Positive Real Estate Professionals

Two weeks ago I was speaking with Your East Cobb REALTOR® who not only happens to be a member of Positive Real Estate Professionals but someone I regard as a friend. We were talking about how her blogging style and choice of topics has evolved since she first began blogging last April. I bring up Jodi Smith because her efforts are a perfect example of how blogging can help you to achieve concrete results in terms of business growth. Below are some of the common questions (and my responses) when people ask ‘What will a blog do for my business?’

What Is Blogging?

This is fairly straightforward. Blogging is writing; more specifically, blogging is writing posts/articles online. There is often a common confusion of terms that I would like to clear up. A blog is a collection of posts/articles. When you are blogging you are actually writing an individual post/article. So you don’t actually write a blog, you write a post/article on a blog. A good analogy is that a blog is similar to a magazine/newspaper and the posts/articles on a blog are similar to the articles in a magazine/newspaper. Hopefully this will clear up some of the term confusion.

Why Is A Blog Important?

There is an often used and written about phrase ‘Content Is King.’ I too have written several articles on this very topic and would encourage you to read Content is King for more information on this topic. The main reason that a blog is important for any website is that it is an easy way to add new content. New content to index is what the search engine spiders are looking for. New content and frequent indexing is a contributing factor to a site’s rank, Page Rank (PR) for Google. Rank is one of several key factors in how high a site returns in search engine results. Semi-regular posting to your site’s blog gives you the new content you need to help your site return higher in search engine results. The higher your site’s placement in search engine results, the more visible your site is, and the more likely it will be visited by potential clients.

What Role Do My Content Topics Play?

Your topics are important because they fill out the content vacuums that static webpages inevitably leave. A static webpage is basically an informative page that doesn’t change or changes infrequently. This is fine as long as the accuracy and relevance of the information on that page doesn’t change frequently either. A blog can definitely be a great way to give a deeper insight into various topics that your site’s visitors are looking for. Say for example you are a REALTOR® who deals with a lot of relocation clients, your potential clients will probably looking for all types of information on the area they are relocating to. To get a real feel for the area many people write posts that highlight historic buildings and/or places, local parks and other outdoor venues, restaurants, nightclubs, and shopping. Other people take a broader approach and write less about specific offerings and write instead about local youth and/or adult sports, the various houses of worship, or the availability of public transit. This is a way to make your website a destination for relevant information for your potential client base. This is also a continuing resource for past clients and an easy place for those past clients to refer potential new clients. It is important to also show your knowledge of your industry by writing things like market reports  and legislation that may impact your clients. A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in your clients, or potential clients’ shoes when you are considering a topic for an article and ask yourself honestly if this would be something of interest.

Not The Journals Of Yesterday

I feel that it is important to draw the distinction between the journaling that blogging used to represent and blogging for business. There is absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining a journaling blog or a poetry blog but these should not be confused with a business blog. In many cases people hear the term blog and think of these personal types of blogs. It is true that in the early days of blogging these types of blogs were very popular, and they do remain popular today. I enjoy many personal blogs but blogging for business is far different from personal blogging. If you are blogging to attract clients to your real estate business then the funny thing your cat did, or photos of you modeling that robe you got for the holidays are not relevant nor appropriate at all. These types of articles will probably have the opposite effect of what you intended. Keep your posts on a business blog relevant and you will produce the concrete results in terms of business growth that you are looking for and have heard so much about.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Commenting: Friend or Foe? This is the million dollar question that we will be looking at today. Please understand this before we go any further, the information provided in this post pertains to blogging for business. Even though it MIGHT hold value to regular bloggers, my thought process is based business oriented blogs. With that out of the way, let’s move forward.

Commenting, or in some cases, the lack of commenting can have an effect on your business. The first and foremost thing that a blogger attempts is to connect with their audience. When someone takes the time to write a worthwhile comment on your post, it opens the door for dialogue. Typically, this is where most bloggers lose it. After oftentimes spending hours writing the best article they can, their efforts are rewarded with 1, 5, or maybe 10 comments; yet, they do not respond to any of them. So I ask the question again, Commenting: Friend or Foe?

If you answered FOE, you are correct. Rich Dansereau wrote an article entitled Showing The Love; Commentors To Clients that talks about converting your commentors to clients. The problem is that you cannot convert a commentor that you do not engage in dialogue, and you cannot engage someone in dialogue if you ignore them. I could go on and on with this, but I think we all get the point of missed opportunity when comments are ignored. So, lets look at how to make the most of this opportunity.

The first step to making a commentor a FRIEND is to respond to them. Now, frankly, the comments that say “Nice Article” or “Great Job” might get a canned response of “Thanks” or it may never find its way onto the comment section. However, a truly thought out comment is going to get my attention. I will take my time in answering the comment. I might actually send the commenter an email. I might even visit their site. I might very well take it to the next level and comment on one of their articles. Now I have totally engaged them and I would expect to see them come back to comment again in the future. Maybe they are not a client today or tomorrow, however, they know that I will pay attention when they are ready to do business. But, one of the biggest payoffs is the fact that they might very well send me a referral, and for that, I am truly grateful. Just think what I would have lost had I not engaged them through their comment.

Comments are not friend or foe as much as we are the friend or foe of commenting. Most sites like our real estate network encourage readers to comment by adding tools that help the commenter get links. Tools like CommentLuv, Gravatar, and Top Commentors are great because they provide additional links for the commentor. With that said, WE as bloggers still have to do our part by responding to the comments that are put to us. If we don’t, how can we expect to retain our readers and make the comment section of our blog our friend rather than our foe?

Edit

I was just readin’ a article the other day win it hit me; does you’re grammar realy affect how you’re potential consumers make there decisions? Well, that has been an question fore sum time now and it is 1 that alot of people realy say “6 of one and half a dozen of the other”. May or it may knot, who realy nose. The reel ? might b r u willin’ two take a chance too find out. N this article that I was readin’, they’re was this person that was SCREAMIN’ and YELLIN’ ’bout how wrong Real Estate agents were 4 chargin’ full commissions n this economy. I aint realy wantin’ to get in2 that subject and will not. What I do want 2 talk about is the fact that this particular persons’ comments own how smart you’re potential clients are. 1st, I agree with him n that the customers r vary smart and vary savy 2day. However, what he does knot reelize is that they r also smart enough to0 no when you are knot vary smart.

Okay, Okay, enough of that. It is hard as hell to write like that. I cannot really understand how someone actually does it. Unless the writer does not pay attention to the little details, he could be hemorrhaging consumers. So, let’s start this post all over and do it right.

The other day I was reading an article when I came across some comments that got me thinking; Does your grammar effect potential clients’ decisions? Well, personally, I think the answer is yes, but many people side with the adage of ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other.’ Whether it does or does not is difficult to determine. However, is it really worth taking a chance to find out? In this particular article, there was a person that was screaming and yelling about how smart consumers are today. At the same time that he was attacking Real Estate agents that charge full commissions in today’s economy, he was burying his credibility. While I refuse to discuss the topic that he was so adamant about, I want to use him to make this point. His main premise was that the consumers today are smart and savvy. I completely agree with him. What he ignored to the point that you really could not understand what he was saying was his grammar. In my opinion, I believe that he loses a lot of credibility with the consumer because of this. Before I am accused of being the self-appointed grammar police, let me freely acknowledge that we all make occasional grammatical errors in our writing. What is interesting is that this writer’s message was obscured not because of the bad grammar as much as the lack of attention to small details which makes him seem lazy.

Whether you are a REALTOR®, Appraiser, home inspector, loan officer, stager, or title person, you have to be able to pay attention to the smallest of details. This is something that consumers look for today. The easiest place for them to look for it is in what you write. So, I will ask you again; Does your grammar effect their decisions?

Before I digg into this post, let me say that I recognize and appreciate the pure journaling bloggers but this post is not really geared towards you. Many people who blog do so for business. There are those who may protest this statement and say they are freely sharing their poetry or images. While this may be true, if your blog generates either passive or active income, there is a business component. In fact the purpose of many blogsites and websites is to generate business; this is especially true when those sites are part of a network. In this post, I want to look at a couple of ways to attract new visitors to your site and keep existing visitors coming back for more.

Two elements that I feel are key to effective blogging on a business site are consistency and variety. You may be scratching your head after reading that and thinking that consistency and variety would seem to be complete opposites. It all depends on context. In this post’s context consistency doesn’t refer to the same or similar content being rehashed, it refers to posting consistently. When you post something new on say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at about the same time on those days, then regular readers will begin to visit your site looking for your newest post. This can have a positive effect on the number of both your subscribers and visitors. Increased visitors means a potential for increased business.

The second part of this basic equation is variety. The last thing you want to do is bore your visitors. A prime example of boring your visitors could be a real estate industry site that only posts market reports with very little commentary or explanation. While market reports are great tools for both consumers and industry professionals, if this is all you post then your site’s focus may be too narrow and specific to garner a widespread readership. I would recommend that this same real estate site that I am using as an example broaden their appeal while still emphasizing the state of their market, the positives of life in their area, and their knowledge of the latest developments on a local, state, or national level that affect their market.

Are you using both consistency and variety to help attract and keep visitors to your business blog?

You hoped onboard the internet train and decided that the internet really was the best place to market your business. To harness the power of the internet you have joined a real estate network (or other professional network) or you are going at it with a stand alone website or both. You have a website that would make Michaelangelo proud with its beauty. It is so easy to navigate that even your dad wouldn’t get lost. The search engines can’t get enough of your site and prove it by sending their spiders out to index it multiple times per day and returning your site on page one. You are getting visitors, lots of visitors, to your site. Still, a nagging question remains, why aren’t you converting these visitors into leads? And how can you?

You have to consider that a certain percentage of visitors are there for informational purposes only. While the casual visitor may not be in the market for your service at that time, if they find your site helpful they will refer other people to it. This is an excellent type of referral because personal or first hand referrals give an implied endorsement of your knowledge and professionalism. Visitors who find you from a targeted search, like Google, Yahoo, or MSN should be easier to convert to leads because they actually searched for the service and information you provide.

An essential function of your site is lead generation and capturing potential client information from your site. The most effective way to accomplish lead capture is through the use of forms. Forms can be as simple as signing up for your weekly or monthly newsletter to requesting additional information on a particular topic or service highlighted on your site. Every site should at least have a contact form with some basic information required, like name and email address. A site can also have specialized forms like a relocation form or a Comparative Market Analysis form that are geared to the specific needs of your site’s visitors. The information that is given on these forms can then be indexed and utilized by the site’s owner.

Now that you have been entrusted with visitor’s information, it is of the utmost importance that a responsible site owner NOT sell or distribute this information to third parties unless this is a known practice and function of the site that has been explicitly consented to by the visitor. Violating a visitor’s trust is one of the quickest ways that your site can become the means for business suicide. In conclusion, using forms are a great way to convert your site’s visitors into both clients and referral sources.

Over the last 10 years, customer service seems to be a dying part of business. Big or small, many companies seems to be switching to a progressively depersonalized customer service model. Regardless of what time you call, it seems that you always get the recording that then ask you to enter the extension of the person that you wish to talk to. However, if you do not know their extension, then you can use their “Dial by Name” directory. When you get to this point do any of these thoughts run through your head; Oh great, what was their name? I don’t know anyone there. How do I get help with this company? Finally, out of frustration, you hang up and call their competitor. This lost business was caused by a lack of customer service. In the long run, the money that the company saved because of this “auto-responder” answering machine is actually costing them revenue.

A few days ago, I was on a website reading an article. I decided to comment on that particular article and after I said what I wanted, I hit submit. What happened next was appalling in itself to me. I got an auto response from the blog author that said something simple like “Thanks for the comment, however, I am too busy to respond to it at this time. I will get to it just as soon as I can”. Now, that is not word for word, but it is pretty dang close. I decided to check back this morning and see if they had responded to my comment; nope, there was nothing. I decided to look through some of the other articles that the author had written. Guess what, I found the same thing; comments from readers without any responses from the author. Now, some think this maybe okay, but personally, the lack of interaction is costing this person business. It was evident that the comments received have been decreasing daily.

Emails also seem to be taking a backseat when it comes to customer service. Instead of businesses contacting people with a personal, you often get an email blast with thousands of other people on it. Typically, you will not see the other people on the email, because they have them hidden. Now, what really gets me about emails are the DRIP campaigns. It is one thing getting an email soliciting my business and another when I have been put on a DRIP campaign that I have no interest in. Being subscribed to a DRIP campaign just because I visited your website and asked for some information one time is absurd not to mention it is one of the most impersonal means of contact. Another thing to remember, if you conduct these DRIP campaigns have an easily found unsubscribe button or some other method that allows people to be removed from your distribution list.

Now, why did I just sit here and type all of this out? I read an article about a married couple, both of whom were struggling Realtors®. The biggest portion of their money for living expenses was coming out of a 401k retirement account that they had set up. Today, this couple is on their way to banking more than $300k this year and also have 4 agents that now work for them. Each of the 4 agents are on pace to reach 6 figures as well. So, you ask, what changed for them? According to them, they dumped all the depersonalizing that they had done to their customer service. They got rid of the answering machines and went to an answering service that used an actual person to field calls. When people call, they like speaking to a human being as opposed to a machine. Who would have thought of that? The next thing that they did was create consumer interaction and dialogue with their blog. They made a point to respond to each and every comment personally that was made on their blog. Revolutionary thinking according to some people. The last thing that they decided to do is start using personalized emails. No more of the canned spam that so many people love to use. This one might actually set the customer service world on fire. Getting back to business basics by personalizing their customer service has saved their business.

Now, actually, none of this is rocket science. None of what they did was revolutionary or will set anything on fire. Actually, everything that they did comes down to Customer Service 101. Believe or not, consumers still prefer to be communicated to personally. Do you provide that type of customer service to your business?

Positive Real Estate Professionals is committed to staying abreast of emerging technology to help connect you, our members, with consumers. We are also happy to receive your valuable input for things that you might need to help you with your business. Responsiveness to our members’ needs is an important part of providing you with an excellent tool to network with other real estate industry professionals and with clients. In many cases a visitor to your site may leave quickly if there is some impediment to connecting with you, the real estate industry professional, on a general or a specific question they may have relating to something you have written.

The most common means for a potential client to connect with you is through leaving a comment on a post you have written. Another way that clients connect with you is through the contact information you provide, email and/or phone number. The emergence of Twitter as a major tool in communication provides another means of communication. With the ease of controlling your entire Twitter account from the Dashboard of you website, you never have to leave PREP to stay connected. In fact there is an entire collection of Twitter Icons that you can use if you wish on your website.

Another major way to connect with clients on PREP is through the numerous forms available for your use. As evidenced by the Relocation Form to the BPO Form to the Title Order Form, we take the needs of you, our members, very seriously. Today we added the Feedback Form to the Test Account page where all of the currently available forms can be found. This will hopefully be a very useful tool for Realtors. If you have a suggestion for a form or another improvement to PREP, simply submit a Support Ticket, located on the main page of the site, and we will definitely look into the viability of your suggestion. If there is an existing form that you need help adding to your site, please drop us a note  and we will be happy to help.

There is an old saying carpe diem or seize the day. In the following post, Danny Thornton presents an excellent analogy about making the most of the opportunities you have created. Luckily the performer he highlights has a second chance to close the deal so to speak and be the newest American Idol but in the business world you don’t often get a second chance.

Via Danny Thornton:

I am sure that some people will skip right over this post due to the title. With that said, for the ones that read this post, you will understand why I titled it this way. Last night I was sitting in the office working when the television comes on in the living room. Lo’ and behold, American Idol was on. Now, I am not a big fan of this show, but I am a big fan of music. Toward the end, I heard them introduce Mishavonna Henson. It was easy to recognize a name like that. Mishavonna was a contestant last year and did not make it through the challenge; let’s dig in deeper here.

Mishavonna might not have won last year. However, that has not stopped her from tasting some success. She is a very talented singer. She still makes mistakes that keep her from being the great singer that she can be. Her biggest plus is that she is just 18 years old, so she has many years ahead of her.

In our world, clumsy mistakes can cost us our careers. I see it yearly, monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily. Whether it is a huge mistake that can cost thousands of dollars or a mistake that costs nothing more that anguish. Either way, making mistakes is a part of being human and something that has to be dealt with. The issue is more pressing when we make the same mistakes over and over again. This is where the real issues surface. At some point, competence comes into play.

In our business there is no, “There is always next year”. With most customers, this is a one shot deal. What makes it even more important is the fact that we are not just working for the deal that is in front of us; we are also working for the 1, 5, 10, or however many referrals that this customer will be directly and indirectly responsible for us getting.

The customer is knocking at you door, holding on the line, or sitting in the lobby waiting for you. Are you ready for them?