Spread Yourself Over the Web: Tip #55 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 55 of 100 - Spread Yourself Over the Web

At various points during this blog series on real estate Internet marketing, we've talked about ways to expand your web presence. We talked about publishing articles online, syndicating press releases, and various other strategies to help you broaden your web presence.

What's the point of all this? Simple. By creating a broader web presence than a real estate website alone, you are giving people more ways to find you online. This concept will only become more important as the Internet continues to grow, and as traditional real estate websites become all but invisible.

I feel so strongly about this that I've written a 43-page special report to help you (A) understand the need for a strong web presence and (B) begin growing that presence today. If you'd like to see an example of just how fast the Internet is growing (relative to the real estate industry), check out the San Diego real estate example on this page.

Look for tip #56 soon.

~Brandon

Why Some Real Estate Websites Are Becoming Invisible Online

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

This press release is going out over the wire tomorrow. I thought I would give you first look here on the blog:

================

A new book on real estate Internet marketing paints a stark picture for real estate agents, but also offers a road map to future success.

March 30, 2007 -- In the near future, the traditional type of real estate agent website will become all but invisible online. That's the attention-grabbing premise of a new report entitled, "Real Estate Web Presence: How Agents Can Survive Online in Changing Times."

But according to the report's author, real estate marketing specialist Brandon Cornett, it's more than just a catchy title:

"Based on the changes I've seen in the real estate industry, and with Internet marketing in general, I believe the traditional real estate website is no longer enough to ensure the agent's online success. There are billions of documents on the Web, and at least 10 times as many real estate websites as just a few years ago. On top of that, we are seeing a rapid increase in the number of real estate data websites like Zillow.com, Trulia.com and others."

While this may seem like a bleak picture to real estate agents, Cornett says that's not necessarily the case. His 43-page special report opens with the stark realities of real estate marketing online, but it also offers what Cornett says is the perfect solution to the modern state of the Web ... the real estate web presence.

"What real estate agents need to realize," Cornett said, "is that a five-page website is not going to work the way it might have 10 years ago. There's just too much content on the Web these days. So agents need to think of the Web differently ... they need to build a real estate web presence, not just a real estate website."

And that's just what Cornett teaches through his report and training manual. He offers a six-part strategy for the modern real estate web presence, a strategy that combines websites, blogs and various other publishing strategies used in concert with one another.

"I've been watching the Internet closely over the years, particularly as it applies to real estate agents and their websites. I truly believe the path to future success requires agents to think and act like publishers -- or at least to have somebody do it on their behalf. That's why I've created this real estate Internet marketing guide, to help them adopt this type of mentality."

About the Book and Author:
Brandon Cornett is the founder of ArmingYourFarming.com, a company that has been providing marketing advice and services to real estate agents since 2004. He is the author of three popular blogs and has been involved with Internet marketing for nearly a decade. His guide to creating a "Real Estate Web Presence" is available for immediate download from http://www.armingyourfarming.com

Know Your Web Analytics: Tip #54 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 54 of 100 - Get to Know Your Web Analytics

If you own a real estate website, but you have no idea how to access your website analytics, you're operating under a severe handicap.

What Is Web Analytics?
Web analytics is an Internet marketing term with broad application. But it basically boils down to information about your website visitors. When people visit your website and interact with in some way, shape or form, that information can be captured. Analytics programs give you the ability to monitor the activity of your site visitors. Such data can be very enlightening and useful in your real estate Internet marketing program.

Even if you don't have a web analytics program installed on your website, your site log should give you some basic information, such as where your traffic comes from, home many visitors you get each day, etc. But if you really want to know what's happening on your real estate website, you should install some type of website analytics program.

Web Analytics Programs
If you'd like to go the free route (which is always a popular way to go), you could try Google Analytics. This product used to be called Urchin, until Google bought and renamed it. Google Analytics will give you such information as:

• Number of visitors per day
• Location of your visitors
• Key phrases people use to find you through search engines
• Top sources of traffic
• Top entry page
• Top exit page
• And more

This level of data is sufficient for most people, and the price can't be beat. But if you want to get more advanced with your real estate Internet marketing (and have the budget to do so), you might look into a company / product like WebTrends or WebSideStory.

Look for tip #55 soon!

~Brandon

Grow Your Web Presence - Tip #53 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 53 of 100 - Grow Your Web Presence

A real estate web presence is different from a real estate website. The website is one of many elements that make up the web presence. Other elements are press releases, online articles, real estate blogs, etc.

Why do I stress the web presence? Because I've been watching the real estate industry very closely for several years, mainly from a marketing standpoint. And I truly believe those agents who focus on growing their web presence (by adopting a "publisher's mentality") will be the agents who take the lion's share of real estate business in their market areas.

I am so convinced of this that I'm finishing up a 42-page special report on this very subject. You'll hear about it first through this blog.

Look for tip #54 soon!

~Brandon

Do Not Look Behind the Curtain - Nothing to See

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

I'm not sure if you've seen this news yet, but this strikes me as being emblematic of a certain mindset in today's real estate industry:

From Inman News:

Trulia, Zillow shown the door at Prudential Real Estate convention

To the dismay of some of the company's brokers, Prudential Real Estate apparently barred two of the biggest names in online real estate -- Trulia and Zillow -- from exhibiting at the company's annual convention in San Diego this week. [Full article]

It seems Prudential has a an existing agreement with Yahoo, regarding web leads. So they said the presence of Trulia and Zillow was some kind of conflict.

Here's my take on this.

Yahoo will charge Prudential brokers a referral fee for all web leads sent to the broker. Trulia and Zillow do not charge any kind of referral fee. Trulia and Zillow have traffic levels that rival Yahoo. So who would you rather get leads from, a company that charged you for them, or a company that gave you the leads for free? Tough decision, right?

Real Estate Recipe Postcards - Do They Work?

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

I know many of my readers are interested in real estate postcard marketing. So I thought I would share a blog post on my other blog. It's about real estate recipe postcards, and how they compare to other (stronger) forms of real estate postcard marketing.

The premise of this blog post is simple. A recipe postcard might give somebody a reason to keep the postcard. At least, if they like the recipe. But it doesn't give them much of a reason to contact the sender of the postcard ... or to respond in any way, for that matter. That's what my real estate postcard book is all about, getting people to respond in some way that brings them closer to a business relationship.

Think about the logic for a minute here. If you send a real estate postcard with a recipe on it (and not much else), you are basically saying, "Here's a recipe for a tasty dish. Call me if you have any real estate needs!" It's an odd approach to marketing, if you ask me.

If anyone has any success stories to share regarding real estate recipe postcards, I'd love to hear them. Have you enjoyed success with recipe postcards, as compared to another form of real estate postcard marketing?

~Brandon

Real Estate Postcard Book - Why Buy?

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

We interrupt this blog series on real estate Internet marketing to bring you the following bulletin:

I'm offering a top-ten list with reasons to buy the real estate postcard marketing book (for those of you who engage in postcard marketing or plan to start).

The book shows ways to modernize your approach to real estate postcard marketing in order to improve your response rates. For instance, I teach you how to integrate your website with your real estate postcards to create a "super card" that enhances the success of both marketing channels.

But that's just one of the reasons to download the postcard book. In my top-ten list, you'll get 9 more compelling reasons to download your copy of the e-book on real estate postcard marketing. In this latest blog post over on that website, I talk about the kinds of postcard marketing mistakes you'll avoid as a result of purchasing the book.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast of real estate Internet marketing tips.

~Brandon

Add Your Blog to the Inman Wiki: Tip #52 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 52 of 100 - Add Your Blog to InmanWiki

July 2008, Update to the original post: This article used to contain links to various pages of the Inman Wiki. I have removed those links because Brad Inman moved his whole damn wiki. I've never understood why people do this. You create something that people are interested in, hundreds or thousands of people link to it from their own sites, and then you move it ... leaving all of your "fans" with a bunch of broken links on their websites. Amateur move.

Anyway, here's the original article. I'm not going to include links to the Inman Wiki because who knows where it will be in six months. You'll have to find it yourself, if you're interested.

If you've been in real estate for any length of time, I don't need to tell you who Inman News is.

But did you know they now have a wiki serving as a "real estate encyclopedia"? And here's the best part ... you can add your real estate blog to the wiki. If approved, your blog will have its own page on the Inman Wiki. And every time you publish content to your blog, your page on the Inman Wiki will self-update.

You can see the value of this in terms of making your blog more visible online. The more you blog, the more posts you'll have on the Inman Wiki, linking back to your blog. Nice!

P.S. - If you're wondering what the heck a wiki is, you can learn all about it in this explanation of Web 2.0.

Look for tip #53 soon!

~Brandon

Know Your Competition - Marketing Tip 51 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 51 of 100 - Know Your Competition

You wouldn't go into a sports competition without studying your opponents. Nor should you engage in real estate Internet marketing without studying your competition.

Do you know the three top-ranked real estate websites in your area? You should. You should also know how your website stacks up against those three websites. You should determine how those websites reached the top of the search engine rankings, and what you might do to mirror their success.

How about website resources? Do your top competitors online have items on their websites that you don't have, such as virtual tours? And what about general traffic levels? Using a website traffic tool like Alexa, compare your website traffic levels to the top-ranking websites mentioned earlier.

These are just a few of the things you should look at regarding the competition. The goal here is to have a good idea what other agents in your area are doing online ... so that you can do it better.

Understanding the competition is the first step to success with real estate Internet marketing.

Look for tip #52 soon!

~Brandon

Marketing Tools for Real Estate - Top 10 List

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

What are the most effective marketing tools for real estate agents?

You'll get a different answer to this question for each person you ask. After all, a marketing tool that works well for one real estate agent may be a waste of time for another. It all comes down to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual.

Nevertheless, I get asked this question frequently, so I've done my best to come up with a "Brandon's Top 10" list of effective marketing tools for real estate success.

A hint -- If you're expecting some form of software to make this list, you'll be disappointed.

Marketing Tools for Real Estate - Top 10 List

I hope you find my list helpful, or at the least thought-provoking.

~Brandon

Use What You've Got - Internet Marketing Tip 50 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 50 of 100 - Use What You've Got

One of the biggest challenges real estate agents have with their marketing is how to distinguish themselves.

Now, there are actually two schools of thought on this. There are those who say the agent must brand himself or herself. And then there are others who say the agent is not product ... that you must simply focus on generating a response with your marketing.

Where do I fall on the subject? Well, I can see both arguments. When it comes to real estate Internet marketing, I've always stressed the need to generate a response from people. We know from statistics that more then 70% of people choose the first real estate agent they speak to. So if you can get them to speak to you ... that's a 70% chance they'll become your next client.

As far as personal branding goes, here's my two cents. I don't think the average real estate agent can brand themselves in a strong enough way to be worthwhile. However, if there is something really unique about you ... something that will make you truly stand out in people's minds ... something that will make you the "talk of the neighborhood" ... well in that case, use what you've got!

Here's an example. There is an agent in the Fort Bragg area of North Carolina who has found a unique way to brand himself. As you know, Fort Bragg is an Army town, full of Army personnel and their families. Naturally, the military sector creates a lot of housing turnover as soldiers transfer in and out of the area.

This agent also happens to be an Army veteran. So he has branded himself as the Army agent in town. His website is called something like "Captain Bill's Real Estate." It has a camouflage color scheme, and even an illustrated caricature of Captain Bill in fatigues and drill instructor's hat.

(I wish I could remember his actual name so I could show you his website. Anyone know who I'm talking about? It's been a couple years since I saw it.)

Now let me ask you this. In an Army town like Fort Bragg, how effective do you think this branding strategy is? I served in the military, and I can tell you that I would have called this guy over a "civilian" agent in a heartbeat. His website (and persona) are easy to talk about. "Hey, have you seen this Army real estate agent guy..."

If you have something that can set you miles apart from the competition in your real estate Internet marketing (or marketing in general for that matter) ... then use what you've got!

Look for tip #51 soon!

~Brandon

Now Accepting Real Estate SEO Clients

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Is your real estate website a big part of your marketing program? Do you wish your website ranked higher in the major search engines (like Google and Yahoo)?

If so, stop wishing and contact me today. I can now take on a handful of new clients for my real estate SEO services.

What does this service entail? Well, basically, I'll manage all aspects of your search engine optimization / search engine visibility. I will add you to my daily work schedule and make it my personal mission to increase your website's search engine ranking, visibility and traffic levels.

I Do the Work ... You Enjoy the Benefits
From a client's perspective, I think the best thing about my SEO service is that clients don't have to worry about it. They can enjoy the comfort of knowing that I'm working on their search engine visibility every week. This means they can focus on other things, like client relations.

So if you're serious about search engine visibility and online success, contact me today so we can talk about a custom real estate SEO program.

To ensure quality service, I will only take on a handful of new clients. So if you're interested, email me today, or call (512) 300-5410.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Brandon Cornett
Real Estate SEO Credentials

SearchWarp Removes SEO Benefits of Their Service

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

If you've been reading my blog, articles or books for any length of time, you've probably heard me talk about article marketing. For me, article marketing is a classic example of a win-win-win situation...

• The reader gets a helpful article (ideally).


• The writer gets online exposure and SEO benefits.


• The publishing website gets content that they can build a business model on.

That's why I've always recommended publishing articles through websites like EzineArticles.com, GoArticles, and (up until today) SearchWarp.com. It's a great addition to your real estate search engine optimization program.

But here's a recent development you should be aware of. When you publish an article at SearchWarp.com, there is no longer any SEO value in the text links from their site to yours.

Why?

Because Search Warp has begun to use the "nofollow" tag on their outbound links. If you know anything about this tag, you know that it prevents search engines from passing along any trust to the website on the other end of that link. In other words, it removes any and all SEO value from the text link.

Here's a snippet about the "nofollow" tag from Search Engine Watch:

What Nofollow Means
Below I'll cover what Google says it does, if it
sees a link with the nofollow attributed associated with it. Yahoo and MSN are
likely to react in a similar fashion, though I haven't yet spoken with them to
get exact details since news of their support only just emerged.

If Google sees nofollow as part of a link, it will:

1. NOT follow through to that page.
2. NOT count the link in calculating PageRank link popularity scores.
3. NOT count the anchor text in determining what terms the page being
linked to is relevant for.

So sure, your article may still get republished onto other websites. And those websites may keep your link intact. But here's the kicker. If the person republishing your article copies it from SearchWarp and pastes it into a content management system (like a blog), they have brought the "nofollow" tag along with it. So you wouldn't get any SEO value out of the republication.

If you ask me, this is selfish on the part of SearchWarp.com. In fact, I told them this a few months ago when they first started talking about using the "nofollow" tag, and again recently when they actually made the move.

I told them their authors give them a business model, allowing them to make money from Google ads and the like. In the past, SearchWarp reciprocated this by allowing standard hyperlinks on all articles. This gave their authors SEO benefits in exchange for the articles they submitted.

But now, SearchWarp.com still takes as much as they always have ... they just give less back in return.

Just thought you might want to know.

~Brandon

Make Your Website Inviting: Tip #49 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 49 of 100 - Make Your Website Inviting

In a previous post in this series, we talked about the importance of de-cluttering your home page, and catering to the reader by putting information they would want front-and-center.

Here's a good example of these practices in action.

This Rocky Point house rentals website has arranged their home page in a way that (A) tells reader what the site is about, (B) showcases what people will probably want to see, and (C) gives a clear call-to-action in the form of a "Book Now" graphic.

Though I don't know the owners of this website, I would venture a guess that their home page does a good job of generating leads. As soon as you land on this page, you're eyes are drawn to the featured properties. And if you are in fact shopping for rental properties in this town, then those featured properties are exactly what you would want to see.

So the owners of the site are catering to the needs of visitors and making their job really easy. Two hallmarks of a good home page!

They also offer plenty of things that will keep visitors on the site, such as video / virtual tours of each property.

Lastly, notice the "Book now" graphic on the page. For those people who are ready to book a rental, this shortcut makes it easy. Once again, the site owners are respecting the needs of their visitors.

So we have the following:

• A home page tells people exactly what it offers (beachfront rentals in Puerto Penasco, Mexico)
• A home page that showcases content people will want to see (featured properties with virtual tours)
• A home page that gives people who are ready to sign an easy way to do just that!

Look for tip #50 tomorrow!

~Brandon

Get the Real Estate Blog Book: Internet Marketing Tip #48 of 100

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Real Estate Internet Marketing - 100 Tips in 100 Days

Tip 48 of 100 - Download the Real Estate Blog Book

Sure, I'm the author of the real estate blog book. But I can recommend it without hesitation because I know what it can do for your real estate Internet marketing program.

You see, a blog can add a level of simplicity and convenience to your online real estate marketing efforts. Because blogs are so easy to publish, you'll be more inclined to publish content on a regular basis. And this can help you grow your web presence and increase your search engine visibility.

So a blog is good for Internet marketing in general and real estate SEO in particular. Double the benefits!

But this is all just the beginning. In my new training manual, I teach you something called the Triangle Strategy to blogging. Simply stated, this three-part publishing system can drive your blog up the search engine rankings much faster than blogging alone. And you'll learn about it in step-by-step fashion in my blogging guide.

Look for real estate Internet marketing tip #49 tomorrow!

~Brandon