Online Real Estate Technology

Ian Grace Mr Real Estate Advertising

I thought it was time I opened up this blog to a few of my friends and colleagues in the real estate industry and one that I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years is probably the leading expert on real estate advertising worldwide, Ian Grace.

Ian has presented his training course all over the world and is one of the very few Australians to have spoken at the NAR conference in the US, there is not much that Ian does not know about creating great real estate advertising, so as part of this series, I’ve asked Ian to put together his top 10 tips for writing great real estate ads, I hope you get benefit from Ian’s advice.

The Top Ten Tips for Writing Great Real Estate Ads

HOODOO – a great word to help you to remember the two things that make advertising effective:- WHO – is the person who will see the most value in the property and therefore pay the highest price [that's target marketing]. DO – now show them and tell them, what they will be able to DO as a direct result of their purchase.

2. HEADLINES – remember the WHO when you write your headline, then qualify it quickly, so the reader knows you’re both on the same wavelength. Then ideally, reinforce or remind about the headline at the end of the ad. The headline must include one or more of the following:- 1. A benefit or implied benefit 2. Something that is new, news or topical 3. A curiosity element without gimmicks for gimmicks sake.

3. PHOTOS – make sure your main photo matches and works together with your headline [not the other way around] and that the other photos also match the body text.

4. PEOPLE – put people and/or pets in your photos – it’s a great way to show people what they will be able to DO when they live there.

5. NAMES – use names in your ads to personalise them – yours [in full] and even the sellers’.

6. DIFFERENT ADS – the use of different ads for different markets, enables you to talk to each prospect group about what is relevant to them only e.g. one ad aimed at first home buyers and one ad aimed specifically at investors.

7. MEDIA MATCH – make sure your press ads match with other media and vice versa, with particular reference to the main photo and headline.

8. KEEP THE SAME AD RUNNING – once you’ve written a great ad, run it at least four times if not more, as research shows people need to see the same ad or message three times or more, on average, before they will respond

9. PRICE, LOCATION, NUMBER OF BEDROOMS – if all the research done shows conclusively that these are the top three pieces of information potential buyers require, then common sense says – give it to them!

10.   OBTAIN SELLER ADVERTISING DOLLARS – research proves that the higher the seller paid advertising percentage, the higher the listing to selling success rate.

11. BONUS TIP – TEST YOUR ADS – Firstly, sellers must see the ads before they run, but most importantly, ensure at least one of your colleagues checks your ads to confirm every word and phrase will make sense to the market it is written for. Secondly, when buyers who have responded to the ads view the property, ask them if the property has matched their expectations from your ads – the feedback will be terrific and will keep your advertising right on track.

If you’d like to contact Ian you can visit his web site Ian Grace Marketing

Having just gone through the process of buying and selling our family home, I could relate to this video. The real estate agent who handled both of our transactions did not fall into this category but I had to laugh when I watched it, so please enjoy it before it gets removed.

In December we Australians spent more time on social media sites than any other country, whilst we only ranked ninth in the world as far as users, we spent 6 hours,52 minutes and 28 second each according to Nielsen on line. The actual number of Australians using social networks in December was just under 9.9 million.

Here’s the actual breakdown for those interested:

Given these type of usage figures you would think that every business whether they be big or small would be engaging in some sort of social media strategy, right? well actually no. The take up of social media and all it’s components, blogging, microblogging sites and social networks has been very slow, and the reason is a lack of awareness of what social media is.

The number of on line consumers using this medium is growing faster than any other form of internet usage and as a farming arena or marketing/communication tool, it’s not a question for business of should I be using it, but when can I get on board and quickly.

You may remember my story on Rupert Murdock and his concerns about Google giving his content away for free and how he wants to start to charge on line consumers for content, well it appears that what consumers really want on line is information that is free, last weeks decision by the New York Times to build a wall around it’s content was applauded by publishers, but news coming from the Long Island Daily will not be good news for promoters of charging for news content, the Long Island Daily has achieved the massive number of paying subscribers, since commencing to charge in October last year, of just 35, at $260 per year per subscriber this nets them $9000 revenue, on a launch cost of $4 million US.

Consumers using social media want information, they want to engage in conversation with you and they want to research you, your product and your brand.

Now is the time to get on board with a social media strategy, get on the front foot and take advantage of the networking possibilities.

It had to happen at some stage and here it is, a song and video about Social Media, not quite as serious and informative as my previous post and video about  Social Media, but I thought this great video would bring a smile to your day.

So please enjoy!!

During my research I’ve come across a great video that I thought I would share with you, the video was compiled by Socialnomics09, and is called Social Media Revolution: Is Social Media a Fad?

For those real estate business owners that have yet to consider social media as a business strategy then hopefully this will provide some insights into the On Line world of the future. This video details some facts and figures that are hard to ignore.

I’ve been like a voice in the wilderness promoting the value of a social media within the real estate industry in Australia so hopefully this video will add some weight to my voice.

If you do decide to adopt a social media strategy for your office, make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing, read my post on Fake Social Media Experts before you get fooled to part with your hard earned dollars by these so called experts, or better still, give me a call.

Please enjoy

I encountered a scenario yesterday that has just made my blood boil, and It’s been simmering away in the background ever since, so I just had to get it off my chest, why? because it comes down to who really owns your web site, you or your webmaster. so let’s start by giving you the background to this little rant of mine. I’ve been hired to look at the SEO on a real estate web site for a client and yesterday I asked for  access to their hosting Cpanel, that’s so we could start working on the site’s optimisation. I received from my client the following email they had been sent from their web master in response to my request, and I quote the email here for you.

“Unfortunately we do not provide any login details for any sites that are hosted by (&*&*&) as a policy. Giving you the login details would mean that you would be allowed access to all sites hosted by us.

Essentially your SEO specialist will need to supply us with all the code he would like to add to the site. Our Web Design will then need to review the code and if everything is order we will implement this onto the site ourselves. Please note that there is likely to be a charge involved with this”

Isn’t this the biggest load of Cr^% you’ve ever heard, lets have a look at several issues in this email.

Firstly who owns the site? If I’ve paid for it then It’s mine, or am I wrong in this assumption, it’s not hard to set up Cpanel access, most companies provide this when your site is hosted with them, well I know I do when I set up a hosting account for my clients.

Secondly, they are making themselves out to be the policemen, what right have they to approve any code or in fact any content on the site before they will agree to add it to the site, it is not up to them to approve anything, it is the owner of the site who should make that decision.

Thirdly, they did such a bad job of optimising and setting up the site in the first place, they haven’t got a clue what their doing.

Finally, they have the cheek to suggest they would charge a fee for adding the code, so really, this is what this is all about, milking you for more money to do a simple job.

So, to get back to my original question who really own this web site? you should. You’ve paid the webmaster for it and you should have the say over the future of your own site. My suggestion to all of you small business owners that have web sites is to go out now and make sure you own your web site and all components of it and take control.

You need to be the master of your own destiny not held to ransom by these arrogant companies who think you and I are fools.

By the way, if you’d like to know which company it is, just email me or leave a comment and I’ll send you their details.

If you’re a real estate agent or small business owner just getting into a social media strategy, or already using social media networks such as Facebook and you haven’t yet created a Facebook brand page, then go and create one right now. They are an excellent way of promoting your brand not only to others on Facebook, but also promoting your brand or product via Facebook adds.

If you are considering using Facebook adds or any form of on line advertising then it’s important to understand the searching and viewing habits of the audience you’re trying to impact. Social media sites are changing the way we search on line, and as marketers, relying on this information and understanding where and how your audience views or searches for information on social media sites is vital.

So which are the best days to run your adds or banners, and which days generate the best click thru rates for advertisers? Some new research out today helps shed some light on this and I’ve detailed some of the results for you.

Content posted on Facebook based brand pages has a higher than average click thru rate on a Tuesday, the average click thru rate on Tuesday is 9.89%, the highest of any day. Wednesday follows closely behind with click rates of 9.87%.

Friday and Saturday had the lowest click rates with a very measly 2.67% on Friday and 2.7% on Saturdays. If you  take all the days into account, click thrus for Facebook brand pages average 6.76%. This average is lower than Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but still much higher than average CTRs for display advertising across social networks in general, including Facebook itself.

So really what this research means, is that certain days of the week are better for launching a product promotion, and by really understanding how consumers use social media sites, you and your company can start to target where you’ll get the best return on your investment.

In a nut shell, you really need to have a well thought out communication strategy for updating your Facebook brand page, and an understanding of when to create promotions to get optimum response.

Response to your marketing on social media sites is better early in the week then dwindles and picks up again on Sundays.

What I’ll cover for you in the next post on this subject, are results of the latest eye tracking study on social media pages, where are users eyes focused when viewing these pages and how does it differ from other web page viewing.

This has an impact when you’re deciding to use advertising on social sites such as Facebook etc, does your target market actually look at the adds? I’m sure you’ll find that an interesting read.

About the data:The sample data reported is compiled from nearly 200 million fans impressions on Facebook pages over a five-month period (March – August 2009).

CoTweet Logo

Over the past 2 days I’ve had the chance to use a new Twitter application called CoTweet, and having signed up for a private beta testing account and being amongst the first users to play around with the site, I thought I’d give you a rundown of its capabilities.

At the moment it is still in private beta testing but i found it performed very well, apart from one or two little niggles such as getting a message “There was an error loading messages” when refreshing and the site occasionally sent me back to the main log in screen when navigating between screens and functions, that I’m sure will be worked out once testing is finished.

CoTweets main aim is to be a platform that helps companies reach and engage customers using Twitter, and the site has loads of great features that business can use. For example CoTweet allows for multiple users,which is ideal for companies wanting to keep control over what and who is using Twitter, particularly when representing your brand.

Some of the highlights on CoTweet, you can manage up to 4 Twitter accounts during the private beta period. You may share Twitter accounts with others (i.e. invite them to CoTweet with you through the same Twitter account). Or you may keep them unshared, so that only you may tweet through them. The way you might use this feature is people managing a shared account (perhaps for their company) as well as their personal account through CoTweet. Managing multiple accounts through one interface makes life so much easier.

CoTweet Main Screen

With one click you can view the profile of the person you are following as well as all conversations and updates and you can add notes and then allocate that note to other users on the site, this appears on the right hand side of the screen making it very easy to see the information of the person you are following. Another nifty addition is the use of CoTags, so what are CoTags? CoTags are short signatures that allow you to identify yourself as part of a message while sharing an account with multiple people, EG @CoTweet.

CoTweet User Screen

You can also integrate it with a Bit.ly account to shorten your URL’s and links, posts can be delayed which allows you to stagger your posts across the day, or scheduled to go live immediately and you can assign posts for follow up to other users.

Another very nice feature, is OnDuty, a system that keeps your team informed by sending email updates when new @replies and direct messages come in. Unless you’re glued to your Twitter client all day, it’s easy to lose track of messages and the value that immediate responsiveness brings to your brand.

OnDuty keeps you and your team in the loop and allows you to jump in on things as they progress. In the new updates you can not  only change your own OnDuty status, but also that of your team members as part of a new channel menu. Users are able to decide what happens when they’re set to “on” via their settings. At the moment, CoTweet only offer email notification but are looking to expand to other notification tools soon.

The only way to really know how great this application is, is to apply for a private beta test account and start using CoTweet. It’s a great application for companies and another great social media tool.

I’ve been working on a social media strategy paper for a top real estate franchise group and it’s kept me fairly busy during the last couple of weeks and that’s the reason I haven’t been very active on my blog for that period. As part of that strategy, I’ve been looking at the impact of social media on brand building and especially the impact blogs have on the purchasing decisions of consumers.

Blogs, play a major role in influencing the purchasing decision amongst women in particular, and in a recent survey in the US, 85% of regular female blog readers said they were influenced to make a purchase as a result of a review or comment posted on a blog.  So with that in mind, if you’re the company that gets it right, you have a good chance of getting the sale, but what happens if you are on the receiving end of a negative review or comment. How do you protect your brand and how should you respond?

Your customers can now read, listen, discuss and research their purchasing decisions and you need to work harder at customer service than ever before, if you are finding negative or damaging reviews about you,your brand or service then use this as a wake up call. The world of social networks, business review sites and blogs has provided the disgruntled consumer with a voice.

Every employee in your company is now responsible for your brands reputation, and when you as a company, start to live up to your reputation, it becomes a lot easier to manage your brand effectively on line.

If you do find a negative review on any of the sites, resist the temptation to respond defensively and do  not allow any of your staff to respond, you could put the Streisand effect in motion. 

What can be used to deliver a negative can also be used to promote a positive, so use it wisely.  Remember it’s very hard to remove a negative comment or search engine result, but you can promote a positive, just like the company in this video has done. 

If you’d like any additional information on how to manage your brand effectively on line, please ask me, I’d be happy to help advise you and get you headed on the right track.

Social Media and Your ROI

After facing my second redundancy in as many years, I had an interesting debate the other day with some business colleagues. The debate centred on how much information is shared via blogs like this one and other social media sites for free, and what my colleagues essentially were saying is “Why would anyone pay you, when you give all the information away for free” and in reflection, I’d have to say that a number of people who I dealt with in the past, who were regular callers, have certainly dropped off since I started on my own, thinking  I might start charging them for the information and assistance.

When I started this blog almost 12 months ago it was just a bit of fun and also a tool to build my profile , as well as provide the people in the industry that I was working in with a resource and information bank that they could use to improve their Internet marketing campaigns. Looking back over the past 12 months on this social media journey, I think I achieved quite a lot, I’ve got this blog operating, which as far as reader numbers would indicate, does very well every month, and I’ve had a lot of support and great feedback from you the readers over that 12 months. I’ve got my podcast series, which is very popular with listeners all over the world and my Twitter profile is building each day as more and more followers join me on the journey, so all in all, would I have achieved all of that without social media? the answer is no I would not have.

This debate I’m sure, is one that is going on every day in business all over the world, how much do we share and what’s our return on investment with social media. In fact, I’ve had this come up time and time again when I’ve been presenting social media strategies to companies and I beleive the main reason it comes up is because the sharing and giving of information or advice is coupled with companies charging for this expertise and the thought of suddenly providing this information for free is very challenging. This leads to another challenge for companies and one that really impacts the culture of the company, social media is all about sharing and if you have people in your organisation who don’t want to share, your social media strategy will not succeed, and that comes back to my opening statement, how much do you give away for free?

 I’ve always based the information provided on this blog on issues that affect small business,how to improve Internet marketing campaigns, giving new technology advice and looking at issues such as SEO and SEM, & how important it is for SME’s to be aware of why they need an active search engine strategy. If that information helps make you aware of what you need to do to improve your marketing efforts then I’ve achieved my goal, if you decide to use me to help you in that effort then that’s even better.  

With the real estate industry, the Internet has changed the way consumers get information, 10 years ago when I was a working real estate agent, my buyers and sellers would come off the cards in the office window, I would then get the chance to interact and engage my buyers face to face, well how many times today do you get the chance to influence these buyers at that first point of research? not very often I would think, research tells us that 9 out 10 buyers start the process on the net and they start looking for information and properties in the areas or suburbs they are interested in.

How then do you make sure you are the agent they want to deal with along this process?, you need to have as many communication channels available to you assisting you in delivering information to the property buyer or seller along the journey, and that is not just having a web site, but a multi media strategy running alongside your traditional marketing activities. 

The benefits of my social media efforts over the last 12 months have helped me move into new directions and opened up a lot of doors for me that were previously closed, it’s improved my knowledge of technology and marketing and I’ve become a syndicated author. In my experience, you’ll get out of a social strategy, what you put in.

Why would I not keep doing what I’ve been doing, and as long as you the readers of this blog find it helpful and of benefit to you & your business then in my mind, that’s my return on investment.