websites
Take Control of Your Online Reputation
March 30, 2010 by jwhite · Leave a Comment
How to Monitor Your Reputation on Yelp.com
Yelp.com can be a great ally, if you use it well.
Ever heard of Yelp.com? It’s a consumer review site, where community members post reviews about their experiences with local restaurants and businesses. You might not think of yourself as a “small business,” but a surprising number of reviews on Yelp.com cover professionals from doctors to lawyers and yes… even real estate professionals.
Originally covering the Bay Area in California, Yelp.com has grown to become an international hub for frank, uncensored reviews. Growing at a fast clip, if your city isn’t already covered in Yelp, it probably will be soon.
Yelp is a great place to ask your satisfied clients to review your services. It’s also a place you should monitor occasionally to make sure misinformation or unfair reviews are being posted about your services as a real estate professional.
To check for yourself, go to Yelp.com and search for your name in your city, or search for “real estate” to see who else is reviewed.
A guide for business owners is available on Yelp.com here:
http://www.yelp.com/business
Pay special attention to the section on “responding to reviews”:
http://www.yelp.com/business/review_response
Used properly, Yelp.com is a great place to have public conversations with your local community and earn referrals.
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Make the Most of Your Testimonials
March 25, 2010 by jwhite · 4 Comments
How to Present Testimonials Effectively
A real-world example of effective testimonial use…
Short of a direct referral from a satisfied client, testimonials are one of the most powerful tools for proving your value to prospects. But how do you present them effectively? Where do you use them? What form is best?
We thought we’d highlight the website of one of our Tuesday Tactics subscribers, Tim Kindem. Tim works with Keller Williams Premier Realty in the Twin Cities. Tim has a unique approach to showcasing his testimonials.
Here are four effective testimonial tactics Tim employs:
1. He uses multiple types of testimonials– photos, letters, videos, and even newspaper clippings.
2. He has reserved the domain name “HappyTimClients.com” to direct prospects to his testimonials. This is an interesting tactic, because rather than make prospects click through his website to find his testimonials, he creates and easy-to-say “front door” which forwards visitors to his testimonials section. Naturally, he uses this in his email signature line.
3. He leverages YouTube for his videos, which helps his website with search engine indexing.
4. He puts himself in the context of his clients– he shows himself with his clients and their smiling faces. No stock photos here, no anonymous quotes!
Whether or not you like a particular design is secondary to the quality of the content you put on your site. Tim has gone the extra mile to capture testimonials and (with his clients’ permission) host them on his website.
Check out Tim’s testimonial page for yourself. It’s a real-world example that might just inspire you to rethink the content on your own testimonials page:
http://www.happytimclients.com/
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How to Make Listing Videos Using Only Photos
March 9, 2010 by jwhite · 2 Comments
How to Make Listing Videos Using Only Photos
The Low-cost, high-value way to showcase your listings
As video continues to develop as a dominant force in the future of online marketing and communication, many agents face the difficult question of how to use video when they do not have the time, money, or technical expertise to produce full-featured videos for their listings.
Since we’re always on the lookout for good examples of how to use practical tips and tools to overcome obstacles and build your real estate business, we couldn’t resist sharing this great example of how to create videos without using actual video footage, as demonstrated by Mike Walker of Ohio.
At first glance, Mike’s approach seems very straightforward: He takes photos of his listings and creates slide shows which can then be exported to video for YouTube.com and other video sharing sites. The devil, however, is really in the details with Mike’s videos.
He employs five small, but effective techniques to make his videos more entertaining and more effective at communicating essential information:
1. Mike uses a special effect / transition in the video to draw the eye into or across the photo– typically called the “Ken Burns” effect, this motion keeps the photos from sitting idle in the video
2. Mike incorporates some music to the photos; you could also record audio of yourself talking about attributes of the property (or do both)
3. In YouTube, Mike wisely titles every video with the property address as well as a contact phone number. This way, his contact information TRAVELS with the video, wherever it may be embedded or shared!
4. Inside of each video, Mike makes sure to include the address of his website– this way, individual videos become magnets for traffic back to his site, even if the video is embedded in other pages
5. You’ll notice that Mike uses the same videos for his “Available” and “Just Sold” properties. When a property he’s sold is no longer on the market, he can easily change the text above the video to “Just Sold” to showcase past listings he’s successfully brought to market
If you think video is out of range for you, think again. This is an excellent, low-cost, low-overhead model for increasing prospect engagement on your own website.
Check out more examples here:
http://www.showmethekeys.com
Thanks again, Mike, for agreeing to share your technique with our subscribers!
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How to Get Free Local Advertising on Google
February 19, 2010 by jwhite · Leave a Comment
Free Advertising: Google Local Business Center
Make sure you’re listed where customers are searching…
Have you ever been looking through Google Maps and noticed that some businesses just seem to magically appear on the map? Have you ever searched for “real estate agent” on a Google Map near your office and been disappointed to see you’re not listed? Well, you can change that by taking advantage of Google’s free Local Business Center:
Go to Google to get started: Google Local Business Search
Google Local Business: "Signs"
Getting your website indexed in Google is one thing, but don’t neglect getting your brick-and-mortar office included! The listing is free, includes free updates, and also allows you to use Google reporting to help you understand where your customers come from.
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Using Meetup.com for Local Networking
February 12, 2010 by jwhite · Leave a Comment
Networking Tip: Meetup.com
Meet new people with similar interests…
If you’ve never had a chance to visit MeetUp.com, you should definitely check it out. “Do something, learn something, share something, change something” is the website’s motto. The site is designed to help you find or start a group that shares similar interests. The site allows you to search by topic and ZIP code.
Not only is this a great (FREE) way to network with people in your community (and in communities you visit on vacation), but it’s a fantastic tool for clients who have recently relocated to your market and may be looking for new friends.
Follow your passion and good things will come. Check out MeetUp.com.
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Perk Up Your Listings without a Graphic Designer
February 8, 2010 by jwhite · Leave a Comment
Free Software Tip: Easy Online Photo Editing
No charge, no hassle…
Think you need expensive software to resize, retouch, and edit photos? Think again. No longer will you have to wait for a graphic designer or webmaster to handle your routine requests. The following websites allow you to edit photos quickly and easily from any computer with an internet connection and a web browser:
QUICK IMAGE ADJUSTMENTS:
Upload your image through your browser, then easily resize, crop, rotate, flip, adjust brightness and contrast, saturation, color effects, blurring and sharpening, plus special effects. Excellent for quick fixes in record time:
PHOTOSHOP-STYLE EDITING:
Looking to spend a little more time on a photo? Need the basics of Photoshop without the $1000+ price tag? Use these free alternatives:
Perk up those listing photos right from your web browser!
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Reach Voice Mail Directly without Ringing Phone
January 29, 2010 by jwhite · Leave a Comment
Online Tip: SlyDial.com
When email is too distant, and you don’t have time for a conversation
Have you ever wanted to simply leave a message on somebody’s voice mail (maybe a client’s) without risking that they might actually pick up the phone when you call? SlyDial.com allows you to be instantly connected to someone’s voice mail without the possibility that you’ll have to speak to them in person. This is an excellent option when you want to leave a personal message, but the content of your call doesn’t merit a full phone conversation–or you don’t want to interrupt their day. There are situations where following up with a client would be easier and less time consuming by leaving a message on their voice mail rather than getting involved in a full conversation over the phone.
Sly Dial.com is free to use if you don’t mind listening to advertisements every time you use it, but there’s also a very affordable premium membership. It’s a great option–more personal than a text message or email message, but it doesn’t intrude on the person if they happen to be in a meeting, driving, or otherwise working.
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A Free and Useful Tool for Agents
Useful Info: Postlets.com
Syndicate your classified ads for free? It seems possible…
Recently we published our “Craigslist Crash Course for Real Estate Agents” eBook. It’s quickly become one of our most popular how-to guides.
We’ve had lots of great feedback, especially this helpful tip from Terry Driscoll of Allen & Selig Realty in Bath, ME: “I don’t think you mentioned using Postlets to create ads–that’s the way to go.”
It’s true, we didn’t. But thanks to Terry’s helpful tip, we’ve updated the eBook and wanted to pass this tool along to the rest of you. While we haven’t road tested Postlets.com ourselves, it seems to be another powerful free tool for agents.
According to Postlets.com, you can “create your listing, post, share, and syndicate it everywhere.”
Thanks, Terry!
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Start Your Experiment Today
Become More Successful By Trying Something New.
To invest in yourself, just take the next step…
“When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” (George Bernard Shaw)
I think we’ve all come up against ideas that we’ve shelved because we’re afraid they just won’t work out. Redesign my website? Start my own email newsletter? Hire someone to write new prospecting letters for me? No way! The timing is wrong. What if it doesn’t work out?
But what if we changed the way we thought about failure?
Failure is life’s best teacher. Untried ideas are always “possibilities.” But possibilities don’t close the deal, get the referral, or form new community relationships. They’re simply unanswered questions. And we can’t learn the answers to those questions without experimenting.
It might seem crazy, but right now is the ideal time to launch a new project to improve your business. What you learn now will pay you exponentially when the market improves. You’ll already be in motion while others are just starting to learn.
Make a commitment today to identify ONE idea that you’ve been kicking around and write down the very next action you’d have to do to get the ball rolling. Even if that next step is simply brainstorming, invest in yourself and start the experiment today.
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Free Cost of Living Comparison Tool
November 9, 2009 by Eric · Leave a Comment
Q&A: Cost of Living Comparison
Free data builds relationships…
Q: Where can I find a quick cost of living comparison calculator?
A: Sperling’s Best Places.net has a fast, customizable cost of living calculator that will show you the cost of living change between two cities and tell you how a salary compares to one city versus another. The site also compares cities in over 100 other categories. This is a useful way to connect with prospects who are thinking of relocating to your area. Here’s how you do it:
1. Ask your prospect where they currently live, and offer to send them a complimentary “quick look” at the cost of living change should they locate to your city.
2. Ask them if they would (optionally) like to disclose their current household income to give a more accurate dollar-for-dollar comparison. (Be sure to proceed delicately here; if you think this might overstep your bounds, assume a low-to-average salary as an example.)
3. Plug the information into the cost-of-living calculator at: http://www.bestplaces.net/COL/
4. Copy the information on the results page into an email that you can send the prospect. You can either take a screenshot, print the information as a PDF file, or simply highlight and paste the information into your response.
Alternately, you can simply send clients the link to the cost of living calculator.
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