Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
I hope that your SocialBios is the last About Me page you will have to complete now that REALTOR.com and SocialBios have fully launched the Hyper-Social(TM) Agent Profile Pages and Hyper-Social(TM) Agent Recommendations. Presented at the Young Professional Network Sub-Committee Midyear meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C., you must understand that this is no ordinary About Me page. Your SocialBios page is an information-packed, link-loaded, update-sharing, recommendation-engine of awesomeness that you can take with you via the handy personalized link or by grabbing a bit of code for your website. Set up your SocialBios page today at www.socialbios.com/create!
Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Collegeville, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.
Ryan Gervais
By Ryan Gervais
Do you suffer from ugly website syndrome? Does your website have a twin?
If you answered yes to either question, it is time to “get real,” as Dr. Phil would say, and develop a better brand image for your website. In my last article, I gave a bold statement: to try and help every reader get one more sale this year. Here is the first step in that process.
First, load up your current website. Now count the number of unique articles or stories you personally have written. If the answer is zero, that is probably the same amount of traffic you are getting from Google. If you are getting zero traffic from the largest search engine in the world, you are probably not converting too many online leads to clients.
Now, count how many calls to action you have on your website. A call to action is asking the visitor to do something specific on your site, such as sign up for a newsletter, give their personal information to receive listings, etc. If you do not give the visitor several different options to give up their personal information, you will not get many leads. Website users need to see variations, such as text links, banners, buttons, etc. If you are lacking calls to action, you will need to think about ways of adding them in so you can direct traffic to your conversion page.
Do you have a conversion page? This is the page that makes you money. If you do not have a conversion page, you should drop everything you are doing and create one. A conversion page is where buyers or sellers give you there personal information and allow you to call or email them.
If you have made yourself look like an expert by writing articles, you will be surprised at how many people will make an initial contact through your website. The main conversion page that most agents use is a “sign up for MLS listings to be emailed to you” page. Every person who signs up for this service should immediately be put into your contact system to start receiving emailed listings. These are the cream of the crop for leads, and it need to be harvested carefully (I will speak more about that in a future article).
Now that you know a few of the main things to look out for on your website, I will address how to create a unique website using a content management system in my next article, so stay tuned!
Ryan Gervais is a sales representative in Sarnia, Ontario with RE/MAX Sarnia. Connect with Ryan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SarniaRealEstate LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/ryan-gervais/a/222/3b or on the Web at www.sarnialistings.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
In this video, I discuss six technologies to tackle in 2012. What have you already crossed off your technology to-do list? What do you still need to focus on this year? We are already one quarter into 2012, so let’s get moving!
*Related: “Tried And True, But Not Tired: Email Marketing Now“
Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Collegeville, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.
Ryan Gervais
By Ryan Gervais
The first thing almost every new REALTOR® is told when they get in the business is to get a website. New agents usually ask their broker or fellow agents where to go to fulfill this seemingly important task, and they usually choose an out-of-the-box template solution. These cookie-cutter solutions do offer the convenience of getting up and running fast, but does it separate your from your competition?
Industry insiders often throw around words such as search engine optimization, Google Analytics, bounce rates, and social media integration as a way to measure how effective your website is. I challenge everyone who is reading this to think about all of those things, but add the most important one of all: Lead Conversion.
Your website should be a place to convert visitors to clients. If you do not know how many visitors it takes to convert a visitor into a prospect or how many prospects you need to convert to a transaction, then what is the point of focusing on all the buzz words above? If you are just using your website as an infomercial for yourself, and not to directly engage visitors and give them many options to become a client, you are wasting a valuable opportunity to pick up another client.
REALTORS® should be benchmarking our websites with other conversion-friendly industries to learn best-practices when building a website that is meant for conversion. Users respond differently to colors, buttons, text links, pictures, white space, and generally need to be told what to do in many different ways if you want them to do something like give up their personal information.
My goal is to get every reader of my posts one new transaction this year by sharing some best practices on lead conversion and answering website related questions over a series of articles.
Ryan Gervais is a sales representative in Sarnia, Ontario with RE/MAX Sarnia. Connect with Ryan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SarniaRealEstate LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/ryan-gervais/a/222/3b or on the Web at www.sarnialistings.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
Realtors Property Resource® was recently introduced to my market and I am pleasantly surprised by how much I love this tool. For those of you not familiar with RPR, it is a database of 116 million homes nationwide that (once your MLS allows), you can access to search, compare, create reports with data from a myriad of sources (something like 330 pieces of data are parsed) and establish yourself as a subject-area expert for housing in the market where you do business.
While this tool is not available to all REALTORS® yet, by learning all you can about RPR now you will have a great “leg up” on your colleagues. Sound good? Trust me, it is. I’ve spent a significant amount of time sharing this tool with my agents and I believe that it is truly worth your time.
One thing to note – this tool is for REALTORS®. The only thing your consumers will have access to are the reports that you decide to share.
Why should you love it too? Let me share the ways …
1. Accessibility/Assistance The folks are RPR have made this system user-friendly. Help is around every corner and live chat is available at the bottom of every page. Additionally, they want you to make the system better – use the “Log a Bug” feature to let RPR know you had an issue with something on the site OR to just to make a suggestion.
If you haven’t already, check out: http://blog.narrpr.com for general information and then select – agents, brokers, commercial, association, appraisers or MLS for more detail. The agent section gives you the basics – what it is and how to use it, agent resources and news and information. The information is presented in printable PDF’s or video. You can also sign up for training here if you are ready to learn more.
2. Changes/Updates I love any tool that changes and improves to better suit my needs. Continue reading »
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
Intimidated by video? Don’t be! There’s a plethora of ways you can incorporate video into your blog or website this year, without it being over-the-top promotional (and without your mug being the only thing in front of the lens). Here are some creative tips for video newbies.
Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Collegeville, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
Make a New Year’s resolution to better manage your name and online reputation. The first step is to figure out which social media platforms work best for you and your business. Check out my video to learn more.
Stefanie Hahn is the education director for Coldwell Banker Hearthside, REALTORS® in Collegeville, Pa. Visit her Web site: www.StefanieHahn.com.
From REALTOR® Content Resource:
Not the double whammy.
Your clients’ home being burglarized while they’re on vacation would be a total downer. If they also work from a home office, they’d probably suffer the mother of all stress headaches.
Spare clients that post-vacation pain by branding, printing, and hand delivering free info on how to do a home office security check from the REALTOR® Content Resource.
That’s not the only free, ready-to-go article at the REALTOR® Content Resource you can hand deliver (or post to Facebook, Twitter, your blog, or website; email; or add to your e-newsletter). Share all five articles in the “Keep Your Home Safe While You’re on Vacation” article package, or find others by searching the REALTOR® Content Resource by keyword or topic.
The REALTOR® Content Resource is brought to you by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. With it, you can download free home ownership content from HouseLogic to your marketing materials.
HouseLogic is a comprehensive consumer website—from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®—geared to helping home owners make smart decisions to enhance, maintain, and protect the value of their home.
How to Handle Negative Blog Comments
Brooke Wolford
By Brooke Wolford
I recently received a really negative comment on one of my YPN Lounge posts. When I first received word of the comment, I was really taken aback. It seemed as if the person who commented had some personal issue with me. I was honestly very offended.
I debated over the weekend whether or not to address the individual who wrote the comment. Being the person that I am, I would normally address the person directly, in a professional manner. I could explain that I understood this reader’s opinion and not everyone feels the same way about this topic.
I never expect that everyone is going to like what I write or that they even understand where I am coming from. I completely understand that things of this nature could and will happen.
If I could give any advice to those of you who have a blog, I would say allow the comment to be published and address the comment directly on the post. I think this will show your readers that you have some class and that you can be professional when dealing with less-than-pleasant people or those who simply disagree with you.
Don’t get offended by how others feel. You can’t force anyone to understand your perspectives or opinions. Cherish the fact that what you have written has caused someone to be passionate enough about it to debate the issue.
Brooke Wolford is a real estate practitioner with Coldwell Banker Burnet in Woodbury, Minn. Follow her blog at adventuresinrookierealestate.com.