Quicktip: Free Google Fonts to spruce up your web site

Did you know that Google has released a set of newly-designed fonts for you to use on your web site or blog — for FREE?

That’s right…just embed some simple code into your website to include the font library (you don’t need to download the library – it is served up directly from Google’s servers), then reference that font in your CSS. Of course, you’ll have to know how to use CSS, but Google does provide a quick tutorial for those of you who are ambitious and are not sure where to start.

So if you have been searching for that perfect font for your site but haven’t had any luck, check out these new fonts. They are free to use under an open source license.

Read Full Post »

Differentiate Between SEO and Lead Generation – Part Two

Again just to restate the theme of my last post – SEO or search engine optimization is, in other words, website traffic generation BUT in no way means the same as lead generation. With a strong marketing and conversation plan website traffic can then become leads but you need to take the proper actions.

I’ve had several of my Real Estate client sign up for Google Analytics and NEVER login to check their website statistics – then come to me and say they are not getting enough website traffic (and in their mind website leads). But again you need to capitalize on the traffic to convert those prospects into leads and further, sales. So when I am confronted with this question I simply log into the clients analytics account with them and to their surprise they see how many people actually view their site everyday! But since they do not have an effective lead conversion program set in place they lose many possible leads every week!

Google Analytics offers such tracking/statistical services such as:

• Number of visitors per day
• Location of your visitors
• Key phrases people use to find you through search engines
• Top sources of traffic
• Top entry page
• Top exit page

Now on to the 3 Laws of Lead Generation:

Law # 1 – Traffic is on an opportunity

By this I mean that website traffic is just that until acted upon. You should have a lead conversion program set in place to “route” all your website traffic to the proper channels to convert those prospects into happy clients. So before worrying about your website traffic levels, ask yourself this: “What am I doing to capitalize on the traffic I already have? How am I actively converting traffic into leads, and leads into clients?”

Law # 2 – Value and response are directly proportional

What value do you have behind your lead generation system? Your website visitors will remain anonymous until you offer something valuable and useful in exchange for their action. For example property listing updates can be very valuable to home shoppers, and many will sign up to get them. But they don’t necessarily cost you anything to produce. In this case, value is conveyed through timely information that’s beneficial to the audience. There are many ways you can add value to your website and draw your prospects in. Take time to sit down and decide what you are going to offer to more efficiently convert your website traffic.

Law # 3 – Attrition is your perpetual enemy

Attrition refers to people who “drop off” along the way, in between first contact and the close of the sale. There are usually multiples points of attrition within a real estate marketing process. Fortunately, each point of attrition can be improved upon. That is, you can minimize the number of losses at each step along marketing path.

For example:

• Example 1 – A lot of qualified prospective clients may never even find your website or blog. But you can counter this by focusing on online PR and SEO.
• Example 2 – Of those people who do find your website, many will leave if they don’t find anything of value. But you can counter this by constantly adding useful content and resources to your website.
• Example 3 – Of those people who, one, find your website and, two, find it useful, some will leave without making contact with you in any way. But you can counter this by using lead-generation techniques on all key pages of your website.

So all in all I hope you at least take this from my ranting – web traffic is only traffic until you act upon it. If you want your website visitors to act in some way, you must create a lead-generation program based on valuable incentives. Good luck with your online real estate marketing!

If you need help in getting your website jump started or need to start an online presence be sure to drop me a note!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

Read Full Post »

Differentiate Between SEO and Lead Generation – Part One

As a consultant of a company that provides Real Estate Agents and Offices, Boards and MLS’ with SEO services, I receive several calls a week from ‘frustrated’ clients saying, “I need search engine optimization because my website does not generate leads.” It was only as of recent that I realized many Real Estate professionals have not yet differentiated between SEO (search engine optimization) and lead generation.

SEO is merely a traffic generator; that’s it! I’ve come to learn that many Real Estate professionals will use the terms “traffic generator” and “lead generator” interchangeably – and this concerns me because they couldn’t be more different. Now I am not saying a good Real Estate SEO effort or program couldn’t help in generating leads with the proper target website or blog, but search engine optimization alone with not ‘close the deals’.

In other words, if you increase traffic to a website (SEO) with no lead-generation tactics in place, you will have plenty of traffic but no leads. But if you increase traffic to a website with effective lead generation tools, the increases in traffic will be directly related to the increase in leads and inquiries you receive.

Remember: SEO is a traffic generator, not a lead generator!

Read on tomorrow for the 3 Laws of Lead Generation!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

Read Full Post »

Facebook Joins Location-Based Social Networking

One of the newer spins on social networking is location-based Social Network. There are a few companies such as Foursquare, Yelp and Gowalla that have a long-established stronghold in this area. But Facebook has a tremendous user base and has the potential to overtake it’s competitors if they do it right. And last week, they launched their version of location-based social networking called Facebook Places.

How Do I Get It?

Currently, Places is only supported on the iPhone, or any other touchscreen mobile device that can access touch.facebook.com.   Sorry all non-touch screen phones need to wait until FB releases a version to support you.  Places will appear on the main menu of the Facebook iPhone app. if you are using touch.facebook.com, just tap the PLACES tab.

The Basics

The most important feature of location-based Social Networking in the “checking-in” feature, which uses the GPS feature of your mobile device to assist you with identifying your location and checking-in, which publishes your location so others know where you are. But other than letting others know where you, what’s in it for you? Well, Forequare has an added feature called Badges. The more you check-in, the more badges you collect. If you are the person to check-in at a location most frequently, you are declared the “mayor” of that location, making it like a game. Some business even reward their mayors and other frequent visits for their frequent check-ins

The Facebook Twist

Facebook Places will also revolve around check-ins. What’s different is that you most likely already have a large friend following on Facebook, so you don’t have to re-establish those friends in order to check-in. And thankfully, it looks like Facebook may have learned from their previous mishaps with security. You are in complete control of  what you share the and the people you share it with. When a friend tags you through Places, you are given the choice as to whether or not your friends can check you into places. You can even disable this feature completely. Unfortunately all of these security settings are un-configured when you start using Places — you must manually configure them yourself.

How Can The Agent Leverage This?

Facebook has always been such a great way for an Agent to make contact with people.  Facebook is a very efficient way to gather a following based on the community.  Build a Facebook following built on a Fan Page or targeted posts and you will begin to have people interested in you for your in depth local knowledge.  Now let people follow you around via community places and even your listings.

Playing Nice

Rather than trying to destroy it’s competition, Facebook appears to be cooperating and even encouraging 2-way communication with the leaders. Through their Graph API, they are enabling Foursquare, Yelp and others to share check-ins in both directions. All of these features are still in beta with select partners. Time will tell if the information-sharing pays off.

I suppose Facebook is banking on making location-based Social Networking more popular by making it a native feature within Facebook, as well as cooperating with those who invented it in the first place. Time will tell if this effort pays off. These services were no where nearly as popular as Facebook. Maybe that will change now that Facebook has entered the game and is providing 2-way check-ins with the other players in the market.

Read Full Post »

Whats does it take for an Agent to succeed?

As with many of my posts, I often talk about the need to engage in Social Networking as part of your overall marketing efforts. Many real estate agents and brokers still have one underlying issue. That is, their existing website.

Here are some of the questions I still receive.

• Do I need a website?
• Can I just work the social networking scene in lieu of having a website?
• If I have a website does it make sense to spend my time and money revamping it? Or is my time and money best spent on developing a social media plan of action?

To answer these questions one-by-one:

I firmly believe that it is imperative that agents and brokers should have a strong Web site as a base to supplement their marketing efforts. I have occasionally met a few agents that boggled my mind as they had no Internet presence but they still were very successful. One agent in particular, works with Remax Property Center in Paramus, NJ. His name is Avner Zvulun. I had the pleasure of speaking with Avner. He is not only a great agent, he also possesses a strong drive to succeed.  In 2009, Avner closed $17 million ( 55 transactions). After meeting with Avner, he realized that he can take his sales to another level above his outstanding numbers if  he can develop a Web site and a social networking plan of action.

The idea of having a social networking  plan of action will help, but you should have a Web site as well. The idea is to drive traffic to your site from the various social networking platforms. If done correctly, your site will blossom as a tool for Web visitors looking to get information.

There are many social networking platforms that can propel your marketing efforts. If done so correctly, they can help you engage with new clients. Social Networking also allows you to tap in to new markets. I would recommend that and agent or broker seek the help of a marketing professional when using social networking as it must be setup properly and maintained to gain the most value. The biggest incentive to Social Networking is that it may also drive traffic to your Website. The goal is to link your site back from the various social platforms.  Our team can assist you develop a marketing strategy that will meet your needs. We also emphasize the need to constantly maintain these social platforms. One of biggest problems we see is that agents and brokers stop updating their sites which is counter productive to their marketing efforts. That is another reason why our team can help you succeed. RE/Advantage will work with you continually to ensure you are updating your Social networking platforms as well as your main Web site. Continually adding fresh and unique content is the best way to keep visitors locked into you .

When developing your online presence  we focus on the following:

• Are you pinpointing your target market?
• How you will find your online audience?
• How you will attract your audience?
• How your will engage with your audience
• How you will  bond with your online audience
• How you will build a  community of  loyal followers
• How you will turn your online audience into clients

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RE/Advantage specializes in Social Networking, Blogging, Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

Read Full Post »

Blackberry Torch-iPhone “killer”, or just another Blackberry?

Last week, Research in Motion released the latest Blackberry model, the Torch, exclusively on the AT&T network. The Torch has a lot of pressure on it – it’s no secret that RIM wants this device to be it’s “iPhone Killer”, and bring consumers back to the Blackberry platform. But will the Torch succeed? What has been lacking in Blackberry devices for all of these years? We’ll visit a few of Blackberry’s shortcomings and see if the Torch really fixes them.

Touchscreen

This isn’t the first touchscreen Blackberry. There have been 2 previous versions of the “Storm”. Unfortunately, it never went over well. Not much has changed with the new screen, and it’s resolution still lags behind it’s main competitors, leaving text looking somewhat blocky and images a little unclear. They’ve also removed the SurePress technology from the Storm series that made the entire screen “clickable”.

Blackberry OS6 and Web Browsing

The Torch is the first Blackberry device to use version 6 of the BlackberryOS. Included with the re-vamped OS, is a brand new, webkit-compatible web browser. Finally — Blackberry’s awful web browser has been replaced with one that actually WORKS. For me, this is the most notable change. The new browser is modern, renders web pages correctly (though not as fast as the iPhone), and has support for pinch-to-zoom and tabbed browsing. One thing it does (unfortunately) have in common with the iPhone is the lack of Flash support.

Keyboard

The new Torch supports not only an on-screen touch-sensitive virtual keyboard, but also a more traditional standard Blackberry keyboard that slides out from under the phone. It’s a little bit more compact than the keyboard on other Blackberry’s, but for those that don’t like touch keyboards, this is a handy feature.

Social Feeds

One of the most interesting new features is the Social Feeds app that comes built into the OS. It combines all of your social networking feeds from Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging and RSS feeds into one, attractive, easy-t0-use interface. The problem is — it’s only for viewing. If you want to reply to a Facebook post, you have to do it in the dedicated Facebook app (also pre-installed). But now you are using 2 separate apps — one for reading and another for posting. Not very handy.

A few other miscellaneous upgrades have been put into this new device, including more user-friendly handling of media, WiFi syncing of the phone to your computer, and a very handy feature called Universal Search, which finds anything, anywhere on your Blackberry. And I mean ANYTHING.

Based upon this latest showing, it doesn’t look like the Torch is going to be “killing” anything in the smartphone market. Don’t get me wrong — Blackberry fans will LOVE all of the improvements. But the Torch still doesn’t stand up to it’s latest competition very well.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

Read Full Post »