Real Estate Marketing and Social Media

Less than a decade ago, the most popular way to search for houses on the market was through classified ads in the newspaper. Now that the popular search medium has changed over to the Internet, real estate professionals need to relearn marketing methods that will increase their sales. The best way to reach a large audience looking for real estate is through interactive and social media.

How Technology Can Influence Your Real Estate Marketing

Nowadays, when people want to find out information, they turn to the Internet to search for it. Potential clients are out there, but you need to figure out how to draw them in to your website.

Firstly, you need to update your website, since you may have outdated information. This not only adds to your professionalism, but it also keeps you from presenting false information regarding houses on the market. Once you have a site up and running, start researching and educating yourself on ways to market your products on the Internet through social media.

Interactive And Social Media In Real Estate Marketing

Social media refers to profiles, social networks like MySpace and Facebook, wikis and other ways to connect to people via the Internet.

In terms of marketing, you need to determine the kind of clients you deal with. What kind of consumers will be interested in buying the property? An apartment in a hip area might require a social networking page, or list a suburban home on your website and promote it with a blog or tools that allow visitors to refer it to a friend.

Interactive media is using content such as video, blogs and chatting to network with interested buyers and sellers. Use video instead of still photos so visitors to your web page can get a more complete view of the home. Combining video with textual content like blogging ensures that your site provides valuable real estate information in a creative and easy-to-use way.

The Two Things You Need to Know About Internet Marketing to Sell Your Service Online

Let’s face it. Internet marketing is confusing.  As if designing your website to rank well and getting other websites linked to it wasn’t enough, now you have to factor Web 2.0 and all that entails into your internet marketing plan.  You’ve got blogging, social networking, podcasting and videos.  You could spend all your time marketing your business instead of actually running your business!

I’ll be honest with you, it even drives me nuts and I’m an internet marketing consultant!  But, I was explaining internet marketing to a new client the other day and it all became quite clear. Here’s what it boils down to.

The goal of internet marketing is ultimately to get people to buy you have to sell.  Whether that’s a physical product, an information product or a service, it doesn’t matter. 

There are two major areas that you to focus your attention to increase internet sales; drive more traffic to your website and convert that traffic to customers by giving them what they want. 

This sounds pretty basic but once you get caught up in all the ways you can market your business online, you can easily lose sight of your goal. We tend to focus on statistics like: how high my website ranks when using certain key words, or how many individual visitors were there last month, or the number of people that signed up for my newsletter or blog feed.  But you know what?  None of those things are the main goal.  They might contribute to your bottom line but they are NOT your goal. 

Would you believe there are only two things you need to do to make online sales?  First get people to your website. Second, give your visitors what they want.  That’s it!  So how do you do those two things?

The way you drive traffic to your website can be done in two ways. 

1. You have an individual who needs what you have to sell, so basically they need you before you need them. They have a problem which they recognize and they’re seeking a solution which you have to offer. They go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo, type in a key phrase and as a result they find your website.  This is the way we tend to assume all our customers find us.

2. Your customer may be aware that they have a potential problem but aren’t really looking for a solution.  They hear about your company in an article, blog, forum, podcast, video, social media or social networking website and just because they are very interested in what they hear about you, they take a visit to your website.

When people arrive at your website it’s time to make certain you can give them what they want. It’s a lot of work to get customers to your website and you want to make certain that you’re fully capable of giving them what they are looking for.  If you don’t give them what they want, you’ve wasted a tremendous amount of time and money.  That’s why a customer centric website is crucial to converting visitors to customers.  It’s also the area that is most often overlooked and can cost you a lot of sales in the long run.

I’m not going to tell you what I think your website should say because I could write the most brilliant analysis of what needs to be on your website and the majority of you are going to tell yourself, “My website says that.”   If your website isn’t getting the phone ringing or making sales, it doesn’t. It’s that simple.

Do you really want to know why all those visitors aren’t regular customers? Have a friend (who doesn’t owe you anything and will tell you the truth) look over your website. Then shut your mouth, stop fooling yourself into believing it’s the best it can be and change it!

That’s it. That’s all. The two things you need to know to do to sell your service online are to get people to your website and give them what they want. Now go do it!

Social Media Marketing – Increase Website Traffic

Social Marketing

Social sites are very popular place where people collect and share content from anywhere on the web. Catch is if you find something interesting on the web there is a big chance that someone else using the bookmarking website will find it interesting, too. Use tool called SocialMarker.com to submit to over 46 sites. Chose the group which is in your niche and post some content from your site or blog.
Social bookmarking websites are very popular with the major search engines, so if your blog posts can be found on these social bookmarking sites they will be noticed by the search engines as well.

OnlyWire.com

This is a social bookmarking service that allows you to submit your articles or blog posts to many social bookmarking websites at once When you create an account you’ll simply need to enter the title of the post, a short description, the main keywords that describe your post(tags), and the category that it fits 

Stumbleupon.com
StumbleUpon works on the same premise as OnlyWire with  difference that there is also a community component so you can add friends to your account and let them see what you’ve been bookmarking. You can form networks of people with similar bookmarking interest, and vote on sites that have been bookmarked.

BlogCatalog.com
BlogCatalog is a social community for bloggers. It is a blog directory where you can search blogs, connect with bloggers, learn more about blogging, attract more blog readers, participate In groups and discussions, find the latest tools for your blog or promote your own blog.
Digg.com
Submitting your blog posts to Digg.com is a high and rapid way for  quality traffic. You can create an account to submit your posts which are then interpret and rated by it’s users. By submitting quality and helpful items you can make popularity and be promoted to the front page. Another advantage of Digg is that all information is equivalent when it is submitted. Blogs only become ranked higher by the people who vote for them.

 

Realize the Potential of Social Media Optimization

So far we only knew about search engine marketing as a technique for website optimization, but now we have social media optimization taking stands, this new website optimization technique is much advanced than the existing one, and is more popular and usable than other. With the numerous features and tools that the optimization service uses, results have become easier to achieve and is user friendly too.

The most essential feature of social media optimization is that it is user oriented. Its features is such that the website owner or the web masters don’t have much to do, most of the activities and promotion work is carried out by the users themselves. Hence the progress of a website under SMO is entirely in the hands of the users or members who visit their website.

There are several remarkable potentials which can be identified with social media optimization, but the most essential feature of marketing tool is that it increases the linking ability of a website. It works with the aim of increasing the popularity of the website, by using techniques that are more user applicable SMO has made connecting and linking much of a game than anything else. It is a very informal and casual technique of socializing Online, and at the same time connecting with people who could be useful in business too.

While creating a social media website it is important that you keep the look and feel of your website always fresh and happening. This will keep the users always coming back to your website in the need of experiencing something new and unique. The most unique factor about Social Media Optimization is that it is a free procedure where not too much of an effort is required to optimize websites. Simple content submission on article sites, commenting on blogs and forums and posting video messages can also do the trick. All you need to do is to remember to add your website link in the end of the posts so that the readers can visit your website back.

Though Social Media Optimization has become popular and is increasingly the call of the day, it does not mean that search engine marketing and other techniques like banner advertising, email marketing etc are not functional any more. Search engine marketing and other Internet marketing tools are still quite popular and are being used widely across the web with the added advantage of social media optimization.

Social media optimization: Expand your horizons

Word of the mouth might not be enough if an effective networking has to be achieved. This is done with an active assistance of networking tools such as social book marking, video and photo sharing websites and an engagement with blogs which share the content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere. Other special blog engines which perform in the same way like Technorati are especially popular with the younger lot. Techniques like these help in building new opportunities for the marketers and for even those who are new entrants in this field. Social media optimization is basically, a set of methods for generating publicity through the social media, online communities and community websites. The method is similar to search engine marketing differing though, in a number of ways from it. Actually, the focus is on driving traffic from other sources apart from the search engines whereby improved search engine ranking is emphasized.

For those with skepticism towards the latest optimization technique, Rand has something to suggest. He says that awareness should be there because in its absence, one can get a double listing by the competitor. This is made possible by some advanced planning on the competitor’s part to do some ‘virtual drafting’ and thus appear directly behind you. Social media optimization however, has its positive aspects as well. Like Rohit Bharghava, the man behind the coinage of term, explains it in yet simpler way and suggests the implementation of changes to optimize a site. In this way, it is easily linked to more highly visible sites in social media searches on custom search engines such as Technorati. Besides, these changes are introduced frequently in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs. Social media optimization assists in building search engine friendly sites resulting in generation of large traffic. Bookmarking a website is yet another feature that helps in the increased visibility of a webpage.

Social media sites on most of the occasions operate as a magnifying glass, in that they help in tapping into many other links. These links usually flow back helping with the search engine rankings on an increased scale though. Cameron Olthius’ introduction to Social media optimization provides further insight. It is a common knowledge that in SEO method, a single website is present with a common domain rather than its division among various places. An added advantage of having the multiple sites is understood by the SEO whereby a corporate blog and a corporate website double the representation in top search results. Limitations are however, there because of the traffic directed towards your own places. With SMO, one can own multiple sites while they being still valuable to you.

Social media optimization utilizes several methods by which one can advertise their products in an appealing way. Communication is a prominent factor here and besides that, interesting web content still decides the viability of a site. Opinions are expressed freely and other people come to know about your services and products. Here, target audience has to be identified which in turn, facilitates in marketing the services and products offered by the companies. SMO has made the communication between the common people a lot simpler and thus made your business touch the heights you always dream of.

Social Media Networking – What Are the Advantages?

You’ve seen all the claims of people earning enormous incomes by working a few hours a day in an online business. Perhaps you’ve even attempted to get your own online business up and running only to find that you earned a few dollars, but nowhere near enough to make a full time living out of your efforts.

The advantages of social networking are that you can reach larger groups, there are many business groups on social networking sites which allow to network your business ideas to them too, as well as the general public.

Many new internet marketers spend a lot of money buying ebooks and online courses in an effort to learn the secrets of the internet big guns, only to find that the information they’ve bought isn’t sufficient to boost their online business profits the way they’d hoped. This is usually because so many of these gurus are only giving away the basic secrets to their success. They don’t always want you to know the full story.

Some people spend way too much money creating, designing, and launching expensive, professional looking websites, hoping to attract a few visitors to the site and make a few sales.

So how are these internet millionaires making so much profit?

One of the most under-utilized marketing tools on the internet is social media. Static web pages no longer have the same power with internet marketers as blogs and certain social media websites do, so the shift toward gearing your business to thrive and expand using social media platforms seems only logical.

By learning to harness the massive power of social media and blogging, you could easily increase your profits, drive huge amounts of traffic to your affiliate sales pages and be making massive sales easily.

By now, you should be thinking “Okay, great. I’ll start up a blog and create an account with Twitter and blast my affiliate links all over it.”

If you are thinking along those lines, you’re normal. Unfortunately, you’ll soon learn that social media doesn’t work that way. You’ll be labeled a spammer very quickly and ignored by most of the people you’re trying to attract.

You see, social media is about connecting with your visitors. You’re introducing a bit of yourself to them so they’re getting to know you and to trust you. You’re building a relationship with people who will soon identify your brand and your products as being quality items they’re happy to purchase from someone they’ve come to trust.

Imagine what you would do with your profits from your own online business once it’s consistently earning more every month. You wouldn’t need your day job any longer and you could spend more time doing the things you love most.

Life’s too short to waste it laboring in a job you despise. Kids grow up too quickly so that if you’re spending all of your time at your job, you’re going to miss your kids’ most important events. Obviously for all of us spending more time with our loved ones is a huge advantage and what most of us desire.

There’s an old saying: “There’s no point making a living if you’re not making a life.” I don’t know who originally said that, but it’s so true.

Perhaps it’s time for you to begin creating the life you want with the help of social networking.

9 Internet Marketing Tools That You Need to Know About Now

Internet marketing is a fast-paced business, primarily because new tools are becoming available all the time. Some of them are gimmicky, to be sure, but others can actually increase you traffic, and your links, and therefore your popularity. So check out these SEO strategies and marketing tips. You might just find some that are perfect for you!

1. Video Marketing

Just about everyone who’s spent any time on the internet has seen at least one YouTube video. That’s because video has become so user-friendly that almost anyone can figure out how to watch videos or even upload their own videos. So don’t pass up the chance to market your business using YouTube or Google Videos. Embed videos with your links or with your site url. You can also place streaming audio and video on your own website.

2. Peel Away Ads

Gone are the days of intrusive pop-ups and fade-ins. Instead, peel away ads are placed at the top corner of your webpage. When the user places their cursor over the icon, the page “peels away” so that the user can see your promotion or advertisement.

3. Add This

This is a great way to take advantage of the popularity of social media websites. Just put the AddThis button on your webpages and your visitors will actually bookmark your content. This is a free service and is relatively easy to install.

4. Social Media Bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites are all the rage among internet marketers and users alike. They generate enormous amounts of traffic and should be a primary part of your internet marketing campaign. Social media sites use tags. Tags are simple keywords that classify content, which makes it easy for you to connect your content with social media sites.

5. Joint Ventures

This is probably the quickest way to increase your traffic and your revenues. Simply connect with big internet marketing experts and utilize their contact lists. If your product or service is top-notch, you won’t have any problem getting one (or more) of these experts to set up a joint venture with you.

6. Make Yourself a Internet Marketing Expert

Convince the online community that you are an authority in your field. How? By writing ebooks, articles, and blogs on subjects about which you are passionate and about which you have made yourself knowledgeable. Internet marketing is much once easier once you’ve established yourself as an expert.

7. Micro-List Building

Instead of using large opt-in lists, develop micro-lists for each of your products. You may find that you have hundreds, if not thousands, of these lists, and you can use an autoresponder program to manage them.

8. RSS Feeds

Blog regularly and make sure that your blog has an RSS feed so that your subscribers will know when you’ve updated your content. This is a “must-do” for all internet marketers, and one of the easiest ways you can guarantee that your potential customers will continue returning to your site.

9. Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are one of the most effective online marketing techniques. Rather than targeting specific keywords, target keywords that are less competitive within a niche market. The trick is to figure out the exact phrases that people are entering into search engines and then writing content to match.

The internet marketing business is constantly evolving, so it’s crucial that you keep up with the latest trends and tools as you market your service or product. These are just a few of the most recent tools that many internet marketers have found effective. To know more, contact an SEO expert or internet marketing consultant. These professionals are up to date with the cutting edge tools that you need for a successful internet marketing campaign.

Social Media Optimization Will Take you to the Pinnacle of Success

In today’s world of advanced technology, each technique is constantly evolving on a very fast pace. To keep pace with all these changes one needs to study and learn about everything new that is happening in any field. Search engine optimization or online promotion of websites is among one of the very rapidly changing fields in the internet. Keeping track of these new developments will help an online business to earn profit.

Social media optimization is a new term that has come about in the field of search engine optimization as a result of these changes. The term may sound to be very intimidating, but in fact it is nothing but promoting of online sites in such a manner that is becomes easily and more accessible in social networking sites. Such sites are very popular among online visitors these days and so one has more chances of reaching out to more people.

Research studies have indicated that more then sixty percent of people, who are active on the web, have made their profile on some or the other social networking sites. More and more people are increasingly opening up to the idea of creating a profile on the web to meet people having similar tastes and interests. And this is where social media optimization tries to cash in and popularize a site on the World Wide Web.

There are so many sites on the web and so you will have to give visitors a very strong reason to visit your site. All websites look and appear similar and unless they find something unique and new, visitors will not want to waste their time visiting just another site. The idea is to draw as much traffic as possible to your site and help you earn profit through your business.

Writing great content in the form of blogs can soar the popularity of your site on the web. Make efforts to help your content travel really fast on the web. Once you become a regular blogger, you can place a link of your site at the bottom of your blog and this can bring huge number of visitors to your site. Also you can let other sites use your content if they provide a link to your site. This will serve your two purposes; first your content travels fast and secondly your get visitors for your site.

Before you undertake Social media optimization, you must find out certain things that will be helpful for you. First study and analyze the existing competition in the market. This is where your competitors are operating and you must know everything about this market inside out.

Implementing any new technique such as social media optimization can work wonders for your business. Undoubtedly this is a new concept and initially you may feel hesitant about it, but gradually you will realize that this is the best thing that you could have done for the growth of your business. Only after you have implemented all the methods of social media optimization, you will realize how beneficial this has been for your success.

Public Relations Vs. Internet Marketing

We tend to live in a this- or-that, black-or-white world.  We pick one brand over another; choose one team over its rival.  We generally pick a camp and then do our best to justify our choice.  The same holds true for the ways we chose to run and market our businesses.  We pick a philosophy, a strategy and generally that is what we live, or die, by. 

 

In the marketing world for years the battle was between advertising and public relations.  Now Internet marketing has entered the ring.  I’ve spoken with some truly savvy folk who swear that Internet marketing or the inappropriately named online PR (it is much more akin to advertising than it is to PR) is the only tool they need, the only tool they’ll use – and that’s that!

 

It’s interesting to take such a stance.  Foolhardy, but interesting.  I’ve specialized in public relations for over two decades.  I suppose I could make the claim that PR is the only way to go, but why?  Why limit yourself to one form on marketing.  The truly smart marketers and business experts develop a strategic, multi–faceted technique.  Internet marketing can spread the word though blogging, social networking and effective SEO.  Effective PR more than ever is the most legitimizing and validating form of marketing.  Through it you become the news; you are the story.  Your online marketing can help develop media stories and your media coverage can direct viewers, readers and listeners to your websites, blogs, landing pages, social network sites, etc.  Think of the true marketing juggernaut you can create if you strategically combined the two.

 

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2008

For further information visit:
www.AnthonyMora.com

 

 

Social Media Optimization Has Made The World A Smaller Place

Socializing is known to be the best way to get the latest news and the hottest gossips on just about everything. So if it works for people there is no reason why a social media platform should not work for online sites on the web. Internet as we know it today is one of the biggest platforms for interaction and knowledge sharing. It is no wonder therefore that social media optimization is one of the most popular methods for enhancing the visibility of the site and giving it a higher ranking on the search engines. Search engine marketing firms often employ various methods of social media optimization for their online clients. The process involves carefully planned and laid out strategies that keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of the client and are implemented accordingly.

Social media optimization is a method of generating publicity through online processes, communities and websites. The internet savvy people today frequent a number of websites that act as a social media optimization platform. The videos uploaded on sites like ‘you tube’ and the various sites offering blogging facilities, forums and discussion panels further enhance the effect of social media optimization. The social media optimization uses the technique of viral marketing to spread their word across the web. The main idea is to get people talking about a product, service or idea. The word of mouth then serves as the publicity vehicle thereby popularizing the website that is most talked about by the internet users. Social media optimization utilizes the techniques of social book marking, video and photo sharing and blogging.

The term social media optimization was coined by a person called Rohit Bhargava and he also suggested some guidelines as to how websites can reap the maximum benefits from social media optimization. The main emphasis is to be laid upon increasing the link-ability of the website and also encouraging the inbound links to the site in question. Social media optimization also stresses the need to make tagging and book marking of a site an easy process. Once a visitor to the site can easily book mark it and go back to it as and when required he is bound to achieve a comfort level with the website. This is in turn would make him recommend the website to other acquaintances thereby serving the inherent purpose of social media optimization.

Social media optimization platforms also face the common problem of spam and this might cause inconvenience to a group of users. However the advantage in this scenario is that the users on a social media platform are usually active participants and hence they can easily delete and block the spam as and when it is placed. Some media platforms have specifications about qualifying matters into relevant data and spam and have taken precautionary measures to avoid influx of spam in the website. Social media optimization has reached a high level in recent times and the growing popularity of platforms like Facebook and Orkut show positive indications for this phenomenon. As the internet community becomes wider social media optimization is becoming a crucial tool for the websites across the globe.

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