We know a lot of our clients try to plan there 2017 marketing budget at the end of the year, so to help you along we are presenting some very exciting promotions to help you stretch those marketing dollars.

Here is what is on sale…

Websites:

Office Advantage Websites: 10% off

Agent Advantage Websites: 15% off

Social Media Marketing Plan

Our Social Media Marketing Plan, let us take care of your Facebook and Twitter Pages. 6 months of SMM for $179.85 (Retail $359.70, that’s 50% off)

PPC (Pay Per Click Marketing)

6 Months of PPC Advertising for $1,200 (Retail $1,800)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

15 hour block of SEO Services for $1,500 (Retail $2,250)

My CMA Squeeze Website

Get your own CMA website for $120/Year (Retail $240, that’s 50% off)

Broker Tools

Get our Round Robin Lead Routing or Agent Lead Push for FREE when purchasing any Office Site

Hurry, these prices will not last and will sell out.

The fine print:

1. Orders must be received by December 31st 2016
2. Each category has only 10 promotions each.  When these are sold, the promotion price will be ended.
3. For websites; because our website designs vary so much in price please call us for a quote.  Special pricing is for base designs only and not for any customization work.
4. PPC Plans are for management services only.  Google, Bing or Facebook Ad cost is additional.

We sincerely hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I wish each and every one of you much luck and prosperity in the new year!

So the question is are you using Facebook as part of your real estate marketing?

Using Facebook

If you do not have a Facebook Business page, begin by visiting the help section of Facebook itself.

10 Ways to Make you Small Business Social Media Activities Rock(link is external), (SBA, July 15, 2013).

Setting Up a Facebook Page(link is external), (Facebook, n.d.). — A Facebook Page is a public profile that enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users.

Always Protect Your Privacy

Whatever You Do, Don’t Ignore Facebook’s Privacy Notification(link is external), (HuffPost Tech, Feb. 2016).

Facebook Privacy Basics(link is external), (Facebook, n.d.). — Facebook’s latest attempt to gather its privacy information in one place.

Controlling How You Share(link is external), (Facebook, n.d.) — The settings you choose control which people and applications can see your information. You can share your information with friends, friends of friends, everyone, or you can customize your settings. Take a few minutes to go through each of the sections and customize your privacy.

Facebook’s Privacy Policy(link is external), (Facebook, n.d.). — Facebook’s privacy policy is actually pretty straightforward and readable.

Facebook & your privacy(link is external), (Consumer Reports, June 2012). — Who sees the data you share on the biggest social network?

How REALTORS® Are Using Facebook

7 Facebook Mistakes Real Estate Agents Should Never Make(link is external), (Inman, Sept. 2015).

Real Estate Marketing Ideas(link is external), (Facebook Community, 2015).

Innovative Facebook Real Estate Marketing: Advanced Steps for Agents(link is external), (Placester, June 2015).

Realtor’s guide to Facebook advertising:  a trustworthy website(link is external), (Inman, Nov. 2014). — Also: Part two: Deploying your ads(link is external). 

10 Facebook Dos and Don’ts, (REALTOR® Magazine, June 2014). — Facebook is a great marketing tool, if you use it wisely.

Vanity Metrics vs. Success Metrics: Which Facebook Posts get the Most Engagement?(link is external)(Inman, Nov. 13, 2013). — Facebook Insights helps cater your content for maximum impact, even among ‘silent’ fans.

REALTOR.com Facebook Application, (realtor.com®, n.d.) — Display your listing from realtor.com® on your Facebook wall. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough (PDF).

Small Retailers Open up Storefronts on Facebook Pages(link is external), (New York Times, July 25, 2012). — It’s not e-commerce, it’s f-commerce. Small entrepreneurs are having more success than the big players on Facebook.

When Marketing Through Social Media, Legal Risks Can Go Viral(link is external), (Intellectual Property and Technology Law Journal, Aug. 2010) — The viral quality of social media makes it an appealing way for businesses to market products and services, but it is not without legal risks.

So get out there and socialize, it has never been a better time to do so. If you have any questions, not sure where to start or just need some help, be sure to give me a call send me an email.

1. New announcements from your niche – upcoming market trends, house that just sold etc.
2. Teaser previews of offerings you are working on.
3. Related interesting news from the industry – market stats, offer free snap shots etc.
4. Trivia related to your business: history, technology, market, anything relevant to your niche!
5. Ask for suggestions: people love to help someone out.
6. Events you are holding: this informs as well as gets you attendees.
7. Events you are participating in: this shows you are active.
8. Witty one-liners: this can be jokes, daily wisdom or just about anything else.
9. Helping people find opportunities: Helping people solve problems is the best thing you can do to promote your brand.
10. Popular events: tweet about the upcoming school play, festivals, town soccer game (hyper local tweets)
11. Unexpected developments: Was Gmail down today? Tweet about it!
12. Regular industry news: yup, this doesn’t hurt if mixed in.
13. Sales announcements: Tweet about any sales announcements you might have.
14. Open houses: tweet address and time of open house to your niche – don’t forget about a special offer to stop by!
15. Ask for customer feedback: Invite people to share their experiences selling or buying a home with you.
16. Participate in the relevant hash tags conversations to get more visibility.
17. Set up and announce tweet chats based on brand-related hash tags.
18. Follow people and make acknowledgement via tweets.
19. Thank people who have recently followed you in a ‘Thank You Tweet’.
20. Post the latest updates from your blog along with the link. (you can use this site: https://bitly.com/to shorten the URL)
21. Direct people to other social media channels you own by tweeting about them.
22. Search on your brand name, past #keywords, relevant business and niche keywords (http://twitter.com/#!/search) and respond to tweets revolving around those hash tags.
23. Create Twitter lists of industry-relevant analysts, well-wishers or customers, and announce the lists publicly.  This sends a positive message to your followers.
24. Participate in trending topics and viral hash tags to rope in some attention. Ensure your opinion are related to your brand somehow.
25. Tweet-greet your followers daily. Saying small things like “good morning,” or asking about their holiday weekend.
26. Tweet and tag your best employee/follower/business affiliate of the week. This keeps the connections and personalization flowing.
27. Announce weekly deals, giveaways and specials (free dinner for a special follower, discount on commission during the month of June)
28. For business-to-business companies, follow conversations on Twitter and build them up. Twitter is the best place for making your opinion heard.
29. Give daily twitter tips or quick definitions/explanations on keywords within your niche using your industry expertise. (example: home liens, APR, equity etc.)
30. Make regular #FillInTheBlankFriday tweets with some incentives or freebies to the winners.

What other Tweets do you find best? Please share!

1. Put together a list of weekly open houses in your area
2. Tips every homeowner should know before selling their homes
3. Compare a few moving companies in your area (costs, reviews, etc.)
4. Write about the oldest homes found in your area- include pictures, descriptions, and maybe even a video walk through!
5. Talk about your neighborhood
6. Make an ebook for the buyers in your market (this can be about anything!) and give it out for free!
7. Make an ebook for the sellers in your market (this can be about anything!) and give it out for free!
8. Commentary on local school stories
9. Provide proof of what buyers get in one city verses another (i.e compare living expenses including average prices of mortgages, utilities, gas, etc.)
10. List the top ten most desirable houses on your market…make sure to include pictures and videos if possible!
11. Comment on the job market in your local area
12. Write about top five diners in your town (this will give you an excuse to go out and try them all!)
13. Explain how technology has changed the game of real estate
14. What goes into a closing? How long does it take? What should your clients expect when dealing with a closing?
15. Get reviews or interview some customers and have them explain their experience working with you (video footage would be AWESOME here!)
16. Real estate hoaxes and scams
17. List your favorite things to do within 30 minutes of your area
18. Make a list of the top interior designers or residential painters
19. How to buy a second home or vacation condo: the do’s and don’t’s
20. Outline how your clients can get the best deal out of their mortgage
21. Do an expose on bathroom renovation: the costs, the materials, the timeline, the dangers, and the benefits
22. Do and don’t list on buying investment property
23. First time home buyer programs
24. Outline the closing process from the buyer’s perspective and compare that with the closing process from the seller’s prospective
25. How to sell a home
26. How NOT to sell a home
27. List a few great title attorneys in your area
28. List of basic real estate definitions from A-Z (alluring, beamed, close-in, dividable. etc.)
29. How to identify over-priced homes
30. Pet- friendly housing
31. Ask your seller to make a list of the top ten reasons they love their neighborhood
32. Real estate laws
33. The home buying process
34. The home selling process
35. Why house inspections are so important
36. How to stage your house
37. Ten things that you can avoid when selling your home
38. Make a list of price drops and prices in your target market
39. Pros and cons of buying a timeshare
40. Must- see landmarks in your area
41. Top three mistakes all sellers make (price, condition, marketing)
42. Interview the mayor or councilmen in your area and ask them why people should choose to live in their town
43. Do an article of the most extravagant house you’ve sold in your area
44. Types of mortgages
45. What you should know before diving into a fixer upper
46. Ten things to keep in mind when buying a foreclosure property
47. An insider’s guide to all the important events that happen in your area
48. Think of common questions clients ask and answer them all! (you can either do this on post or you can break it up and do one question per post)
49. How to childproof your home
50. Home owners and renters insurance
51. 10 most relevant blogs buyers should follow
52. 10 most relevant blogs sellers should follow
53. Top antique shops in the area
54. How landscaping can make a difference for sellers
55. Simple repairs to help your home sell faster and show better
56. Top trends in architecture
57. Review any local events you’ve attended in the area
58. Write a review about a local business (if this business has a website let them know so they can link back to your blog!)
59. What property taxes should you expect in different areas?
60. Write about the luxury homes in your area
61. Write about the cheap homes in your area
62. Write about the best valued homes in your area
63. Write about the renters options available in your area
64. Write about the vacation houses available in your area
65. Write about the time shares available in your area
66. Make a list of the best burger joints in the area (include pictures!)
67. Top 10 scams people face with building contractors and how to avoid them
68. Have any celebrities brought or sold in your area?
69. What is curb appeal?
70. Commentary on local news stories
71. Job opportunities
72. Transportation (commute options and times)
73. What is a HOA?
74. What are the local crime rates? (I suggest only writing about this if the crime rates are low!)
75. Why should real estate sales be handled by a professional?

Newsletters allows you to share recent news, updates, and listings with your prospective clients without clogging up their social media feeds. Newsletters can combine your latest blog posts, ebooks, updated landing pages, or even current listings into one, easy to read message. Consider branding your newsletter to make it memorable for your readers. Instead of of simply branding your news letter as “Nancy’s Newsletter” try something along the lines of “Nancy’s Newsworthy Real Estate Updates”.  Make sure to include numerous images to avoid content overload and spice up your page with social sharing buttons to allow your audience to easily share your newsletter to their friends and family online.

 Digests

Digests are a bit like newsletters except much more “digestible” to read. Digests are short, quick, and easy to read and focus more on sharing the most pertinent and important links of the day, week, month, ect. Digests would be perfect for the type of lead who would really love to stay updated but doesn’t have quite as much free time on their hands as they’d like. Most digests are sent on a weekly or biweekly basis, but you can change this to cater both your needs and your client’s needs. You can share content from relevant sources (other than your own) that you think your audience would enjoy (like a blog post from the National Association of Realtors’). Again you want to have a capturing title and description that grabs readers’ attention right off the bat. Include links back to your website or social media sites as well as short, detailed descriptions that highlight the relevant information included in your digest.

Promotional Emails

Emails can also be used to nurture leads through the sales funnel. These are called promotional emails. They allow you to personalize specialized emails to send to a specific group of leads. If, for example, you found a link that helps buyers with their decision making and you have a client who have been bouncing back and forth between two hours for the past few weeks, offer them the link via email. Make the link text enticing so they  have no choice but to want to click! Using a branded image with text overlaying can relay the point of your promotion in a fun and creative manner. Personalize emails to instill trust in your readers and make them eager to read on. Once you address your reader, get right to the point. Add social and email sharing buttons to get people to spread the word about your promotion!

Specialized Emails

Specialized e-mails can tie any major event or holiday (like Valentine’s Day or the World Cup) to real estate. Even though it may not be related to your business at all, you can still capitalize on the popularity of such a special day. For example, when the Super Bowl is right around the corner try and figure out a way to use such an iconic game to your benefit. Maybe research a player who has a hometown in your listings area or an infographic with real estate stats and a football theme.

Thank You Emails

If someone subscribes to your email newsletter, takes an action on your website, or requests additional information- send them a thank you email! Show your leads you appreciate them by sending a personalized email rather than a mass thank you email. Small changes to your emails, including buyers and sellers, won’t go unnoticed. You can even add a link to an online survey. Take that a step further by offering a reward to those who took that online survey.

1. If you are using your personal timeline primarily for your commercial gain, you are going against Facebook’s Terms of Service.

According to Facebook’s Terms of Service, you’re not allowed to use your personal profile strictly for business and you’re in risk of Facebook shutting down your account. However, there are many ways you can blend the activities in your personal profile in order to also benefit your business while at the same time building or creating relationships with current customers, past customers, and prospects. For ideas on how to balance your work and your personal life on Facebook, take a look at one of our newest blog posts entitled “How To Blend Your Personal Life And Work Life Through Facebook”.

2. Using your personal page as your business page as well lacks professionalism.

Your personal Facebook profile is where people post family photos and thoughts on economics, politics, religion, and everything else that shouldn’t be discussed around the dinner table. You do not want to be mixing that with business advertising or contests/ sweepstakes you’re using to gain attention to your business.

3. You miss out on a lot of essential business features.

Facebook has created pages strictly tailored for businesses, meaning they have features on business pages that they do not offer on personal pages. You are unable to run Facebook contests or check your Facebook insights without using a Facebook Business Page. A Facebook Contest is a very easy way for people engage Facebook likes and then convert them into email signups by enticing their followers (clients, past clients, prospects) with a prize, either small or large. There are numerous different types of contests that you can run- from basic “random draw” sweepstakes to video submissions with a full panel of judges.

4. A Facebook Page is limited to 5000 friends.

Once you hit that limit your business contacts can’t grow. You can have unlimited followers if you add that feature, but your interaction with followers is limited.

5. You only have one account to share with your entire staff.

With a Facebook business page you can have your entire staff (if you’re an office) interact with the profile. On a business page you can give your staff admin rights and set their access level so that they can only do certain activities on your page. This means you can allow them the right to change content, but not delete anything. You can also have someone create ads for your page, but that is their only job. You are not allowed to do this with a personal profile.

6. You miss out on different ways to optimize the presence your business.

By using the Facebook Business profile you can utilize key elements in the “about” section that are not included in the “about” section of a personal profile. A Facebook Business page allows you to optimize your page with:

• A business category that best applies to your business
• Address (customers will then be able to “Check In” at your business)
• Phone number
• Mission statement
• Awards that you and/or your business has won

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking website which allows registered users (or businesses) to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages and stay connected with colleagues, friends, families, and clients.

1: Don’t use your Facebook Personal Page to post business related information.  It is against Facebook’s Terms of Service. Instead post them from your Business page to your Personal page.

2: Don’t ignore comments.  While using your Facebook Business Page, make sure you do not ignore comments. Whether they are good or bad, try to keep a level head and respond to your clients comments and concerns in a quick and respectable manner.

3: Don’t Overuse! Another common error made by many Facebook users is posting over used and “stale” content. When your client is scrolling down his or her feed you want to make sure your content stands out. Offer valuable content that distinguishes you from other local agents.

Twitter

Twitter is a well known microblogging social media website that allows its members to broadcast short posts (120 characters), called tweets.

1: Don’t buy them. First and far most do not beg or buy your followers. Instead earn your followers by “tweeting” amazing content that is worth following.

2: Tweak often but not too often. Under or over tweeting will annoy your followers and may even cause them to unfollow you. Try setting a posting schedule. Set up a specific time (or a few different times) throughout the day to tweet to your clients and/or prospects.

Google Plus

Google+ is a social networking site that attempts to replicate the way people interact offline more closely than other social media services.

1: Have an awesome profile. When you first set up your Google+ page, make sure you fill in every detail about your business and include popular, log-tail keywords across your page. This engages clients while also generating new leads. Google+ allows you to create “circles” to group your friends into smaller bunches in order to share the perfect content with the perfect people (i.e: friends, clients, prospects, colleagues). Fail to engage in these circles may lead to you losing out of numerous prime real estate leads.

Pintrest

Pintrest is a relatively new social media craze that is used for sharing and categorizing images found online.

1: Spice it up! If you’re a real estate agent using Pintrest make sure you to spice up your “pins”. Pin your listings, but also pin plenty of other stuff to such as blog posts, interior design ideas, and even landscaping. While pinning your listings make sure to use compelling images. Use of boring, dull images will lead to fewer (if any) clicks.

Although social media seems like a blessing to most people, sometimes it can be a disaster is disguise! Use it wisely and you won’t find yourself falling victim to these common social media mistakes!

Any Agent or Office planning on developing a website should always consider On Page SEO.  Simply put it is what you should be doing when creating your web pages.  You probably also should be thinking the same thing when tweaking existing pages as well.

On Page techniques predominantly consists of keyword considerations and optimizing your page to take better advantage of the major search engines.

The following suggestions are meant as a guide and the actual weight they carry in your over all rankings in hard to determine. Google and the other search engines use complex algorithms.

Keyword(s) In Meta Description Tags: By writing a good description you not only help search engines better understand what your page is about but also lets the people reading your SERP what your page is about. Leaving this blank will force the search engine to write it and that could have disastrous results.

Keyword(s) in Your Heading Tags:  Heading tags let both the search engines and the people reading your page see what information is the most important to you.  People read from left to right and top to bottom, so a good H1 heading tag will be the first text they will see and having your message clear here is vital.

As your write the rest of your page, effective use of the H2 and H3 tags are used to note the less important information but the information you still deem important.

Keyword(s) In Domain Name:  Search engines do give consideration for what is in your domain name.  So http://www.markmenzella.com is not as good as http://www.bergenountyluxuryhomes.com.  The latter more closely defines what your website is about.

Taking this s bit further if you decide to use sub-domains for pages, for example; alpine.bergencountyluxuryhomes.com, this also will help the search engines better understand what your page is about.  On your sub-domains you should be as detailed as possible. While keywords in the sub-domains don’t carry quite as much weight as the top level of the domain, they’re nonetheless important and helpful to Google in identifying what your site is about.

When designing or editing your pages every little bit helps.  Using some of these things I wrote about today will give your pages more visibility to the search engines and also make the reading of the page by your buyers and sellers more interesting.

Coined “Mobilegeddon“, this update to Google search will happen on April 21st.

So what is Mobilegeddon? Basically it is a new algorithm change that will address the mobile friendliness of all websites on Google.

How does this affect me?

This new change will look at your website and determine how mobile friendly it is, and if it’s not mobile friendly your website will rank much lower on searches performed on mobile devices.  And since a significant amount of traffic comes from phones and tablets, this will affect you.

Google has been telling us to prepare for many years now, and I have posted many articles about it. But with this update, you now have a compelling reason to take some action.

You may have been reading some people talk about needing to move to a responsive website.  While that is our preferred recommendation, is it not your only choice.  If you have a mobile version of your website, it will also qualify as mobile friendly. If you have neither, you will be loosing traffic on mobile search results.  However, for an Agent website, I think a responsive site is the only way to go.

What a responsive website and why do we love it so much?

A responsive website is a flexible web design which improves a user’s experience based on the device they’re using. So the easy way to look at it is that your website will look good on desktops, laptops, tables and phones.  Responsive design ends the “pinch and squeeze” while trying to read the screen and makes all the images and fonts look appropriate all the time.

Whether it’s a tablet, desktop, smart phone, or laptop, your website will be able to adapt to any device and provide your visitors with a cohesive, consistent experience.

Are “RE/Advantage” websites responsive?

Yes we have developed a full line of responsive websites designed just for Agents.

What is next?

If you do not want to lose your rankings, you should consider making the move to a responsive design, because your competitors surely are!  If you are not, you will see an impact on your rankings.

How do I know if my website is mobile friendly?

The easiest way is to post a comment here and I will check it for you or feel free to email me at mark@readvantage.com.  I will review it for you and let you know.

My website is NOT Mobile Friendly –  what can I do?

Really the only option is to upgrade.  There is no band-aid fix here.

To help everyone out, we are offering a special promotion on our full suite of responsive designs.  Just reach out to me and we can save you up to 50% off on one of our designs.  Out of the box, our designs are more cost-effective than some of the other offerings out there and our monthly charges are some of the lowest around.

Here is an example of a responsive website:  http://www.erikrussellhomes.com.

Time is running out!

Please contact me or any of our sales consultants to get more information.  If you want me to take a look at your website just email me at mark@readvantage.com or post a comment below.  For more information and pricing on responsive websites for REALTORS click here.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

An article I read in CopyBlogger said; “On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece.”

So what’s up with that?  Well most people skim the page and only read on only if your your content is compelling.  So if you have a dull or indecisive headline you may get people simply hitting the back button.

Don’t panic, instead before you write your next page or post think about trying these tips.

Tip #1: Make it compelling

Your headline must state what the page is about and state is clearly.  It also should be compelling.

For example here are 3 headlines I came up with for this post and how they progressed until I decided on the final one.

#1: 5 Tips for Writing a Headline

#2: Headlines That Work: 5 Ways to get people reading.

#3: Headlines That Kill: 5 Hacks that will get people reading.

They all essentially say the same thing but #3 will probably get more attention.

For any post, you’ll want a nice balance among common, uncommon, emotional, and power words. A structure like this helps your post remain readable while commanding attention from your audience. Read on and I will discuss an easy way to analyze this.

Common words should make up 20–30% of your headline.

Common words are ones you use all the time. Common words pull your headlines together in a way that makes sense for readability.

Since commonly occurring words provide the basic structure of your headlines, they should make up about 20–30% of the words in your headlines.

Some common words are; a, about, after, these, what, you, your, things

Uncommon words should be about 10–20% of your headline.

Uncommon words are unique enough to grab your readers’ attention. These words provide substance in your headline.

A mix of 10–20% uncommon words in your headlines should do the trick.

Some uncommon words are; actually, awesome, here, right, social, year

Emotional words make a good headline at 10–15% density.

Emotional words in your headlines entice your audience to click through to read your post. And once they’re reading your posts with emotional headlines, your readers are more likely to share them.

You have a good headline if 10–15% of the words in your headline are emotional.

Some emotional words are; attractive, blissful, confessions, danger, dollar, spotlight, value, wonderful, zinger

Power words: Use at least one in your headline.

Like emotional words, power words are usually phrases that are well-known for inciting action. Power words are uniquely different than emotional words because they are a bit out of the ordinary.

These words inspire an emotion or call to action without a lot of context. Power words are typically rarely used words or phrases that almost guarantee some clicks through to your blog posts.

Great headlines have at least one power word in them.

Some power words are; for the first time, make you, what this, you will see, what happened,

Tip #2: Make sure you are addressing what your readers want, not what you do.

Remember you are writing the headline to entice your readers, so make sure you understand what your target audience wants and give them it.

Remember you cannot force them to read on, so your headline must be compelling enough to make them want to read on.

Tip #3: Consider a few

There are great tools such as Google AdWords Planner. With this you can type your keywords in and get some ideas on what your headline might be.

Don’t forget to research first. Use Google to research what others have written.

Once you have all this data in front of you, some ideas should begin to formulate into your head.

Tip #4: Test It!

Try using a headline testing tool to A/B test your headlines.  The one I like is CoSchedules Headline Analyzer.

This tool will give your headline a rating and based on that rating you can then make changes.

If you’re using WordPress, you have even more options. Plug-ins like KingSumo allow you to type in a few different headlines so you can test them on the fly, in the real world. After a few minutes, the program will select the dominant hed for you.

They are never really perfect

There is always room for improvement and don’t be afraid to come back and rework your content.

Good luck and if you know of any hacks or experiences you have had, let me know, I would love to hear from you.