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.
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…
Slideshare Goes Social
Published September 22, 2011 | There has been a lot of talk about the new updates that Facebook has rolled out recently (hello blue tab “Top Story” and new layout). I haven’t decided yet whether I like or loathe it. I’ll have to let it marinate for a while first. Whatever your feelings are about it, there’s a reason Facebook seems to be kicking Google+’s little booty. Social networking continues to be a great tool for real estate professionals to integrate their business savvy in a social arena. Now, one of the best information sharing programs available online has joined in on the social networking bandwagon. Slideshare has gone social.
When you log in to your free Slideshare account, you will find that you now have a newsfeed (like Facebook) that shares what your friends have recently uploaded, comments on your presentations, Slideshare’s feature presentations, who has been looking at your profile recently and when someone in your friend network follows someone new so you can check them out for yourself. Your friends will be able to “favorite” your slideshows that they like, which then gives you exposure on their network of friends, extending your slideshow’s reach even further. By having the ability to view and read commentary on what your friends are looking into, you can determine whether you feel their friends are worth following as well, thus building your social network through Slideshare.
As we are all well aware of, social networking has become a mainstay in our personal and professional lives. If utilized properly, it can be an exceptional tool in your real estate business. Now that Slideshare has gone social, you can use your Slideshare presentations to an even bigger advantage in building your real estate business. Contact me now to find out how you can harness the power of social networking to create a strong presence for yourself and your business online.
Don’t Forget Anything Ever Again With Evernote
Published September 15, 2011 | 
Everyone seems to living a “hurry up and GO” lifestyle. Multi-tasking has become a common way to get through our daily lives. That is especially true when it comes to the life of a real estate professional like yourself. But, when you multi-task, you run the risk of forgetting some important information that you really wish you had later. There is a new real estate tool I have found that I believe can help you remember every idea, snapshot, memo and more for retrieval at any time. Don’t forget anything ever again with Evernote.
Evernote was created for any busy person living the on-the-go lifestyle. With Evernote, users can save notes, clip interesting web pages, store photos and even keep pdfs on file. It is easily accessible through your desktop, laptop or smart phone as well, making it totally portable and user-friendly anywhere you need it. If you have tons of paperwork and want to keep it organized, you can take a photo with your smart phone or scan it into your Evernote account at your home or office.
With your free Evernote account, you can create as many files (or “notebooks”) as you want. Add as many notes, photos, web page links, scanned documents and pdfs as you want to any notebook as often as you want. You can add tags to each file for easy reference. With their Web Clipper download, you can even “clip” parts of different web pages and send them to your Evernote notebook whether you use Windows, Firefox or any other web browser. It’s also available as an app on your iPhone, iPad or Android smart phone for your convenience.
Make a separate notebook for buyers, one for sellers, one for foreclosures and short sales, etc. You can include a checklist of information each new real estate client will need to have on hand that fits their particular profile (maybe a checklist of information a buyer will need to have on hand, what a seller needs to do to get their home ready before listing it or what a homeowner can expect when buying a short sale). Voila! You have an instant marketing package to send to any client.
Create an individual notebook for each client that includes their wants/needs listed to help you stay organized. When you do a broker’s open or caravan, take photos and upload them to specific clients’ notebooks so that you can share them with your clients later. You can also save any emails sent back and forth between you and your client in one area.
Evernote makes it easy to share with anybody and everybody, too. Simply go to the notebook you wish to share, click the “Share” button and choose whether you want to post it on Facebook, Twitter, send it through an email or get a link to share in another way. You won’t ever forget anything ever again with Evernote!
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