Positive Real Estate Professionals

When I logged into Facebook this morning, I was greeted with the picture to the left. I am sure that many of you have already seen this. I am also sure that many started out the same way I did; looking for the path to add the “like” button to your site. With that said, I decide to write a post for all to read and learn. After spending nearly an hour trying to find this, I thought that I would save you all the headaches of tracking down how to install this little tool to your site.

Before I go into deep detail, I thought I would share what this button can and will do for you. If you look to the right, you will see this button in action on our real estate network. As you can see at this point, not many have used it. Over time, the number will grow and people will be able to share our network with their facebook friends a lot easier. All one needs to do is to click the “Like” button once, and it adds them. Below is an excerpt from the facebook page explaining this a little better:

The Like button enables users to make connections to your pages and share content back to their friends on Facebook with one click. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the button can display personalized content whether or not the user has logged into your site. For logged-in Facebook users, the button is personalized to highlight friends who have also liked the page.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at how we add this neat little tool to our own sites. If you look to the immediate left, you will see the picture of the Like Button Generator. As you can see, I have filled out the fields that I need in order to create this button for our main page. Now, in theory, I could do this for each and every page that I wanted to on PREP, but at some point, you run into overkill. This is one of the reason why we use “sociable” on PREP. It already has Facebook’s share function in it.

Once all the pertinent information is entered, all you need to do is click on get code. Once that is done, it will generate 2 codes; one is an iFrame code and the second is a JavaScript code. Personally PREP stays away from the JavaScript coding as it can lead to some security issues, especially for a multi user platform such as ours. Once this is done, all you need to do is add this into a “Text” widget in your sidebar of your site. If you do not have access to do that, then contact your webmaster and they can instruct you more on this subject.In some cases this can require coding added to the theme itself or some adjustments to certain parameters that can only be done by an admin or webmaster. In our case, each and ever member has the ability to add this on their own site and place it any where on their sidebars without having to contact us. With that said, if you run into issues, please feel free to call us and we can walk you through the process.

OK, now that we have the why and how to out of the way, let’s get down to the where. I thought long and hard of how I could help each and everyone of you get this tool on your site the easiest way. With that said, I decide that I would just iFrame their page into this post. Hence, you will be able to generate your own code right from this article and there will not be a need to bounce around. I hope that you find this both helpful and useful.

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.

A few days ago I had a member  of our real estate network, Positive Real Estate Professionals, ask me “What can Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn do for my blog”? I decided the best way to answer this is by writing an article so that anyone else that has this same question lurking can get the answers. Without further adieu, let’s dive into this article.

I guess the first thing that one has to understand is Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and what they are designed to do. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term “microblogging”, this is the best way to identify each of these networks. Microblogging is very different from blogging in that the posts are much shorter. In most cases, your posts are limited in the characters that you can use. For Twitter and LinkedIn, it is 140 characters. This includes spaces and punctuation. For , it is 420 and the same rule applies for spaces and punctuations. The biggest difference between microblogging and blogging is the fact that most microbloggers use “status” messages like ” I am brushing my teeth” or “I am heading to a closing”. While these are fine, they do nothing for your blog.

Having a blogsite that is integrated with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or even FriendFeed, it is easy to have a notification go out to the systems automatically that states that a new post has been created on your blogsite. In doing this, you can actually alert readers to this fact quickly and automatically. Ultimately, this will drive more readers to your site. A integration simply sends a message to the twitter account supplied and allows for it to state that “What can Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn do for my blog” has just been published on PREP, for example. With Facebook, the best integration to use is an application called NetworkedBlogs. It allows for a short excerpt to automatically post to your profile and/or fan page. With , there is an integration to have your blog feed set up.

In closing, the answer to the question is that these networks can drive more readers to your blogsite. Ultimately, this is what we are all after.

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.

For those of you that are not aware, Google has launched Google’s Social Search and it is changing the face of SEOs and SERPs. The way this works is Google takes the friends that you have on and and uses that to personalize your search so that you can find the sites that are more relevant to what you are looking for. Also, Google will pull from your GMail account if you have one. Ultimately, you could end up with search results of many of your friends.

Now, with that being said, it will also have implications on your individual sites as well. Having a site that is integrated with Twitter and has just became seriously important in the scheme of SEO and SERPs. Below is a video that will be able to explain it a little more.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlpTjP6h6Ms&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

So, what does this mean for the average Joe or Jane Blogger. Simple. It is important that you work at networking Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and Gmail more diligently. Driving consumers and readers to your site that will leave comments will also help you in gaining steam in the scheme of SEOs. The bottom line is that most of us use the internet to conduct business and the more visitors that we can drive to our sites, the better chance that we have in order to convert those readers to potential clients. Ultimately, it would do you well to have as many connections established as possible via various social networking sites and tools.

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.

Over the last six months or so, I have refused to join any group on . I get asked at least 25 times a week why I choose not to join groups. So, in an effort to answer this question, I decided to write an article about it. I hope that this clears up the mystery of groups versus Business Pages (a.k.a. Fan Pages) on .

First, we need to take a look at the things that separate the two.

Business Page

• Purpose of a business page is to promote and generate interest and conversation around a business, organization, public figure, celebrity, etc.
• People become “fans” of your page (a.k.a. your business).
• Content posted on a business page shows up in the News Feeds of the fans
• Fan’s can’t necessarily add photos and videos, but they can post on the Wall and in discussions if allowed to. (This can be controlled by the admins in the edit section of the page)
• There are tons of applications that can be added to a Business Page to increase interactions.
• Administrators of the Business Page can send bulk suggestions to their friends to become fans of the page.
• Administrators can review visitor statistics, interactions and member demographics.

Group

• Purpose of a group is to bring people together to create a community around a specific topic, interest, activities, etc.
• There are not any stats on interactions or member demographics.
• Applications cannot be added to groups.
• People become “members” of your group.
• Members can add photos, videos, comments, links and more.
• Content posted within a group stays inside the group.
• Admins of the group can bulk invite people to become members.

Now that the main differences between the two have been defined, let me get into this a bit deeper. For the foremost, business pages are used to network your business around . Group pages are more for a person’s agenda. For this reason alone, I stay away from the groups. In some groups, it seems that people use the power of the group email to spam your inbox on a constant basis about what they think is important to the members. If you are a politically oriented group, it might be relevant that Obama signed a bill into law but you could probably care less what the weather in Pensacola is. In a nut shell, make sure which one you are joining.

Yesterday I received a great email from one of the members of this real estate network. In that email the member was looking for actionable steps to take that could help maximize the available benefits of PREP. I am converting my email response into this post that will hopefully benefit all of our members. By the way, all of these suggestions are FREE!

1. As content is definitely king, try posting at least two original articles to you PREP site this week. By doing this we will be able to promote a full article rather than a truncated feed that utilizes a redirect that site visitors must follow to read the entire article.
2. Change your feed on your main site from a limited feed to a full feed. If you do not know how to do this contact your site’s webmaster and request that they do this for you; if you have a login to your main site we may be able to help you with this as well. This will allow visitors to read the entire article. (Refer to the promotion point above).
3. Join one (1) additional social media site, I would recommend , , , , or and integrate that profile into your Social Media Profiles (under settings on your dashboard); Dashboard>Settings>Social Media Page.
4. Consider having us add the events calendar to your PREP site. This will allow you to enter events, a simple and straightforward process done from your dashboard, like upcoming seminars or classes that may be of interest to your site’s visitors and other area professionals. You can also automatically create a post using the events you enter by simply checking a box.
5. Submit the main city you would like us to use on your Local Market Explorer. The Local Market Explorer allows you to put some quality info on your site for visitors to use. The info is updated automatically on a regular basis. You will have to apply for a few API keys (also FREE) to make the LME work properly. Your first LME is FREE. Additional LME locales can be coded into your site for $15 per city. Please call, email (either Danny or me), or submit a support ticket and we can walk you through applying for the API keys and with any other questions you may have. Here is an example of a member’s site with a single LME http://positiverealestateprofessionals.com/judyluna/local/Fayetteville/AR/ and here is an example of a member’s site with multiple LMEs http://positiverealestateprofessionals.com/blelak/ (simply hover over the tab entitled ‘Local Area & Market Information’ to see the multiple LMEs she has selected).

Over the last few months, I have been reading and studying videos and how to get them to show high in the search engines. Most people think that they will leave that to , , , or any of the other video sites that allow you to upload and share your videos. Well, that is just the start of the issues for your videos. While these sites might help you get your videos high up in the rankings with SEO, they are not doing anything for your website. With that said, let me share a few tips that might actually help you.

First, SEO algorithms cannot read lips. To resolve this problem, you need to be able to provide a text form that the spiders can crawl. If you are a member of our real estate network, we make that easy by using a wordpress plugin called “All in One SEO.” This allows you to title your video and add the necessary keywords that the spiders are looking for. Both of these things are very important, but if I had to weigh them out by importance, I would have to say that the title is the most important factor. Put some time in and do a little research before you just regurgitate a title.

Secondly, you need to focus on inbound links. If you are going to have a successful Video SEO campaign, you have to have contextually related links coming from a wide range of sites from the internet. Videos that garner a wealth of attention can do this easily. However, for most of us, there is a lot of work that we need to do to make this part of it happen. This is where my final point comes in.

Lastly, give your readers the ability to share your videos on , , , , and the multitude of other social media outlets. In doing this, you can garner those inbound links that are so important to your video SEO campaign.

In closing, many people lose out with their videos because they do not plan. It is the opinion of both webmasters at PREP that each and every article that you publish should increase your SEO. Add a new dimension to your site with video blogging. So grab those video cameras and film your next listing or home staging complete with narration.

Just the other day I had a Realtor® tell me “Blogging is all Hype.” After digging deeper, I found the roots of her issues and had a very productive conversation with her. It seems that she was getting no visitors to her website even though it was a gorgeous website. It basically reminds me of the old adage of “All dressed up and no where to go.” I once asked the question of “If no one visits your blog, is it still a blog?” and never got much of an answer from the readers. Let me answer that question, “Yes it is still a blog!”

Whether or not people visit your blog does not make or break it from being a blog. What it does do however is hinder your ability to convert visitors to clients. Without visitors, there is not even the potential to garner new clients from your blog. With that said, that does not mean that blogging is all hype. In fact, the hype today is BLOGGING. If you do not believe me, talk to the millions of people that are successfully doing it for their business today. What got me started on this subject is that a good friend of mine actually asked me the other day, “If I have a business page on Facebook, should I keep it strictly business or should I talk about little Johnny’s first steps?” My answer was simple, if you are looking to gain business, then stick to business. You can still show people that you are human without discussing your personal life all the time. Adding some here and there is fine.

Every day I am asked how to drive readers to a site and how to convert those readers to leads. Driving readers is no more than using social media outlets, writing great content and showing up high in search engine results. As for converting readers to clients, that is a horse of a different color. Great content can make this easier, but for the most part, you have to have a site that has lead capture forms as well as a clear call to action on your site. I have seen many people have a contact form on their site with no introduction to the contact form and no call to action to prompt the reader to use the contact form. I have seen forms that are called “Obtain More Information” which require readers to fill out personal information, but gives no reason for the required info nor what the reader can hope to get for providing it. Having the forms on the site it the first step to gaining the lead, but it is NOT the only step. These are a few of the common mistakes that I have seen. The great thing is these are mistakes that can be corrected easily.

Blogging can be an important part of your business today. It is really up to how you work it. Some people have mastered it. Some people have perfected it. Some people have manipulated it. Most people are in need of help with it. Where do you fall? If we can help you, contact us @ 865-951-0522 or visit http://positiverealestateprofessionals.com/membership-request-process.

Yesterday, I was blown out of my chair. A REALTOR® asked me a question that I was unprepared for. “Do you need to use Social Media outlets?” he asked. Well, the answer is actually “NO”. You do not HAVE to use social media outlets like , , , or any of the other social media platforms. The real question though, is why would you not want to use any of these services? Now that the real question is out, let’s examine it.

All three of the above mentioned social media outlets have FREE memberships to them; Linked In also has a premium side but the free side is adequate enough. There is something to be said about free, however, free is no good if you do not use them. For someone in the Real Estate business, the FREE marketing that you can get from any of these platforms is exceptional in itself. However, if you are able to combine it with a Real Estate Network such as Positive Real Estate Professionals, it can be even more beneficial. You might be asking yourself, why is that?

Many people seem to get overwhelmed with social media and blogging. If you are new to any of this, it can seem like a daunting task. When using our network, there is no need to worry about being intimidated. We have integrated both Facebook and Twitter in the system where you really have to do nothing more that get new followers. All the rest is done for you. The system will tweet all of your articles directly into Twitter and will post excerpts to your Facebook profile and/or business page. Therefore, there is minimal additional work that you have to do.

With all of this taken into consideration,  why would you not be using social media outlets?

I was talking to a potential client yesterday and one of the questions that I asked her was “Is your web presence staged forward?” The answer that I received from her was what I expected though I actually did not expect for her to be quite so frank. She knew that her web presence was basically non-existent. She had a profile, a account, and a company based website. But, even with that, she still could not be found in searches. Her question to me was a simple one, “WHY?” My answer back was not so simple. An hour later she understood what she needed to do to change this issue. Now, the ball is in her court and she has decisions to make. So, let’s take a look at what I explained to her.

Regardless what tools you are using on the Internet, you might might not have a web presence to speak of. Many people think they do because they tweet all they can, or they update their Facebook status message, or they post updates on , or even better, they write a new article on their blog. However, what some people do not realize is this MIGHT not be helping you. The biggest reason for this is that the person has no strategy or plan set in place and they go forth aimlessly.

Before I get in to deep, let me give you an example of someone that is doing it right. Fred Chamberlin came to me a while back and asked if I could build a site for him. Soon, it turned into 3 sites and he also became a member of this real estate network. Fred knew that his hard work would not pay off if he did not start tying everything together. He also knew that he would not be successful in sourcing business if he did not have a plan. Together, we mapped out a plan that would work for Fred. Since that time, Fred has come to me again for a temporary site for the mortgage company where he works, Alpine Mortgage. The page is centered around the Million Dollar Stimulus Challenge that Alpine Mortgage has issued out to other lenders in the Lane County, Oregon area. In creating this site on our real estate network, Fred needed to come up in Google searches quickly. So, we took all of this into consideration and helped him construct a plan. In the first day, he was on page one with three out of the ten keyword searches that we came up with. He also came up on page two for three of the other keyword searches out of the ten. That gave him six out of ten Google keyword searches that managed to land on the second page or higher from the start. This entrenches his web presence. So, let’s get back on track here.

If you do a Google search using ten keywords or key phrases that potential clients looking for your service would likely use, where do you come up? Another question to ask yourself is, if someone tweets your article or site, does that tweet show up in the same Google searches? Moreover, if they post a link to your article on Facebook, does it also show up in your Google searches? Most people cannot answer yes to this question. If you are one of them, then you might want to contact your webmaster and ask them why not? Sometimes it is their fault and sometimes it is your own fault. Now I know many people do not like to be told it is their fault. But, sometime, somewhere, you have to start accepting that is very well might be your fault and find out how to fix it.

Unfortunately a lot of people do not have the time or energy to fix these problems. There are ten spots on the front page of each and every Google search. There are thousands, maybe even millions of webmasters that are trying to get their clients there. There are some people who are their own webmasters and are attempting the same thing. Remember, in the end there are ONLY ten spots. Is your web presence staged forward enough to grab one of those spots in several searches?

Over the years, internet advertising has gotten huge; maybe larger than tradition print advertising. With that growth, the problems have gotten just as big. Most of the problems deal directly with a right way and a wrong way to advertise. What do I mean by this you wonder? Well, let’s take a few moments to look at this issue. For today’s article, we will use Facebook as the site to advertise on and their policies about doing so.

Have you ever noticed the button on the bottom of every comment on your Facebook business page? When you click on it, a box will open up and there are three choices. The bottom choice deals with Advertisement/Spam. This is one of the places and ways that Facebook has of telling us that it is wrong to advertise on someone else’s Facebook business page. In my opinion, there are many things that make this type of ‘comment spam’ wrong. This is where right and wrong come into play. If you look at the picture to the left, you will see the report form that comes up. I used a comment from us so that no one would get the wrong idea and think that I am pointing a finger at them.

There are many things that I see that are wrong with this type of advertising. One would seem to be that you are apparently too lazy to create your own business page to post your own advertisement on. Another might be that you are to lazy to build up the same amount of followers in order to get your message out. Another might be that you perceive nothing wrong with trying to cover up their message with yours.

Now, before I go any further, let me say this. I am not claiming that we at Positive Real Estate Professionals have all the answers. At the same time, I am claiming that we do know the difference between right and wrong and we have been marketing on the internet long enough to know what etiquette is right and which is wrong. I personally think that the people that are not going to like this post are the people that have a tendency to walk on the gray line or cross over the line completely when it comes to internet advertising. So, let’s move forward and look at some proper ways to market using the internet.

In respect to this post and to Facebook, this advertising strategy is based solely on Facebook and your blog. One of the great things about Facebook is it allows you to get your message out to a large group of people while at the same time, making the article ‘sticky’ in the meantime. In this case, ‘sticky’ means that it stays in the same order that it was created in on your profile or business page. Most people are still only ‘cracking the egg’ when it comes to advertising on Facebook. So, lets take a look at the ways that you can use Facebook to get your message out that are considered acceptable.

• Facebook Ads
• Facebook Business Pages
• NetworkedBlogs
• Your Personal Facebook Profile

Now mind you, this is not the ONLY ways to advertise on Facebook. These are just the best four ways that I have found to use Facebook to get our business model in front of everyone. I have linked the top three for easy access for the people that are not using them. Each of the tools have been found to be very handy in helping to promote not only our real estate network, but also all of the real estate professionals that are members of Positive Real Estate Professionals.

In closing, please understand this. There is nothing wrong in getting someone to let you advertise on their page. As a matter of fact, there is something to be said for getting permission to do this. However, if you are using the comment section to promote your website or your business without permission, then it is wrong. To attempt to overshadow the author and their message is not only lazy, but highly intrusive, not to mention, underhanded.