Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

The ActiveRain Customizer Project has been extremely successful. However, there are a few people who seem to have had a few problems successfully customizing their blog. With this in mind, I have written a quick FAQs post to hopefully clear up some issues. If you are interested in obtaining free technical support, please read through the questions below. It covers common problems and tells you how to obtain free support. If you are interested in Dakno Marketing assisting you with the design or implementation of your custom ActiveRain blog, please contact us. We will offer this service at our standard rate of $75/hour.

Read the rest of this entry

Share This

I recently wrote a post on how to Customize your ActiveRain blog. But my original approach required digging into CSS and HTML. I quickly realized that this could be over the heads of some people in the Active Rain community. So I went back to the drawing board and developed a way for ActiveRain users to easily customize their blog without any knowledge of CSS or HTML. It’s called the ActiveRain Custom Blog Generator. You simply answer a few questions, and hit submit. The Generator does all the hard work for you. Be sure to check it out.

If you haven’t already signed up with ActiveRain, then read this first, then setup your own account.

Share This

Update: I have been contacted by Active Rain asking me to remove my customized AR blog. They discovered a potential flaw where some ActiveRain pages (that show posts from multiple users) could be altered. I have already contacted them with a fix for this. I will be speaking with them today and will keep you updated.

You have probably heard the buzz about the ability to totally customize your Active Rain blog. Visit my recent Active Rain post if you haven’t yet seen an example. It turns out; Active Rain gives you amazing flexibility in the look and feel of your blog. You don’t have to have to be a part of any special beta program. You can do this with any Active Rain blog.

Read the rest of this entry

Share This

The First Dakno Real Estate Marketing Podcast!

Sit back and enjoy this first installment in a series of podcast by Dakno Real Estate Marketing President and CEO Brad Carroll and myself, Bobby Carroll as we discuss incorporating user generated content in your online real estate marketing strategy. No doubt, in today’s real estate environment what you do with your online presence can make or break your ability to produce income. We invite you to listen and ask a question about anything you hear.

Help Us Name Our Dakno Real Estate Podcast!

As a part of this new venture, we encourage you to help us name this podcasting tool. The more creative the better. For your efforts, we will select the name that most appropriately describes what our podcast is all about. So that means you have to see ….er hear what it’s all about so you can name our podcast!

What do I Win If You Select My Entry?

Great question… if we select your submission we will provide you a choice of one of our eBooks. The chosen entry and winner can select from our Real Estate Website Success Guide or the SEO resource The Real Estate Website Accelerator. For more details on these excellent and much-needed real estate web 2.0 resources checkout our website for more details.

Have a listen and tell us what you think. The podcast links are below.

To your success!

Bobby

 

 Incorporating User Generated Content in Your Real Estate Marketing [32:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (88)

Share This

Real Estate Marketing Tips for Social Networking Newbies

For a real estate professional (or anyone seeking to begin an online social media marketing strategy), there are some recommended community guidelines you should consider before leaping into any online social networking community.

Forget the hard sell

Don’t “force” your services or products on individuals in the community. Any attempt to sell your products, services or yourself when you first meet someone (in any environment –digital or in person) is the fastest way to ruin any networking relationship before it begins. Instead, use your own expertise to give something to the other person. On MySpace, too, the most successful businesses are the ones that know how to give, whether it’s a chef’s exclusive recipe, or a roundup of upcoming local events.

Do your homework first

Always read the communities’ Guidelines so you “play” within the rules. Remember this, online, your digital behavior is just as important as meeting someone in person at a networking event. Online communities like Active Rain, MySpace, Google’s YouTube, or Facebook have their own cultures, rules, and social mores that business people disrespect at their peril. It is recommended you “hangout” on the site for a few days. Learn the “vibe” or the dynamic of the social networking site as a user before charging in with your take on the environment. Read other peoples take on a wide variety of topics then read some more before you create a page, post or comment.

Look before you leap….er speak

Networking is a two-way conversation, so be prepared to interact. Leave your ego behind. Beware of acting like the cocktail party equivalent of the bore who only talks about themselves.

Focus on quality information over quantity

Writing “War & Peace” post or pages is a waste of everyone’s time (yours and your readers). Website visitors are “scanners” so why not properly “format” your post and do your readers a favor. Plus, providing quality information is the most important element to social media marketing. If you’re giving away useful information to the community, you will create an online “following”. In the social network environment it’s important to be seen as a giver of reliable information.

Be authentic

If you enter an online social community with authenticity, you will be received with respect and admiration. Those who come with agendas will be quickly identified as spammers. One sure fire way to be kicked out of any community is to spam the community with solicitations for your business. And whether online or in-person, being discovered as a fraud has damaging consequences.

Be engaging

Talking about the mundane topics like the weather is no way to impress. Use your social media opportunity to show off the persona of your business, and be sure to refresh your content regularly.

Consistent follow up is key

Establishing a new connection doesn’t end when the networking event is over, and successful online social networking requires offline connections, too. Consistent participation is the key. Social networking site etiquette states you should attempt to comment should others comment on your page or post. Plus – it keeps the comment stream going.

Online social communities should be a long term strategy

Approaching any networking event or community with the expectation of leaving with a new contract is missing the point. Immediate results seldom occur. You need to give something to the community before you start looking for an ROI [return on investment of your time. Think of online social communities in the same vain as other “giving back to the community opportunities”. It has long-term value, even if it doesn’t show up as a transaction.

What has been your experience?

Tell me what experience has taught you about using social networks as a component to your total online marketing strategy? Do you use spocial networks to build your business?

I appreciate your feedback.

Bobby

Share This

It seems that when people talk about driving traffic to their website, they immediately focus on two methods - Pay Per Click, and Search Engine Optimization. While these both work, they are only two of a number of ways to drive people to your website.

The problem with Search Traffic

With both Pay Per Click and Search engine Optimization, you rely on people seeking you out. You simply wait around for someone to type the exact keyword that is going to show your website and hope that the user clicks on your link. To me, this seems like a pretty passive way to get traffic. Why not take a more active approach? Instead of waiting for the traffic to come to you, why not go to them?

Groups of Your Target Audience

Did you know that there are currently over 18K groups (groups not people) centered on Real Estate in Yahoo Groups. And this doesn’t even include Google Groups, MSN Groups, etc. Now remember, these groups are not too fond of people who go in and try to “hard sale” their services. Instead, they are looking for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). With this in mind, simply go in with the mindset of being the resource of information. They will quickly see you as a Trusted Advisor.

Linking Up with LinkedIn

Groups are not the only social hub for your target market. LinkedIn is another place to become a SME to your target audience. Even if you target audience is the luxury market. In fact, LinkedIn states that “Every one of the Fortune 500 companies has at least one executive on the LinkedIn network.”

But Social Networks is only for Teens!

I know what some people may thinking. “You Tube, Facebook and My Space are only for teens!” Right? Not really. Actually “Over 40 percent of luxury consumers visited a social networking site, such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, etc. in the past three months.” And since we are talking about the luxury market, there are even Social Networks for specifically for those jetsetters.

Get Creative – Land More Clients

The key is to get creative and use the power of social networks to catch your target audience early on in the game. For example, “Over 90 percent of luxury consumers used the Internet in support of their travel planning” (think 2^nd home or relocation). Now, imagine you are on these travel websites submitting reviews of the best 5 Star restaurants in the area. Oh, and you just happen to subtly work in your background and profession to validate yourself. “As a Realtor in CityName, I frequently take my clients to [Restaurant name]…” Suddenly, the luxury home owner looking to buy a vacation home now has a trusted resource who didn’t try to hard sell them but was the information resource.

Can Potential Clients See You on YouTube?

Vacation seekers and people looking for 2^nd homes and investment property frequently use sites like Flickr and YouTube to see images and video of the area before visiting. When they do a search on YouTube for keywords like Raleigh Real Estate, do they see your or your competition?

The only thing constant about the internet is that it’s always changing. With so much information available, people will continue to use their peers and social networks to not only find information, but trusted information. Will you actively pursue this gold mind of new business or continue to wait around for people to find you?

Share This

I am frequently asked a common question about blogs. It’s goes a little something like this – “I want to create a real estate blog, should I place the blog at www.mydomain.com/blog or should my blog have its own domain like www.arearealestateblog.com.” Unfortunately there is not a right or wrong answer. It all depends on your particular strategy. So with this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to make a case for both options and let you, the real estate agent, decide based on your blogging strategy

Does Your Blog Have legs?

The first question you have to ask yourself is how frequently you plan on posting to your blog. If you plan on creating a blog separate from your real estate website, then you better give it legs to stand on its own. That means frequent posting of relevant content. If you only plan to just “salt and pepper” a few post here and there, then your best bet is to just create your blog as an extension of your website.

What is Your SEO Strategy?

Many real estate agents start blogging to give their website a SEO boost. If that is the main goal then your real estate blog is best suited on your existing domain. That is because all that fresh content you are creating with each new post, gives more “spider food” to Google and other search engines.

Age of Your Domain

This is another important factor when thinking about where your blog will call home. Google and other search engines value older domains as they are seen as more trust worthy. If you just purchased your blog domain last week, plan on spending the first 60-90 days building up credibility in the eyes of the search engines. Now keep in mind that this time period is not a magic number. There are plenty of other factors that determine credibility such as quality of content and the number of inbound links.

How Big is Your Online Marketing Influence?

To be successful online, it takes more than just one single website, instead you need to build your total online marketing presence. This is where having a blog on a separate domain can be beneficial. After all, now you have multiple websites that can show up on page one for your desired keyword. As your blog grows, your website’s credibility also grows. This happens because your blog (which has authority in the eyes of search engines) will link to your website. The key here is credibility. If your blog with its own domain is not maintained, it will not grow in authority and become an island.

Do You Want to Attract the Media?

Blogs that have their own domain typically have their own identity. This is helpful when getting the attention of the media. News organizations and editors can smell self promotion a mile away. With this in mind, they are typically more receptive of standalone blogs that focus on the information and not the promotion of a single real estate agent.

Take for example Kevin Tomlinson’s South Beach Condo Blog. The blog sits on its own domain and is 100% information driven. Kevin doesn’t use the blog as an arena to blow his own horn. He uses it to give free information. In its simplest form, Kevin is simply a “reporter” for the South Beach Condo Blog (or SBCB as it’s commonly referred to). The name alone proves this point. His SBCB blog has its own identity. And as a result, sources such as the Miami Herald, New York Post, and thousands of other blogs have linked to his blog. They know they can safely do this without endorsing or promoting a single real estate agent.

What About Social Network Hosted Blogs?

I would not recommend using a Social Network Blog (such as Active Rain) as your main blogging platform. Not because they do not have value – it’s just the opposite, they have tremendous power to help grow your online presence. But remember that each with each post you write on the social network site, you help to grow their credibility and not your domain. Keep in mind that that’s not all bad. After all, the more credibility the social network has, the more valued are those links that point back to your site. But ultimately, your main blog needs to be something that you control and directly benefits you. Again, places like Active Rain have tremendous value. But use Social Network blogs for a specific strategy. For example, for me, I see Active Rain as a website with 50K potential Dakno clients. Don’t get me wrong, I love the friendships and love educating and empowering real estate agents to get the most out of their marketing. But at the end of the day, I blog for leads.

Finding What’s Right for You

Take a few minutes to think about your own strategy. What’s the main goal of the blog. How much time do you have to focus on the blog. How does a blog work into your overall marketing presence? Hopefully now that you are armed with this information, you will have a clear direction on if you should place your blog on your existing website or on a separate domain.

Share This