
David Krichmar
By David Krichmar
Testimonials are a very important asset to you. Heck, what better way to show your “The Best REALTOR®” then with testimonials from past clients? Here are five great tips to get more out of your testimonials:
1. Content- “Dave is great,” is not a testimonial. You will want to be at least a paragraph, four-to-five sentences. Let the client paint the picture of the great job you did. This means do not just post the good parts or shorten it. Putting “Kim did a good job,” in quotation marks makes me feel like you cut out the part where Kim did something not so good.
2. Key Words- In anything we do online we want keywords. This is how you get found on the Internet. So highlight the keywords that your client uses in their testimonial, such as the town, county, subdivision, builder’s name, etc. of the home. If the client does not mention them, add them after the testimonial.
3. Links- Just like keywords, we also want links that point to our websites. If the client mentions a keyword, such as “Sugar Land, Texas,” have it link back to your website. Especially if this is an area that you specialize in. This is also a great idea for school districts, subdivisions, etc. that are mentioned on your website, blog posts, and/or Facebook pages. Continue reading »
Juicing Up Your Listing Presentation

Subhi J. Gharbieh
By Subhi Gharbieh
Have you ever thought about some things you can incorporate into your listing presentation that will really juice it up? Here are a few tips to help you get your listing presentation looking like Barry Bonds.
Show them:
1. Graphs, Charts, Tables of Market Data. Comps, recent sales, and anything that can be explained with numbers, make it visual! (If you’re a Mac user, I strongly recommend Numbers for Mac.
Very easy to use and make your numbers “pop.”)
2. Marketing. Show them your property flyers with your amazing photos. Show them your blog, videos, advertisements, postcards, etc. They want to see what you have done in the past and what you will do for them now.
3. Social Media. Show them your Facebook business page. Twitter. Show them the different avenues you use to reach out to your following and how you market your listings on those networks.
4. Technology. If you have an iPad, make or upload your listing presentation in Keynote (Hands down, best Mac program to use when making presentations.) Bring an actual binded, professional looking listing presentation to the appointment, and bring your iPad also. Hand the iPad to the Seller and let them flip through the presentation on there while you go through the paper version. That alone will sell them. Continue reading »
A Case For Facebook Fan Pages for Your Business

Laura Rubinchuk
By Laura Rubinchuk
Lately I’ve been convinced that Facebook business pages should be more like a community page, a 365 page, or another way to get your community involved and talking.
While I see extreme value in that, and don’t mean to discredit that theory, because there are many ways to make social media work for you, I want to say that you should STILL have a fan page for you business (or your brand).
I recently got engaged and found wedding planning to be a second job. Research, planning, Web surfing, reviews, etc. etc. <eyes glazing over here> I’ve found that I went back to what I know well. When I find a vendor I’m interested in, I took to wedding rating sites in addition to Facebook. I wanted to see what people were willing to stake their names and identities to say. Is it just the vendor talking about recent events or did the clients actually post something to say “Thank you! You were great!” or something of the sort. In one instance, I was so torn between two vendors, I actually sent a complete stranger a Facebook message. Surprised? She responded. She was willing to spend the time to tell a complete stranger how great this DJ was at her wedding. I find it’s easy to bash or praise a vendor as a faceless avatar with an arbitrary name – it’s more credibility when it’s an actual person speaking up and vouching for this professional.
Take that to your business. We ask clients for testimonials all the time – we add it to our websites, our marketing brochures, we paste them everywhere! But what about your Facebook page? Why not simply ask them to write it there? You know they’re on there killing time anyway! You know how it goes – the post shows up on their wall, and their friends see it, and so on and so forth.
Just don’t forget to be consistent. Don’t have one post a month or none at all. Don’t brag, don’t just post your blogs or tweets. Actually provide some content and reassurance so when a stranger looks for you, they’ll find something great they can’t ignore! I plan to implement this new strategy, now that the lightbulb has gone off!
Laura Rubinchuk, GRI, is a real estate practitioner with Keller Williams Realty in McLean, Va. Visit her blog at www.ArlingtonRealEstateNews.com or her Web site at www.TheLJRGroup.com.

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