The Agent's Resource

For some reason many people seem to discount Social Media. They think it is only for kids and has no real business value to it. This is both untrue and great news for you! This means that many of your competitors do not use Social Media in their marketing mix.

The truth about Social Media is that yes, SOME of it is geared more towards the young. Myspace is generally used by a younger crowd than Facebook and LinkedIn. Myspace also tends to have a less Affluent crowd than some other forms of Social Media. However, this doesn’t mean you should discount ALL forms of Social Media.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are all very viable avenues for marketing and networking. Over 41% of all Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn users have a household income over $75,000. 38% of LinkedIn’s users make over $100,000 a year. These are the people you want to reach. These are the people who are going to be buying homes.

Here are 3 steps to get you started on Social Media.

1. Ask your friends/family/clients/colleagues to add you.

Send out an email to everyone you know and ask them to follow you on Twitter, or to become your friend on Facebook. This will be the easiest way to get a network of Socail Media friends at the beginning. The best part is now that you are connect to them, you are also connected to their friends and followers.

Many times when an Agent gets a website it is way too vague. The Realtor may work the greater Sacramento area, but that doesn’t mean they should target the greater Sacramento area with their online marketing. There is without a doubt thousands of other Agents targeting this same area. This might sound like bad news, but really it is great news. With so many Agents targeting such a large area it opens up huge gaps for you to target a few neighborhoods and really clean up in those areas.

If you can use Pay Per Click for a neighborhood that is great, but in smaller cities sometimes there is not enough traffic per month for Google to allow this. This isn’t a problem because it is usually very easy to obtain a top ranking organically(free) with such a targeted area.

Here are a few tips to help you rise to the top ranking in Google for your target Neighborhood.

1. Use your Neighborhood as the domain name.

Now it might not always be possible to have FairOaksRealEstate.com or FairOaksHomesForSale.com. Sometimes they are available, but many times you will have to go a little deeper. For example, right now FairOaksCAHomesForSale.com is available and that specific keyword gets searched 4,400 times a month!

Many Agents have given Google Pay Per Click a chance but end up dropping it from their marketing campaign. This is usually because they spent a lot and didn’t make a lot. I am going to give you three mistakes to avoid when using Pay Per Click for Real Estate.

1. “City Name Real Estate” is EXPENSIVE!

Very expensive! Not only is it expensive, but many of these searchers are people who are just browsing. They want to look at some houses, see what’s out there but are probably not ready to buy a home. They are just window shopping.

When you pick your keywords, be much more specific. “Sacramento Real Estate” will cost you much more money and bring you far less real leads than “Fair Oaks Condos For Sale”.

2. Don’t fall victim to the numbers.

Just because there are 350,000 people searching for “San Francisco Homes” doesn’t mean you should try to get “just 1%” of them. If you play that game you will go broke. There may be a ton of people searching for that keyword, but you will be paying a high amount per click and again, most of them are window shoppers

Do you sometimes think that your Real Estate website does nothing more than float around the internet being stuck in purgatory?

This is because websites are not magic. The same way no one will see your postcards if you do not mail them, no one will see your website if you do not promote it. Getting the top spot on Google is a luxury afforded to just one, and let’s face it, with thousands of other Real Estate agents in your area the chances of you getting that money making spot are about as high as you finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

So then, how do you make your website work for you? I will show you a few simple techniques that you may be overlooking.

1. Is your web address in ALL of your print ads?

I go through nearly all of the local real estate publications on a regular basis and you know what? Every issue I find agents who pay for a whole page ad to display their listings and they do not advertise their website.

A website is a quick and easy way for a potential client to connect with you, learn more about you, see other properties available and ultimately make them choose you as their agent.

I also see brokerages that list their agents but do not list any of their agent’s websites. This is both bad for the brokerage and bad for the agents. Giving potential clients more useful information can only help. Why not give it to them? If you do not, the agents on page three may be the ones with a large commission check

When I say “Blogging” what comes to mind? Some idiot spouting off at the mouth about his personal opinions that no one cares about? Yeah, that’s what I figured.

Unfortunately this is what comes to many peoples minds, but a Real Estate blog can actually bring you a lot of clients and make you a ton of money.

How?

By using Blogging to gain traction in Google, Yahoo and other search engines. If you want people to find your Real Estate website, blogging is your new best friend. Think of each blog post you make as a whole new website with its own target audience and it gives you another chance to reach potential clients.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have 150 different websites and each website could be in its own Real Estate niche? Foreclosures, first time buyers, investment properties, you can cover it all.