Online Real Estate Support Network

Real Estate Marketing in Minutes: Or.... My Crazy Afternoon

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:12:21 -0500

I just wrapped up a coaching session with Detroit real estate dynamo -- Jerry Norton when the miracle happend. Prior to Jerrys visit I had released some press releases on the web and was expecting them to pop up on Google in about... a week.

These appeared on Google 17 minutes after I released them.....
Typically you have to wait a substantially long time for them to get posted. This is especially true when you are dealing with articles. They can actualy take over a week to get posted on Google and even then you may not get on the first page.

I had stumbled upon something huge here....

You can read about us here: Ted Cantu, SEO Expert and Real Estate Jerry Norton - Strike Gold http://www.tedcantu.com

Michigan Low Mortgage Rate Online Hubs Spreads Information

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:42:42 -0500

Ted Cantu, Detroit's Web 2.0 innovator rolls out timely online tools to help Michigan home owners during economic crisis.

Detroit, Michigan - Home owners can breathe a sigh of relief thanks to some new online tools to help them locate lower mortgage rates. There are three new up to the minute online news hubs that deliver some real value to Michigan home owners. Now they can keep up with the latest news from Oakland county when it comes to refinancing their homes, getting a new mortgage quote, reverse mortgage questions, and even how to save on auto insurance.

The online news hubs were the creation of Ted Cantu, (I Cantu Media LTD) and is an extension of the popular Michigan based mortgage website, http://www.getmelowrates.com. These sites feature videos from the Bloomberg network, CNN, and news items from popular blogs and promotional clips from Get Me Low Rates. The network hub is something that Cantu and Co. have been doing for a while. The magic ingredient is working with a strong level of RSS feeds.

"Living in Michigan during these changing times has been challenging to say the least. These tools are designed to make the online user more comfortable. They deliver some incredible resources that may otherwise go somewhat unnoticed." says online innovator, Ted Cantu.

Michigan home owners can now access straight forward information on how to work with property lenders, bank institutions and mortgage specialists. They will have access to up to the minute news on getting low mortgage rates in Michigan.

"The beautiful thing about working with this technology is that these hubs will change information on a daily basis. We suggest that the user bookmarks them in their web browser. Fresh news gets pumped in daily keeping the reader clued in on what's happening around them. It is a great way to understand the economic climate of Michigan."

You can access the three hubs here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Michigan-Low-Mortgage-Rates

http://www.squidoo.com/low_equity_home_loans_michigan

"We will be adding more of these Michigan mortgage hubs over the next 2 weeks. Eventually our goal is to create an online resource library for online searchers. This is a very innovative project and it is designed to help many Metro Detroiters" adds Cantu.

For additional information regarding Get Me Low Rates and Ted Cantu you can contact them at 248.631.9211. You can also visit their website at http://www.hotmetrofinds.com.

Web 2.0 Marketing Meets Real Estate

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:18:19 -0500

tedcantu@gmail.com Taking any questions.

Web 2.0 Explained – Detroit Workshop On Local Traffic

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:58:27 -0500

http://transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=90250&ret=AccountSummary.aspx

Business News

Web 2.0 Explained - Detroit Workshop On Local Traffic

Learn how to put your company on the top of Google

Farmington Hills, Michigan 5/25/2009 10:20 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI May 25, 2009: Business owners in the Detroit area will have an opportunity to get the inside knowledge of how to market their companies on the Internet with new techniques such as SEO, and WEB 2.0. These are the highly sought after strategies that can propel a web site to the top of the search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Ted Cantu and I Cantu Media, (www.hotmetrofinds.com) will be sponsoring the event.

Business owners can learn about the latest technologies on the Internet including podcasting, local search, YouTube web video, viral marketing, articles, press releases, and Internet Marketing. This two hour workshop is designed to catapult Metro Detroit area businesses to a high profile status.

Ted Cantu, owner of I Cantu Media LTD., came up with the idea when he wrote the book, "The 30 Day Total Business Makeover". His office became flooded with questions pertaining to online marketing. "Web 2.0 is absolutely essential for Detroit business. With so many newspapers folding up in the South East Michigan area business owners need to learn about new tools to help them stay afloat and prosper in this tricky economy. Business owners can see a radical jump in their online visibility in just a few hours" says Cantu.

"We have had records in our company that are too incredible to be believed. We put companies on Google in 42 minutes using nothing but web video commercials. This has led to sales, increased customer awareness and in many cases have kept our Detroit clients in the black. The results for local traffic can be found on our web site and white paper reports ---- We recently did wonders for the Detroit Art Scene bringing our local artists into a world wide audience - including Australia, UK, India, Korea, Ireland, Germany and much more".

Cantu will illustrate how their techniques can put a company on the web in record time. He is currently assisting clients in 43 industries including cosmetic dentistry, beauty products, fence companies, financial, legal, and real estate just to name a few.

The workshop will be held at Windsor Beauty Supply, 24280 Middlebelt Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48336 on Wednesday May 27 at 10 AM. Reservations are recommended and you can call directly at 248.631.9211. If you cannot make the event you can request for a FREE Information DVD of some of our past events.

# # #

STORY PREP INFORMATION

Ted Cantu - 248-631-9211 SEO, Web 2.0 Innovator

Website: http://www.hotmetrofinds.com

Workshop: Wednesday May 27, 2009

Location: Windsor Beauty Supply, 24280 Middlebelt Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48336

tedcantu@gmail.com
www.hotmetrofinds.com

Twitter.com and a Side of Baked Beans

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:36:12 -0600

I joined Twitter recently - or should I say reluctantly. I felt the pressure from the cool people around me. So I joined to see what I was missing or what I was not missing. After a few clumsy attempts to figure out how this tool set works I must say that I found this experience to be confusing.

You see I never could understand what the big hype was. That is due to the fact that most of the "twits" on Twitter were rambling on about inane things like.... Baked beans and how much they loved them. Other tweets, (a message on Twitter.com) offered nonsensical advice about how much they users on Twitter loved baked beans equally.

The only reason why I stayed with the service is because I REALLY wanted to find out what the big hype was about. After all, master marketer Joe Vitale, (Mr. Fire) was on there and I have much respect for him over all. I couldn't imagine him getting involved with something ridiculous. I value his mental capacity and enjoy his books and courses. Also if I am not mistaken I think I also saw author Seth Godin on there as well. These are people I really respected.

Still I found the mind numbing ramblings about Obama, mustard, SNL and baked beans - quite stupid. I endured this for a number of weeks. Whenever I left a message I tried to address it with some common sense and direct people to a worthwhile hyperlink. I used my tweet time to showcase something new that I was working on or point people toward something I found interesting. And thank goodness I did.

What Does Google Think About Twitter?
This is the bizarre thing that happened about a month after twittering around on Twitter.com. My Twitter messages started popping up on Google like ticks on a dog in the SERP, (search engine result pages). I was seeing my thoughts on many subjects that I had posted. I found this somewhat horrifying and yet at the same time I was relieved. You see, I was bothered by the fact that my mere passing thoughts and keystrokes had been immortalized on Google for the entire world to see. Simultaneously I was relieved that I had written something of substance when I decided to twit away on Twitter.com. I didn't look like too much of a doofus when I Googled myself. There were plenty of tweets listed on the Google result pages about books I have read, web videos I just posted, information sites I found and events that I recommended.

But what about the tweets that center around moronic and nonsensical things? Well I guess those observations about mustard and baked beans and God knows what else will pop up in their own search engine results. And this is what I find so strange about this whole phenomenon. This service is very popular and if you use it correctly you can get some useful results out of it. But if you are going to sit on your patoot all day long and write a gazillion trite and stupid statements about baked beans, care bears or anything else you take the risk of looking like an absolute idiot to the entire world.

That's cool I guess if that's your objective.

Your Thoughts Have A Life Of Their Own
We are living in an age where you can acquire a "digital thumbprint" online. Maybe this does not concern you so much if you work for a company and take money from someone else. But this can have serious negative consequences if you work for yourself or are trying to brand yourself. This can have a detrimental side effects if you are representing a company or sit on a high position on behalf of a business. These mindless ramblings have the tendency to live on and even go viral in some cases. Other people can quote you in their sites or blogs and this will appear as additional search engine results.

I am somewhat stunned at how quickly you can create a large variety of links on various search engines. If you position yourself correctly you can actually grow these links to a significant number very quickly. I have worked with companies and have helped build as many as 6,500 links in a few months organically. This means that we did not use paid services to achieve these results. With visibility like that you have to be careful what you say online.

I am sure it is already happening but I can see people getting fired over inappropriate comments or for blogging opinions which are deemed controversial by the overall corporate culture. In my days as a corporate drone I had to sign a waiver not to write questionable commentary about the company I worked for. This also included an agreement that I would not draw characterizations, cartoons and illustrations of my fellow coworkers. Apparently, this had been a problem in the past. I find this hard to fathom now but as we get into a more complicated digital age I see this fear in a new light.

I didn't find this service very useful when I first saw it. I didn't even find the people on here to be all that interesting. But after my tweets became listed on Google I took notice at how powerful and yet dangerous this tool could be if improperly used.

All eyes are upon you. So play carefully out there.

Southern California First Time Home Buyers - Listen Up !!

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:26:14 -0600

For more information - log on to: http://www.hookmeuprealty.com

First Time Home Buyers - Listen Up! Part 2

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:45:31 -0600

http://www.hookmeuprealty.com

1st Time Home Buyers - Listen Up! Part 1

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:41:15 -0600

First time home buying doesn't have to be confusing. Here is the latest from, "Hook Me Up Realty". http://www.hookmuprealty.com

Don't Be Afraid of Confrontation On The Web

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:00:43 -0500

Recently a client had me create some videos with no motion, no music and no sound. This was supposed to be straight forward information delivered to people who wanted to see it most. The idea was to be bare bones and deliver straight content to a hungry crowd.

The intention was good and it was supposed to be a no frills look at something in the Mortgage Industry. Since these clips had no sound, no people and no real movement Google didn't get too thrilled with these efforts. In fact, most of these clips never really made the light of day.

On the flip side our company created videos with no people but instead used a moving camera that sort of drifted in from one room to the other and the shots disolved into each other nicely. We were able to put a music bed on a multi track mixer and create a dynamic little show piece. The result was just the opposite of the flat message "movie" with no sound. The movie that showed the room interiors and had a moving, floating camera did much better in Google's rankings too. In fact, the movie we shot went viral and ended up on quite a few search engines after we positioned it on the web. This is important because this clip wasn't super high end in its production.

In short, it was very modest but it achieved to do what it was supposed to do. This clip had gained an audience and the clip became popular on the Internet. KEEP MOTION IN MIND You will have to create your own material to see what works best for you. I find that if you start out with some character in your video pieces then that is strong enough. You do not have to have multi layers of CGI graphics or the latest high end camera to get good results.

In the world of HD it hardly matters what kind of camera you really buy. You can get just as good digital footage off a small range camera as opposed to the big multi thousand dollar cameras. Style, or the attempt of it, will be enough to get your online Internet Web 2.0 video content distributed online.

Posted by Ted Cantu, www.1seomichigan.com

Real Estate Online Marketing - OPEN HOUSE

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:48:15 -0500

ATTENTION FRIENDS IN THE METRO DETROIT - MICHIGAN AREA !!

We are hosting an Open House in Farmington Hills, Michigan. We are welcoming all local businesses to stop in and check out our new video facility. The Open House will be going on from 2 PM to 4 PM and will cover all of our latest methods to getting your company placed on Google in the top pages.

We recently placed one of our clients on page 1 of Google 8 times. You can read all about it here...
http://www.1seomichigan.com

Many of our clients are mortgage, reverse mortgage, home improvement, and real estate agents. Come and network with them and enjoy some cheese, wine and champagne!

Its our Fall Kick Off for i-Cantu Media

Here is our address.....

Bring a guest, we are giving away prizes and will be featuring demonstrations every hour.

Ted Cantu
i-Cantu Media LTD
24280 Middlebelt Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI 48336
http://www.1seomichigan.com
248-631-9211

Minesh Baxi and Janah Mehta Joins Ted Cantu

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:59:14 -0500

Minesh Baxi and Janak Mehta, authors of, "The 30 Day Business Makeoer" talk with Web 2.0/SEO expert Ted Cantu about getting better Google rankings. Part 2 of Interview http://www.1seomichigan.com

Author Minesh Baxi Raves About Ted Cantu - and Web Video

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:51:12 -0500

Minesh Baxi says, "Everybody needs a commercial !" So he turned to web video expert Ted Cantu. Here is a candid rap session on how to get more clients! Baxi is the co-author of, "The 30 Day Business Makeover" along with Ted Cantu, (due out in a few weeks!). Janak Mehta joins in for the conversation and is a Web 2.0 strategist and a Real Estate Investor and marketing coach. Watch for the reference to Michigan mortgage legend -- Rick Ruby.

Http://www.1seomichigan.com

Reel Estate Marketing Gets REEL

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:32:19 -0500

Ted Cantu, The Google Slam King, is joined in the studio by Tom Goebel of Portofino Luxury Condominium fame. Tom shares his success on Google and other search engines as a result of working with Ted Cantu and his crew. http://www.1seomichigan.com ** The site www.TedCantu.com is coming out soon and will have more proof and testimonials of our work and recent online success.

Portofino Luxury Condos - Windsor Canada

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:26:34 -0500

** Preview of the new series, Portofino Luxury Condos, Windsor - Canada,

Portofino Real Estate Raves About Ted Cantu and His Google Expertise

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:22:24 -0500

Tom Goebel, from Portofino Luxury Condos, talks about his recent success with hiring i Cantu Media. ** Tom came into our studio and delivered his testimonial on our behalf. He was so happy with getting quick high Google rankings for his real estate properties. This is unsolicited. We were happy to get the news....

Michigan's Fence Authority Speaks Out

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:00:28 -0500

Watch MICHIGANS BEST Vinyl Fence - FREE Call in How to Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com Michigan Wood Fence - FREE Estimate FREE ESTMATE - MICHIGANS BEST VINYL FENCE - Veterans Fence - The Fence Authority - Brian Teets - In ... Business 40 Years - Trust Michigan's Fence Experts. http://www.veteransfence.com

Fast Google Listings in 32 Minutes

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:01:58 -0500

YouTube - Fast Google Listings in 32 Minutes

Minesh Baxi, author of The 30 Day Business Makeover, verifies my results.
We got our sites listed in Google in under an hour... with multiple listings.

We actually beat out 4.7 million pages on Google. Pretty exciting.

Whats The Best Way To Promote Your Real Estate Business Online?

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:59:23 -0500

Its amazing to think about the possibilities that are around us today. We didn't have this luxury of communication even just a few years ago. But now thanks to the Internet and services like Active Rain you can connect to the right types of people to make something happen.

There are many sites out there dedicated to getting your message across:

* Revver

* Google Video

* OVI

There are many more. We will be sharing ways to get your web site out there in front of the right buyers without resorting to tired applications such as.... Pay Per Click, and expensive banner ads, sponsored links and buying text links.

Ted Cantu
Certified SEO - Search Engine Academy
Corporate Google Trainer
Dan Kennedy MasterMind Member
Owner of i-Cantu Media LTD

** Lets get busy - its later than you think!

Get A Low Michigan Mortgage Rate - Part 3

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:07:53 -0500

Source: http://www.getmelowrates.com

How To Get A Low Mortgage Rate - Part 2

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:03:09 -0500

source: http://www.getmelowrates.com

Get A Great Mortgage Rate

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:00:29 -0500

Part of an ongoing series. Get a low mortgage rate quote at, http://www.getmelowrates.com

Michigan Fence Expert Speaks Out

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:56:59 -0500

Here is what you need to know about commercial fencing. Brian Teets, Michigan's fence authority, gives it to you straight. http://www.veteransfence.com

Winning In A Down Market - Part 2

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:31:11 -0500

Another reason why I did not like radio was because I found it to be very ineffective. I actually had a radio show in Metro Detroit and I was on for a full hour. You have to think about things like tower frequency and how much of a range your station has over the public you want to broadcast to. In a lot of ways it is a lot like gambling. Hopefully, if things go well you will get some response from the public after doing all of this for any amount of time. You will get leads, sales and new customers by doing this.

But as you can imagine the response is slow at best. It takes time to build up a brand in someone's mind. Even then you have think about the people who will respond to your advertisements first. Are they serious minded individuals with cash in hand or are they unqualified information seekers? I see this a lot with people who wanted to buy into a cool loft development in Royal Oak, Michigan. The owner of the property complained to me that the people who called the property office wanted to know a rough cost of his units. They were not looking to buy but they heard the ad on the radio and wanted a little more information. That advertisement ran for 6 months and got very little response and to this day most of those units are unsold and empty. So, the property manager resorted back to bandit signs. When that didn't work he hired some college students to go stand out in the street and wear body signs. These were not strong enough pulls to grab the public's attention.

Newspaper ads are also very expensive. I used to run ads for my own businesses in newspapers and found out something very interesting. I ran an ad in a National newspaper, a Local newspaper and a national magazine and I got roughly 10 calls on each advertisement. These people were information seekers and not serious about actually buying anything. I expected some variance off of these efforts but did not see any major shifts in response.

At a recent event I was informed to drop $15,000 into a direct mail campaign. I was encouraged to do this even though the first round of postcards yielded no results. The Guru who suggested this advised us to do this an additional three more times for an end result of a 4% response rate. Please, keep in mind that the average business owner cannot afford to do this once in Michigan let alone three more times. I found this to be quite uncomfortable to do in this current economic downslide. It may be feasible to do this in another market but never in the Real Estate market of Michigan.

I would think you would need a better plan.

Digital Media To The Rescue
I found digital media to be a great resource because it was very inexpensive to create. I also found re-running a campaign I created to be great and just as effective if it worked the first time. Pre-canning all of your media clips is a great way to go. I would advise you to pre-sell your audience before you go for the hard sell. This can be a radical departure from all of the teachings you hear from selling experts such as Zig Ziglar and Tom Hopkins. There was a time when I had to learn all of the closes and get the timing sequences just right so I could land the deal. But thanks to creating pre-selling clips all of that is a thing in the past. Now I do not have to worry about it

I say what I want to say one time and then record it. From there I can take my audio or video and blast it out to the right people and from there it is magic time. Many great things can happen if you do this correctly. It is possible to also do this half way and still get incredible results. Just keep in mind that you cannot possibly service everyone at once. Even in economic hardship it is still possible to keep your funnel filled with prospects.

I mentioned that I had a radio show earlier. I now have roughly 6,000 listeners every week and this show only costs me $15 a month to run. It is an incredible resource and allows my new audience a chance to interact and listen to what I have to present. This is a much better communication channel for me because the people who listen to my show are seriously interested. I could not say that for my broadcast radio show. But through narrowcasting I am able to add additional information to my podcasts as I upload them. From there I blast them out all over the web in search of brand new prospects. The results for me are phenomenal. I am able to keep my funnel filled with minimal effort.

I still get letters from the Yellow Page people and invitations for radio spots from time to time. I do not have to worry about setting aside a budget for those things when I create my own digital media. And best of all I can choose who I want to listen to it at any given time. Think of this as advertising by invitation only. This cuts down my rejection time and allows my audience to really get to know me better. The results for my online marketing efforts come in at about a 30% response rate. This is a great way to go and to watch your budget. Now you can create your own type of customer and get the right kind of business.

I get to actually reject a lot of bad business and screen out people that I deem undesirable. I find this to be a huge advantage to my competitors who have to take on bad business just to stay alive. Digital media also breaks some additional rules when it comes to making money online. If I round up 100 people and introduce them to my pre-selling funnel I can count on getting anywhere from 14-30 sales. That is something that no pay per click campaign can guarantee. I know that when I put the right pieces in place we are going to be doing some business.

You have to look out for number one in a down market.

Ted Cantu runs i-Cantu Media LTD which is a Web 2.0 Video studio located in Farmington Hills, Michigan. You can find him at, http://www.1seomichigan.com Download his FREE, "Marketing Kit For Troubling Times.

Winning In A Down Market

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:39:57 -0500

Winning In A Down Market

Just a few years ago I presented some new elevated concepts to some of the top advertising agencies to get their opinion. This centered around the idea of creating digital based media for mobile devices to get the word out. I knew the Michigan economic landscape was in dire straits and I wanted to create something new for the business community.

Every single one of these companies failed to see the light. But I pushed on while businesses around me continued to go down the tubes. I have had a lot of business owners in many industries challenge me on how I choose to get my messages out. Real estate professionals have long argued that putting up bandit signs was the way to get a prospect interested in what they were selling. But the problem with bandit signs is that you run the risk of getting into being fined by the county. Placing signs on somebody else's property in hopes that they will see your home listing is a very risky idea. Although it can work in some cases I find the entire process to be a headache generating one at best.

Michigan had a very interesting challenge due to the fact that we were losing people on a weekly basis. Last year alone we had 30,000 people leave the state. The job scene here has dwindled and we have had continuous bad news on our auto industry. Still, even though we have fallen into incredible hardship I found business owners stuck with three choices.

•1. More radio spots

•2. Full page news paper ads

•3. Postcard advertising

Each one of these disciplines came with new problems. Radio here in Metro Detroit was very expensive to the independent business owner. It rang in to the tune of $40,000 for three months. Depending on what season you were in you could easily expect to pay extra for airtime. You had to time your product and service in such a way that people would actually hear it and take action. Even this was hard to gage due to the fact you had rush hour traffic to contend with. The real question is would people really take the time to scribble your web site information down on paper while driving on the freeway during rush hour? If you have ever navigated a car during rush hour in Detroit I think you may already know the answer to that question. My guess is that they probably would not.

End of Part 1

Michigan Fence Expert: Fence Repairs

Ted Cantu (i Cantu Media LTD) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:36:24 -0500

Brian Teets, owner of Veterans Fence, shows you how to handle fence repairs. Veterans Fence is Michigan's #1 fence company. http://www.veteransfence.com