Home : Blogs : Diane Guercio : Massachusetts Real Estate and Social Media

5 Ways to Improve Your Internet Presence

'It makes me think of a prehistoric fish in a receding inland sea saying to an amphibian "so, what's the business case for legs?"' - Christopher Kenton

This quote refers to people who are reluctant to be involved with creating an online presence. I don't blame them- we all want to get out there and find the best ROI- whether the "I" part of the equation is money or time, neither of which there is enough of.

And the Internet landscape is a hard one to use tracers on. It's easy enough to track a buyer lead (and the conversion rate) from a couple who walks into your open house and tells you they were driving by and saw the sign. It's harder to judge exactly WHAT caused an Internet buyer to pull the trigger if they read your blog, began following you on facebook, and finally decided to go with you because you gave them good information.

inspiration on keyboard key

But, since you are here, I am assuming you have a blog and a website. So:

#1. Run them through WebsiteGrader and follow the advice. Keep in mind that blogs are seldom freestanding so your blog will likely be part of a larger group of blogs, such as ActiveRain.

#2. Sit down and write out who your ideal client is. Do you work best- convert the most- first time homebuyers? Do you prefer second home purchasers? Then ask yourself, "If I were this person, what information would I be looking for?" THIS HAS TO BE IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND WHEN YOU ARE ESTABLISHING YOUR PRESENCE- each time you post an article in your blog, every addition that you make to your website: run it through that filter. Did you sell 50 homes last year? That is terrific, but WHAT did you do that makes you different and will make you interesting to your target?

#3. Get signed up on Facebook. Many of the people "friending" you will be other sales agents, which is nice. But honestly? The bulk of your business will not come from them. Use the search bar to look for groups in your state that would attract your demographic, and start being friendly!

#4. Sign up on twitter. You will make a lot of real estate friends- and this is great for education and support, but may not put butter on your bread. A tool for locating people local to you- and I assume this is where you get the most business- are (((drum roll))) localtweeps. TweeplePages is set up to search by interest- but you can add your location and state to "Interests" and that brought up results by search for me.

#5. Most important- set up a schedule! I am as bad about this as anyone- but if you blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays, people will expect to see your blog this Tuesday. Treat this as part of your prospecting- and also part of creating good karma, because you will be giving out helpful information. Get one blog ahead and keep it in your documents in case you get the flu or something.

And remember- have a little fun! People can sense it, and it tells them that you like what you do.

Posted by Diane Guercio on 06/02/2009 02:19 PM

Comments (100)

social media, twitter, facebook, localtweeps, tweeplepages, websitegrader 5 ways

Post is included in group: Social Networks
Post is included in group: Social Media Marketing

100 Comments on 5 Ways to Improve Your Internet Presence

JUN

Diane, thanks for the info. I'll definitely have to check into the localtweeps and tweeplepages sites.

Chanda panda

Diane,

Thanks for sharing this information I agree with most but I just don't get the Twitter.

Connie Lou

great advice

Hi Diane,

Great post. Your Websitegrader tip was very helpful. I ran one of my sites through that system and picked up some useful tips and a few things that I can easily change.

Thanks again. Jason

Hi Diane,

Great post. Your Websitegrader tip was very helpful. I ran one of my sites through that system and picked up some useful tips and a few things that I can easily change.

Thanks again. Jason

But when do we get time to show houses and put deals together?

good advice

Hey Chanda and Jason- Glad this helped.

Connie- twitter is a little hard to get used to- it is like one huge conversation or chat room. It helps to use a twitter client that can filter the conversation into bite-size pieces. I use twitzap - others I know like Seesmic Desktop or Tweetdeck.

Heath, I guess I would say that if you are swamped with leads, you don't need this, although if you have a website it only takes you a half-hour to run it through the grader and fix what's wrong. How much time a day do you put into prospecting?

I was on twitter today and I was digging around for some information because the two objections people have to using social media are whether they are going to get bang for their buck, and the time factor. Clint wrote a great blog about the influence of social media on business- you can find it here. Every agent I have asked has found a significant portion of his/her business from the web- one person that I asked today said it was 80%. Social media is a prospecting tool- it prequalifies your buyers and sellers because by the time they meet you they know you, and vice versa. The ultimate goal- like any type of real estate prospecting- is to meet the client and decide if you would like to work together.

Thanks, Jennifer!

Great Article.....

Diane, very good advice! Since most buyers go to the web, it is important to have a good Internet presence. Thanks for the links.

Thank you, Buzz. Michael, I noticed that you are involved in the commercial side of real estate- I had not mentioned LinkedIn, but I'm sure that you have found your presence there to be invaluable.

Diane....great post full of great ideas........especially the last two for me. Thqnks!

Thanks for the info. I'm always looking for ways to increase traffic to my website. I'm excited to begin to utilize the things you recommend.

Diane - Terrific tips all! I like your apparent Thanksgiving background, by the way. :)

Diane - Great tips. Will have to look into the Website grader page ranker you posted the link to. thanks

Very true and timely....don't like or get twitter...but the rest I've used.

I like this...a lot! I am interested in that Website Grader and will check that out soon! Thank you for the post, it is very timely and very good information. The only item I wasn't aware of was the grader...but that is what I love about AR...even if you pick up one little tip in a blog...it can make you money! :o))

Diane,

Thank you so much for your link to Website Grader. I thought I had a pretty good website until I read their report. Now I have lots of work to do. (Ugh! In case I didn't have enough to do already.)

Anna Banana- Love it! What a great, recognizable use of your name! I wonder how much business that one touch of lightheartedness has brought to you over the years?

Jon, Robert, EXIT Hill- If I went to bed knowing everything there was to know, I would wake up in the morning and there would be 100 new developments. You have to decide what your focus is, and be the very best in that spot with the tools that are available to you. I'm glad I could summarize some of the tools here.

Karen, Connie Lou, and probably a million others- twitter takes a while to get. When I first started, I used it only to update my location, and then it was only because the status updates rolled over to Facebook, which was my favorite at the time.

Then I saw people "talking" on it- and I realized that I was using a backhoe to dig for worms. Wrong way to use the tool!

And that's all these applications are is tools. Some tools take longer than others to become familiar with, and maybe some you will never be comfortable with. If you are a Facebook diva and are happy with the volume of business you get from your blog and Facebook, then you are where you should be.

LOL! Jason- That's really me- that's a real turkey. Nothing was photoshopped or anything! I did change my clothes because I was wearing a tshirt and jeans. It was Easter, because I feel odd serving ham given that it would not have been a traditional part of the meal back then. TY!

Diane - Good info . . . added myself to LocalTweeps. Been looking for a way to get more local, but in a small rural community it's not always easy finding other Tweeple . . . #LT might do the trick! Bookmarked Website Grader as well to run sometime (used Traffic Blazer before, but it's been a while).

Thanks!

Trent- Another way to find the top 50 local Tweeple in your area is to go to http://twitter.grader.com/- it's also by HubSpot, the same people who make WebsiteGrader. After you check out your grade (and who can resist that?) go to the top bar and click on Twitter Elite. You can put in your location and search for the top 50 active users in the area. Of course, "top 50" might be an arbitrary designation, but these people are all active.

Thanks for the tip on the websitegrader. That's a big help.

Yes, Scott- I like how you can compare your site to another that you are competing against- helpful!

Diane,

Great post! Websitegrader told me some things I didn't want to hear, but I'll follow their advice...

LOL! Me too, Mike, me too! I'm looking at some work...

Diane...

I've been having a blast with websitegrader ... thanks for the tip, very helpful!

Good info. I will start watching your Blog for more info.

With websitegrader, you can quickly check out the metadata of not only your own but competing sites- very cool!

Hi Diane, the thing I liked most about your post which is refreshing is to target your IDEAL client. You need to know who you want to work with not someone 50 miles away.

Hi Gary- Sometimes you might een end up surprised when you sit down and really try to pinpoint who your ideal client is. I think with Facebook and twitter keeping a local base is important, since they are really set up globally. If you were in any other business, you might crave that global reach, but it doesn't help most Realtors. :)

I have found that clients have more success with Facebook & LinkedIn it they have connected to old colleagues and friends. I have one client who DID NOT want to join either and now is loving it since he receives at least 1 referral a month from one, the other or both!

Be careful with Facebook - you need to have your friends on your personal page and your colleagues connected to a Page rather than a profile (said client above had pics posted from college on a Friday and didn't know it until Monday - he didn't want the "hassel of setting up and maintaining a page." Guess what he did Monday afternoon?

Cheers!

Billie Hillier
___________________
Practical Real Estate Marketing
The Internet Has Changed the Way Clients Find You - Let Us Help Them
www.PracticalRealEstateMarketing.com

Hi Diane, These are great tips! Establishing an online presence is something that we have to just keep working on and getting better at. I also liked the suggestion you had to have at least one blog post already written in case you get sick or something--that would be handy to have on hand.

Have a great day,

Anne Rains

Hi Billie- Good point about keeping your business and personal life somewhat separated on Facebook. You can also, right when you are setting up your Facebook profile, designate contacts into different groups and set the levels of access that each is allowed.

Glad I could offer something useful, Anne!

But where is your crown? Good post, easy to use. Did I mention Diane is a really nice person?

ROTFL!!! You are a TwitterQueen through and through, Dawn!

Is this an invitation to dinner? For some reason this pic is making me laugh and I'm not sure if I'm missing the deeper meaning...I'm about to start writing captions...or make a turkey sandwich. Is anyone else getting hungry?

heyamaritto....I have so thought about doing a schedule. But, never got around to it although I do believe it is a great idea to practise consistency. I started a business page, but didn't finish. I will have to get back to it, but during the mist of it thought why? I have nothing to hide.

I enjoyed reading this, and am intrigued by the idea of clearly visualizing my ideal client...a great approach, and then target them when I select blog topics, web content, etc. Thanks for sharing these tips!

Great idea. I think consistency is the key to getting leads. I wish I had more time to blog

Hello Diana,

I used Website Grader before and it is a great source to improve your website. I still need to figure out how to use Twitter. Thanks for your great post!

Jenny

I just checked out website grader and I need to do a lot of work on my website. These are all great points. Thanks so much!!

LOL! Dinner! It's always a holiday when I cook, Dawn! Literally.

Missy- I have somewhat the same feeling about separate pages in Facebook for business and social connections, now that they have such good sorting. At RE BarCamp Philly, I sat in on a session that was discussing that. The question was not so much the shielding of your professional life as it was a discussion about protecting your client list from trolling competitors. That could be set up right as you enter each person as a friend.

That would be my biggest concern, I think, although I have all of my friends under the same privacy setting- wide open. And you have an internal discipline that keeps you blogging consistently.

When I originally sat down and actually put down on paper the clients that I work best with, I was surprised, Mara. Then doubly surprised - since they were not targeted AT ALL in my social media plan.

It is about consistency, Russ. I don't know if it is fair to judge any prospecting method until you have done it long enough and persistenly enough to give it a chance to bear fruit. If you mail out postcards once and get results- let me know, because that is one hell of a postcard and I will market it!

Kate and Jenny- WebsiteGrader seems to be the star of the day! I love twitter- maybe my next post will be how to set it up so its use will be a little easier.

Great article! I heard about WebSiteGrader from a friend the other day, and I'm definitely going to try it. But, the point you made that hit home was to "think" like the client you want to attract.. Will look forward to your future posts!

Great info! Simple and to the point. Thanks!

Its funny- we all have been trained in "push" marketing- broadcasting your message and hoping you "hit" a few of the appropriate people in doing so. This is "pull" marketing, and the philosophy behind it is radically different.

Diane - Terrific, succinct post plus valuable extras in the commentary. Now we await your next post about setting up Twitter for ease of use!

Thanks for the tips, I have just started working on this!!

Great advice, especially the part about having fun. I think its important that into all aspects of life.

WebSiteGrader was interesting; but there are many things that I don't understand about the results. I'll have to show it to the kids!

Diane - Great Blog! I just happened across Website Grader while using Twitter Grader right before I read this post. It's a great tool and has great advice!

Diane aka @HeyAmaretto ,

Again, you are on the mark ! !

Your FaceBook and Twitter Friend, Steven aka @StevesGulf_com

ps- did I mention/ forward you my "Summer Specials" at http://SeaViewPlace.Info ?

Diane... some great tips. Thank you for sharing.

Diane - That's really good information. Thanks and congratulations on your gold star!

Mary

All good points. Also connect with those folks in your life that you thought were history... friends from school you haven't talked to in 20 years, etc. You never know who is moving...

Diane: Great tips.. Even Conan was talking up Twitter on the Tonight Show

Hi Diane -- Some very solid ideas on how and why to do things, thanks for the Twitter tips!

Good advise. The links are great.

Thanks for the reminder! #4 is the hardest for me, maybe this happens everywhere but here in Kauai, Hawaii we get a lot of last minute showing requests from tourists...been here for a week and now the last day here decide they should look at real estate & in today's market if you get a pulse it's hard not to want to start CPR right away and drop everything to chase this prospect. Your points are great and come at a great time!

Greg Bloss

Good advice. I found by advertising on the Internet through the social websites you get great results. I tried sending out flyer's, brochures, etc but the results where not as good and cost more.

I live in a small town on the coast and since Iam co-owners in a local land developing company which builds luxury homes and commercial projects, I use my experience in construction to get new clients looking to buy a home or get a listing. Most people who know about my company enjoy having someone who is knowledgeable in the building process and can help explain certain aspects and qualities of homes, compared to other agents who don't know anything about home building, the process, quality, prices. etc.

Basically you have to be knowledgable in your field.

Dianne,

Thanks for sharing! I'm going to try the website grader right now! I hope I don't get crushed by the results, but then again it's only going to help me to improve. Glad that I read the comments too because I just added a profile to faceBook and it's good to know that I can set up two areas, one for personal and one for business. Twitter - I get how to use it, I just don't see how it can help...maybe if I did a lot of investment property listings and had a group that followed that..but I don't ...maybe I should..hmmm. lots to think about!

Anyway, thanks again!

Kim

I really need to set a schedule for my online time. Thank you for the reminder.

Good tips, Diane. The schedule piece can be a challenge. I always have ideas for future writing but rarely am ahead of the game in actual article (except for the occasional slow Open House). As you say consistency is the key. I think tracking our time (ROT as Bernice Ross calls it) is important, but hard to do.

Jeff

JUN

Great basic tips. Sign up for twitter and face book, you have to start somewhere.

Diane, thanks for sharing the tips! I am going to have some fun with website grader. See you at #twitterqueens!

Sharon

OUCH! I ran my website thought the website grader. I think it came back and said BORING!

I will be making changes to bring it up to speed, thanks for the tip.

Also, you might consider using video production services as another way to increase your web presence!

Diane- that's funny. My daughter had her own fan website (for the Hansons- *swoon!!*) when she was 13- and she built it herself, doing all of the html coding. I have never done any coding, really, and am just now starting to learn a little, although now people are using CSS, which I do not know yet either.

Great advice! I am getting ready to be in a position (family situation), that will mimit my time to get out and have quality face time. To adapt to the change, I am using a webcam to broadcast live during business hours so clients and business partners can literally visit with me online. Technology is a wonderful tool for networking and I'm so thankful that it is giving me the ability to continue grow my business while being based at home.

Diane - A great handful of tips. I must admit, I am not as diligent using tools to measure the effectiveness of my websites, blogs, etc., instead I use the number of ezine signups or inquiries as a guage. Website grader looks good, I am going to try it out.

I would add social bookmarking to your online presence. Use www.pingoat.com, and www.socialmarker.com to spread the word. Man that turkey is making me hungry this morning!

Thank you all. Lane, you make a good point about reconnecting with people- I guess this is more typical on Facebook than twitter. If you are reconnecting, it is just taking one or two steps out of the equation- you already knew this person and had established some sort of relationship at one point. That much easier to become a trusted advisor for their Real Estate transactions, which is your goal.

Jackie- agreed about measuring the effectiveness of your website by its results. That means you are offering the right kind of information. My Wordpress blog is not particularly SEO friendly- it is more content driven. But I realize that I am only dealing with the second half of the equation- keeping people engaged once they get there. The first part is actually getting people to find me in this vast sea of information!

Video- live webcam or embedded- is great for engaging the audience and is fairly simple with the technology available now. Haven't even touched on this! Check out Jason's blog for the ActiveRain video contest.

Sharon- nice to see you! See you on #twitterqueens! -@HeyAmaretto

Always looking for good tips.

Thank you,

Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Estate

Always looking for good tips.

Thank you,

Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Estate

Great advice...I will definitely run my website through Website Grader! I'm struggling a bit with twitter, but I'll get it. Thanks for your post!

Great suggestions and reminders. Why are you holding a turkey in your background?

Thanks for the tips. I just ran both of my sites through mortgagegrader.com. One did well, the other not so much!

Mortgagegrader.com? Lots of grader sites out there!

I like twitter because once you build a following that respects you, you can let them know that you have, say, a new blog post and they will check it out. They may also retweet it- or repost for their friends- and you have extended your sphere of influence.

My second level number of people I influence- my friends of friends- is over 10,000,000 on twitter. Do I even come close to reaching that many people with eery post. Absolutely not. But even a tiny fraction is more than I could reach with postcards or a newspaper ad.

I guess it's time to lose the turkey.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to try the Website Grader even though I have to admit I am a little intimidated by the idea of having my websited graded. It will be great to know how I can improve it.

Irene, don't look at the number; look at the information that it gives to you. : )

great 5 tips, been doing them all for sometime and I getting 3 to 5 more swings at the plate from facebook it is so much fun and great

Hey Dave- swings at the plate are all that count, if you are good at the game!

I'm glad you're spreading the word re: websitegrader. It's a very useful tool. Thanks for the post.

Diane ... Thanks for this article and encouragement for us to improve online presence.

I am doing stuff that makes me and our team different and interesting to our target clients. So I will be focusing on that and our message ~ Helping People With Their Best Decisions About Real Estate.

Found you on twitter, Ian. Trying to spread any word for making engagement better/more productive/more fun! I want a twitterbutton like yours for my comments section! #envy!

Harrison- that's right. Find your group, and set yourself up to be a trusted advisor. Do you know what percentage of your business comes from online sources? It would be interesting to hear that from those who have an Internet presence.

Diane - Great blog post ! I enjoyed it so much I tweeted it on Twitter ! Great advice regarding Facebook and Twitter. In the beginning I added a lot of followers which were other local agents or agents here from Active Rain which is great. But after hearing it more and more (heard it at RE Bar Camp in Philly last week) it is so much more important to connect and engage with consumers and the local folks who have the potential to become clients. So am starting to work on that angle a little bit more ! Our website and blog are doing well but we have some work to do to tie it all in better to improve our internet presence ! ~ Chris

This is a good reason why you should always check your website every week with web grader. I need to do some serious SEO Optimization to my website. Congrats on the featured post. Great post.

Thanks for the info. I have heard so much about twitter but have not researched it. I will definetly have to do some more research and get involved with it. I just joined Facebook and have reconnected with so many old friends and have gotten a possible buyer out of it, still have to meet up with him. Good luck with your business.

I must have sat in on the same talk last week- by @dakno. It was based on Facebook, but the same ideas apply. I mentioned the "triggers" that he spoke of in my new twitter post. Nothing new, really, but finding the right kinds of associations in social media can really impact its effect on your business.

Thanks, Lanre and Adrian! Adrian, I wrote a beginner's post about twitter with a couple of ideas in it about finding the local market. What I like best about Social Media is it is a pleasant way to connect! Friends and a possible buyer! Best of both worlds!

Great points Diane! I'll have to get on these tips!!

Thanks, Dan

JUN

Diane. Don't forget to add Blogging on AR until the tips of your fingers go numb ;-)

Thanks, Dan!

Hey Mark- I am assuming that if you waded through my post, your fingers are so numb that you had to scroll with your elbows!

JUN

Thanks Diane! Excellent content. The WebSiteGrader was interesting and helpful. Unfortunately, I now have more work to do!

Me too. I found out some things about my sites that I have been working to fix, including choosing the right template for my AR outside blog- one that allows metadata

JUN

Hi Diane,

I love the idea of localtweeps! Seems a better way of connecting to local people and those who would appreciate my tweets.

Thanks for the great info,

DeeDee Riley

JUN

Thanks for the great info! I really need to better focus my online marketing!

JUN

Thanks for sharing! Great concise way of putting together some well honed thoughts. Keep up the good work. Smiles, Victoria Baker

JUL

thank you for the checklist. It's always good to re-focus and make sure I'm on the right track online. It's so eady to get distracted with business and not keep to a cohesive online marketing plan.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?