Positive Real Estate Professionals

Marketing properties with a listings blog just became easy. Imagine walking into a listings presentation appointment armed with the ability to have your client’s property reach the top of the search engines quickly. The great thing is, there are no black hat tricks used to accomplish this. Another great thing is, you do not have to log out of one site and into another to post to this additional blog. Everything is done on the same platform and is almost seamless.

One of the things with Postlets and VFlyers is that they require more room that what is typically on a page. To make sure that we have enough room for this to set up properly, we just remove the sidebars all together. Therefore, the property is front and center and is getting all of the attention that it requires. Also, once a property is listed in PREP, it does not take long for it to climb to the top of the search engines.

Now, before many of you ask why “categories” or “tags” cannot accomplish this, let me explain this; neither of these are indexed by the search engines. If they were, the bots would crash any network once they started to crawl them. So, having the additional blog gains the ability to have ALL the listings found in a search in one spot. It also allows for ALL the listings to be ‘index, follow’ and this is huge as it will increase your SEO.

As with any additional blog add on, there is a one time charge of $100. Once that fee is paid, it will take a couple of hours to be setup. If you have questions, please call us at 865-951-0522 or email me.

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.

Blogging is NOT the future of real estate; it is the NOW. Before someone thinks that I mean that blogging is the only thing that you should focus on, that is far from the truth. With that said, if you are not blogging, then you are missing out on the success that millions are enjoying. Is it hard work? Well, yes. Anything that brings proven results requires us to work at it. If it did not require work, we could charge $150 a month for our online real estate network as opposed to the $150 a year and people would still flock to us.

Since I started blogging in 2007, I noticed that I was able to reach more potential consumers than I could through normal means. Print adds were not working, not to mention how expensive they were. Leads just seemed to never pan out when we bought them. However, all that seemed to change when I started growing as a blogger. The reason was not that I became a great blogger; rather I was able to put my message in front of a larger audience at one time.

Blogging can change the way that you communicate with your potential consumers. Having the ability to reach more than 350,000,000 people with the click of one button has to be appealing to even the skeptic. There is no print add out there that could deliver a tenth of that number that I am aware of. Think of it this way. Major companies are setting up social media departments just for this very purpose. If it works for them, then it can work for you.

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.

After reading the title of this post you may be wondering how an interactive events calendar can be used as a marketing tool for your business. The answer to this is multi-leveled and will be explored in this post. It should be noted that all Positive Real Estate Professionals members have FREE access to an Events Calendar for their sites if they choose to use it.

Before we get to how it can be effectively used, let’s look at how it functions. The Events Calendar can be set up as either a sidebar widget or have its own page with a navigation tab. I recommend setting it up with its own page because it has more visibility and is easier for visitors to use. If you choose to set it up as a sidebar widget the path from your dashboard is: Dashboard>Appearance>Widgets. Simply drag and drop the Events Calendar into your sidebar and you are done. To add the calendar as a page you will again need to begin on your dashboard; here is the path: Dashboard>Pages>Add New. Simply title the new page whatever you want it to be called. Then select the HTML (rather than Visual) tab and add “[[Events Calendar Large]]” (Do NOT use the quotes, nor the spaces). If you want site visitors to be able to submit events for inclusion you will need to then click on the Visual tab and add a cform which allows them to do so. If you are a PREP member the form is called ‘Submit An Event’. If you do not see this form in your list of forms just send me an email or submit a support ticket and I will happily add it to your list of forms.

Now that this interactive tool has been added to your site, let’s look at why it is good for marketing. One of the most obvious reasons that it is good for your site is that the events you enter can be set up to be their own post. By making them their own post they are viewed as new content and are fully index-able by the search engines. To make an event a post you would enter all the event info on the Events Calendar screen. The path for this from your dashboard is: Dashboard>Events Calendar. At the bottom of where you enter the event info you will see a check box that you do want to select entitled ‘Create Post For Event’. Lastly, you will also see a dropdown box that allows you to keep your event as a ‘draft’ or ‘publish’ it. You want to keep your event as a ‘draft’ which will allow you to go into your ‘Posts’ header and publish the event as its own post; if you publish it directly it will not create a post. Here is the path from your dashboard: Dashboard>Posts>Edit>(Select Post) Publish.

In addition to your events being indexed as new content, it is important to have FREE tools for your site’s visitors to use. About a week and a half ago, I wrote a post entitled, Offer Useful Tools To Site Visitors – Marketing Your Business Online. The reasoning behind having an events calendar is similar in that it is an interactive tool where site visitors can get info on upcoming local events. The more events that you add to your calendar, the more likely your site will become the destination for information about ‘what’s going on in your community’. Once your site develops a reputation as the place for local happenings, or has sufficient SEO strength to make your events show up high in search engine results then you have dramatically increased your likelihood of both new and return visitors. These visitors are both potential clients and referral sources; if you were moving to a new area wouldn’t you rather work with someone who appears to have their finger on the pulse of that community?

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 newsletter is a great way to keep your name and business in front of site visitors, past clients, and potential referral sources. In the highly competitive times in which we live, it is important to maintain contact with your SOI (Sphere of Influence). An easy, and generally economical (some services are FREE with conditions) way to do this is through an opt-in newsletter.

An opt-in newsletter is basically a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly email that is sent out to your newsletter subscribers. Email newsletters oftentimes highlight articles you have written, important events in your area, or anything else that can be used to stimulate a subscriber’s interest in your business. You want to make subscribing to your newsletter as easy as possible; this means the placement of the subscribe box should be highly visible on your website. One thing to remember is that those on your distribution list have explicitly agreed to receive your newsletter by signing up for it. Because of this opt-in feature your newsletters are NOT spam. Conversely, it should be equally easy for those who no longer choose to receive your newsletter to unsubscribe.

There are many newsletter services to choose from. Below are several that are very reputable. Click on the various icons to visit their sites for more information. BTW, PREP is not compensated in any way by any of the following services.

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.

The growing popularity of video and music sites for fun and business has made this medium enormously popular on websites, blogsites, and hybrids of the two. Who can resist the humor of a Mac/Tom Cruise parody [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp1TsekPbJw[/youtube] or the cuteness of a ‘Moonwalking Santa Cat’ [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqQhbAQsmU0[/youtube] Perhaps the funny and cute are not appropriate for your site, maybe you upload a narrated video walk-thru of one of your listings or a narrated walking tour of a local park. Videos can be used in posts, in sidebars, on separate pages, pretty much anywhere that the embed HTML code can be used. Using videos can definitely enhance your site though I recommend using them sparingly as they can slow your load time which is an emerging issue we will explore in another post.

One of the big issues to keep in mind when you are using any video with sound on your site is that you do NOT want any of your videos to ‘autorun’. You may be wondering what is the big issue with autorun videos? Consider where people surf the internet. Though it is generally frowned upon by most employers, many people covertly surf the internet at work. The last thing you want to do is have someone who is at work visit your site and get caught because you have some video with sound or music that autoruns. Anything with sound such as flashpages, videos, music, etc. should NOT be set to autorun but should only run at the visitors request through clicking ‘play’ or ‘start’. After all the surest way to get someone NOT to visit your site again is to get them in trouble at work because you use autorun.

Thankfully most of the major video sites have wised up to this issue and now default their embed codes without an autorun. If you are uncertain whether the media you are using is set to autorun, just take a look at the HTML code. I realize that code can be scary for many people but honestly this is quite simple. Scan the code looking for the term autorun or autoplay; if neither of these terms are there then you are good to go as there is no autorun feature embedded in the code. If you do see one of these terms they should be followed by either ‘true’ or ‘false’ or ’1′ or ’2′. If you see true or 1, then the autorun is enabled and it should be changed to false or 2 to disable it.

…And those flash intro pages, simply do not add music when it is being created. If  you already have music on your flash intro page I would highly recommend removing it yourself or having your webmaster remove it. You may love Chopin or Beethoven but imagine it suddenly blaring out of someone’s speakers in an open concept office.

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.

Remember the old days of phone books? The frustration of doing multiple searches manually until you found the right category where the business you were looking for was listed? Okay, maybe those days aren’t too distant of a memory. If however you are thirty or younger chances are pretty good that you may never have used a phone book.

These once staples of every household, delivered each year whether needed or not, are quickly going the way of the manual typewriter. In today’s internet age, it is much more convenient for someone looking for a phone number or address to use their computer or smartphone. One of the original directories, the yellow pages, has had a digital counterpart for many years now. You may even recognize the familiar logo,

The point of this post is not the dethroning of the once mighty phone book, this post is to let you in on a little secret. You can get listed in the internet’s largest phone directory for FREE! Remember how expensive it was (and still is) to have an ad in the traditional yellow pages? And this was a recurring expense. Today you have to wonder how effective an ad placed in a medium that is rarely if ever used by the younger generations and is geographically limited really is. The reach and longevity of the internet and internet marketing is undeniable. To get listed for FREE simply click their logo above to visit their site where you can submit or update your business’ info. Now just so you are aware, superpages generates its revenue through online advertisers so you will see some advertisements on each page as well as ‘sponsored results’ which are also paid advertisements. At the bottom of any superpages page is a link to ‘Add or Edit a Business‘. All you have to do is fill in the required info and your business will be listed. The basic listing is FREE but be advised that there are premium options available as well if you choose to use them.

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.

Have you ever noticed that when you do a Google search that oftentimes appearing near the top of the search engine results is a map with several businesses who fit your search criteria highlighted? Check out the image to the right for an example. FYI – The map includes a website link and phone number to each highlighted business both of which I have blocked out with green ‘X’ as it is PREP’s policy not to promote non-members. The search term I used in this particular search was ‘realtor orlando fl’.

You might be wondering why these particular businesses have been highlighted and not others. The first inclination might be to say that they must be paying for this placement but that would be incorrect. Google is very good about identifying paid ads with a badge. So how can your business be highlighted for FREE in relevant Google searches?

The first step is to create a FREE business listing in Google, Yahoo!, and any other search engines who offer this service.

The other step (and many people may be doing this already) is in your signature line at the end of your posts you should say something like ‘Serving Winter Park, Fairview Shores, Pine Hills, Orlovista…’ listing up to ten (10) of the areas you service. You don’t want to stuff your signature line as this can be seen by the major search engines as a ‘black hat tactic’ and actually get you penalized. Though it is common to include your phone number in your signature line, you should also include your office name and address. These techniques will pay off quite quickly if done consistently. Its your business, why not do what you can to highlight it in these search engine maps.

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.

This is part three in the Marketing Your Business Online series of posts. In this installment we will look at the sometimes controversial world of social media marketing (SMM). Social Media is the medium through which social media marketing is conducted. Do these terms seem foreign to you? I would venture to guess that most people who are reading this post are actually participating in some social media already.

Some of the most commonly used and generally most social of the social medias are , , and .These are used for both personal and business. Some people maintain separate accounts on these social media networks to keep the two separated. Be warned, if you do take on the task of maintaining separate accounts on these social media networks you are in for a lot more work. Facebook offers a great way to resolve the dilemma of separating your business life from your personal life through their FREE business pages.

Using Twitter and Facebook Business Pages as Marketing Tools

is more specifically a professional network. It is a great place to network with other professionals in your industry and other industries. On this type of network there is generally less game playing, idle chatter, and other social diversions that seem to populate MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

Are you treating LinkedIn like a red headed stepchild?

Another type of social media is characterized by less extensive profiles than those mentioned above. , , and among many others are social media networks that are are centered around the sharing of web pages with their friends who have common interests. These webpages also get indexed in a system whereby the general community has the opportunity to view them. A distinct feature of these social media networks is that members can help to promote or bury particular web pages. This allows for things like Digg’s front page where the most popular articles appear. Stumble Upon and Reddit both have something similar to Digg’s front page. These ‘front page’ type setups are important because they can bring thousands of visitors to a particular article. One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t actually have to make it to the ‘front page’ to attract thousands of visitors to a post using these social media tools. Another important aspect of these types of social medias is the ability to integrate a system specific toolbar with your browser. This type of toolbar allows for quick and easy participation in these social medias.

Social Media – Do You Digg?

And finally there are the social media bookmarking sites like , , , , , and . These social medias generally allow for varying levels of personal profiles. They are useful is because they allow you to bookmark sites you like in either a public or private forum. These bookmarks can then be shared with your friends in an effort to drive traffic.

Social Bookmarking – Today’s Rolodex

All four of these are types of social media. They are all characterized by some level of social interaction, personal profile, circles of friends, and the ability to be able to share what you feel is important on the internet. With that said most users of these networks use them to discover interesting posts on the internet while building friends. It must always be remembered that these are social networks first and foremost.

These social networks are the wellspring of social media marketing. Social media marketing is exactly what you would guess; the use of various social media to market something. This is also where the controversy comes into play. Many users of social media, especially the ‘purists’ feel that social media is being destroyed or loosing its true social value because of this type of marketing. Some people view any type of social media marketing as spam and those who engage in it as spammers. Let me say that the term spam is liberally applied (and mis-applied) to a wide range of individuals. In fact labeling someone as a spammer, or some site as a spam site can be like the kiss of death. Most of the social networks have systems in place to try to identify obvious spammers and remove/ban them from the network.

So what is the difference between social media marketing and spamming? The answer to this is quite subjective and depends on your particular perspective. From my point of view a spammer is someone who bombards you with unwanted advertisements for products. In the past I have received catalog pages and offers for Acai berry products and almost every other product imaginable. Generally these shared web pages or obvious advertising blog posts are quite blatant in their attempt to get you to buy whatever they happen to be selling. They usually offer little in the way of new or innovative information on whatever they are pushing. These are all red flags to me that indicate spam.

On the other hand social media marketing done in a professional manner often presents information in a non-sales pitch way. If you are pitching something you will eventually be classified as a spammer and may be banned from a particular social network. Non-spammy marketing posts often provide a wealth of information. The purpose of these informative posts is generally to raise the interest of readers and get visitors to a particular website. Once at a particular website then the building of a relationship can occur, if it hasn’t already. Remember people are much more likely to become a client or referral source if they feel they know you. In reality we all have our own definition of what constitutes spam; and spam is not social media marketing.

Below are some excellent articles from PREP’s archives that discuss various aspects of social media and social media marketing.

Do you need to use Social Media outlets?

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

Embracing Technology

Is Your Web Presence Staged Forward?

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.

Now that you have decided the purpose of your business blog and identified (as best you can) your audience, it is time to get blogging! Now I can’t tell you how to write, hopefully you learned this at some point in your educational career. What I can do is reassure those of you who are nervous about writing, unsure of how to begin, or simply feel that you have nothing to say, that we all had these self-doubts the first time we glared at the computer monitor and it glared back at us. Believe me when I tell you that the comfort level with putting yourself out there through blogging does get better the more you write.

Remember the ultimate goal of a blog on a business site is to attract more business. Nobody is expecting a PhD. level dissertation nor even a college level paper. In fact, writing in a lofty manner may mean that your message goes right over the heads of those who it is intended to reach. I would definitely recommend writing clear and concise posts that maintain their focus and are easily understood by your site’s visitors.

Once you have written your blog post it is important that you check it for grammatical and spelling errors; many visitors will tolerate one or perhaps two errors but the ‘Grammar Police’ in the blogosphere can be quite brutal and unforgiving in pointing out your errors. I would definitely recommend using the option and/or a browser with a built in spellcheck function. Additionally you may want to add pictures (make sure they are yours or you have gotten permission to use them) or videos to your post. These should illustrate the point you are making and enhance the overall message of your post. Media is also effective at drawing the reader through the post. A top complaint of blog readers is running into a ‘wall of words’. This means that many readers feel overwhelmed by blog posts that seem to be numerous paragraphs of writing without any illustration.

There is one last thing you should always do before hitting that button, preview your post. On WordPress platforms this is easy to do thanks to the button located under the Publish tab on the right hand side of your dashboard. This will allow you to see and read your post just as a visitor to your site would. Once you are happy with your post, hit the publish button and you are done. Well, except for moderating and responding to comments…

For some more info on the basics of blogging, check out these past PREP posts:

What Do Consumers Want From Your Website?

Blogging 101: It’s Not Rocket Science

How do I blog? Oh, let me count the ways.

Are Your Videos Formatted for SEO

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.

As a business person you have realized just how essential blogging can be to your business as part of an overall online marketing plan and now you are ready to join the party. Party may not be the appropriate term for a blog that is meant to maintain current clients while also attracting new clients. After all the world of blogging no longer consists of only the personal journals that once dominated it. Journaling, poetry, and photo blogs can provide insight and be quite entertaining; I actually enjoy several of these types of blogs and maintain my own photo blog, Rich’s Pics. This post however is concerned with blogging for business and that is the reason for this first in a series of marketing posts.

Consider Your Blog’s Purpose

Why are you blogging? There are many reasons people choose to add a blog component to their business website or join a professional network with a built in blog component. These reasons collectively can be used to establish a map of sorts to help guide your topics. Here are just a few reasons:

• to show their knowledge of different aspects of their industry
• to keep visitors informed of the latest developments in their industry
• to demonstrate knowledge of local communities and markets as they relate to their industry
• to provide an interactive platform in order to foster a relationship with site visitors and convert those visitors into clients or referral sources

Consider Your Blog’s Audience

Now that you have a grasp on the types of topics you want to include in your blog, it is important to figure out who your intended audience is. Are you writing for the benefit of other professionals in your industry? Are you writing to general consumers who happen upon your site? Is your site optimized to attract targeted consumers? These are just a few possibilities when it comes to your audience; you could be writing to all or none of these. It is my belief that your blog should actually be written for all of these audiences.

In order to write to diverse audiences you may want to vary your topics. For instance let’s say you write posts on your blog three times a week. On the first day you may want to post about professional topics (i.e. Realtors® might post market reports while home inspectors might post about mold remediation, etc). While these posts might be of interest to both general and targeted consumers, they should definitely appeal to other professionals in your industry and can be a way to build professional relationships. On your second blog day you may want to post about general topics that relate to your industry (i.e. lenders might post about tax credits for first time homebuyers while home re-modelers might post about the tax credits for upgrading to more energy efficient appliances, insulation, etc). These general topics should have a wide appeal to all three groups. On your third blog day you might want to write about local places, events, schools, etc. that make your area a great place to live (i.e. hiking trails, museums, festivals, etc). In addition to demonstrating your knowledge of your local area, this is the type of detailed information that can convey some of the local flavor of your area. Many people, especially those new to an area or considering relocation to your area, are looking for this type of insight into a community. These topic suggestions are to help you maintain the diversity of your posts and should be adapted to fit your particular needs.

Don’t miss the next post in this marketing series. Meanwhile, here are three articles that have been published previously on this real estate network that pertain to the substance of this post:

Separating Business from Personal: The Art of Marketing

How do I attract buyers to my site?

Should I use Generic Content on my blog?

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.