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Michael Pidgeon

Real Estate Lead Generation

Question: What are effective strategies for real estate lead generation?

Answer: Effective strategies for real estate lead generation include online advertising, content marketing, social media engagement, email campaigns, and networking.

Real Estate Lead Generation

What keeps the real estate business moving is a consistent supply of warm leads. If you are a real estate agent you know that business is only as good as having the next lead interested in your services, without which you can be staring at long dry spells of leadless business. Again, not every kind of lead will do in the real estate business.

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Your main interest is in those leads that will convert into customers. But the question that is left begging is how you acquire the kind of leads that are ready to buy and sell properties. Here are a few insights to show you how to generate effective leads in real estate through a well-diversified common sense approach.

It begins with a website and a blog

Research indicates that close to 90% of real estate transactions begin with a search on the internet by the potential home buyers and it takes such buyers close to eleven weeks of searching before making the first contact with a real estate agent.

Therefore, it makes sense to have a website where people searching for property online can find the types of properties that they are looking for. You can also use the website and a blog to target homebuyers looking for answers associated with buying and selling, bringing in potential leads and increasing your brand strength as an authority on all things real estate, not to mention establishing yourself as an expert on the area in question.

Social Networking

With the advent of the digital age and the humongous growth of the social media, you will benefit a lot in terms of real estate lead generation when you are visible on the social network. Strive as much as possible to have a formidable presence in such social sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube etc. Let’s not forget that you want a well-diversified approach to your marketing campaign, not having all of your eggs in one basket.

It is also important to note that such social networks have large groups and communities of individuals who are specifically interested in real estate, and thus they would be ideal targets when considering a paid advertisement for a real estate lead generation.

The power of referrals

If you have dealt with other clients in the past and they were happy with your services, you can request them to kindly refer their friends and families to you. In most cases, if they were really happy with the services they got from you, they will be more than willing to refer their friends and family members to you. If they have no referrals to send you then be sure to get testimonials and reviews for your website and social platforms as the studies being done on the power of reviews and testimonials are undeniably positive.

The beauty of getting real estate leads through referrals is that such leads are warm leads and it will be easy to convert them compared to other leads obtained through other sources, almost 80% people treat reviews as if they were a referral from a friend.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Having a website that is not visible in the search engines won’t be very beneficial to you as far as real estate lead generation is concerned. The website needs to be visible enough so that people searching for the kind of properties that you deal with can easily find you on the internet.

This is possible through proper search engine optimization. If you manage to optimize your website in the right manner, you will have access to free and incredibly targeted traffic where you can collect real estate leads, then just work on converting them into customers. SEO leads convert at a rate of 13.5% vs the combined 2% conversion rate of other channels.

Realtor Marketing Strategies For Facebook

Question: What are effective realtor marketing strategies for Facebook?

Answer: Realtor marketing strategies for Facebook include creating engaging content, running targeted ads, leveraging Facebook groups, and utilizing live video.

Realtor marketing strategies You Can Bank On

Gaining a competitive edge in the real estate industry requires meticulous and well planned marketing, whereas there are many avenues for driving effective real estate marketing campaigns, social media and with special regards to Facebook, remains a force to reckon with when it comes to real estate marketing. Presented here are a few powerful realtor marketing strategies that realtors can use to cash in on Facebook.

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It begins with having a Facebook Page

Success in marketing realtor services on Facebook begins with having a well laid out Facebook page. Instead of having the ordinary personal pages, you need to create a business page since this will appear more professional and it will make it easy for you to market your services with the fact that it has superior features compared to what is available on your personal profile.

Brand the page and identify target audience

After you have created the page, you need to brand it so that potential clients can easily identify with it. The first thing you’ll want to do is have top quality imaging with your branding, incorporate your personal logo’s and brand colouring throughout your header as well as every post you make should have a properly sized colour branded logo. Statistics show that almost 80% of people will leave a website that is poorly designed with substandard pictures because it ‘lacks credibility’, also the human brain processes images 3 million times faster than text which leads to a substantially increased retention of your brand. Once you have your image branding taken care of all you have to do is to ensure you provide as much information as possible about your business, you can add relevant information on the About Me section of the page, detailing the type of properties you deal with and possibly leave your contact details.

A two pronged approach is necessary.

  1. Continually post nice photos and information about various listings you have and provide links for interested home buyers to reach them. Remember, the photos must be of high quality if you want to attract the best leads.
  2. Publish quality content about related subjects to your website weekly if possible and promote it through all of your social media outlets.

Share quality information about the industry

To create credibility and stand out amoung other realtors on Facebook, you must demonstrate that you are providing value to your followers by being an expert in your area. One way of achieving this is by sharing useful content on your social media outlets, content should offer solutions to the plethora of problems and frequently asked questions (FAQ) clients have. For instance, you can share useful tips for new home buyers, news about your specific markets, how to avoid rogue realtors etc. When you do this constantly in association with proper visual branding you will be perceived as an authority in the industry and area helping to increase potential client trust in your real estate services.

Make page interactive

Great realtor marketing strategies involve interaction, as you share your listings and post useful content for your users you will start to get responses, either they will like what you have posted or they will be commenting asking for further information. It is important that you respond to them as you’re in the service industry and it directly indicates to them how they would be treated should they decide to choose you as their realtor. Not offering quick and useful replies can destroy the credibility you had already built by having a strategic social media campaign in place.

Connect with other like-minded groups and pages

You can’t market successfully as a realtor in Facebook when you decide to be an island or do the bare minimum. It is imperative for you to connect with other like-minded pages, groups and realtors so that you can be part of a one big community. When you do this, the other groups and pages might like and share your content, not to mention there followers, this can create a viral effect and expand your social media reach. Getting incredible exposure and increasing your audience is the name of the game with social media and specifically your Facebook page. The conclusion is that being an expert and authority in your area combined with growing your social reach means getting more leads, and that’s effective realtor marketing strategies.

A Professional SEO Company – 5 Benefits of Using One

Question: What are 5 benefits of using a professional SEO company?

Answer: A professional SEO company offers expertise, time savings, increased website visibility, higher search rankings, and improved ROI.

Professional SEO Company, Is It Right For You?

There are several ways through which webmasters and online business owners can use to get traffic to their websites. The most desired one, however, is search engine optimization. This is because when a website is properly optimized for the search engines, it leads to a plethora of free and highly targeted traffic.

In this manner, such websites are in great positions to grow and expand their boundaries more than the websites that are not properly optimized for the search engines. Here are some of the specific benefits that come with using a professional SEO company-:

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Increase in Traffic

The desire to have more traffic is one of the main reasons why businesses rely on professional search engine optimization. Through search engine optimization, websites will rank higher in the search engine result pages thus increasing their exposure to the potential clients and customers. The result will be an increase in traffic to the respective websites leading to more leads or sales for the benefit of the business.

SEO is Cost Effective in the long run

Compared to other methods of traffic generation, professional SEO services are considered to be cost-effective in the long run. It is true that the initial cost of getting professional search engine optimization services may be high, but the result will be long-term, and you will continue to reap the benefits even long after the services have been stopped. This is because when a site is properly optimized, and it gains higher rankings in the search engines and it will maintain that status for a long period while at the same building authority. It will thus be difficult to displace that website from the top rankings, and this means more free and targeted traffic.

SEO enhances the usability of websites

The big search engines like Google provide certain guidelines for proper search engine optimization. For instance, they assert that for a website to get better rankings, they should be responsive and user-friendly. Professional SEO experts thus adapt websites to conform to the guidelines issued by the search engines so as to get better rankings. Out of SEO therefore, the websites are made to be user-friendly and also have the ability to render on mobile devices. All these work together in enhancing the user experience of the respective websites.

Improves business reputation

Since a professional SEO company will rank your websites high in the search engines, your business or website will gain a better reputation by the virtue that it ranks better than the rest of the other websites on the internet. Potential clients and customers will thus view you as an authority figure in the industry thus making it easy for them to prefer your products and services.

Professional SEO services save time

It is true that you can take your time to optimize the website on your own, but you need to be reminded that search engine optimization is a wide and dynamic field. Probably, you will take ages before you can see the results that the professionals would have taken a quarter of the time you took to achieve. Therefore, to save time, it is highly advisable to use the service of professional SEO expert to optimize your websites for the search engines.

The Best Real Estate Websites

Question: What are the key factors that make the best real estate websites?

Answer: The best real estate websites have user-friendly interfaces, comprehensive property listings, advanced search functionality, mobile responsiveness, and visually appealing designs.

What Makes The Best Real Estate Websites?

When I first got asked the question, what do the best real estate websites have? I initially spoke of the factors that make up a great realtor website, but as I went along this path I quickly came to the realization that I didn’t even know where to start. The fact is, when you start thinking big picture it’s incredibly comprehensive. So where did I begin?

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Toronto real estate web developers

I decided that if we were going to create superior websites for realtors then we needed to research the competition to find out what they offered. So I set off to speak with the top 5 real estate web developers in Toronto.

Here’s what I found, and remember you asked for a comprehensive view:

The standard real estate web design company:

If you’ve had a website made in the last few years or are currently looking around you’re probably noticing something, they all look the same. Yes it’s true that colours and format vary from site to site but realtor websites have become VERY cookie cutter, begging this question: If my website is exactly like everyone else, how will I stand out or rank better than them on the ever competitive search engines?

The term SEO friendly:

This means they’ll be found by search engines and while it may be true, they will be found, upon closer review by our programmers (the nerds!) they don’t even come close to being properly optimized, coded or structured. We found improper coding (in fact, horrible) on all five of the top real estate web developer sites and we went over the code on 3 sites made by each developer. They were put together to look good, and they do, they claim they’ll be found by search engines, and they will, but that’s where it ends. To put it simply “it will be very hard to make page one of Google with these sites”, don’t worry you’d be with 95% of the agents out there.

Built into their companies System:

We found several developers that build you into their own network, making it difficult to leave them or have anyone outside of their company be able to work on it. This means they will make money on every change and update, and some may call this genius, but it’s also evil Genius. These are companies that have only have one interest, their own.

Lead capturing systems:

Almost every agent website has MLS search and now the new revolution is lead capturing software which tracks visitors every movement and requires them to give their email address to make different MLS searches, there’s your lead although not a very qualified lead is it. A lead is a lead but it doesn’t compare to SEO (basically Google Optimization) where you have people coming to your site who just typed ‘Toronto real estate agents’ into Google, now that’s a targeted visitor with a clear indication of what they’re looking for, an agent!

Conclusion:

  1. We found all the big 5 basically had the same product
  2. Their sites would get found by search engines but would be hard pressed to rank on the first page of Google (93% of people never go past the first page and all of the clients goes to the agents on page 1)
  3. Not one company had the site properly structured, coded or researched to rank for people looking for agents, AND THAT BLEW OUR MINDS!
  4. They were all out to mass produce realtor websites, maximize profit and cared little for the result of their work while trying to sell us every service under the sun.
  5. We wish you good luck and advise you to carry out due diligence in your search for the best real estate websites.

Client Reviews: Making Buzzworthy Testimonial Videos

Question: How can client reviews be turned into buzzworthy testimonial videos?

Answer: By selecting compelling reviews, scripting a narrative, using creative visuals, and incorporating engaging storytelling techniques.

Great Testimonial Videos

Testimonial videos are becoming more and more popular. Over the past few years, we have seen a significant rise in the use of testimonial videos, as they bring a more visceral aspect than traditional text. Video as a medium has proven to be superior in many other areas as well. Here is one example: If video is used for id verification through platforms provided by companies like Fully-Verified, the online security is at an incomparably higher level compared to those who utilize a regular photo for identification instead.

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Video production for testimonials is quickly becoming commonplace among small, medium, and especially large corporations and organizations. In fact, it is speculated that because of this commonality among larger and more well-known brands, small to mid-level businesses are having to “up their game”, so to speak.

In light of this, it does not spell disaster for companies that have not yet taken advantage of this medium to provide a social proof of their company’s trustworthiness. Video production is now more accessible than ever, allowing for businesses of all sizes to enjoy the same luxuries and benefits that at one time was afforded to only mainstream brands. Video production for testimonials are now available – and affordable – for businesses of all sizes.

Strengthen Relationships

Video testimonials can strengthen current relationships. Understanding the points being made by fellow customers of any establishment, regardless of industry, can help to invigorate any existing relationship.

This is done from multiple points.

  • A video testimonial highlights the perspective of a specific client or customer. This allows for others to perhaps discover new avenues to explore when it comes to their own accounts.
  • For customers, it is a way for them to become more involved with their business with you. It provides a way to express their happiness with you in a way that is unheard of in any other medium.
  • It allows a company to showcase their business on video. They are able to define how your company has helped theirs, thus, making their business stronger.

Build Trust

Let’s face it: most people do not make a purchase on their first visit to a website. In our current age of marketing, many businesses overlook the most powerful marketing tool of all: Word of mouth.
You can send 100,000 email marketing promos to prospective clients; you can offer free gifts “just for becoming a customer”; you can beat your competitor’s prices, but nothing in the world sells faster than a referral from a satisfied customer.

When someone says to you, “This new place down on the corner has the absolute best hot dogs you have ever tasted!” you are more likely to go to that place on the corner, and buy a hot dog. In fact, if that place sent you a flyer, even with a discount, you are more likely to merely place the flyer in the junk drawer – or better yet, the waste basket.

This is because no other medium can express the excitement, happiness, or gratitude like video. Anyone can write a testimonial, but with video, you have now given prospective buyers a chance to relate to someone specific, taking them at their word, and making a purchase.

Video testimonials offer the fastest and easiest way to gain trust from someone who may have otherwise simply been a passerby.

Internet Marketing 101 For Business

Question: What is internet marketing and how can it benefit businesses?

Answer: Internet marketing is a broad term that encompasses various online strategies to promote businesses, increase brand awareness, and drive customer engagement and sales.

Internet Marketing Your Way To The Top

The first step in internet marketing is your website. Before you begin implementing any new strategy or campaign, you must first be sure that your website is up to par.

You need to have a checklist available in order to identify any problem areas:

  • UI – Is your user interface easy to use?
  • Navigation – Is your website easy to navigate?
  • SEO – Is your website optimized for search engines?
  • CRO – Is your website optimized for conversions?
  • Speed – Does your website load fast?
  • Content – Is your web content expertly written?
  • Errors – Is your web content error-free?
  • CTAs – Are you employing clear and viable calls to action?

The answer must be a resounding YES to every one of these questions. Otherwise, any internet marketing endeavour will ultimately be met with failure. Why? This is because the goal of internet marketing is to bring visitors to your website. Once they get there, it’s up to your website to convert them to customers. If your website has failed to meet any of the above criteria, your website will fail to convert your new site visitors. Once you established that your website is ready to convert, you are ready to embark on effective internet marketing solutions for your business. Below are some of the most used internet marketing strategies that are easy to use and ready to begin immediately once your website is ready to receive visitors.

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SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be your first step toward a full internet marketing plan. Optimizing your website’s content will allow your website to be associated with keywords which target your particular industry. If your SEO is handled properly, your website will soon begin to rank high on search engine platforms. These are considered to be organic search results.

SEM

Search engine marketing (SEM) is another route you can take simultaneously while employing your SEO strategy. Search engine marketing is when a vendor, such as Google AdWords or Bing Ads, places your ad, which promotes your website, on search results pages for your target keywords. However, the difference is that this is a paid strategy. Each time a searcher clicks on your ad, they are taken immediately to your website. These are considered to be paid search results. Both SEO and SEM are effective and should work in tandem to collect the highest amount of search traffic possible.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still as the efficient marketing tool today as it was 5 years ago. Email marketing has recently experienced a rise in click-throughs as of late, resulting in greater profits for those who use it as a marketing tool. You have direct communication with your lead, which gives you an immediate upper hand in any event. With proper links and CTAs, your email marketing strategy will see your site visitors – and your conversions increase.

Lead Generation

Using lead generators will also help you to gain a quick uptick in site visitors, and it also offers you a means to market those visitors who have not followed through with a sale. Using tools such as door mats or pop-ups that request that the visitor provides their email address in exchange for 1) a free gift, 2) an educational download, 3) a free sample, 4) and opt in, or 5) a subscription to a blog or other media updates.

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