rich rogala: You might be using social media, but are you engaging visitors?
- 01/30/10 03:25 AM
I wanted to share an excellent post from the Real Estate Tomato: Simple Marketing Tip: Engage The Audience You Create To Avoid The Headache of Lost Opportunity. It’s a fantastic real-life case example of how, even if you are using social media well to connect with clients, there are additional steps you need to make sure you take in order to have them make the leap from just reading a post and disappearing, never to return, to actually signing up for your ezine or submitting their contact info. If you are going to the trouble of creating special YouTube videos, audios, blog … (9 comments)
rich rogala: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (More Referrals to You)
- 01/27/10 11:00 AM
In my coaching, I am dedicated to helping the Realtors® I work with build a business based on referrals and repeat clients. I know how much of a difference it made in my own life when I was selling real estate – I went from having the undependable ebb and flow of a real estate business based on my own strenous marketing efforts (lots of business when I was broke and marketed my rear end off, but no new business once I got my head above water again) to one that I could depend on year-round, regardless of the market. One … (5 comments)
rich rogala: Help your clients start the New Year off right
- 01/20/10 07:47 AM
It’s the New Year – everyone is making resolutions and big plans for 2010. This is a great time for you to show your clients that you care as much about them having a great 2010 as they do. A great way to do this is get in touch with them and provide really valuable info they can use – whether it’s to save a lot of money, make their home worth more, do more, have more fun, etc. Here are a few ideas: Put together a list of local contractors (carpenters, plumbers, landscapers, interior decorators, etc.) you know and trust, and … (6 comments)
rich rogala: Long Tail Keywords Let You Control Who Your Readers Are
- 01/15/10 07:24 AM
Today’s Web 2.0 wrap-up is a great recycled post from The Real Estate Tomato, Exactly How The Long Tail In Real Estate Blogging Will Bring The Ready-To-Act Home Buyer. Jim talks about the importance of using long-tail keywords when blogging, because it actually lets you control the type of buyer clients you attract (just looking vs. ready to go). “…the cumulative traffic gained from dozens of these sorts of micro-topic articles will easily outweigh the gains from high-demand search terms.And, more importantly, this traffic will target and attract more read-to-act buyers.” Check out his post, then think about ways you can talk about not just your … (8 comments)
rich rogala: A letter worth...$6500?
- 01/14/10 12:15 AM
The old statistic is that the average family moves and changes homes about every 7 years. But I would guess that with the cooler real estate market we’ve had the last few years, that’s gone down quite a bit. If you’ve been in business longer than that, have you noticed less repeat customers coming back to you to upgrade or change homes during the “recession”? If so, this means that there’s a large group that would probably like to change homes, but have held back because they’re concerned about not getting a price for their home that is high enough to … (4 comments)
rich rogala: Take advantage of free and easy SEO with Google Local Business Pages
- 01/14/10 12:01 AM
As a real estate marketing coach, I’m always on the lookout for good tips and info on marketing local businesses. On the one hand, Realtors® have online marketing a little easier, because they don’t need to show up in a general Google search for “real estate”, just one for “real estate in MyTown, USA”. On the other hand, so does every one of their competitors. So while the local search might make it easier to optimize your site to show up in the search engine results, it makes for stiffer competition in the results page, too. Local search is a competitive … (1 comments)
rich rogala: Social Media ROI
- 12/24/09 02:22 AM
VERY interesting statistics - makes you think about how you're using social media currently. … (5 comments)
rich rogala: Make sharing disclosures and other real estate docs easier
- 12/18/09 04:42 AM
Today’s Web 2.0 Wrap-up comes from the Geek Estate Blog, and their post Got Disclosures? Try DropBox for Drop Dead Simple File Sharing. This is yet another great example of the ways that technology really can make our life and our business WAY simpler. DropBox is an online service (free for up to 2 gigs of space, which is quite a lot if you’re using it for documents) that allows you to easily drag and drop files from your computer, and then share them easily with your team, your clients or other agents. Instead of having a bunch of emails going … (1 comments)
rich rogala: How well do you truly know your sellers area?
- 12/15/09 03:22 AM
I was reading a really thought-provoking post this morning from Loreena Yeo on Active Rain, Perfecting Your Inventory Knowledge in Your Neighborhoods, and it got me thinking about a situation that is happening a lot more with the current economy – taking listings in an area you’re not all that familiar with. This is probably because, as the market has cooled, a lot of agents are trying to supplement their business by expanding the area they cover. They’re also more likely to accept a listing in an area they’re not familiar with, where a few years ago they might have referred … (3 comments)
rich rogala: A quick and easy way to reconnect with your network
- 12/09/09 12:47 AM
From now until December 25th, you’ll probably be receiving holiday cards in the mail, e-cards or small gifts from friends, family, past or current clients, and other professionals you’ve worked with. While for some of them you might just be a name on their list, there’s a quick way to change that, and reconnect with them. When you get a card, email or gift from someone you haven’t talked to in a while, pick up the phone and give them a quick call. Just a “Thanks for thinking of me” will put you top of mind again. And you can use … (3 comments)
rich rogala: What's New in Twitter: Using Twitter Lists
- 12/06/09 02:29 AM
If you spend as much time on Twitter as I do, you’ve probably heard about the new “Lists” feature that Twitter recently rolled out. Not everyone has the function yet, but they are making it available to more and more people, so if you don’t have it yet, you should see it soon. However, you may not know how best to utilize this new feature. That’s where today’s Web 2.0 Wrap-up post comes in! NikNik at MyTechOpinion wrote up a great post on How to Make Use of Twitter Lists. She lays out what they’re for, how to start creating them, … (4 comments)
rich rogala: The Mindset Behind Your Marketing Plan
- 12/02/09 10:31 PM
Having a yearly marketing plan is a really important piece for you to have in place in order to be able to measure and grow your business. But you also need to look at the mindset you have about your business. Your goals should be big enough to feel challenging (if they don’t, I think you should really go back and write them again), but if, even as you’re writing them, you don’t feel that they’re achievable, you should take a good hard look at the mindset you have about your business.
Are you constantly griping about how the … (8 comments)
rich rogala: Any Holiday Happenings in your area?
- 12/02/09 09:58 PM
Looking for something unique for your holiday newsletter? Why not put together a Community Holiday Events calendar to send to your email list, host on your website, and mail out?
As a Realtor, you’re in the unique position to know about a lot more of the local community events than the average resident. So share that knowledge! Your readers will appreciate it. At the holidays, many people would like to do more activities with friends and family, but are so busy that they simply don’t have the time to go looking for events to attend. This also gives you a … (2 comments)
rich rogala: A Pretty Holiday Gift Idea
- 11/27/09 08:08 AM
It’s quickly getting close to the time to start sending out holiday cards and gifts. Are you struggling for ideas? Here’s one you can try out. Think about partnering with a local Home Stager (who also specializes in Home “Redesign” or Redecorating), and offering coupons for a Holiday Home Redesign. This is a great gift, as people get so busy at the holidays, it can be difficult to find the time to decorate their own home, or just want a new look without too much effort on their own part. By partnering with one particular Stager, you will often be able … (3 comments)
rich rogala: Quick Ideas for Leveraging OPC (Other People's Content)
- 11/26/09 10:54 AM
Need ideas for content for your blog? Haven’t posted for months, and not sure what to write about? Don’t forget that you can easily utilize other people’s content. Here are a few quick ideas to help you start generating content for your blog, even if you don’t write a bit of it! Utilize more videos on your blog. YouTube is a great source for videos on staging homes, home repair, and other tips that would be helpful for sellers. Realtor.com offers many great real-estate related videos that you can embed on your site, and there are lots of other sites that … (15 comments)
rich rogala: Priority Challenge!
- 11/20/09 06:43 AM
Whether you’re swamped with new listings and active buyers looking for their next home, or just trying to scrounge up your next sale, it’s too easy to feel like your day disappears without getting much done. I think not having enough time is one of the biggest challenges for many Realtors, and it’s easy to go into day-to-day survival mode, moving from one crisis or past-due task to the next with no thought of where you really need to be heading. But as Brian Tracy often says, “This is not for you.” Here is my challenge to you – for the … (7 comments)
rich rogala: How to become your local neighborhood expert online
- 11/14/09 04:53 AM
Ever wanted to become THE local expert for a particular neighborhood in your area? For those of you in smaller towns, it might be fairly easy to stand out, since there are fewer agents, and it’s easier to target your particular town name (or maybe not!). But it’s awfully difficult to become THE local expert for the entire city of, say, Chicago. There are just too many homes, too many agents and it’s very difficult to stand out. Plus, if you live on the north side, you really may not be an expert on the south side real estate market. A … (8 comments)
rich rogala: How to handle your internet leads
- 11/11/09 08:40 AM
There are mixed feelings in the real estate world for leads that come in off the internet. On one hand, all the statistics show that 80%+ of people start their home search on the internet, so you’ve got a huge market there. On the other, some Realtors® don’t like these leads because they feel they’re “tire-kickers” or are looking too far in the future. I think internet leads are a great way to ensure ongoing clients for your business, both now and in the future, but they do need to be approached a little differently than your traditional lead. There are … (13 comments)
rich rogala: Try a Gratitude Evaluation
- 11/06/09 07:40 AM
I know it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet, but can you tell me what you are thankful for? Sometimes life gets so busy that we forget, but it’s so important to take a minute to stop and appreciate everything you have. And I find that after doing so, I’m always revved up and ready to handle anything that comes my way. Even if you’ve been going through some tough times in your business or personal life, by stopping and appreciating what you do have, you realize where things have been going right in your life. Sometimes just noticing that is all it … (2 comments)
rich rogala: Never lose your Blackberry or iPhone contacts
- 11/04/09 07:37 AM
In the real estate business, our contacts, network and database are the lifeblood of our business. If you use a Blackberry or an iPhone and depend on it to store your contacts, what happens if you lose your phone (or drop it in the pool, or accidentally sit on it, you get the picture) and lose those contacts? There’s a great new service IDriveLite that will back up all your contact data for you onto a secure internet server. Since it does this automatically for you, you can always be secure in the knowledge you’ll never lose your contact list again! … (6 comments)
I wanted to share an excellent post from the Real Estate Tomato: Simple Marketing Tip: Engage The Audience You Create To Avoid The Headache of Lost Opportunity. It’s a fantastic real-life case example of how, even if you are using social media well to connect with clients, there are additional steps you need to make sure you take in order to have them make the leap from just reading a post and disappearing, never to return, to actually signing up for your ezine or submitting their contact info.
Grab your copy at ;)
;)
