Using YouTube for Real Estate Promotion
Published December 29, 2011 | 
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you have heard of, visited, searched and/or shared videos on YouTube. However, this hugely popular site is more than just videos of piano-playing cats, silly baby laughs and dumb stunts gone wrong. YouTube has, in fact, become a force to be reckoned with as a promotional device. Since it is the second most used search engine (right behind Google and a step ahead of Yahoo!), it’s time you started thinking about how you can use YouTube in your marketing efforts.
Creating a real estate website or blog used to be the first step in getting noticed on the web. Adding photos to said sites drew visitors’ attention by breaking up a page full of simple text. Now, video has replaced still images as the site enhancer needed to capture and maintain a potential real estate client’s attention. You should already be creating videos that promote your real estate clients’ listings. They don’t have to be big productions. A simple handheld Flip video camera is all the equipment you need to walk a viewer through the wonderful aspects of a listing, with you as their personal tour guide. These videos should then be uploaded to your YouTube channel.
The first thing you need to do is create your own YouTube channel. It’s free and simple. Then, create a few fun videos that showcase your skills, knowledge of the area, places to see, etc. that can be uploaded to your channel. This will provide people with a reason to want to visit your channel again and again. Shoot videos of each of your listings to add to your channel that include appropriate tags and a search-friendly description that relate directly to your video. I would also suggest including the complete address of the property being promoted in the title, at the beginning of the description and in the tags. In your description, you can also add a link to your website or a direct link to the listing itself. You can even add annotations (text) within your uploaded video to encourage the viewer to investigate the listing further on your website, creating a better opportunity to convert them into a client.
Get creative with your videos. After all, the point is to make an impression and keep a viewer’s attention for as long as possible. This doesn’t mean spending tons of money on a huge production. You do need to make sure that any audio is easy to hear and the video itself is steady, clear and conveys the message you want it to.
Like paid Google ads, YouTube Promoted Video Ads are a way to get your videos seen right away. If you have the budget to do so, consider bidding for keywords through the YouTube Promoted Video Ads. You will need to think about your budget, conversion rate and expected volume before you bid on any specific keywords, though, to make the most out of your time and money. One of the key advantages to a Promoted Video Ad on YouTube is that you can also create an overlay ad. This is a clickable link embedded into the bottom of the video that will send the visitor to another outside site (like your website or blog). This is a fantastic way to send more traffic your way.
As technology evolves, the uses for it evolve as well. With YouTube’s popularity steadily increasing, it’s time to consider adding it to your marketing arsenal by using YouTube for real estate promotion. Create a marketing strategy like you do for your website and blogs. If you need help promoting your YouTube videos, just contact us. We’re always ready to help you succeed.
Keep Track of Santa on Christmas Eve
Published December 22, 2011 | 
Did you know that NORAD has been tracking Santa’s progress every Christmas since 1955? It’s true! And now you can track Santa no matter where you may be: via website, Google Earth and social media. You can track him on your mobile phone with Google Maps for Mobile, too. Wouldn’t you know it? There’s even an app for that. Keeping trakc of Santa’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve is even easier than ever before.
Like all great inventions (potato chips, teflon, silly putty and penicillin..yes, I mentioned all of those in the same breath), tracking Santa began by accident. The local Colorado Springs paper ran its annual ad by Sears & Roebuck giving out a phone number for kids to call up and speak to Santa directly. Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), someone at the paper misprinted the number. Instead of the North Pole, callers actually were rung through to the hotline of the Commander-in-Chief of CONAD (the predecessor of NORAD). Not one to disappoint the children, Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup played along by ordering the staff to track Santa’s whereabouts via radar. Thus, a tradition was born and continues to this day.
Beginning Saturday, December 24, 2011, you can track Santa’s sleigh thanks to NORAD using any of these methods below:
- NORDAD Website
- Google Maps for Mobile (click to download to your mobile phone)
- App (for Apple-related products, click here
- Facebook, Google+ and Twitter
- Google Earth
I guess no one can be stealthy in today’s world if even Santa’s every move can be tracked. Hmm…I’m not sure how I feel about that. Maybe George Orwell was right, albeit a couple of decades short. Oh well. Forget Matt Lauer! I’ll be playing “Where in the World is Santa?” this Christmas Eve. Happy holidays, everyone!
Why You Need a Mobile Website
Published December 15, 2011 | 
Real estate sure has come a long way in the last couple of decades. No longer is paper the top choice for advertising (whether that be general mailers, postcards, flyers or print ads). Today’s buyer is typically pretty tech-savvy. In the hustle and bustle of today’s consumer, more and more people are even shying away from their computer screens to seek information on their smartphones. But not all smartphones are created equal. Your website may look fantastic on a regular laptop or desktop. But, view it on a smartphone and you could see a completely different picture. That’s why you need a mobile website now!
Websites use a certain amount of bandwidth to be viewed. On a mobile device, this could cause a problem with load time, missing information, etc. In fact, most cell phone companies will not allow websites that aren’t optimized for mobile use to be viewed in their entirety on a mobile device because the bandwidth can get too expensive to provide. Since most people accessing the internet via their smartphones are really looking for a few key pieces of information, a much simpler mobile-friendly site is recommended. That’s exactly what a mobi site does for you.
As a real estate professional, you want a potential client (buyer or seller) to be able to view information from anywhere at any time. Make it easy for them to view your listings on their smartphones with a mobile website. They aren’t expensive to create, they are easy to maintain and you will have taken the next evolutionary step in your real estate marketing. There are also a separate set of search engines specifically for mobile websites. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly as well as optimized for the mobile search engines, chances are your site will be relegated to the bottom of the mobile search engine rankings where no one will find you.
Second Self can create a mobile website for you quickly, easily and efficiently. All you have to do is contact us to tell us that you need a mobile website now. Click here for a free one-half hour consultation. We’d love to work with you!
Using Google Maps With Your Real Estate Listings
Published December 8, 2011 | The first step in selling your client’s home is through your real estate listing. You take time to describe all that the home has to offer, add a few photos, maybe even a virtual tour and then upload it to the MLS. From there, it gets circulated to millions of REALTORS® across the country. Smart agents will also post these listings on their websites and blogs as well as adding a link to their social media (Facebook Marketplace, Twitter, etc). Zillow and Trulia should also be on a real estate professional’s list of areas to post. To create a complete experience, you should also be using Google Maps with your real estate listings.
Google Maps is not just an internet mapping software. They also offer a “street view” on most addresses across the United States. Originally, street view was only available in a few of the major cities across the country. However, now you can find them in just about every town. All you have to do is go to Google Maps, search the address on your listing and click on the pin point that comes up indicating where the address is located. When you do that, a box will pop up. If it has a photo in it, there should be a link to the Street View just below it. If not, try clicking on the “More” link to find the street view.
While in street view, viewers can navigate their way around the streets of the property, including following the street or other pathway to other properties nearby. This allows the viewer to take a virtual tour of the property and the surrounding area without ever leaving the comfort of their home. If you want to add a link to the street view into your listing’s description, simply click the link icon in the upper left hand side of the page while in street view. Want to really make an impression? Embed the street view into your blog post to increase the time a potential buyer stays on the listing. Whatever you can do to make your client’s listing stand out is always good.
Use Google Maps to enhance your real estate listings. It’s just one more way to make buyers sit up and take notice. If you need help, just let me know.
Google Analytics – The Times They Are A’Changing
Published December 1, 2011 | 
Google Analytics helps you track how your real estate website is working on the internet, including advertising, social networking, video and other applications. Recently, Google Analytics announced some new and exciting changes to customer accounts that take your website tracking even further. In addition to the amount of visits, average time spent on your site and bounce rate, Google Analytics now offers real time tracking (much like the Google search engine itself), multi-channel funneling, mobile reporting and flow visualization.
Real-time tracking allows you to see what’s happening with your site at this very moment. Google Analytics updates your information continuously throughout the day so you get results almost instantly. And all traffic is broken down into visitors who have visited your site through direct contact, an organic search, a referral or a campaign. That way you can see which method is working and which may need a little tweaking.
With the multi-channel funnels, you can view the various ways website visitors are turned into actual clients. The Top Conversion Paths report will show exactly when a visitor first accessed your site (whether it be via a paid advertisement, organic search, an email campaign or other form), which pages were accessed, in which order they were accessed and when they initiated contact with you. This can help point out how your real estate clients are finding you and which campaigns are working the best. It may be that the paid search isn’t the best deal. Or, perhaps your SEO needs some improvement for those organic searches to come up.
Through the mobile reports, you can find out how your real estate mobi site is doing. With smartphones getting increasingly smarter and more accessible, many potential real estate clients are using their handheld devices to access the internet. Learn how your website visitors are finding you on their mobile devices as well as which devices are being used most often. This can help you optimize your mobi site for that particular device.
If you need to actually see the pathway to understand how this all works, Google Analytics has come up with something specifically for you. With the flow visualization chart, you will have a visual depiction of just how your real estate site is performing online. See how a potential real estate client finds, navigates and interacts with your site.
I’m really excited about these updates to Google Analytics. The times, they are a’changing. And Google Analytics is changing along with it. Let me know if you need any help with your Google Analytics account, website, mobi site or blog. We at Second Self are always here to help.
Creating an Interesting Interactive QR Campaign
Published November 18, 2011 | 
QR codes have been popping up everywhere. I’ve seen them on real estate signs, Facebook pages, mobile websites, blogs, entertainment magazines and even food items. It seems that many people were quick to join this revolutionary way to pass information in a quick, concise way. However, if not used properly, QR codes may go the way of the pet rock and be banished to the “graveyard of fads from yesteryear”. How do you avoid this? By creating an interesting interactive QR campaign.
First of all, you need to decide exactly what message you want your QR code to convey to potential real estate clients. Are you trying to sell one specific property? Do you want them to view all listings in a specific county, city or neighborhood? Or do you simply want to market yourself? Narrowing your focus for each QR code you can showcase your knowledge in a niche market.
Encourage your potential real estate clients to actively participate by creating a call to action. Adding a simple phrase that describes what info they will get by scanning the code gives a higher scan rate than just inserting the code with no explanation. If your listing is offering a buyer incentive, add a “scan here for $5000 cash back at closing” or something similar. Give a customer a reason to scan the code.
The design of your website, blog and marketing materials can make an impact on the success or failure of a real estate marketing campaign. The same can be said for a QR code. Simple black and white codes do work. But a colorful, uniquely designed code can make a bigger impact and still scans the same on QR readers. Many times, this is enough to catch a potential client’s eye so that they scan it to find out what it means. I’d still suggest adding a tag line of some sort, though. Also, you need to make sure that where you send your customers is easily viewed on a mobile phone. Sending them to your regular website may not be user-friendly on a cell phone, even with today’s smart phone technology. Many times, regular websites look distorted or are too hard to navigate on a mobile phone, causing visitors to abandon the site altogether. Second Self can help you set up a mobi site if you don’t already have one.
How do you know if your QR code campaign is working or not? The amount of scans isn’t necessarily an indicator of a campaign’s success or failure (however, no scans is a definite problem). What you really want to look at is the amount of time a visitor spends on the link. If a visitor is spending several minutes on the link, it’s a good campaign. If they are clicking off quickly, it could mean that you need to tweak it a little because they didn’t find the link helpful or it may mean that there is an issue with the scan itself. Also, place your QR code in an area that is sure to be seen, such as high up on your web page, blog or other advertising materials.
Another way to measure the success of a QR campaign is to look at how it has affected other areas of your business. Have you seen more hits on your website after using a particular QR code? Have your Facebook fans increased? How many more Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections have you seen?
The use of QR codes is only limited by your imagination. Creating an interesting interactive QR campaign can help shoot your real estate business into the stratosphere. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with to get you started.
Google+ Business Pages
Published November 10, 2011 | By now, you should be well aware of how important a business page is on the internet. If you don’t have your real estate business listed on Google, Yahoo and/or Bing, you’re behind the times. Of course, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are also great places to create business listings as well as interact with your peers and potential clients. Google+ has now incorporated the best aspects of social media into an SEO-friendly business listing with their Google+ business pages.
Creating a Google+ business page is really quick and easy. First, you sign in to your personal Google+ account using your Google account info. Proceed to the Google+ Business page. You will have five choices for the kinds of business page you want to create: Local Business or Place, Product or Brand, Company/Institute/Organization, Arts/Entertainment/Sports or Other (for those that don’t fit into any of the other categories). Most likely, as real estate professionals, you will choose either the Local Business or Company categories. Choose the subcategory you want to be placed in, add a tagline (you only have 10 words to sell yourself here), choose your photo, share your link with your circles and you’re good to go. You can create a lengthier profile, share more photos and videos and add posts to your page. And you’re done.
You can create up to 10 business pages using your Google+ account. Create a separate page for buyers, sellers and foreclosure/short sales or show off your local smarts by creating a business pages for each community you serve. You can highlight specific events, showcase your favorite haunts and show off what makes each neighborhood so special. Then, share your pages with whomever you wish. This is marketing at its finest.
Google+ is quickly becoming an important tool in the business person’s arsenal. If you need help setting up your Google+ business page, feel free to contact me. Second Self Virtual Assistance is always on the lookout for the best ways to help our real estate clients stay on top of the latest marketing trends. That’s what makes for a great business partnership.
Communication is Key with Clients
Published November 3, 2011 | 
Every successful real estate agent knows that communication is key with clients. This is true whether your client is a buyer or seller. With sellers, in particular, there are a few specific ways you can keep your clients “in the loop” on what’s happening with their listing. An informed client is a happy client. Happy clients refer you to other potential clients and everybody wins.
Follow-up After a Showing – This may seem obvious, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. Whether via email or a personal phone call (whichever your client prefers), informing them of how the showing went in a timely manner helps alleviate some of the stress they are feeling during this important time in their life. Take lots of notes during the showing and ask important questions, such as what the buyer/agent liked most/least about the home, what they think needs to be improved on, how many other homes have they looked at and how does this home rank in comparison to the other homes they’ve seen. When you take this feedback to your client, they can get a more realistic picture of how their home looks to potential buyers. This can help both you and your client tweak your marketing plan to accommodate.
Sign Up for Google Alerts – Most of today’s homebuyers begin their home search online. So, it makes sense to follow what is being said about your clients’ property and where it is being seen. Setting up a Google alert for the property’s address takes only a couple of minutes. You can receive the alert as often as you want, but you may only want to share this information every other week or so with your client. You don’t want to overwhelm them with too many alerts. This will show them that you are always keeping an eye on their listing because they are very important to you.
Analyze Online Listing Performance - Smart real estate agents understand the importance of posting your clients’ listings online. But, it’s not enough to just post and syndicate these listings. You need to know how these listings rank in search engines, who is viewing them and which portals they are viewing them most (ie, Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, etc). Most listing sites provide an in-house report that will allow you to track how your listing is doing on that particular site. Do a weekly update to see where your clients’ listing is getting the most viewings so you can, again, tweak your marketing plan to take advantage of the traffic. When you present your findings to your client, they will see for themselves that their listing is never far from your mind.
When you deal in a customer service-oriented business like real estate, you quickly find that communication is key with clients. Word-of-mouth is still a very powerful and effective advertising tool. Keep your clients informed and they will be more than happy to pass along your name to their friends, families and coworkers. Then, they’ll tell two friends and they’ll tell two friends and so on and so on…
Harness Social Media in an Online Newsletter
Published October 27, 2011 | I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Social media can be a great tool in a real estate professional’s arsenal. When used correctly, Facebook is more than a way to catch up with old friends or stay in touch with distant relatives (which is nice) and Twitter has become so mainstream that it has been the “go-to” source for late-breaking news at legitimate news outlets. How would you like to harness social media in an online newsletter quickly and easily? Paper.li is just the site for you!
The key to search engine optimization is creating fresh content on a regular basis. The more relavent content you create, the more food the search engine spiders have to crawl. This helps give your real estate business a boost in the rankings as well as makes you seen as an expert in your field by your peers, potential clients and search engines. With a free account on Paper.li, you can literally create your own online real estate newsletter in a few simple clicks using Twitter, Facebook and your blog feed. How crazy is that?!
All you have to do to get started is visit the Paper.li website, create a free account, create an attention-grabbing title (be as creative as you can but not too wordy), add a few links and content is automatically streamed from your sources into an interesting newsletter format that can be shared to your friends, family, colleagues and potential clients every single day. You can stream content from your Twitter account, Twitter accounts of people you find interesting or a specific Twitter list you have, specify hash tags you want info pulled from, search out keywords on Twitter and Facebook and, finally, add RSS feeds from your website or blog. You are allowed a combination of up to 10 of these sources to create your own newsletter. You can also set your newsletter up to automatically tweet a link every time new updates are added (up to once a day).
You have full editorial control. When you find new and interesting people, websites, information, etc. that you want to share in your newsletter, simply go into your paper’s content settings and change/update wherever needed. Use your own photos for a custom appearance. Manage your subscriptions. It’s all pretty simple and simply amazing.
Harness social media in an online newsletter without having to do all the legwork yourself. Work smarter, not harder, to achieve the real estate success you deserve. If you have any questions, you can always contact me. Social media really is a great way to create new real estate business if you use it wisely.
What I Won’t Be Posting on Facebook
Published October 20, 2011 | Social media has become commonplace in today’s tech-savvy culture. I just read recently that even regular featured phones are predicted to go the way of the do-do bird in the next 10 years thanks to the portability, availability and user-friendliness of the smartphone. Places like Facebook and Twitter can be used to stay in touch with long-distance family and friends, promote your real estate business, find long lost high school buddies or to keep up with your favorite TV shows, personalities and brands you love.
The down side of all this “sharing” is that some people tend to “overshare”. While the words you write on social media sites may not be set in literal stone, they are out there for all the world to see and read. This includes your mother, your boss, your co-workers and would-be thieves. So, dear readers, here is a list of what I won’t be posting on Facebook and I encourage you not to as well:
Location – Call me paranoid, but I keep thinking “Big Brother” when Facebook asks me if I want to verify my location when posting a status update. If I want you to know where I am so you can join me, fine. But, no one other than my husband really needs to know where I am at all times. Besides, shouting that you have finally realized your dream of a 10-day European vacation is advertising to Facebook-trolling thieves that the contents of your household are open for the taking and no one will notice for a week and a half. Yikes!
My New Toy – Yes, I am so happy that your new 52″ LCD TV has a picture so clear it makes looking out the window seem grainy in comparison and that brand new $1200 Sony VAIO has really changed your life (apparently). I repeat, however, that you’re just giving thieves something to check off their “must-have” lists. Don’t invite thieves to do their early Christmas shopping in your home.
Party Pics – Now, I like to have a good time like anyone else. But my idea of a good time doesn’t include getting blitzed out of my mind on Yaeger bombs. That doesn’t always hold true for others. So, before you post that photo of feeling “free” on the nude beaches of Europe or how sloppy drunk you were at the company Christmas party, consider that these photos can be viewed by anyone in your circle and whomever they choose to share them with in their circle (who then tell their friends, who then tell their friends and so on and so on). This means they can eventually get back to your boss, your preacher or your mother (…children). Is that the impression you want to make? I know it’s not the one I want people to remember me by.
Those are just a few of the things I will not be posting to Facebook anytime soon. I strongly encourage you to consider not posting them as well. A good rule of thumb to follow when posting anything on Facebook is what my daughter told my grandson when he started his Facebook account: “Don’t post anything that you would be too embarrassed for Mom to see…cause she WILL.”
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