Get a web strategy, not a website

I have clients ask me all the time; “I have a website and IDX but I do not get many leads”.  That sound might resonate to many of you out there but their is a real good reason why this happens.  Websites today are more than just a bunch of pages, they are a strategic marketing platform.  Today’s websites are more than just pretty pictures and when attention to detail is not paid, most people have poor results.  Take a look at this list.  How many items do you consider in your web marketing strategy.

1. You need to engage your prospect.  Failure to do so will simply result in a lost opportunity.
2. Today people demand complete listing inventory.  Yes they want lots of pictures, video and good content on listings. I wrote about IDX in a previous post and how poor quality content destroys the integrity of your inventory.
3. Responding to leads.  Yes it does make a difference if you call/email within an hour vs. 2 days.  Generation X & Y will not tolerate it.  With the advent of cell phones, Instant Messaging, and email, people today want to be connected and connected fast.
4. KISS – Yes the adage Keep It Simple Stupid applies to your website.  Complex pages and searches will turn your audience away.  For the same reason Gen X & Y want to hear from you within 60 seconds, they also don’t want to be bogged down in your website.
5. Social Networking – Now here is a interesting topic for the Agent.  More and more agents are embracing Social Networking but a lot of them are not leveraging it as part of their marketing strategy.  In the 2008 NAR Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, 44% of home buyers use Social Networking every day.  That is a lot of connecting.
6. My quest would not be complete if I did not mention, Content, Content, Content.  No website can be successful without quality content that is original in nature and is from your market’s perspective.

So what does this all mean?  Well for starters, a website needs some of your time.  Whether you hire a professional or put the time in yourself your website must evolve.  Also you need to have a good marketing plan and budget just as your do for any other marketing project.  Lastly, start connecting, most people are happy with just a website but that is not enough today.  Get involved with Social Networking as part of your web strategy.

So start planning and leverage the Internet to become your next lead machine.

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Can Google Alerts Help The Agent?

I had a client ask me; “I heard about Google Alerts, they sound interesting, how can I use them in my real estate business?”.

I guess before I talk about Google Alerts let me first explain what they are. Google Alerts are emails that are automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. So in essence you can have Google send you an email based on a set of keywords you deem important. You setup an alert with a keyword term such as “Short Sales New Jersey” and Google will search the Internet based on the following ways:

1. A ‘News’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.
2. A ‘Web’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.
3. A ‘Blogs’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.
4. A ‘Comprehensive’ alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.
5. A ‘Video’ alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.
6. A ‘Groups’ alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search. 3. How do I sign up?

So how can these alerts help yo? Well first off you can stay in touch with local news or stay on top of the competition. Know what your competitors are doing. Also most home buyers prefer a REALTOR that is in touch with the local community. Now with so much going on setting up alerts for community keyword terms could certainly help you. What about Real Estate related topics you think are important to you? The power of Google Alerts is they are a push technology so you just sit back and when a match is found you get emailed. While it does not pick up all the matches it does find a lot.

You get to determine the frequency of the alerts when you set up your alert. The frequency is not necessarily how often you’ll receive alerts, it is how often they are checked. If you select “once a day,” Google will check for new results once a day, which means you’ll get a maximum of one email per day. If you choose the “as it happens,” Google will check for new results continuously and send you an alert whenever we find a new result.

I use them all the time to monitor my own websites, blogs, and also I monitor my competition. They work great and I get all types of interesting information back.

To give them a try go to
http://www.google.com/alerts.

In my next post I will explain step by step setting up alerts. Good luck.

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Agent Central Max – The Perfect fit for the busy Agent

Re/Advantage has drawn from its real estate marketing expertise and developed the blueprint for the finest custom Web sites available in the real estate industry. Agent Central Max is the state-of-the-art Web site designed with cutting edge real estate tools. By choosing to have your real estate Website custom designed, you are guaranteed that it will be crafted to your exact specifications. Whether you have special programming needs,site features, or you just want a certain “look”, custom development of your real estate Website ensures that it will be targeted specifically to your real estate marketing plan. Agent Central Max is a full service, feature-rich package that provides powerful Real Estate Sales and Marketing tools for harvesting leads from Internet buyers and sellers.

Power your website with these features:

Lead Generation

The purpose of your website is to attract home buyers and sellers. Agent Central Max sites are designed to attract buyers and sellers, motivate them to interact with your website and thus generate a lead. But a lead is not where we stop. Once your website generates a lead, your back office then collects, tracks and distributes leads through our Lead Management System.

Management

No website is complete without the ability to control the content of your website. Agent Central Max handles this through our Content and Roster Management Systems. You have control to edit your own content and maintain your own office roster. Of course you may elect to have us handle this if you wish as well.

Branding

For the majority of Internet users the appearance of a website is very important. Visual perception often defines credibility. But having a good looking website is not enough if people cannot find it or use it properly. Each Agent Central Max site is custom designed to help you advance your branding strategy online, while focusing on the needs of real estate buyers and sellers. We focus on the tasks most buyers and sellers want to accomplish when visiting your website. With this approach, you’ll get more pre-qualified leads.

For the majority of Internet users the Agent Central Max is a complete solution

• Advanced Search Technology
• Lead Generation
• Unlimited Agent Profiles
• Advanced IDX Search Solutions
• Auto Responders
• Cell Phone Alerts On Leads
• Support for Virtual Tours
• Complete Listing Maintenance
• Scalable IDX Solutions
• Listing Syndication
• Contact Management
• Content Management
• Portfolio Manager – Capture prospects, generate automatic listing alerts, saved searches and favorite listings folders.
• Branded Email
• Custom Designed To Your Specifications
• All Real And Search Engine Friendly Pages
• Calendar
• News
• Blogging
• Backend Productivity tools (IntraNet Calendar, News and Document Management)
• Office Roster
• Career Capture
• Multi-office Support
• Open House Information
• Mapping Listings

For more information please call us at (877) 791-4825  or click here.

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Twitter Users – Watch Out

Some of you may have heard of the Twitter Phishing issue on Twitter these last few days.  For those new to this type of scam read on.

What Is Phishing?

Wikipedia defines phishing as “the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”

So here is what happens. The Phishing website looks like a normal website, in this case Twitter.  For the Phishing scam to work you must enter your username and password.  So most Anti-Virus programs would not reconize any new Phishing sites so don’t get a false sense of security just because you have a anti-virus program installed.

The best protection against these sites is common sense.  Why is this site asking this information?  Always question this fact.  Also NEVER give bank or social security information EVER on the Internet.

Read this link on how to avoid getting caught.

Some people may have clicked on the link and given their Twitter password to the phishing site. In those cases it would be possible for the phisher to send out direct messages on your behalf which could trick your followers.

 

If you gave your user information already change your password.  Go here;  http://twitter.com/account/password

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