BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog

 Getting Your Visitors Where They Need to Go

I was reviewing an agent’s website recently and discussing how we could be of assistance.  I noticed that they had a page on the site called Maps and Directions.

The agent’s site is usually visited by people who are looking for second home or vacation property, so the visitors aren’t really familiar with the area.  They’d done a good job of giving directions to the resort town from the closest major cities.  But, it was a static display of a map and information that couldn’t be easily printed to assist visitors for the drive.

One option to make that information more useful would be to put the directions into a PDF file and let visitors download it.  But, the most effective way to help those visitors would be to let them generate a map showing specific directions from their starting point.

Don’t Forget the Maps!

There have been other posts on this blog about maps.  The map-maker I use is www.ZeeMaps.com.  It’s a fairly easy way to create interactive Google maps that are extremely useful.

You end up with a map that can have a list of the locations shown on the map, and push pins that identify a specific location.  When a visitor clicks on one of the push pins, they will see the description you added, and links that will give them the ability to get directions from a specific starting point, just as you see on the maps on the Google site.

And, the good news is that the map directions open in a new window, so your visitors won’t lose the page on your site.

Take a look at this example of a map in Northwest Florida.  To see the type of description you can add, click on the push pin #6, or click on the #6 entry under Points of Interest on the right side of the map.

Maps can be useful in many ways - don’t forget to use them!

Have you ever wanted to show a client or associate a number of web pages?  I do that all the time.

I might want to show someone samples of how branding works for real estate, then show them a couple examples of websites that have brands incorporated into them, then show them a portfolio of different designs we have completed.

I’ve known about using TinyURL.com for some time.  It will take a long URL and condense it into a short one that is easy to send in an email, for example.  I recently discovered another cool tool on the Internet:  Shrink2One.com.

Using Shrink2One, you can take a number of links and combine them into one.  And, you can name the link and add a password, then only people you send the link to can view it.

So, the next time you want to direct a client to several listings on your website, or a listing and a video tour, or a set of articles on your blog, you can shrink all those links into one.

Want to see how it works?  Try this link:

http://shrink2one.com/8ca

I put a password on it so you could see how that works, too.  The password is test

Just make sure to click the SUBMIT button after entering the password.  Enjoy!

OK, if I have my calculations correct, it’s just 13 days until the election.  Hallelujah!

I’m not a fanatic about politics, although I do care who is leading the country.  So, I do pay some attention to political campaigns.  But, I have to admit, that sometime before the election actually happens, I experience campaign fatigue.  And, it’s hit hard this year.

Here’s how I know when I’m experiencing campaign fatigue:

• I don’t care that Tina Fey looks almost exactly like the Republican VP candidate
• I don’t feel like discussing whether the Republican VP should have appeared on Saturday Night Live or not
• My thumb is strained from surfing channels during commercials while I’m watching TV in order to avoid being exposed to any more campaign commercials
• I am really, really sick of the threads on RealTalk where everyone is trying to pretend that rabid right-wing and/or left-wing politicos are really making any sense whatever
• I am amazed at the report that the Republicans spent $150,000 to clothe and accessorize their VP candidate - what do they wear in Alaska. . . cammo pants and hunting boots????
• I am tired of checking facts - we should just all accept the fact that facts can come out however you want them, and checking doesn’t really help. . .  mainly because it depends on who is doing the checking!
• I believe that our enemies will always test us - I don’t care who is President!
• With all that is going on these days, I can’t understand why a VP would make one of their key duties being a champion for children with special needs. . .  what about the kids with cancer?  adults with cancer?  Lupus, Parkinsons’s disease, Wall Street, recession talk?  I mean, let’s get serious
• Who cares when Powell endorsed Obama.  He did it - so enough already
• I’ll be glad when Katie Couric is no longer asking the candidates about the last time they cried.  Cheez
• And, after all Palin’s new duds go to charity, will she be back to the cammo pants?  Another burning question

I do wish we could get all the way through a campaign taking the high road.  Talking about the issues.  Getting candidates to tell us where they stand, not where their opponent is.

It’s a fantasy.  I know it will never happen.  But, this year I’m going to vote early.  Then, I’m going to pretend like the campaign is over, and they’re just taking a really long time counting the votes!

This guest post was written by Larry Easto who is a
best-selling business writer, and publisher of Real Estate Marketing Link

Once upon a time, there was a real estate agent named Norm.

Norm was not like other real estate agents. He was more interested in hearing purchasers’ stories than what kinds of homes they were looking for. Once he’d heard their stories, he would then ask what they were looking for. 

Similarly, when talking to home-owners, he would simply swap the same stories they had exchanged many times. Eventually Norm would ask if the owners had thought about moving. He already knew their stories…and as a result, understood what housing would be most appropriate for their stage in life.

Norm never showed properties: he introduced the owners and purchasers to each other. He invited the owners to tell stories about living in the house and invited the purchasers to tell their stories about their lives.

By encouraging his clients to tell their stories, Norm was applying the age-old technique of story-telling to real estate marketing. Strategically, this helped build relationships with his client and identify their needs and wants.

When owners and purchasers swapped their stories, it was not just social chit-chat. It allowed the parties to establish a rapport that helped minimize, if not totally avoid problem-causing misunderstandings.

When owners like prospective purchasers, they will be less anxious about selling the home that they love. They believe that once sold their home will be in good hands.

Similarly, when purchasers like the home, its stories and owners, they can see themselves living there, adding their own stories to those they heard about the home.  

In the current real estate market, it’s virtually impossible to follow Norm’s techniques in bringing owners and purchasers together.

But even in today’s technology-driven world, people still love stories. This means that story-telling can be just as effective now as it was when our ancestors told stories around the campfire.

Listening to people’s stories is a perfect way to establish rapport and also identify clients’ needs and wants. We all like people who listen to our stories. By listening to prospects stories, you help them like you. And the more prospects like you, the more likely they will choose you as their agent.

While physical things like HVAC systems and appearance are features that distinguish property from another, they can be changed. 

Intangibles such an interesting history–or a collection of stories–helps make a house a home and distinguish it from other similar properties.

The moral of Norm’s story…the ancient technique of story-telling can be a very effective real estate marketing tool that will help you learn about clients and serve them better.  

I saw an interesting article on RISMedia today.  Prudential in Chicago has just announced “a new consumer-friendly online information tool.”  Sound familiar?

Pru says that they wanted to provide a brand new type of real estate market information that is updated weekly and replaces outdated services that provide information updated no more than monthly, and that might be updated quarterly or annually.

Giving their clients easy access to real estate market information allows the clients to make the best real estate decisions because they are completely up-to-date on the latest market trends.  The reports provided even include interpretation of the statistics to assist clients in absorbing the information.  Imagine.

Pru even gave the service a name: the Preferred Market Watch tool, and they say that they’re excited to be taking clients into a new world of information access.

Have you figured it out yet?  I mean why there’s a quote around the word “new” in this blog title?

Prudential in Chicago is providing information from Altos Research.

I’m not being critical.  I think it’s great that they are aggressively differentiating themselves in the market, and providing the current market information their clients need.  And, from a marketing perspective, branding the service and making a splash about it is an excellent approach.

Just remember that you heard it here first!  September 24, 2007:  Real Estate Marketing Tips  

Everyone has a different view of the individuals in the real estate industry.  One thing I know for sure, however, is that when an agent’s real estate marketing efforts pay off, they show how much they care about the people in the communities they serve.

And, they don’t just care about the people buying and selling real estate - they care about everyone in the community, and they’re really a very charitable bunch.

For example, I have a number of clients who donate a portion of their real estate commission to their clients’ favorite charity.  But, I wondered how concerned real estate companies and professionals are in general about helping those in need.  I was impressed with what I found. 

Doing a search on Google, I found a lot of articles and blog posts about individuals and companies lending a helping hand in their communities:

• A Century 21 office in Michigan took a cue from Oprah Winfrey and started their own version of the Big Give.

• A boy with a terminal disease had his wish fulfilled due to the donations area offices of Realty Executives made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois.

Then, I started to notice that a lot of the search results came from an agent’s real estate blog on ActiveRain, so I dropped in to see what was happening.  I did a search for the word charity, and was going to use the results as examples in this post.  Unfortunately, I was not entirely successful, but I have included a few below:

• An office of ERA in New Jersey was collecting donations for the Make a Wish Foundation.

• A husband/wife real estate team promoted their local charity Duck Race in South Carolina.

• An agent in Michigan talked about the funds he was helping to raise for Habitat for Humanity.

• One agent was even promoting an event that had something to do with Shaving Your Head for Charity!

Are you wondering why I didn’t list the charitable posts on ActiveRain?  The reason is because the list is much much too long!! 

There are 1000 posts that contain the word Charity, and 490 posts about Habitat for Humanity.

I know that there are going to be a lot of people participating in Blog Action Day who are faced with circumstances much worse than we have here in the U.S.  But, when you think about what one person can do, just think about all of the real estate agents around the country that are doing whatever they can to help their clients — and their communities.

 This guest post was written by Sam Chapman.

 Your Primary Keywords Don’t Drive the Majority of Traffic

Most good real estate webmasters understand that the majority of traffic driven to their sites is not from their most key search terms.  For example, the terms Austin real estate, Austin TX real estate, Lake Travis real estate and Austin real estate blog generated only 13% of the visits to my site in September, 2008.  That percent would be higher if I eliminated the statistics for visitors who didn’t use a search engine to get to the site, but still, this is pretty interesting.

Use Long Tail Search Terms to Increase Traffic

So what is my site found for?  Long tail search terms.  If you don’t know what the concept of the long tail is, here’s a good article on the subject.  

Some of the long tail terms I get found for are Hamilton Pool, Austin MSA, Circle C homes, Apache Shores real estate and Spanish Oaks.  The latter three are all Austin area subdivisions.  Getting found for Hamilton Pool is OK, but it nothing compared to being found for real estate related terms.

The Power of Community Pages

Now that you know about the long tail, let me share something about how you can generate long trail traffic. I set up a main page on my site called Austin Neighborhood Listings that links directly from my home page.

On that page are links to neighborhood specific pages, categorized by geographic area. Each page has a few paragraphs of content talking about the neighborhood and then framed IDX search results showing homes specific to that neighborhood.  The content before the IDX search frame is critical, as search engines can’t do much with information inside frames.

Here is where things get interesting.  Remember that my main terms result in about 13% of page views?  More than 10% of the page views on my real estate website are these neighborhood specific pages.  

Not many real estate agents optimize for specific neighborhoods, so this is a great way to get long tail traffic.  Visitors also navigate to the neighborhood pages from the link on the home page so this is also a great way to make your site more sticky and keep people on it longer.

Adding neighborhood pages can accomplish several things:

• It can give you pages about specific neighborhoods, which human visitors love. 
• It can give you more pages of unique content, which search engines love. 
• It can give you great internal links to neighborhood pages with appropriate anchor text, which is good for human visitors and search engines. 
• It can give you the ability to generate long tail traffic, which is great for you.

In case this tells you anything, I am getting a listing in Apache Shores this week from someone who found my Apache Shores Homes page last weekend.

In order to frame the listings, you need to have a good third party IDX provider that allows customization of the IDX link that will show homes by neighborhood. The IDX vendor also needs to be approved by your Board as a third-party vendor.  Check with your Board to see who the approved vendors are and check them out. 

If you can do what I did, start building neighborhood pages on your real estate website.  You’ll be happy that you did.  If you want to see what I am talking about, visit my Austin real estate website.

I saw an interesting post on a real estate forum the other day.  The agent talked about an interview she had done for her local media about the real estate market in her area.  She wasn’t entirely pleased with what was published based on her comments.

I’m no media expert, but I have had been interviewed for one thing or another a couple times, and I was entirely pleased with the result, either.  So, I decided to do some investigation on the topic, and found some extremely reasonable and easy tips for handling the media.

1.  Find Out Everything You Can About the Interviewer

We all know that every publication has their own agenda.  And, the real estate market is a subject of a lot of press these days - both bad and good.  So, your first step if you’re contacted for an interview is to do the following:

• Ask the interviewer not only what the subject of the article is, but what angle is being pursued.  If the market in your area is slow, you want to know if the interviewer is interested in finding information to describe how bad the market is, or wants to find the silver lining.
• Ask the interviewer if anyone else is being interviewed for the same article, and if so, get their names.  Given this information, you can get a feel for what the other parties might say.
• Ask the interviewer how long the interview will last.  That will give you an idea of how many questions might be asked.
• Read other articles written by the reporter you’ll be talking to.  You’ll gain insight into their style.

2.  Help the Interviewer to Help Yourself
Read the rest of this entry »

Interpreting what constitutes a parking space seems to be a challenge to a lot of people.  So, to help all those parking-challenged individuals, here’s a short course on how to figure out where you’re supposed to park.

When you drive into a parking lot, look for painted lines on the ground.  You’ll  notice that there are whole bunches of them.  If you’re lucky, each line will actually be double lines painted very close together.  That means that the management of that lot are nice people who will give you a bit of extra room to get out of your car after you park it.

In any event, the idea is to park your car in the exact center between two of those lines, whether they’re single or double lines.  Now, we all know that getting your car into the exact center of the lines is going to be difficult.  You just need to practice until you can get it pretty close.

Keep in mind that if you park too close to one of the lines - or heaven forbid, if your tires end up on top of or over the line - you have effectively made the space beside you unusable by anyone else until you leave.

Which I hope you do pretty fast.

OK, so one of my pet peeves is people who don’t know how to park their cars so that the rest of us get to use the parking lot, too.  And, you can probably guess that I was in a crowded parking lot recently where the only parking spot within a half mile of my destination was rendered useless by one of the “line parkers” among us.

I think learning to park between the lines, and caring enough to do so on a regular basis, is just not that difficult.  Now, parallel parking - that’s a different story.

I hate parallel parking.  So, it was a challenge when I lived in downtown Baltimore at one time in my life.  Downtown Baltimore is a great place to live.  It’s one of the truly alive big-city downtown areas. 

The only problem is that most of the real estate is made up of row houses.  When you live there, you have to park on the street.  Parallel park, that is.  And while that seems very normal to long-time residents, it’s a challenge for some of the rest of us.

As a brand new resident, I was chagrined when I arrived home one day and my neighbor was sitting on his front stoop, and the only place to park was directly behind his car.

Parking the car turned into an even larger event than usual because I was nervous.  But, after several trips back and forth, I finally fit the car in the spot, close enough to the curb, and without touching his vehicle.

As I walked to my door, I laughed about my horrible parallel parking skills.  My neighbor was silent for a moment, then said:

“Hmm… so the last place you lived had a driveway, huh?”

I was almost late!  It’s Blog Action Day next Wednesday.

Have you registered your blog?  This year’s topic is Poverty.

Everyone in real estate ought to have something to say about that!

Join 5,721 Sites from all over the world
with an audience in excess of 9 million
in writing a post on October 15th about poverty.

Register Your Blog Today!