The class will be held at the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) on Monday, May 20th from 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR FREE!

In this class you will learn:

• Why you need a Facebook presence
• How to set up your Facebook page
• How to connect with potential clients and customers
• How to develop an effective strategy
• Little known benefits for using Facebook
• Answers to frequently asked questions

Suitable for: All Associate Brokers, Managing Brokers and Teams

Prior Knowledge Required: None

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR FREE!

The way REALTORS® do business has changed. Over 90% of home buyers are using the internet and social media to find their next home with over 1 in 3 finding the home they purchased online.

If you aren't getting at least 30% of your business from the internet and social media, you’re missing out!

Attend this insightful 90 minute session presented by Agent Classroom, with special guest speaker Ben Yost (Nova Home Loans) to learn about valuable Facebook marketing tools, tactics and technologies that will help you get ahead of the changing market.

"I knew I had to do these things but was looking for the answer to do this economically this class was it" - Thanks!

"Great marketing information and tid-bits. I have now come full circle" - Trish Rayner

"Streamlined class with great process behind it -  great class guys" - Jeff Cramer

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR FREE!

Class instruction led by:

Ben Yost
Senior Loan Officer  - Nova Home Loans
ben.yost@novahomeloans.com
(303) 587-4297

This class is sponsored by:

Nicolina Bonicelli
Landmark Title - Business Development
nicolina@landmarktitlellc.com
(303) 803-3833

The good news is that it’s a lot easier than you think!

Here are 6 simple ways you can appear to be social media-savvy in your real estate marketing:

1) Post at least twice a week.
There is a fine line in social media between posting too often and not posting often enough. Posting at least twice a week (preferably spread out during the week) will keep your pages fresh, and your followers engaged.

2) Make relevant, informative posts.
As a Real Estate Agent, you know your business like the back of your hand. Potential clients probably don’t. Creating posts that showcase your personal expertise will go a long way with people looking for more information. While it is good to show some personality in your social media profiles and differentiate yourself from every other Agent out there, you also don’t want to alienate potential clients by filling up their social media news feeds with irrelevant information.

3) Automation can be your best friend.
Set aside 1 or 2 hours at the beginning of each week to schedule out updates across all of your social media profiles. There a lot of great tools out there to help you do this including TweetDeck, HootSuite, and more. A Google search will yield many results.

4) Make sure to be responsive.
Nothing will kill your social media credibility quicker than an unanswered question or comment from your followers. When someone asks you a question or comments on your posts, be sure to engage with them in a timely manner. This will go a long way in showing them that you really are a human being on the other end and will make them more likely to engage in the future.

5) Think local.
Since your business likely offers real estate services in a specific geographic location, make sure to provide relevant local content for that target market. Consider posting information about real estate related stories in your area, or upcoming events that locals can actually attend. Acting as a local news source in your area will help keep people coming back for more.

6) Hire an intern.
Even if you follow the previous 5 tips, you may still find that you simply are not comfortable in maintaining your own social media presence. When all else fails consider hiring an intern. Recent college grads are always looking to get their foot in the door and gain professional experience. Many current students must complete internships in order to complete course requirements for graduation. This means you can get a dedicated team member to manage your social media for free or at least for an inexpensive monthly stipend.

Please comment below on how YOU find the time to manage social media in your real estate marketing!

Every single day consumers are faced with countless decisions, whether it is what they will have for breakfast or something a big more monumental. As a Real Estate Agent you are undoubtedly well aware that buying a house is one of the biggest decisions many people will make in their lifetime.

Part of your job as a REALTOR is to make people feel comfortable in the home-buying process and to get them into a home that will leave them with no regrets. Unfortunately, regrets will still happen from time to time, as a result of “buyer’s remorse”.

How do you plan for potential regrets in order to ensure your clients end up satisfied? That’s the million dollar question.

While you can’t plan for every single possible scenario, the following are the top 5 homebuyer regrets according to Inman News.

1) Premature buying
There are a few different definitions for this term, but the most common examples include buying before the buyer has saved as much as they realistically need, or before they’ve paid their debt down to a more manageable level.

2) Buying too small of a house
It is fairly common for homebuyers to end up in a home that is a bit too big for what they really need, and oftentimes they will end up with an unused room or a bit of extra space. While having extra space that you don’t use can be a minor annoyance, not having enough space can be a downright catastrophe.

3) Buying a home they can’t truly afford
Regardless of the current condition of the housing market, buyers who overextend themselves financially on a home are highly likely to end in disaster.

4) Incompletely resolving co-buyer conflicts
Many people will team up together in their home purchase including couples, parents & children, brother & sister, etc. Of course each member of the “team” will likely have their own ideas of the perfect home. Sometimes these conflicts will go unresolved, resulting in one of the two buyers resenting the house they now live in.

5) Taking on repairs beyond their skill, patience and resource level
Many buyers will see some imperfections in their new home and will understand them when they buy the house. They will often have a plan for remodeling or fixing up some things here and there. These jobs can often be much larger than anticipated, resulting in the buyer becoming overwhelmed with the resources, time, or money needed to complete the job.

Planning for these potential regrets when helping your clients find a new home will go a long way in not only making them as comfortable as possible in their new purchase, but you are also more likely to get a good testimonial from a happy client instead of one filled with regrets.

Click here for more ideas to enhance your real estate marketing strategy.

According to the survey, 38% of the home sellers asked said they plan to hold off on selling their house for over a year, while only 25% of the active sellers are planning to sell now. 36% of respondents plan on waiting 3 to 12 months before listing their home.

“The would-be sellers we surveyed have made it clear that inventory is not going to meaningfully increase any time in 2012, which will limit sales volume gains-and the lift that real estate delivers to the economy this year,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “We believe the main problem is not, as conventional wisdom would have it, that people can’t sell because they’re underwater on their mortgage. The problem with sales volume is that most home-owners just don’t want to sell.”

A majority of the respondents said they view the current real estate market as being favorable to Buyers because of recent trends and statistics showing low home prices. These same homeowners expressed an overall optimism for the future increase of home prices, and therefore believe they can get more money out of their home by waiting a year or more to sell.

As a result of an increase in rental prices, many home owners (46%) are considering renting their homes instead of selling. Redfin claims that this is actually driving down housing inventory as many homeowners are buying new houses and renting their current ones.

Also according to the survey, the biggest concerns for sellers this year was the economy (49%), foreclosures (34%), financing trouble (30%), and the anticipation for prices to rise (28%).

Where do you get YOUR inspiration?

With all the current technology out there for Real Estate Marketing Professionals, it’s more important now than ever to set yourself apart and present yourself as the expert in your niche.

How can you accomplish this without spending money and time you don’t have? The answer is by incorporating a content marketing (blogging) strategy into your real estate marketing.

“But I’m not a very good writer. How will I be able to come up with new topics?”

This is one of the most common objections / questions many Realtors have when it comes to blogging. But fear not! The Internet allows you to easily access real estate information and topics that are readily available to anybody who can operate an Internet browser.

The following are some great resources for you to get inspiration for fresh and continuous blog content.

1. FrogPond – Here you can find a wide array of real estate topics written by some of the industry’s smartest minds. This is a great place to get inspiration from. But remember, always cite your sources!
2. REALTOR Content Resource by HouseLogic – This is a great all-in-one resource for ready-to-use articles and content related to home buying and selling.
3. Inman News – One of the best sources for Real Estate news and related topics.
4. Your local Convention & Visitor’s Bureau website – An area’s dedicated tourism website is geared towards getting people interested in what the state has to offer. Many of these sites also have specific pages dedicated to entire neighborhoods. This is the perfect place to get ideas for neighborhood-focused articles to show Buyers what the area has to offer! Remember to always cite your sources, and don’t take anything word for word.

What are some of YOUR favorite resources for collecting ideas for topics on your Real Estate Marketing blog?

Images have a direct impact on search engine optimization (SEO)

When most real estate marketing professionals think of SEO, they think of some magical code that can only be cracked by paying someone large amounts of money for help.

We've got good news for you - this is simply not true!

Click here for 6 simple search engine optimization tips for real estate marketing.

Another creative (and free) way to boost the search engine rankings for your real estate site is to optimize (or SEO) your images. There are 3 easy ways to do this:

1) The often-overlooked ALT tags and Title text.
ALT tags and Title text are HTML tags that are associated with an individual image. Now don't let the "HTML" wording intimidate you. Most content editing platforms like WordPress are set up so that you don't have to be an HTML programmer to add ALT or Title tags (feel free to comment on this post if you'd like to learn more about where to add these).

When you see a picture of a house on a real estate website, your mind automatically knows it's a house. The search engines don't have this mental ability. ALT and Title tags literally tell the search engine what the picture is. That's why it's important to include your target keywords like "Denver Real Estate Marketing", so that search engines can see that it reinforces your site content and can factor it into their "mysterious" algorithms.

2) Size matters.
One of the many things search engines look for when they index your site is the amount of time it takes for your site to load. One of the main reasons some pages take longer to load than others is because they contain massive images. Compressing these images and making them smaller will eliminate negative impacts to your page loading speed.

A simple Google search of "image optimizer" will yield some great free tools you can use to scale down the size of your images without sacrificing image quality.

3) Pay attention to the file name.
It is very common that people upload pictures directly onto their website without paying attention to the actual file name itself. How many images do you have on your computer that are saved as something like "image09999.jpg"?

Just like with ALT tags or Title text, rename your images directly on your computer to reflect one of your main keywords so that search engines can "read" what it's about. Using our above example, the file name would instead look something like "denver-real-estate-marketing.jpg" (without the quotation marks of course).

As with any search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, the above tips are only one component of an overall real estate marketing plan. It is however an often-overlooked and under-utilized component, which you can easily do without breaking the bank by paying someone else.

Click here for more tips on effective search engine optimization (SEO) for real estate.

Pinterest is a fantastic Real Estate Marketing tool

Anyone who reads Real Estate Marketing blogs has most likely seen some sort of post on how to use Pinterest for Real Estate and Property Marketing.

Pinterest is a fairly new social media platform that is gaining increasing traction in the Real Estate Marketing world. It was designed as a way for people to “pin” pictures of various things they enjoy, whether it is a favorite recipe, a fantastic vacation destination, or a dream home property.it has now morphed into a great tool for both consumers and Real Estate Marketing professionals alike.

A recent webinar from Inman showcased some great ideas on how you as a Real Estate Agent can use Pinterest to gain more exposure for your property listings and increase sales.

The main points discussed in the webinar include:

• Why is Pinterest becoming so popular so quickly?
• Why is Pinterest for real estate marketing?
• How can Pinterest increase traffic to your real estate website or blog?
• Why is HGTV already one of the largest brands on Pinterest?
• What are the best real estate industry specific examples of Realtors and Brokers using Pinterest?
• How do you add a pin properly and how can you use tagging effectively in Pinterest?
• What are Pinterest Goodies?
• How can you add a Pin It button to your website and blog?
• How can you integrate Pinterest and WordPress?
• How can you integrate Pinterest and Facebook?
• How can you not waste time but still see results from using Pinterest?
• How can you add a Pinterest plugin to your browser?
• Is the iPhone app for Pinterest worth using?
• How can you integrate Instagram and Pinterest?

Click here to learn how you can incorporate Pinterest in your Real Estate Marketing strategy.

For Real Estate Agents and other Listing Marketing professionals, it is a good idea to post QR codes on all of your offline marketing materials including flyers, sign riders, etc. When someone scans your QR code you can set it to take them to the mobile version of your website, to download your contact information, or to learn more about that specific property (by using a mobile single property website).

Click the following links to download a free QR code reader to your smartphone:

- Android users click here.
- iPhone users click here.

Comment below and tell us some of the most creative uses of QR codes you’ve seen in real estate marketing.

We are going to revert back to a basic concept today, which many people tend to overlook. Professionalism in your Real Estate Marketing is an essential part of being able to effectively sell a home.

Dressing the part is important, but your appearance involves a more comprehensive effort. Factors such as confidence, clothing, grooming, listing presentations/tools, vehicle you drive, and more go into increasing your chances of winning a listing and closing a sale.

Like they say, "First impressions are everything." It's very important to remember this since you only have one chance to do it right. Do you pay attention to your voice inflections when speaking on the phone? What does your word track look like when responding to internet leads? Make sure you arm yourself with the right tools to create the ultimate first impression.

What are some of your tips, failures, and stories that you have experienced when making first impressions?

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.