The one good thing about this economic catastrophe is that we’re all in the same boat. So now it’s time to do something that you would never think possible in a “normal” economic time:  barter. Ask for financing on the products and services you purchase.

Bartering
Wikipedia defines “bartering” as a type of trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services, without the use of money. It can be bilateral or multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent.

Barter usually replaces money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, when the currency is unstable and devalued by hyperinflation. Bartering benefits companies that see a mutual benefit in exchanging goods and services rather than cash.  It also enables those who are lacking “hard currency” to obtain goods and services.

How It Works

 The member companies buy and sell products and services to each other using an internal currency known as barter or trade dollars. Modern barter and trade has evolved considerably to become an effective method of increasing sales, conserving cash, moving inventory, and making use of excess production capacity for businesses around the world.

Businesses in a barter earn trade credits (instead of cash) that are deposited into their account. They then have the ability to purchase goods and services from other members utilizing their trade credits.  They are not obligated to purchase from the person to whom they sold, and vice versa.

The exchange plays an important role because they provide the record-keeping, brokering expertise and monthly statements to each member. Commercial exchanges make money by charging a commission on each transaction either all on the buy side, all on the sell side, or a combination of both (sound familiar?). Transaction fees typically run between 8 and 15%.

You sell homes, and those that pay you a fee may or may not have the cash to pay. Consider bartering a portion of your commission (with your broker’s blessing, of course) for products or services that the seller has that could be used to help you sell homes. Think of all the things you currently buy to get you through the month.

In the old days, there was no “cash,” and so all there was, was bartering. If the economy gets much worse, we may be forced to return to this basic policy across the board. However, I’m looking at this as an opportunity.  Make it easier for those selling their homes to do so without needing cash.

Does your home inspector need his/her home evaluated (note that I didn’t say “appraised” for you non-appraisers)? What does your carpet store need that you could provide without paying cash? The options are endless.

Favorable Financing
In this area, I’m referring not as much to home financing as much as I am to financing goods and services. Maybe you can’t find anything to barter for the goods or services you want. Here’s your option: Ask for favorable financing.

What is “favorable financing?” Let’s say you want to buy that new software program that will get you organized. Try telling them that you don’t have the full amount of cash, but could you pay 50% down and have them carry the balance for 6 to 12 months at 0% interest?

Here’s the interesting thing about asking for favorable financing. We don’t think companies would do this, and yet when is the last time you went into a car dealership and didn’t see an option of 0% financing? And if large companies are hurting, don’t you think small companies are hurting even more?

Now is the time to take advantage of that silver lining in this dark economic cloak with which we are covered. Before you say “This will never work!” I’d ask . . . “Have you asked?”

Randy Eagar has been Realtor Of The Year, Salesman Of the Year, National President of the CRS Council and author of the most successful CRS 2-day Technology Course. He is a sought after speaker and technology humorist. You can hire Randy by email Randy@ComputerCamp.net or calling (800) 277-1316.

Find out how your website competes by clicking on your GOOGLE SCORE.

It means “forceful,” “convincing,” “persuasive,” “undeniable,” and “gripping.”  Now you know what a truly successful Ninja website should be.

In my last article I gave you the first 5 of the 10 Commandments for Making Money from Your Website. In this article, we’ll take a look at the next 5 powerful features that the top agents in the country are doing to make over $100,000 just from their websites.

In my profession of consulting with real estate agents, I’ve noticed that there are two groups of agents. Those that have a vision and work toward that vision, and those that don’t have a clue. Remember the skeptics waiting for the new fangled Internet to go away? Well I think that era’s over. Now we’re going to assist those of you who are smart enough to have developed a website, but haven’t quite got to the point of making it work for you.

Here are the final 5 Commandments that you must follow in order to make your website compelling and thus a lead generator:

6.     “Dynamic” Web Pages
What is a “dynamic” web page? To some degree it would be safe to say it is the opposite of a “static” web page. It’s content can be modified by the viewer and the page can pull from back-end databases. Some examples of “dynamic” web pages that prospects love are Search the MLS, Loan Calculator pages, Drip Marketing pages, Quick Search and much more.

“Dynamic” web pages add a real zing to the website. These make the website more of a “tool” than a marketing piece. Interactive rather than advertising. The best part of all is that most of the successful template website companies already have these tools for you to use in your website.

7.    Blog Sites
While a blog site can be construed as a miniature website, it actually is much more. Blog sites by their very nature are communicative and “chatty” by their very nature. Not only are they meant to be read like newspapers and magazines, but they are meant to be commented on by their readers. Many agents are now shifting all their emphasis to just having a blog site, as they are so easy to put together and maintain.

However blog sites are best used in conjunction with an effective website for a 1-2 punch. Think of the website as the mother ship and the blog site as the satellite that can bring in visitors. The power of the blog site is its use of text, audio and video. If linked to the website, search engines will read the website much more frequently, giving you higher rankings and more search engine visibility.

8.    Video Tours
For years, many agents have been using the “virtual tour” which uses the technique of overlapping panoramic shots to showcase an entire room. While early versions of this software was flawed, later versions have been easy to use and very effective for sharing the various rooms of a home.

However, new technologies have given us the ability to take a video camera and “shoot” a home or neighborhood with voiceovers (that are much more difficult to be done with virtual tours). Once videos are shot, if they are shot using a digital camera, the file can be copied over to a standard computer. Typical digital video computers (especially the new HD digital video) have a very large file size that would never be conducive to the Internet. So these files can either be uploaded to YouTube or preferably converted to a “flash” file and then uploaded to your website or blog site for distribution.

9.    Social Marketing
I lump the term “social marketing” to include “social networking” (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.), “social bookmarking” (Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, etc.), and “video and photo sharing” (YouTube, Flickr, Revver, etc.). So much can be done now with a simple digital camera and/or video camera that one can almost produce their own commercial. “Social Networking” is an excellent tool to become social as in working crowds in a cocktail party. “Social Bookmarking” is well used to market and distribute your website to other subscribers. And “Video/Photo Sharing” is perfect for sending/retrieving video and photos from anywhere around the world.

With social marketing, only your mind is your limitation. It used to be that your limitation was a budget and whomever you knew that could create the marketing piece you wanted. Now it is almost all free and is getting easier and easier to use.

10. Mash-ups
Our final important word – “convergence”. Convergence is the combination of several tools. In our case it is the combination of the MLS listings, Yahoo maps and other GPS tools. I’ve even seen virtual tours and video combined with mapping MLS searches. MLS searches that utilize the new “mash-ups” have a much more elegant look and feel and definitely will hold the attention of the view far longer than the typical MLS search.

The one downside of using mash-ups (at least right now) is that they are the one tool that is a little more costly. In most cases, vast sums of money have been invested into creating the technologies used. This is typically paid back in the form of royalties for the use of the technology.

If you are interested in taking a look at some of the websites that utilize these different tools, email me for a one sheet list of all the best websites that utilize these Commandments. 

If you’d like to know how your website fairs against your competition, here’s how to get your “GOOGLE SCORE.”

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com
Randy@WebsTarget.com
(800) 277-1316 Toll Free

Take a look at your own website. Ask yourself this question: If I were a buyer/prospect, and I came to this site, is there something here in the first 9 seconds that grabs my attention enough to make me want to stay and read more?

More than this, is there something here that makes me want to give this person my name, email and/or phone number? Answer honestly. If you’re honest, 95% of you will say “No.”

As a consultant to some of the biggest agents in the country, my clientele has more of a vision for their websites. They understand that their website can make them money . . . serious money. The one common denominator is that each of their websites is “compelling.” So much so that once they get a visitor, they rarely lose them to their competitors.

It can all be traced to 10 features and functions that are common denominators amongst the pros. I call them the Ten Website Commandments for Making Money.
I’ve personally cataloged many of these agents earning over $100,000 just from their websites, and I’m going to give you their secrets.

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization/Marketing).
   Think about this one. Why do these agents get so many sales from their website? Because they’re getting so many leads from their website. Why are they getting so many leads? Because their websites are highly visible in the search engines. Why are their websites so visible? Because they all “invest” into SEO/SEM, which by design, makes their websites “search engine-friendly”. This is not luck, it is an investment.It doesn’t matter if you have the most professional website in the world, with all the tools and features that I’ll mention below, IF NOBODY KNOWS THAT YOU’RE THERE.
2. IDX (Search the MLS)
   I can’t believe that I still have to mention this one, but there are still agents who either do not see the value of placing this tool on their website, or will place it on their website in a hidden fashion. Sometimes when consulting with an agent, I’ll suggest that they need a link to their MLS from the Home page. The reply comes back as “It’s right there.” “Where?” “Where it says ‘Homes.’” How does THAT tell me that I can find the MLS if I click “HOMES?” Trust me. It doesn’t.I can give you several successful websites where the “Search The MLS” not only is displayed prominently, but also shows up to 6 or 7 times in various ways so that if the viewer misses one way, they can find it from another way.Another cool tool that the very prosperous are using is the “Quick Search,” where you don’t even have to click on a link to search the MLS. You can do it straight from the Home Page. No more guessing whether the agent is going to hold you hostage my making you sign a “guest book.”
3. Featured Listings
   The vast majority of your website will be for your buyer target market. But don’t forget that you’ll also be making money with your sellers by showcasing their homes as well. Just the term “Featured Listings” implies a sense of pride which you can take advantage.Knowing how easy it is to add a seller’s home with photos, text and even a video tour enables the agent to do all this in advance. Then when the listing presentation is made, the “Wow Factor” comes out when the seller sees that their home is already on the website in glorious color. It’s like magic.
4. Drip Marketing
   Of all the tools that I’ve seen the top pros use, “drip marketing” is one of the two best tools that automatically and immediately make an impact. More than this, this tool can make the viewer “want” to give you their name, email and phone number. Why?Because an effective “drip marketing” tool is a form that the buyer fills out, giving the price range they want to stay within, location, bedrooms, bathrooms, style and any other features that they want to isolate in a new listing. And because they fill out the form and give their email address, they will automatically get notified immediately whenever a home that meets their parameters comes on the market.
5. “Static” Web Pages
   A “static” web page is any page over which you have complete control. These are typically pages that you add all the information, whether graphics, text, sound and/or video. The reason for the word “static” is that once you add this data, it is locked in until you change it. But it cannot be modified by the viewer. So why are these pages so important?There are several reasons, but one very good one is that you can type in exactly what you want to say, making the page look as professional as you want. Typical “static” pages are the “About Me”, “Testimonials”, “Communities” and other pages of description. From an SEO perspective, we also love these pages as they are ripe for burying your keyword phrases within the text and thus getting you found with even more pages.

If you are interested in taking a look at several examples of the websites that utilize these different tools, email me below, and I will send you one sheet with all website links.
If you’d like to know how your website fairs against your competition, here’s how to get your “GOOGLE SCORE.”

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com
Randy@WebsTarget.com
(800) 277-1316 Toll Free

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.
The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com

“Plunging Housing Markets . . . Down Again”

“Home Prices Suffer Record Monthly Drop”

“Bank Closures at All Time High in 2008”

“Credit Crisis Waves Roll On”

“Growing Market in Foreclosures”

“Foreclosure Rates Show No Sign of Slowing”

“States Unemployment Funds Run Low”

And the bad news goes on and on, causing panic and fear until we become our own worst self-fulfilling prophecy. Here’s my beef. It’s media hype.  No it’s worse than media hype.  It’s a vast media distortion, used to sensationalize and sell the news.  It’s not the first time the media has done this, but now it has hit close to home.  Close to your home, close to your client’s home and your livelihood.  The result is that the American homebuyer is naively buying the lie and hesitating to buy that home they need.

Another beef I have is that perhaps even a few of you Realtors reading this blog have been sitting in your own family rooms reading and watching those headlines, and you’ve believed the hype yourselves.

Why? Because, like me and everyone else who reads the papers, watches it on the TV and hears it on the radio, we think that just because the mainstream media says it, then, by golly, it’s gotta be true.  Pundits know that if they repeat anything long enough, people believe it.

Well I’ve got a few surprising facts here that were shared in a speech given by my good friend Utah Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert.  He and I worked together years ago to establish the Utah Chapter of the Council of  Residential Specialists.  OK, here’s what he shared with us:

“Bank Closures at an All Time High in 2008”. Hogwash!
In 1989 there were 1,004 bank closures.
In 2008 there were 30 bank closures
On average there are 94 bank closures per year

“Foreclosure Rates Show No Sign of Slowing”. Baloney!
During the Great Depression Foreclosure Rates were 50%
Nationally today our Foreclosure Rates are 3% (1.4% in Utah)

“States Unemployment Funds Run Low”. Ridiculous!
During the Great Depression Unemployment ran at 25%
Nationally today our Unemployment is 7.2%

As Realtors, I challenge you to join me in confronting the main stream media in your own locations.  Spread this information on your blogs, in all your social networking, and you can even join my WebStar Network.  It’s the real truth.  It’s not hype.  I say let’s fight back and take back the one industry that is at the heart of the American Dream — the Real Estate Industry — and bring this whole mess, this nation and the world back from chaos.  The one best weapon that you have at your disposal is the truth!

Are times right now bad? Yes. Do we have a shaky market? Yes.  But FDR’s famous statement applies:  “The only thing we need to fear is fear itself.”  It’s time to start looking at our glass as 93% full rather than 7% empty. We need to look at putting 15-20% down payment and say what’s wrong with that? That’s been a standard in real estate for years – a safe standard.  We need to look at qualifying procedures and make sure that we are selling homes to people who can afford them.

We are the grass roots of the economy, and we can make a difference. We can take it back. All we need to do is to tell our buyers and sellers the truth about what is going on and stop the panic. If there is insanity going on it is in the pundits that look for all the bad news to make sensationalism sell their message.

Our message should be: America is good. America is strong. America is proud.

Randy Eagar, CRS
www.WebsTarget.com

Real estate agents have some of the best content and news stories with which to write. Think about what is going on right now. What stories are of interest?

• What is Happening to Interest Rates
• How are Housing Prices Changing
• Major Corporate Moves
• Communities of Interest
• Who is Moving Up/Down
• What New Agents Have You Attracted
• What New Offices Have You Opened

The list is only limited by your imagination.

Public relations firms use the press release commonly. The aim is to attract favorable media attention to public relations professional’s client and/or provide publicity for products or events marketed by those clients. Now think about it. The service of an online news service is to attract viewers for interesting news.

But they can’t make it up, so this is where you come in. You can provide it to them via the press release. A news release should provide these services with the basics they need to develop a news story. News releases can announce a range of news items such as: scheduled events, personal promotions, awards, news products and services, sales, accomplishments, etc. They are often used in generating a feature story or are sent for the purpose of announcing news conferences, upcoming events or change in corporation. And the best thing is that it all ties into your real estate SEO, or website positioning with the major search engines.

A media release is like a short newspaper article that you may send to different media outlets in order to gain interest in a writer’s mind so that a story will be published about the organization in which you work for or the product in which you are trying to promote. The person reading your media release will be looking for stories that will interest their readers, viewers and listeners. An effective media release tells a story that will interest a number of people. Media releases need to be about the story and just enough relevant information for the story to work. The release isn’t the place to list all the benefits of the business or it will be seen as a “marketing piece”.

Now here’s the great thing about online press release services. They have already accumulated hundreds of other news/press services that they distribute. If they like your story, it gets an even wider distribution. The more interesting the story, the more people pick it up and it becomes a domino effect. And remember, that the news feed is typically picked up “as-is” with your keywords and quotes just as you wrote them. This gives you huge real estate SEO impact.

These services are not cheap, but have a very large return on investment. So much so that we here at WebsTarget include the services of the online press release with our new Platinum SEO services that we sell.

One caveat for you however. Once you create your first press release, you’ll be hooked. The more interesting your media releases, the more people will want to pick up on it. Have fun, but don’t try and “sell”.

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com
(800) 277-131

It’s now possible through the union of WebsTarget by Computer Camp, one of the nation’s premier real estate SEO firms and VisiStat Website Analytics. The combination of WebsTarget real estate SEO with VisiStat Analytics is making websites not only visible and dominant, but now gives the agent the ability to measure the effectiveness of their real estate website positioning performance and activity. Best of all, it is FREE to all WebsTarget Gold and Platinum users.

Users want to not only have their website positioning at the top of the major search engines, but they want informative reports that demonstrate exactly what is happening. WebsTarget drives prospects to the website, and VisiStat allows the sales team to view visitor activity on its website in real time, rather than having to comb through log reports 24 hours later for nuggets of information. It alerts users to activity by sending out an e-mail whenever someone visits designated pages — sort of like the bell ringing on the front door of a retail establishment.

Drive Prospects to Your Website and Get Real Time Alerts

WebsTarget will provide dozens of keyword phrases on the 1^st page of Google, Yahoo! and MSN. See WebsTarget client pages for examples of clients with hundreds of keyword phrases on page one of Google, Yahoo! and MSN. By focusing on the real estate industry, WebsTarget knows how to get you to the top. With the combination of VisiStat’s Analytics tool, these increasingly viewed websites can give the agent more marketing power with real time visitor tracking, online marketing campaigns and PPC campaigns and live streaming reports. In addition, by associating certain e-mail marketing campaign messages with unique web landing pages, your team can tell exactly who is taking a peek at its information, further refining the sales prospecting process.

WebsTarget is an 8 year old real estate SEO company that spotlights high end real estate technology services. It is the brain child of Randy Eagar who has accumulated 32 years in the real estate business and was the 2006 National President of the Council of Residential Specialists. The company has already touched thousands of real estate agents in every state in the country plus many other countries with successful real estate technology training and real estate website positioning. Randy’s philosophy has been “What does it matter if you have the best website with all the tools, if nobody knows that you are there?”

VisiStat Inc. is a software-as-a-service company that focuses on providing small and medium-size businesses with a suite of tools to measure marketing effectiveness of their Web sites, including real-time reports on traffic. Other reports offered include search-engine keyword usage, geographical location, click path and referral links. One of the more exciting tools of their service is the touch mapping aspect which shows exactly where users are clicking, giving valuable data on the most profitable areas of the website.

VisiStat is co-founded by Tina Bean who offers online tools for businesses to use to measure the effectiveness of their Web sites.

VisiStat, Inc. distinguishes itself from other analytics services, such as Google, ClickTracks and WebTrends, by being the first on-demand Web analytics provider to focus on complete Website management and online marketing performance for business, sales and marketing-level needs. VisiStat continues to be the price-performance leader in real-time site management tools, providing intuitive visual reports specifically designed for Web 2.0 business applications and Website productivity. VisiStat.com turns Website visitor tracking into actionable business intelligence.

Free Website Analysis and the 8 Most Effective Features

Websites need to not only look professional, they need to be “search engine friendly” and compelling to those that view it. Get a FREE website analysis and a FREE webinar on 8 most compelling website features that all real estate agents should have.

For more information on getting your website to the top of the search engines and/or the website analytics reports, visit WebsTarget. Media contact Randy Eagar (800) 277-1316.

To start this off, you have to know that the consensus was made by a national group study looking over all the major companies and players in the industry. The individual that is our top marketing person did so by making the entire “social marketing” field his own tool.

Our winning marketer’s name is Chris Hughes. Recognize him? I didn’t think so. Maybe you would recognize the company he co-founded . . . Facebook. But that is not how he won this award. This marketing savvy actually was built off of the knowledge of Facebook and then used all the other Web 2.0 tools to rally millions of others.

The quest was a campaign. A particular Presidential Campaign. Okay, now you know. The historic victory of president elect Barak Obama is the largest event of 2008, and perhaps the century. Mr. Obama ran such a successful campaign because he relied on connecting with normal people by any means possible. The campaign relied heavily on “social media” outlets to reach out to potential voters, increase their knowledge of Mr. Obama and rally their votes. Chris Hughes was at the heart of that campaign.  Of course it didn’t hurt that the demographics by now used not only youth but voters in their 30’s and 40’s being savvy to “social media”.

Chris took his intimate knowledge of social media to create My.BarackObama.com, The Obama’s campaign’s official online social networking website. The Guardian discusses Mr. Obama’s online strategy:

“Obama’s campaign team is everywhere online: YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter and Facebook, whose co-founder Chris Hughes worked for the campaign from early last year. They mobilized supporters and organised communities, registering 1.5 million volunteers through My.BarackObama.com and raising $600 million from 3 million people. Obama’s campaign also built a consensual database of 3 million mobile numbers by promising that in return, supporters would get campaign news before the media. And so they did almost immediately with the announcement of Joe Biden as vice-presidential candidate. ”

The interesting thing is that Obama even managed to pull off intimate discussions with major donors over dinner, posted to the campaign’s YouTube account. “He’s just a fantastic political communicator. There’s no sense of artifice – just a melding of the candidate and the human being,” says Flanagan.”

These tools used to elect the nation’s first African-American President can be used to market you as well. Done on the right scale, anything is possible. Currently, there are many agents proving just this. Now is the time to learn more about “social marketing”. Get your toe in the water by opening accounts in LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter. But just start one community at a time. Get your feet wet and learn to swim.

Come on in . . . the water’s fine!

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com
(800) 277-1316