Sunday, January 28, 2007

Snaps Award! - Flyer Headline

So following my "I hate flyers" rant I have a Snaps Award to give to Julia Fischel for her great flyer headline!!!

PreForeclosure Crystal Beach $133/sf - $$ Maker

The flyer that is attatched is interesting also!!! (the house address is 136 Pennsylvania Ave, Crystal Beach FL if anyone would like to learn more!)


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

SEO - What the heck is that?

So as I told you, www.cometoclearwater.com is doing well on Yahoo.com (see current ranking).

That the site does well is not an accident. There are a number of things that make the site interesting to the search engine spiders - which is what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) attempts to do.

1. First it is written in HTML and is NOT a dynamic/template site. Many of you use a template site for your main site (a la mode, agent access, etc.) - this is not a bad thing but it will limit how high your site can rank. I think that having a main site is great - BUT to get good rankings you may want to have a mini site for each specialization that you might have. For example I have my main site and then www.tampabayunder200K.com and www.clearwater4salebyowner.com. These are VERY specific and made to attract a certain kind of user.

2. Decide EXACTLY what kind of user you are trying to attract. CTC is made to attract out of town buyers and also to serve as a marketing site for potential sellers. I have a free relocation guide offer on every page - last night I got three requests and wrote a contract on a CTC buyer lead. You may be looking for sellers or for 55+ buyers or for people who park their RVs at home - no matter what type of client you want, you must be very specific in your content and your metatags to make sure that you position yourself well.

3. Last for today is metatags. These confuse many people, BUT basically they are the source code that computers use to help catagorize pages and describe your site to the search engines.

1. Title Tag - This is the bar across the top of browser window. It should include words that coincide with the content of your site. CTC's title is "Come to Clearwater - Real Estate and More for Clearwater and the surrounding communities!"

2. Description - This in my estimation is the MOST important tag of all as it is what shows up as the blub on the search engine page when users are trying to decide what link to click on! CTC's description is "Clearwater information and real estate news! Tara Jacobsen is the leading residential real estate specialist for Clearwater and the surrounding communities of Dunedin, Seminole, Safety Harbor, Palm Harbor, Largo, and Tarpon Springs. She is dedicated to helping you find you dream home. Search for the perfect home on www.cometoclearwater.com."

3. Keywords - Not as important as they once were but still helpful! These are words that you recommend that will help the search engines catagorize your site.

If you have not fallen completely asleep yet and would like to learn more, I am teaching an advanced internet marketing class this month at Keller Williams Palm Harbor. It is Friday the 23rd of February at 1pm!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Yahoo! - WOW

I have to say that when good things happen I sometimes want ignore them so that I don't jinx them but I have to say that this is GREAT and that I am just going to revel in it for just one day!

For the longest time I have been ranking well for clearwater relocation on yahoo - bouncing between number 5 and number 7 which I thought was great, until I ran a ranking report last night (I know - sitting around submitting your site to the search engines and seeing where they rank is not your idea of a fun time...:)

www.ComeToClearwater.com is number 1 on yahoo for clearwater realtor!

Tune in tomorrow to find out a couple of the things that I did to make that happen...

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Open Houses - Just Do It A LOT

So my listing partner and I spent all day working 3 different open houses. We got 1 showing on another listing, 2 interested in the houses we were at, a realtor who likes the house and 2 sign calls today. I also got TONS of postcards labeled and stamped thanks to my friend Billy C who sat with me at my second open house.

When you are sitting at a house and no one comes it seems like a waste of time, but the chances of you meeting someone who wants to buy or sell real estate are 100% better there than on your couch AND your sellers will remember that you have made the effort.

A couple of pointers:

1. Make sure you have ALL your other listings on the back of the flyers in case the house you are sitting at doesn't suit their needs.

2. Put magnets on your car so that the people know you sit at your own listings OR if you are doing an open house for another agent they will know it is YOU in there.

3. I am going to get directional arrows with my name on them as soon as I have a couple more closings - a great idea I have heard but not implemented YET.

4. You can do open houses ANYTIME - middle of the day, drive time (4-6pm) or on the weekends. I try to make sure I do at least 2 a week unless I am booked with client appointments.

If you don't have anything to do tomorrow get out there for a couple of hours and do an open house - what do you have to lose?

PS - Let me know if you have any successes...:)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Market Like A Maniac! - Do As I Say

So I am going to be teaching my Marketing Like A Maniac class today and I must tell you I am jazzed about it! It gives me a chance to talk about what I SHOULD be doing and also reminds me of things that I think that I MIGHT want to do.

This happens because I know what I SHOULD do from Howard Britton's star power tapes or from Millionaire Mondays or because I read marketing books a lot. If anyone had the time or money to implement everything they wouldn't have time to sell any real estate...:)

That having been said, I have found some things recently that are working. I am getting more calls from marketing in The Real Estate Book and the Home Search. I am also getting more calls from my yard signs. I also have gotten a huge boost from putting our other listings one the back of our flyers. This one is a perfect example of knowing what to do and then waiting months to implement it. And to sound like a broken record our postcards do great (just listed, expireds, marketplace statistics).

If you are in the Palm Harbor area at 1 today please feel free to drop in for a couple of hours to talk about marketing! It is open to EVERYONE, not just Keller Williams agents. 727-415-9165

Monday, January 08, 2007

Internet - Gotta Give To Get

I am teaching my class today on the internet for KW and that made me think of a couple of conversations that I have had lately.

One of my dear friends and fellow realtor Bill said that he was not getting any leads from his internet site. I asked what he was offering that would compel someone to contact him and he realized that there was nothing but his listings. Don't get me wrong, I think that it is imperative that you have listings on your site - if you do not have your own BORROW them from other agents. Most sellers in this day and age will check out your site to see if you have listings and if so what price range and what location.

BUT (and it is a big but!) people will not generally contact you directly through your internet site about a specific listing. So what can you do to make someone contact you?

1. Offer a free report - 27 ways to get your home ready to show
2. Generate a list of homes in Dunedin around the Pinellas Trail under $200,000 and offer to mail or email them that list. DO NOT provide addresses.
3. Provide a free relocation guide
4. Offer a free CMA
5. Get together with your lender and get information about the mortgage/rate situation (if you need some good ideas call my friend Brian P at HomeBanc who is very proactive about having this type of info available! 813-361-6350)

All these things should help to get someone to email you or call for more information, and none of them cost you much money!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Holy Cow!

Despite my best intentions, I have not posted every day this year - I do have a reason though! I have been on a death march of listing appointments...:) My listing partner and I have been on one a day for the last 3 days and there are two more in the next 3 days.

Where are all these appointments coming from?

When I started in real estate last year I was told that if I just continued to do all the activities suggested by my office classes and by emulating other mega agents there would be a snowball effect. If I would contact my sphere, do regular mailings, attend networking events, do open houses and contact FSBOs and Expireds then there would be business. I have the additional bonus of having a web marketing background and so I also put up 3 websites that attract 3 different types of users which also provides me with leads.

This years appointments are coming from a referral, a networking lead, an Expired postcard, a realtor referral, and a co-worker of my husband. Three look like they are turning into immediate business, two may take a little while to simmer, but all were impressed with our professionalism and our dedication to the industry.

If you are in a slow market it is easy to get discouraged by a lack of sales - believe me I KNOW! But if you are doing everything you can for your clients and working to increase your market share you should come out ahead after the dust settles!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Get an appointment!

This one comes from Tammy McInerney (my RE mentor!)

The only good outcome of a lead (from an open house, sign call, referral, etc.) is an appointment. WAIT!!!! Before you tell me how that won't work listen up...
  1. The best appointment is one to meet face to face. Whether the lead is for a buyer or seller, set a time to get together (SOON) and go over their goals, wants and needs - and then list/find their house!
  2. The second best appointment is a phone call appointment. "Would it be okay if I called you in a couple of weeks to see how you are coming on your plans?" When you actually call them it shows that you are reliable and gives you an opportunity to make a face to face appointment. If they are still hot but not ready to meet, make another phone appointment.
  3. The worst appointment is to tell them that you will be sending them information from time to time and is that okay? Then send them a thank you card and put them on some kind of a "touch" program so that they don't forget you!
So, from now on each contact should result in an appointment (or crushing failure when they say they don't want your services...hehehhe...NEXT). Keeping this in mind helped me to stay on track and to get the next contact scheduled so I did not feel like a dufus picking up the phone and calling them. It also became something of a habit which is nice!

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Updating My Clients

Wow am going to have to work on this one!

I am great at doing things for my clients, running adwords campaigns to get their homes noticed, advertising in a variety of different magazines and real estate guides, open houses, posting listings on our in-house message boards, just listed postcards, neighborhood newsletters, etc. What I am not great at is TELLING them about it!

I do not think that they know half of the stuff that I have done - and that makes me seem less valuable in a market where homes are taking months to sell. I do call them regularly but I think that has a somewhat lesser effect than to see a whole list of SPECIFIC things that I have done to get their home sold.

This is my first new year's resolution (I have things I am working on but none formalized like this!): I write down EVERYTHING I do for my clients and send them an update EVERY month.

Tomorrow - free things to do for your listings (this one will be interactive so start thinking of some ideas!)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

(dis) Organization & Real Estate

My name is Tara and I am compulsively, totally disorganized. I am a piler and a hoarder and it makes me crazy! I came by it naturally as my father is a piler and my mother had to spend hours taking her piles off the dining room table in order to serve Thanksgiving dinner (I do not think my grandparents were pilers but they were hoarders!) I am NOT one of those smug disorganized who say that they can lay hands on whatever they need in a minute - I AM one of those cussing, moaning disorganized who has to go through a pile of stuff every time that I need something.

Until now

My mother in law got me the fancy Treo real estate phone and that is just wonderful. Top Producer, MLS and my lead generation spreadsheet all walking around with me. My husband also jumped in and got me a desk where I can put my electronics and hopefully walk out the door with everything all at once instead of getting to the edge of my neighborhood and coming back for whatever I left today.

I have started a postcard program for the office that I am using as one of my mailings each month to my expireds, fsbos and sphere. I design it and the mail market house sends it out - no sticky sticky on the labels and since others rely on me to do it on time it gets done. I also have started writing down my hot prospects and potential clients each week with my listing partner and that helps A LOT as it reminds me of what is important - following up on my leads and getting them under contract!

I have other things that I will implementing (like a budget!) but for now it is a start. If you are out there totally organized and ready for the new year I applaud you - if you are a work in progress like myself I wish you and organized and happy new year!

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year New Focus

I am so excited to start the year out! I am using my company's model of doing the activities and letting the rest take care of itself. With that in mind I am using a lead generating model and I already have 2 - they actually came in yesterday but I am counting them!!!!

(1 Realtor.com and 1 from putting flyers on my yard signs - more about that another day...:)

Have you decided how you are going to measure success this year? I am a firm believer that if you do not measure it you cannot change it. That having been said, I am the worst at tracking expenses and will have to buckle down and start counting my dollars.

I will be back to making (almost) daily entries in the blog. If there is something that would be interesting that I haven't talked about yet please let me know - if I am focusing too much on a certain area let me know that too!

Have a great day and a very happy new year....Tara