.99). Let's breakdown the strong points of this ad that helped to make it a success:

Photos
Competitive Rental Rates
Low Deposit or Incentives
Widespread Distribution
Easy to Contact

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Twitter + Google and Twitter + Bing = Good SEO

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:30:41 -0500

With today’s announcement of the Google-Twitter search deal and the Bing- Twitter search deal, it is more evident than ever that Twitter should be an important part of your SEO strategy. Why?

Well, if Twitter results are going to appear in Google and Bing search results, don’t you think it’s a good idea you get your important information on Twitter? Google is going to pull in what people have tweeted on Twitter. For example, if you search for "San Francisco Homes" in Google, you may see some tweets in the Google search results that relate to this search, and possibly even some of this http://search.twitter.com/search?q=San+Francisco+Homes integrated into the Google search results themselves.

It will be interesting to see how Google displays the tweets in their search results. Will they display them within their regular search or will it be a side option? I have concerns about spam issues. The spammers know how to hijack all the Twitter trending topics with their spam links. I hope Google has a good way to filter this stuff out.

So for all those who argued Twitter has no importance for SEO – think again.

Google+Twitter = important for SEO.
Bing+Twitter = important for SEO.

View My Other Recent Posts

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I Choose Not To Fail

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:36:21 -0500

I choose not to fail…

… in my business, because I know I have employees that count on me and because my family’s livelihood depends on it.
… when life throws me challenges, because I know what it feels like to conquer those challenges.
… in being happy, because the alternative is not acceptable.
… as a parent, because I want my son to know he should choose "not to fail".
… as a daughter, because my father deserves to see the rewards from the values he taught me as a child.
… as a wife, because the man I chose as my husband chooses not to fail as a husband.
… as a sister, because I know the unconditional bond that comes from it.
… as a best friend, because I believe my best friend is a sister that God forgot to give me.

But…

When I do fail (because, at some point, everybody does), I choose to learn from that failure and apply that lesson towards succeeding the next time around.

Times are challenging right now. They are challenging for businesses, they are challenging for Real Estate, and they are challenging for our economy. Will you choose "not to fail" during these challenging times?

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Rental Advertising – A Goldmine For Investors

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:08:44 -0500

Online rental advertising services are essential for serious real estate investors. The key to making money in real estate is to buy the property and let the renters pay off the loan. So if you have several apartments, you would want to keep them fully rented at all times. Online rental advertising services are being used by rich investors to market their apartments.

Rental advertising websites provide the maximum exposure for your property to renters. The rental industry is huge so getting your ad in front of prospects require a lot of effort if you were to do it using traditional methods.

The following are the types of services which rental advertising companies offer:

1. Submission to rental directories and search engines.

2. Video Syndication

3. Social Media

Mortgage Delinquencies - The Coming Storm

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:53:01 -0500

Great post by Jeff Geoghan MBA - Lancaster PA Real Estate Expert. Really shows what is coming.

Via Jeff Geoghan MBA - Lancaster PA Real Estate Expert (The Jeff Geoghan Realty Group, Coldwell Banker Lancaster PA):

This is one of those posts where I wish I didn't have to write it, but felt it was so important to my readers that I would be remiss not to at least talk about it.

Everyone out there probably knows somebody who is behind on their mortgage payments, looking for alternatives and likely also just finding out that their home's value has dipped below what their loan amount is. I know some within my own personal circles. It's a tough situation for me to advise them as a professional because it's such a personal challenge to their pride and self-worth, not to mention their plans an dreams for the family. The question we're asking is "when is this going to stop and where are we heading?"

I'm going to put up a few graphs that show the trends nationally with regards to mortgage delinquincies:

This chart is by quarter - Single-family mortgages set a new record delinquency rate in the second quarter of 2009, according to a quarterly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Those of us in the real estate business see the foreclosure process (just visit the local Sheriff Sale docket to see the current numbers) but the looming delinqency-to-foreclosure issue is far, far larger.

The Wall Street Journal on 8/3/09 reported the following quote: “While subprime mortgages sparked the first round of housing problems two years ago, now "troubles are lurking further up the food chain," says Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc. White-collar job losses have accelerated while more adjustable-rate loans to prime borrowers are resetting to higher payments. ‘You put all that together, it leads me to believe that the next leg down on home prices is going to come from the top,’ he says.”

The first objection someone may have would be to say "yes, but historically those who are delinqent usually get their act together and come current on the mortgage after a while". That WAS true, but not anymore! We call that the "Cure Rate", that is the rate of delinquencies that go back to current. The Wall Street Journal reported on 8/24/09 about a Fitch analysis that found that the Cure Rate from 2000-2006 was 45% (which means about half of people fix their delinquency). However, as of July 2009 the rate had dropped to just 6.6%! That means that over 90% of delinquent customers are going to foreclosure. Take a look again at the above chart...

The next thing someone will say is "well, that's the 'sand states' and not my area". Here's the chart for all 50 states showing the same breakdown of delinquencies and foreclosures. Guess what - most states have a significant problem, especially compared to historical figures.

Now the next thing someone may say is "aren't those loans going to get 'fixed' by a loan modification?" I know several people right now who are applying for a Lancaster County loan modification but are waiting and waiting. I hope it works out for them...

In reality, loan modifications are hardly making a dent. To me, that's a burning question. Why arent banks being more aggressive in giving customers the option to extend their loan and/or reset to a lower rate? Why are they being SO difficult? The people I know don't want to be foreclosed. They CAN make payments. They just need the terms redrawn to allow them to catch & keep up. Loan modifications are not helping us get this crisis under control.

What are the causes of all these delinquencies? Here's a chart that is enlightening:

We hear a lot about adjustable rate mortgages being the culprit, but the reality is that it's the loss of jobs and the tanking real estate market that's the perfect storm. See my previous post on unemployment in the nation, the state and Lancaster County.

Keep in mind, this post is not intended to give us "good news". You may be experiencing good things in your market and that's great. My intent is to get us thinking about the challenges that aren't going away and how we're going to address them as homeowners, agents and professionals. I'd love to hear your ideas!

This is for all of those long tail SEO skeptics

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:06:05 -0500

I am a big proponent on targeting long tail keywords. Sure a single long tail phrase may bring in less traffic than a single short phrase, but long tail keywords are so much easier to convert. The screenshot below shows just how powerful long tail SEO is. This is long tail "organic search" traffic that came into one of our sites for a campaign we did for a client. As you can see from this screenshot, this campaign drew in 8,424 visits from 8,186 different search phrases in 1 month. Yes you read that right - 8,186 different search phrases all from long tail.

Following are a few reasons why I am such a big fan of long tail >>

Home Crisis Investigation - Very Funny

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:57:56 -0500

Funny video from The Daily Show.

"If Timothy Geithner is as bad at handling the economy as he is at picking bathroom tiles, he won't need to sell his house."

Make sure and watch the entire video to see the bathroom.

www.thedailyshow.com

Do you really want to be used in Facebook ads?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:50:06 -0500

Do you want your Facebook actions to control what ads show up on your friends Facebook wall? Well that may just happen if you are not aware of the Facebook privacy setting that allows for this.

The Facebook News Feed and Wall setting states:

"Facebook occasionally pairs advertisements with relevant social actions from a user's friends to create Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. These respect all privacy rules. You may opt out of appearing in your friends' Facebook Ads below."

So how can you disable this?

When logged into Facebook navigate to "Settings"

Choose "News Feed and Wall" from the privacy settings page

Choose "Facebook Ads" from the News Feed and Wall page and set "Appearance in Facebook Ads" to No one

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Are you in violation of Craigslist Terms and Conditions?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:02:22 -0500

We recently launched our ultimate ad customizer, which allows you to further customize your Craigslist, blog, website postings (30 new formats, set the width, different colors, etc.). One of the top questions we have been asked is why don’t we have live links on the Craigslist version. The simple answer is because it is against the Craigslist TOU.

Under conduct it clearly states:

7. CONDUCT

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:

m) that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed
in "services";

Posting a listing is not considered "services" and I could be wrong here but I am pretty sure a Real Estate website is considered commercial.

Yes I know MANY others posts links but we respect the Craigslist terms of use and are not going to put our members or ourselves in a position to break them.

Happy posting!

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Customizable Ads for Craigslist, Localism, Outside Blogs

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:33:47 -0500

Post your listings to Craigslist, Active Rain, Localism, Outside Blogs, and anywhere else online!

We've just released the Ultimate Ad Customizer which will enable subscribed members to place listings on Craigslist, and all around the web, with ease and style. With 30 new color, layout, and width combinations to choose from, listings are sure to stand out from the crowd.

Posting your ads to ActiveRain, Localism, or other narrow-width sites? No problem! Set the width of your online ad to fit right in. There's really no limit to where you can post your ads online.

Cross Advertising Benefits of Your Ads

In addition to the increased leads and stylish online presence that come with the new Ultimate Ad Customizer, we've also enhanced these ads in another (very cool) way. Now, subscribed members who take advantage of the Ultimate Ad Customizer will benefit from free cross-advertising on those listings!

If you choose the cross advertising option, there will be a section at the bottom of your posted ads featuring each of your other listings with links, short details, and a thumbnail picture. Now that's what we call easy advertising!

Save 20% with promo code ACTIVERAIN

How Will Cap and Trade Effect Your Real Estate Business?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:13:50 -0500

This is an outstanding post by Nestor & Katerina Gasset that all Americans should read, understand and become aware of.

Via Nestor & Katerina Gasset Realtors® Wellington Florida Luxury Homes (International Properties and Investments, Inc.):

Real estate is local when it comes to market conditions and market trends. Real estate differs from region to region in styles, architecture and amenities generally speaking. For instance; in Florida fireplaces are not the norm whereas in cold winter areas such as Colorado, fireplaces are a standard addition to a home. In some areas of our country people have wood burning stoves and others have coal burning furnaces. There are areas of our country such as here in Florida where you would not dare live without Air Conditioning but in many homes in Washington for instance, air conditioning is more of a luxury than a necessity.

So when we are discussing the effects of cap and trade in your real estate business you will need to take into account the region in which you live as some areas will be more effected than others.

Here is a really good interactive map from the New York Times. The map I posted below is the map of the votes in the House for and against the Cap and Tax bill that just passed the House. But if you click on the link of the New York Times map, it is interactive.

You can move your mouse over the map and see who voted, what party they belong to and their district. You will be able to see that no matter whether they were democrats or republicans if they are in the farm country of America, high manufacturing areas of America, low energy bills of America and the heartland of America- they voted NO on this bill and for very good reasons.

"For a household of four, energy costs go up $436 that year, and they eventually reach $1,241 in 2035 and average $829 annually over that span. Electricity costs go up 90 percent by 2035, gasoline by 58 percent, and natural gas by 55 percent by 2035. The cumulative higher energy costs for a family of four by then will be nearly $20,000.

But direct energy costs are only part of the consumer impact. Nearly everything goes up, since higher energy costs raise production costs. If you look at the total cost of Waxman-Markey, it works out to an average of $2,979 annually from 2012-2035 for a household of four. By 2035 alone, the total cost is over $4,600." Heritage Foundation.

You will notice that the states where the votes were yes are also the states that already have the highest energy bills. The states that voted no are mostly states with presently low energy bills.

Instead of calling this to Cap and Trade- We can really call it the Tax On Electricity Bill.

How does this information pertain to real estate agents? If you live in the lower energy pricing states you are going to be seeing huge increases in household energy bills. If you live in states that are coal powered or oil powered you will see the largest increases ever in your energy bills because those energy sources are going to be punished with taxation.

How is that going to effect home prices?

How is that going to effect movement in and out of your state?

How is that going to effect your real estate office utility bills and who is going to pay for this?

The House is at it again. This was a 1,300 page bill and again as with so many large bills was not read by most of those that voted yes or no. What is it that they don't get? The American people expect our leaders to read what they vote on.

So what else is tucked away neatly into this bill that perhaps no one knows the full implications of yet?

How about the Federal imposition and takeover of building codes? Your local planning and building offices will not be qualified for any Federal funding of any kind unless they adopt what the FEDS say is the new energy efficient building standards. This will create higher prices in building new homes which is then passed on the homebuyers and then you as a real estate agent are also effected because less buyers will be able to afford to buy a new home built . Not to mention having to wait for the Feds to come and inspect the builders and the homes.

How about the new Federal Energy Nazis Inspectors who will come and rate your home before you can sell your home. So before you can list a home for sale, the seller will have to wait for the Federal inspectors to come out. DMV lines anyone? Once that inspector comes out, he or she will give the home an energy rating. If the home does not meet the guidelines the seller will be required to do the work necessary to bring the home up to energy standards before they can sell the home! Can we say money? Does that mean that there will be homeowners who will become prisoners in their homes because they can not afford to make the energy repairs that the feds require? Is that an invasion of your privacy as well as an attack on your property rights?

Hmmm, how is that going to effect short sales where the seller has no money to make the repairs and adjustments?

How is that going to effect your ability to get listings in a timely manner?

How is that going to effect your seller who is about to lose their home in a foreclosure?

How is that going to effect the seller who has to relocate for their job?

How is that going to effect the estates with heirs having to do these repairs and such when there won't be any money until the estate is sold?

I wonder if our House of Representatives and our Congress men and women EVER thought to actually ask us in the field working this business day in and day out how these bills will effect the housing market?

Of course, the US will be living Cap and Tax while the real perpetrators of dirty air like China and India get off scott free. There will be an unfair advantage in pricing products and manufacturing to the point that if a US company even stands a chance of staying in the manufacturing business will have no choice but to move their company oversees which in turn will cause a massive layoff of people increasing the already high unemployment problem we are facing in our country.

How will the unemployment effect your real estate business?

How will the unemployment effect the REOs and massive foreclosures in your community?

How will the unemployment effect home values as you get more and more vacant properties in your area?

If you are an agent in America's farmland you will begin to see farms no longer being able to produce a profit. Farms use a lot of energy. Energy use will be punished. This is why nearly every politician from a farm land state no matter what party they are affiliated with voted no to this bill. Their districts will suffer terribly. As this happens we will be buying more and more produce from other countries with far less health standards than our own. I don't trust foods, especially produce from China or other countries except Europe. But we don't import our veggies from Europe!

How is this going to effect your real esate business if you live and work in a farm land state?

When it comes down to the nitty and the gritty about this bill you must remember that GE is the biggest supporter of this bill. They stand to make billions of dollars from the passage of this bill. The politicians voting yes on this bill, many of them are getting paid to vote yes. And Al Gore will become the very first GREEN billionaire. It is just too bad that he is not a real capitalist. He could not become a billionaire playing fair and square. Instead, he has an unfair advantage, legislation to make him filthy rich. Not exactly the free market way. It is all about the money.

Contact your Senators now to vote NO now. Click on this link to find your Senators and contact them by email, phone and fax today. Let them know how this is going to effect your business and your community homeowners and buyers. Pass this on...

Are you advertising with video?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:48:19 -0500

Google has expanded on their Universal Search options to include video-specific results. This is bringing more eyeballs to videos from searches. Oftentimes videos will even show up in Google's organic results without the need to click the video link. We recently did a rental video marketing campaign for a client and within days were able to see results. The video ranked on the first page in Google's video search results and in less than a week the video received over 350 views from the different video portals.

Are you taking advantage of video marketing for your listings? If not you are missing out on Google exposure as well as exposure from the video portals.

How about creating localized videos about your county? Creating a targeted video optimized around different cities in your county can be another way for you to dominate your local area.

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Short vs. Long Tail Keywords, A Strategy To Dominate Your Local Market

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:00:44 -0500

Great post by Gabe Hoggarth about Short vs. long tail keywords.

Via Gabe Hoggarth (Working The Magic, LLC):

There’s a correlation between search phrases, search volume and conversion rates that anyone interested in dominating their local market should understand. The graph below illustrates this relationship between short tail (highly searched, low converting) keywords and long tail (low searched, high converting) keywords.

The balance that needs to be implemented in any search engine marketing plan is that of quality AND quantity. Dominating an online market involves a strategy of achieving top search engine placement for all relevant search terms and driving lots of targeted visitors who will ultimately convert into quality leads. So how do we accomplish this?

The Problem With Targeting Short Tail Keywords

The search phrase “Real Estate” is entered into Google 45,500,000 times/month and is highly competitive. For an example let’s think about this from the perspective of a someone looking to dominate the Seattle Washington market. Only a fraction of those 45,500,000 searches for “Real Estate” would find a Seattle real estate related website useful.

Would a Seattle website ranking at the top of this search term generate leads? Sure. But with such a general “Real Estate” term some of these leads may be looking at Seattle, Denver, Miami or other cities. The extra effort it took to rank for such a generic search term would have been better spent targeting many highly searched Seattle related terms.

The Problem With Targeting Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords by definition are very specific search phrases with low competition. An example of a long tail keyword is “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” (Note: Queen Anne is a popular view neighborhood in Seattle, WA) and ranking well for this phrase is relatively easy.

Unfortunately, taking a quick glance at the search volume for “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” using the Google Keyword Tool there is “Not Enough Data” to report the search volume meaning this phrase is hardly searched. Despite the fact that very specific search phrases enjoy higher conversion rates into leads, even #1 ranking for this term will generate little business. So, how do we capture many of these long tails and optimize and rank for high volume related search phrases?

Finding The Balance – Quality AND Quantity

Initially keyword research and then a long-term strategy, balancing what will produce the quantity and quality of search results, are invaluable in dominating a local market. Accomplishing this takes a two-fold approach.

1. BUILD AUTHORITY FOR THE MID TAIL:

First this involves selecting a ‘mid tail’ keyword phrase, something that is highly search and relevant to the website. Based on these factors for the Seattle market the keyword phrase “Seattle Real Estate” fits wells with 8,100 searches/month, enough volume to support lots of lead generation if ranked well and the visitors will be specific enough that they will convert at a decent percentage. Optimize the main page of the website for this keyword phrase by building links and Google authority.

(Disclosure: Working The Magic manages the #1 ranked website for “Seattle Real Estate” in Google with 10,000 visitors/month that converts roughly 5% of all visitors into leads)

2. CREATE CONTENT FOR THE LONG TAIL:

Once authority is built into the website, the second part of balancing quality and quantity is to then generate content for the long tail. This involves blogging, neighborhood and community information and additional commentary on the website. Using the long tail example from above it would make sense to add content to a Seattle website about Queen Anne 2 bedroom homes that would likely rank well for that search term. The additional content will add relevancy to the website as a whole and those pages will show up in results for all types of long tail keywords.

Permalink: Short vs. Long Tail Keywords

If you would like to learn more about our Real Estate SEO services please email me at GabeHoggarth@WorkingTheMagic.com or call me direct at 888-442-5115 ext. 104.

Do you syndicate your ActiveRain blog?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:37:10 -0500

Did you know that your ActiveRain blog includes an RSS feed?

Many do not realize the power of RSS feeds and what you can do with them. One of the most powerful things you can do with feeds is easily distribute and share your content on the web. As you probably know, the more places on the web that your content is, the better.

Did you know that you could easily add your ActiveRain feed to FaceBook, FriendFeed, ClassifiedFlyerAds and many other online resources?

Adding your feeds to these resources will instantly distribute your content into these networks. All you need to do is get the URL from the rss link on your blog and input that URL into other online resources that accept feeds.

Okay, so now you know how to get your blog feed. Now let me give you some resources where you can share your feed.

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Are You Tracking Your Online Conversions?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:53:46 -0500

A conversion is generally defined as an event that results in a transaction. A "transaction" will be defined differently based on your business model and what your end goal is (ie. information, sign up, subscription, payment, etc.). Regardless of how you define your conversions and transactions, it is important to track where they are coming from.

Maybe you blog on multiple blog platforms such as Wordpress and ActiveRain. Are you keeping track of leads you get from those platforms and in addition to how many of those leads are converting? Maybe you post videos to different video platforms or syndicate your listings to multiple directories. Maybe you use Twitter or Facebook or focus heavily on your own website. Are you tracking the leads and conversions you receive from all of these sources?

If not, you may be spending valuable time in places that are not giving you a return on your investment. Sure, maybe some of these resources are free but your time is not free; it is an investment. Maybe it's time to take a closer look at which resources have the highest conversion.

Click here to view and download a spreadsheet to help track your conversions

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Why I feel small businesses should learn to serve themselves

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:31:40 -0500

Empowerment

Nobody knows your business like you do. Using self-serve online solutions for your business puts the power in your hands. You have the control and can make decisions on what is best for your business.

Education

You might be surprised at just how much you can learn when you start using tools that are readily available. You will learn about online marketing, SEO, advertising, technology and so much more that your competitors don't know about. It will take a little time and patience, but the payoff will be huge.

Economics

You will save BIG. And when I say "big", I mean thousands of dollars or more.

In order to make "self-serve" work for your business, all you need is initiative, a plan, and determination. The effort you put in to learning to effectively "serve yourself" will pay off in more ways than one, and lay the foundation for a lasting change in your business.

There are so many self-serve tools online that empower small business owners to create their own online presence (ActiveRain, Wordpress, ClassifiedFlyerAds, Squidoo, Social Networks, etc.) without paying big bucks for custom work. All small businesses really need is to be educated on how to use these tools. Once they learn about the technology and how to "serve themselves", they will be able to take their business to a whole different (and higher) level.

Empower Yourself With Self-Serve Business Solutions

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Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:04:14 -0600

tuesday march 3rd, 2009

We Got a Makeover!

You may have noticed a few changes around ClassifiedFlyerAds in the past few weeks. That's because we've redesigned the site to make it easier for you to get exactly where you need to go in less time. With a more intuitive site navigation and sleeker look, you'll be able to post classified ads online in a snap!

In addition to the benefits of the new design, our Real Estate members can now assign a display status to their listings (i.e. "Sold", "Pending", "Active", etc.), enabling them to better organize their listings and use them as testimonials as well! See press release

One-Click Social Sharing for Flyers

As you know, once you've created your listing on the site, we'll post the ad to dozens of sites and directories across the internet through our signature syndication process.

Now, with one extra click, you can instantly share your latest classified flyer ad with your connections on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, StumbleUpon and more. And don't forget that all of your web flyers have the ShareThis technology built right in, which allows others around the web to share your listings as well. Read More

Do You Blog About Us?

If so, then we'd love to give your blog some "link love"! Send us the link to your blog post about ClassifiedFlyerAds, and we'll post an excerpt on our website homepage with a link to your blog. Talk about traffic and some great Google juice!

We've made it easy with our resource page of quick access to images, videos, and information to use in your blog post. We'd love to hear what you're saying! Vist resource page

Featured Member

Chris Harmon is an Auto Dealer in Topeka, Kansas who really knows how to showcase his inventory! He makes great use of photos to show off his cars and other automobiles with virtual tours, which of course comes free with his membership.

Since Chris titles each flyer with targeted and effective phrases, he consistently enjoys placement on the first page of Google for related searches. This earns him very valuable and targeted leads.

Keep up the great work Chris, and best wishes for your continued success!

More Neat Stuff

Have a ClassifiedFlyerAds testimonial to share?

We'd love to feature you on our home page! Just send us your short story and we'll post it on our front page and testimonials page with your photo and a link to your professional profile. Submit your testimonial via the contact form on our website or send an email to service [at] classifiedflyerads.com. We'd love to hear about your success!

More Broker Branded Templates

When we launched our Smart Templates last year, they were an immediate hit! With the large focal picture and multi-page layout, these templates feature your properties for sale in style. We've recently added more broker branded styles to the list, including Keyes, Realty Executives, Windermere, Weichert, and John L. Scott. Come on over & check 'em out!

Connect With Us!

Don't Do That!

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:15:40 -0600

I am so tired of being told what not to do.

First of all, let me start off by saying that this is not directed at any one person in particular, just a trend that I’ve seen a lot of lately. I apologize now if this post offends anyone… okay now that that's out of the way, let me get right to the point!

It seems like the trend lately in blog posts is:

How to blog
How not to blog
What to write
What not to write
How to comment
How not to comment
How to promote
How not to promote
How to use Twitter
How not to use Twitter

Wow, where did all of these "experts" and "gurus" come from so fast?

Why should anyone's way be "the way" for everyone? What works for some may not work for others – the workings on the web are not black and white. Your preferred method may not be someone else’s preferred method. What it boils down to is this: you should do what works for you. If you are blogging for business, then do what brings in the most leads. Once you figure that out, then all the advice people give about what to do and what not to do will matter very little because you will know what works for you.

One of the great thing about blogging and web 2.0 is that if someone doesn’t like what you are doing; how you are blogging, what you are tweeting, what message you’re sending, then they can simply ignore you.

I would much rather see posts about "tips" on what you are doing that is actually working for you and specific examples of methods that have brought you leads, rather than the constant "don’t do that" scolding posts with no meat behind them.

If you can show "why" along with "how not to" or the "don't do" then I will be more open to taking the advice. This post is also in no way meant to attack all the wonderful "how to" tips that AR members bring to the table.

Share Your Listings On Social Networks

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:04:58 -0600

With social networks, bookmarking sites, blogs, and micro-blogs, there are more ways than ever to spread the word about your listings. ClassifiedFlyerAds just made it easy-as-pie to share your current classified ad listings in more places around the web.

Thousands of Realtors use ClassifiedFlyerAds.com for their Real Estate Listing Syndication and top search engine placement. Now, with one extra click, you can instantly share your latest classified flyer ad with your connections on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, StumbleUpon and more.

You are even provided with 2 versions of posting HTML for ActiveRain. One formatted for your normal ActiveRain blog and a second smaller version for outside blogs and Localism.

It's our way of helping you get the most out of each and every one of your classified flyer ads! Here's a quick peek at the new feature... share your flyer as soon as it's saved!

Using SlideShare For Listing Presentations

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:22:16 -0600

Using slideshare for your listing presentations can give you the advantage. Your slideshows can be made public for everyone to view and possibly be picked up by Google and it also gives your potential clients easy access. Slideshare slideshows can be viewable from the web, can be downloaded and embedded. If you know how to use Powerpoint, then you already have what it takes to market on SlideShare. The site allows you to upload presentations from Powerpoint, OpenOffice, or a PDF file, and share it publicly on the web. As is typical with most social sites, you can connect with other people, comment on their presentations, and develop conversations and relationships with people who are interested in what you have to say. Read More >>

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Post Your Listings to Oodle, Get Exposure on Facebook and AOL Too

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:23:23 -0600

Great post by Candis on how posting property listings online increases exposure.

Via Candis Hidalgo - ClassifiedFlyerAds.com Real Estate Marketing (Classified Flyer Ads .com):

Homebuyers are searching online.
It is no secret that posting your property listings online is a smart marketing strategy, especially with the most recent report from NAR showing that now 87% of homebuyers use the Internet to search for a home (up from 84% in 2007). If you’re not already doing so, there is no better time than now to start posting your listings online.

People search online for homes in different ways.

While many homebuyers search straight from Google, many others will search for homes and information on the internet via a real estate directory (i.e. Trulia, Zillow, etc.), classified site (i.e. Oodle, Craigslist, etc.), social network (i.e. friend or connection on Facebook, Twitter, etc.), or other. That said, it is also no secret that the more places online that your listings appear; the better your chances are of someone actually finding your properties for sale.

Posting property listings online increases exposure.

Oodle, a popular online classified site that is continually growing, now powers Facebook Classifieds and AOL Classifieds, which means automatic syndication for your listings to more spaces on the web. ClassifiedFlyerAds has long syndicated real estate property listings to Oodle, along with dozens of other online sites and directories, so we are pleased to hear of the new partnership and growth. We are also pleased and excited at the additional exposure this brings for our members’ listings!

Are you effectively marketing your listings and services online?

How To Cut Costs By Using Technology

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:54:26 -0600

In today's economy, almost every business is looking for areas where they can cut costs.

Here are a few common expenses that can be cut by using some basic technology that you probably already know about.

Business LAN Line

A business LAN line can run you upwards of $50. An alternative would be to sign up for an online 800 phone service. Read more >>

Printing and Mailing Invoices

Don't print and mail invoices. Produce a PDF version of the invoice and email it. Read more >>

Files

Are you still filing your documents and storing them in file cabinets? Eeek! A better way would be to store them in an organized folder structure on your computer. Read more >>

Image credit: Caitlinator

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How to add social network buttons to your ActiveRain blog

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:02:54 -0600

I am writing this post because I have been asked multiple times in the past month how I added my LinkedIn and Twitter buttons to the right panel of my blog.

It's actually fairly simple.

Let's first start by grabbing a LinkedIn button.

Login to your LinkedIn account and go to http://www.linkedin.com/profile?promoteProfile=&trk=mypro_badges to grab HTML for a LinkedIn badge.

Now go to your ActiveRain profile and click the "Settings" link

On the settings page you will see a "Blog Description" box.

Paste the LinkedIn badge HTML in this box. If you already have a description in the box, paste the LinkedIn code below the text you already have. After adding the HTML click the "Update" button.

Now navigate back to your blog and you should see the LinkedIn button.

You can also add other social network buttons using this same method. You can grab some really cool Twitter buttons from http://www.twitbuttons.com/

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2008 Year in Review for ClassifiedFlyerAds.com

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:21:54 -0600

2008 Was Great - Year in Review

There's no doubt that 2008 was an historic year on many fronts. From the first-of-its-kind presidential election, to record Olympic golds, to the roller coaster on Wall Street... headlines certainly were big last year. And while not as monumentally historic, ClassifiedFlyerAds had some pretty great activity too! Let's take a quick glance back at what happened in our world in 2008.

Ebay Store and Seller Integration

Our online classified flyers have supported many types of services and products from the beginning, however, 2008 brought simplicity and power to eBay sellers and store owners. With the addition of the eBay store upload feature, ClassifiedFlyerAds enabled eBay sellers and online merchants to quickly and easily convert their inventory feed to online flyers.

The process is automated and allows online sellers to reach farther than their immediate marketplace audience. Not only do the product flyers get attention in Google outside of eBay, but also on the host of other online directories we submit to automatically. This exciting addition quickly became popular among online sellers - for obvious reasons!

Traffic Increase and Great Search Engine Ranking for Flyers

This one is perhaps the most exciting accomplishment of the year, since it was a direct benefit for you, our awesome members! In 2008, our team focused efforts heavily on search engine optimization (SEO) for our member flyers, seeking to increase traffic and exposure.

By mid-year, our efforts paid off in a big way, with traffic increasing 11% per month, amounting to 30 - 40 thousand new unique views per month to our members' flyers.

All of these numbers really just mean that you are receiving more views and more traffic to your online listing flyers than ever before!

Addition of More Automatic Posting Directories

Automatic posting is what we do, so we are constantly on the lookout for new directories to feed your listings to. In 2008, we added 12 new automatic posting directories to our list of partners, giving you even more traffic and online exposure.

We like to think of ClassifiedFlyerAds as a way to organize and streamline your online marketing efforts; create your listing once with our easy template system and have it promoted all over the web without any extra effort.

With the addition of directories such as Zillow, FrontDoor, OLX, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yakaz, SimplyHired, CityCribs, Jobalot, Juju, DotHomes, Enormo, and HouseFront (phew! take a breath!), we've increased the reach of your online listings without increasing the time or money it takes to make it all happen.

Our Real Estate Templates Got Smarter

We like to keep things fresh, so we often add new styles and colors to our listing template library. In 2008, however, we made our templates smarter! And by "smarter" we mean better-looking, easier to create, and more user-friendly!

The first thing potential buyers will see is a striking photo of the home for sale, then links to several helpful pages, more photos, and a virtual tour. With the new SmartTemplates, you get more options with a lot less hassle. Check out our selection and create one of your own today!

We look forward to another great year and thank you so much for choosing ClassifiedFlyerAds for your online marketing needs. Let's make 2009 a great year together!

Visit ClassifiedFlyerAds.com

* Go Smart Solutions, LLC is the parent company for ClassifiedFlyerAds.com.