As a real estate agent, you love what you do and are eager to return to your work. But even with all that positivity, returning to work after a long weekend (and no to mention gorging on mass amounts of food) and getting back to the grind might be the last thing you want to do. Returning to work means the holiday that we looked forward to for so long is now over. The freedom of little structure and having no set routine or concept of time has come to an end.

Of course after a few days those feelings of dismay and longing for another day off will fizzle out, and the normal routine of the everyday work environment will settle in. But what can we do to make the transition easier? Real estate virtual assistants want to make sure you are on top of your game no matter what. While everyone enjoys a little time off, it’s even better when we can make a swift recovery upon returning to what we love…work!

Here’s how you can accomplish it:

1. Time it Right: If you travel during the holidays, make it a point to return home a day or two before starting work. This will give you some down time to prepare yourself for what’s ahead. If you have been sleeping in for a few days, this extra time will help you get back into the routine of waking up early. Arriving home the night before at 11:00pm will not help your cause of being fresh and rearing to go at 7:30am the next morning.

2. Stay in Touch: Keep in touch with your colleagues over the holidays. While some people prefer to completely disconnect during their time off, others like to keep involved. It’s actually beneficial to stay in touch with work matters during time off, to prevent being bombarded with an unexpected workload upon your return. Luckily, our smart phones and other modern technology allow us to keep abreast of work progress while we are away.

3. Use Your Brain: When we have some time off, we tend to neglect some of daily activities that are non-work related as well. During the next holiday, keep your brain working while you’re off by keeping up with the news, completing puzzles and reading books. This way, your brain won’t be totally confused when you have to start using it again.

4. Plan a Weekend Getaway: Plan a weekend getaway somewhere in the near future immediately after returning to work. Whether or not you actually go is immaterial, but the concept of getting away will keep you in good spirits. If taking another weekend off is out of the question, plan daily, weekly or even monthly activities that will give you something to look forward to. This might be a fitness class, taking your dog to the park, or a scheduled lunch rendezvous with a friend. In the end, it’s these little things that keep us going.

5. Talk with Workmates: When you return to the office, swap holiday stories with your coworkers. This will keep the atmosphere light end friendly while you’re getting back into the nitty-gritty of things. Not only will this lighten the mood, but it will keep the spirit of the holidays alive just a little bit longer!

6. Friendly Reminders: If you’re tempted to crawl back under the covers when your alarm goes off, remind yourself of why your job is awesome. Your job is important to you, you’re good at it, and it holds value and purpose. You’re lucky to have a career that brings you security, fulfillment and happiness!

Hopefully these tips will help all of us ease back into the working life. If not this year, there’s always 2012!

Have an awesome day!

Contact Carrie 
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Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.  — Benjamin Franklin

Every relationship starts out with potential and branches out from there.  Sometimes those branches lead to an amazingly productive and positive outcome, which is what everyone desires.  No one goes into a relationship hoping it will fail!  Where the bough breaks is when your purposes for the relationship are not aligned.  From there, a power struggle of sorts ensues as each individual tries their best to get something from the other.

When meeting new clients, agents have an introduction period where they get to know and understand their new prospect, and with enough experience this is generally sufficient for your purposes.  But what if the client isn’t entirely up front?  What if the person just wants to go window shopping – next thing you have over invested your time driving him around just to satisfy curiosity.  Or, perhaps you are working with a couple who as it turns out are at odds in what they are looking for in a house!  Sometimes these things don’t become apparent until after you are already invested in the client relationship.

An easy way to avoid this is to create a simple needs assessment (read this as “Real Estate Relationship Readiness Assessment”!).  As part of your interview process, have the individual complete it, or in the case of a couple have both fill it out separately then compare.  By doing so, you are managing expectations – yours and theirs.  This will allow you to keep the relationship on a productive and positive course by serving both the immediate need as well as giving you insight into future desires, which increases your ability to serve the client.

The tough part is when you have to pull out of a relationship before getting over invested.  And let’s face it, it’s going to happen in life more than once.  Once you realize you and the other person are not aligned in purpose, it’s very difficult to back track.  To do so would be changing either yourself or trying to change the other person to suit.  And that’s never a good thing for anyone.

So, go into all your relationships openly and honestly to get the greatest success!

Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart. — Henry Clay

I read a news story lately about a man who, although late for an appointment, stopped to help a stranger on the side of the highway change a tire.  Nice, right?  Just hold on… The tire being secure, the man gets in his car and drives off, but a couple miles up the road suffers a heart attack!  Meanwhile, the man he had just helped with the tire came along, called for help and performed CPR until medics arrived – saved his life.  If the first man had not stopped to help with that tire, the second would not have been able to get there in time to rescue him.

The message here is not original, but is a very simple and profound truth.  Soon or later, you get what you give, often multifold.  And not just the normal things you do for people in your everyday life.  It’s the special times, the times when you see an opportunity to do something meaningful for another even though it is not convenient or enjoyable for you.

As Thanksgiving approaches (for the U.S. anyway), take a minute to think about the news story I mentioned, and by turns put yourself into the position of each man.  Imagine how grateful the guy felt who needed help changing his tire that someone had enough empathy to pull over on a highway and provide assistance.  Imagine the depth of gratitude the man having the heart attack felt to have someone there who knew what to do to pull him through.  Imagine what the outcome would have been had neither of those two events happened?

What are you truly grateful for?  Who made what happen in order for that to be possible?  You never know how deeply what may seem like a simple act on your part impacts another person.  So look for those opportunities, enrich someone else’s life… as well as your own.

Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.  — Arthur Miller

Everyone suffers some kind of betrayal in their lifetime, it is one more thing that unites us.  When we have to admit to ourselves what has happened, we desperately search for a way to prevent the inevitable disruption in our lives.  You want the answer to one question… Why?  But you are not likely to get the truth of this from your personal Brutus!  So, you make justifications in order to rationalize what’s happening.  In extreme cases you may even end up betraying yourself, your own instinct or intellect, in order to comfort yourself with more falsehoods.

The real danger here is not in what happened between you and that person.  It lays in the future – your future.  Whether in a minor way (say a past client goes to a different agent), or in a major way (say your Mother goes to a different agent – ouch!) in the back of your mind you will hold this bitterness and it will cloud your interactions with potential future clients with self-doubt or mistrust.

Instead, recognize that betrayal is, as with all things, a conscious choice an individual makes.  As personal as it feels, it has nothing to do with you and all to do with that person.  Release the disappointment, assign the responsibility where it belongs – squarely on them!  Do not allow bitterness to get settled in your heart and destroy your trust in others, don’t let that grace be taken away from you.  Then you will hold your own truth in your hands ever after.

The best way out is always through. — Robert Frost

One of the most basic laws of physics is that a body in motion tends to stay in motion while a body at rest stays at rest. So let’s say you have had a brain disconnect, that’s like you have come to rest. And that’s OK! As long as you don’t stay there. In order to get through it and become productive again, you need to move.

It doesn’t need to be a huge, monumental effort. One small step, one little thing, just do something to get into motion. Once that happens, you will find it gets easier to take another step, make another larger more meaningful move. Soon you will find you are back up and running full speed!

Four Steps to Getting the Most from Your IDX

Search engines, are constantly crawling sites, looking and comparing information to determine the best results to return to users searching for a particular set of keywords.  By using a few simple strategies, you can leverage your IDX for content:

Step #1: Ensure your IDX resides on your site. 

Most do this now because of the high demand for it, but if you don’t start from this premise, the rest of this article is a moot point for you.  When it does, then every individual listing in the MLS can be viewed as a page of content on your site – and this is the central crux of the matter.

To see how many pages you are being credited for, try this… In a Google search, type site:yourdomain (in the example below, site:onlinedominance.com).  In light gray writing at the top of the page, you will see the words “About ______ results returned.”  So Google finds 1,340 pages of unique content associated with Online Dominance^TM.

You can get “content credit” for all those listings in your MLS, provided you follow the next steps.

Step #2: Create predefined searches and install them on your site. 

Having just a form for people to fill in with their search preferences, while vital, is not sufficient for this purpose because search engines are just an algorithm and are not interested in completing preference forms.  So, if you want the search engine to see your content, you have to make sure the data from the MLS is being actively pulled onto your site.  By creating predefined searches, such as by price, location, or even type of property, you are setting up a stream of constantly linked data of every listing that falls within those parameters.

Step #3: Create unique content describing that search

One of the more recent “gotchas” initiated by Google is an update that finds “low quality” pages, which is basically information it determines is syndicated from one source to many different sites.  So, unfortunately for you, this means you can’t have just the predefined search.  But you can end run this by taking the time to write a paragraph or two of custom content and add targeted title tags, so when the search engine indexes the page it may see some syndicated material but this will be offset by the unique content.

OK, you’re almost there!

Step #4: Link often and well

If you want the search engine to think a page is valuable, you have to treat it as if it IS valuable.  So, every time you write something that relates to one of these searches, for instance a blog post about a recent upswing in sales in a certain price range in your market, include a link to that predefined search result page.

How this Helps Get Traffic to Your Site

So I know right now you are saying “Sure, I understand how to strategize the IDX, but what about the traffic and visitor engagement?”

Well, when the search engines find more pages of relevant content that is frequently updated, it helps your page ranking.  Also, having lots of related third party sites (such as Trulia, Active Rain, etc.) link back to multiple points on your site helps not only ranking but the likelihood of people finding you.  Finally, since every listing is viewed as a page on your site, searches on specific addresses (like when someone drives by and sees a yard sign) will yield your site as a result, so you don’t have to rely on over-used or highly competed for keywords.

As to customer engagement, people love the convenience and instant gratification of being able to see properties in the ranges or categories they prefer with the click of a button.  Often, they aren’t sure exactly what they are looking for until they see some results, and having to go back and adjust information in a search form can be a bother.  You will get more clicks on saved searches that then allow the user to sift and sort their specifics from there.

A Few Words of Advice

You have the step by step plan to get your IDX SEO optimized, and as always the next step is to implement.  But be aware of a few more things before you do!

• Do Not Sock Google – Google is like the referee in a game, it watches to see if you are playing by the rules, and will throw the red card at any suspected foul punch.  So, if you had say, 30 pages on your site one day and then next had 20,000, what do you think will happen?  That’s right!  So, pick the top 2 or 3 searches you think would be most effective in your area, and start adding those, going through all 4 steps to get them strategized.  Add slowly to make your results most effective.
• Use the language your users use – People will tend to type search terms that they use in natural language.  Name your predefined searches that same way to increase the match rate and hence your page position.
• Get a help in executing this over time – This is the perfect kind of task, low-level and long term, to get a VA to help you execute.  Set up the process, set your priorities, and give a VA marching orders.  You will see the results as they are added to your site, while freeing you up from worrying about maintaining the flow of information.

So, there you have it!  Make sure you are getting the most out of your IDX’s capabilities when it comes to site traffic and visitor engagement by consistently initiating these strategies over time.  The best thing is, since that IDX resides on your site, it will all be for your greater good!

Special thanks to Brad Carroll of Dakno Marketing for his contributions to this article.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.OnlineDominance.com and Facebook page at Facebook.com/OnlineDominance

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the October 2011 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark of RUSSER Communications.

As a real estate agent, you may not automatically think of yourself as an entrepreneur, but really, that’s what you are!  You’re building your brand, clientele and entire livelihood from the ground up.  While your business is similar to others in the real estate field, it’s up to you to establish yourself as a legit business and bring growth and success; and that’s a large task!

So, what are some of the key steps you can take to really set yourself up as a solid business, a real estate expert or even an icon in the field?

Now, you may think, “Okay, I can see myself as an entrepreneur, but an icon?  I’m not so sure…”  We’re all aware that to have a dynamic business means to constantly be pushing yourself to continual growth; so aiming for the status of icon in your real estate market or even on a national level can be just the thing to urge you to constantly strive for more.

Does this seem overwhelming yet?  Well, take a deep breath.  Becoming an icon doesn’t happen overnight and will take consistency and a daily committment to provide the best and most innovative service to your clients.

Recently, entrepreneur.com gave five great tips that will help boost you to that iconic level.  Of course, I’ve modified them to make them real estate specific, so take a few minutes to review how you can take your business to the next level!

1. Start blogging- Blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an expert.  You can easily provide pertinent information about your real estate market, your listings, home buying or selling tips and even community events.  Giving people the information they want about the real estate market, their home and the community will keep them coming back for more.  The more you blog on a consistent basis, the more people will begin to see you as a trusted expert in your field and in your community.

Not a writer?  Delegate the copywriting to your Real Estate Virtual Assistant! 

2. Market yourself- In being your own brand, marketing is key to your success.  While you may not feel comfortable with self-promotion; it’s really the only way to market your business since you are your business.  Marketing your services, your field of expertise, even your awards or recognitions allows others to get to know you, your values and what you will be able to do for them.  This is just another way to establish yourself as an expert and give an open door to becoming an icon.  Exposure brings recognition, which breeds familiarity and establishes trust.  It’s just how our minds work!

A great way for real estate agents to do this is through a one sheet marketing approach.  We’ve created this for a few of our clients and its been a huge success!  A one sheet is simply a sheet of paper that gives a brief synopsis of who you are, your certifications, area of service, expertise or anything else you want to highlight about you and your business.  They’re perfect for leaving at an open house, giving to potential clients and handing out with your marketing presentation.  Check out this example of a one sheet we did for our North of Boston client, Sven Andersen.

3. Create Compelling Content- Whether you’re blogging, writing a buyer or seller page for your website or creating your print marketing material; your content should be compelling.  That means sentence structure and grammar should be impeccable, and the topics or advice you are presenting should be up to date and interesting.  Visitors to your website or blog will know when something’s just been thrown on a page, and that will send the message that you are okay with doing the minimum just to get it done.  Why not show how much you care about your business and your customer service ethics through great content?  It will help set the tone for your entire business.

4. Create Products- Did you know that real estate agents can have products too?  While you’re not trying to sell them to make a profit, having products or tools to provide for your clients can help set you apart.  It can be anything from a free monthly market report, to an e-booklet on 365 things to do in your community, an informational guide to short sales, a drip email campaign that delivers great tips or market news to their inbox, or a brochure you’ve created about your city.  Giving your client or potential clients something extra is unexpected, sets you apart and establishes yourself even more as an expert.

5. Take it to the Next Level- Now that you’re seen as an expert in your community, boost yourself to icon by taking it to the next level.  If you’re passionate about selling homes or helping people avoid foreclosure; do all you can to grow in your area of expertise.  Begin to register yourself as an expert on real estate sites or other marketing avenues and network, network, network!   Real estate conventions are always looking for speakers in a specific field and the more you put yourself out there, the more likely you are to have opportunities on a national level.  Imagine how sought after you’ll be in your community after receiving national recognition!

Phew!  This is may seem like a lot to take in and a lot of hard work; and it is!  Reaching your goals will take time, dedication and a focus on the end results.  Remember, taking it a day at a time is key!  You won’t become an icon, or even seen as a real estate expert overnight, but you’ll be encouraged by those daily “wins” and as you see your business begin to grow.

Contact Carrie 
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The amount of money you make doesn’t determine whether you have a business or job, it’s how you make your money that does. For example, you really only have a job if you:

• don’t get paid unless you do the work yourself;
• are the only one that knows how everything gets done;
• built your book of business around your own name (i.e. created the brand of “you”);
• constantly run around putting out fires;
• have trouble handling the work you already have, much less grow it;
• are a “jack of all trades” doing most, if not all, that needs to get done by yourself.

Now really, does the above seem like something you want to celebrate?

Whereas when you truly have a business it works for you, not the other way around. Things get done and money is made whether you are there or not. And, you have something to sell because it’s not about you and the operations side has been fully documented which essentially means you’ve made your business “turnkey” for any buyer.

So as you chomp down on that burger, swill your beer and fry you skin in Summer’s dwindling sun think carefully about what you really have. And perhaps more importantly, what you could have if you only chose to.

We recently received a question from an agent who is living in a very rural area.  He, as any great agent should, understands the community he’s trying to reach. While he wants to encourage growth towards using online resources; he also wants to hold onto print marketing for many of this clients.  Although there are many who couldn’t survive without having a world of information and connections at their fingertips; there are those prefer things in print form.  This small town realtor’s question was in regards to making his print marketing a powerful tool.

We thought this was a great question and one that should be addressed!  Print marketing is still alive and well, but it’s not the same as it was twenty, ten or even five years ago.  This medium has found ways to keep up with the times, and we want to make sure your printed products are just as cutting edge as your online efforts!

Here are five key elements you’ll want to be sure to include in your print marketing.

1. Clarity- Have a clear message of what you’re trying to say.  Sending a postcard or placing an ad just for the sake of doing is ineffective marketing.  Make sure the message benefits the reader as it will indirectly benefit you.  For example; if you’re offering free information or are announcing a home you just listed; they’ll hopefully think of you first when it comes to selling or buying a home!

2. Call to Action- You’ll always want to have a specific call to action!  Never say “Call me!”, but “Call me for _!”  This blank could be filled in with: a free market report, information regarding homes for sale in your area, etc…

3. Make it Irresistible- Always try to have an “irresistible offer” (as Michael Russer likes to call it).  This goes along with #2, but if you can come up with an offer to include in your call to action; do it!  Whether it’s the offer of a free market report (as noted above) or a free cup of coffee; give the reader something that will give them that extra boost of encouragement to call you.

4. QR Codes- Always, always, always use a QR Code on any printed material.  This is your link from print to online marketing! A QR Code allows you to capture leads more easily and extends far beyond your printed piece.

5. Custom Design- Be sure to use a custom design as opposed to a template.  It’s almost always apparent when a template design is used and this will send a clear message that you don’t mind the cookie cutter approach.  People may wonder if you apply the cookie cutter approach to every area of your job.  Creating a custom design for a postcard or flyer may take a few extra minutes or may cost a little more; but the result will be well worth it!  Allow your print marketing to attest to your unique and custom approach to helping them buy or sell a home!

These five tips will allow you to take your print marketing efforts to an advanced level!  You’ll notice a difference in their effectiveness and find that your money is being well spent.  If you have questions about creating a custom design, irresistible offers or QR Codes; your Real Estate Virtual Assistant will be able to help!

We’re helping our clients update their print materials on a daily basis and they’re seeing the results!  Contact your Virtual Assistant to turn your print materials into cutting edge marketing!

Contact Carrie
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You start by having a clear vision of what you want your business to look like. Every aspect including what you do during the day, who you work with and for, what you focus most of your time on and how all the other detail work gets accomplished. Imagine what would happen to that block of marble if old Mic didn’t have a clear vision of the final piece. He’d soon end up with a pile of useless chipped marble.

Armed with a crystal clear vision of what you want your business to look like, it’s time to start “releasing” its potential. You don’t start by indiscriminately hacking away with the chisel, otherwise you will end up destroying the very thing you are trying to create. Creating a viable business, just like creating a work of art, is a labor of love. It takes time, patience and a keen eye for what works and what doesn’t. Take small steps and stand back from time to time to make sure you are going in the right direction…

In the studio, I don’t do a lot of work that requires repetitive activity. I spend a lot of time looking and thinking and then try to find the most efficient way to get what I want, whether it’s making a drawing or a sculpture, or casting plaster or whatever.

Bruce Nauman

It really boils down to what you want from your business and what you are willing to give in time, effort, money, etc. to get it. True masterpieces are never created overnight. It takes the undying love of its creator to give it life and allow it to achieve its full potential. Anything less and you end up with a cheap knockoff that has very little intrinsic value.