Let’s look at another industry…

If you had a heart condition, would you seek out a cardiologist or a general practitioner?

I think you get the idea…

Everyone in the world can be classified as a buyer or seller of Real Estate, but that does not resonate with anyone because the field is way too broad. Everyone can also fall into several other categories that are more specialized and potential clients would feel much more comfortable working with someone who has specialized knowledge or empathy for their specific situation.
When you decide to market to a particular niche, it is not only more effective than the generic mumbo jumbo agents waste time and money on regularly, it is easier to craft your message, target your audience, and develop a comprehensive marketing plan.
Therefore, in reality, can we conclude that general practitioners of Real Estate do not have enough business because, in reality, nobody is looking to work with a general practitioner?
What do you think?

What would be some great areas to specialize in to make 2010 your best year ever?

Order A Niche Website Today (REO/ShortSale/Foreclosure/Luxury/City-Specific)

There are three major reasons for doing special promotions in general. First, you want to acquire new clients. Second, you want to remind your existing clients about your great service; and third, you are wishing for referrals. By offering something attractive to your target market, even strangers may suddenly be interested in what you have to offer. Same objectives apply to real estate agents.

Special promotions don’t have to be expensive and luxurious. It can be as simple as giving away tickets to a game, play or movie. Creativity is the key.

Here are just some ideas of special promotions that you can offer your buyers and sellers:

• Offer a free one year home warranty for each client that buy or sell his home with you.
• Go to a local restaurant and ask for coupons that you can scan and email to your leads.
• Conduct a monthly drawing for a home improvement gift card.
• Give away a book that might interest buyers or sellers. You can also do this via a monthly drawing.
• Offer a free trip or weekend getaway to those that buy or sell a home with you. There are tons of websites that offer inexpensive vacation package deals.
• If you are a big sports fan, you can probably offer free tickets to a game.
• Do the famous “on me” promo – your moving truck is on me, your first cable bill is on me, your housewarming is on me, and the list goes on.

Don’t forget the details.

Once you have decided on your promo, be sure to explain the rules to your clients. You can send an email with information such as the requirements, drawing date, contact method, trip destination, coupon attachments and more.

AccelerAgent^TM Website subscribers are able to create offers like these in seconds through our Special Promotions tool. We encourage our existing website subscribers to take advantage of this feature. Please call our Tech Support Team at 800-743-5820 ext 2 if you need assistance. We also offer weekly webinar trainings for our customers. Click here to register.

For more information on AccelerAgent^TM Website packages, free trials and demos, please call 800-743-5820 or visitwww.propertyminder.com.

Facebook was launched as a way for founder Mark Zuckerberg to connect with friends at Harvard. Today, Facebook has exploded online with nearly 200 million users, and a million new members joining each week in the U.S. alone.

Social networking platforms like Facebook provide the business community an ability to get repeat exposure with the people within your network. Clients, peers, and prospects can make up your network, and you can promote events, sales, special offers and more through your Facebook profile. It also makes it fun to connect with old friends, family and co-workers. Sharing an old grade school photo can create an instant bond with those from your past. Even personal connections have the potential to become new business opportunities.

Reaching a market of 50 million people would take 38 years by radio, 13 years by television, four years on the Internet, and three on iPod-but only two years via Facebook.

There are many social media styles and types; however, according to Riva Richmond, blogging for the New York Times, Facebook’s traffic this year increased 97%. In February 2009 a Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, Facebook can help spread your brand and propel your business into the forefront of existing and potential customers’ minds.

How to start on Facebook?

Create a Powerful Profile

You account or user name must be tied with your real name, not your company or anything else. You can use your resume posted on your personal website with photos to describe your business practice, philosophy, mission and what you do. You can also include links to your website, blogs and other business resources. Be sure to include your photo so that others can recognize you online.

Build Your Contact List

Facebook is based on the concept of connecting with friends. You can send and receive friend requests and once accepted, your friend can view your profile and you can view theirs. To begin connecting with people that you know, you can either import your contact database or you can search Facebook for individuals.

You can also view the friends list for each person you are connected to. If you know any of your them (or you would like to know them), send a connection request.
Facebook Pages – Facebook “Pages” (that’s with a capital “P”) were created to give businesses their own profile on Facebook. Pages give your business an identity. With a Page, those interested in following your brand can become “fans”, and when they do so, all their friends will see this. You can store photos, videos, and information about your Real Estate business on your Page. All activities on Pages get posted back to your Mini Feed for all your friends to see.

Here are some ways to maximize Facebook for your business:

Communicate with Wall Posts
Each Facebook member has a “wall” where friends can post messages. This is a great place to post a quick note to those in your friends list. In the business networking world, this is the online equivalent of picking up the phone to say hello.

Update Your Status

At the top of your Facebook home page is a status box. When you post a status update, everyone in your friends list can see your update on their home page. This is a place to share tips, promote events and even boost sales. Effective business updates may include: “found a great article on foreclosures in San Jose,CA : www….” or “Joe at XYZ Realty in Saratoga is hosting a special Open House! Check out www….”

Networking is best when there is a two-way exchange. If you can help a new Facebook friend, they will likely want to return the favor.

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

1. What to do where?
Search for various activities such as festivals and summer fairs in your area. Use your AccelerAgent™ Website and email the list of events to your contacts. To get additional contacts, create a simple summer calendar that includes all the events that you found. Walk around your neighborhood and distribute the copies. It’s a great way to reintroduce you as the local expert.

2. Let’s do some BBQ.
Encourage your neighbors to bring their food and grill for a fun BBQ event. Note that you do not need to provide the barbecue for everyone. You can conduct a drawing instead. Prizes may include a new BBQ grill, family tickets to a water park, gift cards, movie tickets and more. Create a lead capture form on your AccelerAgent™ website and tell them to register for the event for a chance to win a prize. Your website automatically adds them into your contact list. Not in the mood for BBQ? How about a yard sale event? This is a great way for everyone to make some extra cash and have fun. Follow the same steps from Tip #2. Don’t forget to include your event on the calendar that you send out. Be creative and have fun!

3. Business for business.
How about those small and usually family-owned businesses? Get your smile ready and start building your pipeline. Get some small jars filled with cookies or candies. Drop one jar on each small business (be sure to get their permission). Do not forget to attach your card on the jar, including your website. Ask if you can leave some of your business cards next to the jar. If you want to go the extra mile, you can come back every month to refill the little jars. It’s a great way to keep in touch!

4. Become an Avon® or Tupperware® Rep… or not.
Remember that person who constantly ask you to buy an Avon, Mary Kay or anything similar? We say find those sales reps and hold a ‘Hosted By’ monthly meeting. Invite your friends and family. Pick your date for hosting. Be sure to have that sign in sheet for the visitors, collect those emails and use your AccelerAgent™ Website to keep in touch!

5. The family that plays together wins together.
Ask each family in the neighborhood to submit their favorite family summer photo to you via email. Make them go to your website to find the best picture winner. Whoever wins gets a prize. Tell them that the complete contest rules are on your website. Create a custom page on your AccelerAgent™ Website for the rules.

We invite all our readers to test drive the AccelerAgent™ Virtual Office Websites at www.propertyminder.com. Ask us for a 30-day no risk trial by calling (800) 743-5820 today.

PropertyMinder continues to offer the TechMar Program to help agents to develop their Internet Marketing skills.

Since 2003, PropertyMinder has helped more than 30,000 Real Estate agents and brokers quickly adjust to post Internet revolution reality and take advantage of tremendous opportunities to secure success in Real Estate.

For more information about our TechMar Program, call (800) 743-5820 or visit us at www.propertyminder.com.

Direct Response online is built around motivating your website visitors to contact you at the very first opportunity.

Once the consumers are on your site, content is key to making them stay. Here are some ideas for content: neighborhood events, current market trends, newsletters, testimonials and local groups that you may belong to. Your AccelerAgent^TM Website has so many lead capture forms available for visitors to fill out – from home search to free reports.

According to Aric Kazarnovsky, Executive VP and co-founder of PropertyMinder, “the most important aspect of Direct Response Marketing is the initial method that agents use to encourage visitors to give their addresses and contact info. Once this information is captured, agents can build a relationship with these potential buyers and sellers before they even personally look at a property or meet them in person.” Aric is also the creator of the iMarketing System.

Customers who took PropertyMinder’s TechMar Program report greater results from implementing direct response strategies.

“The TechMar clinics were unbelievable. I can’t believe they packed in so much information in such a short period of time. There are so many “secrets” that no one wants you to know and now I know why. My website traffic went from 50 hits per week to 1000 hits this week. I have gotten 15 leads that signed up on my webpage this past week.“- Joe Doman, Realtor®

There are numerous effective techniques for consumers to be interested and respond, but first, you need them to come to your site.

There are two primary methods of obtaining more hits or traffic to your AccelerAgent^TM Website: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay per Click Advertising (PPC).

SEO is a way to increase your website’s organic or natural search ranking. By increasing organic rankings, agents gain more visibility, without having to spend on advertising. It does take time, but your traffic will definitely improve after you do some legwork.

Our TechMar Program covers SEO. It consists of two webinar-based classes that cover topics from identifying your vertical markets, modifying your meta tags, participating in social networking, getting more exposure for your listings, and much more. The program is built to ultimately get you more hits and let your site ‘exist’ on the web. You are given homework after each class so you get a hands-on experience.

Pay per Click is more for agents who do not have the time to make a lot of changes on the site and wants ‘immediate’ traffic from search engines such as Google^TM and Yahoo!.

PropertyMinder valued customer discounts are available.

Image advertising is the creation of a particular perception for your service. According to allbusiness.com, “While there is definitely a role for image advertising in creating awareness, an entire marketing strategy built around image is not going to create loyalty because it is, by nature, a one-way communication strategy.”

Direct response marketing is designed to solicit a direct feedback which is specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser (source: Wikipedia.com).

Any agent can start the road to direct response marketing by following these 2 tips on how to instantly generate interest through your website.

Numbers and Statistics: For example, if you save your buyers 12% on the purchase of a home on average, say it! Instead of having a slogan that says “I have the honesty, integrity and passion to make people’s dreams come true”, make your slogan “I guarantee to save you 10% on your next home purchase or you get $1,000.00.” Notice the first slogan is more focused on you, the agent, and the second is focused on the client’s desires.

In buyer marketing, a simple way to figure out your unique statistics is to go through the last 12 months of your transactions. Take the list price, subtract the final purchase price and the difference is the total savings.

Specialties: Become the expert. For example, you specialize in working with first time home buyers. Instead of having a slogan that says “Leading people to achieve their dreams with passion and expertise”, try using “An expert in saving first time home buyers thousands of dollars. It’s guaranteed”. Notice again that the first slogan is more focused on you, the agent, and the second is focused on the client’s desires.

It is also important to know where your audience is. List yourself on sites that get the most traffic, but most of all, those that are relevant to your real estate services.

PropertyMinder continues to offer the TechMar Program to help agents develop their Internet Marketing skills. PropertyMinder has helped more than 30,000 Real Estate agents and brokers quickly adjust to the post-Internet reality and take advantage of tremendous opportunities to secure success in Real Estate.

For more information about the TechMar Program, call (800) 743-5820 or visit us at www.propertyminder.com. Also ask us for a 30-day no risk trial today.

A great one-stop shopping experience isn’t just about introducing clients to your mortgage broker. It is about an effective marketing technique called co-branding.

Co-branding online means that you, as a real estate agent, will link your Real Estate site to a site of a trusted mortgage professional or firm. As a result, your website visitors can get both Real Estate and Mortgage related information and services at one stop.

How can you benefit from implementing co-branding strategy?
Your partnership with a mortgage professional will attract a greater number of qualified leads. You will be able to capture more leads as a result of additional lead capture forms on the AccelerAgent^TM Website mortgage booster platform.

Secondly, you can improve your website’s search engine ranking for mortgage related keywords due to the mortgage content hosted on your own website. By driving more traffic from search engines and the loan officers site, the natural (organic) ranking of the website will eventually improve as a whole.

“PropertyMinder clients with AccelerAgent^TM Websites co-branding with Mortgage Professionals realize that their superior technology does not prevent them from continuing to offer other mortgage choices to their clients”, said Aric Kazarnovsky, Executive Vice President and co-founder of PropertyMinder Inc.

Many agents do not understand the difference between co-marketing and co-branding.

Co-marketing is simply placing a link to a partner’s (loan officer or real estate agent’s) website on your site. Co-branding is a form of cooperation between two or more service professionals who are looking to build significant customer recognition, at the same time retaining their own brand names and distinction. Co-branding leads to increased loyalty and higher client retention rates. It will also disable competitor’s efforts to take your clients away. Co-branding is the science of alliance. It expands your scope of business and reaches more customers. It also leads to an increased value to the client, providing both services by a real estate agent on one hand and a loan officer on the other. When you share the cost of loyalty programs, your impact on clients is greater with pooled resources leading to a much higher return on investment.

With PropertyMinder REBridge^TM you can market your self and your loan officer as a “full service” team. The REBridge^TM connector tool connects a PropertyMinder hosted Mortgage site with a PropertyMinder hosted AccelerAgent^TM Website.

PropertyMinder Mortgage Booster is ideal for agents providing both real estate and loan services. With a simple upgrade, agents with AccelerAgent^TM Websites can supplement their existing sites with rich mortgage content including five of the most popular financial calculators, mortgage reports and articles, glossary of financial terms, mortgage lead capture forms such as requests for pre-qualification, financial consultation and online loan application.

Since 2002, PropertyMinder has been offering Virtual Office powered websites for individual agents, brokers and offices. With AccelerAgent^TMWebsites, PropertyMinder clients are always in control. AccelerAgent^TMsites offer a map-based MLS search allowing agents to exclude listings from displaying based on geography, list price, property type, cooperative compensation offered by the listing broker, or whether the listing broker is a REALTOR®.

Today more than ever, videos could be very beneficial to your online marketing. Many tech savvy Real Estate agents have embraced the latest video technology as an innovative and engaging vehicle for connecting with their target audience.

People are watching hundreds of videos a day on YouTube.com and uploading thousands by the hours. In fact, every minute, at least ten hours of video files are uploaded.

YouTube is the leader in online video hosting, and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide. It allows people to easily upload and share video clips across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.

Creating a quality video today is easy and inexpensive. All you really need is a video camera, or sometimes even just a regular digital camera with video capability, and some editing software. Microsoft’s Movie Maker is a free video editing tool. With this program, you can even add voice-overs and music. Another option is the inexpensive and extremely simple to use “The Flip” video recorder. It gives you 60 minutes to capture videos for your listing presentations, local neighborhood events and other personal clips.

An agent who has done a great job in putting virtual tours, photos and supporting documents to their featured and sold inventories online is two steps ahead of the game.

Once you’ve created your videos, link and embed these to your AccelerAgent™ Website. Call our friendly Customer Support at 800-743-5820 for assistance.

Times are tough. You know you have to promote your website in order to drive quality traffic, but your budget doesn’t allow for much more.

So the question is, how do you promote your website so that you stand out from all the others?  Well here is the thing about having a website.  If you don’t create the kind of website that promotes itself, you will always have to spend your time and money promoting the site.

So what exactly does this mean?  Well let’s start with content.  Oh sure content, content, content.  We’ve all heard it before.  But the reality is that content is the one thing any good SEO company will tell you to start with.  Over the years, the search engines have not changed these criteria.  You must have good original content.  Original? Yes, original.  You should take the time to develop articles, market news, city updates or a blog. Any one of these will do but the key will be to do it all in your own words.  Best content comes from your own understanding and your own interpretation of a subject.

If you have a niche market, show it on your site.  Write about it.  Show the reader in your own words why you are the area specialist.   Include photos.  It is a known fact that women are visual.  Statistics show that 72% of the home buying process is started by women.  With this in mind, your site should include intimate details of your city along with photos to show the area.  Show photos of the local golf courses, aquatic parks or yacht clubs if that is what are your area is known for.

Once this is completed tell everyone.  Every single contact in your database should be emailed with an embedded link to your website announcing the changes to your website and inviting them to see it.  Use a third level domain name (available in your PM site) to drive the traffic to a specific new page you’ve created or photos you’ve added.  This will give you the reason you’ve been looking for to email your database and remind them that you are still in Real Estate.  It will also drive more traffic to your website. The original content will also help you in the search engines and keep your site fresh with content.

I do not know what happened with the analysts that lost their high paying jobs after the investment firms that they represented went bankrupt.  I am pretty sure that they found suitable employers and forecasting some other economical events defending their point of view with equal zealous.

In today’s modern economy, it is impossible to accurately predict it’s down or upward turn. The truth is that the brightest and smartest did not see this coming, all that one can hope for is to spot the trend and take advantage of that knowledge.  The truth is that the majority of the so called experts and analysts know no more than you and I, and following their advice is a sure way to go broke fast. The truth is that top executives know no more than the attendant of the local gas station or coffee shop. How else can you explain the massive mismanagement from financial institutions to the auto industry to the airline industry to construction?  When oil prices were high the blame was placed on speculators. Now oil prices are low and we blame the high interest rates. Today interest rates by FED is at a historical low at 1% and likely be slashed to .5%. Do you have anyone to blame now for your ill doings? I don’t.

It was a well orchestrated performance act done by the stewards of industrial and financial giants to impress and mesmerize you with their competence and experience.  It is one of the many attributes of a power act to fly in a private corporate jet when the company in their custody is facing bankruptcy. Their sole purpose is to demonstrate uniqueness of vision and to build an invisible impregnable wall between you and them. Rick Wagoner knows less about car business than an attendant at a gas station. How else can one successfully run one of the pillars of the United States’ industrial strength and might such as General Motors into the ground? What specific quality did he posses? Why was the Detroit Big Three unable to compete? It makes me sick to my stomach when I hear nothing but complaints from them: union, oil price, credit crunch. Do I live on a different planet or what? From what I remember, the Europeans and Japanese are paying more for their gas than we are. The European Union has just as powerful an auto union if not more so. Labor laws and regulations are considerably stricter in EU than they are in the US. But our overseas auto competitors do not face bankruptcy.

It is difficult to see the obvious, but it is even more difficult to affirm it. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic for stating that the Sun was at the center of the Solar System and not the earth.

Here are facts for you to draw your own conclusions.

2008 estimated the number of house holds in the US at 112 million. The US homeownership rate is about 68 percent. In 2004 the number of homeowners in the United States reached 73.4 million, the most ever.  BLS reports the number of Real Estate brokers and agents at 131,000 and 432,000 respectively and projected to grow by about 11% by 2016.

My conclusion: The number of Real Estate agents will decline for the next few months. You will have a once in a life time opportunity. Fewer agents, less competition and more business for you

Rhonda Duffy sold 819 houses in 2007 making her the number one agent in Georgia, reports the GA FMLS.  How did she do it when the media reported an all time low of sales for 2007? Rhonda says that she does it by staying out of the media’s doom and gloom, by turning off bad news and engaging her sellers in a plan of action.

My conclusion: Have a plan of action. Become an expert in technology. Just because sales numbers are down does not mean that there are no activities. There is plenty of action to go around.

Sales of new one-family houses in September 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 2.7 percent above the revised August rate of 452,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2008 was $218,400; the average sales price was $275,500. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of September was 394,000. This represents a supply of 10.4 months at the current sales rate.

My conclusion: There is not a shortage of homes for sale, nether shortage of buyers.

New Residential Sales data for October 2008 will be released on Wednesday, November 26, 2008,at 10:00 A.M. EST.

Boris Gruzman, CEO

In June of 1949 the DOW Jones stood at about 167 points and was rising; in January of 1960 it was 640, on October 2, 1972 it hit a record high of 1,020 points. For the most part, from 1960 to 1982, the DOW Jones was going through typical up and down cycles. Periods of recessions were followed by periods of expansions. Since 1960 there were 4 recessions 1960, 69, 73, 81. For two decades the DOW Jones hung around 800 points, up until the computer revolution of the 1980’s. From 1982 we have witness relentless rises, and a  record high of 14,093 in 2007

During Kennedy’s election campaign, he charged that under Eisenhower and the Republican Party , the United States was falling behind and he, as President, would “get America moving again.”

In his acceptance speech Kennedy stated: “We stand today on the verge of a new frontier- the frontier of the 1960’s, a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils- a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.”

I have read headlines from the 1960 presidential election and they are strikingly similar with what we observed during the 2008 presidential campaign. I believe that we are experiencing a “”déjà vu”, this is familiar rhetoric.

For the Real Estate Industry it will make a little difference who will occupy the White House for the next 4 years. One thing is clear;  taxes will most likely go up. Our last economic expansion which started in 2001 was fueled by cheap credits.  We have borrowed heavily. As of February 2008, the national debt equated to $33,000 per capita or $60,100 per head of the U.S. working population.

According to a J.P. Morgan Chase forecast, we will see 3 quarters of recession followed by 12 quarters of slow growth. BLS reports “the median annual earnings, including commissions, of salaried real estate sales agents were $39,760 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $26,790 and $65,270 a year. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $20,170, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $111,500.

Median annual earnings, including commissions, of salaried real estate brokers were $60,790 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $37,800 and $102,180 a year.  Many real estate brokers and sales agents worked part time, combining their real estate activities with other careers. About 61 percent of real estate brokers and sales agents were self-employed. Real estate is sold in all areas, but employment is concentrated in large urban areas and in rapidly growing communities. Employment of real estate brokers and sales agents is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2006-16 projection decades.”

I would argue that BLS fails to recognize the most recent trend. In the past, employment was growing because of the accessibility of low-cost credits and unprecedented economical expansion  partially because of population growth. However, in the future we will see a number of agents and brokers decline because small businesses will be forced to consolidate into larger ones. Improvements in productivity, innovations and advancements in technology will make it possible for each agent to sell more. Stiffer completion and higher entry level (both financial and technological) into RE realm will lead to less number of agents and higher income per agents.

The availability of computers and proliferation of the Ethernet is creating a  new paradigm: “Ethernet search-Ethernet tour-Agent demonstration-Ethernet mortgage-Ethernet closing”.  In this new and brave cyber world, the agents with the biggest technological edge will win. It means new customer relations. It will be cyber Real Estate world with an increasingly larger budget to spend on Ethernet marketing, lead generation, office automations, SEO, etc. It also means a mobile world. We will see more innovations with  real estate applications for digital cameras and smart phones, with a wider acceptance of smart phones.

Although I do not have a crystal ball, it is safe to predict that after a few dormant quarters we will return to periods of fast growth.  Prices of properties have declined substantially, making many areas look very attractive now. Immediately after the buying period, the public will regain confidence and recessionary fears will subside; we will see frantic buying.  I have mentioned on a few occasions at PropertyMinder’s blog posts that prices of oil and other commodities most likely will continue to slide down and may stay low for some time. This undoubtedly will have a positive effect on core US industries including construction, and will help maintain a high employment rate and stimulate consumer spending.

The United States has had public debt since its inception. Between 1980 and 1990, the debt more than tripled. By the end of 2008, the total U.S. federal debt will pass the $10 trillion mark. This is about $33,000 per capita. Adding unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare, and similar obligations, this figure rises to a total of $60 trillion, or $500,000 per household.

During the recession time, it is risky for the government to reduce spending. Reduction of spending may lead to deeper recession; therefore the next President will have very limited choices, they are either to increase taxes or reduce spending.  And I believe that the new cabinet will do both.  Some government programs will be cut, and some form of tax increase will be expected.  RE industry is one of the pillars of the US economy, therefore the government will try hard to jump start it by continuing to offer low interest rates or some other incentives.

The unemployment rate among agents and brokers will be at a low of about 4%. New exciting opportunities in RE industry will be discovered on the junction between high tech selling and marketing, and old fashion salesmanship.

In conclusion, the next President will have very little effect on RE industry’s health. What  fueled the unprecedented rise of the stock market during the past 25 years were innovations, proliferation of computer technologies and Ethernet. That in turn helped RE industry to grow. Within the next decade, I believe that we will see another expansion phase in our ever cyclic economy due to new discoveries and innovations with technological break throughs.

Boris Gruzman, CEO

“As one of Property Minder’s original subscribers, I am always appreciative of the services it provides.  It makes my job much easier.  I am a proponent of working smart not hard and the website reminds me regularly of how true that is.  I used to spend hours taking clients around and showing them properties.  My last 4 sales ( in the past couple of months) have resulted from my clients using the program to pre screen properties.  However, the most remarkable sale I made this month was directly related to the swift communication from my website to a new client.  I met the client on Sept. 24th.  I did my usual orientation concluding with setting him up for a property search in the area that interested him.  On Sept 25th a listing email popped up for a property that was bank owned.   This property is located in an area where the last similar home sold for $749,000. ( In fact I was the one who sold it two years ago).  This new listing came up at $449,000.  My client was contacted and I also got the email the moment it appeared on the MLS.  I took him to see the property and we are closing escrow on Oct. 24th.  This is a perfect example of the slick way Property Minder makes me look so professional.  As in my first testomonial about Property Minder, I am sure we beat the competition because of the rapid email notification.   And yes, there was competition because the price was so amazing.  Thank you again for your wonderful product. “

Sincerely,  Linda Charman (www.charmanandson.com)

Over the past few weeks each time I’ve read newspaper, listen to car radio or watched TV I was left with an impression that “Armageddon” is upon us. Bad news bombards us from every corner of universe from every TV and computer screens, print media and car or TV speakers.  Financial crisis is the most talked about topic of discussions from the board room to the bedroom.   Today’s head line on Yahoo.com reads: “The Commerce Department reported Wednesday retail sales decreased 1.2 percent last month, nearly double the 0.7 percent drop that had been expected. It was the biggest decline since retail sales fell by 1.4 percent in August 2005″. I don’t have a crystal ball and I can not predict the future, but I despise those who preach doomsday, not so long ago they were of opposite view predicting continues rise of house prices and global prosperity and growth for US economy in particular. I did not believe them then and I do not believe them now.

To be right most of the time in forecasting weather in LA I do not need to be a weather man. All that I need is to spot the trend, and in LA it is sunny most of the time. If you bet red on the roulette table you will be right 49% of the time, which of course is a sure way to go broke.  Moral of the story: “Do not believe every forecast you read, do not believe every so call expert, they do not know any better that you or I.”

A Few days ago the market rebounded with a vengeance rising almost 1000 points, biggest one day rise in DOW 130+ year’s history. How many of you took advantage of it? According to some polls only 14% of people did, while 86% missed that one in a life time opportunity. How often do you think you will be presented with such fantastic opportunity, in my opinion not very often?   Sorry this blog was not intended for discussion about “get rich quick on stock market” but rather was some thoughts and prelude to “How to get customers during turbulent times”

Few days ago I was leisurely strolling down town Los Gatos, CA. I could not help myself but to notice that restaurants were busier that ever. Wow, all this talk about recession, depression, collapsing banks and economy slow down and yet I could not walk into a restaurant without a reservation. Needless to say I was surprised. Perhaps “bad” news has not percolated into these people’s minds, or perhaps the local economy is fueled by good quarterly reports from Intel, Google, and Apple Computer and like I do not now?

But what I do know is that just about every home owner has car.  Did you know that if you combine your car and house insurance usually you will save money? (My insurance does and it saves me a lot)  So why not get together with insurance broker or agent. It can be beneficial for both of you. Offer a cross marketing agreement with your insurance broker or agent, place a link or even better small advertisement on their site. Make it reciprocal to your site, its win-win for both of you.  We at PropertyMinder will facilitate necessary changes on your web site.

We as “homo sapiens” love to be treated nice, we love special attention etc.  We love referrals. What’s more when I go to a restaurant or visit doctor, shop for new car or buying jewelry I always ask: “Do you know anyone there, is he or she good?” You need referrals from other business.

Visit your local upscale dealerships: BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Cadillac, Porsche, Audi, Lincoln, etc. Arrange a meeting with top sales consultants. Help them – they will help you. Ask for referrals, be reciprocal. May be they will let you put your web link on there site. Do so for top 10-20% of reputable small and medium businesses in your local community.

There are always few events conducted by private schools and sponsored by local business. You need to be among them, even if your kids have long gone from home.  But be decremented do not leave your “foot prints” everywhere, you will devalue yourself.

Try to arrange exclusive presentation or event in one of the local upscale Fitness Club. Invite affluent members, present them with opportunity. But, please do your homework; rehearse few times before you speak to an audience. Record and listen to your speech. Is every word is loud and clear, is it convincing? Ask your friends to critique, name your presentation well, it is extremely important.

Do not expect instant success and do not try to sell, just present opportunity and get your name out there. Collect participant’s e-mail and keep updating them via e-mail. This is an age of permission marketing and cross marketing.

Today NYMEX crude quoted at $75.2 per barrel, oil prices has decline and likely will continue to do so.  Stops vegetating at home and stop waiting for a miracle, you are Real Estate PROFESSIONAL you can afford to buy a few gallons of gas, go out there meet people and have fun.  During Great Depression FDR sad: “There nothing to be fear but fear itself”. We at PropertyMinder will help you with any changes necessary to make your business prosper and successful.

Boris Gruzman, CEO

To deal with the financial crisis, lenders are requiring larger down payment and higher credit score, squeezing many home buyers out of owning a home – even though prices have fallen.

What does this latest trend mean for the future of Real Estate?

Where there is blood, there is opportunity. As Sr. Winston Churchill once said, a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

The reality is that real estate market has always bounced back and reached new heights.

The media today is focused on the present national and worldwide economic crisis, totally ignoring new opportunities which are about to make a very significant positive impact on the market as it recovers from the current slump”, said Boris Gruzman, CEO and President atPropertyMinder, Inc.

First and foremost we are in the middle of a global, demographical shift. In 2006, almost 500 million people worldwide were 65 and older. By 2030, individuals 65 and older are projected to increase to 1 billion – equaling one out of 8 of the earth inhabitants.

For the Real Estate industry, this means a growing retiring market. Baby boomers are retiring every day and always looking for a high quality Burgan-priced retirement properties.

While aging baby boomers are expected to look for retirement homes, the new Generation X and emerging Generation Y are taking their place for a first home and investment home markets. This is a great opportunity for tech-savvy agents with Internet marketing skills.

Who are these new buyers and what do they demand?

Gen-Xers do not read “Just Listed” post cards and other junk mails. They no longer care about the brand and the size of your car.  These highly educated, technology savvy buyers  in their 30’s and 40^’s are seeking your expertise.

So, how will we survive the market downturn and prepare for a rapid growth?

The answer is “Cut your expenses, adopt the latest technology and learn new marketing skills”, advised Aric Kazarnovsky, Executive Vice President at PropertyMinder, Inc. Here is Aric’s recipe for survival.

1. Replace expensive and ineffective traditional marketing with more effective new marketing concepts. There are a lot of new ways to improve your visibility and increase your lead production at a fraction of the traditional marketing cost. Learn the iMarketing techniques, embrace low cost search engine advertising, Craigslist , social media, listing syndication, mobile technology and many other opportunities to cut cost and extend your reach. For more bright ideas, attend  a PropertyMinder free iMARKETING Seminar. Visit iMarketing Seminar page for a schedule of upcoming seminars near you.

2. Save your gas and car maintenance. Make your buyers preview homes and learn about their dream neighborhood without leaving their home or work by using your convenient and “fully loaded” consumer centric website. Visit PropertyMinder, Inc. and learn about our AccelerAgent productivity and marketing technology.

3. Value your time. In this unpredictable market, many agents are unable to upgrade their skills. Take some time and learn new marketing concepts for yourself. Visit TECH-MAR Clinics and learn about our web-based marketing clinic for Real Estate professionals.

Aric Kazarnovsky, Executive VP

By going to www.meebo.com you can log into any of your online instant messenger accounts at Yahoo, AOL, ICQ, Google Talk, MSN and others.  This is nice, but the real gem is when you create your own Meebo account, you can create your own chat system and integrate it into your website through the use of a Widget, a small program code that will be embedded into any page on your website that allows for editing and the addition of HTML.  With the PropertyMinder AccelerAgent Real Estate Website I suggest a button on the home page for Chat and to create a specific chat page.

This widget will allow clients to type chat with you.  Many who are visiting your website may be more inclined to ask a question on a chat system as opposed to making a phone call and talking with someone.  The client may appreciate the anonymity that a chat system offers at first.  You can use the chat to try to move the conversation into the real world via phone or meeting.  The issue with chats up till now is for the most part, you had to be logged in at your computer system.  Nowadays though, Meebo offers mobile site hookups.  So from your Apple iPhone or whatever mobile 21st century technology you are using, you can log into Meebo and be available for chatting.

I have helped to integrate this into several marketing campaigns for clients and as it turns out, we pick up almost double the leads we had been getting prior to the use of chat.  As to the specifics of the marketing campaigns, those are for the PropertyMinder, Inc. TECH-MAR Clinic attendees.  The TECH-MAR Clinics show many different ways to integrate the available technologies out there into your website to maximize the return on investment of not only your funds, but your most valuable commodity, time.

A few days ago electronic media and press were reported that “The Standard & Poor’s 20-city housing index fell a record more that 16% in July from the year-ago month. This is the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 17.5 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history“.

This is an alarming trend and you as a Real Estate professional most likely are scrambling to stay afloat.  You’re digging deep into contacts, asking friends for referrals and feverishly searching for any opportunity.  Some of you may even consider putting your real estate career on hold until better times come.  Some of you may even call it quits, once again proving true the grim real estate statistics stating that almost 70% of agents will leave our industry within two years.

The question that needs to be answered is not how to weather the storm, but rather how to turn a profit during these difficult market conditions.  Let me postulate several simple principals.

First postulate:  There are plenty of customers with money to invest in Real Estate.

Second postulate:  There are lots of properties at bargain price ready to be purchased

Third postulate:  The right marketing strategy and tactics will match customers with properties.

Let me explain by expanding on these. Yesterday the Dow Jones lost a record 777 points. Behind every share that was sold on the New York stock exchange there was a buyer that though this is good time to buy.  To make a profit on the stock market you will need to buy low and sell high. Warren Buffet is one who buys low and sells high and also invests in things that are simple and well understood.

This is a simple enough rule, but very few people follow it.  Most people buy shares when they are rising and sell them on a decline. The public who are trading proceed exactly opposite of common economic wisdom.

About a year ago Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) was hovering at roughly $50 a share.  Yesterday, September 29^th, it was about $1 a share.  If you would invest $1000 into Wachovia Corp. at $1 a share and sell it for $3 a share next day you would make a gross profit of about $2000. This is not bad for one day of work. I am not advising you to change careers and start trading on NYSE, but rather let this example illustrate how to turn a profit in the real estate market. The only difference is that you will not sell shares you will buy and sell houses.

A few years ago houses were listing for $500,000 and you were receiving multiple offers for it.  Six months ago the very same houses were listing for $400,000 (may be little bit more than the original mortgage amount) and the owner could not sell it. Today these same homes are owned by the bank. The bank will take $300,000 just to unload it as soon as possible to cut their losses to a minimum.

What happened during that time span? Did the roof fall off or did one of the walls collapse? Nothing of this sort occurred.  Wachovia Corp. lost capitalization due to bad business practices.  As a direct result, its shares went into free fall.  All that changed in housing market was supply, demand and perception. A few years ago the perceived value was $500,000 and today it may be $300,000 and only because of low demand.  Demand for houses will pick up again as the need for houses did not evaporate overnight. The same number of families will need houses today as that needed houses a few years ago.  The US population continues to rise at a steady pace.

Prices are extremely attractive now and just like in our stock market example, for every house that will be sold, there will be a buyer.  Your job as a real estate professional is to find and identify lucrative investment properties.

First:  Identify qualify buyers and present them with a good deal

Second: Do your homework by investing in marketing and research. Demonstrate why your property will be valuable in years to come and the expected ROI.

If you will follow these simple principals you will succeed.   Some will say “Easier said that done. I have a bargain property.  Where will I find the buyer?”  Before I answer that in my next article, make sure that property you are about to offer to your potential client is the best investment on the market. Run a simple and honest mental check.  Will you risk your life saving to buy this property?  If answer is yes then maybe you are on to something. In the next article we will talk about “How to find buyers”

Boris Gruzman, CEO

Last month the  Industry leaders and technology experts gathered at the RISMedia 19^thAnnual Leadership Conference in New York.  Among many topics they discussed whether real estate practitioners should and how to make Real Estate websites consumer centric.

Aric Kazarnovsky, Executive Vice President, PropertyMinder, Inc. together with other panelists like Michael Fisher, Sr. Vice President of Marketing Coldwell Banker Real Estate, Pat Lashinsky, President of ZipRealty, Ashfaq Munshi, CEO Terabitz, Jonathan Blood, Vice President Delta Media Group offered advice and best practices on how to run the best consumer-centric website possible.

In Aric’s view, online marketing  is a communication method for agents, brokers and Real Estate franchises to communicate their values to potential home buyers and home sellers.  A consumer-centric website is a website that is focused on fulfilling a consumer’s information requests.

Aric invited the audience to review AccelerAgent^TM websites, so they can see how these websites combine consumer-centric features with agent centric marketing tools.

Being powered with consumer-centric tools PropertyMinder’s AccelerAgent^TM websites allow consumer to handle agent managed home research, neighborhood research, communicate with related professional services and much more. At the same time these websites continue to communicate agents message and build Real Estate agent or firm  brand while fulfilling a consumer’s information requests.

Any professional Real Estate website just like PropertyMinder’s AccelerAgent^TM websites should have completely integrated lead capturing devices, lead nurturing follow up and client management tools.

Complete integration allows for automation of turning a lead into a client.  With a greater number of leads coming into the website, it must be able to accomplish the lead gathering and follow up tasks automatically.  Also, the website must be able to alert the agent on the motivational level of the leads.  An agent’s available time should be focused on those leads that the website indicates have a high activity.  Those with a low or no activity rating will be followed up with by the website on an ongoing long term basis.

With the banking industry deregulation, the US government allowed banks to lower the lending standards.  Banks began approving mortgages to people that would not have qualified before. This was accomplished by offering artificially low mortgage interest rates and even mortgages with 0% down. This economic policy created a significant number of house buyers almost overnight.  This in turn created a high demand and drove prices up not only for real estate but for other industries including automotive, travel, etc. The Market was flooded with cheap money. Cheap money creates demand.

With home prices on a rise, people started speculating and many were applying for mortgages with initial interest rates well below the market rate (so called introductory rate or Subprime lending, etc.) with the hope that within a few years their houses will appreciate and will be resold for a profit or will be refinanced with the equity taken out.  This went on for several years but eventually the money supply dried up.

About 12-14 months ago the housing market started showing signs of weakness.  Prices were no longer were rising but rather had declined in many areas. The housing market was over saturated with new construction and a large inventory.   Lower interest rates caused the dollar to fall.  With the unprecedented fall of US dollar against major foreign currency we observed the price of commodities sky rocket. For a while the US housing market continued to ride on, mostly fuel by overseas investors seeking for bargains, but even that came to screeching halt after bad economical times hit overseas markets.  The Federal Government raised the interest rate to stabilize US currency and rein in rising commodities prices.

Adjustable rate mortgages were no longer affordable and one that was sold 3 to 5 years ago was due to ether be refinanced or was getting a rate increase. That caused many adjustable mortgage holders to default on there mortgages. Needless to say it also became more difficult to qualify for a new mortgage.

Here we have a classic domino effect. The housing inventory began growing, prices began falling and banks ended up having bad mortgages and were forced to foreclose on houses which they desperately are trying to resell ASAP.  Banks started experiencing liquidity problem and eventually facing bankruptcy and liquidation. Many financial institutions bought mortgages on a secondary market as a sure bet for future profits at a time when mortgages were very lucrative.  These institutions were left holding significantly devaluated assets almost overnight. Balance sheets were showing reduced capitalization causing banks credit ratings to decline. So now the panic begins.

The Feds want to inject 700 billion dollars into the US economy. Details are sketchy but for a short term, this massive infusion of capital will help.  After this party we may have a big hangover because someone will have to repay this massive debt. During economical uncertainty great fortunes are made, so if you have available cash and are in the market for great bargains, be on the lookout. We too at PropertyMinder recognize difficult times ahead and offer great deals and discounts for our products and services. As for what will happen, this is a subject of a different and very political discussion which will go well beyond this blog.

My first choice is Google.  Being listed in Google’s Local Business Center is easy to do, but not easy to find.  When searching for terms in Google such as ‘Realtor Milpitas’, you will see the regular listings that you always do, but you will also see a small map and a small list of Realtors that are listed in Google’s business center.  Clicking on these will take you directly to those Realtor’s websites.  Getting into this directory means that you have to create a free Google account and add yourself in.  Google will verify you via a phone call or post card.  Once verified, you usually show up in a couple of days to a week.  This listing is editable so you will be able to make changes later if any of your information needs updating.

My second choice is Yahoo.  Yahoo’s directory comes up under the same parameters as Google’s.  Go to Yahoo and type in ‘Realtor Milpitas’ and again, the Yahoo Local directory shows up with a list of Realtors.  When you click on these records, you go to the Realtor’s Yahoo Local page where you can read up on any testimonials that the Realtor’s clients and associates may have put in.  You also have a link that will get you to the Realtor’s website.  Getting into Yahoo’s directory is a bit easier than Google’s.  Yahoo puts up an easy to see “know something we’re missing?” statement that will allow you to create a Yahoo account and get your business in there.  Yahoo takes a few days to get you listed.  Your listing here is also editable in case you need to make changes later.

My third choice is a directory, but of individuals as opposed to businesses.  I like LinkedIn.  You can create a free account of yourself in a business, experience and education sense.  In your profile, you can add three web addresses.  Here is my own little extra that I like to do.  With linked in, they label these addresses as “work”, “personal” or a few things, but if you put in “other” it will allow you to create your own label for your website so that you can have www.mywebsite.com be the hotlink term that goes back to your website as opposed to just the words “personal website”.  Once listed here, you can link up with friends, associates and past co-workers.  LinkedIn is a very good business/social networking directory service.

All three of these are free to use.  LinkedIn has some paid extras you can participate in if you so choose, but my own suggestion is try the free for a while and see what you think.  Listing yourself in these and other directories will assist your website’s placement in the search engines.  Also, having more pointers showing the way to your site is as important as having signs pointing the way to your open house.  It’s great free exposure.  Why didn’t you do it before now?  Maybe because you didn’t know or didn’t realize it was free.  So I say to you now, “Realtor, list thyself”.

For those real estate agents with their own website or for those of you who want a firm understanding and a person that will hold you accountable to the principles above, PropertyMinder offers the TECH-MAR Clinic. Five hour long Webinars geared towards helping you to making your website exist and to get it producing leads for you and turning you into one of PropertyMinder’s many success stories.

Your website is no more than a technology and productivity tool.  It will not work by itself.  Just like a car needs a driver, your website will need an operator.  What does it mean to operate your website? You probably have read quite a few marketing articles or maybe even a few books on how to effectively drive traffic to your website, but you still have no results.

First of all, not all traffic is good traffic.  Only relevant traffic is important.  If you will go to a dancing school or bar and distribute 1000 fliers or business cards the likelihood of responses is no more that .5%.  This would be considered a bad return on your investment. If you send 10,000 e-mails with an invitation to visit your website you will receive a few thousands visitors, but in this sea of contacts, you will miss important ones.

Rule number one: Chose your battle ground carefully.  Spend you marketing dollars where it counts the most. Invest in potential buyers and sellers.

I am always investing in the most advanced tools and technology available to me. Why? Because they are important productivity tools that will give me a slight advantage. You will not win a NASCAR race driving your commuter car.  The top drivers spend thousands of dollars annually on modifications, just to get the slightest edge. You might not know this but in a Las Vegas Casino, a roulette table has the advantage of no more than few percentage points.  This was enough to build the entire city of Las Vegas. Do you have an iPhone? You should.  The iPhone is rapidly becoming the most popular mobile platform. Do you have best website money can buy?  You should, because this is your business card and this is your NASCAR.  If your website is behind the times, your visitors will not use it.

Rule number two: Invest in the most advanced tools and technology money can buy – they will give you an edge.

You may have watched TV, or listened to radio or perhaps you’ve read it in the newspapers that the US economy is going into a recession.  You have been bombarded by bad news.  Housing construction has hit a 17 year low, housing inventory is high and sales are dismal. You are in state of panic. Let me tell you that some of the greatest fortunes were made and lost during a recession. There are plenty of buyers and sellers out there and they ‘do buy’ and they ‘do sell’. I have not heard that the housing market is at a halt and more than likely I will not ever hear it.

Rule number three: During turbulent times, fortunes are made.  When everybody scales down on marketing, you scale up. You will be handsomely rewarded.

“Investors have been cheered by the notion of a huge federal intervention like the establishment of RTC to acquire the mortgage debt”

The message in the drop down box is editable so you can change the message to be compelling enough to have visitors click the OK.  This will also include those visitors in a monthly email of a real estate market snapshot of the counties in your area.  As with all email from the website, your photo and contact information will be on this.  This marketing email is an excellent safety net to re-engage clients who are not currently searching for properties on your site.

There are different opinions floating around regarding when the best time to ask for a website visitor’s information is.  As salespeople, I say that it never hurts to ask right away.  Between the drop down lead capture device and the property search, you can gather quite a few leads into your follow up system.  Between the market snapshot and the property searches, you will be constantly marketing your image and contact information to these shoppers until they develop to the point of having a question or developing a need and contacting you.

Upon that first physical contact, the lead is now able to be classified by you as to their motivational level and probable time frame of their transaction.  Due to the nature of the internet, a real estate shopper may start their search for a property months in advance of their need.  It is important to engage them as early as possible in this initial search so that they will be using your search services and get very comfortable to seeing your image and contact information on all their searches over the time they use.  This kind of passive marketing will give you a very good chance to be the contact of choice when the client finally is ready to move forward with their quest for a new home.

If lead capture is what you are looking for from your site, make sure it has the tools to be a success story.  It all starts with asking for the lead as soon as possible.  With the PropertyMinder AccelerAgent Real Estate Website, this entire process from asking for the lead and marketing to the lead has been completely automated to save you time and help you convert your website leads into clients.

Understanding, implementation and follow through.

What you say?  Work?!?  The magic bullet for online success is work?!!

Yes.  Website success is directly tied to working with the website in an effective manner.  Preferably using work methods that have been successful for others so that you can show a return on your time investment as soon as possible.

Understanding.  You should understand the basics of search engine optimization.  You should be focusing your SEO on your chosen geography and any vertical markets you are trying to encompass, from property management to REO specialist.  You should be able to look at any site on a google search and be able to analyze why it got the placement it did and be able to reinvent your own SEO as your market and needs change.  Even if you decide to have all of your SEO done by someone else, you should still understand it.  Knowing how to do your own SEO will allow you to shop for a reputable vendor and give you a good expectation of results.

Implementation.  You need to have the ability to edit your website directly so that you can implement your changes at any time.  This will allow for your initial large changes to take your website from vanilla to a more custom flavor.  Later on, it will allow you to make minor alterations to clean up or maintain your SEO.  Aside from needing the ability to edit, you need to have a plan and execute it.  Much of SEO’s initial work is ’set it and forget it’.  These things that, once done, will not take much time to maintain, are crucial to help your website be found and to exist online.

Follow Through.  Once you have your marketing plan laid out, do it.  For many, this is the one thing they can’t do.  I’m the same way when I stare at my Garage and think of cleaning it out or when I am in my yard thinking of gardening.  For those people, I suggest you just make a decision and do it.  The benefits of a working website are big and becoming more important as the world makes its shift to technology.  The calculator, microwave oven, VCR, fax, cell phone and PC are all tools of the trade that were not originally thought to be ‘necessary’.  A working website has been on that list for a while now and yet I still see people who don’t have websites, or worse, people who have a website and completely ignore it.

PropertyMinder offers the AccelerAgent Real Estate Website along with enough free training to get any Realtor started on the path.  For those real estate agents with their own website or for those of you who want a firm understanding and a person that will hold you accountable to the principles above, PropertyMinder offers the TECH-MAR Clinic. Five hour long Webinars geared towards helping you to making your website exist and to get it producing leads for you and turning you into one of PropertyMinder’s many success stories.

I still see some websites that are very yesterday.  For the owners of these websites, it must be like me and my love of the walkie talkie over my dislike of learning new technology.  I have to make an effort to embrace change if I want to keep myself in the now and off of the history side of the page.

Does your website have lead capture points in it?  Are these points what the customers are looking for?  Are they easily found?  Do you have an online marketing plan of attack?  If you do not KNOW (and I really mean KNOW) what your plan is and what your website’s strengths are in the area of lead capture, you may be slowly sailing into history.

PropertyMinder has a two week trial of the PropertyMinder AccelerAgent Real Estate Websites that will allow you to try and compare our lead capture tools against your current ones.  During your trial you will also have access to our free live classes that can help you with your plan of attack.  If you are completely lost and have no plan at all, try thePropertyMinder TECH-MAR Clinic which can help to educate you on the how, what, where and why of online real estate marketing.

My main point is for you to do anything to stay on this side of the ever flipping pages of history.  Find something to love in the technology and change and then do it.  If you can find a way to stay involved in the changes and not let yourself get frustrated into doing nothing, then you can grow your business with the new Realtor generations to come.

Instead of only putting the testimonial on your website, places like ActiveRain have spots that you can easily put a few good testimonials yourself.  I think that a few good bullet point testimonials can jazz up your business listings anywhere on the net.  For instance,

I LOVE my new website, it truly is a magnet for buyers and sellers. - L Jesse Walker

Jesse has one of our PropertyMinder AccelerAgent Real Estate Websitesand is doing quite well with it and is one of our many success stories.

Now if I put that in the extra areas available to me from my Google Business Listing to my Yahoo Local to my many other business and social directory listings, it is a bit nicer and shorter that a paragraph of myself saying the same thing.

There are other testimonial services and areas that your clients will have to post their testimonials for you.  This may be more difficult as your client will have to create a login and then find you and post the testimonial.  It’s a lot more work than just sending you the testimonial directly, but if you can get them to go this extra step, it is much better for you.  If your client’s have a yahoo email address, ask them to post their testimonial on Yahoo at your directory listing.  They already have a login and password.   You can also create a Yelp.com business listing which till recently has been mostly about restaurant reviews but has moved on to local businesses as well.  Getting your clients involved in Yelp would also be good for them because they can check out some great local restaurants and see what the patrons are saying about them after finishing putting in your testimonial.  People evangelizing you on websites other than your own will help to increase your overall internet exposure.  As the rule of SEO and SEM go, every little bit helps.

If you want much more detailed ways of getting and using 21st century testimonials as well as where you should be and what you should be doing on the internet to promote yourself, consider the PropertyMinderTECH-MAR Clinic.  Five hourly webinars walk you through details of where how and why.  Just the map that some people need to get their marketing kick started outside the box of their own websites borders.