Where in the world...

Have a website? Do you know where on the planet the visitors to your site are located? Do you know where your website traffic is coming from?  Are they around the corner, in your home state, say Ohio or Tim Puck Two?

Important to know right?

In the world of the internet, there are so many bits and pieces to understand. The BIG question is what is important and honestly what is a waste of your valuable time.  With that in mind, there is one valuable tool you should incorporate into your website. Google Analytics.

Google Analytics Will Provide

The location of the visitor. I posted an article about the upcoming winter weather that ties in with this concept.

Language of the visitor

Age of potential client…Think target audience a.k. A  Baby Boomer, First Time Home Buyer…

How long they stay on your site... obviously the longer, the better.

Where are they leaving your website ...for example does your contact us page work

There is loads more information available that you can glean from Google Analytics, but right now I will not bore you with this stuff. BUT here are the steps to create a Google Analytics. I have put a link and the actual email address so you do not think anything funky is going on!

Create a Google Email Account. https://accounts.google.com/signup

Sign into Google Analytics. https://www.google.com/analytics/

Once in your account go to the “Admin” tab along the top of the page.

You will see three columns, go to the first”Account” column, click the down arrow (on the right-hand side) and “Create New Account”.

Done...

Once you complete this step, you will find a code beginning with a UA and put this into your website. All WordPress websites have a "home" for this code.

Give it a few days and you will start receiving information. You then will need to log into your Google Analytics account to review information about your website traffic.

This is very basic information, but it is a start. If you are not monitoring your website, this simple step will give you valuable information about potential buyers and sellers.

We are offering a new Real Estate Social Media Update Package. Find out more about this service here.

or...

http://www.localfacemarketing.com/real-estate-social-media-update-package/ 

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A Real Estate Journey Down Memory Lane

Image the view of real estate from the International Space Station. Daily activities of a Realtor®  have changed so quickly. This post takes a journey down memory lane. 

Here is how this post came was born...

This past Sunday as I lay in bed I logged onto the International Space Station. I recall as a youngster watching the first man step foot on the moon (on a black and white television if I remember correctly). The International Space Station circles the globe every 90 minutes and viewers can see all that transpires in real time.  

 I was mesmerized.

This led me to think about the changes we have all experienced in the last number of years. Obviously this stems from the invention of the Internet and all that followed this discovery. These technological advances and changes have certainly had its effect on the world of real estate. 

For example and back in the day listings were presented in paperback books only available to Real Estate Brokerages. In many cases, plat books were used to determine locations and boundary lines. Closing packages were couriered to title companies.

 Consumers were reliant on you, the Realtor®.

Sure buyers drove around neighborhoods in search of the old familiar yard sign and still do but a Realtor was the “key to the front door”. That key, by the way, was picked up by the buyer’s agent at the listing brokerage’s office...whew!

 A Realtor® was contacted, believe it or not on a land line telephone, next came the age of the beeper and soon after the mobile phone.

 To find a property, ye good ole map was used.

My my things have changed. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and the list goes on including the newly promoted in the Florida Realtor Magazine and my recent post here.

 I am curious. What social sites do you use? I have created a quick poll and would appreciate your input.

Do you recall other aspects of the real estate days gone by? Leave your comments below, I would love to know more!

Infographics, the modern day substitute for the comic book.

All infographics tell a story for the reader in an easy to read and understandable format. You will find infographics everywhere, from websites like this to articles in the Wall Street Journal. There are many free sites that enable the user to create infographics, two worth looking at are piktochart.com and infogram.am.( yes this .am is correct). Ideas for the use of this form of content include creating checklists, tips and lessons( tutorials).

   

Google, The Farmer's Almanac and Your Real Estate Business

The news is out from the Farmer's Almanac.The weather up north this coming winter is set to be cold and nasty.

Chuckle Chuckle!

Today's Online Real Estate Marketing Tip is designed to prepare you now for your marketing efforts over the winter months. My aim is to show you how you can really target, by location, your advertising, whether it be online or traditional in style.

Google offer a tool called Google Analytics. Without getting too geeky this tool, placed in the back end of your website provides a lot of great information.

One feature of Google Analytics is the "Location" feature. This report allows you to see where the traffic is coming from to your website. It is a pretty cool tool as it zooms down to country, state, and quite often it picks up towns/cities.

So rather then spending your advertising dollars " willy nilly" by using Google Analytics you can spend your money wisely.

This concept can be used by Realtors and Hotel/s Motels.. anyone wishing to attract custom from the cold and nasty weather...another Chuckle Chuckle.

Hope this marketing tip helps! 

Art Thou Responsive Oh Email Of Mine???

Are your emails responsive? (Geeky term for visible on mobile devices and tablets)

Last week I had a conversation with a rep from Constant Contact, the email service provider. I was told that 65% of the views of the emails sent from their service are viewed on a mobile/tablet. Yeswire, another service I use reports that that number to be 70% views on a tablet/mobile.

At the end of the day, the numbers do not lie...

So my question to you, is the service you are using mobile friendly?

Not all the templates used by Constant Contact are responsive. They offer a service($) to convert a template you are using that might not be suitable. If you use Constant Contact you can get hold of them here.

Mailchimp report on their website the following:

"Our templates and forms are mobile-ready out of the box, so you don't have to worry about coding anything special to make sure your emails look good on different screens."

And finally I am just off the telephone with iContact. They report that all 680 of their templates are responsive in design.

Emailing, while still considered" traditional marketing" should be, in my most humble opinion, a part of you

Online Marketing and the 80/20 Rule

I have always been perplexed about the 80/20 rule. What EXACTLY is this concept tossed around so often? Heading on over to Wikipedia all was revealed to me.

"The Pareto principal(also know as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effect come from 20% of the causes".

Keep reading... it gets better.

"While at the University of Lausanne in 1896, the Italian Pareto published a paper entitled "Cours d'economie politique." In this presentation, Pareto showed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the populations. He also observed that 20 % of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.

Finally...

"It is a common rule of thumb in business:, e.g.,"80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients."

Did you know the 80/20 rule comes into play with your online marketing? Yup, here is how it goes...

80% of the content on your Facebook fan page should be shared content. The content should come from someone of authority. 

For example, in Real Estate this would be information/articles from NAR or The Florida Association of Realtors. If you are a dentist, this information would come from the American Dental Association. An organic farmer would share content, for example from Organic Farming Research Foundation.

A simple way of finding this content to share is by setting a Google Alerts. Here is the link to Google Alert.

Finally, the remaining 20 % should be your personally crafted content.

 It is important to include an image or video in your posting. (Think viral) Remember, you want to design a post that will be shared... sort of like spreading your Facebook fanpage love. 

Creating GREAT Content for a Real Estate Blog

Life is busy for a successful Realtor. 

There are so many elements to keep afloat, contracts, appointments, showings, follow-ups… and then of course there is the itsy, bitsy task that is the lifeline of your business…

MARKETING.

Marketing yourself and your business take place in several ways. There is the traditional marketing route. This includes postcards, flyers and emailing. Yup emailing has now evolved and is deemed traditional marketing… who would have thunk that!

There is networking also… I will discuss this in a later post.

HINT…There are many reasons to join your local Chamber of Commerce.

Back to the topic on hand:

A vital tool to promoting yourself is online marketing. This is a given. This article is a quick summary on writing articles for your real estate blog.

First up, a disclosure.

This concept for blog writing was taken from this article.. So a big shout out and thanks to all at MOZ. I have adapted their concept to the real estate industry. I follow these guidelines when I act as a ghostwriter for Realtors.

So on with the show.

1. Decide the one vision you wish your readers to take away with them after reading your post.
2. Note down three concepts/ideas/facts that support that vision.
3. Fill in the blanks for the above three notes.

Confused?

Let us consider the “ vision” of a buyer.

We will all agree, a buyer does not buy a home simply for its gourmet kitchen? They are intoxicated by it's kitchen and what it can do for their lifestyle. They have “visions” of cooking magnificent meals for their families and hosting incredible parties. Their “vision” is a feeling. This feeling is based on their vision on how they can life a certain lifestyle.

Your writing must create and aid in this feeling, in their “vision”. As a Realtor, you are assisting them by creating a lifestyle for them.

When writing an article for your blog, create this lifestyle, this vision on paper.

Then simply jot down three facts/concepts/ideas that support that vision. The last step is to fill in the blanks. Add the "fluff" that supports the concepts. Humanize your blog post, make it LOCAL and write with a specific buyer in mind.

Here is an example using this concept.

In conclusion, set the mood, create the vision, feel what your buyer or seller feels and type... just simply type.

They will come, it is just a matter of consistency in your blog posts and article writing.

Top 10 LOCAL Business Directories

When it comes to LOCAL  online marketing, a good place to start are LOCAL directories.

Below is a list of the Top 10 Online Business Directories for Fort Lauderdale and surrounding areas. For those of us old enough, these directories are the "new age" Yellow Pages, with an added feature.

Many a site, YELP, as an example, allow visitors to offer comments and opinions on products they have tried or services they have received. As you can image, a positive response is great, but a negative experience not so.

Infographics- Modern Day Comic Strips?

Infographics are images that tell a story and are a valuable component of our online marketing strategy. They are similar to traditional comic books and are easy, and more amusing for the reader to interpret. 

Once completed, use them on social media sites and email them out to your database. You can also use them as flyers and send them out in snail mail. And the good news is ...

Finish reading this post