A friend of mine is an agent with a site that needs a little TLC. He’s currently using a template-based site from a competitor, and in my attempt to help him “see the light,” I decided to give his site a relatively simple make-over. The results are shown below along with a step-by-step listing of my thought process as I moved from “before” to “after.”

Before:


After:


And the Changes:

1. 
   Fixed the odd vertical line alignment. Apparently the “Comfort Creek” logo is too wide for this template to handle. Consequently, it is pushing the content area to the right, and the thin, black, vertical lines no longer connect. Rather than try to reduce the size of the logo, I chose to remove the vertical lines altogether.
   


2. 
   Left some items as they were. Some elements of the design seemed to be working fine. I chose to leave the main beach photo, font for “Barry Bevis…” and the Featured Listings box alone.
   


3. 
   Strengthened the branding. The logo was tweaked a little and placed in the upper left area above the photo of the country road. Moving the logo into the header also gives the brand a small boost and helps the header area emphasize Barry Bevis. I also moved the top navigation bar down underneath the header section to added emphasis to the brand.
   


4. 
   Made the navigation links look more clickable. I’m a sucker for tabs. They are so helpful for organization. Adding a tab-based menu clarified which page is currently being viewed.
   


5. 
   Consolidated the redundant left-side links. After a quick review of the top navigation and the left-side navigation, there seemed to be unnecessary redundancy. By eliminating the duplicates (Home, My Listings, and Search MLS) and by consolidating the other links into one “Resources” page, the complexity of choices on the page was greatly simplified.
   


6. 
   Cleaned-up the left side a bit more. After moving the logo up into the header and removing or consolidating the side navigation links, there wasn’t much left inside the blue-gray side bar. I moved the “Tell a Friend” link over to the right side under the Featured Listings box because it seemed more likely that I’d be telling a friend about a particular listing that I saw. I then replaced the blue-gray background color with white and moved the “Bert Bevis Realty” text up under the “Barry Bevis” text in the header.
   


7. 
   Added some additional emphasis to contact. With the left bar now empty, I moved Barry’s photo over and added his phone number and an email link.
   


8. 
   Reduced the “visual density” of the content area. By changing the font color from black to olive and by adding some line spacing, the content area began to feel less heavy. I also removed the thick black outline on the “Comfort Creek” logo and changed the coloring to from black to olive for a better tie-in.
   


9. 
   Centered the design and softened the left and right edges. The center design helps the page fill the browser window more nicely. The gradient blend on the edges help the page feel more open and less boxed in by left and right margins. The color blend added the background of the content area is mostly just for kicks. It feels optional, but I decided to leave it.
   

Posted in Advertising Real Estate Site Design Technology Web 2.0 | 0 Comments » | Share This!

If you’re spending to get traffic to your website from the major search engines you are probably wondering how much of your money is wasted on passive searchers. You know, “browsers” the type of person that’s caught between the conundrum of buying vs. renting or maybe they're 6 months to a year from making a purchase. The type of person you immediately call after they fill out a lead form only to find out they only wanted to know what school zone the house is in but isn’t serious to buy. Eventually, these passive searchers just end up on your drip marketing campaigns in hopes they come around someday.

A way to separate the passive searcher from the active home-buyer and spend money wisely is to optimize your blog and website content to a very local level. In search, the rule of thumb is the longer keyword phrase the better the prospect.

For example:

Chances are a person searching "Manhattan Real Estate" is a more passive searcher than a person searching "Soho NY Lofts for Sale near Wooster Street". In the second example you know exactly what the consumer wants and where they want it. That’s the type of person you want to find your website.

You can enhance your search marketing strategy by setting up campaigns with specific neighborhoods in mind or use the neighborhood names in the link text or headline of your ads. Using these methods can increase your click-through rate of your ads and usually the conversion rates will improve because it will weed out the passive shopper and attract those who know what they want. If you choose to just go the neighborhood route be prepared for less search volume, but since there is less competition the clicks should still be cheaper. This is a good way to stretch your advertising dollar and still attract those hot leads.

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Brian Copeland is a prominent realtor in the Nashville, TN area, and if there is one thing he does well, it is video. He has been a real estate agent since June 2005 and was voted Rookie of the Year for 2006. He was booming right out of the gate. He finished his first year of real estate with 62 ½ transactions. Wow!
Brian comes from the music industry and taken a number of ideas from his prior career. One of those ideas is the creative use of video. It has propelled his business into a different stratosphere.
You can also check him out on The Learning Channel television show, "Flip That House".

Posted in Advertising Marketing Real Estate | 0 Comments » | Share This!

Facebook recently rolled out its plans for a new advertising network that uses the information of its subscribers. Each Facebook user opts in to allow Facebook to use their personal information, but does that allow using that information to advertise without written consent by the subscribers? Does checking an "opt-in" button act as a proper substitute for having written permission to use someone's pictures and content?
The state of New York may not think so. Read more here.

Posted in Advertising Marketing News Real Estate | 0 Comments » | Share This!

November is here and all of us in the real estate industry know that can only mean one thing: NAR!

Just in case there’s someone out there that hasn’t heard, NAR is the National Association of REALTORS and they throw the biggest and best party, um, I mean, conference, of them all!

This year’s extravaganza is being held next week (November 13-16) in Las Vegas.

Homes.com and AgentAdvantage have packed up shop and are heading west to take part in the festivities. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but we pulled out the all the stops this year.

We have partnered with our sister companies, Advanced Access, eNeighborhoods and Number 1 Expert, under our parent company Dominion Enterprises.

And we are offering REALTORS a chance to win ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

You’re eyes do not deceive, that’s ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

We have a life-size slot machine just waiting for you to take a spin.

If you’re at NAR, come by the Dominion Pavilion (booth 926) and take a spin!

See you in Vegas (I’ll be the one by the slot machine)!

Posted in Advertising Marketing NAR News Real Estate Technology | 0 Comments » | Share This!

Anyone can get a website these days.
Blogs have proliferated and many are free, so getting a presence online is not an issue.
But getting traffic to your website, that is the key to this whole online thing.
Here are some of the basics every realtor needs to generate traffic on their website:

• Social Networking. This is as basic as it used to be back before the world was "online". Get yourself known out in the online world. Myspace, Facebook and Linkedin are just a few of the social networking sites. Get a presence on them and get known.


• Article Writing. Sites like ezinearticles.com are an excellent way of gaining credibility and interest. Choose your niche and go for it! Set up a calendar of topics on which to write, and you can gain a loyal readership that will spread the news that you are the authority in your area of expertise.

Next I will add to this list of things to do to generate traffic to your website.

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Search Engine Optimization

Join Homes.com & AgentAdvantage.com November 8th for a FREE online training session on Search Engine Optimization. This class covers basic principles of search engine optimization, quick reference tips, examples of good website optimization and a few tricks of the trade. This class is for any agent looking to develop a solid foundation or wanting to maximize their current SEO efforts.

To register, Click Here. Hurry! Space is limited!

Posted in Advertising Marketing News Real Estate SEM SEO | 0 Comments » | Share This!

At 1pm today, my Outlook calendar reminder popped up to tell me that I had a Webex on Social Media, led by Paul Gillin. Now, my post-lunch, slightly comatose brain did not register that this was Paul Gillin, the Social Media industry blogging expert – oh no. Instead, after deciding that I would attend the webex (it’s after lunch, remember?), I signed on and quickly realized two things:

1. There are some people who “get” everything about Social Media—the industry, those influencing it now, those influencing it tomorrow, the future path of social marketing on marketers (such as myself), B2B & B2C efforts and even print (yes, you read that right—print!)
2. It IS possible to calculate that mystery ROI from your social media efforts.

I won’t give away all the good stuff, because you can go and check it out for yourself. When 65% of a website’s members are logging on daily (as they are on Facebook), and this is just one example of the strong population trend, there is something very right in Social Media.

Posted in Advertising Marketing News Real Estate | 0 Comments » | Share This!

I search the internet all the time for research and sometimes just for fun, so when I came across websites for real estate agents' individual listings, I was elated that there are now websites that have realtor’s listings on them.

When I say this I mean that there are urls dedicated to single listings and those pages are still in the realtor’s website. I have researched this new trend and have found numerous websites that offer different opportunities for real estate agents and their listings.

These individual listing websites are the Realtor’s answer to the high marketing costs. They help give added value to the listings themselves. Researches have found that these listing pages cost half as much as a single day’s open house announcement that realtors will put in a local newspaper.

Clients love it too. Real estate agents have said that their clients are very impressed that their own house has a website dedicated just to their listing and its information. It allows buyers to take a virtual walk-through of the house at anytime and wherever the internet is available.

These listing websites help sell a house faster than normal as well, because of the options to set up multiple photos, put in detailed property information, links to local schools, community information, maps and more.

Studying each individual website, I found that they all link back to the real estate agent's website or the broker site with which they are affiliated. This helps with the optimization of the site and ranks it higher on Google, MSN, Yahoo and other search engines. Each website comes with company brand identity which can help increase exposure. Many of these websites are free while others do have a price tag but they offer fancier themes or more features such as a wizard or better help options.

More and more agents are taking advantage of this new style of website. It is the better way to showcase their client’s listing with a single listing website dedicated only to marketing their property.

Posted in Advertising Gadgets Marketing News Real Estate | 2 Comments » | Share This!

Wanted: The AgentAdvantage Learning Center is searching for real estate professionals that are interested in writing about their ideas on advertising, marketing, SEO or design. If you are interested in having your content posted on the AgentAdvantage Learning Center - Call 866-500-5857, option #2 or email: productinfo@agentadvantage.com

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Marlow Harris is a Seattle-based real estate agent and she has a blog called 360digest.com. She was highlighted last Friday on the Future of Real Estate Marketing via Inman TV. She is a full-time real estate agent, a real estate blogger and an editor, occasional writer and administrator for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's blog.
In short, she is a busy and entrepreneurial woman.
Her interviews and her blog give us insight into what is necessary for today's person of business. It takes a lot to juggle a full-time career and maintain a blog effectively, but the blog, if it is run correctly, can drive the kind of traffic, and eventually client footsteps, to her doorstep.
What Marlow has figured out is that she can speak directly to potential and existing clients through her blog as personally and effectively as any direct-mail marketing strategy-and blogging is FREE!
The blog is another marketing avenue in which to drive a business to success.

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Well, I haven't been very good about posting, but branding is actually a very facinating topic. Almost as exciting as SEO. It's definitely easier to understand how to build your brand image. And I don't mean your own personal logo, tagline or color-scheme. Branding is so much more. Branding for real estate agents is how you present yourself to your clients and prospects, including how you answer the phone, how you communicate in email, how your office appears, and of course the level of service you provide. Here's a list of why you should spend some time thinking about your brand identity.

1. Instant recognition: I know who this is


2. Emotional connection: I can connect with this person


3. Level of expectation: I know I can expect high quality service


4. Differentiation: This agent is better than other agents because

The most important aspect of branding is CONSISTENCY. Being true to your brand and not reinventing yourself each year is what sets apart the most trusted brands and is why an agent with a consistent image and brand will always get repeat customers and referrals.

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PART 1
My focus for the Agent Advatange blog is branding and advertising. So I want to start by discussing branding in general. Why is branding important for realtors? How will branding help a real estate agent find more sellers and home buyers?

Everyone always talks about the great brands -- Coke, Walmart, Nike -- but what makes all of these brand so great? According to Vincent Grimaldi on BrandChannel.com, "The essence of greatness is in the capacity of a brand to foster the sales of a product/service by creating an emotional link with its audience. As such, a great brand balances the delivery of functional benefits with emotional ones."

So how does this apply to you, a realtor? Because great brands sell! And if you want to acquire more customers, generate more referrals and sell your listings faster, you need be aware of how you brand yourself.

Next, I'll cover how to build a positive brand image.

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