Real Estate Marketing SEO Blog

The Habit of Majoring in Minors in Life and SEO

Last night I was running late to football practice . (oh I forgot to mention I Coach 8 and 9 year olds). So I called ahead and asked my assistant to get the stretching started.

As I was getting there he got all the guys to spread out to a more traditional stretching formation ( I usually have them more bunched up). You see my assistant was one of my high school Coaches way back in the day. ( I am blessed enough to have two of my H.S. Coaches as my Assistant Coaches today. In fact, one of them is in the real estate/mortgage business).

Then another Coach asked why we don't do more of some other showey thing. I, shall we say snapped! And exclaimed "why don't we worry about what happens on the game field instead of the pre-game field!"

I understand their thinking. But I am practical. However, I often will skim past details until proven they matter. This philosophy has bitten me back a few times I must say. However I would rather focus on larger levers.

I see this as a major advantage the way Spider Juice Technologies does SEO. Most ebooks and most teachers, (especially those positing their own free dose of online SEOducation ) often MAJOR in minor details.

My guess is that after a while they run out of the MJOR levers, so they talk about stuff that arguably matters, but not much. Never mind that your time is better spent going out and looking for a good high quality link.

The industry seeks to settle for tradition and standards. That is a tradition of minors and false standards of professionalism that often settle for the lowest common denominator. While the masses eat from the hand that feeds them junk food disguised as caviar. The big levers like strategy and philosophy are passed over in favor of logical discussions that make sense on the surface but are often based on false pretenses and sadly little practical experience.

Tactics make for great how to articles for SEO Gurus, but waste time when not used in relationship to a larger strategy. After all, a number 1 position and 50 cents will either get you a cup of coffee or a commission. Any profit from that position depends on many variables that if not considered makes that position worth just a cup of Sanka.

Major in Majors in Search Engine Optimization

Have these 6 then get links forever!

1. Doctype Tag
2. Keywords in Title Tag
3. Robots.txt
4. Google Sitemap
5. Textual Link Navigation (as opposed to graphic links or link maps)
6. Validate your HTML

Now create great content. And get links, and create great content and get links. Ad Nauseum.

Using Video in Your Real Estate Marketing

Having commercial quality video that represents your business is a valuable animated brochure.

Much like a traditional website the highly produced video is useful, but not nearly as much as the more scrappy on the fly production. Much like what a blog is about. Because of its conversational nature, Web 2.0 demands speed and consistency.

Some ideas for quick and powerful video marketing:

1. Testimonial gathering-Nothing is more powerful than a testimonial and nothing is more powerful than a testimonial on video on your blog, website, CD, etc.
2. Digital Door Knocking. This beats the old style way of cold doors (which still works by the way). Simply go to all your happy clients and interview them about your neighborhood. What do they love about the neighborhood and local flavors? What do they like about their new lifestyle? Etc. Talk about local blogging!
3. Digital Neighborhood Tours-be the ambassador to your farm areas. This can really go beyond just video. It can become a social event whereby your online followers meet you in person as Pat Kitano described in our most recent podcast.
4. Meet the Affiliates-Buyers and Sellers are usually clueless about all these affiliate fees they have to pay. Like escrow, title, pest control, home warranty, etc. Interview  these people and let them describe the reasons for their services. There is a plethora of knowledge (translated as potentially very rich web content)  that these folks can provide for you. Besides it makes it much easier to get your rep written in on the contract when she just sold the client, not you!

So there are some ideas to get you brainstorming. Actually pretty much anything you would blog about can be vblogged.

We will discuss video marketing in much more detail in our launch of the Real Estate Guerilla Coaching Club.

Pat Kitano on Social Media Podcast

Pat Kitano joins me for a lively discussion on the many uses of Social Media and web 2.0 for real estate.

"Hows the Market?"

Sellers: "What's my home worth?"
Buyers: "What's for sale?"
Both: "Hows the market?"

Sales is always driven by emotions. And then the prospect justifies their decision with logic. You need that logic to push them over the edge. And I really like the data that Altos Research is providing to Realtors.

In our most recent interview Scott Sambucci provides specific ways to use data to facilitate your sale. Scott is Director of Sales with Altos Research (www.altosresearch.com), a Silicon Valley-based company that provides real-time real estate market analytics.

What does Altos Research do? Scott says that "the short answer about what we do is that we're in the business of helping agents answer for their clients, "How's the market?" "

His company provides compelling market data charts for agent websites, personalized reports for face to face meetings, and even data that helps you automate your drip sequential marketing over time.

Does EMail Even Matter Anymore?

Somewhat contrastive to last weeks post on Baby Boomers... A report by Jupiter Research found that the rising popularity of social networking sites and other forms of communication including text messaging and cell phone use are beginning to impact the effectiveness of e-mail marketing, particularly the numbers of consumers that say promotional messages inspired purchases.

The report (The Social and Portable Inbox: Optimizing E-mail Marketing in the New Era of Communication Tools) indicated that emerging forms of communication are leading to diminished use of e-mail.

22% of e-mail users said they use social networking sites instead of e-mail, with scores more indicating they have used instant messaging (IM), text messaging, and cell phones instead of e-mail.

In 2007, 51 % of e-mail users said e-mail inspired at least one online purchase, and 47 percent said the same for off-line purchases. However, in 2008, the share of e-mail users fell to 44 % for online purchases and 41 % for off-line purchases.

This smacks against the study on Boomers that found that 75% who have received promotional emails about products and services have clicked through to the site being promoted, and more  than 55% have purchased a product or service promoted in an email.

Did You Cut Your Commission?

Consumer Reports says that 46 % of people trying to sell their homes through agents tried to negotiate a lower commission rate. Of those home sellers, 71% of the listings agents lowered their commission rate.

They found that home sellers who paid commission rates of 3 % or lower were just as satisfied with their broker's performance as those who paid 6 % or more.

86 % of Consumer Reports' readers who put their homes on the market made a sale, while only 8 % gave up and took their homes off the market.

The magazine recommends home sellers price their homes realistically, and drop their asking price between 4 % to 6 % if they don't receive an offer within four to six weeks.

In the fudging with statistics section, I question these results since they were of Consumer Reports readers who probably already show a bias towards haggling for a better deal.

I actually found that it was easier to get a higher rate in the down times than it was in the periods of more rapid growth. If you read HouseBlogger at all then you may recall that when the market shifted in the early 90's. I prospected for expired listings.

My persona was one of the Caped Crusader coming into save the day (by actually telling the homeowner what they had not been told, the marketplace demands aggressive pricing). The frame became one of either selling or staying. If they really wanted to sell, then they would have to meet these market conditions (price) in order to move.

I believe because I was the first to give them a dose of reality, the commission never really became an issue.