BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog

This blog is usually focused on real estate marketing tips.  So, where does safety fit in?  Well, the end result of marketing your real estate services is obtaining clients.  And, when you do that, you can open yourself to a lot of safety issues.

It may be an old topic, but I recently came across a great article that was published in the recent issue of the San Diego REALTOR® Magazine.  It discusses some simple but powerful ideas for protecting yourself when you’re meeting a client for the first time, showing houses and holding open houses.  I think it’s one of those topics that deserves periodic review.  It’s much too easy to drop your guard in the heat of the day’s activities.

For example, do you let your office know where you will be when you’re meeting someone you don’t know well?  Does your office have a distress code to provide you with assistance if you are in a threatening situation?  Do you listen to your gut?  Do you stop by the neighbors’ homes to let them know you’ll be holding an open house?  It makes sense to remember that just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you.

One of the tips in the article is to market yourself professionally.  That’s where a real estate brand, logo, a professional photograph on a professional-looking website and brochure can come in handy.

In fact, when the staff was discussing publishing the article, one person was concerned that the information might go overboard in scaring the Board’s members.  After further discussion, the Board decided that the best result they could achieve was making everyone a bit more scared.  It might save a life or avoid a life-changing experience.

So, don’t delay.  Brush up on the safety tips for agents and brokers.  And, have a safe, pleasant and successful day!

Ever wanted some unique information to post on your real estate website?  Or, are you looking for ways to establish yourself as an expert in your marketplace?

Keith Byrd, with Lenox Hill Properties in California, has found a way to make use of the information he is able to access as a real estate professional.  He’s established a separate website focused on presenting market condition information in a form that can be easily understood by site visitors.

And, even better, he’s been asked to be a guest on a local radio talk show to discuss the changing real estate market in his area.

As a real estate agent, you have access to information that the general public can only dream about reviewing.  You or your assistant (or VA!) could take a bit of time each month to update local statistics.  You wouldn’t even need to create a separate real estate website to display the information.

Think about ways to use the unique knowledge you have - and get a bit famous yourself!

It’s been too long since my last post, but we’ve been very busy making sure clients get the timely assistance they need!

Just wanted to give you an update on the real estate article exchange forum.  While the concept sounded good in theory, the forum wasn’t used enough to justify its existence.  Therefore, we removed the forum.  But, keep in mind that obtaining incoming links from content that relates to your website is a great strategy to help improve your search engine ranking.

If you don’t have time to write an article, contact us about ghostwriting services.  We’ve developed a service to provide very reasonably-priced articles that are written based on Internet research.  So, what that means is that the articles are not the type of polished marketing copy that you need for key pages on your website, but they’d be great as additional content for your site, or for exchanging with other webmasters.

Here are some examples of the types of articles that would be good to exchange with other webmasters:

• Home Buying Articles - Any information about tips on buying homes.  Try to pick a topic that isn’t a standard one like “Six Things You Should Know About Buying a Home”.  That type of article is common on lots of websites.  For topics, think about the types of questions you get from your clients about buying homes, pick a specific type of property and the issues related to purchasing that type of property.  For example, maybe you know a lot about buying pre-construction, or condos, or rural property.
• Home Selling Articles - Use the same approach for identifying selling topics.  Tips on selling in a slow market might be particularly useful in many areas right now.  Or, how to interview a listing agent.
• Mortgage and Finance Articles - Many people are not aware of things they should avoid if they are getting ready to apply for a mortgage, or how to select a loan officer.
• Area Real Estate Articles - These articles describe a geographic location.  The article could start broad, with information on a specific state, then focus on your market area.  Another real estate webmaster can use this type of an article at the top of link exchange pages to give the pages authority, or they could be used as stand-alone pages in a Relocation category.
• Articles Based on Your Site’s Original Content - It is relatively simple to take a page of original content from your site and change the wording and structure enough to create a new article that will not be flagged as duplicate content.