http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ Web Real Estate Marketing Forum » Recent Posts en Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:10:46 +0000 http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-choose-wordpress-the-self-hosted-version#post-39 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 10:13:38 +0000 Anonymous 39@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>That works, thanks Drew! Is there a good free plugin map that can be added to Wordpress to allow searches within the San Diego area? If so, is there a way to add it as a widget to just one page so it does not appear on all of my pages? Lance </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-choose-wordpress-the-self-hosted-version#post-38 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:32:39 +0000 Anonymous 38@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Lance - you have to set the target to "open in a new window" </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-choose-wordpress-the-self-hosted-version#post-37 Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:20:46 +0000 Anonymous 37@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Hi Peter. What is the best way to ensure that if you provide a link to another website on your wordpress site that your site remains open? I have noticed that some sites take the visitor to their site directly and the only way back to my site is to use the back arrow key. While others open their site and leave my site open. I would prefer to have my site left open while the viewer previews the linked site. Thanks, Lance </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/website-grader-seo-tool#post-29 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:45:38 +0000 Anonymous 29@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Websitegrader is a good tool. I also recommend that if you are serious about seo, that you subscribe to a pro account at (<a href="http://www.seomoz.org" rel="nofollow">SEOMoz</a> - NeboWeb (full disclosure, my company) also offers a <a href="http://www.neboweb.com/inboundlink-tool.php" rel="nofollow">website link tool</a> that is free you may be interested in. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/where-do-i-start-now-i-have-my-licence#post-23 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:21:24 +0000 Anonymous 23@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>@ Brian ... this is a good question, like Peter said you really should have some savings in reserve to support your lifestyle because income doesn't come quickly in real estate (30+ day escrows on average). However, here are some specific items that you will want to consider investing money into:</p> <p>-Contact Mgmt System<br /> -IDX for your blog<br /> -Marketing: signs, biz cards, flyers, clothing, etc...<br /> -Education / Training / Coach<br /> -Advertising<br /> -Meals: I eat a lot of meals and have lots of coffee meetings with clients &amp; potential clients<br /> -Technology: laptop, flip camera, printer, PDA, etc....</p> <p>I hope this helps. Please keep us posted on your success.</p> <p>@Mfiedler -- you make some excellent points. Thank you for participating here :) </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/where-do-i-start-now-i-have-my-licence#post-22 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:53:05 +0000 Anonymous 22@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Do not sit at the office waiting for the phone to ring. Real Estate is a numbers game. You have to get in front of lots of people. However, there is a balance point between the shotgun approach of mass media and the personal touch needed to get people to trust and want to work with you. Find ways that you can touch dozens, or even hundreds of people repeatedly in a personal manner. Your church or your child's sports league is a great place for networking in person. You don't have to constantly ask for business. Just be there, help with the projects or activities going on in the group, and wear clothing embroidered with your real estate logo or company name. Put magnetic signs on your car, and vinyl letters in the back window of your car with your website. Sales won't happen overnight, but in time, business will come. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/where-do-i-start-now-i-have-my-licence#post-21 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:00:20 +0000 Anonymous 21@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Great question Brian. To be safe I would recommend that you have sufficient funds to survive for 6 to 9 months without any income from real estate - only you can determine that number.</p> <p>Your location and target market will dictate how much capital you will need to fund your marketing efforts. For instance if you plan a postcard campaign you need to fund it for up to a year before you see results. </p> <p>Living in your town for some time will be to your definite advantage as you will be able to tap into your sphere of influence - use social media to get your message across, that can be done at little (WordPress blog) or no cost (Facebook, Twitter etc).</p> <p>Best tip: Get a copy of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller - it's a classic blueprint for success, step by step.</p> <p>Click over here <a href="http://webrealestatetools.com/advice-for-new-real-estate-agents" rel="nofollow">Advice for new agents</a> and make sure you collect a copy of our marketing plan - it's a benefit of free membership so login to collect.</p> <p>Peter </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/where-do-i-start-now-i-have-my-licence#post-20 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:32:25 +0000 Anonymous 20@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>How much money should a person just starting out in Real Estate have to get them to a good start? </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/website-grader-seo-tool#post-19 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:39:04 +0000 Anonymous 19@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Hubspot has a free tool to grade your blogsite called <strong><a href="http://websitegrader.com/" rel="nofollow">WebSiteGrader</a></strong></p> <p>Simply provide your blog URL and Website grader will run a quick analysis and compare it to the database of sites already submitted for grading. Your effort will be graded on scale from 0 to 10.</p> <p>We were quite pleased that our blog pulled a score of 95 based on a number of criteria including on page SEO, meta description, age of domain, incoming links (we had 1,505) Google page rank, Alexa traffic (our site in the top 1.87%).</p> <p>Run your site through the service and let us know how you scored. BTW - any score under 50 and you are in need of some serious help! </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/every-page-and-post-on-your-blog-is-a-landing-page#post-18 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:05:54 +0000 Anonymous 18@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Many think that optimizing the home page is the extent of their search engine optimization tasks.</p> <p><strong>WRONG!</strong></p> <p>Every page is a landing page. Don't just write a few paragraphs, throw it up there and hope that Google will miraculously deliver traffic ...</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Google will deliver traffic to every page on your site if you set up each and every page properly.<br /> </strong></p></blockquote> <p>Think about what a consumer might type into Google to search for the topic that you are writing about. Use that as the title of your page.</p> <p>Think about which keyword phrases you are going to target and work those into the copy.</p> <p>Think about the person(s) that you are targeting with your article and write directly to them. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-blog-at-all#post-17 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:24:20 +0000 Anonymous 17@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Blogs, and we are talking <strong>WordPress blogs in particular</strong>, are already search engine friendly right out of the box.</p> <p>Blogs should form the nucleus of all your social media efforts. With a little tweaking, some of our advice plus your unique content and insight will pay dividends in the future. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/create-a-list#post-16 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:20:26 +0000 Anonymous 16@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Lists grab consumers attention - so make a list of topics might pique their interest. Some suggestions:</p> <p>Top 5 reasons to buy a home in Town XX</p> <p>10 reasons why a home fails to sell</p> <p>15 things that you didn't know your real estate agent does for you</p> <p>Be creative and informative. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/write-about-and-feature-a-neighborhood#post-15 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:14:40 +0000 Anonymous 15@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Pick a neighborhood or even a sub division and write it up.</p> <p>Talk about the types of homes and price ranges. Discuss trends in pricing. Describe the average home owner. Include some demographics. Add pictures of typical homes, local parks and schools. Become an authority. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/take-or-use-a-video-tour#post-14 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:09:45 +0000 Anonymous 14@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>You could create one yourself or hire someone else to create a video tour of your town. </p> <p>Alternatively you could search Youtube and post relevant local content or perhaps a real estate related video. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/describe-the-architectural-merits-of-your-town#post-13 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:03:02 +0000 Anonymous 13@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Almost every town has some architectural merit and history.</p> <p>Photograph and write about the downtown architecture and history, you can include banks, museums, renovation projects and hotels. Don't forget libraries and museums too. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-should-i-join-as-a-member#post-12 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:56:16 +0000 Anonymous 12@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>We have two levels of membership:</p> <p><strong>Free. </strong>Lots of free stuff AND you can post new topics and add to the conversation here on the forum.</p> <p><strong>Platinum. </strong>It's affordable and allows access to the complete site.</p> <p><a href="http://webrealestatetools.com/wp-login.php?action=register" rel="nofollow">Go ahead and register now. </a></p> <p>. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/have-a-facebook-profile#post-11 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:26:51 +0000 Anonymous 11@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Now that you have a <strong>Facebook Profile</strong> what do you do with it?</p> <p>Best tip: Go though your "A" list of contacts - search for them on Facebook and send them a friend request - don't forget to send a personal message so that the request isn't just out of the blue ... </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/where-do-i-start-now-i-have-my-licence#post-10 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:22:51 +0000 Anonymous 10@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>"If you don't have a map any road will do"</p> <p>Real estate can be a highly lucrative profession, but too many fail within the first year or two because they don't have a plan.</p> <p>You may be working for a Broker, but the reality is that you are in business for yourself.</p> <p>If you are under funded, have no marketing or business plan and not taking your career seriously enough - your future is not going to be pretty ...</p> <p>So get some help, ask questions, find a mentor, take some training, listen to those that have gone before you and succeeded.</p> <p><strong>You can start by asking for advice or help right here </strong>- reply to this post below: </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/whats-free-and-what-isnt#post-9 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:42:18 +0000 Anonymous 9@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>A lot of the content on our site is free to casual visitors to our Web Tools site. Join as a free member and you are granted access to free reports, access to member content and to be <strong>able to participate in this forum</strong>.</p> <p>Our Platinum members get full and complete access to the whole site - which includes dozens of WordPress tutorial videos and our illustrated "how to" tutorials and lessons ... </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-choose-wordpress-the-self-hosted-version#post-8 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:32:35 +0000 Anonymous 8@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>There are two versions of WordPress - both software platforms are free of charge</p> <p>1. WordPress.com - you choose a name for your blog (say larealestate) and your blog is named larealestate.wordpress.com and hosted on one of the WordPress servers. This really does not help search engine optimization, limits the ways you can customize your blog and prevents you from embeddding IDX property searches.</p> <p>2. WordPress.org - you subscribe to hosting company (typical cost - under $10 per month) and use your own domain name i.e. larealestate.com. You have complete control of every aspect of your blog.</p> <p>The second option is the only way to go if you are determined to make a serious presence on the web! </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/which-towns-and-neighborhoods-do-you-service-and-why#post-7 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:36:43 +0000 Anonymous 7@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Don't make your potential clients guess where you like to do business. TELL THEM. </p> <p>Tell them about the types of homes that you like selling, tell them about price ranges, tell them about homes sizes and styles. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/weather-patterns-in-your-community#post-6 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:33:31 +0000 Anonymous 6@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Consumers from across the country may not have any conception of weather patterns in your community. </p> <p>Take snow conditions for example - does it snow, how much, which months are the most "snowiest", when does it usually start snowing, in more rural area are you likely to be snowed in? This is all good stuff that a potential home buyer wants to know. Become the source! </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/new-homes-in-your-community#post-5 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:55:47 +0000 Anonymous 5@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Many new home builders pay a commission to real estate agents, often all you have to do is walk them into the show home and register their names to get paid! </p> <p>Why not visit some of these communities, find out whats special about the homes (maybe special pricing?) then write it up - get permission to use images scanned from the builders brochure - or take your own. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/recreation-topics#post-4 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:50:01 +0000 Anonymous 4@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Do you have great public parks, hiking trails, beaches, mountains, rivers, camping, any one of these topics will make great blog posts. Share these resources on your blog with LOTS of photos. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/why-would-you-want-to-live-in-my-town#post-3 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:41:01 +0000 Anonymous 3@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Why do you like living in your town, what makes it special for you. What shops do you like, best restaurants? Do you support little league games or soccer teams? Write about these topics and liberally sprinkle with your own photos. </p> http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/topic/who-is-your-audience-who-are-you-writing-for#post-2 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:33:03 +0000 Anonymous 2@http://webrealestatetools.com/realtor-forum/ <p>Our best advice is to picture your ideal client, someone who it would be a pleasure serving.</p> <p>Now, picture that person as clearly as you can, give her/him/them a job, a car, a pet, kids, personality, disc profile - bring them alive and give them a very clear identity - write it all down.</p> <p>Then when you write your next post, write directly for that person. The laws of attraction will start working pretty darn soon ....</p> <p>Peter </p>