Posts Tagged ‘VA’
Do Your Online Marketing Efforts Inspire Trust in Your Brand?
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Trust is imperative to the success of any business, and real estate is no exception. After all, people hire you to help them buy or sell their homes because they trust that you have the experience, knowledge, work ethic and integrity to do so. If you lose trust in your brand, then you lose business, and if you lose business, then let’s just say it: you’re out of business.
Part of our job as real estate virtual assistants is to help you implement more marketing efforts that will help you build your business. The main reason that we are successful at doing this virtually, not on-site, for all of our clients is because they trust us. They rely on us to guide them in the right direction, make suggestions that will benefit their business and get the job done to their standards. We’ve built and maintained that trust, and we advise our clients to utilize the resources available to them to build that too. This is one area that social media maintenance and blogging can actually really benefit your business.
Since social media is a platform in which your community can interact with you and ask questions, you can really utilize it to build trust in your brand. If you look like you’re taking the time to answer everyone’s questions, interact with your network and consistently post valuable information, then people will realize that you are a true expert in your field and you can be trusted to get the job done. Blogging demonstrates how knowledgeable you are about your field and showcases your involvement in your community, as well. If people who are looking for a real estate agent come across this, they will see that you are a trusted resource and that they can rely on you to help them through their real estate transaction.
These two marketing efforts will only help you build up trust in your brand, if you utilize them correctly. If you do them the wrong way, they can actually detract from your brand and make people question you. Here are a few ways that you can ensure that your online presence is building your brand’s trust instead of hindering it.
• Please check your work. As a writer, I can’t tell you how crazy it makes me when I see agents posting things on Facebook or their blog with a bunch of spelling and obvious grammatical errors. Sure, people make the occasional typo, but if your work is filled with spelling and grammar mistakes, it makes you look a lot less professional. Take the time to spell check, and your presence could start looking more credible and impressive to people who come across it.
• Answer questions and respond to feedback in a timely fashion. If someone posts a negative review of you on your Facebook wall or asks you a bunch of questions, don’t just ignore them. Take the time to address it in a professional, non-threatening manner. Answering questions does not mean that you have to plug your services. Answer their question as if they were just a friend asking for advice. Similarly, if someone posts a criticism or negative review of your services, then address it, but do so respectfully and if need be, apologetically. People will see that you do care about your clients, and they will respond well to that. After all, nobody has a perfect track record with clients, and it’s how you handle the negative things that show your true strength as an agent.
• Consistency is key. If you’re going to utilize online marketing as a way to build trust in your brand, then you need to be willing to commit to it. Communicating with your network as frequently as possible will show just how much you value your online network and their input. When customers feel valued, they feel that they can trust that you will do everything you can to make them happy in a business transaction. We know that posting to social media and blogging every day is a large investment of your time, but if you take the time to build the following, you will see how much it actually contributes to the trust people put in to your brand.
In today’s world, before people hire services of any kind, they hop online and look up the business or person they want to hire. Having an active online presence will publicly demonstrate that people value in your brand, and that will make others trust you, too. Your real estate virtual assistant can help you build your brand from the ground up, and they can also get people to respond and trust your brand through your online marketing efforts. After all, if there is one thing that you should want people to associate with your business, it is trust and honesty, right?
Take some time to think about it. Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
A Positive Outlook for 2012!
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Whether people are just tired of moping about the economic downturn of the past few years or they’re sensing true change, it seems there’s an overarching sense of positivity for 2012… and that’s exciting! Of course just thinking positively is not a magical formula for boosting the economy, but it’s the actions that spring from a positive outlook that are agents of change.
A survey from The National Federation of Independent Business this past December noted that small business owners confidence in the economy had risen for the fourth month in a row. This positive momentum is just the thing needed leading into a new year with a clean slate and endless possibilities!
As a real estate agent, you are at the forefront of one of the economy’s greatest indicator of change; the real estate market. You’ve seen first hand the market ebb and flow and are probably the first to talk about positive changes that occur. You understand the importance of keeping that favorable outlook as you lead buyers and sellers through the real estate market.
So, how can you capitalize on this optimistic trend for the new year? Below are three ways as noted by Entrepreneur.com to which I’ve added a few real estate specific examples. Take a look!
1. Up your marketing spend. Money invested in marketing now should pay off in more new clients as the economy improves.
As you boost your marketing, you become more familiar and trustworthy within your community. When buyers and sellers do jump into the real estate market as the market continues to improve; you’ll be on the top of their list! You’ve taken the time to become that trusted resource for them and, consequently, you’ll see that return on investment many times over.
2. Consider a hire. It’s a great time to snap up talented applicants.
This is true for expanding your business to include additional real estate agents for your team, but is also true for all of your daily tasks as well. By hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, you can “have a marketing team at your fingertips, not in your office” which means you’re not paying for additional overhead. As your virtual assistants, we’re here when you need us, which frees you up to decide when you need the extra help!
3. Move in a new direction. If you’ve been holding off on a new business initiative, now is the time to put it in gear. Get a jump on the competition before everybody catches on to the upswing.
Whether it’s boosting your marketing, creating a personalized listing presentation, revamping your website, tackling video marketing or starting your real estate blog; now is the time to embark on a new endeavor!
These three tips give you the practical steps to begin to turn your positive outlook into an agent of change! Keep the momentum for this new year going by capitalizing on this approach to 2012.
Your real estate virtual assistant is here to help you implement new initiatives for your business or to take on those daily tasks that keep holding you back.
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Have You Mastered the Blogging Basics?
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Search-engine optimization. Who knew that these three little words could become so important to successful online marketing? Many real estate agents spend several hours obsessing over how they can give themselves the most SEO possible so that they can achieve the ultimate dream: landing on page 1 of Google. As real estate virtual assistants, we completely understand the importance of having a strong, SEO-friendly online presence. After all, several of our clients come to us because they have found us on Google, but our secret wasn’t hiring an expensive SEO company or having search engine superpowers. Our secret can be summed up in one word: blogging.
Yes, blogging is the key to boosting your SEO! Before you scratch your head in confusion, take a second to think about it. Google loves two things:
1. Custom-written content
2. Content that is full of keywords (that people commonly type in to the Google search engine box) that are linked back to relevant pages on your website.
Blogging takes care of both of these things. You or your real estate virtual assistant can write custom-written, informative content that your community will enjoy reading that also features important keywords that people in your area use when searching for a real estate agent. Many agents have a blog, but they don’t really take advantage of all of the benefits that this marketing tool can offer. We thought that we’d take a few minutes to remind you of what you should be doing when you’re blogging. If you follow this advice, we’re certain that you’ll start to see yourself move up the SEO ladder.
• Make sure that all of your content is custom-written. Several real estate agents hire companies that will post blogs for them, but instead of these blog posts being custom-written, they are one article that is blasted out to several other agents’ blogs at the same time. While the content may be interesting, this approach will not boost your SEO. Google places content that is custom-written above that which has been copied and pasted to several areas on the web. If you’re going to blog, take the time to write your own articles, or find a real estate virtual assistant to write them for you!
• Blog consistently. Posting one time every two months is not going to help you get to page one of Google. The more often you submit custom content to your blog, the more Google recognizes your site as having new information, and they will place your site above ones that haven’t been update in awhile. This doesn’t mean that you have to blog every single day, but posting an interesting article that you wrote yourself once or twice per week will be enough to get yourself moving up in the search engines much faster.
• Use keywords and hyperlinks throughout each post. While you want each blog to be readable and not have keywords placed randomly throughout each post, it is important to use keywords often. You want each keyword to be something that people type in to the search engine box when they look for a real estate agent. For example, if you’re in Boston, you will likely want to use “Boston real estate”, “Boston real estate agent”, “Boston homes” and “Boston condos” as keywords throughout each post. You would then link each of these keywords in your blog back to various aspects of your online presence. This is perhaps the most important part of blogging, as it’s how you start seeing your SEO improve. If you’re blogging and not using keywords or hyperlinks, then you’re not seeing any SEO benefits from your blog. This is an important step, so find ways to integrate your keywords into each post!
• Have fun! This is an important step, too! Blogging gives you a platform to show off your personality on your website and have a little fun. Sure, you want to come off as professional and informative, but you’ll also want to have an approachable, interesting voice that will leave people wanting to come back and read more of what you have to say. Don’t be afraid to switch up your posts a little and try some new things. It will give you more traffic, and you’ll find that people will enjoy your blog posts!
Remember: if you want some organic, easy-to-get Google juice, the answer is blogging. There are so many benefits to implementing this in your online marketing, so we hope that you will all start to take advantage of it!
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
2 Cutting Edge Tools for 2012!
Friday, January 13th, 2012Each year, new innovative tools come on the market, and 2012 is no different! Although it can seem nearly impossible to keep up with the latest and greatest thing out there, it’s worth it if you find something you know you’ll use all the time.
As a team of Real Estate Virtual Assistants, we enjoy being your eyes and ears for the latest in marketing and technology. Our goal is to help make your life easier. Below are a few new gadgets that may spark your interest. Take a look!
Cutting Edge Video
Product: Dot
Company: Kogeto
Description: A 360 degree camera for the iPhone 4 and 4s
Imagine taking panoramic, high resolution videos of your latest listing and sharing them instantaneously on Facebook and Twitter… Dot makes this a reality! This attachment easily snaps on to your iPhone 4 or 4s and, with brilliant quality imaging and two microphones to capture audio, you’ll create stunning videos with ease.
As real estate agents, you can seamlessly amp up your marketing with quality videos of your listings, your community or any up to the minute real estate advice you want to share. Dot comes with Kogeto’s free Looker app as well as Dotspots web service which allows you to share videos in real time on Facebook, Twitter and even over email.
Dot will be making its way to Apple stores soon, or you can order yours now and learn more on the Kogeto website.
Cutting Edge Presentation
Product: (Still in the works)
Company: Mezmerize Inc.
Description: A projector that’s small enough to embed in a mobile phone
Although this product is still in the works, we thought we’d let you in on this innovative commodity that should be hitting the market sometime this year. The goal is that this product will allow you to project images and videos from your mobile phone onto any surface!
Think of those times you’ve bumped into a past client who’s looking for a new home and you don’t have your laptop with you or you awkwardly try to scroll through pictures of your latest listing on your phone. With this tool, you can easily show off the photos or even video of your new listing right from your phone by projecting them onto a table, wall or even the ground!
This is an impressive, fun and convenient tool that’s sure to wow clients. Be sure to check out more information on Mezmerize Inc.’s website.
We hope this sneak peek at some of the latest technological tools has sparked some interest in how you can more effectively reach your past, current and potential clients this year!
If you’re looking for more ideas and ways to build your business in 2012, your real estate virtual assistant can help!
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Join Our LinkedIn Group
Become a Facebook Fan
Follow me on Twitter
Create a High Quality Blog Following in 2012!
Friday, January 6th, 2012First and foremost, happy 2012! I know everyone is ready and raring to go this year. Whether 2011 was great or downright miserable, it’s time to step into high-gear. Real estate virtual assistants have the grand opportunity of figuring out what the priorities are of many real estate agents when it comes to their social networking and marketing strategies. One of the main things they see realtors neglecting is a huge part of maintaining an active presence in the networking world. What could it be, you ask? It’s not Facebook. It’s not Twitter. And surprisingly it’s not keeping up with their LinkedIn and Google+ profiles, either.
Ok, I will tell you.
Blogging!
I know it’s hard to stay on top of your blogging whe
n you have 1,000,000 other things going on. Blogging is imperative in today’s real estate world, as it drastically helps with your SEO and can be fed to different places including your LinkedIn profile, Facebook profile and Twitter feed. Posting to your blog regularly will also define you as a credible source for community and real estate info in your area. If you’re already blogging regularly, or plan on starting, here are some great ways to build up an awesome following.
Turn Clients into Readers. Your current clients can be an excellent source of quality readers for your blog. In fact, your clients are the main people who should be reading your blog, and they will be the ones to pass the link to their friends and so on and so forth. Here’s why they’re great: they are already apart of your target demographic, they’re familiar with you, and most likely they know someone who could use your services. Once your blog is up and running, include a link in your email signature or send out a newsletter inviting clients, friends and colleagues to join your following.
Use Descriptive Headlines. A descriptive headline engages readers from the get-go. A headline that veers too far from the topic can leave your readers confused, or even upset when the content of the blog doesn’t match the title. For example, if the title of your blog reads “Short-Sales” but the blog is actually about how short sales are affecting the housing market, some confusion can arise. Although the difference is minor, it can have a major effect on whether or not someone actually reads your content.
Speak to Your Audience. Once you’ve identified your target audience, make sure your blog posts are catering to their interests and needs. You want the blog to be concise, focused and professional, while still maintaining a voice that is casual and inviting. For example, rather than writing a blog about foreclosures, compose a blog about the effect foreclosures have on other homes in the same neighborhood. This keeps the blog informative and specific, and answers questions of your target audience.
Stay Consistent. Posting to your blog consistently will not only increase your credibility, but it will also help you remain loyal to your readers. If you are posting once or twice per week, and then all of the sudden miss a week or two of posting, your readers are left missing something from their own weekly routine. A set routine will also distinguish your tone and voice, which your readers will learn to expect and become familiar with.
These are just a few ways to keep your blogging momentum going. If you ever have any questions about blogging, ask your real estate virtual assistant to help!
Have an awesome day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Join Our LinkedIn Group
Become a Facebook Fan
Follow me on Twitter
Getting Back Into Work Mode After the Holidays
Friday, December 30th, 2011As you toss the last empty carton of eggnog into the recycling, you think of all the memories you created over the past couple of days. Opening presents with the kids, reuniting with family and friends, a kitchen full of wonderful food. Then, a new thought comes to mind. It’s something you haven’t thought of since mid last week. Tomorrow it’s time to return to work.
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 m
atters 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
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Join Our LinkedIn Group
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The Foundation for Successful Marketing for 2012
Friday, December 9th, 2011
The beginning of a new year can be very inspiring as it offers the opportunity to implement change. If you’re thinking through ways to really make your real estate business stand out in the coming year, there are a wide variety of ways to do so! From social media marketing, creating videos and a customized YouTube channel, real estate blogging, enhancing your website and networking; your options are nearly limitless!
Yet at the core of all of your marketing, and even at the core of your company, there needs to be a solid foundation of your brand. Defining the brand of your company forces you to think through questions such as:
- What is the mission of my company?
- How do I want others to view me and my services?
-What is most important to my clients?
- How do I want to run my company?
Using these questions as a jumping off point will help you discover your brand and establish a base for the new year and will be a building block for many years to come!
A recent article by John Williams, an advertising guru who’s created brand standards for Fortune 100 companies such a Mitsubishi, pointed out eight effective ways to build your brand. Of course, I tweaked them for real estate, but the basic points work in creating a top notch brand for any company.
1. Get a great logo- Place it everywhere. If you don’t yet have a logo, or you’d like a professionally designed logo customized to your business; let us know! Our design team would love to work with you to create a logo that’s uniquely yours and that helps you stand out!
2. Write down your brand messaging- What are the key messages you want to communicate about your brand? Every employee and agent in your company should be aware of your brand attributes so they can better portray them to clients.
3. Integrate your brand- Branding extends to every aspect of your business such as how you answer your phones, what you or your agents wear to meetings and open houses, your e-mail signature, everything.
4. Create a “voice” for your company that reflects your brand- This voice should be applied to all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials, online and off. Is your brand friendly? Be conversational. Is it ritzy? Be more formal. You get the idea.
5. Develop a tagline- Write a memorable, meaningful and concise statement that captures the essence of your brand.
6. Design templates and create brand standards for your marketing materials- Use the same color scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout. You don’t need to be fancy, just consistent.
7. Be true to your brand- Clients won’t return to you, or refer you to someone else, if you don’t deliver on your brand promise.
8. Be consistent- This point is last only because it involves all of the above and is the most important tip. If you can’t do this, your attempts at establishing a brand will fail.
Putting these eight rules for branding into practice for 2012 is a great way to build the foundation of your real estate business! Even if your company has been in existence for some time; if your brand has been pushed to the wayside, it’s time to create a fresh start!
Now it’s time to get started in creating your brand that will establish your company and act as the launching pad for years of success!
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Join Our LinkedIn Group
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A Word to Workaholics- How to Lighten Your Load
Friday, February 4th, 2011
As real estate agents, it must be a challenge to find time to sit back and relax. You’re constantly getting phone calls, emails and being contacted through the countless mediums that are offered today. So, when do you get a break?
In working with real estate agents all the time, the one thing that is common in all agents is the drive to work hard. This is a great trait to have and one reason that makes you as agents so successful! However, this can lead to working around the clock, since your office hours are at your discretion and there seems to always be something to do.
As a small business owner chances are many would consider you a workaholic, whether you want to be labeled that or not! I recently read an article that noted there are two types of workaholics: the open workaholic and the closet workaholic.
The open workaholic will get into the office early and stay late. In your case, you’ll send emails at all hours of the day and make calls at all hours of the day. You don’t care if sellers know that you’re sitting up at 2 in the morning wondering whether they got their furnace fixed. You don’t care if other agents in your office see that you’re emailing them at midnight about a recent showing. You work relentlessly and don’t care who knows that you never take a break.
The closet workaholic will keep “normal” business hours… or so it seems! They’ll make sure their communication is done at appropriate times 
of the day, not letting people know that they’re sitting up till all hours of the night to make sure a new listing gets in the MLS and up on every real estate website. They may even not be able to admit they’re a workaholic and are in denial to how many hours they actually put in during the week.
Whatever type of workaholic you may be, there are two factors that usually play into this relentless work mode. The first reason for working around the clock is usually financial, with the second being is a matter of control. Now, before these come across as sound negative; we know they are valid reasons!
We understand finances can be tight, especially in dealing with the past few years in the real estate market. We also know that allowing someone else to do the marketing for your listings can be nerve-wracking. You know how you want things to be done and what you expect. It can be hard to try to explain it to someone else. You may have even tried having an assistant before, but the time you spent trying to train them just wasn’t worth it.
Will you ever get a break?
It won’t be easy to allow yourself to see the financial benefit of hiring someone or allowing them to handle your listing and business marketing, so you’ll have to start small. Weaning yourself off of working around the clock will be a challenge, but very beneficial to your health, lifestyle and business!
As Real Estate Virtual Assistants, we have experience in working full time with real estate agents, so we know exactly what you need to make your business grow! Whether we handle your weekly blogging, your listing marketing, create a Just Listed postcard for you, take care of your price reductions, or handeling your social networking; we can lighten your load. We exist as a company because of agents, and our clients have more time to do what really matters to them because we take many of the day to day tasks off their list. It’s a win-win situation!
We’re here when you need us, as much or as little as you need us! You’ll never have to worry about training us since we’ve been taking care of a wide variety of real estate marketing for our clients for years. We’re a “brick and mortar” office with a great team who have checks and balances to ensure your marketing is on time and exceeds your expectations. Many of our clients use us as a sounding board as well and we’re more than happy to give them the latest tips in technology and what they can do to improve business. We’d love to help you in any way you need! Feel free to check out our website or call us to discuss your needs. We look forward to hearing from you!
We’ll help you get that well deserved break you’ve been waiting for!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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Facebook: A Whole New World in Real Estate Marketing
Friday, November 26th, 2010
We recently created a Facebook ad for one of our clients. The ad we came up with was “Art, Literature, Food and Real Estate. Living up to Boston’s standards. ‘Like’ what you hear?”
Our client called us, confused and slightly disappointed. She wanted to know why it mentioned nothing about her real estate business, her contact information, and where was the call to action?
If you have taken a dive into the wonderful world of Facebook lately, then you may have seen the ads that Facebook allows you to create to advertise your Business Page. These ads are a great way to grow your fan base. The idea is to pull people in and get them to “Like” your page, thereby becoming a fan. These ads are, in fact, the #1 way that Facebook users find out about fan pages.
What you need to remember, and what our client did not realize, is this - Facebook is a completely different world than your classic real estate marketing.
Your real estate business website features pages like “Your Home Buying Resource,” “Selling your Anytown USA Home,” “Featured Anytown Listings” and “About Your Anytown USA Real Estate Experts.” It’s chock full of ways to contact you, your real estate experience, and what you can do for their home.
Now take a look at your Facebook Business Page. If you’ve done everything right, your Facebook Page should feature posts like “Get Involved in Your Community at This Weekend’s Food Drive” or “Have You Tried The Newest Tapas Restaurant?” If you’ve really gotten into it, it may also feature an additional tab on your latest listings or price reductions. But overall, it will be completely different than your website.
As a rule of thumb, your Facebook Page is about 80% fun, local information and 20% real estate.
A Facebook ad is meant to bring business to your Fan Page, not your website. Asking the viewer to “Like” you, is the call to action.
Facebook goes against everything you’ve ever learned as a real estate agent because your Facebook page is not about real estate. It’s about connecting to your potential clients on a different level. In our opinion, as Real Estate Virtual Assistants, this connection could be a lot more valuable than any sales pitch-y ad you could put out there. True, it may not get the client to list their home with you right away. But you are forming a friendship – one without motive. You are simply providing them with information about your community. If you can get them to “Like” you, then you’re off to a pretty good start.
RealSupport offers a great Social Networking service if you are struggling getting your Facebook Business Page off the ground. Check out RealSupport’s website for more information and samples on social networking for REALTORS.
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Join Our LinkedIn Group
Become a Facebook Fan
Follow me on Twitter
To Blog or Not to Blog – That’s No Longer the Question
Friday, October 8th, 2010
A few years ago real estate blogging was the big question. It seemed that the creative outlet for avid writers, beginners to novices on any topic or those just wanting to journal their thoughts to the world, was making its entrance onto the real estate scene and agents began to wrestle with whether or not to jump on board. After all, who had time to sit down and write for an ambiguous audience and, ultimately, what would be the point?
As 2010 begins to quickly draw to a close, the question today isn’t if you should blog, but how often, what are your key words to boost your SEO, who are you delegating this to in order to keep your time free, and when can you expect return on your investment. The option for blogging is no longer an option; that is, if you want to stay at the forefront of your real estate market! Let’s quickly look at the answers to each question:
How Often? The absolute minimum is once per week. Ideally, 2-3 times per week! The key to blogging is consistency and frequency.
A recent study showed that: businesses that published at least 5 blog articles in the last 7 days draw 6.9 times more organic search traffic and 1.12 times more referral traffic than those who don’t blog at all. Out of the masses of business, relevant content (1 post per weekday), blog readers will likely find something engaging and proceed to learn more about a company that is actively posting (2-3 times per week).
It’s simple: more blogging = more traffic = more readers = more leads = more clients.
What Are Your Key Words? Blogging for the sake of blogging will not get you anywhere unless you enhance your relevant content with key words that reflect your market, niche and target client.
These are the words people type into a search engine (such as Google) to find what they’re looking for. “Evanston Real Estate,” “Homes for Sale in Evanston,” etc… Don’t believe us? Try typing “Evanston Real Estate” in Google and see what comes up! Did you find JudyNewton.com on the first page? We blog for her every week and her blog has moved her up the Google ladder to the page ONE in less than a year. (Oh, and we also designed her custom real estate website!)
Who Are You Delegating Your Blog Writing To? If you don’t know what to write about, don’t have the time to blog consistently, or wouldn’t know where to begin with creating a blog, linking key words, formatting, etc… your Real Estate Virtual Assistant can help!
Not only can they set up a custom blog that effectively boasts your brand, but they should write custom SEO/keyword rich content for each blog! A VA should understand the importance of current, local and personalized real estate blogging that will draw traffic to your site. Sadly, we’ve seen blogs where a canned article has been copied/pasted. This won’t help your search engine ranking! You should never see the blog that your VA writes for you anywhere else! They will use your key words and link them to your website so that the content is, not only interesting and pertinent for your local readers, but it will increase traffic to your site!
When Can You Expect a Return on Your Investment? It all depends on how often you let your VA blog for you! If we only blogged once a week, linked key words throughout your blog and submitted to Google after each post; you can increase your SEO significantly in less than a year! If we are blogging for you 2-3 times per week, your Google rank will get higher a little faster. Increase your exposure as a key resource within your community which will keep readers coming back for more!
“87.4% of respondents successfully increased measurable SEO objectives as a direct result of blogging.” – TopRankBlog.com
Of the 12.6% that didn’t find measurable SEO results from blogging the main reason given was a lack of time to blog consistently. We’ve seen a blog for one of our clients that we created in June reach the first page of Google due to blogs being posted 2-3 times per week!
A few more blogging statistics…
Many of you understand the value of blogging as you know it’s a sure fire way, when done correctly, to power up your Google Juice and drive traffic to your site. Further research proved the correlation between blogging and SEO. Statistics gathered by Hubspot put a quantitative approach to the growing medium. They found that those who blog have:
- 55% more visitors to their website.
- 97% more links to their website which is a primary factor in where your website shows up in search results. (Want a higher ranking; get quality links to your site).
- 434% more indexed pages. This is the number of pages that show up in search engines. Just because you have a site doesn’t guarantee it is being indexed (findable). Just because some of your pages are in search engines doesn’t mean all of your pages are.
Additional studies show that a blog can be indexed by Google in less than 5 minutes! Geoff Karcher, held a conference in which one session he wanted to prove the power of blogging and search engine results. He wrote a blog about the phrase “search engine marketing made simple experiment” and a mere 4 minutes later, Google had indexed and ranked the blog. Now that’s powerful!
The bottom line…
We could go on about the power of blogging as there are many websites, articles and our own personal experiences with our clients that prove its worth!
The bottom line is this: Blogging is imperative for the growth of your business.
If you haven’t started blogging yet, now is the time! If you’ve been blogging but are experiencing the frustration of not having time and not seeing results, delegate this on-going project to your VA! View our real estate blogging samples for ideas…
You’ll thank us later….
Carrie Gable and the team at RealSupport, Inc. are our “VA Quick Tip” columnists offering expertise in real estate marketing, technology and more. RealSupport’s office and team of 9 full-time staff members is located near Chicago, IL. Their successful team works virtually for many top real estate agents and brokers nationwide. Pioneers in the Real Estate Virtual Assistant industry, RealSupport offers marketing, branding, website and logo design, listing marketing, lead generation, technical support, transaction management, social networking, blogging and much more… Just ask!
