Given the recent addition of Google’s “search plus your world“, which puts more weight on Google+ content in search results, it is even more important than ever to adopt a Google+ presence in your Real Estate marketing strategy.

The following are 6 great ways you can use Google+ in your real estate marketing strategy:

1) Remember the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
If there is one single thing you keep in mind about SEO, it is to always incorporate your target real estate keyword in any online content you produce. Your Google+ profile is no different. Remember to incorporate your keywords in any content you publish on Google+, including your business biography.

2) Make your profile POP!
Even though Google+ is currently being underutilized by Real Estate Agents, the day will come when finding your business profile will be like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s why it is essential that you set your business apart from the masses. Upload an attractive looking profile. Utilize the feature photo section (the 5 photos you can set up to display under your profile headline). Check out how Denver’s Two Top Marketing made their photo strip unique.

3) Utilize The Circles feature
One of the big complaints Real Estate Agents have about Facebook is the lack of an ability to segment followers and make sure they target potential buyers. Google recognized this and developed its Circles feature. This allows you to sort your connections into different groups. Then when you post certain updates you can choose which of your circles see the information. This is a great way to separate your leads, or segment potential buyers by location. Feel free to put a single contact into as many circles as you see fit.

4) Make sure people know about your Google+ page elsewhere on the Internet.
Google+ offers different widgets and buttons that you can easily put onto your website, email signature, or anywhere else you can think of in order to let people know that your business is on Google+.  A simple “Follow us on G+” button will direct them to your profile, or you can add a +1 button (similar to a Facebook “like” button) to all your property sites, blog posts, etc. Make sure you use them!

5) Share relevant and interesting content to engage your audience.
For many Real Estate Agents, writing is not a natural talent. But the good news is you don’t have to be a great writer to engage your audience. If you don’t feel comfortable creating blog content on your own, you can easily write a summary of a blog article you think would interest your target market, and post it to your own blog. Simply give credit to the original author by linking back to their article, or mentioning them in your post. Share your article link on your Google+ profile to drive traffic back to your own site.

6) “Hanging Out” on Google+
A cool little feature that is consistently under-utilized by a majority of all businesses on Google+. It’s a great way to hold live classes, webinars, take live Q&A sessions, show a property tour, etc. Get really creative and stand out from the rest of your competing Agents.

As with any new marketing medium, Google+ will release constant new features and updates in the coming months. Getting your business on board Google+ right now will give you a jump on your competition. Who know, you might even have a little fun!

Post a link to your Google+ profile below for FREE advice on how you can enhance it even further.

Whatever the reasons for lacking a blog, “content marketing” is essential to add to your site to set you apart from your competitors.

The following are 4 reasons you need to incorporate content marketing in your real estate marketing strategy:

1) It builds TRUST
It’s hard for potential home buyers to go an entire day without being bombarded with some type of advertisement to buy a new home. This has caused potential buyers to always have their guard up, wondering, “What’s the catch?” Providing consumers with helpful content shows that you are genuinely interested in helping them, and also allows them to find your content when THEY want it. If you write content based on what you know and what you are good at, the consumers will be able to see that you are a trusted resource instead of some greasy salesperson with malicious intentions.

2) Content Marketing is FREE
Not only is blogging a great real estate marketing technique, it also requires no monetary investment on your part. The only thing it will cost you is the time it takes you to research your desired topic and type it out. What’s better than effective marketing? FREE effective marketing.

3) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Blogging isn’t just a platform for you to get your opinions in front of potnetial buyers, it’s a way to boost your website’s search ranking as well. If you have already begun a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program, incorporate your target keywords into your blog posts at least a few times. Not only does this show the search engines what your article is about, it also helps you keep your content on-topic and relevant for your target market.

4) People like to share good content
By adding social media buttons to your blog posts, you allow people to share your content with their social networks as well. WordPress and many other blogging platforms automatically include these buttons in your blog posts in order to make it as easy as possible for others to share your quality content. A well written blog piece can take on a life of its own after people begin to share it!

When it all comes down to it, the best rule of thumb to remember in your new content marketing is to write about things that people want to hear, and stay focused on your target market. If you are a Real Estate Agent, writing articles on video games will likely fall on deaf ears. Keep the content interesting, unique, and beneficial, and you will see great results for your real estate marketing!

While there are a lot of great ideas in the presentation, the following points are some highlights we feel will have the biggest impact on Agents and other Real Estate marketing professionals:

1) Social media budgets will grow.
It will become even harder to compete in the social media sphere. Agents will see the benefit of a targeted social media strategy and will begin to put more time, effort, and money into their own.

2) Content Creation
In the Real Estate industry it is imperative that potential buyers see YOU as the expert. Providing online content such as blog posts and social media updates is a perfect way to share your knowledge of your target market.

3) Making websites mobile and tablet friendly
It is mind blowing how many people use their mobile device to search for information. Potential home buyers are no different. Make sure your websites are optimized to view on smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

4) Facebook will surpass 1 billion users
Facebook is here to stay. If you aren’t already using it to get your name in front of potential buyers, 2012 is the perfect time to start.

Click here to view the entire slideshow.

While the success of both depends on the keywords you choose, there are some things to keep in mind when conducting your research:

Search Volume
In your SEO research, you want to target the keywords with the highest search volume.  With PPC keywords, search volume is not as important.

The reason:
You don’t have to pay each time your website appears in search results via your SEO efforts. You DO have to pay each time someone clicks on your PPC ad.  Therefore it makes sense that you don’t want it to show up in 1,000,000 searches per month. So instead of choosing a broad keyword like “real estate” which has a very high search volume, you would be better off choosing a more targeted set of keywords that have maybe the second or third most traffic.

Keyword Focus
When researching keywords for your SEO campaign, you want to find those with a broad focus, while you want to find more narrow and specific keywords for your PPC campaign.

The reason:
With your SEO efforts, you want keywords that cover many different streams of incoming traffic.  You want your website to appear in front of as many people as possible.  With PPC, you want to target specific keywords that relate to exactly what type of customer you are targeting.  For example, if you specialize in selling condos in Denver and you choose “homes for sale” for your PPC campaign keyword, you will likely end up having to pay for people searching for other types of properties in other locations around the country. Those clicks will be irrelevant because that isn’t your target market. A much more targeted keyword like “townhomes for sale in Denver” will get your name in front of a group who IS looking for your type of properties. Again, cost per click is a huge determining factor.

Motivations
People conduct searches for a whole variety of different reasons.  Your job as a real estate professional is to discover these reasons, and how you can leverage them into maximum profit for your business.  Is someone simply browsing for more information on the mortgage process, or are they looking to refinance their home?  When deciding on PPC campaign keywords, you want to focus on those that will bring in buyers, not browsers.  For example, someone searching for “mortgage” is less likely to become a customer than someone who searches for “how can I refinance my home?”.

While there are certainly many more deciding factors when it comes to keyword research, the items mentioned above are a good starting point.  In the end, it’s NOT a matter of deciding whether to pursue SEO or PPC in your real estate marketing strategy, it’s a matter of effectively using them both in tandem, to maximize your search engine traffic.

In order to help you get a leg up on your competition we have compiled the following list of 4 simple ways you can utilize video in your real estate marketing strategy.

1) Potential buyers love visual aids.

- Property Walkthroughs
Virtual slideshow tours are great and should definitely be used, but why not add a video walkthrough of your property? You can never have enough pictures or videos of the inside and outside of an available property, and potential buyers love having the ability to preview properties from the comfort of their own home. You don’t have to be Steven Spielberg to create a great video walkthrough. While recording the video, tell the viewer some important facts about the home or some interesting features. Incorporating video walkthroughs with slideshows and still pictures will give your potential buyers some great visual aids in helping them make their decision.

- Neighborhood Tours
When buyers are deciding on potential properties, there is no argument that the surrounding neighborhood is a huge determining factor. How can you leverage the neighborhood’s best qualities? That’s right, with video! Drive to some of the local hotspots and take a few shots panning the area. Think about what makes that area unique, and go out and film it. This is especially useful for out of town buyers.

2) Word-of-mouth marketing is FREE.
One of the single most effective means for marketing in real estate is word of mouth. Potential buyers obviously need to build up a level of trust in you in order to help them feel more comfortable in their home buying experience. Contact some of your previous clients and ask them if they’d be willing to record a short 30 – 60 second video on how you helped them through their purchase. Give them 2 or 3 prompted questions, or simply let them ad-lib, whichever you think will portray you the best.

3) Be the expert.
In an industry with such a high amount of competition, it is very important that people view YOU as the expert. A great way to show people that you are the “go-to guy/gal” is to record short webinars. You can talk about anything you want, from home buying tips, to industry events, to addressing common questions… Anything that you think will help potential buyers and sellers.

4) Distribution is key.
Having a wide variety of well-planned real estate videos won’t do you any good unless you can effectively get people to watch them. In a previous article we discussed 8 Quick Tips on Using YouTube to Sell Homes. YouTube is one of the best places to share your videos to potential buyers. You can set up your own YouTube channel that allows you to have all your videos hosted in one place. Be sure to link back to your videos on your other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can even grab the embed code of your videos and post them directly onto your website.

The ways in which you can utilize videos in your real estate marketing strategy is really only limited to your own creativity. What are some of the most creative uses of real estate video marketing that you have seen?

Today, things have obviously changed due to the rapid innovation of marketing strategies the Internet has provided. Consumers these days are more likely to use an Internet search instead of a newspaper to find a property, and what they find as a result of that search can make or break you in terms of sales.

The question is, what online channels should you be targeting in order to make sure consumers find YOU and not your competition? The following infographic breaks down the science of the “Social Consumer” and gives brands some insight as to how they should be targeting their potential customers.

If you have trouble viewing the below image, please click here to view the full size.

Did you know that besides being a great place for buyers to find properties, Google also offers a full suite of tools to help real estate professionals reach these potential home buyers?

Some of these tools include:

• AdWords
• Google Places
• Maps
• Google Profile
• YouTube
• Google Sketchup
• Google Apps
• Google Earth

Read the complete list of Google’s tools for real estate professionals and learn about how they can help you maximize your reach.

Are you a Loan Officer or Lender looking to connect with Realtors and FSBOs? Click here to learn how to dominate your LENDING market.

Are you a Real Estate Agent looking to impress sellers and maximize the exposure of your listings to potential buyers? Click here to dominate your LISTING market.

Many smart real estate professionals have realized the success that comes with effectively using YouTube as a real estate marketing tool. The following are 8 quick YouTube marketing tips that every real estate professional should keep in mind:

1. Include video tours of available properties.
While most people know the importance of including pictures on their property listings, many are still unaware of the power of video tours. They give a more in-depth view of your property, and when done right can even make your property look more attractive.

2. Include video tours of the neighborhood.
This is a highly effective way to show a potential buyer some of the local hotspots and attractions that make the neighborhood an appealing place to live.

3. Add voiceovers to the above video tours.
Adding voice to your videos will help them stand out in the mind of the viewer. They will make a stronger connection with your voice than with the pictures themselves. Your voiceover videos will appear more professional, therefore increasing your credibility as a leading real estate professional.

4. Include videos of yourself addressing common industry problems.
It’s all about positioning yourself as the expert. It also helps break down some of the “internet walls” and allows people to see you in a more personal manner.

5. Tag your videos with high traffic keywords.
Tagging your videos allows search engines to find your videos easier (also known as SEO, or search engine optimization). A good way to find out what keywords work best is to look at some of the more popular real estate specific videos on YouTube. What keywords have been effective for them? You can also use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to discover how much traffic a specific keyword is generating.

6. Customize your channel to match branding.
YouTube offers users the ability to customize the colors and overall feel of their channels. It is a good idea to match your branding across all of your real estate marketing channels.

7. Link QR Codes to YouTube videos.
QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) are basically funny looking barcodes that you can scan on your smartphone. Upon scanning the code, it will direct you to a number of potential destinations. It might take you to a mobile website, a video, a way to sign up for more information… the destination just depends on how the QR Code was set up. Click here to read our previous article on QR Codes. I will also be covering tips on how real estate professionals can effectively incorporate QR Codes into their real estate marketing strategy in an upcoming blog post.

8. Participate!
When it really comes down to it, YouTube is a social site – meaning the more you interact with others, the more they will interact with you. Get your name out there by posting comments to other relevant videos, connect with other industry professionals, and simply let people know that your video channel exists!

At its very core, YouTube is a great avenue for real estate professionals to expand the reach of their brand. It is also a great way to give your brand some personality, and it allows for a lot of creativity which in turn will help people remember who you are.

What are some innovative ways you have seen companies using YouTube in their marketing efforts?

Is it really any surprise that Zillow (A website listing real estate and mortgage rate searches) is currently experience exponential growth and success? The real estate and mortgage markets have been consistently increasing their presence on the web and for good reason. Internet marketing reaches a larger number of potential leads, which has made print advertising almost obsolete. The Seattle, Washington based Zillow has demonstrated this concept to the fullest:

Some Interesting Numbers:
1) Zillow experienced 23.2 million unique viewers in July 2011, which was a 98% increase from July 2010.

2)Marketplace revenues for Zillow increased 269% and display/advertising revenue increased 30% in the past year.

3)Changes in AVM algorithm improves market accuracy 33%, which means only an 8.5% median margin of error!

Check out this great article in National Mortgage News to learn more!

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The world of social media is an ever-expanding one and the newest player in the game is a fancy little platform that goes by the name of Google+. Some have called this new media outlet the “Facebook Killer,” but others have had a more negative experience. I found this great article on the seoMOZ blog, which provides some pretty interesting viewpoints on this new platform from our good friends at Google.

Personally, I have found Google+ to be an exciting new way to share our social lives. There are certainly technical limitations and pieces of the Google+ puzzle that need to be filled, but I also have found a lot of utility. Some of my favorite features:

1) Huddle for Google+: Allows for users to engage in a group-texting feature to communicate with users in pre-determined circles.
2) Stream for Google+: This news feed acts as the nucleus of Google+.
3) Hangouts for Google+: This video feature allows for users to video chat with one another. The camera will actually switch to the person who is currently speaking, which I find to be one of the more interesting features of this new platform.

Great Google+ Review:

Google+ has the components to become a very effective social media outlet and business weapon. How do you think Google+ could help your business? We would love to hear your feedback!