New Article Manager FAQ

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - By: Chris Manley

NEW Article Manager FAQ

What are the differences between the New Article Manager and the previous Article Editor?

The key difference between the New Article Manager and the previous Article Editor is that now you will be able to access and edit your articles easier than ever. The Article Manager interface in which you create, edit and search for articles has been streamlined to better integrate with your new Control Panel in look and feel. The Article Manager retains all of the original functionality of article editor while giving you a sleek, highly navigable interface to help you create new content quickly and keep existing content organized.

How do I access the New Article Manager?

Like the previous Article Editor, the Article Manager can be accessed in the “Website & Content” tab of your Control Panel.

How do I enter a new article in the New Article Manager?

Creating a new article has changed very little; you will follow mostly the same steps. When in the Article Manager:

Just click on the "Add New Article" button in the top left hand corner of the page.

From this area, you will simply fill out all the needed information such as the article label, article title and basic body content.

After you have finished with your new article, you will then see it displayed on the main Article Manager page for future use and reference.

Will I still be able to access my old articles in the New Article Manager?

Yes, all previous articles you have created will remain available for any editing purpose. Additionally, old articles stored within your AgentAdvantage website will be able to be recalled within the New Article Manager even easier than before. The main page of the Article Manager was designed for easy access and user-friendly interaction, eliminating the bulky searches of previous versions.

What if I don't know how I saved my article, how will I find it?

The New Article Manager's user interface was made with the idea of making it easy than ever for you to find exactly the article you have in mind. Very similar to the Listings Editor feature of your Control Panel, the New Article Manager is design with all the criteria of your articles aligned in an easy-to-search format. You can find and order articles now by label, title, date modified and even article number.

What if I want to edit or delete articles, how will I go about that?

As mentioned before, all the functions of the original Article Editor are still retained in this improved Article Manager so editing or deleting an existing article is done easily. To edit an existing article, follow these steps:

Displayed on the main page of the Article Manager, you will see all of your articles that are currently saved within your Control Panel.

If you wish to modify any article simply use the pull down menu found to the right of your article.

Select “Edit This Article.”

Press the “Go” button.

From there you can make any changes you wish to the content of your article.

And if you happen to want to remove an article, follow these steps:

Again use the pull down menu on the right of the article

Select “Delete Article”

Press the “Go” button.

You will be then prompted if you are sure you wish to delete the selected article

After you confirm the selection, your article will no longer be listed or display.

What if I have any questions while I am entering or editing an article?

If any questions should arise while you are using the New Article Manager, you can always call us at Member Services 1-800-889-3726 or email us at support[at]agentadvantage[dot]com. There is also an informative, step-by-step video of the New Article Manager available to you on learningcenteradvantage.com under the Archive section in "Video Archives."

New Article Manager Step by Step Video

Integrated Blog Module for Websites

Friday, August 29, 2008 - By: Laura Chan

Learn how to use your AgentAdvantage Website blog
Refer to these instructions to get started with this valuable social media tool!

AgentAdvantage Blog How-To Guide

Access Your Portal Featured Listings in Your Control Panel

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - By: Laura Chan

At AgentAdvantage and Homes.com, we constantly strive to improve our products and services. To streamline your experience with our products, Homes.com recently added the ability to manage your Homes.com Portal Featured Listings directly from your website’s Control Panel.

The previous login area, or “Portal Dashboard,” found at http://www.homes.com/DashBoard/AgentLogin.cfm will be removed from service in the coming weeks, so please make sure you acquaint yourself with the new Portal Featured Listings area at your earliest convenience. We encourage you to access and edit your Featured Listings from the new area within your website Control Panel today!

Watch a video showing how to use the new Portal Featured Listing area in Control Panel!

FAQ’s

How can I access my Portal Featured Listings?

To access your Portal Featured Listings, login to your Homes.com/AgentAdvantage website Control Panel (yourdomainname.com/admin). Once there, click on the “Listings” tab. Under the “Manage Specific Listings” heading, click on the “Portal Featured Listings” menu icon. From this new location, you can now select your purchased Featured Listings to display on Homes.com.

Why is the Portal Dashboard going away?

We are retiring the Portal Dashboard now that all WebsiteAdvantage and ListingAdvantage customers have access to a unified Control Panel. By placing the Homes.com Portal Featured Listings access area in your website’s Control Panel, we hope to make managing your listings and your site as convenient as possible.

What are Homes.com Portal Featured Listings?

Homes.com Portal Featured Listings are a great way to get premium exposure for your listings. Situated at the top of search results for either cities or zip codes, Homes.com Portal Featured Listings give website visitors a full color photo of the property with detailed description and price information.

Loading Images into Storage Locker for Use in Articles

Friday, March 14, 2008 - By: Laura Chan

Steps for Loading an Image in Storage Locker and Linking to the Image in an
Article:

To Load to Storage Locker:

1.) Click on Website and Content --> Storage Locker

2.) Once in the Storage Locker click on Add Files

3.) Click on the browse button and select the photo that you would like to
upload from your harddrive

4.) Click the Upload Files button at the bottom of the Storage Locker page

5.) Click the Storage Locker Home button to get back to the Storage Locker
once file has been uploaded

6.) Click on Show Files

7.) Click on the Images tab

8.) With your mouse, left click and highlight the url underneath the file
name (ie. http://agentdemo.com/files/123456/house.jpg). Once this is
highlighted, right click with your mouse on the highlighted section and
choose copy

To Use In an Article:

9.) Click on Website & Content --> Article Pages

10.) Select the article that you would like to place the picture in

11.) Click on the yellow edit button to open up the HTML Editor

12) Once the HTML Editor is open place your cursor with your mouse in the
area that you want the picture to appear.

13.) At the top of the HTML Editor where the different style options are,
click on the button that looks like a mountain and sun with a yellow sky
(this is directly to the right of the anchor button). This will open up a
box call Image Properties.

14.) On the Image Info tab (this will be the tab it opens up to by default)
right click on the section that says URL and paste in the link you copied
from the Storage Locker.

15.) Click on the OK button at the bottom of the Image Properties box.

16.) You should now see the image appear in the content of the HTML Editor.

17.) Click on the proceed button at the bottom of the HTML Editor

18.) Click on the proceed button at the bottom of the Article Page.

Homes.com Print Customer Area

Friday, March 7, 2008 - By: Laura Chan

Here you can download how-to manuals for your Homes.com Print products. More information regarding our print products is coming soon!

Ad Builder Manual (PDF)

Ad Net Manual (PDF)

Using the AgentAdvantage Control Panel

Monday, December 31, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

https://homes.webex.com/tc0500l/trainingcenter/record/recordAction.do?siteurl=homes&recordingID=34378262&actionType=Info&tcRecordingLink=Yes

Inspire Your Agents And Improve Recruiting

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Rich Casto

There are many ways to inspire our agents. We can keep our commitments. We can operate from abundance, not scarcity. We can be loyal to the absent (not talk badly about people not in the room). And, we can do our number one job well: empower our agents to solve their own issues. I have one other thing you should consider doing: Clean a little house.

Sometimes, we have agents in our offices that bring others down and scare the good agents away. Let me describe some of them, and you can determine if they are in your office.

The Victim: This person is always having someone do them wrong. If they are not complaining about a painful transaction or a client, then they are probably complaining about you! No one has ever done right by them, including their spouse, past bosses or business partners.

You have two options with "the victim":

Option #1: Recognize them more often. Make them feel better about themselves. Being a victim is an attention getting act. If a person is not getting the attention they want, plan "B" is to be a victim.

Option #2: Cut them loose. They may be out on their own anyways since you are responsible for their lack of production and the miserable time they have at work.

Verdict: Save them!

The Egomaniac Top Producer: Since this person has only been recognized as a top producer and nothing else by most of us, they have a chip on their shoulder. They truly detract from the harmony of your culture. But, we keep them because of our bottom line. Little do we realize they are truly killing our bottom line. It is tough to recruit quality agents when a tyrant rules the office.

With the Egomaniac, your options are:

Option #1: Operate from scarcity and let the Egomaniac stay and hold you and the office hostage.

Option #2: Cut them loose. Let this agent start a virus in another company and watch those agents jump ship to yours.

Verdict: Make like Trump. Call them in and say: "You're fired!"

The Customer Service Nightmare Agent: You know this agent very well. Sellers call you wondering if they are still working in your office. They have not heard from them since the Reagan administration. They are just on a series of one-night-stand commission check-gathering expeditions. They could care less about having solid client relationships. This agent is killing your brand. They are great cold callers and awesome business people. If you do not know whom I am talking about, they are the agents in your office standing while cold calling and drinking some kind of funky energy tea.

Enough said. Here are some options for these folks:

Option #1: Re-train them. Once they get through the phone book, there will be no more business for them. Point this out to them and coach them on a more human approach to the business. Teach them to serve and not sell...great potential here.

Option #2: Cut them loose. Let them ruin someone else's brand.

Verdict: Push. This is a case-by-case evaluation.

Of course, this has all been written with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. But these agents are in offices and must either change their behavior or be sent on their way. The number one rule in recruiting: Clean house before inviting company.

Setting And Achieving Prospecting Goals

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Dirk Zeller

In setting prospecting goals, focus on three core areas: the number of contacts you should make each day and week, the number of leads you should develop, and the number of personal appointments you should set.

Start with easily attainable numbers, so you can build up your energy, intensity, focus, and discipline slowly and steadily. You would not decide to run a marathon without working your daily and weekly mileage up over time, and the same premise applies when establishing and meeting your prospecting goals.

A contact is a personal conversation with a decision maker who can make a purchase or sale or who might refer you to someone who could. A contact is not a conversation with the babysitter, a 10-year old neighbor, a friendly teenager, or an answering machine.

When I take on a new coaching client, I almost always start them with a goal of five contacts a day, and I would suggest the same for you. Make a goal of five contacts a day without fail, resulting in the completion of 25 contacts a week. It will take three to four weeks for contact with five prospects a day to become a habit. Once you achieve the goal for three weeks straight without missing a single workday, you can raise your goal to seven or ten.

Leads are contacts that have demonstrated through their dialogues that they possess the basic motivation and desire to make a change in their living arrangements. In prospecting, we assume until we either pre-qualify them ourselves or they secure an appointment with a lender that determines they have the financial capacity to make a purchase.

To advance your business, you should aim to develop at least one lead per day and five leads per week.

An appointment is a face-to-face meeting with prospects, during which you discuss their needs and wants, share how you work, and aim to gain their commitment to work with you in an exclusive relationship to sell their home or find them a home to purchase. An appointment is the launch of the agent-client relationship. It is not a meeting during which you show a property!

Like your lead-generation goal, your appointment goal should be set at a reasonable level: A goal of one appointment a week is a solid start. If you acquire two appointments, terrific, but make sure that you are able to secure at least one.

If about now you are wondering, hmm, five leads and only one appointment a week from all those calls, realize that these are starting goals. It is far better to begin with aims that you can actually achieve rather than ones that overwhelm you from the onset. As you gain consistency and skill in prospecting, both your numbers and your ratios will improve.

Even if you maintained the goals we set and sales ratios of leads and appointments, you would have a good year as a newer or inexperienced Agent. At the end of the year, you would have made 1,250 contacts. You would have created 250 leads. You also would have set and conducted 50 appointments and gotten two weeks off with your family to boot.

Even if only half of the appointments turned into listings or sales, you would have 25 deals in your first year. In most companies, that would make you rookie of the year. You would also earn in excess of $125,000 in gross commission income. I do not know too many people in real estate or in any other profession that make that type of money in their first year.

So set your prospecting goals by focusing in those three core areas: number of contacts made, number of leads established, and number of appointments secured. You will meet your goals if you follow through and be diligent in achieving them.

Keep Track of Your Results

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Jim Rohn

Three key words to remember: weigh, count and measure. Now, why weigh, count and measure? To see what your results are from your activity, your attitude and your philosophy. If you find that the results are not to your liking, there are only three places to look. Your philosophy needs to be fine-tuned; your attitude needs to be strengthened or your disciplines need extra skill. But that's it. Activity, attitude and philosophy create results.

Now - on results I teach that life expects you to make measurable progress in reasonable time. But, you must be reasonable with time. You can't say to someone every five minutes, how are you doing now? That's too soon to ask for a count. Guy says, "I haven't left the building yet, give me a break!" Now you can't wait five years - that's too long. Too many things can go wrong waiting too long for a count to see how you're doing.

Here are some good time frames:

Number one - at the end of the day. You can't let more than a day go by without looking at some things and making progress. New Testament says - if you are angry, try to solve it before the sun goes down. Don't carry anger for another day. It may be too heavy to carry. If you try to carry it for a week, it may drop you to your knees. So some things you must get done in a day.

Here's the next one - a week. We ask for an accounting of the week so we can issue the pay. And whatever you've got coming that's what you get; when the week is over. Now in business there are two things to check in the course of the week. Your activity count and your productivity count. Because activity leads to productivity we need to count both to see how we're doing.

My mentor taught me that success is a numbers game and very early he started asking me my numbers. He asked, "How many books have you read in the last ninety days?" I said, "Zero"; he said, "Not a good number." He said, "How many classes have you attended in the last six months to improve your skills?" And I said, "Zero." He said, "Not a good number." Then he said, "In the last six years that you've been working, how much money have you saved and invested?" I said, "Zero" and he said, "Not a good number." Then here's what he said, "Mr. Rohn, if these numbers don't change your life won't change. But" he said, "If you'll start improving these numbers then perhaps you'll start to see everything change for you."

Success and results are a numbers game. John joins this little sales company. He's supposed to make 10 calls the first week just to get acquainted with the territory. So on Friday we call him in and say what? "How many calls?" He says, "Well." You say, "John, 'well' won't fit in the little box here. I need a number." Now he starts with a story. And you say, "John, the reason I made this little box so small is so a story won't fit. All I need is a number because if you give us the number we're so brilliant around here we could guess the story." It's the numbers that count. Making measurable progress in reasonable time.

Here's the best accounting. The accounting you make of yourself. Don't wait for the government to do it, don't wait for the company to do it. But you've got to add up some of your own numbers and ask, "Am I making the progress I want and will it take me where I want to go now and in the future?" You be the judge!

Pirate Or Partner? Carpetbagger Or Collaborator?

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Stefan Swanepoel

During the last few years not many issues have been as controversial and contentious as lead generation.

The concept has been around a long time, but it wasn’t until third party “outsiders” started offering it as a subscription service, and very successfully by the way, that these companies became a focal point of many a heated discussion. The reason of course is simple - lead generation has quickly become big business in the real estate industry.

Companies such as HouseValues, HomeGain, RealEstate.com and House.com have honed in on a niche left void by many real estate brokers and are offering a much needed service to consumers. To attract the consumer they have perfected their way to the top of search engines or alternatively bought a spot atop the ladder. Either way they are effectively drawing in the eyeballs and building websites that increasingly rank higher than most real estate brokerage websites.

After scrubbing, cleaning and incubating the leads, lead generation companies then repopulate the leads back into the waiting arms of a real estate agents ready to serve this growing new portfolio of online home buying consumers.

There are brokers and agents that have built and continue to build a growing business based upon receiving third party online leads. On the other hand there are others that are fed up with the fact that third party intermediaries are catching what they feel are their leads and then charging them a fee to get them back. Some call them interlopers and argue that they add little to no value in the process of consumers looking for properties. But according to a 2006 NAR survey, 16% of agents (one out of six) currently participate in a lead generation program where they pay for lead. That seems to validate that lead generation companies are still very much in play.

Of course a question that often comes up is does it really work? Well it would definitely appear so. Like so many other initiatives in the real estate brokerage business it is also a numbers game. Let’s follow the path from inquiry to sale for an average lead:

For every 100 inquiries received online at the website level, 70 are deemed not suitable or are rejected outright;
Of the 30 that are then distributed, 12 are actually assigned and handled by an agent; and
An average of 3 of the12 result in a sale.

So that’s a three percent (3%) closing (out of the 100 original leads that includes the 70 rejected leads). Certainly there are agents that can close between 5% to 10% but those are usually agents that have had quality training and are focused on dedicated follow up. Needless to say a strong and/or declining real estate market will impact these percentages.

Therefore an agent who is assigned one lead per week on average should be able to close one transaction a month. If this is all the agent does, he or she is doing little better than average, but if this one transaction per month is on top of their existing volume of business then this could be very profitable.

If online leads, irrespective of the source or distribution entity, can be converted into transactions and transactions is what selling real estate is all about, the concept will be around a long time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Lead generation, online business models and Web 2.0 are but a few of the “hot topics” discussed in detail by Stefan Swanepoel is his new 159-page 2007 Swanepoel Trends Report. To ensure that you are knowledgeable about what’s really happening in the real estate industry make sure you get your copy at http://www.retrends.com/ or at http://www.realestatebooks.org/

Negotiation Tips for a Buyer’s Market

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Bob Corcoran

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." - W. Edwards Deming

You should be used to it by now – the buyer’s market has settled into his big, cushy, leather, easy chair and he’s resting comfortably.

He’s like the guest who just won’t leave, so you have to learn to live with him for a while longer. And one of the best ways to do that is to sharpen your negotiation skills.

During the last five years of the hot seller’s market, negotiation skills weren’t quite as important as they are now. All you had to do was put the house on the market with a reasonable price and let the bidding begin.

Now things have changed. Today, we’re seeing a more traditional market where buyers have their share of homes to choose from. So the negotiation game among sellers and buyers (and their respective agents) has reached a new level of importance.

Here are four tips to help you negotiate in a buyer’s market.
1. Be informed. I can tell you without exception who always wins in a negotiation – the one who has the most information and uses it wisely. It’s the one tool that’s imperative in any negotiation. Information leads to the right price for a property, it puts details in perspective, it lessens tensions and it keeps emotions in check.
There’s no excuse for not knowing average days on market, list to sell-price ratios, home amenities and all the other basics, but it also helps to know, for example, a buyer’s motivations (are they moving with a job, do they like the school district, etc.).

2. Don’t lower your commissions. This is a key point, because in a buyer’s market, many REALTORS® automatically put their commissions on the auctioning block. But if you lower your commission to get a seller’s business, what does that really say to the seller? That you’re easily willing to come down on price – not what a seller wants!

Instead, demonstrate your value of past transactions and show that you delivered a better price for the homes you’ve sold. You may be asking for a higher commission, but the price you get for the seller more than makes up for it. You have to prove your value to get the full commission you deserve as a professional.
And revisit and adjust your listing presentation to illustrate to the potential client that you understand the nuances of a buyer’s market.
3. Handle offers with care. Never flat out reject an offer. Sure, you’ll get offers that you simply will not accept (and that you might even find insulting), but be careful and tactful with how you respond to those offers. You’ve done your homework to arrive at the asking price, so explain that to those who make offers instead of a flat rejection.

And adopt a sense of urgency with offers. I’ve seen some REALTORS leave offers on the table for a week or longer before responding. It’s not professional and it’s not in the best interest of your client.

4. Keep a positive “this will work” attitude. Consider how comfortable you’d be on the operating table with a surgeon who’s sending out vibes that things might not pan out. Focus on solutions and persist without exception. There really is a solution to every problem.

Effective negotiation requires focus, concentration and skill. When it’s done right, everyone feels they’re walking away a winner!

Best of luck to you.

3 Keys To Get More From Your Marketing Money

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Terri Murphy

The average consumer is inundated with over 400,000 bits of information daily, requiring all of us to get through the day with some heavy filtering skills. Words like FREE and terms like GREAT SERVICE don’t have the punch or wallop they once had, which makes marketing and advertising more of a challenge.

So why is it that sales people and companies continue to do what they have always done? To grab the attention of today’s consumer, your ten second window of opportunity better seize their attention fast! The best ways to illuminate your marketing endeavors to get more than a glance is to consider implementing these ideas:

Think “Consumer-Centric”

DON’T use self-serving, tired phrases about how much business you have done in the past or how many billions of dollars in product the company has sold. Today’s consumer is hunting for a good service experience, and has a primary interest in why your service or products serves their particular need or want.. Think like the consumer….If they choose to work with you, what’s in it for them?

Do create a clear DISTINCTION in your services.

Develop a BRAND that goes beyond a catchy phrase and speaks to not only what you do, but how you do it differently. Figure out what you do or provide in a special way that goes beyond the basic services. Ask yourself the question: What would make a client or customer say, "WOW" and make the choice to buy from you or your company.

Implement tools that provide immediate, EXTREME customer care and service.

In order to meet the demand for 24 hour real time response, you will need to augment your professional expertise with tools that work when you don’t. Discover e-tools and e-resources that help you create that personal differentiation by integrating your traditional marketing with new electronic support systems. Use a full web marketing solution web presence instead of a brochure style website to maximize your services. Statistics indicate that 42% of lead calls are made before and after “normal” business hours. How many “would be” prospects of yours move on to the next vendor because they can’t get what they want, when they want it? People still use phones, but new e-advancements in automated voice response systems integrate traditional tools and the Web to support your customer and client needs.

When what we’ve always done isn’t working like it used to, we need to explore new ways to offer our services and expertise. If you want to make your money really work for you, step outside the box and think how you can uniquely set yourself apart from the rest. Take the time to create a new and improved service model by supporting your services with the latest systems and tools that will help you maximize your offerings, and boost you and your company into a new realm of productivity and profit.

Expired Listings? An Opportunity Or A Distraction?

Thursday, November 29, 2007 - By: Joeann Fossland

As market inventory has increased in most areas, more listings are not selling and show up as expired. Conventional wisdom is this is one of the best places to prospect if you want to increase your business. Sometimes this is true, but sometimes not. Should you be spending some time in this niche?

My question for my coaching clients is to ask themselves each day "what is the highest and best use of my time?" My companion question to ask yourself, "What 3 actions could I take today that would make the most difference?" Hint: these are not usually the squeakiest to-do items, but rather the things that could have a major impact on your short and long term goals.

Often, one of the actions that could make the biggest difference is prospecting. While I am in alignment with the concept that you'll be able to build business faster and more effortlessly with the people who know, like and respect you, I also believe most agents need to be looking outside these people if they really want more than they have now.

Expired listings offer an opportunity with a group of people that we know have an interest in selling. Now, you'll notice I didn't say they were motivated to sell, because, quite frankly, many of them are not. This is one of the reasons this niche takes some forethought and a great system to work. When I say some are not motivated, what I mean is they are not realistic about what they think their house should sell for. When this is coupled with a lack of need to sell (being transferred or bought another house), it might just be a total waste of time.

Today, let's start with these two concepts:

IT IS A NUMBERS GAME. I've been saying for years that it is a RELATIONSHIP GAME rather than a numbers game, and I still believe that most of the business we get is about building relationships. Expireds, however, may be in a hurry to get their house get back on the market and get sold quickly. You don't have the luxury of wooing them and building relationship over time. You must get their attention immediately and do it with credibility and differentiation so that they believe you are DIFFERENT than their previous agent. You don't want every one of these listings (Remember what I have said about life being too short to work with high maintenance people who don't respect you.... AKA jerks!). You have to be ready to get "no's", to not take it personally or let it mean anything about your worth, and to move on. You just say ,"NEXT"!!!

KNOW WHEN TO SAY NO. If you sense these people are either not a good fit for you personality-wise or they are not going to list where they need to, walk away. You must have standards to build a good business. Time, energy and money spent on people who aren't willing to do their part is wasted and lost forever. It is not much different than a doctor telling someone they need to stop smoking and the person not listening and then developing lung cancer. If the client won't do what it will take to get the home sold, it isn't your fault it doesn't sell. However, shame on you if you let them talk you into "trying" it when you KNOW it won't work. Set your standards and stick to them.

A good question to ask yourself is: "Would you rather be liked or respected?"

Walk away with your integrity in tact (and they probably will call you when it expires again!)

Web 2.0 This Time It’s For Real

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - By: Stefan Swanepoel

October 2007

The first generation of the Internet is widely accepted to be 1995 – 2004. In 1995, there were 23,500 websites of which 4,000 (17%) were real estate related. Today, Netcraft estimates that there are 100+ million websites of which about 48 million are active. Some academics estimate that approximately 6% of all commercial websites are real estate related and, if that were to be accurate, then we may be approaching 3 million real estate websites. Google, meanwhile, lists real estate as its top search category offering over 325 million search results for the term “real estate”.

Zillow has been the media darling this year, Redfin dominated the CBS 60 minutes show last week, while Sequoia Capital just gave Trulia another $10 million in funding yesterday. All three of these companies were identified as Top 10 Trendsetters companies to watch and were listed in the 2007 Swanepoel TRENDS Report that was published in January 2007.

Even NAR announced earlier this week a plan to raise $60 - $100 million in the next 3-5 years for the creation of a technology corporation.

So, real estate is big on the Internet, but what is the industry going to do about it this time around?

Web 1.0 was like going to the library to get information. The Internet was basically mimicking the traditional business model, merely trying to do it online. Web 2.0 has not only the ability to gain information instantaneously, but also to interact with anyone, anywhere, at anytime via instant voice, video or messaging. Web 2.0 is all about sharing and collaboration, not just striving to inform but to get something done.

“Web 2.0 is a different kind of Internet as a result of ubiquitous broadband, cheap hardware and open-source software,” says Stefan Swanepoel, author of the annual Swanepoel Trends Report. Published by RealSure and RIS Media, the Report discussed in detail the growth of real estate as an information-based service industry and how brokers and agents were previously the exclusive holders of “home for sale” information. But today this has changed, and with the advent of Web 2.0, the sharing of information and collaboration with others has become common place. (see diagram)

The Web 2.0 wave is stimulating ongoing innovation upon earlier creation and is constantly searching for the next ‘big thing’ says Swanepoel. “Don’t be caught off guard again and think that Internet companies will again fizzle and not impact your business,” he says. “This time around the Internet is going to finish what it started a decade ago and the new breed of business models, many Internet based, will collectively re-engineer the home buying and home selling process,” Swanepoel said.

To stay on top of all of the trends and your options, get your copy of the encyclopedic 159-page 2007 Swanepoel TRENDS Report detailing the top 10 trends. Go to http://www.ReTrends.com and for speaking engagements visit http://www.Swanepoel.com

Five Most Frustrating Voice Mail Phrases

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - By: Nancy Friedman

Voice mail remains a large frustration in this busy business world. And it’s not just voice mail. The automated attendant is also on the list. In an effort to help reduce voice mail frustration, here are the five most frustrating phrases that your callers don’t want to hear. These tips also apply to your cell phone voice mail.

I’m not at my desk right now

DUH? That’s a hot lot of news. What a boring statement. Live a little. Let your callers know where you ARE - not where you’re not. Tell them, "I AM in the office all this week" OR "I’m in a sales meeting till 3 pm." Let them know if you do or don’t check messages.

Your call is very important to me

A big time waster. The caller is thinking, "Well, if I’m so darn important, where the heck are you?" And then again, think about it. Maybe the call isn’t so important to you. You just don’t need this phrase.

I’m sorry I missed your call

How dull. Of course you are. (Although, there are probably some that you’re not sorry to have missed.) Leave this phrase out! It’s a given. Use the time and space for something more valuable. Like where you are and when you will return!! Or, who they can call for the information.

I’ll call you back as soon as possible

Not interesting and not fun. And based on Telephone Doctor surveys, probably not true. The truth is most people aren’t returning their phone calls in a timely fashion. If you’re telling your callers you’ll call them back, make sure you do. If you think you may not return the call...then try this: "Go ahead and leave your phone number and I’ll DECIDE if I’ll call you back or not." (Just kidding!) Unreturned phone calls rank high on the frustration list. "As soon as possible" is not an effective phrase. All you need is to say, "I will call you back." (Then do it! Or have it returned on your behalf.)

No escape

Remember to tell callers to hit ZERO for the operator if they need more information. Or better yet, give them another name and extension. Although for the most part, that voice mail may come on also. (Then you’re into what we call Voice Mail Jail!!!) Main point here is to offer an alternative if you’re not there. Plus, you’ve bought back some time to say something more interesting or helpful to the caller. (Escape may not apply to cell phones.)

Let’s talk about voice mail in general. Voice mail, per se, has three parts - the automated attendant, the greeting your callers hear, and the message you leave for someone on their voice mail.

The Automated Attendant - Or as many refer to it..."The Groaner." It’s that voice that is a large part of the frustration. Especially when you’re not able to get out of the system. (i.e. - no escape).

Is there anyone reading this right now who would argue against the fact that the first voice you hear when you call a company sets the mood, sets the tone for all future interactions? Then why on earth would you leave a robotic, monotone, dull voice to greet your callers? The voice (or digital chip) that came along with your system has a number of options for you. You can record it yourself or you can have one of your employees with a great upbeat voice record it. Or you can find a professional in your area that will be happy to help. Point being...you want a voice that says, "Hey, we’re so glad you called." You want a greeting that is warm and friendly.

The Greeting On Your Voice Mail - A reminder: People want to know where you are - not where you’re not! It’s pretty simple. Leave an escape for the caller. Some place they can get information if needed.

As for "dating" your recording with the day and date, you might want to think twice on this. I don’t say it’s wrong or bad. But I do say there are too many ways to slip up and not record each day thereby making your recording outdated. And an OUTDATED greeting was high on the list of voice mail no, no’s! You sound foolish and the caller wonders what else you might not be doing if you’re not updating the greeting. I’d play it safe and not use a day and date.

Which leads us to the message that YOU leave for someone. It’s your electronic business card and it needs to be GREAT.

Messages -There are 3 kinds of messages to leave: a poor, an average and a great. The message you leave for someone needs to be GREAT. Here’s a sample of each. Which one are you?

Poor: Hi this is Bob. Gimme a call.

Average: Hi this is Bob at Acme Widgets. Call me at 291-1012. (Said wayyyyyy too fast. - You know exactly what I’m talking about!)

GREAT: Hi Nancy. This is Bob Smith, at Acme Widgets. I’d like to get with you to talk about the plan for the meeting on the 27th. I’ll plan on having lunch brought in at our office. I’m excited to get with you on this. I’m at 314 - that’s central time in St. Louis, Missouri - 314-291-1012. Again, that’s 314-291-1012. Look forward to it, Nancy. If I’m not in, ask for JUDY, at extension 42 and leave a message with her for me there. Thanks.

Let’s not make it any more difficult than it really is. Voice mail can and should be a productivity enhancer. The automated attendant was not installed to replace people. It was installed to 1) answer on the first ring, and 2) expedite a phone call. And it does do both. That being said...it's still a big frustration in the business world. Make it less frustrating for your callers!!!

Now that you’ve read this article, trying calling into your own voice mail system and see how many of these frustrating phrases you use...then eliminate them. REMEMBER - check your cell phone voice mail too.!! Good luck!

Privacy 101- How to Protect A House of Data

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Darity Wesley

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

- Abraham Lincoln

Information is the life blood circulating through every successful business. The structure through which that information flows could be looked at as a ‘house of data’. If there are any weak parts to this house, it could be blown over like a house of cards.

Like every viable house, the house of data has a front door with curb appeal, a secure back door, a roof that doesn’t leak and a solid foundation. The front door provides access to information; how the user gets to the data they need and the portal through which information is gathered. The back door represents the distribution of data; how it gets to where it needs to go. These doors are both key components in the technology side of the protection of information. The roof and the floor represent the data and information security legal compliance elements that keep the house water tight and sitting on solid ground through intellectual property perfection, contracts, policies and procedures.

There are several strict guidelines by which intellectual property rights, data contracts, policies and procedures are created. Any business that takes these guidelines and implements them as processes, practices and procedures erects a shield of protection from possible public relations disasters and gives itself a sword for enforcement of its rights– both of which are critical to a continuation of any business as well as ensuring trust of consumers.

The first thing to understand is Fair Information Practice Principles. These are widely accepted and are the basis for many privacy and information security laws in the United States, Canada, Europe and other parts of the world. There are five core principles to keep in mind:

· Notice

· Choice

· Security Integrity & Accuracy

· Access

· Enforcement/Redress

Next is intellectual property, commonly known as IP, and refers collectively to the legal entitlements granted to commercially valuable products of the human intellect:

· Inventions (protected by patents)

· Literary and artistic works (protected by copyright, trade secret and trademark law)

· Trade secrets (protected by trade secret law)

· Product packaging design (protected by trademark and trade dress law)

· Public personae (protected by right of publicity).

IP is what protects your information in the form of a copyright or in the form of trade secrets. Copyright is a form of protection provided to authors of “original works of authorship”. Facts, however, cannot be copyrighted. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works and generally gives the owner the right to reproduce the work, create derivative works, distribute copies, perform it publicly or to display it publicly. It is provided automatically to the author of any original work covered by the law as soon as it is created. Even though you do not have to formally register the work for it to be protected, it makes your statement of rights more visible and is good for database protection if it is needed for enforcement. The simple “© Year, Your Name. All rights reserved.” covers it. Such as “© 2006 Privacy Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.”

The tricky part of working with IP issues is that the company or person owning a database must find the right balance between protecting the content and creating rules that hamper an ability to conduct business. It is the up to the owner of any database or compilation of data to obtain the intellectual property rights from its suppliers to properly protect the content.

What’s the bottom line here? Your bottom line is at stake! Failure to establish proper legal parameters for data use, legal protection of the content of the database and extensive lT and employment data security policies and procedures creates a house with no security framework, roof or foundation for your organization.

With all of the new technology tools available, it is clear that the businesses which have the most well managed and protected data are, or will be, the most successful. Make sure your house of data is custom and built to last.

Mr. Internet Suggests How To Make Your Web Site Stand Out

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Michael J Russer

Differentiation is the key to successful marketing in any endeavor. This is especially true on the Internet where it is easy to get lost in this vast, digital ocean! One of the most powerful ways to achieve differentiation is to create your own personal online "brand" —a unique identification by which your target market will recognize and associate the value of your services.

Applying a well thought-out branding strategy is not only a sure-fire way to set your site apart from the growing herd of agent sites, but also potentially create a profitable "exit strategy" when you retire! (more on that later...). Now let's take a look at how three highly successful online real estate professionals use branding to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack...

Ducks, Dogs, and Cacti —Oh My!

Rick Miner and his wife, Joyce, are the branding geniuses behind their tremendously successful Duckin.com site. From the webbed feet that form the “WWW” to his site’s trademark “duck-yellow” look, visitors know instantly this site is a duck of a different feather!

The beauty of this branding approach is that it complements his site’s target market niche of Seattle waterfront properties. And, his branding efforts don’t stop just at his Web feet (I mean, site). Rick and his team hand out little rubber duckies emblazoned with his site URL on its tail, yellow duck-embroidered duck-billed baseball caps, and drive around in duck-yellow VWs all touting the Duckin.com brand.

Even his e-mail messages to clients and prospects are peppered with a kind of “quack-talk” that is very endearing. Now, you might be wondering if this branding stuff is all that it’s quacked up to be in terms of generating business. Rick shared with me that so far this year, Duckin.com is responsible for 90% of all his business. As a top producer for Coldwell Banker, that ain’t duck feed!

"Chester", the dog is very much a central part of Judy McCutchin's highly successful DallasHomes.com Web site —one that generated over $13,000,000 in closed online business for her in 1999 alone!

In addition to being a very endearing branding theme, Judy uses Chester as a way of enhancing the context of her site content. For example, Chester appears as a school boy (complete with knickers and schoolbooks) when visitors view the Dallas area private school information on her site, or as a "Maitre 'd" when searching for fine dining.

In a very clever and unique twist, visitors can chat live with "Chester" for more information or to set appointments through a service called Live Assistance. Judy had the service customized to show Chester in the chat window and instructed the chat operators to "think and act" just like Chester —including throwing in a "bow-wow" here and there in the course of helping visitors with their questions. Thanks to Chester, you might say that the DallasHomes.com is somewhat of a "dog" —but a gold plated one at that!

Top producer Alice Held (who is anything but a "prickly" person...) uses anthropomorphized cacti to give her Come2az.com site a uniquely branded sense of charm and personality. Like Judy McCutchin above, she uses her branding element in a contextual way. That is, the "look" of the cacti figures change for each section of her site, depending upon the kind of information being conveyed. Also, like Rick Miner's site, her approach to branding powerfully complements her target market of people relocating or retiring to the Scottsdale, Arizona area. The fact that Alice has closed well over a hundred transactions generated from her online efforts gives another reason why her friendly cacti are so green!

Five Qualities Of Successful Online Branding

The examples above share four qualities of highly successful Web site branding, in that each of their brands are:

Idiosyncratic - they reflect some aspect of their creator's personality (i.e. Rick's and Judy's sense of playfulness and Alice's warmth)

Memorably Unique - they are presented in a way that is not easily forgotten or copied by others

Attractive - they are pleasing, warm, friendly, reassuring, cute, fun, or convey any number of other positive qualities

Congruent With Their Target Market - the "look and feel" of the branding elements speak to the intended target market rather than clash with it

A fifth quality of the branding process that is missing from all of our examples however, is the use of an identifiable "logo". A logo is a graphical element (including stylistic use of type —called a "logotype") that becomes the primary identification element of the site and instant association of its value for the target market. A well-designed logo is unique, memorable, consistent with all other branding elements, and creates a positive visceral (i.e. gut level) response when seen/read/heard by your target market. Ideally, the logo will incorporate the site's domain name as well. With a little bit of effort, each of our online pros above could unify and solidify their branding efforts with a compelling logo —something I suspect each is very close to completing.

How To Find The Brand Within You

Creating an effective brand is not an easy process. The most successful brands tend to reflect the personalities of their creators. In fact, one way to approach the issue of branding is to ask the question: "What makes me unique from all others on the Net?" The answer is the same as what makes you different from all people on the planet —it's you, your personality, your passions, your sense of purpose —all that makes you uniquely "you".

Here is a simple, yet powerful three-step process to help you get started with your online branding efforts:

Do a quick 3-minute personal "brainstorm" (i.e. no editing allowed and give yourself the freedom to be outrageous!) to list all of your personal passions, regardless of whether they relate to real estate or not.
Do another 3-minute "brainstorm" where you list all the unique ways your site can "speak" to your target market (e.g. Rick Miner's yellow ducky).
Now evaluate which of your ideas (from either brainstorm) may be a possibility for a full-blown branding effort. Make sure that your choice is one about which you can be passionate —you will need that kind of energy to see it through to fruition!
You may be wondering at this point if this is all worth the effort. Well, in addition to significantly boosting your current online business, a well executed branding effort can pay off big when you retire as well...

Branding Your Way To A Profitable Retirement

At some point in your life you probably expect to retire from the real estate business. For most agents this simply means no longer collecting commissions for their efforts. Even if they would like to "sell" the goodwill they generated over the years, there is typically nothing to sell, because they made the business all about them.

When you turn your business into a recognizable "brand" however, that is a whole different story. There will always be investors looking to enter into a business that provides instant market share through brand awareness. For example, if Rick and Joyce Miner continue to refine their branding efforts, I would not be surprised if they received something around seven-figures for Duckin.com when they are ready to sail into the sunset of their years. Now that's an "exit strategy"!

There are no "magic bullets" to generating consistent business online. There are however, sound strategies —and creating an effective online brand is one of the most powerful I can think of!

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You On The Web

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Michael J Russer

Congratulations! Your digital masterpiece has just been completed — a brand new “killer” Website and it is beautiful! You carefully thought it through and hired the right people to make sure your site sees major traffic. You can almost taste the flood of new leads, sounds good doesn't it?

If you think your work is done after this “killer” site is launched, think again. Websites are not “launch and forget” cruise missiles that automatically seek out their target. They need constant fine tuning and course corrections to make sure they effectively achieve their goal — generating substantial new online business.

And here is how that is done…

Achieving consistent new traffic to your site is not rocket science. Using proven strategies like “Pay-Per-Click” search engine advertising can turn on the visitor faucet almost immediately. It’s what the visitors do once they are at your site that is important. If the majority of your site visitors are doing nothing, then that should be a clue that something needs to be fixed. To assess this accurately, visitor behavior on your site needs to be thoroughly analyzed then corrective measures should be put into action.

The first step in this process is to look at your Website statistics, or “stats”. Any time someone visits your site the hosting server generates a veritable flood of highly-detailed statistical information about that visitor and what they did while perusing your site. Here is just a small sample of the information the hosting server collects:

§ Visitor Information – the time they first landed on your site, their IP address, the type and version of operating system running on their computer, the type and version of Web browser software they used to view your site and their computer screen resolution, etc.

§ Visitor Behavior – where they came from (i.e. referring links), what search engine phrase they used to find you (if any), which pages on your site they viewed and when, what links they clicked and when and what time they left your site, etc.

These statistics are typically stored on your Website’s server as a “log” file. For the most part are completely unintelligible to the average mortal who tries to read them. Fortunately, there is a whole industry that provides software to convert raw Website visitor data into meaningful, pretty charts and graphs that provide a better understanding of what happens when visitors stop by your site.

The resulting interpretation of your site statistics can provide some very useful information such as: the (probable) geographical location of each visitor, whether they are a new or returning visitor, how long they stayed on your site, where they went when they left it, which pages they lingered on the longest (i.e. they found most interesting), which pages they didn’t visit or clicked right through (i.e. showed the least interest), which forms they completed (or didn’t complete), and which links they clicked on, etc. In fact, some Web analytics services can provide you with over 500 different types of statistical information about your site visitors and their behavior while on your site.

Currently the “gold standard” for Web analytics services is Google Analytics. This extremely powerful Web-based statistics package used to cost $400/month before Google bought it and now makes it available to anyone for free — that’s right, no cost whatsoever. Just go to http://www.google.com/analytics and sign up for your free account. Once signed up, your Webmaster will need to install a small snippet of code on every page of your site that you want to track. After that, you will be able to log into your Google Analytics account from any Web browser and see up-to-the-minute real time statistics on everything you could ever want to know about your site visitors and their behavior.

Talk about charts and graphs, there’s enough eye-candy there to give you a bad case of digital diabetes.

Website statistics are highly useful if you have the ability to a) understand what they are saying about your site’s ability or lack of ability to convert visitors to clients, and b) they can be used to help create a strategic corrective plan of action.

To accomplish both of these objectives requires someone with a special combination of skills. They must be highly analytical and able to think strategically. Here is an example of what I mean.

Sharon Hodnett, recently named “Super Agent” by Texas Monthly, has her main Website at http://www.teamhodnett.com. After installing Google Analytics her strategic Web marketing team noticed that a large percentage of her site visitors were spending time in the “Just For Kids” section of her site. That means her visitors were finding real value there, but there was just one little problem, a deeper study of the statistics were showing that many of these visitors were leaving her site after visiting this section. Upon review, it was clear that there was nothing in this section that was “engaging” the visitors to generate an inquiry — the first step in the online conversion process. As a result, her strategic Web marketing team is now installing an “Irresistible Offer” that will cause people to request more information, while revealing more about themselves.

There are a lot of companies that will sell (or in the case of Google, give) you comprehensive Website statistics packages. There are not many however, that will provide ongoing affordable and professional interpretation of those statistics and create a corrective plan of action. You can find some companies (that specifically use the Google Analytics package) that offer strategic Website statistics interpretation by going to http://www.google.com/analytics/support_partner_analysis.html. Unfortunately, many of these firms are geared to helping Fortune 1000 type firms, not individual REALTORS.

Since this leaves a “vacuum” for the individual professional, I helped create a service called WebAssess that is geared specifically to help the individual real estate professional maximize their Website visitor-to-client conversion rates. It starts out with a comprehensive 50+ point assessment of your site’s current strengths and weaknesses and includes recommendations to correct those inadequacies. Then, Google Analytics is installed on every page of your site so that a professional strategic Web marketing team can suggest corrective action to your Web designer on a quarterly basis. This way your site is constantly being monitored and always moving toward maximizing its ability to convert visitors into closed transactions.

Your Website is not a static piece of marketing like an ad or brochure. It is by far the richest, most interactive, and superior form of marketing ever invented. The dynamic, ever improving, evolving technologies, characterize it as a fluid “living” thing that needs monitoring and fine-tuning. Putting your site out there to the world and then forgetting about it is not the way to online riches. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to Web marketing, it’s just expensive.

NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the December 2006 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2006. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

How to Avoid “A Failure to Communicate”

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Craig Harrison

You've seen it in every classified ad and most job descriptions: must have excellent communication skills. Even worse, once hired, it reappears annually each review period: Improve communication skills. What's a person to do? Communication skills don't require a graduate degree, just common sense, a bit of homework and a better understanding of the role communication plays in everything:

• Listen

You don't have to speak like John F. Kennedy or orate like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr to be considered a good communicator. Listening skills are the most ignored aspect of good communication skills. More misunderstandings occur due to poor listening than to misstatements. Want to be a good listener? Suspend that urge to speak while others are speaking. Don't begin to prepare what you'll say next. Listen actively and intently, with ears, eyes, mind and body. Are you following what's being said? If so, nod in agreement. If not, a furrowed brow indicates you're confused. Your speaker needs these cues. If you truly heard and understood, repeat it back in your own words. This lets both parties know they're on the same wavelength.

• Mind Your ABCs

Some people turn complex topics into simple explanations. Sadly, others' talents lie in the opposite direction: making simple topics complex. I strive to mind my ABCs: Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. Gen. Douglas MacArthur once remarked that even more important than giving orders that could be understood was issuing orders that couldn't be misunderstood. Whether or not lives are at stake, your reputation as a communicator may be. People appreciate short sentences; they are often confused by long, convoluted ones. Keep it succinct.

• Are you labeled missing in action?

Some excellent communicators are deemed less so for not contributing in meetings. A foreign-born coaching client from overseas was culturally uncomfortable speaking up, so others monopolized the meetings, often rudely interrupting to make a point. Her timidity, coupled with self-consciousness surrounding her command of English, resulted in her wallflower demeanor. Now the night before meetings she reviews the agenda, composes her thoughts and rehearses making powerful yet concise statements about items of the day. To others her remarks appear off-handed. She's thus perceived as a more powerful and effective communicator.. She's also developed a nice yet firm statement when she's interrupted, which reminds people she hasn't yielded the floor yet. After a few invocations of this phrase, others respect her opinions better. Her boss has noticed and applauded her new assertiveness.

• It takes two

I knew a worker who was fired for her boss's inadequacies as a communicator. Don't pay the price for another's communication shortcomings. It may require some work on your part, but it's worth the effort. I once had a boss who listened, but never asked questions. After a while I anticipated the questions that needed to be asked and posed them myself, or simply provided responses as if he'd asked them. I would go prepared to each meeting with a list of project-related questions, which showed my foresight and attention to detail. It benefited us both.

• Write speech

It sounds like a Buddhist precept, yet remember, writing is a big part of communication. Let e-mails, weekly reports and other writings reinforce your clear thinking, organizational skills, attention to detail and ability to express important ideas. Make your writing easy to read. Spelling matters, even in e-mail. Use white space, numbered lists and bulleted items to communicate more effectively. Titles, subtitles and lists similarly add cogency. Write your piece, set it aside for a spell, then review it and strike out 25 percent to say it more succinctly.

• Speak up

Consider taking a public speaking class, joining a local Toastmasters club (http://www.toastmasters.org ) to improve your oral communication skills. The new skills, offline practice and confidence gleaned will help you in meetings, in giving reports and in making presentations.

Excellent communication skills help in many ways. With practice you can confidently give a speech, make a cold call, train others; conduct a meeting, make a sales presentation, interview someone or be interviewed.

Improved communication skills can open many doors, both within and beyond the workplace. It's time you sharpen your Communication Quotient!

“Have A Nice Day”

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Nancy Friedman

How many times a day do you think that phrase is said to someone?

Or just how many times has that phrase been said to you in one day?

I’m often asked if "Have a nice day" can be said too many times?

The answer: Yes, I guess it could if you’re saying it to the same person over and over. That might get annoying.

However, for the average person, hearing a genuine "Have a nice day" can be a good thing to hear – "genuine" being the key word.

Example: The other day I was in a video store (as always, we don’t name names) and rented several videos. The person, who was waiting on me, did so in complete silence. Complete silence that is, until she handed me my change. Know what she did? She told the cash register to "Have a nice day." That’s right. She spoke directly to the cash register and told "it" to have a nice day. Yea, I thought she was pretty strange too.

And not long before that, I had a young man at another store (yes, I do shop a lot!) tell the floor to have a nice day.

And again, more recently when I was at a fast food chain – the lady who handed me the meal looked off in space…and told someone out there to "Have a nice day."

Now, some can profess that they were doing the right thing. Almost. Sure the words were there, but the meaning and sincerity sure wasn’t. If you’re telling the cash register and floor to have a nice day, you’re really not doing any good. Try looking in the customer’s eyes and say it. It’ll mean so much more. And oh, by the way, "Have a nice day" doesn’t even count, unless you’re smiling.

And then there’s the phone call that ends with the same phrase. And because it’s impossible to say that phrase while looking into the caller’s eyes directly, it needs to be said with more conviction. And yes, that good, old smile still needs to be there, too.

And don’t forget, there are so many other ways to end a conversation besides "Have a nice day." Here are just a few. (And I’m betting you can think of a batch of your own.)

"Thanks for calling."
"I enjoyed talking with you."
"Good to hear from you."
"Enjoy your day."
"Have a beautiful day."

As I said, you probably can add to those. Remember, there are lots of synonyms for GOOD. You don’t need to be stuck on that one word.

People like to do business with people who are nice and more importantly friendly. It’s that simple. And the way you can be extra nice is to look people in the eye when you’re talking with them. SMILE, and make it meaningful. On the phone, give the caller your full attention. Even though you’ve heard the problem or the question 800 times, that one person is most probably going through it for the first time.

Blogs, Blogging & Bloggers!!!!!!

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Joeann Fossland

It is all the buzz...but is it just a fad? Why would you want one more thing to do?????

The competitive nature of our business requires that we find every competitive advantage to justify our value to consumers. Blogs are a great way to differentiate yourself.

Here are a few reasons you should consider this:

1. You'll enhance your branding by giving people a more dynamic way to find out about you and your services.
2. You'll increase your search engine positioning for your website.
3. You'll give people a reason and a way to interact with you.
4. You'll become known as an expert when you use your blog for a specified purpose or to give information to a defined niche.
5. You'll learn a lot from the other bloggers who are generously sharing ideas.
6. You'll become part of a bigger community of online people who are demonstrating what Web 2.0 is all about.

If you are ready to jump in, here are some resources:

A great place to start is at http://www.RealTown.com where you can set up a free blog.

Or set one up at the ActiveRain community where you get points for posts and can learn from your peers.

If you need some help in putting it altogether, contact Peg Silloway at http://www.IBlog4You.com or Phone: 301-335-9368 Email:

Whatever you do, don't ignore this...consumers are starting online and you need to be there!

Blogger Or Journalist, Understanding The Difference

Friday, November 2, 2007 - By: Rick Grant

Most executives are pleased to hear that their companies, people or brands have been featured in the press. In fact, the old adage has it that “Any news (carried by the press about our company) is good news.” But there is a new breed of writer loose on the Internet and what they might be saying about you and your brand might not be all that good. Pitching your news to bloggers is quite different than pitching to a traditional media outlet’s reporter or editor. Some definitions and generalizations will help you know how to treat these important audiences.

A blogger is writer who is generally working for free on a special website known as a Web Log, which is characterized by short posts with comments from readers. Some well-known bloggers have sponsors that buy ads on their sites. An even smaller set is paid by companies to write about them or their brands. Some of these writers are doubtless posting information about your industry, and perhaps even about your company.

Most bloggers specialize in information about a particular topic. In fact, to become successful bloggers must attract a critical mass of readers who are all interested in their topic, which leads them to focus on a specific industry, interest or geographic area. They often become recognized experts on their topic.

Bloggers are not required to be professional writers and need not spell correctly. They are not held accountable to an editor, in most cases, and are free to write whatever they feel, whether it is objective or not. In some cases, bloggers are guilty of writing posts that are not factual, but that happens in the professional press as well.

Because bloggers are often industry insiders turned rogue copywriters, they can attract a large audience of loyal readers. Their readers tend to value there opinions more highly than those of most professional journalists and appreciate the ability to provide feedback to their stories, making it important to appeal successfully to bloggers if you want to get your story told as effectively as possible.

Journalists, for the most part, are professionally trained writers who make a living reporting on the news that affects a particular industry or geographic area. There is typically a chain of command that is leveraged to keep reporters writing objective, factual stories that have a real impact on the subject in question. Most media outlets have copyeditors and fact checkers, tasked with making sure the stories are both factually and grammatically correct.

While journalists are unlikely to write something that damages a company without facts to back up their reporting, thanks to libel and slander laws, they are likely to overlook a good story in favor of an easy piece to file. Trade journalists, in particular, are famous for writing their copy to pay the bills while they secretly work to sell their best writing to other markets.

I have been both a trade journalist and a blogger during my career. Strictly speaking, bloggers are not journalists, though they may take offense at that. Many like to think of themselves as “citizen journalists” and prefer to be treated exactly the same as professional journalists. In most cases, this is a good standard to set. It will do you no harm to treat valuable bloggers (defined as those writers that have a substantial following in your market segment) with the same respect you would show someone who attended journalism school.

One notable exception: While a good reporter reads everything he can about his area of expertise and welcomes press releases and other information that may be of only tangential interest, bloggers tend to be very particular about the material they are asked to review. Sending a blogger a news item that clearly falls outside their area of expertise may cause them to write negative things about you and your company, even if they know nothing about your industry at all. That’s a good reason to research the bloggers that cover your market and form working relationships with them.

Publicity Tips for Real Estate Agents

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - By: Joan Stewart

Does this sound like you?

• You can’t understand why the business reporter at your local newspaper has quoted your competitor in five separate stories but hasn’t called you once.
• Your real estate office sends out more than two dozen news releases every year about new agents and promotions, but they result in little more than a few lines of type.
• The speech your boss wrote when he spoke at the local Rotary Club luncheon would have made an excellent column for the local business magazine. But after you mailed it to the editor, you never heard a word.

If your attempts at media coverage have fallen flat, quit grumbling and start taking a proactive approach to free publicity. Hundreds of other real estate agents are doing just that. They are being helpful and offering themselves as resources for reporters who need background information, commentary and story ideas on the real estate industry.

How to be helpful

Dave Delahunt never missed a chance to toot his own horn when he owned RE/MAX Lakeside Realty in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a few years ago. He made sure he got to know reporters. When Del Jones, a reporter from USA Today, called to do a story on how school districts affect he price of homes, Jones mentioned that he was coming to Milwaukee to do research. So Delahunt invited him to lunch. As a result, Jones quoted him in the story, and Delahunt's photo accompanied the article. "Now, the reporter calls me every six months just to check in and find out what's new in the real estate industry," Delahunt said.
Here are other ways to be helpful:

• Call reporters and invite them for lunch or coffee. Let them know the areas (residential real estate, commercial real estate, mortgage lending, buyer agency etc.) in which you are an expert, and encourage them to call on you.
• Fax or mail copies of industry reports, articles from trade publications and tips about trends you are seeing to your media contacts. This helps them understand the real estate industry and it keeps your name in front of them.
• Tell the media about the biggest problems that buyers and sellers are facing and how you help them solve those problems.
• Offer your opinions on proposed legislation that deals with changes in the real estate industry. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/editorialpages.html.
• Give the media news tips and story ideas, even if they don’t relate to real estate. Establish yourself as a valuable resource and reporters will keep coming back to you for more information.

Think creatively

Delahunt also hosted a weekly radio talk show about real estate and got free air time. The station lined up sponsors, and he frequently recruited sponsors on his own. If you can't get your own show, at least try to book a spot as a guest on other people's shows. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.
Delahunt also submitted a photo of himself inside the radio studio to the official RE/MAX newspaper distributed to 50,000 agents worldwide. Three other agents saw the photo and sent him referrals, all of whom bought or sold houses through Delahunt's office. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/publicize_yoursmall_business.html.

Write, write write

Establish yourself as an expert by writing for local, regional and national publications, as well as trade publications. If you’re an agent who cannot write well or you don’t have the time, call on your marketing director for help. Or hire a local freelance writer to “ghost write “ under your name. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html. Here are some other ideas to help you get started:

• Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Letters that have the best chance of being published are those that comment on stories the newspaper has printed. Keep your letters as brief as possible. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.
• Submit opinion columns on hot local topics for the opinion page. It’s best to call the editor first and pitch your idea for a column. Ask about specific guidelines such as the word length and deadlines. Don’t forget to include your photo. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/editorialpages.html.
• Write articles for print newsletters, an often overlooked publicity vehicle. Newsletter editors are hungry for material. A great resource is the Oxbridge Directory of Newsletters which lists more than 18,000 newsletters, by category and industry, and includes contact names and phone numbers. This resource directory is available in most major libraries.
• Write for electronic newsletters and magazines that serve the real estate industry, or those publications that are read by people who you want to get in front of.
• Write White Papers or special reports on hot topics in the real estate industry, and offer them free to the public. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.
• Get the editorial calendar for your local business journal and see which special sections are devoted to real estate. Call, write or email the editor of that section and pitch a story idea about your industry. It can be anything from creative ways that agents are hosting open houses to the advantages of buyer agency. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/usebusiness.html.

Speak, speak, speak

Public speaking can pay huge dividends. Not only can you snag free publicity through newspaper stories about your presentation, you can attract the attention of people in the audience who might contact you later to list their homes. Ideas include:

• Hit the “chicken and pea circuit.” Chambers of commerce, Rotary clubs, business groups and even local community groups always need speakers. Pick a topic that no one else is speaking about. Collect business cards from audience members and give away a door prize. Then add the business cards to your database for future marketing campaigns.
• Conduct classes through your local college or university.
• Join Toastmasters to learn platform skills and become known as someone who loves to speak.
• If you want to make money from speaking, join the http://www.nsaspeaker.org/, or a statewide speakers association. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.
• Whenever you write articles, include a paragraph at the end telling readers that you are available for speaking engagements.
• Call local TV stations and invite them to call on you for comment when they’re doing stories about the real estate industry. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/getinthenews.html.

Joan Stewart is a speaker, trainer and consultant specializing in developing
and maintaining good relations with the print and a broadcast media.
Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine
featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity.

My Cousin Vinnie - The Master Sales Professional

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - By: Jim Meisenheimer

Actually, Vinnie isn't my Cousin - but he is a genuine salesman.

I've got a question for you. Are you in shape? Are you in really good shape? If not, why not?

It's important for you to be in top physical condition. But that's not with this article is about. This article is about increasing your sales. What kind of "Shape" is your sales presentation in? On a 1-10 scale, how are your customers rating your sales presentation?

I love to watch salespeople in action. I can't help it. So, two weeks ago when our cruise ship arrived in St. Thomas, I had the opportunity to observe more than a dozen salespeople. Bernadette, my wife, loves to shop. She came prepared with a list of gifts she wanted to buy for the upcoming holidays. There’s no stopping Bernadette when she has a list.

I don't remember how many jewelry stores we visited. I do remember, however, one in particular. The store’s name is Dazzlers, a duty-free shop, within two blocks of our ship the Golden Princess. Vinnie was our salesman. Here are several observations:

He was friendly.

He was very patient.

He smiled and gestured easily.

He asked good questions and kept showing Bernadette different pieces of jewelry.

He took the initiative and walked briskly from display case to display case.

He never asked for permission and he just kept bringing more things for my wife to see, touch, and try on, each time getting closer to what she was looking for.

He called another store and asked them to rush over another piece of jewelry that Bernadette asked about.

He was expecting to make a sale.

He said it would take three to five minutes for the piece to be delivered to his store.

Bernadette said, "We'll go for a beer and come back in a half-hour." In what seemed to be "Faster than a speeding bullet," Vinnie reached under the counter and took out two ice-cold cans of Coors Light. He just hit a home run as far as I was concerned.

That was one very smooth move. I told Vinnie the last time I saw a move like that was in 1969. While stationed in Vietnam, I had the opportunity to take R & R in Hong Kong. I told him, while having two suits made for me the tailor opened his bar and offered me a drink. Vinnie told us his life story, quickly, including how his father during the 1960s was a tailor in Hong Kong and how he always offered his customers cocktails while they were waiting. It really is a small world.

Vinnie did a good job and we rewarded him with two sales. His sales presentation was in good shape. What kind of shape is your sales presentation in?

Can you recite the Pledge of Allegiance? Of course you can. Can you recite your favorite poem, psalm, or song? Of course you can, and why is that? It's probably because you know the words. No one ad-libs the words to the "Pledge" or the words to their favorite song. It's unthinkable.

Can you recite how you make appointments when using the telephone?

Can you recite your ten best open-ended questions?

Can you recite four benefits of your key product?

Can you recite how you deal with the price objection?

Can you recite how you ask for the business?

There's a huge difference between being prepared and sounding canned - huge! You're more likely to sound canned when you don't prepare, because everyone usually says the same thing in similar situations.

The Gettysburg address was not an improvisation. Your favorite Prayer is not an improvisation. The Pledge of Allegiance is not an improvisation. Wouldn't you sound better if your entire sales presentation was not an improvisation?

In the military you often hear "You’d better shape up or ship out." If you shape up your sales presentation you won't have to worry about shipping out unless of course you decide to book a cruise to St. Thomas.

Give my regards to Vinnie when you see him.

Selling Real Estate in a Buyers Market

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Lance Winslow

As real estate professionals it is known that when real estate peaks it is important to make money while the getting is good. Then things decline and a buyers market emerges. Selling real estate in a buyers market is difficult for the seasoned real estate broker and the new real estate brokers seem to not last long and take some hard hits on their personal finances attempting to list new homes and coddle all the shoppers and Looky Lous.

There is no easy way to sell real estate in a buyers market. Sure it helps to list as many distressed sales as possible, but even so this is not a sure bet either.

This is a time when the long-standing and high-referral real estate agents show their light. Those who have been working hard, pleasing their customers will be the ones, which will make out well in a buyers market. Yet consider some of the larger markets in the United States where real estate is on the definite decline and there are 75-90 foreclosures per day, it maybe rather tough on many real estate brokers and agents.

Suffice it to say that it is imperative to be well versed in the fundamentals of real estate sales to survive a down turn in the market in this post bubble real estate market today. Please consider all this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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Real Estate Can Be a Great Way to Build Wealth

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Lim Zheng Yang

Real estate is one of the best and easiest ways to create wealth.

It is the world’s biggest single asset class; it is a tangible, cash-generating asset, and appreciates in value.

Still, it is a formidable investment, as it can be difficult to acquire.

The variety of neighborhoods and real estate is nothing short of amazing.

Real estate is sold in all areas, but employment is concentrated in large urban areas and in rapidly growing communities.

The agreement to sell between a buyer and seller is governed by the general principles of contract law.

Commercial real estate is a business investment made up of all property that is for sale or rent, and is driven by economic centers anchored by population, commerce and distribution, and leasing it is a process

Commercial zoning is property in which commercial real estate is going to be built on.

The fact that real estate is depreciable is another great advantage.

Real estate is an exciting business to be in, and it should be a fun and rewarding experience.

Most of it is purchased, at least in part, because of the tax benefits that accrue for the owner.

Buying or selling real estate is an important decision in anyone’s life and is not a decision entered into lightly.

It is one of the largest investments you will make and it’s a big decision indeed.

Your real estate is probably the most valuable investment you will ever own.

All real estate is exciting, but actually making money from your investment does not happen by accident.

It is often an emotional decision, which is not easy to remove from the equation when you are making your decisions.

Real estate is cyclical, and the cycles last for years.

And with technology moving forward at a rapid pace, sustainable real estate is not the far into the future.

Although it is not their sole source of wealth, it remains a staple for many.

Preconstruction real estate is emerging as one of the most profitable and cost effective ways to invest in high ROI areas such as Florida and Las Vegas.

Real estate is likely to continue to be a good investment.

Lim Zheng Yang has compiled the latest news and resources at his sites: Guide to Oregon Real Estate, Guide to Rhode Island, Guide to Tucson Arizona Real Estate

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5 Minutes to Maximizing Real Estate Technology, A Desk Reference for Top-Selling Agents

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Mark Nash

John Mayfield's latest title in his "5 minutes to" real estate agent-broker series is technology. Offering both new and experienced practitioners a functional overview of how technology and real estate consumers have merged to create a new and required skill-set for those looking to grow in the marketplace. Mayfield, a proficient techie, pens articles's for the Hewlett Packard's Web site. An added bonus is a ROM that offers sample information from the text version, to illustrate in a technology format, how top producing agents have embraced their clients call for them to be pro-active in blog-sphere, podasts, e-mail, virtual tours and computers.

5 Minutes to Maximizing Real Estate Technology, A Desk Reference for Top-Selling Agents, By John D. Mayfield. Thomson/ South-Western, 2006, ISBN 139780324539271, 0324539274, Paperback, 184 Pages, $29.95 is written and designed to be results-driven.and as a textbook for brokerages to offer as a real estate technology course. Each chapter offers learning objectives, review exercises and web resources. Photos help both the reader or an educator see the actual computer or web graphic to illustrate one of Mayfield's excellent points. But never does the text get bogged down in tech-speak, something many readers and students will appreciate.

Chapters in this book feature: Which computer is right for you?, Developing a Technology Budget for Your Real Estate Career, Software Applications, New Technology Tools for Today's Tech-Savvy Real Estate Agent, Printing Options, Cellular Phones and Smartphones, Digital Cameras and Other Multimedia Resources, New Marketing Trends in Real Estate, Web Site Tips for Real Estate Professionals, Creating a Paperless Filing System, Folders, Files, and Backing Up, Building the Perfect Database, E-Mail, Using Microsoft PowerPoint, Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts, Technical Help, How to Become a Mobile Real Estate Professional,and Broker Technology Issues. Also included are acknowledgements, a forward, an introduction, a summary and conclusion.

This book is an excellent resource for any agent or broker looking to ramp-up their business technology, without being over-whelmed by geek-speak. Perfect for new or experienced agents, real estate educators, trainers and a must-have for every real estate brokerage's professional development library.

Mark Nash is the author of "Fundamentals of Marketing for the Real Estate Professional", "Starting & Succeeding in Real Estate", "Reaching Out: The Financial Power of Niche Marketing", and "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home". Mark is a contributing writer for: Realtor (R) Magazine Online, Broker Agent News, Real Estate Executive Magazine, Principal Broker, and Realty Times. His tried and true real estate tips has been featured on CBS The Early Show, CNN, HGTVpro.com, The New York Times, and USA Today. Purchase his books or sign up for his free monthly ezine; Agent to Agent at http://www.1001RealEstateTips.com

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Real Estate Signs

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Elizabeth Morgan

Real estate signs are considered one of the oldest and best forms of advertising for homes available for sale. Real estate signs are mostly produced using vinyl, which is a long-lasting material available in specific colors. Vinyl graphics and lettering provide real estate signs that are affordable and of good quality. Unique colors can also be specially ordered to make real estate signs more attractive.

A large number of national signboard companies provide people with 'coroplast' or aluminum sign blanks that make the real estate signs stand out from the others. Many people opt to buy sign boards, which are made out of corrugated plastic. This plastic is lightweight and inexpensive as compared to aluminum. It is generally made out of 1/4 thick corrugated plastic that works like foam board. It is strong and long lasting. In addition, these signs can be easily attached to windows, doors, and walls. However, they are very often used with step stakes for temporary or seasonal real estate messages.

People use real estate signs for advertising their house for lease or any residential property for sale. Consumers who are interested in getting real estate signs made need to inform themselves about types and sizes, rather than become influenced by complex offers. It is important to know the available warranty, extended warranties and purchase outlets. This can easily be determined by indulging in comparison-shopping. It allows buyers to compare products, prices, and features. Buyers also need to be attentive to size and weight factors of the signboards as they are charged on this basis. Many of the real estate board deals can be acquired through wholesale purchases as they turn out to be more reasonable.

Many wholesalers offer neon real estate signboards as well. The neon signboards are a preferred medium of advertisement because they are bright, modern, and, above all, visible from a distance.

Signs provides detailed information on Signs, Road Signs, Neon Signs, Welcome Signs and more. Signs is affiliated with Church Banners.

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The Best Ways for Real Estate Advertising

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Robbie Darmona

According to the National Association of Realtors, almost 75 percent of the people use the Internet to find their new home. Modern communication technologies offer an optimal way to advertise real estate. But there are slightly more traditional methods that are considered to work well, too. For example, you can do real estate advertising on a local newspaper or on the TV. Your local real estate magazines are another opportunity for attaining workable real estate advertising. If you are a home seller, you need to know all the different types of real estate advertising and use them in a profitable configuration that would attract buyers.

The most common one is online real estate advertising. Billions of dollars for online real estate advertising will continue to shift in the next three years. Fidelity Assets’ Web traffic service promotes the service of campaign management tools, which can branch off traffic from AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo! on behalf of their clients, so that home sellers can advertise their websites or listings. Thus potential home buyers or sellers can be targeted if they search in their local geographical areas. Another opportunity is to use the Company’s Web Lead Service, which attracts buyers and sellers as they are doing their search in a real estate agent’s area. Traffic is redirected to a special “landing page” which belongs to a particular agent. People can find more information about the real estate they are interested in. Another point is that there is no overlap between the real estate offered by one agent and another. They are different so that people can find the most suitable one.

Another way of real estate advertising is by classified ads in local newspapers. They cost little, and, most of all, they work. Put an ad for 3 or 4 days and you may be astonished at the results. Buyers are looking at those ads. You can advertise there your company and your brand name. But there is a specific order which you should obey when advertising: advertise property first, agent second and company in the third place. If people are recognizing your name, it may go well with everything you sell or offer: prospective clients will stop at a building or a sign that carries your name.

The last thing you should comply with is not to share too much information in your ad, otherwise clients won’t call. Make people curious about the property you are selling. And take note of the right terminology: don’t call a hut a house, and know exactly what style of property you are offering. Otherwise, you risk losing trust with the clients.

Article by Robbie Darmona - an article writer who writes on a wide variety of subjects.

For more information click =>Real Estate Advertising

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Real Estate Advertising - 3 Predictions for the Future

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Brandon Cornett

For obvious professional reasons, I have been keeping close tabs on the real estate advertising scene for several years now. I also monitor general advancements in the real estate industry, especially as they pertain to real estate marketing and advertising. So I thought I might play Nostradamus and make a few predictions about the future of real estate advertising.

A word of clarification first. In the context of this article, "real estate advertising" refers to a real estate agent advertising his or her services. It does not refer to the advertising of a home or other property. With that out of the way, here are my real estate advertising predictions.

1. Print Advertising Will Fade Away
As consumers, we are becoming increasingly blind to traditional methods of advertising, and there is nothing more traditional than the magazine and newspaper ad. These types of publications have formed the backbone of real estate advertising in the past, but in the future I predict they will (continue to) fade away as response rates fall through the floor. Print publishers and advertising agencies will obviously dispute this, proclaiming that traditional advertising is "alive and well." But let's face it ... we have all learned how to "read around" print ads. Haven't we?

2. Direct Mail Advertising Will Plateau
Some real estate agents still get great results from their direct mail marketing programs. That's because these agents know how to use direct mail properly, by effectively combining creativity and good-old-fashioned incentives to generate a response.

But in my direct mail experience, these successful direct mail advertisers represent a minority of the real estate industry. I would go so far as stating that the majority of agents who use direct mail for real estate advertising do it far less effectively, relying on outdated tactics and weak offers. I've even written a book on real estate postcard marketing to show the ineffective majority how to join the successful minority.

There's still plenty of potential in direct mail advertising, but I see it staying where it is as a real estate advertising tool -- neither increasing nor decreasing in usage.

3. Selective Online Advertising Will Rise
Over the last 3 - 5 years, dozens of real estate search engines and self-help websites have emerged to dominate the media. You know their names -- Zillow, HouseValues, etc. These websites are run by smart individuals, and as a result they generate vast amounts of traffic. Their traffic is also clearly definable (home buyers and sellers).

As the Internet continues to grow, and it gets harder to achieve top search engine ranking, I believe more and more agents will engage in online advertising (and lead acquisition) opportunities with the big real estate sites.

I don't think these will be traditional banner ads though. At least I hope they're not, since banner ads have become invisible. I see this as a "featured agent" kind of tactic wisely based on geographical areas and other demographics.

So there you have them ... my two cents on the future of real estate advertising. I promise that if I turn out to be wrong down the road, I will publish a revised version of this article in which I honorably eat my words. But don't hold your breath.

* You may republish this article online if you retain the author's byline and both of the active hyperlinks below.

About the Author
Brandon Cornett is the publisher of ArmingYourFarming.com, the informative website with the funny name. For hundreds of tips on real estate lead generation, marketing and advertising, visit http://www.armingyourfarming.com

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Real Estate - 5 Ways To Advertise

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Jay Bauder

With the introduction of new products and the growth of the purchasing power of the people continually escalates, it can be said that the advertising industry became fully energized. That's why even with the dawn of the new technology, advertising still continues to dominate the business world. As most business people asserts, business can never succeed without advertising.

And so, in the real estate business, advertising remains to proliferate with more ways that could increase productivity.

However, for those who still don't know how to maximize the potential of advertising in increasing their real estate sales, here are some ways to brood over:

1. Web site listings.

Real estate businesses may consider the benefits of advertising their products or services online. In this manner, they could even increase their market share by accessing those who cannot be reached by simple ways of promotions and advertising.

People behind the real estate business may choose from the different web site listings available in the Internet today.

2. Search engines registration.

Real estate businessmen may also opt for the sear engines that are available in the Internet. With a reasonable amount, real estate businesses may promote their products online and may get more exposure through search engines. Two of the most common search engines are Google and Yahoo. So, if the business is listed at these sites, chances are they'll reap more profits than they could imagine.

3. Banner ads.

Banner ads are those ads that appear on top of a certain sponsoring website. It contains the business' name and the hyperlink that connects the customer to the business' site.

In this way, real estate entrepreneurs may take the chance of increasing their exposure online by letting the people know that they exist.

4. Emails.

Real estate businesses may also resort to this kind of advertising. Though, special considerations should be made when constructing emails so that it will not be categorized as spam.

Also, to maximize the use of this advertising technique, the real estate business must also have an email list of their potential buyers.

5. The basics.

It still pays to be traditional. In fact, one of the best ways to advertise a product is to use the traditional method of advertising - the print and the broadcast advertisements. There are people who would rather see the ads on television or in newspapers than online.

But whatever type of advertising a real estate business use, one thing is bound to help them boost their sales and profit. It just needs the skill to decide which would go best with the business.

About The Author
Jay Bauder is the web owner of http://www.homes-in-connecticut.com Connecticut Homes: Buying or Selling, a website that provides information on Connecticut real estate buying, negotiating, financing, and more. You can visit his website at: Connecticut Real Estate.

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Advertising Your Real Estate Online - How You Could Increase Your Real Estate Sales By 300%

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Serge Daudelin

Advertising Your Real Estate Online - How You Could Increase Your Real Estate Sales By 300%
By Serge Daudelin

When people searching for real estate types your state or city into the google search box, it is easy to understand that a listing appearing in the top 10 results is getting a huge amount of targeted traffic.

Advertising real estate thru proper search engine optimization is a powerful way to increase your leads but most importantly, your sales.

If you are just starting out and are waiting for your website to appear on the major search engines, PPC advertising (Pay Per Click ) may be a good way to get some targeted traffic. However with the real estate market being extremely competitive, your PPC advertising campaign may turn into a money pit.

As an example, getting your listing in the top 3 results on google adwords for the search term ''Florida realtors'' will cost you a minimum bid of 7$ . Suppose your campaign brought you 50 clicks a day. It will cost you $350 a day or $1750 a week. Pretty expensive as you see. And that's only for one little keyword... Ouch!

Each year, real estate agents are spending between $10,000 to $50,000 for advertising their real estate properties. And keep in mind that advertising in the newspapers is a short term investment. Most newspapers goes in the trash can the same day! Ouch again!

So what is the solution to successfully advertise your real estate online? Pretty simple: Organic search engine optimization. Marketing your real estate properties thru organic search engine optimization is simply the most cost effective method for attracting a steady flow of qualified prospect to your real estate website.

Real estate Organic SEO start with keywords research. Target the wrong keywords and your real estate business will always struggle. Proper optimization of your title, description and keyword tags must be done. You must also build on-page content that match your industry but most importantly, your targeted keywords. There are no easy tricks and tactics to get your real estate website at the top of the search engines. Designing a search engine friendly web site can be done but it requires dedication and some extensive knowledge about search engines.

Investing in a true real estate search engine optimization campaign is the most important long-term real estate internet marketing investment you will ever make.

Now you know how to supercharge your real estate sales!

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to Search Engine Marketing Success. Discover The *Secret Formula* We've Used To Stay In Google's Top 3 Rankings For Over 3 Years For Some Of The Toughest Keywords Around (18 MILLION Competitors!)

Download it free here: Search Engine Marketing Success

Serge Daudelin

Affordable Search Engine Optimization Services.com

Serge Daudelin is a Internet Marketing Consultant & SEO Specialist who has written over 300 articles in print and 5 published ebooks. Serge is dedicated to helping others and offering the best information on how to make more money online.

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Real Estate Marketing - How To Generate 800 % More Leads From Your Real Estate Website

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Serge Daudelin

More and more person are looking to the web to find and buy real estate properties. Many real estate agents are successfully using search engine marketing to get new qualified customers at a much lower cost than newspapers advertising.

Marketing real estate thru search engine optimization is an excellent solution for real estate agents. They can reach people who they would not be able to reach by using conventional advertising. Real estate search engine optimization give you a global reach at a much lower cost and help you obtain more leads.

Money for money, real estate SEO services provide the best ROI (return on investment) for your advertising dollar. So, how can you generate 800% more leads from your real estate web site? At First lets get straight to the point; Having a real estate web site without proper SEO is like taking your client listing without actively advertising his home.

If you wish to market your real estate web site on the internet you need to create a keywords rich site that target your area and customers. You must not only reach your targeted audience, but also turn prospects into buyer. You must develop your title, description and keywords tags in a SEO manner. The key is to attract the right prospect to the right property. Create a keywords rich page for each new listings you get and optimize your meta content with proper keywords density.

Most realtors are making the mistake of spending a ton of money in web design without proper search engine optimization.

What are the odds that a potential buyer will find your listing?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serge_Daudelin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Real-Estate-Marketing---How-To-Generate-800-%-More-Leads-From-Your-Real-Estate-Website&id=490135

Why Do You Need A Real Estate Agent?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Raymond M. Crisostomo

Purchasing or selling a real estate is very complex and too risky to invest money. Because of this, it is cleverly to seek for a trustworthy and knowledgeable real estate agent to prevent regrets in the future. There are many reasons why a real estate agent is needed in buying or selling a real estate.

If you don’t have any idea of the procedures in buying a real estate, a real estate agent is the person who can help you. License brokers or real estate agents have a thorough knowledge that can help you ensure the legality of papers and real estate procedures.

If you’re new to the area, do a simple research of properties in the neighborhood. Try to ask some people living their about the amenities and hints about the community. Finding a knowledgeable real estate agent is the best idea. Real estate sales agents have a vast knowledge regarding real estate market in their area. They know the laws and guidelines regarding real estate matters. They also can recommend what is the best for you and your budget.

If you urgently need to buy or sell a real estate, an expert real estate agent can help you. A professional real estate agent has many friends, associate and contacts that can speed up the process if you urgently need to buy and sell a real estate. These will help you save time and effort and can possibly sell you’re real estate property immediately or aid you in finding your target house.

If you're too busy working or doing something very important and don’t have the time in dealing with real estate transactions, A real estate agent will serve as your personal representative in buying or selling a real estate. Also, if you don’t have the abilities of a sales person, the agent serves as your spoke person to deal with your business clients.

Raymond M. Crisostomo
http://www.ozfreeonline.com/realestate/ http://australian-free-classifieds.blogspot.com/ http://ozfreerealestate.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raymond_Crisostomo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Do-You-Need-A-Real-Estate-Agent?&id=202833

Profitable Real Property Market

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Ron Victor

Real estate market finds tremendous changes over the period with advancement and improvements in the real estate market. Nowadays more number of sellers and buyers finds good entrance and exit for their real estate property. More number of properties is listed in the market for sale for a reasonable price consideration. Today, real estate market satisfies the needs and requirements of their buyers and sellers. When a real estate property is listed for sale by the seller, then he should sell the real property for a reasonable price consideration with profit. This way, the buyer should also buy the property from the market for a fair consideration. Real estate market fetches profit for both the buyer and seller of the real property.

When the real estate property fetch profit to the buyer and seller, then only the real estate transaction made is said to be profitable. To fetch profit for the real estate property, the real estate market is found out. Without any profit, the real estate transaction will not be valuable. With the advancement of technology, more number of seller and buyers are coming forward to buy and sell the property in the market. Nowadays, trends have been changed and people started realizing the need for the real estate property and market. Though the real estate market finds frequent fluctuations, real estate markets also finds good demand for the real properties listed. The main reason for this fluctuation is that, real estate properties are sold for good price consideration in the market.

When a real estate deal takes place for the properties, either the seller or the buyer will obtain profit for the real property. This way either the buyer or the seller obtains profit for the real estate property sold. When real estate property is list out with adequate and relevant information regarding the property, then the seller can sell the real property with hassle free. Nowadays, real estate investing finds a good demand in the market and more people tend to invest in real estate property. When more number of people started investing in real estate investment, then surely the economy attains finite position in the market.

when real estate properties is listed for reasonable price, desired location, spaces and so on, then that particular real estate property finds a good demand in the real estate market. When real estate investing process carries on profitably, then only the buyer and seller come forward to the real estate market. Commercial and residential real estate properties are listed in the real estate market with advancement and increment in price consideration. In the real estate property market, both the buyer and seller have to fetch profit for the property bought and sold.

Ron victor is an expert seo copywriter for Real Estate Investing. He written many articles in various topics like Investing in Real Estate, Property Investment, Real estate investing information and Tips to successful real estate investing. For more information visit our site Real estate investing information. Contact me at .

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_Victor
http://EzineArticles.com/?Profitable-Real-Property-Market&id=561911

Effective Real Estate Online Marketing Strategies

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Giovanni Gastelum

It is evident that the internet has become a powerful tool for home buyers and sellers. This is why real estate agents should be spending their marketing dollars on online marketing, and not on print media.

There are six main types of online marketing, some with a higher return on investment (ROI). The six different types of online marketing are: search engine marketing, banner ads, podcasting, online public relations, syndication, and video marketing.

What type of online marketing have the highest ROI? The types of online marketing with the highest ROIs are search engine marketing (SEM) and video marketing.

Search engine marketing has the highest ROI due to it's efficiency of directing pre-qualified traffic to an agents website. Traffic is pre-qualified as soon as a potential home buyer or seller searches on a search engine using keywords that include the real estate location of interest. Once a potential home buyer or seller comes to the search results page on a search engine it is pre-qualified.

Once a user clicks on on a search engine ad from the search results and comes to an agents website, the chances of converting that user into a lead or point of contact are much higher.

Video marketing in the real estate marketing has become more popular and has evolved. The type of video marketing that should be done is a presentation of a listing or real estate services, not a virtual tour.

These are two types of online marketing every real estate agent should be taking advantage of.

Generate Real Estate Leads with RealtorExposure, Inc. specializing in helping agent generate leads and ultimately increase their business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Giovanni_Gastelum
http://EzineArticles.com/?Effective-Real-Estate-Online-Marketing-Strategies&id=671868

Real Estate Internet Marketing, Where to Begin?

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Serge Daudelin

The famous department store pioneer John Wanamaker once wondered where half of his advertising dollars were being wasted. This is easy to understand because there are many options available for real estate internet marketing such as search engine marketing, email marketing, buying leads, newsletters, PPC advertising etc...

Real estate internet marketing can be as simple as having a web presence that will bring you more clients and sales. It can also be a complicated marketing strategy that is professionally managed.

The first thing you need to understand about real estate internet marketing is that the biggest enemy that you will face is attrition. To be successful in real estate marketing, you must be able to understand what attrition is and how best to cope with it. It basically means that there will be a number of people that will not take action that you want them to take.

Often, real estate marketing involves a mentality of building websites and hoping for traffic coming to it. However, this won’t work since you must first learn how to drive targeted traffic to your real estate website. This is the fundamental step required when beginning real estate internet marketing.

If you wish to succeed with real estate internet marketing make sure that the code on your website is clean and crisp. Use keywords that target the right audience and optimize your website content accordingly. If you have a blog, use a long-tail SEO strategy when thinking about topics for your blog.

You should have a plan of action that is like a road map to success. It needs consistency rather than peaks and valleys.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serge_Daudelin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Real-Estate-Internet-Marketing,-Where-to-Begin?&id=528180

Secret and Powerful Marketing Tools for Real Estate

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - By: Mike D. Davis

It seems as though marketing is the most difficult thing for a real estate agent to perform properly. But the problem is that there are few marketing tools for real estate that are simple and fun. The 4 profitable activities for real estate agents are; prospecting, negotiating, listing, and selling. The purpose of this article is to focus on prospecting without frustration or stress by discussing 2 very powerful marketing tools for real estate.

Marketing tools for real estate, tool number 1. The Net-writing Masters Course. Learn how to sell your real estate services online by writing better and writing smarter. First write to PREsell, and then write to sell. This is one of the few courses on the net that will show you how to do both. Check this great course out here: http://netwriting.sitesell.com/

Marketing tools for real estate, tool number 2 - Make Your Price Sell! This was an eye opener for me because it talks about the psychology of the purchasing decision, and how you can leverage that buying emotion to it’s full advantage. This is one of my favorite marketing tools for real estate. Just think about how much money you might be leaving on the table for your clients, and ultimately for you. http://myps-masters.sitesell.com/

As you can probably tell by now, this is hardly as full of marketing tools for real estate as it could be. The first marketing tool will help you to GET clients, and the second will help you to make them HAPPY. Can you smell the repeat business in that? I sure can! And I use these two tactics as part of my marketing tools for real estate arsenal every year in real estate.

Thank you for reading, and I hope this has helped spark a new idea for you with respect to marketing tools and real estate!

Mike Davis has been a real estate agent for over 10 years, and operates his successful website at http://www.MikeDavisHomes.com - In all that time, he has made plenty of mistakes, trying to figure out the best way to generate business. But after much trial and error, and with the advent of the Internet, he has become an expert in lead generation.

Discover his system of how a shy and introverted real estate agent can earn over $160,000 per year for $49.95 at LoganSystem.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_D._Davis
http://EzineArticles.com/?Secret-and-Powerful-Marketing-Tools-for-Real-Estate&id=570228

Sales Through Storytelling: Story Tell, Story Sell!

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Craig Harrison

Nothing succeeds like success! And in sales nothing succeeds quite like success stories. Are you sharing yours? Why not? The secret is in how you share your successes.

Learn to tell thirty-second "success stories." During sales calls a quick-hitting story can make or reinforce a point in memorable fashion. Success stories may be told in response to a question, to serve as a testimonial, or even as an aside. Did you know you had a storied past?

Stories work for several reasons: they’re more memorable than numbers, names and dates; and listeners enjoy the drama: a problem followed by a solution, a mystery solved with a twist, or a creative workaround to a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Also, your listener can find him or herself in the story. A good story will resonate with prospects.

“We’re wired for stories, individually and collectively. Since the time of Odysseus we’ve been told stories. Since we were little kids we’ve been read and told stories. This is how we’ve been conditioned to learn; our morals and our values are taught through stories." So says Gay Ducey, past president of the National Storytelling Association.

Look at your sales history and pick out an accomplishment. Now tell the story behind the accomplishment. It states that you helped a past client increased sales 60%. But tell how you did it; Cite a "before vs. after" description. What was the secret? Stories that reveal secrets captivate.

The Three S’s of Success Stories

Success stories offer a setting, a situation and a solution. Remember, you’re the hero of your stories. Your decisions, actions and insights made the difference.

Here is an example:

"We recently received a call from a merchant unhappy with their current vendor. They were paying high fees, receiving poor service and experiencing frequent security breaches. In short order we were able to launch a wireless processing system that was more secure, more reliable and even less expensive. Through customization we were able to address their foreign and domestic needs, a strength of ours."

Not only does this success story demonstrate an independent sales organization’s ability to solve problems, it showcases an understanding of business, markets and methods.

Stories can demonstrate your professionalism, customer service, researching ability, creativity, problem-solving inclination or other strengths.

Consider this story for a job-seeker: Here is an example of how one candidate summarized his most recent employment for a competitor.

"In my last job I was hired to manage a production department at war with the editorial department. I walked into an environment full of distrust and resentment, built up over years of animosities and recriminations. Through my implementation of cross training between departments, initiation of mutual social outings such as picnics and scheduling of project post-mortems we were able, after 6 months, to convert resentment into understanding and competition into cooperation. As each department began to understand how the other one worked we were jointly able to improve the workflow and consequently shorten time to market with publications. Even quality improved as we better understood how best to work together. That showed me the importance of internal communication and how hard it can be, though not impossible, to change an existing culture."

Not only does this success story demonstrate the candidate’s ability to solve problems, but it shows interviewers the candidate’s understanding of interoffice politics and the human side of operations.

Stories can demonstrate your detail orientation, dedication, leadership, independence, researching ability, creativity, serice or problem-solving inclination. Remember that employers want well rounded hires so make sure they see evidence of your varied skill set.

Here are a few examples:

Your conversion of old equipment into new uses shows you can think outside the box and are resourceful.

The non-monetary ways you recognized your staff shows your creativity, abilities as a leader as you demonstrate your understanding of how to motivate others.

The weekly internal E-letter you created for employees not only boosted morale, it gave evidence of your strong communication skills.

The canned food drive you initiated at your last job not only showed your commitment to your community, it also raised visibility for the company and improved their public relations.

By forming a lunchtime jogging club you helped bring employees from different departments together while improving the health, and mental health, of employees who participated. Your leadership and team building skills were further evidenced when your runners club formed a Centipede in the recent Bay to Breakers race.

Your multilingual skills helped aright a project suffering from miscommunication between subsidiaries from overseas. Not only could you translate phrases and idioms of speech, your insight into cultural differences bridged a gap and corrected a wayward project. More than showcasing your knowledge of languages, you demonstrated the ability to liaison between different groups, negotiate and turn an important project around.

Here are a few examples:

Your analysis of existing processing statements and identification of cost savings.

Your experience with a variety of systems and payment methods: credit, debit, phone and gift cards, etc.

Your skill in designing billing systems that cross borders and time zones and convert currencies.

Best yet, this Story Tell, Story Sell method works for sales, management, consultants, meeting planners, solopreneurs and even politicians. I know, I’ve coached them!

Review your past work history and identify the stories within each accomplishment. Now tell them to others. Don’t forget the moral to your story: the point the story tells about you (and your firm), your skills and credits. And remember, yours is a never-ending story!

How to Capture a Piece of the Second Home Market Pie

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Bob Corcoran

Yes indeed, there is a delectable and juicy sweet spot in the real estate market today – and it’s growing sweeter every day: the second-home market.

And if this next statistic doesn’t cause your mouth to water, you’ll want to pursue another profession: Nearly 40 percent of total home sales last year came from Americans buying second homes. Yes, 40 percent and yes, second homes. That’s a record!

But the really good news? I believe this is just the start of a long, tempting and tasty buffet table. Why? The buyers are baby boomers (those between the ages of 42 to 60) who are at the peak of their earning potential. That means this is the first of several scrumptious courses being served directly to you – the broker and agent.

And who can blame these boomers? They’ve learned that their first home—and all its equity – yielded some serious wealth. So they figure, why not go back to the well?

The obvious question is—How can you earn a spot in the buffet line? Here are four tips to get you that spot:

1. Know the buyer . Boomers are buying two kinds of properties: vacation homes and investment real estate. NAR reports that vacation-home buyers are 59-years-old, make $120,600 and live a median distance of 220 miles from their vacation homes. Investors are 55, earn nearly $98,600 and live only a median distance of 10 miles from their purchases. Also remember, vacation homebuyers are emotional buyers, while investment buyers are pragmatists. So be sure your marketing efforts reflect these facts. (NAR recently released its new “Second Home Survey.”

2. Reach the buyer. The Internet is proving effective in reaching boomers. NAR reports that 74 percent of buyers use it as an information source. So make sure your Web site speaks directly to these folks and that you are able to respond within 15 minutes to any inquiries. You can also use the Internet to search for people by business types using standard industrial codes—search companies by size, and so on, then chisel the list down to the right candidates. Plus, many Sunday papers list demographics of local areas. Also, don’t count out direct mail to target affluent areas. And consider teaming with your local chamber of commerce—a very popular way to target second homebuyers.

3. Be first in your class. The second homes market is a highly specialized segment of real estate and it pays to know your stuff, so take advantage of every educational opportunity you can find. Earning your GRI, MRE and CRS designations can all help establish referrals and a strong educational foundation, but you’ll also want to checkout NAR’s newResort & Second-Home Property Specialist (RSPS) certification. And brush up on 1031 exchanges, they’re a huge part of the market.

4. Prefer to refer. Even if you don’t live or work in a hot second homes market, you can still load your plate by referring clients to those agents who specialize in second homes. Begin developing a network of agents in the market. Referral fees are common. For example, in Colorado’s resort areas, referrals can be 50 to 75 percent of some brokers’ business and outside broker referral fees can range from 10 to 25 percent of the selling side of the sale.

Please, take a few minutes now to consider this burgeoning and lucrative market. Are you positioned to meet this market’s needs? If not, start putting these ideas in place so you can be first in the buffet line.

Bon Appetit!

Qualifying The Buyer

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Dirk Zeller

We invest large amounts of time with buyers. There is nothing more frustrating than spending a lot of time with buyers and then never getting paid for our efforts. The key component to successfully working with buyers is the qualifying process. Qualifying is the lost art of the sales process. Sometimes we get so excited that we have a lead that we fail to determine its value. That is why the process of qualifying is focused on determining the value of leads.

To really have effectiveness in qualifying we must develop a series of questions. This series of questions, or script, has to be used every time. Every buyer must be evaluated on his response to these questions. Some examples of questions are:

How long have you been looking? If he/she has been looking for six months the motivation to buy is probably not very high.

Do you need to sell a home before you can buy? Whoever gets the listing will get the sale as well.

Have you met with a lender? Understand that the lender is viewed by the consumer as a consultant. You are viewed as someone who wants to sell him something. The barrier of entry is lower for the lender.

Are you committed to another Agent? My philosophy was always to lay the cards on the table. If you are working with someone else, then good luck to you. I don’t need to invest my time and not get paid.

How soon do you want to be in your new home? This question will tell you the buyer’s motivation. Time frame and motivation are linked together. The longer the time frame the lower the motivation.

Determining the time frame and motivation are critical to earning a paycheck now. If a buyer doesn’t want to move for six months, then realize that your commission check is also at least six months away. How many prospects can you afford to work with where your commission is six months away? How much time can you invest in someone who will pay you six months to a year from now, or never?

The best way to qualify people is to ask for an appointment . In one question you can separate the motivated ones from the unmotivated. The people who are unmotivated will fight not to meet with you. This appointment should be at your office. Do not set the appointment to look at a property. Set the appointment for your office where you have control. The prospect knows that you are serious about creating a relationship and helping him. If he doesn’t want to or is not ready he will avoid the appointment. Here is a good script for this appointment, which I call the buyer interview. “____________________ in order for me to provide the highest level of service to you and all my clients, we set up a meeting previous to showing the properties. Would ______________ or ______________ be better for you?”

You want the script to be simple, straightforward, and to the point. If you know these buyers are committed, you will be able to provide a higher level of service.

Make sure that you qualify everyone you work with before you invest your time. Time is your most precious asset. Don’t invest it where it doesn’t bring you a return. I guarantee that if you took the time you waste with unmotivated people and invest it at home with your family the return would be like no other.

The Real Job Of REALTOR® Safety

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jeremy Conaway

Over half of the 4,400 REALTORS® (70% female) who responded to the recent NAR survey indicated that they have experienced safety concerns, incidents and other harassing situations while in the course of performing their jobs. Over 40% reported personal knowledge of a safety related situation that impacted another REALTOR®. While accounts of harassment are sometimes shared with fellow agents, the full extent of the problem is probably underreported.

The period of September 10 - 16 is now recognized throughout the industry as REALTOR® Safety week. Once again this year local REALTOR® associations across the county, with the assistance of NAR and state associations, are highlighting personal safety practices for agents and brokerage staff. Unfortunately, even with this focus on recognition of the risks, REALTOR® Safety continues to be a growing problem.

It is critical that brokers raise the issue every day in many ways. One recalls the popular 1980’s television series, Hill Street Blues, in which Sergeant Phil Esterhaus always ended the daily briefing with the warning, “Let’s be careful out there”.

It seems obvious that the high levels of publicity and negative press aimed at the industry have not improved the situation over the past few years but rather may have aggravated it.

Real estate is an inherently dangerous industry. That classic point of tension, the independent contractor relationship, sets the stage. Efforts to take a team or office approach to safety are often discouraged because many agents take a highly secretive or confidential approach to their work. Broker efforts to institutionalize safety programs and safeguards can fall on deaf ears in a world where independence and production is often cherished over personal safety.

The fact that the vast majority of agents will visit a property, without pause, in response to a call from a perfect stranger provides a recipe for danger. Some progress has been made requiring unknown individuals to show up with appropriate identification at the office before a showing. However the majority of these interactions still occur as agents attempt to accommodate a last minute opportunity within an already busy schedule, giving rise to the suspension of safety rules in the face of a possible good lead. The fact that many would be criminals offer the perfect story only makes the situation worse.

Even one of the most common activities of REALTORS® is fraught with danger. To the criminal mind an “Open House” sign is a synonym for “a building full of personal treasures with a guard detail of one who just may be distracted.” Consequently open houses provide the opportunity for actions that can threaten REALTORS®.

The industry’s long time use of “glamour shot” photographs is losing popularity in the face of a new generation of consumers. Yet many REALTORS® continue to use them, further exacerbating the safety problem. For criminals with a particular mindset the fact that their victim appears to be secure, happy, confident and attractive only adds to the appeal of the criminal act.

A number of other REALTOR® contacts also lend themselves to dangerous connections.

Individuals who show up unexpected for office appointments

Situations that arise when agents are working alone in the office

Dogs encountered in the course of duties

Unsafe conditions on properties being shown

For the brokerage community REALTOR® safety must be more than a theme and a week in September. The concerns, hype and fears must be reduced to clear, concise and enforced office policies that address each of the dangers discussed above.

The keyword for these polices must be “common sense.” Policies regarding safety do not have to equate to interference with the independent contractor relationship. They do however have to reflect the fact that the brokerage’s concern goes beyond individual agents to the agent panel and the company as a whole.

While many firms will want their safety policies to reflect the uniqueness of their marketplace, there are a number of well-reasoned and manageable safety policies available for the asking. Certainly these “canned” policies can at least serve as a starting point.

Education about and enforcement of these policies must become an important part of executive and management responsibilities. Violations of safety polices must have consequences. If this approach sounds parental then so be it. The loss of a member of the company family to criminal behaviors has a long reaching effect on everyone in the firm.

Work together now and make the next twelve months the safest ever in REALTOR® history.

Copyright© 2006, Jeremy Conaway. All rights reserved. For information regarding Jeremy’s speaking, consulting and facilitating, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www .FrogPond.com

Building A Multicultural Recruitment Strategy

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Oscar M. Gonzales

As our community profiles change, diversity recruitment has become more important and a priority for organizations. Qualified Multicultural talent is in high demand and organizations are ramping up their search for the best and brightest Multicultural stars in the industry. Having a workforce that is reflective of the community is critically important and ultimately leads to a positive experience for the Multicultural consumer and your bottom line.

Here are some guiding principles to consider when developing a Multicultural recruitment strategy:

1) Establish Clear Recruitment Goals

Be committed at the highest level of the organization. Establish a business definition and value statement for what diversity means to your organization. Ensure that management is on board with "measurements of success" for its diversity program. More importantly, have bonuses and other compensation factored in as incentives.

2) Leverage Useful Knowledge and Resources

Do your research. Leverage the latest research and hiring techniques to access and improve upon existing diversity recruiting systems.

3) Partner with agencies that specialize in Multicultural Recruiting Partner with an agency that can support your organizations Multicultural recruitment efforts like the Gonzales Group, that have resources and a strong network in the non-profit and for-profit sectors, major universities, and professional organizations.

4) Train your recruiters to better screen Multicultural Candidates

It’s a proven fact that untrained recruiters will give highest marks to people most like themselves in appearance and background.

5) Train for Success

Ensure you have the right orientation and training for new Multicultural recruits. This means having the right programs that are accessible and culturally correct and provide opportunities for professional growth.

6) Evaluate and Reward

Provide more than brochures and lip service. Be committed to making diversity a standard measurement of the performance evaluation process. Provide incentives to think outside of the box by having diversity goals tied to compensation for all levels of management.

Don’t go it alone. Find the right partner that can help you recruit Multicultural talent for all levels of the organization. Multicultural recruits will respond most when they can culturally connect with an organization. A one-size fits all recruiting strategy is no longer a recipe for success.

Copyright© 2007, Oscar Gonzales, Ph.D, All rights reserved. For information about Dr. Gonzales' consulting and presentations, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www.FrogPond.com

Joan’s Top 10 Tips for Free Publicity

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Joan Stewart

They’re referred to as Publicity Hounds and I’ll bet you know at least one.

They’re the people smiling back at you from color photos that accompany their profile story in the morning paper. Turn on the radio and there they are again, chatting away on a local talk show. Two months later, they show up on the cover of your trade journal. Then they’re being interviewed on the 11 o’clock news. While you’re buying expensive advertising to deliver your message, they’re doing it for free.

During my 22 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, I have seen well-meaning people fail repeatedly in their attempts to beg and cajole the media to pay attention to them. That’s because media relations is a sophisticated game with its own etiquette, protocol and rules. Today, as a media relations consultant, professional speaker and ezine publisher, I teach people how to create free publicity to sell a product or service, champion a cause, create an image and establish their expertise.

Here are my Top 10 tips for free publicity:

Send news releases about new products and services, contests, awards, open houses, speaking engagements. The handy checklist “89 Reasons to Send a News Release” is yours free when you subscribe to my free ezine, "The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week," using the sign-up box on this page.

Write "how-to" articles for newspapers, magazines, trade publications and newsletters, and offer lots of free advice. It helps establish you as an expert. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Get onto the speaking circuit. Speaking to community groups and trade associations is a wonderful way to "create the buzz" about your business. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Create a web site that offers free advice, reciprocal links, articles by and about you, story ideas about your business, an electronic media kit, and a list of experts the media can contact. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/electronicmediakit.html.

Start an e-zine. A free electronic newsletter helps you sell your products and services to an international audience and costs almost nothing compared to expensive direct mail campaigns. With permission, you can send the ezine to reporters who cover your industry. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Get to know reporters. Offer yourself as someone they can call on for background, commentary and story ideas. Call and ask, "How can I help you?" See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/freepublicity.html.

Start your own TV show on your local cable TV company’s public access channel. Air time is free. You pay a minimal amount to rent the camera equipment.

Look for photo opportunities. Local newspapers, TV stations, weekly shoppers, trade publications and other media are always looking for interesting photos. Call the media with ideas, or submit your own photos.

Give free classes and demonstrations through adult ed programs, at schools and colleges, or at your own business. Invite the media to attend. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Participate in online discussion groups and offer lots of helpful advice. Reporters lurk here, and if they’re impressed with your messages, they might contact you for a story. Use a signature file in your e-mail that explains what you do and how you can help solve people’s problems. Link to your web site. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/gettingthroughthemedia.html.

Above all, be patient and persistent. The key to savvy media relations is understanding how to dovetail your wants and needs with those of the media.

How to Create Publicity for a Company Anniversary

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Joan Stewart

Your company, small business or retail store is celebrating its 6 th , 12 th or 20 th anniversary and you want the world to know. But if all you do is call the reporter at your local newspaper and announce the anniversary, don’t be surprised if the reporter says, “Who cares?”

You need a clever hook to get free publicity if you’re celebrating an anniversary. Here are several ideas to get you started:

Sponsor a contest in honor of your anniversary. A men’s clothing store can have an Ugly Tie Contest, put the entries on display and ask customers to vote for the ugliest tie. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Create your own day, week and month of the year. Submit it to http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getpage.php?page=chases_intro.php&template=chases and John Kremer’s excellent book www.celebratetoday.com.

Call the local deejay on a popular drive-time program and donate a dozen prizes for their show. Tell them they can have the prizes to give away however they wish, as long as they mention your store and your anniversary. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/drive-time_radioshows.html.

Take a poll or survey and announce the findings on your anniversary date. A bookstore, for example, can poll readers on the one book they would most like to have with them if they were stranded on an island. See www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Sponsor a free class at your store. A gourmet food store can invite patrons to a free class on cooking with wine. You might even invite a local celebrity chef to be the teacher. Be sure to hand out free samples of the food.

Ask customers to explain in 50 words or less the most unusual or outrageous way they have used one of your products or services. The winner gets a cool prize.

Team up with a local charity or non-profit, such at the homeless shelter and donate products or services they can use. Ask them if they will work with the media to try to get free publicity for the donation.

What To Do When You Can’t Get Reprint Rights

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Joan Stewart

One of my clients, a bank, was ecstatic when the local daily newspaper featured it a few years ago in a big story at the top of the Sunday business page, complete with a color photo. But when the bank called the newspaper for permission to make reprints, they were denied. So the bank’s marketing director called me and asked, “Now what do we do?”

I told her to call the newspaper immediately and order as many back issues of that edition as she could get her hands on. Then she could clip the article and send it to whomever she wished, without violating copyright. The “no reprint” rule is cropping up more frequently these days. Newspapers and magazines are trying to generate more revenue by denying reprint rights and, instead, offering their own expensive reprint services. In this case, the newspaper, which is owned by the giant Gannett chain, wouldn’t even make reprints. It simply refused to allow anyone to make reprints, period.

If a story appears about you or your company, call the publication immediately and ask for permission to reprint. If they say no, buy as many back issues as you can afford because you never know when you’ll need them. But do this immediately. Don’t wait a month or two after publication and then call, or the back issues might be gone. Reprints are a valuable marketing tool and one of the very best ways to recycle your publicity. They can be used in dozens of ways. You can tuck them inside your media kit.

See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html. You can post them in the electronic media kit at your website. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/electronicmediakit.html. You can hand them out at trade shows. You can include them in your handouts if you do public speaking. You can send them to existing clients or to prospects who you want to get in front of. You can even send them to editors of larger, non-competing publications along with a letter pitching your idea. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/marketing-tapes/morepowerfulpitchletter.html.

Large publications like the New York Times, sometimes demand reprint fees of up to $5,000. If you are faced with a decision about whether to pay a whopping amount of money for the right to reprint an article, my advice is to spend the money if the publication is reputable and if you can afford it. A story in the New York Times is the same thing an as endorsement from the New York Times in many people’s eyes.

And that, alone, can be worth thousands.

Personal Development - The Plan

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jim Rohn

Personal Development, and the four main components that are our focus this month:

1. The Invitation - We looked at the possibilities and I challenged you to accept the invitation to join me on this unique journey of self-development and discovery where you’ll set and reach higher goals, go for your dreams, change certain unpleasant things about yourself and make a significant difference in the lives of others.

2. The Plan - This week we’ll talk about the plan. All good things in life are upstream, but the natural flow of life is that downward, negative pull. To combat that downward pull, you need a plan, a map to help you reach your desired destination. We’ll talk about the plan and break down the keys to creating and following a successful plan.

3. Association and Influence - We are affected by everything around us, including what we read, what we watch, who we talk with and who we spend time with. It all plays a part in how we view our world, our relationships, our opportunities but mostly ourselves. Next week we’ll discuss the importance of our associations and the influence they have.

4. Learning and Education - All 12 Pillars of Success we’ll be studying over the next year will involve personal development, becoming a student and learning. This is the foundation—one of the basics or fundamentals to becoming more, to having more and to doing more, and we’ll cover this key aspect in two weeks.

Bonus Point - Personal Development is about having a Celebration; creating your own unique, only-you-deserve-it-because-you-did-it, one-of-a-kind celebration!

We will cover each of these 4 points in depth this month. Last week we discussed the invitation, and now this week I congratulate you on accepting this invitation to be, do and have more in your life. The Bible says if you search you will find, and that is what you and I are in the process of doing. We have accepted the invitation to be seekers so that we can now be finders of the better things that life so openly offers to those who choose to partake in the process. This next year, let’s see what we can do with the soil, seed, sunshine, rain and the miracle of possibilities to turn what we have into a life filled with the equities of treasure, family relationships, enterprise, gifts galore and everything that you want.

Now let’s move on to this week’s topic - The Plan.

As we all know, our results are only as good as our plan. Mr. Schoaff taught me that it’s not what happens that determines the major part of our future, because what happens, happens to us all. Instead, he taught me that the key is what we do about it. If we start the process of change by developing a plan, doing something different in this next year than we did the previous year, it won’t matter how small those efforts start. Start doing different things with the same set of circumstances - the ones we’ve always had and cannot change - and see what miracles occur. If we start the miracle process and change ourselves, then everything changes. And here’s what is interesting, the difference between success and failure is so subtle. Let me explain by giving you my definitions of failure and success. Here it is: Failure is a few Errors in judgment repeated everyday. The man says, "Well I didn’t walk around the block today and it didn’t kill me, so it must be okay." No, no, it is that kind of error in judgment, that after six years has him out of breath and panting as he walks from his car to his office. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes; it will end up costing you.

Now, here is my definition of success: A few simple Disciplines practiced every day. Do you see the distinction? A few disciplines… Here’s a little phrase we’ve all heard, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." And my question to you is, "What if that’s true?" How simple and easy is that plan?

The fact is, when you look at successful people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. They know what they want, they work out a plan that will get them where they want to go, and they work their plan. It is the foundation for success. We as humans have the unique ability to affect change in our lives; it is through our own conscious choice when we engage in the miracle process of personal development that we are able to transform our nature and our lives.

We want this first year in our program to be a success for you - a smashing success - and we know that means you will need to have a plan, and then methodically work that plan. It is the combination of the materials and your open attitude towards learning, driven by the diligent following of a plan that is right for you, that will make this year the kind of success we know you want it to be. So let me challenge you to be no less sincere, be no less committed to the advancement of your philosophy, the set of your sail, your plan.

So, what are some good ideas on developing a plan that will work well and take you to the finish line powerfully and in style? Here are some major points to keep in mind (Chris will give you the action steps at the end):

Develop the Plan for You. Some people are very detail oriented and they will be able to follow an intricate plan closely. Others are a little more "free-wheeling" and not really "detail" people. That is okay too. In all the years of my speaking to audiences worldwide, people have asked the question, "what plan is the right plan?" And my answer, the plan that fits you. Your plan, the one you develop that is unique to you and for you. You see, each of us is unique and motivated by different factors and you’ve got to develop one that is right for you and fits you. Some plans will not be as intricate as others but we all must have a plan, along with goals in that plan, to move us along the program. If you are a free spirit type, don’t tell yourself you are going to spend 2 hours a day with a book and tapes and journal. It probably won’t happen and you will get discouraged! Whatever your personality, your strengths and your weaknesses, develop the plan around them! This is not a one-plan-fits-all proposition.

Establish Times to Spend Working on the Material. It may be every Sunday night. It may be 20 minutes each morning. It may be in the car listening to the CD’s every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Whatever it is, set the times and do it. In your step-by-step plan, put down points that you can accomplish every week. They should be specific and achievable. Develop the discipline and take those steps everyday, which will move you closer to your goals and where you want to be.

Keep a Journal. Take notes. It may be on paper, it may be on a micro-recorder. Mr. Schoaff taught me not to trust my memory, but to write it down, to find one place to gather the information that affects change. And that advice has served me well all these years. Record the ideas and inspiration that will carry you from where you are to where you want to be. Take notes on the ideas that impact you most. Put down your thoughts and ideas. Brainstorm with yourself on where you are going and what you want to do. Record your dreams and ambitions. Your journals are a gathering place for all the valuable information that you will find. If you are serious about becoming wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured, unique, if you come across something important write it down. Two people will listen to the same material and different ideas will come to each one. Use the information you gather and record it for further reflection, for future debate and for weighing the value that it is to you.

Reflect. Create time for reflection—a time to go back over, to study again the things you’ve learned and the things you’ve done each day. I call it "running the tapes again" so that the day locks firmly in your memory so that it serves as a tool. As you go through the material in this plan, you will want to spend time reflecting on its significance for you. Regularly set aside time - here are some good guidelines for times to reflect: At the end of the day. Take a few minutes at the end of each day and go back over the day - who’d you talk to, who’d you see, what did they say, what happened and how’d you feel, what went on. A day is the piece of the mosaic of your life. Next, take a few hours at the end of the week to reflect on the week’s activities - I would suggest at least one half-hour. Also during that weekly time, take a few minutes to reflect on how this material should be applied to your life and circumstances. Take a half day at the end of the month and a weekend at the end of the year so that you’ve got it so that it never disappears, to ensure that the past is even more valuable and will serve your future well.

Set Goals. While we are going to cover this soon enough in upcoming weeks, let’s just remember that your plan is the roadmap for how you are going to get to your goals, so you have to have them. Of all the things that changed my life for the better (and most quickly), it was learning how to set goals. Mastering this unique process can have a powerful affect on your life too. I remember shortly after I met Mr. Schoaff, he asked me if I had a list of my goals, and of course I didn’t. He suggested to me that because I lacked a set of clearly defined goals that he could guess my bank balance within a few hundred dollars… and he did! Well, Mr. Schoaff immediately began helping me define my view of the future, my dreams. He taught me to set goals because it is the greatest influence on a person’s future and the greatest force that will pull a person in the direction that they want to go. But the future must be planned, well designed to exert a force that pulls you towards the promise of what can be.

Act. Act on your plan. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful so many times is that the successful simply do it. They take action, they aren’t necessarily smarter than others; they just work the plan. And the time to act is when the emotion is strong. Because if you don’t, here’s what happens - it’s called the law of diminishing intent. We intend to act when the idea strikes us, when the emotion is high, but if we delay and we don’t translate that into action fairly soon, the intention starts to diminish, diminish and a month from now it’s cold and a year from now it can’t be found. So set up the discipline when the idea is strong, clear and powerful - that’s the time to work the plan. Otherwise the emotion is wasted unless you capture the emotion and put it into disciplined activities and translate it into equity. And here’s what is interesting: all disciplines affect each other; everything affects everything. That’s why the smallest action is important.

Like we said last week, we are at the beginning of a fantastic journey that is going to help us become all that we want to - so let’s get going!

6 Keys To Respecting Your Time

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Maria Gracia

Are you the type of person that always says YES to every demand on your time? Can you watch my kids? Will you drive me to soccer practice? You’re so good at sewing; can you help me make a party costume for my daughter? Would you mind calling that person for me? Since you’re already working on the computer, would you mind typing me a letter?

Would you say YES to almost every one of these requests?

There is certainly no shortage of people looking for volunteers. But the truth is that you can only do so much, before getting stressed and exhausted.

One important thing to remember is that the only way that others are going to respect your time, is if YOU respect your time.

DO ONE OR TWO THINGS, AND DO THEM WELL. Rather than volunteering at every school, church, organization or work activity, pick one or two things and focus your efforts on those. If someone else requests your time, let them know you’re committed to these one or two activities, and simply cannot take on another.

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE ALL OR NOTHING. While you may consider helping someone out with something, that certainly doesn’t mean you have to do it all. For example, rather than serving on a committee, you may volunteer to make reminder phone calls, or to type up the newsletter.

BARTER. If someone asks you to volunteer your time, ask this person to volunteer their time right back. For instance, if your friend asks you to baby sit tonight, ask her if she can drive your son to school tomorrow.

NO GUTS-NO GLORY. If you have no intention of saying YES, don’t avoid the issue by saying, MAYBE, or IF I HAVE TIME. While this may temporarily alleviate your guilt, it’s unfair to the other person, and you’ll be wasting time fretting over what excuse you’re going to give to this person. Just say No. And don’t feel guilty about saying No, because you want to spend some quality time with your family, or you need some personal time alone.

TAME YOUR TO DO LIST. Your To Do List should not be ten pages long. Good time management is picking and choosing those items that are truly important and saying NO to those that are not important at all. Force yourself to limit the amount of items on your To Do List.

DO IT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO. While there are some situations that are to be considered emergencies--such as helping an ill relative or friend-- there are many other requests for your time that you simply don’t have to do. The best rule of thumb is to choose those activities that you TRULY WANT TO DO--those things that will make you happy. If someone asks you for your time, and you find yourself thinking, ‘Oh, no’, then don’t do it.

Seven Keys To Get Out Of A Rut

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Paul Lemberg

Rut : a routine procedure, situation, or way of life that has become uninteresting and tiresome...

And not surprisingly, unprofitable.

They say a rut is a shallow grave with two open ends. The good news (good news?!) is that the ends ARE still open, which means if you act fast, you just might out of it.

How do we get into these ruts anyway? Who would voluntarily lie down in that grave, shallow or otherwise? Dr. Edward Debono suggests that thoughts are pathways literally "etched" in our brain as electrical connections that get strengthened each time we think them—thus limiting our mental options. Just like cow paths.

It all begins when one of the cows wanders home from the field along a new path. Being cows, others naturally follow, nicely beating down the grass. The next evening our intrepid cow is a bit less bold, and follows her own freshly trampled path, fellow cows in lockstep behind her. And so on, night after night, widening the path into a footpath, which over time becomes hardened into a dirt road. More time passes and the road is paved into a street, then an avenue, a two-lane highway, and ultimately an interstate.

By the time you come roaring up the onramp in your shiny SUV, your direction is all mapped out in front of you. There’s no way to turn, and nowhere to go but towards the next exit. If you want to chart a fresh direction you are going to have to grab the steering wheel and give it a hard, gut-wrenching yank to the right.

And so it is with your thoughts and actions. Repeating them a few times all but insures you will comfortably repeat them indefinitely unless you take deliberate - possibly disruptive—action to do otherwise.

Here are 7 rut busters I use with my business coaching clients that you can apply immediately to get yourself and your business out of a rut.

1. Shift your mindset from self to customer.

Most business people think of themselves first. They craft product and service offers from their own perspective and consider themselves the beneficiaries of their actions. While that’s not wrong, to get out of your rut do this: put yourself into the mind of your customer. Who are these people anyway? What are they concerned about? What are they trying to accomplish? If you were your customer, what would you think of that new product, marketing campaign, or mail piece? Are you selling your wonderful "stuff", or are you providing them tangible, meaningful benefits. Ask, "If I were the customer, would I care?" And if not, consider, "What WOULD I get excited about?"

2. Shift your mindset from customer to client.

A customer is someone who buys your goods or services. The original meaning of client is entirely different: someone who is under your care and protection. Now that’s a switch, isn’t it? If they’re customers, your goal is to get them to buy something. But if you were to think of them as under your care - would you approach your business from another angle? How would you take care of them? How would you "protect" them? What new programs would you want to implement immediately?

3. Revisit your vision

Whenever I feel like I’m in a rut I return to my vision and I do 2 things. First, I make sure it still inspires me and that it is pointing me in the direction I want to go. Once sure, I put pen to paper and rewrite it. Not just once, but over and over. And I keep writing until I can’t write it anymore because I’m jumping up and down with a new idea I must do something about right away.

4. Conduct a Survey

If you don’t know what to do next, ask your clients. (They are clients, aren’t they?) Conduct a survey about anything that interests you. Ask them what’s bothering them. Ask them what they’re stuck on. Ask them what they like about your company and what they’d like you to do next. Ask them about new features, or new products, or new services. If you’re not happy with your current customers, conduct a survey among the kind of people you’d like to have as customers. And, if you can’t do that, conduct a survey online. Write an attractive search engine ad, promise something of value, and drive people to a survey page. Ask them anything you like - the answers will almost always provide you with a neat mind- shift.

5. Focus on building your strengths and dump your weaknesses.

From the time we are little children we are taught to better ourselves by working on our weaknesses. This is often both frustrating and fruitless, and certainly not as much fun as practicing our strengths.

Try this on: What if you focused 100 percent of your energy on being world-class in those few things at which you are already very good, and out-tasked or outsourced those things at which you were mediocre. Imagine if you never had to face any of those things again and could spend all your time doing the good stuff. Would that change the way you felt about your business? Would that bust you out of your rut?

6. Not if, but how.

Think of that wild and crazy idea you had recently. The one where you said to yourself, "That would be great, but there’s just no way." Well, I know there’s no way - you just said so—but if there was a way, what would it be? Answer that question as if you believed it was possible - probable even—and then get busy making it real. That’s power, you know—turning your vision into reality. Talk about a breakthrough!

7. What are you willing to sacrifice?

Some important things are more important than other important things, and trying to keep all those plates spinning in the air saps your vigor for the ones that truly matter. Dissipated energy - lethargy—is one of the reasons we lie down in that rut in the first place, and dropping a few of those plates can really help things break loose. So let go. Make the sacrifice. Clear your plate and give up some of those precious things you’ve been holding on to. Focus your vitality on plans which will really rock your world.

Ruts? Who needs ‘em.

7 Organizing Secrets of Successful People

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Barbara Myers

What is your definition of success? At the very least, you probably desire a certain amount of free time and money. Getting organized will help you be successful, however you define it.

Control your time instead of letting it control you.Have a plan every day.Make a to-do list. You’ll accomplish more.

Delegate repetitive tasks to employees and family members.

Outsource.Pay or barter to have others do what you don’t do well (or don’t want to do).

Set goals and priorities.Write them down.Post them.Focus on them daily.Continually ask yourself, "Is this the best use of my time right now?"

Batch activities.Spending a specific amount of time on like activities is more of a time saver than flitting back and forth between unrelated tasks.

Have a place for everything.Keep like things together.

De-clutter.Move excess stuff out of your life. Live with a budget.Spend both time and money wisely so you’ll have plenty of each.

9 Tips to Control Your Paper at Home

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Barbara Myers

To reduce paper piles at home, walk straight from the mail box to the trash can or recycling bin. Dispose of the junk mail. Opening it wastes time. Just pitch it in.

Set up a file or basket for each member of your household. Sort mail, school papers to sign, reading materials and even notes to each other.

Allow newspapers to remain in the house only for a specific number of days. At the end of that period (one to six days), dispose of them, read or not.

Tear interesting articles out of magazines to read later. Put them in a “to read” file or basket. Dispose of the bulky magazine.

Make a home for any piece of paper that doesn’t have one. Avoiding piles means making a decision, NOW, on each piece of paper.

Set up the simplest filing system possible. Use broad categories and you’ll be more likely to file. Buy a portable file box so you can file while watching TV.

Post appropriate information where you need it. Hang a stain removal guide in your laundry room. Tape instruction manuals to appliances and electronics.

Place mail order catalogs in a reading basket near a cozy chair. Keep only the ones you truly enjoy. Have sticky notes and pen ready for ordering notes.

Make a “hold” file for sports schedules, tickets to future events and department/specialty store coupons you might want. Use this file for anything you will need at a future date. Weed it out monthly.

Still Doing Price Quotes - Are you Crazy Or What?

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jim Meisenheimer

Why in the world would you ever do a price quote for a customer?

Please don’t tell me it’s because a customer asked you.

If your customer asked you to lower your price by 75%, you wouldn’t do that would you? Of course not - you’d be out of business within a week.

Are you tired of having to beat your competitor’s price? Would you like to win more quotes at a higher price? There’s a big reason why you should avoid sending price quotes to your customers.

The reason is simple, the first and only thing your customers will look at is your bottom line price. They will compare your price with your competitor’s price. Best price usually wins.

You need to change the rules of the game. Here are five ways to tip the outcome in your favor.

Forget quotes and do proposals. Consider this - what do you want your proposal to do after you leave the sales call? If you want your proposal to represent you after you leave, you have to put more than a price on a piece of paper.

Ideally, your proposal should represent you professionally, long after you leave. Here’s how to do it.

Personalize your proposal by putting the customer’s name, in large type, on the front page and if it’s appropriate use the words "especially prepared for William H. Anderson." people enjoy seeing man name up on the marquee - so make sure you put it there. If you’re dealing with a committee - make sure everyone gets a personalized copy with their name on it.

When you prepare proposals for products and services that represent significant dollar amounts, include a creative organizational chart. In each box include the name, the title, Phone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a small photograph if possible. It screams accessibility and that’s what you wanted to scream.

If you really want to be creative scan the customer’s logo or facility photograph next to your own logo or company photograph. Insert a plus sign (+) between photographs. It’s a great way to say and show a "partnership."

Include your own photograph somewhere in the proposal to personalize the package. Remember, the best way to align yourself with potential customers, is by being out-of-step with your primary competitor and in step with the decision-makers you’re working with. Dare to be different. If you want to be remembered, do something memorable - hello!

To justify your price, always include a benefit’s page. Your benefits page should include high impact factual statements about your company, products, and even you. List at least eight to ten factual statements followed by and reinforced with benefit statements.

Benefit statements should be included on the next line. Benefit statements should be indented on the next line. To really emphasize the value, increase the type size slightly, and bold face the entire benefits line. Print the benefit line in red ink if you have a color printer or use a yellow highlighter to make the benefits really standout and jump off the page.

The key is to show your benefits before you give your pricing. This approach emphasizes your benefits before it shows your price.

Quotes are usually about price. The best price normally wins the sale. Proposals should spell out your benefits and show your value by differentiating you, your products, and your company.

Here’s a big sales tip for you. Put your benefits page before your pricing page, to make sure they see your benefits before they see your price.

Here’s another sales tip for you. Avoid using words like cost and price too often in your sales proposal. Use the word investment, wherever practical and possible.

When you take extra time to prepare your proposal, your customers will take notice. Your extra effort can turn ordinary quotes into an extra-ordinary sales proposal, loaded with value, for your customers.

Quotes seldom justify price; proposals loaded with benefits and value always do.

You don’t always have to beat your competitor’s price to win the sale.

If your price is going to be higher, your proposal has to be much better.

And remember, the more you talk about price - the lower it gets.

Copyright©, 2006, Jim Meisenheimer. All rights reserved. For information about Jim’s Keynote presentations and consulting services, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www.FrogPond.com

Celebrate Epiphanies Rather Than Understanding

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Linda Talley

Crazy but true! Think about a time when you tried to understand something and you just never did! Perhaps it was the raise or the promotion you never got or the sale that never occurred or the lease that never got signed. How long did you spend trying to figure it out—trying to understand what happened, what went wrong, why they did it? It was probably a pretty frustrating process. And it always will be because the trick is not to go after understanding—go after the “aha” and understanding will follow.

So, let’s say, you didn’t get the promotion. You could spend the next 6 months trying to figure out why or you could jump back into your job and celebrate the epiphanies that come your way. This could be an article you read that gives you better language to approach your boss about the next promotion. This could be moving closer to your boss and building a better relationship with him/her. This could be becoming the expert in your department. Whatever it is, when you experience the epiphanies, celebrate them! Say, “Yes, I get it. I know what to do next time!” Or, “I see what I was missing last time.”

When you celebrate this way, you start collecting epiphanies (knowledge) and when you have enough epiphanies, you create wisdom (understanding). Wisdom (understanding) is the connecting the facts of the mind (knowledge) with the emotions of the heart. It doesn’t happen overnight but it will happen when you focus on celebrating epiphanies!

Growing Your Meeting In CyberSpace

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Philippa Gamse

As increasing numbers of people search for information on the Internet, it becomes more imperative to have a compelling Website to promote and support your meetings.

Here is my list of “The Seven Most Important Things You can do Online”:

Identify all your Online Markets

It’s a common mistake to focus your attention on the obvious target audience for your meetings site – the potential attendees.

But many other types of visitor may find your site, and it’s important to consider whether they’re important to you, how you want to engage them, and what outcomes you’d like to achieve with them.

Visitors to your meetings Website might include:

past / potential attendees

suppliers / vendors / exhibitors / sponsors / insurers

Board members / employees / volunteers

content seekers

media

job seekers

competition

“Content seekers” is the term I use for members of the public who may not be regular customers or members of your organization, but who find you through a keyword search because they’re interested in the content of your meeting. If you admit the public to your events, this is an important audience who might require different communications from your regular participants.

If you’re looking for publicity, don’t forget the importance of a press center. This should be very easy to find, and should contain all the information that a reporter would need to cover your event – they’re usually under tight deadlines and will really appreciate this.

I include “competition” in this list because many people have asked me whether it’s dangerous to put too much good information on your Website “in case the competition sees it”. My (somewhat obvious) answer? “If your competition can’t see it, neither can the people you’re looking to attract!”

Set your Goals

This sounds self-evident, but is often overlooked. You can’t evaluate your return on investment (see #7 later) if you don’t know what you want to achieve. What will be your measures of success for this site in terms of your meeting? What are the key outcomes that you want – registrations, exhibitors, media attention, ongoing discussion forums, etc.

Also consider the expenses of the site against any potential savings – for instance, if you’re implementing online registration, you want to be satisfied that your system can replace (and hopefully improve on) your real-world processes in a cost-effective manner.

Make it About Them, not You

Your site should be written from your visitors’ point of view, not yours. Does your meeting description page clearly recognize why the reader might be there – what’s in it for them to attend your event, and why they should care? What are the problems or issues that they might have, and how will participating in this meeting address them?

Include some testimonials from previous attendees giving clear examples of how they’ve benefited from this event in the past. Third party endorsements are worth far more than your own promotional text. They should be spread throughout your site, not relegated to a separate page (because few visitors will go to it).

Make it Easy to do Business With You

It’s all too easy to throw online roadblocks into the paths of your visitors, perhaps without even realizing it. A couple of my favorite examples of this are:

Site search engines that return “no results found”, making the visitor feel foolish. Clearly they’re looking for something, so offer to have a representative call them – or provide further help with your search process

Asking for registration details prematurely, before you’ve created enough trust with a new visitor. Privacy issues and concern about spam are major barriers to volunteering personal information.

Every Page of your Site should Have a Strategy

Whatever the outcomes that you want from your site, you need to ask for them. Too many Web pages end weakly, with no clear calls to action. Don’t make your visitors have to work to decide what to do next – they won’t! Every page on your site should have a strategy – invite the visitor to interact with you, or go to the next page, but make it easy and obvious.

So, at the appropriate place in each page (or at several points in the page), include a link to the appropriate form - “register for this meeting”, “ask for an exhibitor packet” – or whatever invitation may be relevant.

Practice Multi-Channel Integrated Marketing

Offline marketing activities, such as postcard campaigns can be extremely useful in driving traffic to your Website. Think of all your marketing tactics as inter-related, and not as separate.

Don’t rely on search engines to bring traffic to you – there are many other ways to create online buzz:

paid advertising – e-zine sponsorship / banners / pay-per-click searches

public relations and coverage on other sites

placing articles by your experts and speakers on sites and in publications read by your target audiences

and of course, targeted e-mail marketing to your existing mailing lists

Measure your Success

The keys to evaluating the return on investment in your site, to improving it, and often to further business development ideas can be found in your Web traffic reports. These show what visitors are looking for, how long they spend on the site, where they go, where they leave, and what rate of response you get to the various calls to action.

These reports can be daunting – a mass of figures, graphs and URL’s. But I’d strongly suggest that someone in your organization should understand them. Otherwise, you’re shooting in the dark with your Web investment.

Avoid the Duds! Ten Strategies Needed to Book

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Darlene Lyons

Today, more than ever, the success of your events relies heavily upon the strength of your program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more quickly than hiring the wrong speaker. That’s because speakers do more than just convey the overall meeting message. They impact your entire program. You count on them to provide insights, concepts and cutting-edge information in an energetic, motivational, entertaining and professional manner.

What more should you ask for from your speakers? Well…the right speaker must emphasize an important message, offer inspiration, help people cope with market shifts and lead the way towards change.

Selecting the right speaker for your event is one of the most important, yet most daunting, elements of creating a successful meeting. Your speaker has the power to “make or break” your event. If he or she bombs, your reputation not only takes a severe nose-dive, but you also have

the misfortune of dealing with the barrage of complaints from a disappointed audience. However, if he or she does well, you can walk away with many of the accolades, compliments, and, of course, the rave reviews. By now, you probably realize that this massive responsibility is not to be taken lightly.

Raise Your Expectations

The key to selecting a great speaker lies in determining what combination of education, motivation and entertainment best fits your function. Once this is determined, you then set out to find a perfect match. Keep your expectations high! Remember, nothing spoils an event faster than booking the wrong speaker. The following ten guidelines will help you maintain your focus and will also help you avoid “the duds."

Know Your Program Objectives:

Before you can start looking for the right speaker, you must be clear on your program objectives.

Begin with the end in mind. Ask yourself questions such as:

What are you looking to achieve? Is this an annual convention, a training program, a sales rally, an awards celebration or some other type of event?

Knowing what outcome you’d like to achieve is important when making your selection.

2. Understand the Audience’s Needs:

Along with your program objectives, consider the needs of your audience.

Does your group need listing or selling techniques? Do they need a “nudge” embracing your new technology? Will a mix of motivation and entertainment serve your group’s purpose? Today’s audiences are generally younger, more educated, more diverse and more sophisticated than the audiences of the past. They want content.

They want to learn, but they also want to have fun. It is imperative that you consider the audience needs expectations. You may need to survey your audience beforehand. Ask them what they want or what skills would most help them in today’s market. For example, sales people may ask for advanced selling skills, but managers may request accountability programs.

3. Check Reputation and Qualifications:

With countless speakers out there vying for your business, how can you possibly determine which one best meets your needs? Many speakers produce highly professional or glitzy marketing materials to help sell their services. You must look deeper than simply scanning a few brochures. Be objective in your analysis. Ask questions such as:

What experience does this speaker have?

How familiar is this speaker with our industry?

Who else has used this person?

Are they recommended by a reliable source?

4. "Qualify" Your Prospects:

If you don’t have the opportunity to preview a speaker in person, then the next best thing is to request a video or audio recording of a previous presentation. A session that was recorded before a live audience gives you a better sense of that person’s real ability. Worst case scenario, get references and call them!

5. Don’t be Star-Struck:

If you are considering celebrity speakers, make sure they can speak!

T.V. personalities do a great job on the air, but sometimes have little public speaking expertise. You should be aware that the skills needed for being on T.V. and those for speaking live are completely different. However, many well known personalities make excellent speakers and can add enormous value and clout to your event. Politicians, sports, media or entertainment celebrities often share life experiences, offer advice or have an inspirational message to impart. Also, beware of great authors. They are sometimes mistaken for great speakers, only to seriously let down the audience and embarrass the event planner. Again, check references!

6. Be Wary of Grandiose Claims:

Speakers who claim to be “all things to all people” are probably too hungry for work. True professional speakers, on the other hand, usually have certain areas or topics of expertise. They would much rather refer potential business to a true expert than jeopardize their reputation by trying to do a program outside of their scope of knowledge.

7. Provide and Ask For Good Information:

Reputable speakers want to find out as much as possible about your meeting objectives, the audience, audience challenges, etc., in order to tailor their presentation to your specific group. Share information on your organization and audience to help the speaker design a program to fit your specific needs. Provide them with your event flyer, copies of newsletters, catalogues or any other publications that highlights industry trends, key people and insider news and views. Also include as much information as possible about the attendees. Be sure to notify the speaker if your audience is mainly sales associates, title representatives, loan officers, managers or association executives.

8. Ask For an Outline:

Here at BASB, we ask prospective speakers for an outline of their presentation to make sure that they will be covering the material you discussed. This clearly lays what is expected. As you know, verbal communication can be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Therefore, seeing exactly what your speaker plans to cover in your session will help to ensure that the material is tailored to your specific needs.

9. Maximize Opportunities:

Look for ways to maximize opportunities with your speakers. Discuss different ways they can add extra value and be a significant resource to help improve your meeting’s success. Brainstorm ways that you feel your speaker can assist you (i.e. planning, preparing, promoting and presenting). Some suggestions include: serving as an emcee; delivering breakout sessions; submitting articles you can use in your promotional materials; conducting special sessions for select groups or roundtable discussions (such as company executives or the board of directors) about current issues; and participating in a spouse program.

10. Trust Your Instincts:

Through your communication with the speaker or the speaker’s representative, you will quickly form an opinion or have a feeling about their fit. First reactions or “gut feelings” count here. Have confidence in your instincts and trust that so-called “sixth sense.” If you experience any kind of negative feeling, think about looking for someone else or get another recommendation from the bureau. You want to make sure that you can work with this speaker and their team and that both of you are “on the same page.” The true objective of hiring a professional speaker hinges on establishing a partnership where a mutually beneficial relationship grows and flourishes. When this happens, you know you’ve chosen well.

The Perfect Match

Overwhelmed with the plethora of speakers you have to choose from? You may want to turn to a speaker’s bureau for advice and guidance. A good bureau should act as a consultant and partner to help your event succeed. Even though many hundreds of bureaus are out there, the numbers pale in comparison to the thousands of speakers.

A speaker’s bureau’s sole purpose is simply to make your job easier and provide you with solutions. They want to find the best possible match for your event within your price range.

A Final Note

Look for CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) or CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) designations. Both of these are conferred by the National Speaker’s Association and are considered the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skills ( http://www.nsaspeaker.org ).

Armed with these guidelines and resources, your search for the perfect speaker will be more fruitful and less risky. With a little effort and time, you will connect with a speaker who will meet your goals. Your audience will thank you.

Start Living in Prime Time

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Denis Waitley

Deck: The author here makes an excellent point that we could all stand to be reminded of: most of our waking work day is spent taking care of everyone else’s issues. We have very little time each day to devote to our own needs. Read on for some novel approaches to maximizing your own prime time.

Prime time is that period between 6 and 10 p.m. during which most of the general public watches television. Commercials in prime time are the most expensive, approaching a million dollars per minute. Your real success in life will take a quantum leap when you stop watching other people making money in their professions performing in prime time, and start living your own dreams and goals in prime time. Time is the ultimate equal opportunity employer. Time never stops to rest, never hesitates, never looks forward or backward. Life’s raw material spends itself in the now, this moment, which is why how you spend your time is far more important than all the material possessions you may own or positions you may obtain. Positions change, possessions come and go, you can earn more money. You can renew your supply of many things, but like good health, that other most precious resource, time spent is gone forever.

Each yesterday, and all of them together, are beyond your control. Literally all the money in the world can’t undo or redo a single act you performed. You cannot erase a single word you said. You can’t add an "I love you," "I’m sorry", or "I forgive you", not even a "thank you" you forgot to say. Each human being in every hemisphere and time zone has precisely 168 hours a week to spend. And some of the most precious hours occur in prime time.

Consider this: most of your daytime hours are spent helping other people solve their problems. The little time you have in the evenings and on weekends is all you have to spend on yourself, on your own dreams and goals, and personal development. Some thoughts to ponder:

· Have supper with your loved ones at least two to three times per week. It’s the best time for casual conversation to listen to what those close to you feel is important in their lives. Mealtime is a time to dialogue.

· A television set is an appliance. It should be used, at most, for two hours at a time. It should be off, unless specific programs of interest are selected. It should not be used as a one-eyed baby sitter. For the most part, TV exposes us to negative role models.

· Instead of watching television why not read a good fiction or non-fiction book, write a letter, engage in a hobby or craft, call a friend or someone in need of encouragement on the phone, network on your computer, go out to an ethnic restaurant, a home show, an entrepreneurial show, a musical recital, a play, a fitness class, or cultural event. Take an art or photography class. Use prime time to live the kind of life others put on layaway.

Action Idea: If you and your family/friends watch TV, try not turning it on for one week. When you do watch TV, reduce by 50% the amount of time you spend watching it. Concentrate your evenings and free time engaged in hands on, real life experiences, you can touch, feel, smell and engage all your senses in. Instead of virtual reality, insist on the real thing.

Watch Out For The Aftershocks Of Mortgage Fraud

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jeremy Conaway

We first felt it in the fall of 2005 as a minor tremor. Of course the stress had been building imperceptivity for many months. By December of 2005 the tension was described by Inman News as a “Pandemic.” It’s impossible to say if the ‘big one’ is over, or whether a major quake is still on the way. But what is clear is that many brokerages will be shaken by the aftershocks. And no one can accurately predict where or when these aftershocks will occur.

2005 will go down in history for many things. Its record of 7.2 million residential units sold may stand for years. But perhaps the most long-standing and distinctive feature of 2005 will be that it was the year that mortgage fraud became a prominent feature in the marketplace.

According to Inman News the FBI handled 21,994 reports of "suspicious" real estate activity, including mortgage fraud, in 2005; a 28% increase over the 2004 total of 17,127. And the 2004 total was nearly two a half times higher than 2003.

The FBI reported over 750 pending mortgage fraud investigations in numerous states, up from 534 in 2004 and more than three times the number in 2003. At the time, the 2003 number was the agency’s largest ever nationwide enforcement operation directed at financial institution fraud, including mortgage fraud.

With enforcement up, who do you think will be caught in this dragnet? Those who are plotting with illegal intent, and are planning for the risk of law enforcement intervention? Or those who are on the fringe of the illegal activity, and have no idea what is coming?

In light of this renewed effort in law enforcement, it is essential for all brokers and agents to understand:

• What mortgage fraud is

• How one might recognize it in action

• The nature of the law enforcement process, and

• The real danger of getting caught up in one of the many “stings” that are now being conducted in the marketplace.

Akin to predatory lending, the FBI defines mortgage fraud as "a material misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission relied upon by an underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan."

According to Ralph Roberts, a Michigan real estate broker, who has become a nationally recognized anti-fraud advocate, the illegal behavior comes in several forms involving bad actors who:

• Pay "straw borrowers" or "investors" to sign and submit documents containing false qualifying information.

• Induce appraisers to inflate property values in order to obtain a larger mortgage loan for the "straw borrower."

• Submit bogus invoices for phantom "upgrades" or "renovations" that falsely inflate the value of the property.

• Promise "investors" that properties will be leased or rented, and that they will pay all mortgage, insurance, property tax and homeowner association payments for those investors. (Of course these tenants never materialize and the payments are never made).

• Pay "straw sellers" to falsely claim ownership of a property, appear at a closing where the property is sold to "straw borrowers," distribute the mortgage proceeds inappropriately and subsequently appear at the next closing (sometimes within hours) to purchase the same property at a lesser amount, (this is, of course, the classic act of “flipping”)

• Provide buyers with funds for down payments that are falsely represented as being paid by the borrower.

• Create "false sellers" and "false borrowers" to assume false identities for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining mortgage loan proceeds.

• File false release, cancellation and assignment of security deeds on properties to eliminate the security interest of legitimate lenders in order to clear title prior to obtaining additional mortgage loans on the property.

While the above behaviors are the most common, like other popular crimes, mortgage fraud comes in an endless range of variations as more bad actors apply their creativity and innovation to the illegal activity.

Mortgage fraud has never been a sexy or glamorous crime. In fact despite its statistical growth over the past several years, until 2005 it had not received the full attention of law enforcement. Surprisingly, as the crime grows, more suspects are walking. There were 206 indictments in 2005, down from 241 in 2004. And there were 170 related convictions in 2005, down from 172 in 2004.

Today mortgage fraud is a priority within the federal and state law enforcement community. It is now receiving a level of treatment that will redefine the crime.

Public education about criminal behavior is often frustrating and non-productive because the public fails to see the relevancy of the crime. The vast majority of real estate and mortgage professionals would not willingly participate in mortgage fraud. But they might be involved unknowingly. In order to make their newfound seriousness “relevant” to all practitioners, it is necessary for law enforcement to create “relevant examples” that are worthy of headline coverage, and clearly teach the lessons.

Activities that constitute violations of any criminal statute are like the four concentric circles of a target. In the middle “bull’s eye” are the worst offenders, the true criminal element. In the second ring there are the amateur criminals who are just opportunists. In the third ring are those who just practice in a sloppy manner. And in the fourth ring are those who are just trying to “get by” in a complicated world.

A classic example of this target concept is our common experience of speeding in a car. The “bull’s eye” group goes 95 in a 55 zone and everyone is offended. The second group goes 85 and everybody notices. The third group goes 75 and everyone wonders. The fourth group however believes in the “7 over” rule and believes that 62 MPH is really all right.

Unfortunately many professionals whose arrest will make the enforcement effort “relevant” are in this last group. The current mortgage fraud “sting” environment will generate its publicity not on the most grievous of offenders but rather upon the arrest of high profile agents, large brokers and generally “straight shooters” whose violations, although “somewhat technical” will generate public attention to the problem.

Most distressing is that many of these “technical” violations occur because the offenders do not realize that “cutting” corners (going 56 in a 55) will now be picked up by the law enforcement radar. “Ignorance of the law” is not a substantive defense.

Brokers should immediately review the mortgage procedures being used by in-house mortgage programs, and more to the point, by agents who may be using mortgage resources of a lesser more personal quality.

It is time to once again consider the benefits of a strong core mortgage program.

Don’t slide into simple violations that become the basis of an appearance on the front page of the local newspaper and an appointment with a federal judge. Beware. Review and exercise your management and control procedures.

The time is now to prepare to protect ourselves, and our clients. We an not stop the aftershocks. But we can build solid and flexible policies to keep our structures from crumbling.

The Qualities of Skillful Leadership

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jim Rohn

If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. I call leadership the great challenge of life.

What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here are some specifics:

1) Learn to be strong but not rude. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It’s not even a good substitute.

2) Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake kindness for weakness. Kindness isn’t weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell somebody the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.

3) Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you’ve got to walk in front of your group. You’ve got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the first sign of trouble.

4) You’ve got to learn to be humble, but not timid. You can’t get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. Humility is almost a God-like word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder. An awareness of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we’re part of the stars. So humility is a virtue; but timidity is a disease. Timidity is an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem.

5) Be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to win the day. It takes pride to build your ambition. It takes pride in community. It takes pride in cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is being proud without being arrogant. In fact I believe the worst kind of arrogance is arrogance from ignorance. It’s when you don’t know that you don’t know. Now that kind of arrogance is intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that’s just too much to take.

6) Develop humor without folly. That’s important for a leader. In leadership, we learn that it’s okay to be witty, but not silly. It’s okay to be fun, but not foolish.

Lastly, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony. Just accept life like it is. Life is unique. Some people call it tragic, but I’d like to think it’s unique. The whole drama of life is unique. It’s fascinating. And I’ve found that the skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. But the fundamental skills of leadership can be adapted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community, and at home.

Sales Lead Investment: Match Your Demand Generation Programs With Your Sales Needs

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Mac Mcintosh

Billions of dollars from business-to-business marketing budgets are spent each year on sales lead generation. Billions more dollars are spent to fulfill and follow up on marketing responses, and to determine which sales leads are qualified and ready for sales attention. Unfortunately, much of this investment in sales lead generation is wasted. Why? Because many sales lead generation programs and lead qualification efforts are not in harmony with the needs of sales.

With this in mind, have you optimized your company’s sales lead generation programs to be in harmony with the needs of your salespeople, reps, resellers or distributors? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Have you built consensus with sales management on the definition of a qualified sales lead? Has this definition been clearly communicated to all
parties?Typical definitions include criteria such as:

Does the prospect have a need or an application for your product or
service?
What is the prospect’s role in the decision-making process?
What is the prospect’s timing for purchase or implementation?
What is the status of the prospect’s budget?
What is the size of the opportunity?
Have you calculated how many qualified sales leads are needed in the
sales pipeline in order to meet or exceed the company’s sales revenue goals? Have you broken that number down into how many qualified sales leads are needed each month and each quarter? Have you built your company’s sales lead generation programs with those target numbers in mind?

Have you put in place programs specifically designed to weed out the
non-prospects and nurture the longer-term, not-yet-qualified
opportunities-only forwarding the truly qualified sales leads to
salespeople, reps, resellers or distributors for follow-up?
Have you budgeted appropriately for this important sales lead development function?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, the good news is that you are not
guilty of wasting your company’s sales lead generation investments. Instead, you are probably well respected by the people in sales and corporate management.

Average REALTOR� Productivity Collapses

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Stefan Swanepoel

July 2007 - We all know that 2000 - 2005 comprised one of the hottest real estate markets on record. During this period the country experienced a buying frenzy fed by low interest rates, a plate full of new mortgages, bullish customer confidence, low unemployment, strong economic growth and excellent price appreciation. Not only did home prices and the number of home sales surge but so did the number of REALTORS.

As a result, according to the Swanepoel TRENDS Report, the industry is now burdened with too many licensed real estate agents and too many REALTORS. Statistically the average REALTOR sold about 30 percent fewer transaction sides in 2006 than in 2000 (see graph). Normal supply and demand would have resulted in halting the influx of new agents, but commission income was enhanced by the sharp increase in house prices. As a result, the number of agents and REALTORS continued to grow past the market peak.

Along with the growth in broadband usage, cheap hardware and open-source software, the Internet is also rapidly creating a new home buying and selling playing field. In addition, as we saw this week on the CBS show, "60 Minutes" (‘Chipping Away at Realtors’ Six Percent’), real estate commissions are also facing a strong threat of being sliced in half over the course of the next years. Add to that the fact that house prices are declining on a broad basis across the country and suddenly total commission dollars have a real possibility of a sharp decline over the next few years – maybe as much as $20 billion dollars.

So the real estate industry would actually be better off if we could reduce the number of agents and REALTORS - say 25% over the next few years. If we don’t see a reduction, there will be a large number of agents not able to make a living and the number of part-time agent will increase even more.

According to the 159-page Swanepoel TRENDS Report 2007, the 2000-2006 housing frenzy has spawned numerous additional issues contributing to a hangover affect. According to the Report, some side effects like the following will be part of the fallout:

Rise in the number of foreclosures

Increase in mortgage fraud

It’s not that the real estate industry hasn’t experienced a shifting housing market or any of these challenges before, but this time the added impact of the many new business models adds more pressure on the decline of commissions. It will certainly result in far more fundamental restructuring than ever before. “The residential real estate brokerage industry is shifting towards a new paradigm and the change can no longer be halted,” said Swanepoel.

Those real estate professionals that want to be the dominant players in the new real estate paradigm are going to have to rid themselves of yesterday’s mindset and habits. The good news is that, according to Swanepoel, no single business model (traditional or new) has yet emerged as a clear winner . However, he strongly encourages brokers and agents to “to incorporate a strong online capability, a strong consumer-driven focus, offer a wide selection of services at a lower cost and above all remain current and knowledgeable about what is happening.”

To stay on top of all of the trends and your options, get your copy of the encyclopedic 159-page 2007 Swanepoel TRENDS Report detailing the top 10 trends at www.ReTrends.com.

How Do You Attract Opportunity in Your Life?

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jim Rohn

Someone recently asked me the question: “How can I have more opportunities come into my life?” Good question, but I think my answer surprised them a bit.

I bypassed the obvious (and necessary) points about hard work, persistence and preparation. They actually were very hard workers. They had the great attribute of being seekers, they were on the outlook. But I felt maybe they were missing this next and most valuable point - attraction.

I always thought opportunities and success were something you went after, then I found out that I needed to turn it around. Opportunities and success are not something you go after necessarily, but something you attract - by becoming an attractive person.

That’s why I teach development of skills. If you can develop your skills, keep refining all the parts of your character and yourself, your health, your relationships, etc. so that you become an attractive person to the marketplace – you’ll attract opportunity. Opportunity will probably seek you out. Your reputation will probably precede you and someone will want to do business with you. All of the possibilities are there by working on the philosophy that success is something you attract.

The key is to continue making yourself a more attractive person by the skills you have, the disciplines you have, the personality you’ve acquired, the character and reputation you have established, the language and speech you use - all of that refinement makes you more attractive to the marketplace.

Personal development - the never ending chance to improve not only yourself, but also to attract opportunities and affect others.

Fear Creates Procrastination

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Linda Talley

When fear is present in the workplace, it can suck the life out of your business! With employees, it makes them less demanding, less willing to implement change, less willing to try/evaluate new options. In fact, fear eliminates options and sometimes causes people to compromise their core values. Don’t let fear into your business. Make certain you keep your employees informed with daily and weekly meetings. Don’t let them hear things on the company grapevine or from a friend or in the newspaper because if they do, fear sets in! Here are some things to talk about with staff:

• Tell them what’s happening with the company/store, their job, their life. (Fear of unknown). People can also experience fear when they say: “What if I do it and I don’t want it?”

• What they must be doing now (Fear of not being in control). People can also experience fear when they say: “If I do it, maybe I’ll lose my power/lose face.”

• What is expected of them in the job & how to do it (Fear of being inadequate). People can also experience it when they say: “If I do it, it may not be perfect.”

• Change is good and necessary (Fear of moving out of comfort zone). People may also experience fear when they say: “I always put things off, why change?”

Communicate regularly with staff and help them handle their fears. You’ll feel better, you’ll improve your morale, productivity and decrease turn-over.

Are You Wasting Your Money on Diversity Training?

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Simma Lieberman

If you are planning to spend money on diversity training, WAIT!

You may be wasting your money if you haven’t done any foundation building. If diversity and inclusion are not first integrated into your business strategy, very little will change just by holding one or two day training classes. Organizations in all sectors make this mistake and don’t realize it until it is too late.

If you want to leverage the diversity you already have, increase the diversity of your organization, or prevent cultural misunderstandings you need to create a corporate culture that is inclusive at all levels, and in every system and process.

You can get everyone trained by a great trainer, with a great program, but when people leave your organization they take what they learned with them (if they still remember it) and your organization remains the same. Further, reaching resisters and naysayers of diversity efforts is unlikely only with training—a more multi-faceted approach is needed to help these individuals see the value of diversity in their organizations and to bring a greater number of people on board to the initiative.

Simma’s Strategies for Creating an Inclusive Organization

Here are some of the steps that need to be taken in order to create an inclusive organization.

Start at the top. It must be championed and led by the CEO and other people in the executive team. Leadership of a diversity and inclusion initiative or culture change cannot be delegated. Other people can help drive it, but it must be viewed as coming from the top. That also means you need to start including it in conversations, discussions, newsletters and e-mail.

Assess your organization with surveys, focus groups and interviews in order to identify strengths, challenges and areas for improvement as it relates to diversity, inclusion and employee satisfaction in specific areas.

Create a cohesive vision and strategy that is agreed upon by members of the executive leadership team. Know where you are going.

Engage all levels of senior management. They need to be part of the vision and have a clear understanding of concepts, roles, business case and benefits, in order to help lead the change.

Develop a communication and information sharing strategy and process in order to share that vision throughout the organization. Send the message in such a way that you create middle manager and employee buy-in. Help them understand how the diversity and inclusion/culture change process will benefit them personally, professionally and as an organization, That will involve internal marketing at all levels.

Use the results of the survey to address specific areas for improvement, most commonly; recruitment, interviewing, hiring, retention, promotion and performance evaluation. Examine your present organizational culture, and identify ways in which your organization can create a more inclusive environment.

Define skills and behaviors that managers need in order to make the initiative/culture change a success and successfully lead a diverse workforce.

Conduct training for all levels of your organization in areas related to diversity and inclusion.

Set up a process for accountability at all levels, relating progress to compensation and evaluations.

Measure results, create the buzz and make it exciting (if its not fun, it won’t be done)

The amount of time, order and the steps themselves depend on your organization and goals, but if you want to go beyond compliance, hear new ideas and best practices, reduce cultural misunderstanding and miscommunication, hire and retain the best of the best from everywhere, training alone won’t do it. Before you spend your next dollar on diversity training, ask yourselves if you just want people to have a good day, learn and forget a few things or do you want ongoing change that will make you a benchmark organization and the employer of choice.

Find Out What Your Customers Want and Expect…Before Your Competitors Do

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Patricia Fripp

Satisfy your customers… or someone else will. Your prospects and customers can give you important feedback, both directly and indirectly. After addressing a group of sales contest winners in Hawaii, I was on the shuttle bus headed for the airport. My usual custom is to ask questions, so I said to the driver, "I bet your passengers tell you what they really think about their stays at these fancy resorts because they know you don’t work for any of them."

"Oh, yes," he replied. "In fact, once a month, the general manager of the hotel where you stayed comes to the depot with a big box of donuts and has coffee with the drivers. While we eat his donuts, we tell him everything we’ve overheard about his hotel—and about his competitors’ hotels." That is what I call Box-of-Donuts consulting. The hotel manager could have paid large fees to a research firm that would phone 1,000 guests and ask what they liked and didn’t like. But that information couldn’t possibly be as up-to-date or as honest as these drivers’ feedback, nor would it give him valuable information about his competition.

Do you get, keep, and deserve your customers by finding out what they really want from you? The most frequently overlooked low- tech method is to talk to someone who talks to your customers and has no vested interest in their opinions. But this doesn’t mean you don’t also interview them formally.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotels, famous for customer service, do regular formal surveys with cards in the rooms and mailings. Someone asked their past president, Horst Schulze, "Why don’t you offer a ‘frequent guest’ program?" (Such programs are a major investment of organizational time and philosophical strategy.) Schulze replied, "We don’t because only two percent of our customers have asked for them. What our customers do want is to have a bowl of fresh fruit in the room when they check in." So that’s what the Ritz- Carlton Hotels provide. When you know what people really want, it is rarely difficult or expensive to make them feel special. Schulze was doing exactly right.

My friend David Garfinkel, author of The Money-Making Copywriting Course, says there are five important answers you need to get from your customers, directly or indirectly:

1. What do you like about buying from us?

2. Why did you buy from us in the first place?

3. What problems did you have before you bought from us?

4. How did we help you solve those problems?

5. How are things better for you now?

"That last answer," says David, "is very important. It’s what a positive result looks like to a real customer, and it’s going to look the same to your other customers and prospects when you tell them about it."

Start some creative brainstorming. Consider who else might know what your customers are thinking. Is there some comfortable and ethical way you can talk with these people? One-on-one questioning? Maybe invite a group for a breakfast? Think about who in your business knows what your customers want. Is there a service that can provide you with an effective, economical market sample?

Finding out what your customers want may seem obvious, but too often it’s overlooked. After my morning program for a Fortune 100 company, I found the attendees were spending the afternoon seated at round tables, brainstorming the topic, "How can we give our customers better service?" Very innocently, I asked my client, "Oh, and where are the customers you’ve invited to sit in with your salespeople?" There weren’t any. (This was like doing a survey of what hospital patients want by asking the doctors.)

Research your competition so you know what they’re offering, then research your prospects’ wants and needs so you can do more for them as customers than your competition. For example, a Federal Express executive, Gurn Freeman, told me how, early in his career, he decided he wanted to go into the moving business. First, he opened the Yellow Pages and saw 128 movers listed. He phoned the first twenty-five and made an appointment for someone to come and talk to him, saying he was moving to Phoenix. At the end of every interview, he took notes on what they had done right, how they could have done better, and anything they did wrong. Next, he put together his own sales strategy.

Gurn quickly became a top mover’s representative. "My secret was to do something none of those other reps had done for me. If I had an appointment with someone who was moving to Phoenix, I would call the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and get all their free information and brochures for my prospective customer. I made it obvious that I had done my research before the sales appointment so I deserved their business. And I nearly always got it."

Of course, you will come up with great ideas for serving your customers, but there is nothing like asking them what they need, want, and appreciate. (The Ritz-Carlton Hotels changed the style of their room locks three times in eleven years to address the changing preferences and security concerns of their guests.) Asking shows your customers how important they are to you. It’s how you satisfy them and keep them from going elsewhere.

Why should you try so hard to find out what your customers really want? Because your best customers are also the hottest prospects for your competitors. Satisfy them before someone else does! If other salespeople win over one of your loyal customers by offering more ideas and more service, maybe they have more right to the business than you do.

When you lose a customer, you lose two ways:

1. You don’t get their money.

2. Your competitors do.

If you’re not quite sure, isn’t it a good idea to go to your customers and say, "Tell me in your own words what I have done for you"?

Customer Service: Fact or Fiction

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Linda Talley

Usually it’s fiction! We give a lot of lip service to customer service but do we provide it? If you ask your customers, they might tell you what you don’t want to hear.

Most companies say they train on customer service regularly. “I hope we’re providing “We train for it.”

Unfortunately, there are a lot of customers out there who don’t think they are getting good customer service—if any customer service at all--and the interesting thing is that these companies think they are giving good customer service. If you believe your company is giving good customer service, here are 3 top mistakes customer service people make. Are you customer service people making these mistakes? A better question: Is anyone who has contact with a customer making these mistakes? If the answer is Yes, there are ways to serve your customers better.

1. Your customer service person gets into an ego match/fight with the customer rather than building a relationship. For example: Since I recently moved my offices, I had to change the address on my driver’s license. When I tried to call the local DPS to find out what I need to bring, no one answered the phone. (I guess I should believe that they are out there catching crooks rather than taking my call.) So I showed up at the DPS Driver’s License division with insurance card but I didn’t have my social security card. The woman who called me up to the desk told me that if I didn’t have the social security card, I couldn’t receive a new picture ID but I could mail in a slip of paper and just write my social security number on the slip of paper. I said that seemed strange and wanted to know why that was possible. She raised her voice and said to me: “You are required to show your social security card.” Needless to say, my blood pressure went up and I turned around and left. She did not serve me—she made me angry. She hooked my ego with her ego and I was ready to fight! Fortunately, I was smart enough to walk away. There was another gentleman there who got into an argument with one of the women and was escorted away by a DPS officer.

2. Your customer service people use intimidation to make them right and the customer wrong. For example: When I tried to get my Southwestern Bell Call Notes moved from my old phone number to the new one, even with a month’s notice, it didn’t happen. I called the 800# and told the customer service person it wasn’t working and asked why wasn’t it working? Her response: “I don’t know why it’s not working!” I responded with: “Well, you work for Call Notes.” She told me that she knew how to do her business and if I would only let her do it, she would get me fixed up. When I replied that she wasn’t the first person I had talked to and no one else seemed to be able to fix it, she replied: “Do you want me to fix this for you or not?” (Just to let you know, it took 2 more people, one a supervisor who worked one full day to get my call notes up and running.)

3. There is no follow-through by customer service. How many times are customers told that something would happen and it didn’t or that someone would get back to them and they didn’t? No wonder customers get angry when promised something and then it doesn’t happen. They’ve been promised so many times. It’s kind of like Bill Clinton, you don’t expect him to tell the truth. You know he will lie. That’s what a lot of people think about customer service. For example: Warner Cable was scheduled to send out someone to connect my cable service. They sent out a subcontractor who didn’t have wire cutters or the cable to connect me. Yet, he wanted access to my office. I said “no” and asked him to leave. I called Warner Cable, told them the situation and they said they would have Dispatch call me and reschedule right away. That was 2 weeks ago and I haven’t heard a word. Do I expect them to call? No.

The bottom line is that customer training focuses on the customer service person and not the customer. There are companies, a major airline, that tells its employees that the customer is not always right! When I read about such customer training strategies, it makes me sick because at one time or another in our lives, we are all customers.

The challenge for customer service people is to keep the focus on the customer. Dealing with upset and angry customers is not about the customer service person, it’s about the customer and what they believe YOU, yes YOU did to them (by way of working for the particular company). They wouldn’t be calling if they were happy!

When the customer calls, that’s the time to make them right, even if they’re wrong and after you have the relationship with them, put in the correction. Making people right is the only way to build a relationship quickly. A key to remember is that results come from relationships and not the other way around. Your customers want results and unless you form a relationship with them when they call, you’ll have a difficult time winning over that person—no matter what you do right.

Model Yourself After the Best Individuals, Who Have Proven Their Success Over Time

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Denis Waitley

A little perspective always helps us get a better grip on our day to day obstacles; we can find this when we look to a model after which we can direct ourselves.

Do this by benchmarking the world’s most admired organizations and people in and out of your industry. Hewlett-Packard sends teams of two to four managers to meet with peers in other companies. After exchanging ideas about leadership and organizational practices, the benchmarking teams exchange comments. If you want to become or stay the best, you must know more than what your competitors are up to.

You must know the best business practices, wherever they exist. It’s a good idea to read business magazines to keep current on what the real movers and shakers are doing globally.

Action Idea: This month, read a biography of someone you admire who has overcome great hurdles to become successful. When you learn what many of them had to endure, you are less overwhelmed by the obstacles you face. Every hardship you face has been endured and conquered by someone before you.

The Virtue of Patience

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Denis Waitley

In this day and age, we often expect everything to come to a us at a pace that isn’t always realistic. Read on for a reminder of the virtue of patience.

While persistence is the determination to strive to achieve your ultimate goal, there is another virtue of equally great value. Persistence keeps us moving inside ourselves to see the purpose behind the purpose, but patience is the wisdom behind persistence.

Patience cautions us to focus our efforts on what we can change while accepting what we cannot When external circumstance rains on our parade, patience is our umbrella. Rather than blaming what we cannot control, patience is the wisdom behind persistence.

It is when a goal is distant and difficult to reach that patience is an ally. Time changes everything, but with patience you can keep your desires relatively constant. If you can just hang on long enough, time will finally create the conditions in which you can succeed.

Make Your Company Newsletter a Valuable Publicity Tool

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Joan Stewart

Deck: Turn a dull company newsletter into a competitive publicity tool with these easy 8 steps.

When you distribute your company newsletter, how do your employees react? Do they drop what they’re doing and read every word, then laugh hysterically about the funny photo on Page 2? Or do they throw it on a pile of junk on their desk, to be read whenever they get around to it?

Too many corporate newsletters are almost painful to read, some with entire front pages devoted to the newest widget. So many of these stories have dull headlines, poorly scanned photos, and copy more potent than a sleeping pill.

Here are eight ways to liven up your newsletter and make it a key tool in your publicity campaign:

Write about your employees and include lots of good-quality photos, even if they’re just small head shots. This makes employees feel special and helps with retention.

Make it fun. Recruit the most fun person from each department and ask them to write articles about their co-workers, or report on what their team is doing. The amateur reporters will look like stars. It will take work off the editor’s back. And interest will probably soar. Fun newsletters make your company look like a fun place to work. And fun places to work get lots of ink and air time.

Include fresh news. Articles about a product that was created six months ago or an event that is ancient history make the newsletter stale. Be sure each issue includes at least one new announcement.

Have periodic contests. Print a brain-teaser, or ask employees to guess which artists wrote obscure songs from the fifties and sixties. You can also tie these contests to new products and services you are offering. Award great prizes. Be sure to send copies to your clients and let them enter, too.

Send your print newsletters to the media, preferably to the reporter who covers your industry. This is one of the best ways to feed ideas to syndicated columnists who write about your topic area, without pestering them with phone calls and e-mail messages. Newsletters can be a wonderful source for news tips and a great way to keep your name in front of reporters. Include a cover letter that pitches a specific story idea about your company. See http://www.publicityhound.com/publicity-products/reports.html.

Let reporters know if you publish an ezine, and ask their permission to put them on your mailing list.

Write about new trends in your industry. This flags reporters to interesting story ideas, and is valuable information for your own employees.

Each year, send a postcard to everyone on your mailing list and ask if they want to continue to receive your newsletter. If too many people ask to be removed, it might be a sign that you need to inject some life and excitement into it.

Joan Stewart is a speaker, trainer and consultant specializing in developing and maintaining good relations with the print and abroadcast media. Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. For information about Joan, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email

REALTOR® Image, Value and Profitability

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: John Ansbach

You may not like it, but you know it’s true: the last several years have seen a significant decline in the image and consumer perceptions of the value of today’s real estate professional. Be unhappy about it, fight it and do your best to change these unfair perceptions; but, above all, do not, I repeat, do not ignore the anti-Realtor® messages currently pervading your marketplace. For in the absence of positive, constant messages to counter these negative ones about Realtor® value, professionalism and integrity, real estate professionals across the country will soon find themselves wondering how they came to reside in the same low-orbiting professional esteem sphere as those not-so-respected trial lawyers and used car sales professionals we love to chide.

The Environment

The truth is that the current anti-Realtor® environment is not a new or overnight phenomenon, but rather, a product of a mixed bag of factors all of which have combined to send two very powerful anti-Realtor® messages: (1) “You can’t trust them,” and, (2) “You don’t need them.” However incredibly invalid or biased these messages are, powerful actors have been telling your consumers these are the “truths” about today’s real estate professionals.

“You can’t trust them.” Last year the Department of Justice filed a high-profile lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors® telling consumers across the country that real estate professionals have been acting to stomp out competition and preserve their own greed-driven cartels; the Federal Trade Commission, the Government Accountability Office and other federal, state and local entities joined the act filing lawsuits and holding well-publicized hearings all telling consumers that Realtors® are acting in their own best interest, not in the interests of their consumers. Not to be left out, the media have played their part only too willingly, also telling consumers that real estate professionals cannot be trusted. Earlier this year T-Mobile aired a commercial entitled “Motivated Realtor” featuring a mythical agent spinning facts and lying to clients while demurring on charges she’d “been drinking.”1 The national papers have also contributed with headlines such as, “The 6 Percent Solution: Skip Real Estate Agents,”2 “Brokers Fiddle as Real Estate Burns,”3 and “Broker Commissions are the Real Component to the Real Estate Bubble.”4 The last of these featured an on-line poll in which 84% of respondents said real estate agents’ commissions were generally not justified. All of these factors, as well as the volumes of others we can’t list due to a lack of space, are telling your consumers every day that real estate professionals cannot be trusted, and that, at the end of the day, they’re looking out for themselves and not consumers.

“ You don’t need them.” In addition to these anti-Realtor® negative “trust” messages, other industry players are consistently telling your consumers that they don’t need you. Enter the likes of Zillow.com, RedFin.com, ForSaleBuyOwner.com and the volumes of other FSBO and third party lead generators, all of whom are either saying do-it-yourself, or, at the very least, “let us screen your pick to guide you away from the agents you can’t trust (see message number one).”

The results of these and other anti-Realtor® messages are emerging in a number of places including declining commission rates and lower broker profits. Perhaps the most concrete result, however, is the polling. Specifically, a recent Gallup Poll of more than a thousand adults rated the honesty and ethical standards of 21 types of professionals. Real estate agents ranked in the bottom half of the list at number 11, with just 20 percent of those surveyed giving agents a “very high” or “high” rating. By way of contrast, funeral directors were rated twice as ethical and honest, with 44 percent giving them these ratings.5

The Response

Nationally, NAR has lead the charge to respond to this hostile environment for the betterment of Realtor® communities across the country. This year, NAR continued its Public Awareness Campaign, running pro-Realtor® television spots from March through September. NAR has spent in the neighborhood of $25 million on these and other efforts, including more than 4,000 spots in national TV and radio, 18,000 spots in local radio and 12,000 spots on XM satellite radio.6 Local Realtors® Associations have also ramped up strong pro-Realtor® messaging campaigns, including the Houston Association of Realtors®’ campaign that features powerful television ads promoting the value of industry professionals.

NAR and local boards cannot, of course, go it alone. Every real estate professional must have a hand in this fight, and each and every professional must be as active and aggressive (and perhaps more so) as the anti-Realtor® forces have been in promoting the messages that have damaged the industry. As a starter, I suggest the following:

1. Get serious. Despite the obvious threat, many professionals have ignored the anti-Realtor® messages, finding pseudo-security in the knowledge that their place in the industry is both “natural and eternal.” Since the truth is firmly rooted elsewhere, I suggest agents and brokers work hand in hand making Realtor® image and value a mission critical, interdependent firm-wide priority. Use NAR and HAR resources and arm yourself and your colleagues with the very best in consumer-friendly pro-Realtor® messages and facts. If this is a conversation your consumers want to have, then have it with them and win; no one ever won a war by avoiding the critical battles.

2. Get certified. HAR sponsored and other best practices certification programs are available for professionals to not only raise the level of service and performance they offer consumers; these programs are, moreover, an important advertising tool available to help you distinguish yourself from your competitors. You choose “certified” professionals and services every day over those that are not certified – what makes you think your real estate consumers won’t do the same? Offer the very best in high quality service, and let consumers know about it.

3. Get educated. Did you know that there are now dozens of Web sites at which real estate consumers can rate and rank their agents (and brokers), just like they rate their vacation spots, cell phones and consumer electronics? Web sites such as RealtyRators.com, AgentRank.com and others allow consumers to pass judgment on you and your colleagues following a transaction, oftentimes based on criteria as subjective and vague as “personality.” If you aren’t aware of these sites, you cannot take advantage of them and effectively manage your online reputation and image, an environment all too important to the more than 120 million Gen X and Gen Y consumers who now permeate the contemporary real estate consumer landscape. The truth is that the more you know, and the more your allies know, the better you’ll be able to fight the fight and tell consumers not only why they need you, but just how valuable you have been to the legions of consumers you have worked for over the past weeks, months and years.

In today’s hypercompetitive ever-changing industry, your positive, well-developed image and value to consumers can make the difference between average production and long-term profitability and success. Use the facts that are on your side, embrace the available resources and create a culture in your Realtor® community that not only promotes the value of professionals, but that, moreover, authentically and consistently delivers on the promise of great service that consumers are demanding. The tools are there, the time is now and the battle is on – are you ready?

Author’s Footnotes

1. The National Association of Realtors® sent T-Mobile a letter and demanded that the company alter the ad to eliminate improper use of the Realtor® trademark. T-Mobile officials responded saying the company “respects the rights of third parties in their legitimate intellectual properties,” but that it wasn’t planning to alter the commercial.

2. The New York Times, September 17, 2005.

3. The Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2005.

4. The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2006.

5. “For Some Buyers, Good Real Estate Agents Hard to Find,” RISMedia, March 20, 2006.

6. “Successful NAR Public Awareness Campaign will Become a Year-Round Effort,” Atlanta Board of Realtors®, 2006. John Ansbach, Esq., is the (Xer) Vice President of RECON Intelligence Services, a national real estate consulting

services firm based out of Traverse City, Michigan.

John Ansbach is the Vice President of RECON Intelligence Services, a national real estate consulting services firm that supports brokerages, REALTOR® associations and other real estate related organizations. John is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law where he is now a visiting lecturer; he earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics cum laude from Texas A&M University. Copyright© 2006, John Ansbach. For additional information, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www.FrogPond.com

Can You Recruit In This Tough Market?

Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jon Cheplak

Can your agents sell houses in this tough market? I think we know the answer. Let’s first take a look at the agent. What does it take for an agent to be successful when listings are experiencing longer days on market, listings are expiring, and buyers are leery of making a decision because they feel the market is on a downward trajectory?

Skills and a shift in the way the agent approaches the business are the answer. Sitting back and waiting for the business is not going to get it done these days; today’s agent must go out and get the business like never before. What does this mean? Back to the basics of For Sale by Owner’s and Expired Listings. In addition, the agent must be knowledgeable (know the market), have strong marketing skills, and great negotiating skills.

So let’s take a look at the Broker side of this equation. What does it take to be a successful recruiter in today’s market? The first thing you have to do is not rely on email and postcards!! These are passive, branding exercises that keep you in front of your prospects. Do not get me wrong, they are important in the recruiting process, but simply a part of your system. The most critical activity is making the phone calls and doing them consistently. Not rocket science, but the number one challenge that I see for brokers.

Let’s analyze the current situation vs. the incredible markets we have experienced in recent history. When things are clipping along for the agent, is it a little bit tougher to pull them away from their current broker? Of course it is. Sure, you can recruit agents in any market, but you better be good and have a strong follow-up system to recruit experienced agents. They will do one of two things. Either they will see your skills and ability to transfer those to them, or their broker will do something that will cause them to make a change to your organization. The key is to stay in front of the agent and be their “destination broker.” When things are good, agents are rarely looking for a reason to leave their broker. You better have a compelling reason. By the way, that compelling reason is none other than you, not your company and all the things the company has to offer.

Now the focus of our article: Recruiting Agents in a Tough Market.

Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS IS THE MOST FERTILE TIME FOR EXPERIENCED AGENT RECRUITING. Why do I say this? It is tough for human beings to change behavior. The market has changed doesn’t behavior have to change? Of course, but I do not see it happening at the level it needs to. Many of yesterday’s $10,000,000 producers are now struggling to do $3,000,000 or $4,000,000. Here’s another observation looking at it from a “human experience” perspective.

When things are good, many times we look within ourselves and take the credit, but the natural progression when things are not so good is to look outside and find what is wrong with surroundings and other external issues. What might one of those external factors be? Their Broker.

Today’s agent is struggling if they are not changing their behavior and gaining the skills they need to not only compete, but thrive in this market. They are looking for a solution.

Make the calls, measure the temperature of the agent’s psychy, and be the solution that can inspire them to productivity in today’s market.

Jon Cheplak is the Founder of The Real Estate Recruiters, a Recruiting and Management Solutions Company that supports brokers, owners and managers in the management and recruiting solutions arena. Copyright© 2007, Jon Cheplak. All rights reserved. For more information, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www.FrogPond.com

HTML Basics

Friday, August 31, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

HTML – The Basics

In these computerized times, you’ve probably heard a number of acronyms relating to the Internet. Among these often heard is HTML. HTML is the primary computer language of the Internet, responsible for the delivery of everything from 24-hour news sites to your child’s science fair project website. For its ability to render such complexity, HTML is surprisingly easy to learn. If your eight year old can learn HTML, you can, too.

HTML – Ham, Turkey, Mayo, Lettuce?

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. HTML “marks up” regular text with its language of “tags.” These tags direct pieces of text to display in certain ways. These tags are angled brackets (“<” and “>”), descended from markup practices found in print copyediting.

Your AgentAdvantage website contains many areas where you can insert HTML. While we have a WYSIWYG editor built into your Control Panel, some clients find it helpful to have a working knowledge of HTML for making cosmetic changes to their page.

Here are some basic tags that can be inserted into text boxes in your Control Panel:

<b> - Bold – this tag makes text bold.

<i> - Italic – makes text Italic

<u> - Underline – underlines text for instances other than hyperlinks.

<br> - Breaking space. Like your "return" key on your keyboard. This starts a new line of text

<a> - the anchor tag – creates a link to another resource (URL, document, etc.). Surround the text you would like link in this manner:

<a href=”http://www.homes.com>Click Here to go to Homes.com</a>

<font> - this tag controls the font on the page. The font tag does this by using "attributes" or descriptors added to the basic tag. Some of these attributes are:

face - this is the font "name" as you would find in word processing programs like "Microsoft Word" (e.g. - Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman).

size - this is the size of the font, specified by either a numerical point value, or by relative terms like small, medium, large, etc.

color - these are described using hexademical values. For a handy reference guide on these HTML hexadecimal colors, click here. Your HTML editor comes equipped with a color chooser.
- Here’s an example of how the <font> tag is applied: "<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">• <font color="#ff0000">Change your main page content. </font>"

For more HTML tags, please see our HTML "Cheat Sheet."

How Does Email Work?

Friday, August 31, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

How Does E-Mail Work?

One of the most important things we do with our computers and the Internet is to send E-mail, electronic messages sent from one user’s computer to another user’s computer over the Internet. E-mail, short for electronic mail, originated even prior to the inception of the Internet. In fact, the Internet was largely created so that e-mail could be sent to disparate military installations. To better understand why e-mail is so important, you need to understand how it works, as well as how it can work for you.

To understand how email works, let’s first think of how mail works in the non-digital world. If you write a letter to a friend, you compose the letter, place it in an envelope with the appropriate postage, put it in your mailbox. The letter carrier then collects the outgoing mail from your mailbox and takes yours and other mail to the post office. At the post office, the mail is the sorted into local mail, and mail destined for far-off destinations. The mail destined for other parts of the country travels to the nearest post office hub, then to be routed, possibly through other hubs, to the destination post office. When the letter arrives at its destination, it is then given to a mail carrier, who then delivers it to its final destination. Whew…that’s a lot of steps! Surprisingly, it takes less than a week to deliver a standard first-class letter from point to point, within the continental United States.

E-mail works similarly to the Post Office delivering your mail. You compose your email in your email program, enter your recipient’s email address in the subject line, and then send. Once you click send, your message is then routed through your network, then to your outgoing mail server. Your outgoing mail server, like your post office, sorts your message and sends it through the Internet to your recipient’s incoming mail server. The mail server then delivers the message to the appropriate inbox.

So you understand that e-mail is sent through a virtual postal system of sorts, trading a post office for a post office server, and trucks and highways for the Internet itself. But it still seems more complicated for some reason, doesn’t it? You now need to learn how to create and send email using an email client.

An email client is a computer program or application that allows you to send and receive email. There are two main types of email clients: web mail and POP3/IMAP clients. The first type, web mail, is a way to send and receive e-mail by browsing to a website. POP3/IMAP clients gather information from your POP3 or IMAP server and displays it in a program running on your own computer. Examples of these programs are Outlook and Outlook Express. Often these programs allow you to organize your calendar, address book, and other contact management information in addition to your email.

Add Those “Extras” to Your Website: Site Enhancements

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Site Enhancements

Website & Content --> Site Enhancements

Site Enhancements controls some of the “extras” of your website, as well as some additional information like maps and neighborhood information in listings. This article briefly describes each feature, and gives a description of where in the Control Panel the feature can be activated and/or modified.

Website Counter

Website & Content --> Site Enhancements --> Website Counter

You can place a website counter at the bottom of your website’s pages. You can start your counter at any date, past or present, and start at any count. To activate your website counter, fill in the Start Date and the Start Count, and then click “Proceed” at the bottom of the screen.

Weather

Website & Content --> Site Enhancements --> Weather

The “Weather” tab allows you to put a small bar at the top of your screen showing the current conditions of city of your choosing. To add a weather bar, click the “Activate Now” link. Choose city and state from the drop-down menus on the following screen. You can also choose to show the city name above the weather bar by clicking the check box on this page. Click “Activate Now” to save changes. If you return to your main page via “View My Site,” you should now see your weather bar.

Where Can I Find My Leads?

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Accessing Your Leads from the Control Panel

Your AgentAdvantage website can be a valuable lead-generation tool. Taking full advantage of these lead generation capabilities is contingent on understanding how to retrieve leads from your site.

Leads come from these places on your AgentAdvantage site: your Contact Me form, Free CMA request, Loan Prequalification, Free Reports, MyHometracker, and Search for Homes.

With each of these lead-gathering opportunities, visitors leave their contact information in exchange for valuable information.

In order to follow up with these leads and, in some cases, provide information necessary for fulfillment of their requests (in the case of free CMA or Contact Me) – you need to know where to find your leads in the Control Panel.

Begin finding your leads by accessing your Control Panel.

Now, in order to find your leads, go to the Leads tab on your Control Panel, then Lead Manager.

The page that opens is your Lead Manager. The Lead Manager collects all of your leads from the lead collection forms and displays them in one place.

As you can see, each lead has its own entry containing name, email, source, date collected. Clicking on the Details tab on the right gives you a snapshot of your lead. Let’s click on the Details tab to take a closer look.

On the details page of this lead, the lead’s contact information appears first. You have name, email, address, phone, lead source (or from which form on your site the lead was gathered). Under the heading Additional Information, you will find information specifically concerning the lead’s home search situation. Also here you’ll see any other additional information the lead may have requested that you’ll need to send to them. Finally on the page, you’ll see any questions or comments the lead had for you.

The information gathered for each lead will depend on the type of contact form the lead completed. If the lead requested a free CMA, you’ll see CMA information in the Details area. If the lead filled out a loan-prequalification form, you’ll see the loan information stored in the Details area.

To organize your leads, you can use the pull-down menu to arrange them by date, name, email address, and source.

Additionally, you can select a lead to add to your address book, delete, or export.

Your address book is a place where you can more permanently store your lead. To store a lead in the address book, click the checkbox next to the lead you would like to move, and then click Add to Address Book.

You can view your address book by clicking on Leads --> Lead Manager --> Address Book. And from this page, you can search for a particular lead, delete unwanted leads, or export to an email or an excel file.

You can export leads from your Lead Manager by clicking the Export Selected. You can then export to an email or download the leads, in either an .xls (excel), or .txt (text) format. You can load these into another computer, or into a PDA.

Containing several lead-gathering forms, your AgentAdvantage website is an excellent lead generation tool. Use your Lead Manager and Address Book to organize your website leads and provide them with specialized and detailed service.

Advanced Internet Topics

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Advanced Internet Topics

You have a general notion about the Internet, and how to find it on your computer. You also have a pretty good grasp on the tools and functions of the Internet, like your modem, web browser and downloading. Now let’s take the next step by learning about some of the advanced functionality of the Internet.

Advanced Internet Terminology

Web Conferencing

Web Conferencing allows people in disparate parts of the world, or even just in different rooms, to communicate with each other. Using providers like WebEx or GoToMeeting, conference participants can view the computer desktop of the host of the conference in real time. Audio is provided by telephone, or can be streamed along with the video. Many people find web conferencing a helpful tool, especially when dealing with clients who relocate from significant distances.

Pop-Ups

Pop-ups or pop-up ads are advertisements that inconveniently open over top of a website’s content. Often an advertiser will pay top dollar to buy a pop-up ad, despite its negative connotation. While most people close the ad immediately, visitors are obliged to view the ad, even if only for a split-second while they close this ad.

Pop-Up Blocker

A Pop-Up Blocker does just what it implies: block pop-ups. You can download these programs from many different providers. Your ISP might offer a pop-up blocker as well. Several newer versions of popular web browsers include a pop-up blocker. Some anti-virus software contains pop-up blocking capabilities. Be weary, however, of pop-up blockers offered in “toolbars” or “shopping buddies.” While these seemingly benign toolbars may offer you searching, shopping, movie ticket finding, etc. in one “free” download, remember these companies don’t give these away without reason. These programs place “cookies” on your computer, tracking your movement over the net to report your marketing data back to the company that provided you with that “toolbar.” Pretty sneaky, huh? Always use pop-up blockers provided by reputable sources.

Acrobat (.pdf) Files

Adobe Acrobat or .pdf files are documents with condensed formatting designed to be easily downloaded and read. PDF stands for Portable Document Format. With .pdf files, file sizes tend to be smaller as the document is “locked’ for editing. These files are useful to have on your website for a variety of reasons.

Files in this format print predictably

Information on the document cannot be changed accidentally

You can have a form that a client can print out and look clean, and email to you simultaneously.

The software required to read documents in this format is absolutely free.

Blog

Short for web log, a blog is a space for news and commentary, often on a particular topic. Often authored and moderated by one person or group, subscribers to the blog post comments to the different topics listed. The blogger posts these in chronological order, in a format much like a journal.

You may want to use a blog in your website to discuss new listings or market trends.

RSS

RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. Often this technology is thought of in the same vein as a blog, though they are hardly similar. RSS is a feed sent from a website. With a “feed reader” or “aggregator,” you can read the feed from all of the websites to which you have subscribed. To prevent downloading unwanted data, the feed reader checks each site to which you are subscribed for any updated content. When new content is found, the feed reader downloads the content and presents it in the reader. RSS and blogs are often associated because blogs are an example of content updated frequently that an RSS feed would facilitate reading.

Chat/Instant Message

This technology allows Internet users to send text to each other in nearly real time. In the earlier days of the Internet, chat rooms were the medium by which most instant communication on the web occurred. A chat room is a forum where users can log in with other many other users, and live comments can be read by the entire “room.” Chat rooms still exist in a variety of settings, ranging from virtual meetings to simple chat rooms on some of the leading Internet Content Providers. Instant Messaging provides a one on one chat environment.

Editing Your Free Reports

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

You may have noticed that your site’s main navigation buttons contain a link for “Free Reports.” This lead-generation tool offers a free report to a web visitor in exchange for their contact information. Your site includes pre-written reports for this purpose, however, you can choose to author your own reports.

Edit your reports with your Reports Editor found under Website Editor --> Articles, Links and Reports --> and Reports Editor. Once in the Reports Editor, you can choose to create a new report or to setup reports. Clicking the Create New link opens a page allowing you to enter text for your report. Please keep in mind, however, that these reports are text-only, not HTML. This means that no text formatting or pictures can be stored in these articles. After you have finished entering text, click the Proceed button to save the report.

To edit your reports, click the Edit Existing button on the main Reports Editor page.

Links Editor – here you can arrange the links that appear at the bottom or side of your pages. To add more links, simply click the “Add a New Link” button on the top of the page.

Reports Editor – in this item you can create and setup Reports for your website. Clients can access this report under the “free reports” button on your website. Reports are a helpful lead generating tool as a client must leave contact information in order to access them. To create a new report, click the “Create New” link. Enter the information you would like in the report here. Under the “Setup Reports” link, you can choose which reports you would like to post on your website, as well as indicate well as what introductory text you would like to accompany the report.

How to Use the Links Editor

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

How to Use the Links Editors

You can control the links appearing on the bottom of your AgentAdvantage site. Standard links to reports and other areas of your site appear on the bottom of every page of your site. Did you know that you can link anything to the bottom of your AgentAdvantage site?

In order to access the Links Editor, click on Website Editor à Articles, Links and Reports à and Links Editor.

On the page that opens, you will see a list of links that appear on the bottom of your site’s pages. They appear in an order, as they would on your website. Clicking on the link title on this page will open a Link Detail page. This Link Detail page gives you information on the link, and also allows you to edit this information. Fields you can edit are the “Label That Appears on Your Site,” and URL or article to which that label links.

Insert detailed picture of that here.

It looks pretty.

You may wish to give links to articles already present on your site new labels, or you may wish to modify the URL, or any number of modifications to these pre-existing links.

To change a pre-existing link:

Click on the link you would like to alter

Enter a new label in the text box

Enter a URL for the label, or choose an article from the pull-down menu of Homes.com/your articles, or select a file from your Storage Locker with the last pull-down menu

Click Update Links to save changes.

To add a new link to your Links Editor, click the Add a New Link button, and then proceed following the above steps 1-4.

What is the Internet Anyway?

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

What is the Internet?

To the uninitiated, the Internet can seem like a daunting digital delirium. Full of pitfalls and pop-up ads, many would-be users of the ‘net often leave the heavy-lifting to those under the age of 30. The internet hardly deserves to be able to inspire this much fear in the hearts of those old enough to not know about myspace.

The classical definition of the Internet itself can be mildly intimidating.

“The Internet is a world-wide conglomeration of smaller computer networks using the TCP/IP protocol to communicate.”

TCP/IP? World-wide conglomeration of smaller computers? And I thought that I just plugged this thing into my cable box or my phone and that was it?

Maybe we should then refer to a better analogy. Think of the street where you live. In order to get to your office, you probably have to drive down your road and turn on another road. You probably have to make several turns and travel down several roads before you arrive at your office or other destination. Now think of where your co-workers might live, and their commute to the office. Obviously, your co-workers live in different places, but all of you manage to arrive at the same destination every morning. Think now about your summer vacation road trip to Orlando with your kids. You take roads to larger Interstate Highways to cities far away from your home. So smaller roads, lead to larger roads, which lead to Interstate Highways.

Information from your computer navigates the Internet much like you navigate from your neighborhood to your desired destination across town or across the country. In the case of your computer, information is sent out in packets. A packet is like your car, maybe more like an SUV or minivan. You can fit 8 people in a van or SUV, and that’s precisely how many bits fit into a packet. But I digress. The point is that a carload of data drives across the internet to get to another computer somewhere across the country or world. So, think of the Internet like a network of roads and bridges (and maybe even planes to get to other continents), data like the passengers in the cars and planes, and your computer like houses, and other computers elsewhere in the world like your destinations.

To illustrate this point further, take one of the standard tasks that people do on the internet everyday: shopping. Perhaps you are trying to buy a book from amazon.com, a well-known purveyor of books and everything else you can possibly think of on the Internet. You open your web browser, or program that communicates with the internet. When you enter the URL or web address for the site and hit the “Go” button, your web browser sends a request to your Internet Service Provider. To reach your Internet Service Provider, your request must be sent through your modem of either phone, cable or DSL, and then to the transfer station on your street. The data then gets sent through the phone or cable lines to a server at your ISP’s office. From here, the data travels out again through cable to its destination server. The data may make many turns, if you will, at different network nodes (think intersections) to travel across the country, or even world, and then back to your computer at your home or office. But amazon.com loads in a couple of seconds, how is that possible?

Cache (pronounced cash) provides a way for commonly viewed pages to be stored for later viewing. Pages are cached both by your local machine, and by servers. Many Internet Service Providers cache popular sites on the internet daily so that their subscribers do not have to make a request to the origin server too frequently and bog down bandwidth.

The amount of data that an Internet connection can handle per unit of time is called bandwidth. You may have heard this term in relation to a cable or other connection to the internet. This concept descends from radio communication where the bandwidth was a measure of the broadcast frequency, or amount of energy produced by the station’s particular signal. Much in the same way, the concept of bandwidth as it relates to your internet connection measures the amount of data per unit time.

So through cache and large amounts of bandwidth, your data packets do not always need to travel around the world to bring you your information. This is why it does not take seconds, but only fractions of seconds to bring you the data you request.

About Automated E-Mail Listings

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Automated Email Listings

Automated Email Listings provide an invaluable service for both agents and website visitors. Save you and your client’s time by letting your AgentAdvantage website send clients listings automatically. Attract new leads with this free feature of your website.

Provide Service to your Website Visitors

The average home seeker has much more on their mind than simply looking for listings. Those relocating often have employment, family, pets and other considerations while moving. Even families not moving are extremely busy people, who have become increasingly reliant on the Internet for information for everything from long-time financial planning, to deciding what to eat for dinner tonight. With the frenetic pace of daily life, doesn’t it make sense that your clients would be using the Internet for their home search? Think of the emails you receive from companies with whom you do business, whether they are for pet food, or job-seeking websites, providing you with tailored information about new products you request. You sell a product. Why not give your customers the same option to receive product information they want and need?

Automated Email Listings pulls listings directly from your inventory of listings, as well as from your MLS or Homes.com National Homesearch. After the customer requests listings, your AgentAdvantage website generates a branded email – including your name, phone number, and website – and sends this email directly to the client. While a customer could browse the search function on your site or Homes.com, clients will be more likely to contact you about listings in searches provided for them by Automated Email Listings appears on the email. The more times a customer sees your brand information, the more likely it is that they will remember you, and subsequently call you if they show interest in a listing.

By letting AgentAdvantage send your clients these listing emails, you save the time you would spend researching these listings. AgentAdvantage also stores your leads, and remembers to send your clients these emails on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, keeping your leads fresh with less effort on your part.

How to Use Automated Email Listings

From your website visitor’s perspective:

Customers can sign up for Automated Email Listings by using the link at the bottom of each of your site’s pages.
Upon clicking this link, a form titled, “Sign Up or Change Preferences.” Customers will be asked how often they would like to receive emails, as well as their listing preferences.

Once the client submits the form, they will receive a summary of their request. Automated Email Listings then stores the information in your Control Panel.

How Automated Email Listings Manages and Stores Leads

In your AgentAdvantage Control Panel, navigate to your Automated Email Settings by following this path:

Leads --> Web Marketing Services --> Automated Email Settings

You will see two headings on this page, “Caption and Closing Message,” and “Current Subscriber List.”

“Caption and Closing Message” specifies the message sent with the automated email. To catch your client’s attention, be sure your message sounds personal.

“Current Subscriber List” stores your Automated Email Listings subscribers. You can add new subscribers, view your subscriber’s contact information, and unsubscribe users.

Additional tips to make Automated Email Listings work better for you:

Add a link in your buttons, or in an article, to the Automated Email Listings page.

Make Automated Email Listings a part of your listing presentation. Let your listings clients know that you have leads waiting to receive information about their property.

Add as an option on printed promotional material.

Leave sign-up sheets at Open Houses. People often will leave information as a reflex as they encounter email sign-up sheets in a variety of settings. Even if a visitor is out for a Sunday drive, you never know who might be interested down the road.

Beyond the Listings Editor: Advanced Listings Tips

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Advanced Listings Tips

You know how to enter new listings, edit listings, remove listings in the Listing Editor. What now can you do with these listings? In this article we’ll tell you about some of the other advanced controls for listings.

Listing Export Settings

Listings --> Advanced Listing Options --> Listing Export Settings

This area shows you from where you get, or import, the listings on your site, and then to where your site sends, or exports, listings. On this table, the two columns on the left side of the table give information about your import sources. The four columns on the right tell you where hand-entered and IDX-fed listings are sent. For the majority of clients, both hand-entered and IDX-fed listings can be exported to Homes.com and our partner sites. If your IDX-fed listings cannot be exported to Homes.com, you may need to enter your listings by hand in order to export them to the portal.

Listing Display Settings

Listings --> Advanced Listing Options --> Listing Display Settings

Let’s look at the second section under Advanced Listing Options, “Listing Display Settings.” Listing Display Settings controls what text appears with another agent’s listings a customer may find when using the “Search for Properties” function of your website. You can choose to post the standard disclaimer; or you can choose to post some, all, or none of the listing agent’s information; or you can create your own disclaimer. You may wish to consult with your broker for specific advice or regulations.

Listing Ordering Settings

Listings --> Advanced Listing Options --> Listing Ordering Settings

“Listing Ordering Settings” controls how listings are displayed when a viewer uses the Search feature to find listings. You can sort by city name and price in ascending or descending order, and by availability. You can also enter the name of one city that you would like to pull to the top of the search results. The remainder of the search results will be sorted as you specify above. Click “Proceed” to save changes.

Recover Deleted Listings

Listings --> Advanced Listing Options --> Recover Deleted Listings

You can recover expired and deleted listings using “Recover Deleted Listings.” Please note that listings that have expired or been deleted are only kept for an additional four weeks.

Listing Enhancements

Listings --> Listing Enhancements

Return to the Listings tab and mouse over the “Listing Enhancements” menu item.

This area does two things: you can add a virtual tour to one of your listings; and you can activate or deactivate maps on your listings.

To add a virtual tour, click on the appropriate link. On the next page, you can upload a virtual tour by either entering a URL, or by browsing for a file. Once uploaded, clients will be able to access the uploaded virtual tour by clicking on the green virtual tour icon on the listing.

Return to Listing Enhancements to access map information. MSN provides maps for our listings. By default, maps for listings are activated. You can choose to deactivate them with the link provided.

Using a Custom Layout

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Custom Layouts

Can’t find a pre-designed site layout that you like? Our custom layouts allow you to modify individual aspects of your layout, creating a personalized look. You can upload a logo, menu and page backgrounds, and alter text in a variety of locations. For a complete list of areas of this layout that can be changed, see figure 1.

In order to select a custom layout, select “customizable layout” checkbox from “Select Options of Interest” on the Choose Your Layout page. Then click “Find Matching Layouts.” You will see two options – left or top menu - for customizable layouts from which to choose. Don’t worry – the blue, generic layout theme will disappear as soon as you replace the individual elements of the layout. Click “Activate” under the custom layout you prefer. To continue tailoring your custom layout, click on the “ Edit Custom Layout” settings on the page that next appears.

Figure 1 Custom Layout Editable Regions

To change an element of the custom layout, click either on the encircled number, or the link to the area to which you would like to upload the file on the table. A window will then pop up with a magnified illustration (figure 2) of the portion of the page you are uploading or modifying, as an area to upload your file or modify text settings.

Figure 2

When using any of these windows, be sure to click the yellow “Save” button in the upper right corner of the screen. Before leaving the Custom Layout Section Editors, click either “Apply Changes” or “Save & View.” No matter how many times you may save within the banner or background you may be modifying, if you do not click “Apply Changes” or “Save & View” on the Custom Layout Selection Editors page, your changes WILL NOT take effect.

Target Your Customers with Custom Forms from Agent Advantage!

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Untitled Document

Your AgentAdvantage website includes a variety of contact forms to gather lead information. While AgentAdvantage contains most contact forms one would want to use, we realize that one website does not fit everyone all of the time. For that reason, we can tap into the robust power of AgentAdvantage to offer custom forms for your website.

Why Custom Forms?

“I want my customers to be able to start the listing process online. It would be great if they could pay their start up fees with a credit card on my site.”

“My rental business is booming. Can I have a form specifically for those seeking rental properties?”

“Is there a way I can let visitors to my website leave more detailed information and comments than your forms will let them currently?”

For any of these unique services and situations, we can design a form to gather most any information you want and need from your client base. The possibilities are endless.

View some examples of custom forms:

I want my custom form!

To get started with a custom form, call the Member Services department for a Custom Forms Consulation. Custom work charges may apply.

Using Articles to Build Content

Thursday, August 30, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Good information makes your website useful. Adding articles provide information and insight into not only your area, but your business. The AgentAdvantage Articles Editor also does more than provide a place to simply write about your local Chamber of Commerce, but a means to add enhanced content like forms, maps, and framed pages from other websites.

Why is writing an article is a good idea?

Adding information about your town or city to your website shows that you have the expertise necessary to help your clients make an informed decision about their relocation. Your clients want to find the perfect home, but the concept of “home” extends far beyond the structure or the property line. A buyer’s decision could hinge on their impression of the quality of life of an area.

Here’s how to create an article:

Step 1 – Open the Articles Editor in your Control Panel by clicking on Website Editor—Articles, Links and Reports—Articles Editor. From the Articles Editor window, click on the “Create New” link.

Step 2 – On this “New Article” page, complete the text boxes. Here is an explanation of each text field.

Label – this is the text of the link to the Articles Editor generates to place in the links section of your website found at the bottom of each page.
Article Title – this text appears at the top of the article.
Article Header – appears in the content well of the article page.
Keywords – Meta information used by search engines to identify and rank your page. These are also found in the Main Body Copy and Images and Search Engine Tools areas of your site.
Description – the short piece of text appearing below your site’s link on a search engine. You can give a unique description to each article.

Step 3 - After the “Description” box, each “Paragraph” of the article receives its own editable section. “Paragraph” in this section should not be understood as a literal paragraph, but rather as a section of the article. Many paragraphs can comprise a “Paragraph.”

Heading – you can give each paragraph its own heading.
Paragraph
Image – like in other areas of the Control Panel, images can be added to the body of the articles. Use the radial buttons to select how you would like the image aligned with the text.
Text – enter the text of your article here by either entering HTML code directly into the text box, or by clicking the yellow “EDIT” button. This “EDIT” button leads to the same HTML editor used in other areas of the Control Panel.
Document to be placed in article – you can choose to place a link to a document in your Storage Locker directly into the article text. You may wish to do this if, for example, you’ve written an article about moving, and you would like to link to a moving checklist .pdf you have stored in your Storage Locker.
Once all of your text and selections have been entered, click the “Proceed” button to save changes.
A completed article looks like this:

Advanced Article Usage

What if you want to add something to your site that is not just text? Add framed pages to your website using the same Articles Editor you use to make text articles.

Framing Pages from Other Sites

Sometimes you may wish to link to another website without diverting the visitor away from your site. A common instance of this scenario is when a board may give a client a search from the board’s website instead of making an IDX feed available. The board only distributes a link to their site. While you could simply add a button linking to this site, you want the data to appear as generated from your site. This is when you should use the Iframe tag within an article.

Method

We use an article for this task as “article” means “new website page” rather than simply “text article.” The Iframe HTML tag allows another URL (or web address) open within a specified portion of another webpage. Follow these steps to insert the iframe:

1. Create a new article in the Article Editor. Enter a “Label” for the article. Do not enter a Title or Header unless you would like them to appear above the framed website.
2. Directly in the “Text” box of the first paragraph insert this tag: <iframe src="http://www.samplewebaddress.com “ height=1000 width=800 frameborder=0></iframe>. Naturally, where “www.samplewebaddress.com” appears, enter the web address of the site you would like to frame. There is no need to use the yellow “EDIT” button for this task as you, and not the HTML editor, are generating your own HTML code.
3. Click the “Proceed” button at the bottom of the page to save changes.
4. Your completed article will pop up in a new window. We framed http://www.homes.com for our example. You should see the website you had framed appear within your website like the image below:

Tip: You can copy the URL from this window and use it to make a navigation button.

An HTML “Cheat Sheet”

Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

Click to download this to your computer - Download

Upcoming Class Schedule

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - By: Brian D

Check here for the upcoming classroom schedule

Side Nav Test

Monday, August 20, 2007 - By: Admin

here is another test…

Writing Effective Web Content

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - By: Brian D

Good Writing captures, informs, entertains, motivates people to buy, etc.

Define Your Target Audience –

Define your goal – getting leads

“Benefit-laced” copy makes customers feel safe providing you with their information, even anticipatory in hearing from you

Unique Selling Point

Place needed information at the top of your article

Write in a style suiting day-to-day commerce

Include keywords throughout copy

Use an economy of words – get rid of the filler

Proofread your writing

Use relevant images and explain them well

Too often, readers wade through tedious copy to reach only a paltry portion of the information originally sought. Furthermore, your readers may not have made it that far, simply throwing their hands up in frustration, clicking the back button on their browser to return to their Google results. When this turn-off factor strikes, your site could just as easily be written in ancient Greek, be a manual for an Apple IIe, or both. Your potential customers would rather eat ding-dongs than pay a return visit to your site. How then do we prevent ding-dong defections and keep customers on your site?

Good web writing captures your customer’s attention, keeps them entertained while the site informs them why they cannot live without your product, and finally, motivates clients to buy, or at least leave lead information.

Define Your Target Audience

Neglected often, defining your target audience shapes your message more than does your product. The education, experience, and goals of your audience determine a variety of factors in your writing from diction to concepts discussed. For example, you probably do cram your copy full of technical jargon for group of people new to the Internet. Conversely, a group of doctors may find something sounding penned for primary grades insulting their intelligence. As a seller of homes, your audience is homebuyers. And as everyone needs a home, your audience, potentially, could be a cross-section of the general population.

Define Your Goals

The next important step in creating good web copy is determining your goal. While this may seem fairly obvious, this is surprisingly often neglected. Much to the same end as determining your audience, you determine your goal to avoid awkwardness. For example, you might find it a little awkward to visit an auto website and then find a dissertation on Middle-Eastern Peace. Similarly, a customer visiting your site for current real estate information might think it odd if your site contains a page entirely devoted to beanie babies. Your goal in presenting a website is to gather leads. Everything written on your site should further this end.

Unique Selling Point

Why should anyone buy from you? Can’t think of a good reason? More than likely, your customers can’t either. With the low barrier to entry, and subsequent competition in the real estate industry, homebuyers and sellers require some additional motivation to contact you. While good advertisement and word-of-mouth are key factors in the contact equation, getting a customer’s contact information on a lead form relies heavily on how you distinguish yourself from the competition on your website. Mention a unique area of expertise, designation or property specialty to capture your visitor’s attention.

Place needed information at the top of your article.

Nothing frustrates a web visitor more than wading through volumes of content before reaching desired information. In your first paragraph of your first page, you should mention the “5 W’s”: who, what, when, where, why and how for good measure. An example of this would resemble the following paragraph:

“If you are looking for real estate bargains in the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area, call me, Kathy Agent. I specialize in North Cape properties, especially affordable new condo developments. Call or e-mail me today so I can find the property right for you.”

This paragraph gives all 5 W’s plus how in three sentences. You can identify the who, Kathy Agent, what, real estate, when, now, why, looking for real estate bargains, where, Cape Coral, and how so I can find the right property for you.

Jimmy Househunter sees this and knows within seconds that this page, at least on first glance, is germane to his home-buying efforts. Web visitors often browse away from an uninteresting page after viewing only for 30 seconds. If a visitor cannot find needed information in that amount of time, you safely assume that your visitor will go elsewhere.

Write in a style suiting daily commerce

Simple sentences convey your points quickly and effectively. Say what you need to say, and nothing more. You are selling real estate to a cross-section of Americana, not defending a thesis at Harvard. Again, see the 30-second rule.

Include keywords in your copy

You may know from previous articles that major search engines like Google and Yahoo! use specialized algorithms to rank websites. Instead of analyzing Meta Data, search engines look to content of the entire site for relevance.

Proofread Your Site

Nothing presents an unprofessional image like a proliferation of typos. This not only reveals an inattention to detail, but conveys a generally unpolished appearance.

What is a Meta Tag?

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

You may have heard the term, “Meta Tag,” in reference to your website or the Internet and not know what that meant other than someone is a big nerd and you are not. You may know that Meta tags have something to do with search engines, but were afraid to ask. For many Meta tags are that great mystery reserved to be solved by the most geeky search engine optimization types who, cloistered away, decide the fate of yours and the millions of other websites indexed by search engines.

Fortunately, Meta Tags do not have to dwell in HTML esoterica. You too can understand and utilize Meta Tags in your AgentAdvantage site. We’ll begin unraveling the mystery of Meta tags by examining their origin.

Meta tags, or Meta Elements, are HTML tags used to by search engines to catalog your webpage. These tags contain descriptive information about your website. Being data about data, Meta tags are a type and get their name from Metadata. One of the most notable examples of Metadata is a library card catalog. While you may not find the entire book within the card entry, you will find pertinent data like author, subject, date published, and where you can find the item (according to its Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress number). The Internet bears much similarity to a library. Like reference librarians, search engines find what you need based on Metadata, and in the case of your web page, Meta tags.

Structure of a Meta Tag

Meta tags are located in the <head> tag of your website. For an explanation of HTML tags, see this article.

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>YOUR HOMETOWN FLORIDA - YOUR HOMETOWN Homes and Real Estate For Sale - Realtor®</TITLE>

< META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" CONTENT="Mon, 06 Jan 1990 00:00:01 GMT">

</HEAD>

Like many HTML tags, < META> possesses a variety of attributes used to delinate its respective parts. To briefly describe these attributes:

Keywords

Keywords are words used to categorize your site formatted like this:

As you can see, “keywords” is a list of search terms that one might enter into a search engine. In the heyday of “crawler” type search engines, keywords provided the primary source of index data for web pages. The “crawler” (picture a big robotic spider) did just that, “crawled” through the pages of the web, specifically looking for this attribute of the META tag. As you might imagine, indexing a page primarily based on hidden data could lead to some abuse. Unscrupulous webmasters would add keywords far from germane to the content of their sites. Back in the earlier days of the Net, Granny Prodigy-User looking for home and garden information might find something entirely objectionable when performing a search for a needed garden tool. Needless to say, as the Internet became more commercial and mainstream, and families with children became avid Internet users, search engines became pressured to deliver more valid, accurate and safe results. Eventually, search engines came to ignore the keyword tag in indexing sites.

Why then do we include keywords if they are obsolete? Keywords allow the search engine to determine whether or not your site is spam, or highly irrelevant. Search engines send sites containing the identical or highly-similar sets of keywords to the bottom of the search results. Often identical keywords mean that an identical site appears somewhere out there. It does not benefit the web-surfing public for the first ten search results all be the same site! Additionally, it’s safe to assume that those with 100 identical websites engage in one form of spam or another! You need distinct keywords to make sure that your website does NOT appear as spam to search engines!

Description

Traditionally, the Description attribute of a META tag became the blurb appearing below the URL of a website in a search engine’s results. Many search engines still use Description to aid in site indexing and blurb generation. Google, however, does not use this description to generate a description of your index site.

Using the Search Engine Help Feature

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

Website Editor - Search Engine Tools - Search Engine Help

Search Engine Help is a step-by-step tutorial on how to get your website indexed, or recognized by, the major search engines. While we recommend reading the entire text of this tutorial, here’s a summary of the steps needed to get your site noticed by major search engines:

First check to see whether or not your site has been indexed by major search engines. Do this by searching for your website name in Google. If you find your website listed in the search results, you are indexed. If you get no results for your search, you are not indexed and will need to follow the additional steps.

If your site has not been indexed, add unique content to your site before doing anything else. If a search engine sees that your site is identical to hundreds of other sites, it will simply ignore it. Avoid leaving too many areas of your site “under construction,” as a search engine may then think that your site contains no relevant data.

Be sure to add keywords and descriptions to your web pages. Your website Control Panel contains areas where you can control this data, called Meta Tags or Meta Data. This data cannot be seen by visitors to your website, but only by search engines.

Keywords are the 15-20 words and phrases that best describe your website. Be sure to capitalize proper nouns and adhere to proper grammatical rules. Examples of keywords are: “ Tallahassee real estate, homes for sale in Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee listings.” Separate each term with a comma.

The description appears below the URL in a list of search results from a search engine. In your website, these descriptions are found both on the Main Body Copy and Images area, as well in the Meta Tag Builder.

Check for broken links. Search engines validate links to determine whether or not your site is legitimate. A site replete with broken links indicates neglect, and more than likely, malfunction. Broken links do not equal useful content to a search engine.

Submit your website to search engines manually. Dmoz.org is the most notable of these manual submission websites. Dmoz.org will send suggestions to the major search engines as to

Add reciprocal links to your website. A reciprocal link is a text or banner link pointing to another website. By having a number of these present on your website, you place yourself within a miniature network. Because the Internet is a larger network of smaller networks, the more networks to which you can attach yourself, the more likely the search engines will recognize your websites.

Things to remember when creating reciprocal links:

Link to sites relevant to your own. If you create a site about real estate, some examples of related content might be movers, handymen, the local chamber of commerce website, etc.

Avoid creating a “link farm.” While showing that you are connected to related sites boosts your relevance on the Internet, links to random content does not. If your site contains more than 20 links on a page called “Links” or something similar, search engines will detect this and possibly ban you from their listings. A better strategy to adopt would be to spread your links over many pages of your website. Try using the “Preferred Partners” section of your website, or writing articles concerning specific service providers. If another website owner offers to link to your site in exchange for placing 500 links on your site, think twice before sending your site into possible search engine exile.

Paid reciprocal link opportunities exist. While AgentAdvantage/Homes.com does not endorse any of these third-party companies, we have listed them for your reference in this Search Engine Help section.

Completing these steps does not mean that your site will climb to the top of Google overnight. Attaining an organic search result takes time, following these steps, and visits to your website. Sometimes this process can take months. Many people cannot wait this long – and we don’t blame you!

AgentAdvantage offers Search Engine Optimization and Power Search to get your site on the major search engines, and more importantly, noticed by thousands of prospective homebuyers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Our professional Search Engine Team employs many of the techniques described in this article – and more – to achieve a higher organic ranking on Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines. Many of these search engines have special algorithms, or a specific method to evaluate websites. Our experts implement design and copywriting techniques designed to be highly ranked by these algorithms. More on SEO here.

Power Search

Power Search utilizes Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertisements on search engines like Google and Yahoo! to get your site immediately noticed by home-seekers. Our marketing professionals constantly monitor your campaigns, and actively manipulate your ad markets to achieve your lead-generation goals. More on PowerSearch here.

Activating Your AgentAdvantage Site: What to Expect in the First 30 Days

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

Congratulations on purchasing your AgentAdvantage website. Over the next 30 days, our team will get you on the fast track to Internet success. Here’s what you can expect from our Activations Team:

Within the first 24 hours of successful billing of your site, AgentAdvantage pairs you with an Activations Account Manager. Your Account Manager will be your guide through purchase through final product viewing and use. For any concern or question about any aspect of your purchase, your Account Manager will be your “point person.”

Here’s what your Account Manager will coordinate for you:

Initial Site Setup – Your Account Manager will set up your site on our secure Homes.com servers.

Domain Transfer and Sales – Third party domains are no problem! Your Account Manager will expertly gather all information needed from your domain registrar to transfer your domain smoothly. Don’t have a domain name? Your Account Manager can help you select and purchase the perfect domain for you. Buying your domain name directly from AgentAdvantage keeps your website and domain billing all under one roof.

Installing your IDX feed – All of the MLS forms and other procedures necessary get your MLS listings on your site your Account Manager will coordinate. If you have any encounter any problems with connecting your feed, your Account Manager will solve these for you.

Preliminary Site Customization – Your Account Manager will gather your photo(s), office and franchise information, and color preferences to create a site ready to go from day one.

Portal Advertising Products – If you purchase Featured Listings, BlockBuster, City Sponsorship or Neighborhood Sponsorship advertisements, your Account Manager will ensure that these products are up and running promptly.

eStrategy/SEO – If purchased, your Account Manager will make your appointments with your eCoaches so you can begin the site customization process.

Solutions Consulting – Want a customized site, looking for leads, need creative marketing solutions? Your Account Manager can recommend which AgentAdvantage/Homes.com products would be best for your Internet marketing needs.

Training – Your initial website training will be scheduled by your Account Manager. You’ll see and hear your training session over the web through the AgentAdvantage Learning Center. For in-depth explanations and advice, your Account Manager will be available for assistance during the first thirty days of product ownership.

What happens after 30 days?

After thirty days with your Account Manager, care of your website will be handled by our Member Services department.

Understanding Website Activity

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

Is anyone actually looking at my website? Dealing with buying and selling on a daily basis, you want to know the value yielded by your product. Information on how many people have visited your site, what pages they viewed while there, and from where your visitors originated all can be ascertained by viewing your Website Activity page.

Where is my Website Activity page?

Your Website Activity page can be found under the Website Editor menu of your Control Panel.

Upon clicking the Website Activity menu item, you will be directed to this page:

From this page you can view your Site Activity Statistics by month or by day.

By Month

To view a month’s statistics, use the pull-down menu to select the desired month. Then click the Proceed button to view. After you click on the Proceed button, you will see this screen:

The links under Available Tables for this Report reflect the types of statistical reports generated by the system.

Summary Statistics

This section contains a summary of your site’s statistics.

Total Number of Viewing Days – total number of days during the month on which your site had visitors.

Total Number of Page Views – total number of individual pages from your site called from the server for view.

Average Page Views per Day – average number of pages from your site viewed per day. This is the total number of page views divided by the number of days your site had visitors.

Total Number of Visits – number of times the site as a whole was visited over the reporting period.

Total Number of Visitors – number of unique IP addresses or computers that have visited your website during the reporting period.

Average Pages Views per Visit – the number of pages from your site the visitor requests on average during their visit.

Most Active Day of this Period – the day during the reporting period during which you had the most visitors.

Most Active Day of the Week – the most active day of the week on average. This will indicate, for example, if most of your visitors come to your site on Thursday or Friday.

Most Active Hour of the Day – the hour each day during which most people visit your site.

Page Views by Areas of Special Interest

This area indicates which areas of your site have received the majority of traffic. As you can see in this example, visitors have seen the Home Page and Main Areas of Your Site.

Page Views by Main Areas of your Site

This area categorizes the Main Areas of Your Site visited during the reporting period. In the following example, you can see that visitors frequented the website’s listings and listing detail pages, while other areas like search results, featured properties, weather, guestbook, open house, and articles were visited less.

Page Views by Featured Properties

You can see if any visitors viewed any of your Featured Properties in this area

Page Views by Properties Reachable by Your Site

Any properties viewed when a visitor performed a search on your website will register in this area. This view can be especially helpful if you would like to compile a better idea of the types of properties your online customers look for on your site.

Page Views from Referrers of Special Interest

You can see if visitors from your site came from Homes.com, Google, or Yahoo.

Page Views by Top 50 Other Referrers

You can see from where visitors came besides the Referrers of Special Interest.

Page Views by Week

This area shows you activity broken down by week. Here you can find out which week is the most active.

Page Views by Day of the Month

You can see page views and visits for each day of the reporting period.

Page Views by Hour

Track the busiest times of day for your website here.

Site Activity Choice: View By Day

Viewing your Site Activity by day immediately yields a table containing Day, Weekday, Visitors, Visits, and Page Views. Clicking on the individual day generates a statistics page similar to that of a monthly view, but the statistics are presented for that day only.

Your Storage Locker

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

Much in the same way your computer’s hard drive for stores your files, your AgentAdvantage website uses a “hard drive” of its own. Your Storage Locker allows you to store files for use on your website on our Homes.com servers. Storing files this way eliminates the need for a separate web server. Keeping all of your files in one place just makes your own work on your site that much more streamlined and easy!

Why use the Storage Locker?

With your AgentAdvantage Storage Locker, you can store important documents you can access anywhere you can access the Internet. You many have spreadsheets or .pdf files you may want to incorporate into a listing presentation. Perhaps you are working on articles for your website, but do not want to publish them right away. The Storage Locker keeps these files with your website for quick and easy access.

Beyond simple storage…

The Storage Locker gives you a place to load files so that they can be linked to other areas of your website. In the HTML Editor and other places in your site, you can add pictures in positions for which there are no “Add Photo” dialog boxes in the Control Panel. You can also add links to other content such as .pdf files within articles. The Storage Locker provides your files with URLs, allowing you to link these files to other areas of your site with simple HTML tags.

Opening the Storage Locker

To access your Storage Locker, go to Website Editor à Storage Locker. You will then see a screen looking like this:

From this tabbed page you can do the following:

Show Files – this allows you to see all of your Storage Locker files. You can see all files at once, or view by file type. You can also delete files on this page.

Add Files – allows you to upload files to the Storage Locker

Add Space – you can purchase additional space here for a reasonable fee.

Show Files

By clicking on Show Files you will be directed to this page:

Show Files divides files into a few different document types: Documents, Images, Media Miscellaneous, and All Files (1). Each file type has its own tab. By clicking on the Images tab, you would be taken to a page listing all of the image files in the Storage Locker, etc. Clicking on each tab yields a list of files of that type (2). In this example, there is only one “Document” file in the Storage Locker. For each file listed, a corresponding URL appears. This URL can be cut and paste into a variety of areas in the Control Panel to create a link to your file. You can also delete files by checking the box to the left of the file, and then clicking the DeleteSelected button (3). Finally, a table showing how file types are categorized in the Storage Locker is present at the bottom of the page for your convenience.

Add Files

Clicking on Add Files brings you to this page:

You can upload files of any type from this page. As you can see at the bottom of this page, the same file table from Show Files appears. This way you can find your files after you upload them!

To upload a file;

Click the Browse button.

Select the file to upload from your computer, click Open

The file path now appears in the once blank box. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to upload additional files.

If you are uploading a newer version of a file named the same as a file already loaded to the Storage Locker, please note the radial buttons at the top of the page.

You can choose for the Storage Locker to simply append a number onto the end of the file name to denote a newer version, overwrite the existing file, or skip overwriting the file.

Click the blue Upload Files button.

Add Space

Under this tab you can purchase more space. Once you complete this form, our Member Services department will contact you to verify the order.

Linking an Article to Other Areas of Your AgentAdvantage Site

Monday, August 13, 2007 - By: Brian D

“I have just finished my article and it pops up in a new window. What do I do now?”

“Can I place a link to my article somewhere other than at the bottom of my page where no one can see it?”

When you create an article using the Control Panel’s Article Editor, it posts a link to your article in the links section found at the bottom or side of your web pages (see figure). Often, you may wish to reference this article elsewhere. For example, you may wish to place a link to an article about your area’s beaches prominently in your website’s buttons (see figure). You may have created a home seller’s form in an article that you want to link within another article of text. In these, and many other cases, there’s an easy way to make the links you need.

Our server assigns each article a unique web address or URL. This means that you could enter the URL assigned to the article into a web browser and you will be taken directly to this article on your website, without having to click on any buttons from your site. Because the article has its own address, we can make links to the address in order to access the article. Finding the URL for the article you want to link elsewhere in your site is the important first step.

Find the URL

After creating a new article…

After you click the Proceed button to save your new article (see “How to Create an Article), you will see your article appear in a new window. Place your cursor in the address bar of the browser window containing your article. Highlight the URL in the address bar, and then right-click. Click Copy from the menu. Now you have the URL stored on your computer’s clipboard so that you can paste it where needed.*

From a previously created article…

Finding the URL for an article previously created is fairly simple. Open the Articles Editor under the Articles, Links & Reports menu item in the Website Editor menu. Click on the Edit Existing link on the Articles page. Select the article you would like to use from the drop-down menu. Then click View. The article will appear in a new window. Place your cursor in the address bar of the browser window containing your article. Highlight the URL in the address bar, and then right-click. Click Copy from the menu.

*If you are running many programs simultaneously on your computer (i.e., you have a few web browser windows open while you are working on a spreadsheet, and you are working in your photo editor on some photos of one of your listings), you may wish to either be sure you keep the window with your article open, or paste the URL you have copied into a blank Notepad window. But if you do neither of these things, you can follow the instructions on obtaining your link from a previously created article.

Places Where You Can Paste the Link

For Main Page Buttons

To make a button for the article, open Modify Your Buttons under Site Settings from the Website Editor menu. Details for each navigation button are found here. At the bottom of this page, find the Add New Custom Link area (see figure).

Then, do the following:

Enter the text you would like the button to read.

Click the radial button next to Link to alternate URL: then paste the URL from the address bar of the article you copied earlier.

Check this box if you would like your article to open in a new window. We recommend doing this in general so that clients do not get diverted from your content.

You can change the order of your buttons using the arrow keys. So if you would like your article to appear closer to the top of the order of buttons, adjust the order here.

Save your button by clicking the yellow Save or Save &View button.

Within Captions and Articles (HTML Editor)

Sometimes you may wish to reference another “article,” whether it’s another piece of text, or a form, or a smart-frame search page within a text article or caption. This section will show you how to link your article in a piece of text using the HTML Editor.

For more information on the HTML Editor, see the HTML Editor How-to Guide.

In either an article (Website Editor àArticles, Links & Reports àArticles Editor àCreate New or Edit Existing) or in the Caption section of Main Body Copy and Images, you can insert a link to the article from which you copied its URL.

Follow these steps to link your article’s URL to within another text article or caption:

Open the HTML Editor in either an article or the Caption section of Main Body Copy and Images by clicking on the yellow Edit button.

The HTML editor will open. Begin typing your text.

Highlight the text you would like to make into a link.

Click on the icon resembling a chain and globe. The Link dialog box will open.

Paste the URL you copied earlier into the URL text box. When you do this, remove the “http://” from the URL. To the left of a text box that gives you a variety of protocols (This is not important in this tutorial but is covered in others.) from which to choose. For our purposes, keep the pull-down menu default setting, “http://.” This automatically places “http://” ahead of the remainder of the URL.

In the Link dialog box, move right to the Target tab. In the left Target pull-down menu, select _blank. This will ensure that your article will open in a new window. If you would rather have your article open in the same window, no action is required.

Click the OK button.

Click the Proceed button in the HTML Editor

Click the black Proceed button in the Articles Editor or in Main Body Copy and Images.

If you have made the link within an article, your article should pop up in a new window. To see changes made within a caption, click View My Site at the top of the Control Panel.

Now you have the knowledge necessary to link articles within other articles. No more will you scratch your head after making an article thinking, “Gee, I wish that I could have people find this other than down at the bottom of my page.” This process is very similar to making links to other URLs from other websites. Explaining this process, however, begs repeating as too often customers don’t even realize that their articles even have URLs.

How to Build the Best Site Possible

Monday, August 6, 2007 - By: Laura Chan

How to Build the Best Site Possible – Some Handy Tips

Change your main page content immediately. Every AgentAdvantage site comes programmed with default text. Search engines will penalize your site in their rankings if they see the same text appear on several websites. To get your website noticed by search engines immediately, change your site content immediately. Customers looking for listings on Homes.com encounter dozens of these new sites on their search. Make your site stand out to them by changing your content.
Choose a template suiting your geographical location or franchise. Our activations team makes every attempt to choose an initial website fitting your area or franchise. This does not mean that you have to stick with the one they choose! Feel free to browse the hundreds of layouts we have on file in your Control Panel.
Add content throughout your site. Quality information is the most important part of your page. More content will rank your site higher on search engines, as well as make your site a more valuable resource for your customers.
Add information about your town or city to your website. This promotes the concept of your site as not just an advertisement of area listings, but a valuable information resource. You can create pages about area recreation, schools, cultural opportunities, and other similar information using the Articles Editor of your website.
Keep your site free of clutter. A well-organized site allowing users to find information quickly keeps interested visitors on your site. A visitor not able to find the information he needs within 15 seconds, he probably will leave your site.
Check your spelling and grammar. While a typo here and there may seem harmless, poor writing reflects inattention to detail and diminishes the overall impression your website - and business - makes on a potential client.
Use .jpeg or .gif formats for images. These formats keep the file size of your photos small enough so that an average user can download easily. AgentAdvantage will not let you load too large of a file in standard photo loading areas.
Please do not use animated .gifs. They are tacky relics of the early 90’s. People laugh at these .gifs, and not in a good way. Don’t use them.
Leave broken links on your website. Not only does it give your clients the impression that the site is not well maintained, but search engines equate malfunction with irrelevance.
Avoid adding too much multimedia on your website. Remember that most website visitors utilize dial-up connections to their ISPs and NOT high-speed internet. If a page takes minutes to load because of a movie you believe a visitor MUST see before viewing the rest of your site, chances are that the visitor will not share the same opinion and leave your site.
Avoid long domain names. Long domain names are hard to remember. Choose memorable names over descriptive ones to enhance branding. Your Member Services staff can help you choose a domain name best suiting your needs.

Help, My Listing is Missing! (a checklist)

Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - By: Brian D

At AgentAdvantage, we strive to present accurate and up-to-date listing information for our members. Occasionally, we do encounter technical issues when receiving IDX data feeds from your MLS. While we diligently work to correct these issues when they arise, we ask that you check the following information regarding your listings before you call our MLS staff.

Did you check the box on your MLS submittal form to allow the listing to be transmitted to the Internet?

Depending on your board’s regulations, your listings may not automatically be sent to your IDX feed (then to be sent to vendors like Homes.com) unless you check this box on the form.

Is your listing in Pending or Contingent status?

We will not receive a listing out of your IDX feed until it is active.

Is your listing a property type other than Residential?

We often do not receive alternative property types such as duplexes, rentals, or commercial property.

When did you submit your listing to your MLS?

Are you receiving listings from your MLS?

In order to receive listings into your WebsiteAdvantage or ListingAdvantage website, you need to be connected to your IDX feed. In order for these listings to then appear on the portal website, Homes.com, listings must be set to export from your website to the portal in your Control Panel. Check whether or not you are connected to your feed in the Listing Export Settings of your Control Panel.

In the Listing Source column, you should see the name of your MLS/Board(s) from which your receive listings. Make sure that under Import Options you have checked the corresponding box. Under Export Options ensure that the box corresponding to Homes.com is checked.

If you have checked each item on this list and your listing has not appeared on Homes.com, please call our Member Services staff at 800-889-3726, or email .

Marketing Your Website

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - By: Brian D

So you have just purchased your shiny, new AgentAdvantage site. You’ve just ripped off the (metaphorical) cellophane wrapper, and your Account Manager has given you the tools for Internet success. How large or small this success is directly relates to your website marketing. Marketing your website can be as simple as mentioning in your voicemail message or as elaborate as purchasing paid advertisement program on a major search engine, with many levels of participation in between.

Marketing your website begins with simply informing others through conventional means that you have a website. Believe it or not, one of the primary pitfalls that smaller website owners encounter is a lack of simple word of mouth publicity. Sometimes not even the agent’s own colleagues/employees, family, spouse, etc. do not even know that they have a Homes.com site. Therefore, if an agent’s immediate circle of contacts has no knowledge of their site, it’s a safe assumption that no (or very few – maybe extremely web savvy clients who have sifted through a few pages of results on Google) clients have heard of your site. (So, the first step in Internet marketing is to admit that you have a site.) So, letting your co-workers, family, spouse, and most importantly, your existing clients is a crucial first step. By starting with those you know, you become accustomed to mentioning your site in conversation, obviously coming in handy when talking to new clients. Also, people your family and employees may tell someone they know, who will tell someone else. Word-of-mouth bears much resemblance to a plant or a tree. This tree, however, needs to be planted somewhere.

Mentioning your website whenever possible (in whatever media possible) will garner a surprising number of new contacts - all for very little additional monetary investment on your part. Add your website name to your voicemail message so that if you happen to be assisting a client on the other line, a new client can be immediately directed to the information they need. On signage you were already going to have made, add your website and email address. For printed materials and promotional items, also be sure your website and email address features prominently. On anything containing your contact information that you give to your clients you need to make sure you add your website name.

Branded email aids in the reinforcing your website name and brand with your clients. Not only will your clients remember “you@yourname.com” more than they would an address hosted by a major (or not so major, especially) email provider, branded email yields a more professional appearance. Having your own domain name gives the impression of legitimacy and permanence (even if you are only paying $8 a year for your domain name!) to your potential clients. (It shows that you care enough to purchase a name, and that you might care about a few other things, like selling their home!) Additionally, the more often a customer sees and/or hears your website name, the more likely it is that they will visit.

So, if your potential customers are hearing your website name in person, on your phone, and on all of your signs and promotional items, just think of the impact and reach if you multiply by this by a factor of five or ten? Buying multiple domain names is a good way to achieve this end. Market every area you represent, or every property type you may deal in with a unique domain name, all pointing to your main website. Additionally, purchasing multiple versions of your top-level domain name can protect your brand name. Buy the .com, .org, .net, and .biz for your name so that clients will not get diverted elsewhere when trying to remember your website.

With all of these domain names you have now purchased, you may wonder whether or not this idea is actually working. Tracking your contacts based on domain names will help you determine how clients contact you, as well as whether or not you need to shift your advertising efforts from one domain to the other. Beyond this, tracking your contacts over all types of media will assist you in developing an overall assessment of your website, and overall, marketing efforts.

You may find that by telling people about your site, putting your site on all of your client media, having branded email and multiple domains may be enough to make some notable results. But who can say no to more business? So why stop here?

Consider these two options…

Customers can link directly to your site from Homes.com using our Portal Advertising products. Portal Advertising Products advertise you and your website with colorful, professionally designed ads. These ads are custom designed per your specifications, including your photo, logo and tagline, with animation available. You can target customers by city or by zip code, purchasing 100% market coverage of cities to gain the ultimate competitive advantage.

Homes.com Power Search purchases pay-per-click advertisements at the top of major search engines like Google.

Getting More Leads from Your Website

Monday, July 23, 2007 - By: Brian D

Getting More Leads from Your Website

As a real estate agent, leads are the heart of your business. Your AgentAdvantage website is a lead-collecting tool. Without means to collect leads, your website is nothing more than a pretty container for your contact information and listings available for consumers to freely browse. No guarantee exists that a customer will leave contact information in exchange for your listing. All too often, this uneven exchange occurs and agents wonder why they do not notice an appreciable gain in leads. With the lead generation tools in your AgentAdvantage website, you will not fall into the trap of giving away valuable listing data to a bunch of free-loaders. For all of your efforts in providing quality listing information for web visitors, you will receive their contact information.

The best way to gather leads from your website is by turning on your site’s guestbook. Your guest book mandates that a client leave their information for you in a contact form before they receive any of your listing information. By doing this, only active buyers receive listing information, and in turn, you receive their contact information.

In order to turn on your guestbook, you will need to access the Search Options tab under the Listings menu in the Control Panel. Once in this menu, click on the “Require guest book login before displaying search results,” and click “Proceed.” By clicking on this check box, your AgentAdvantage website activates your guest book.

When customers perform a search on your site, they are immediately directed to the guestbook form. In this form the customer must enter First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone. By requiring a phone and email, you gain a way to directly contact your lead.

Once the customer enters contact information into the guestbook form, they receive their listing search results containing your direct contact information. You receive lead information found in the Leads section of your Control Panel.

Lead Manager collects and stores the lead information from this and other contact forms in your AgentAdvantage website. From your Lead Manager, you can click “Export Selected” to export these to an Excel spreadsheet, standard text file or have them sent to your email address.

You may opt to store these leads more permanently by transferring them to your address book. Your address book organizes these leads and makes them happy.

Cross-Promotions Attract More Attention

Thursday, July 19, 2007 - By: Brian D

Cross-Promotions Attract More Attention

by Kare Anderson

When is the last time you stopped and smiled at the advertising message in front of you? Do you no longer "see" most of the messages you encounter? Your customers may have developed similar blind spots. Ironically, as the technology used in advertising zooms up in sophistication and "targeting," our interest and trust appears to be sliding farther down.

Just because we have more options on the various screens of our lives doesn’t mean we have more compelling messages. In fact, many of the early users of technology are spending less time "surfing" through their screens and more time getting reconnected to a simpler life, often leaving their portable phones, computers, and calendar keepers behind.

Then how do we reach our customers? Some of the best ways may be downright low tech but genuinely high touch; that is, truly centered on how and where and when the customer might most want to hear a message.

Your most valuable "marketing" assets aren’t necessarily money but willingness to depend more on your observation, imagination, values, and collaboration with allies in your community whom you respect. Rely on these assets to show your customers you "walk your talk" and to demonstrate you care about serving them.

Simply put, cross-promotions are a way to reach out to people more imaginatively, respectfully, and with less waste. In fact, you can have more success and fun "marketing" your business, government, or cause when you cross-promote than when you embark on a traditional advertising, fund-raising, sales, political, or other promotional campaign.

Controlling Your Advertising Costs

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - By: Brian D

Controlling Your Advertising Costs

by Patti Brotherton

It seems at times that as a Manager of a real estate firm we just can’t get a handle on our advertising costs. What do you do, with sellers and agents demanding more, the dollar only stretching so far, and the effectiveness of the print media waning as well as the cost going up? You pull your hair out trying to please everyone and the results are not what you want. There must be a better way.

Analyze

The first step in getting control of spiraling costs is to analyze the effectiveness of your current program. How many properties are being advertised per week? Does the image of the company ad need some tweaking? Would other advertising work better? Where do we get the greatest return for the advertising dollars spent? You need to know where you have been before planning where to go.

Special Promotions

A quick “shot in the arm” for an office in advertising is to plan a company or branch promotion. Come up with something where the entire office participates in sharing the costs because of the benefit of being part of the promotion. For example, have an Open House Spectacular Celebration for one month where every person who registers at any of the company open houses can win a computer with printer. Every agent who participates is charged a fee (say $25) and they get special open house invitations sent out around their open houses each week that month, entry forms, and publicity in the local paper. You can create a special ad for the open houses each week and note each agent’s name. What is great is that this type of promotion will get noticed and you shared the cost with the agents.

Use Email

Create new open house registration forms for the agents that have email address information requested. Start gathering email addresses from everywhere! Ask the agents to give your staff person the email addresses from the open houses. The Manager should be working on getting all the past and current clients’ email addresses as well. This is a huge task, but if it is worked on diligently, you can get them.

Email marketing messages about the office to these addresses. There are several programs that will allow you to do this without having to show the names and addresses so they do not look like junk mail. Keep the messages simple and concise. The office can email about special promotions, about new listings, and sales success, etc. And, it’s absolutely FREE! Not only that, but they will be read and more than likely you will get a response because no other company is doing this.

Create New Ad Formats

Spend some time with your local paper, Harmon Homes, or Homes & Lands Magazine, and come up with new formats designed so agents can advertise and get a greater bang for their buck. If the company formats it and collects from the agents, the agents pay the company rate, there is greater exposure because the company looks bigger, the company has a lesser per line charge because there is more advertising—everybody wins! These ads would be in addition to the company-paid ads so the perception would also be that the company is growing.

This is a great way to gain greater company awareness and not have to spend all your advertising dollars doing it.

Get Creative

Get a committee of agents going in the office to brainstorm how the office can get greater advertising awareness without spending all their capital. It will be refreshing to see what they come up with. There could be participation programs with newly designed just listed cards, find a more reasonable printer for brochures and flyers in the office, etc.

Your agents will help you if you ask for their help.

Office Web Advertising

Find a way to get a company web site designed for you without any cost. Negotiate with a good web designer that if he comes to an office meeting and sells so many web sites to agents, that the office site will be free. Make sure that this designer can deliver and that he has a good product or this will backfire. Then update the office information on the site weekly, maybe with 5 best buys. Let your sellers know that they are the best buy this week on the office web site. Advertise the office web site everywhere. You can be advertising all your office listings 24 hours a day just by having this site. Make it work for you. Don’t wait for the agents to get web sites, you can control your costs by taking the initiative.

Bottom Line

The bottom line is don’t throw up your hands and give up. There are ways to advertise that can be very effective, all you need to do is experiment with ideas. The tried and true methods that we have been using for centuries, might not be the answer today. Be bold and try new things.

Copyright© 2000-2001, Patti Brotherton. All rights reserved. For additional information about Patti’s presentations and company services, please call the Frog Pond Group at 800.704.FROG (3764) or email ; http://www.frogpondgroup.com.

Advertising - The Rule of Six

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 - By: Brian D

Advertising - The Rule of Six

By Nancy Michaels

When considering whether to advertise your business, remember the rule of six: It takes at least six times before a consumer associates your name with your product or service. This means you need to buy at least half a dozen ads before you see results. If you’re going to sink that much money into an ad campaign, obviously you want it to work. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your advertising dollars:

Whether you choose print, radio or television as a medium for your vehicle, it’s essential that you place your ad where your customers are most likely to see it. For newspapers, this means, advertising in the section your clients are most apt to read. If you own a landscaping business, for instance, you want your ad in the Home & Garden section, not the Sports pages. Even better, see if your newspaper publishes a special section tied to your business. Many newspapers produce these at various times of the year, primarily as advertising vehicles. Examples of special sections include fall home improvement, weddings or holiday shopping.

Many papers also publish regional editions. By advertising in one of these, your cost will be lower because your audience is geographically limited. This could work to your advantage, however, if your business relies on customers who live nearby.

Research the availability of “remnant” space, which is magazine ad space that remains unfilled by press time and is offered at discounted prices. Call the magazines where you would like to advertise and let them know you are available in the event they get stuck with remnant space. You never know when they’ll call, so have camera-ready copy on hand.

When you advertise on radio, choose a station whose tone is compatible with your business. Your best bet is to advertise on a talk show, which has an audience of active listeners (an all-music station is likely to be on for atmosphere, making it easier for the listener to tune out your ad). Again, look for a show that correlates to your business. An auto repair shop would want to get its commercial on during a show about cars.

Television may be too costly for the average small-business owner when you factor in the cost of producing a professional commercial. Deals may be found on cable television local access stations, however.

Wherever you choose to advertise, keep your message brief and to-the-point. Mention your name near the beginning of the ad, and again at the end.

Consider taking out a series of ads that build upon one another. Serial advertising heightens the audience’s anticipation and keeps the product or service in their mind. Just look at the Tasters’ Choice coffee commercials. Not only do these capture the imagination of television viewers, they received loads of media publicity when the first commercials aired.

Track the results of your ads so you can judge their effectiveness. You can do this by including a coupon in an ad, offering a discount to those who mention it, or by publicizing a one-day sale, then counting the number of people who walk through the door.

Advertising can be a costly business, so plan your campaigns strategically.

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