A succesful eMarketing strategy must have: Compelling reason(s) for prospect to contact you over other agents Benefits for prospect Specific offers, reports Calls to action Lead capture ability Measuring & Tracking capability Steps for Internet & eMarketing Success 1. Create & Maintain a great “Destination” Website Customer-Centric not Agent-Centric - "Image style branding is out" People don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped and get information Internet = access, information, instant Offer what the consumer wants Easy & accessible Search for listings (IDX) Photos & virtual tours Reports, local market data Neighborhood, community, school information Foreclosure, short... Read more →

Domus Consulting Group will be offering their well reviewed Social Media Marketing Workshops starting this week, offering their one hour weekly webinar every Monday at 10:30-11:30 Nevada time over 12 weeks. Their first session is being repeated this Thursday and Friday at 10:30am. Please register for it at http://domusconsultinggroup.com/americana. The Social Media Marketing System gets real estate agents an online presence that generates leads without blogging. You essentially become the go-to source for breaking real estate news in your area. You can see a slide presentation of the Broadcasting System at Transparent Real Estate. I've seen how the System works.... Read more →

REBlogworld was a well-organized and successful event. I enjoyed participating, networking and the learning and sharing of ideas. Kudos to Todd Carpenter and Jason Berman for all their hard work and to all the speakers and attendees for being on the leading edge of the RE.net. Here's a recap of some of the sessions I attended/participated in at REBlogworld on Friday, September 19, 2008. Mariana Wagner - From Click to Close. Mariana covered 10 major points of conversion using and expanding on a traditional sales cycle adjusted for Find - Potential clients will find you online due to your SEO;... Read more →

Technorati has posted the State of the Blogosphere 2008 in a 5 part series packed with trends, stats and details about the who, what, why and how of blogging. This year, as discussed by CEO Richard Jalichandra at the recent Blogworld & New Media Expo, Technorati conducted a random survey of the 1.2 million Technorati members (approx 1300 participants from 60 countries). Introduction Day 1: Who Are the Bloggers? Day 2: The What And Why of Blogging Day 3: The How of Blogging Day 4: Blogging For Profit Day 5: Brands Enter The Blogosphere Previous reports: 2007, Index Some of... Read more →

Dave Taylor - Ten Things Your Need to Know about Search Engines and Findability It all starts with good content - interesting, compelling and relevant. Search Engines use semantic (what are you saying) and contextual analysis (who links to you and how they link) to figure themes and topics. Here are Dave's 10 Things (plus a Bonus Tip) to Know About Search Engine Optimization: Importance of titles- is title good enough to draw attention? Does is contain a keyword or concept about the post? Keyword Density - think keywords when writing - use the keyword several times in the post... Read more →

The opening keynote address at Blogworld & New Media Expo 2008 featured Technorati CEO,Richard Jalichandra unveiling part of the latest State of the Blogosphere report. Look for the 5 part series on Technorati this Monday. Six Apart's Chris Alden and Anil Dash spoke about The Past, Present and Future of Blogging. I am posting this from my iPhone using the new Typepad app I just downloaded. Read more →

Back in May I wrote a post entitled To Twitter or Not Twittter? And that is still a question I am pondering. I find myself re-intrigued with this platform whenever I am at a conference. I'm attending REBlogworld and Blogworld Expo this weekend and am following all the Blogworld tweets and joining the conversation. Follow REBlogworld on Twitter. Chris Brogran wrote 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business and his first idea of simply getting a Twitter account and listening to the conversation is the perfect advice to experience Twitter. I also like his #11 idea: Instead of answering the... Read more →

Do you want to learn all the latest about blogs, podcasts, video blogs and social media? Then sign up today for the 3 day conference coming to Las Vegas September 19-21, 2008. Friday is a full day of workshops and panels geared for the real estate professional. Your conference registration ($350 until August 22nd then it goes up to $450) also includes both days of the Blogworld & New Media Expo. Visit the REBlogworld Blog for more details and check out this post from Todd Carpenter What does my registration get me? Read more →

Blogging from ReBarCamp in San Francisco... 120+ participants, lots of energy, networking, great conversations on a variety of topics (from Foreclosures 2.0 to everything blogging and social networks). An informative and thought-provoking session entitled: "What are the 5 Social Networks Every Agent Should Participate In?" brought out some key points to explore before deciding what social networks to join. What is your objective, outcome, goal? And it should not just be about the sale! The power of social networking is connecting with others and building relationships. It's about the community and sharing. It's about you being authentic and transparent and... Read more →

I did a mini-interview for the local FOX affiliate for a story they were doing on "Blogging for Buyers" - how some agents are using social networking and blogs to reach more consumers (Gen Y in particular). Here's a link to the story and video clip: Realtors Use Internet To Attract Young Buyers If you are not familiar with the term Gen Y (aka Millenials), here's an excerpt from Wikipedia: Gen Y represents more than 70 million consumers in the United States and refers to a specific cohort of individuals born, roughly, between 1980-83 and 1994 (first half) and 1995-2001... Read more →

I am excited and honored to be a part of the RE Blogworld Conference on Friday, September 19, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. I will be joining Pat Kitano of TransparentRE and Kevin Boer of 3Oceans Real Estate as moderators for this full-day conference kicking off the Blogworld & New Media Conference set for September 20 and 21 in Las Vegas. Todd Carpenter and Jason Berman are the organizers of this full day event for real estate agents, mortgage brokers and other real estate professionals. Learn from the leaders in the RE.net about how to leverage the power... Read more →

I just read Seth Godin's post entitled Email Checklist - "Before you hit send on that next email, perhaps you should run down this list...." It's a classic and got me thinking about my love-hate relationship with email. Most days I am so done with email! Is an empty Inbox a real possibility in this lifetime? Seriously, how many hours a day are you spending on email - reading, sorting, deleting and responding? Is email making your life more or less stressful? Is it really more efficient then picking up the phone and talking to the other party? Personally, I... Read more →

I discovered the Eco-Safe widget today on Chris Brogan's blog as I was reviewing my blog feeds. What a great idea and a way to promote more environmentally-friendly alternatives to printing. I immediately installed it on my blog and checked it out - brilliant! Works as advertised, simple and green. The widget allows visitors to your blog alternatives to printing thus helping to reduce the to staggering amount of paper used daily for web printing: Send the page via email Email a PDF of the page Download a PDF of the page Do your part to help the planet today...... Read more →

One of the panel discussions at the recent Bloodhound Blog Unchained covered the topic of online reputation management with: David Gibbons, Zillow Rudy Bachraty, Trulia Jeff Brown, www.bawldguy.com Real Estate Investments Broker Here are some of the best ideas and tips I gleaned from the discussion: • Leverage your blog presence by commenting on blogs - reaching the audience you seek • Use Google Alerts to receive updates on topics of interest. Set up a Google alert on your name, company, etc. • Zillow & Trulia agree that when someone trashes their company – it is a great opportunity to... Read more →

Andy Kaufman and Brad Coy presented and demonstrated Twitter, the numerous applications available to enhance your Twitter experience and how to use it all at the BHB Unchained Conference on May 20, 2008. What is Twitter? A microblogging platform that asks the question..."What are you doing now?" A communication channel and social network You post to Twitter in 140 characters or less via your mobile phone or the web It's text messaging, instant messaging, and email rolled into one service that allows you to communicate instantly with a group A potential addiction and time-waster or a unique way to stay... Read more →

Brian Brady shared his obsession with marketing and how "ubiquity" works with the Unchained Conference attendees on Day 2. Brian is everywhere on the Web 2.0 /RE.net webscape and he showed us how he does it. Some key points from Brian's discussion: New customers are the life blood of your business, including referrals from your past clients and sphere of influence. The Internet automates your Unique Selling Proposition - how you stand out from your competitors. Web 1.0 - static, your business card and brochure online. Web 2.0 - an exchange, participatory, interactive. The empowered customer has all info available... Read more →

My second day at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Conference proved to be more than I expected - these guys know how to deliver the good stuff! The morning started with an epiphany and intriguing historical review from Greg Swann on, well, history - from primitive cultures to the Greeks to the 20th Century. I loved how he tied the history and philosophy to the evolution of Web 2.0. Visit the Unchained You Tube Channel for all the videos. The epiphany - read/view more on this BloodhoundBlog post and Greg's April post on the subject: You are free to THRIVE... Read more →

Pre-Conference day at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained conference in Phoenix proved to be chock full of nuggets and solid content. In fact, I have already implemented many and made changes to my blog as a result of what I have learned today. Here's a recap of the key points for me: Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces covered a lot of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips and lead generation strategies: Use SEO tools to analyze the effectiveness of your blog: SEOBOOK WebsiteGrader SEOCentro Use a call to action on your blog - a button with "Search 20,000 listings"; "What is my home... Read more →

If you are searching for lists and links to real estate blogs - everything from real estate agent bloggers to real estate marketing, industry and news - here are some resources I've bookmarked for future reference: Bloodhound Blog maintains this potentially canonical list of real estate weblogs. Todd Carpenter of Lenderama and Blog Fiesta created REMBEX, a customized Google search of a thousand+ real estate blogs You can also add the Rembex search engine as a widget for your blog. See my sidebar for an example - just scroll down to right above the list of blog directories. Don't forget... Read more →

This is my current list of the best blogs covering the real estate industry, blogging, marketing, technology and news... in no particular order - they are all great! Transparent Real Estate - Pat Kitano blogs on real estate industry and technology issues. The Real Estate Tomato - Jim Cronin's blog is packed with blogging tips, advice and strategies. RE Tomato also builds custom real estate blogs. The Future of Real Estate Marketing - Joel Burslem and contributors blog on real estate web 2.0 and marketing. Bloodhound Blog - Greg Swann leads the way with this popular, collaborative, cutting-edge blog on... Read more →