When a seller cancels a listing with an agent or allows it to expire when do you believe that they start looking for a new agent to help them?

Think about that for just a moment.

Serious sellers, ones that have to sell their home, are completely focused on the goal of selling their home. They are the kind of sellers that ask their agent if there is anything that they can do to help sell the home. The professional agent, like yourself, takes this as an opportunity to advise their client and present them with information. The agent who has the listing expire ignores the call and doesn’t serve their client as they should.

Getting back to the question, when does a seller look for a new agent when they know their current agent isn’t doing the job? They start looking 10 days prior to listing expiring. We know this because we surveyed different groups of expired sellers over the last 12-14 months and the average number of days that they started looking was 10 days prior to their listing contract expiring.

How does this help you?

One cannot market directly to sellers currently under contract but you can have information on your website or blog that allows sellers who are looking for information to possible get help from you or maybe just help them resolve their current situation.

On your website or blog it is important to address the following:

Why listings expire – There are many reasons for this and it is important to list the reasons out for people. This will lead some back to calling their current agent and for the others they will call you when their listing has expired.

Identify the reasons why sellers who list with you don’t expire. If you have only ever taken 1 listing and it sold them 100% of your listings sell. This is a very important statistic for a seller to know and one that they should have asked their first agent.

Identify what your plan is for expired sellers

If you target expired sellers let them know what your plan is for your expired clients and that this is part of your real estate business. I call them “2nd chance sellers” and that I am always willing to help sellers and give them a second chance at selling their property.

You need to present to them:

• How you prepare them for the second time and why it will be different for them
• How the issues that they faced with their previous agent are guaranteed not to happen with you and that you put that in writing.
• A guarantee so overwhelming and so amazing that no “2nd chance seller” could possibly resist

By doing this you will generate more business for yourself and help sellers solve their problems. You will have already presold yourself before you take one step in their door.

Do have a real estate website or a bill that comes in every month? There is a difference between the two. One generates leads for you that turn into sales each and every month and the other is a very expensive business card that you pay for each and every month that maybe generates 1 closed sale for you every year that you probably would have received anyway. If your website isn’t generating enough leads to close 2 sales a month every month you have a bill and not a real estate website. Your website needs to generate at least 50 leads that you can turn into 2 sales a month every month.

Let me share with you a very quick story. My brother, James, took 250 leads and turn that into 25 closed sales. He turns 1 out of every 10 leads into a closed sale. Think about that for just a minute. Would you like to make 10 calls and know that you have at least 1 closed sale?

Let’s get back to unlocking the power of your real estate website.

Most agents make their website about them and that is basically the only thing that you cannot do to generate leads that actually want to take action, have the ability to buy, and will follow your rules.

Unlock the Power of Your Real Estate Website

1. Write about what you know – I am not talking about the real estate knowledge of paperwork but the neighborhood knowledge. Think about what is most important to you when you look to buy a house and write about that.

2. Write about your most common questions – Most of your clients ask very similar questions. Take those and write detailed answers to the questions on your website or blog.

3. Make it easy to contact you - give them multiple different ways to contact you and make it obvious that they can speak to you, chat to you, text you, e-mail you, or even fax you if they wanted.

4. Make sure that it isn’t about you and it is about them - that’s right make it all about what they want, which is a home, condo, or land, and what they need to do in order to accomplish their goal.

5. Give them what they want - yes they want listings and you need to give it to them. Give them access to see what they want and make sure they can see listings that will peak their interest and have them request more information from you.

6. Update your website or blog regularly - You don’t have to update it every day but a website or blog that is updated weekly or even monthly will be the one that will win the war on generating leads that are willing and ready to take action.

By taking action on the above items your real estate website will be ahead of 95% of your competition and this will turn you into lead generation machine and more importantly a closing machine. You may not be able to tackle all of these immediately but taking them step by step will improve your results dramatically. I also recommend having someone take a look at your website right before you are ready to take action and give you kind of a website tune-up. Having a second pair of eyes on your website won’t hurt just make sure that the person giving you the opinion is willing to be completely honest with you and give you the kind of advice that you can put into practice.

Once you have decided that you are going to do pay per click advertising one of the obstacles that may stand in your way is determining what words you should select to advertise on. Before I cover how to select what words to advertise on though there are a couple of rules that you need to remember when selecting your set of keywords to start your real estate pay per click advertising campaign.

The Real Estate Rules of Keyword Advertising

I recommend following these rules regardless of what pay per click system you select to advertise in first. These rules work for Google, Yahoo, & MSN.

1.       Group words together in similar groups. As an example ”Home” words and “condo” words are different so put them in separate groups.

2.       No more than 20 keywords per group.If you have more than 20 keywords per group you have to many and move the other words to a different group.

3.       Don’t advertise on customer types, areas, or real estate products that you don’t want to sell. As an example if you don’t want to sell condos in your area don’t advertise on them.

Selecting your Keywords For Your Real Estate Campaign

There are two ways to be able to select your keywords. You can use tools, which we will cover, and there is a good old fashioned way to do it that just may get you a few referrals. We are going to cover both ways to select keywords so you can make sure you have as many tools as possible to select your keywords.

1.       Referrals and keywords at the same time - a great way to find your initial set of keywords is to call your favorite past 20 clients and ask them the following question:
“If I wasn’t your real estate agent of choice how would you go about finding a real estate professional on the Internet?”   The answer to this one question will give you 60-80 keywords at a minimum that you can start advertising on.

2.       A Keyword Tool – Use a keyword that allows you to get a set of keywords that will allow you to target the kind of customers that you want. You can continually check keywords to see what people are searching for and how they are trying to find you so you can add more content to your website or blog.
A great free tool can be found at seobook.com at http://tools.seobook.com/ and selecting the Keyword tool.

Most of all when you are selecting your list of keywords make sure that the list is specific and focused. Your keywords will determine who you work for and what kind of business you have for years to come so take careful consideration to what words you select for advertising.

There are a number of great real estate lead generation programs out there. Programs can be designed where you pay a referral fee, monthly fee, or even a fee per every lead received. The systems and programs vary wildly and your results will certainly be mixed depending on your personality and how it can fit in within the lead source. With so many different lead generation companies out there charging money, it certainly makes one aware that you could create your own system and save money each and every month.

Here are some items to focus on so you can create your own lead system so you can start saving money each and every month.

1. Budget – Whether you are using a real estate lead generation system that you pay monthly, referral, or some other method it is certainly costing you some money. Determine what you have spent on your current systems and think about how you could use that money on your own. After all, a typical referral fee is often 25% and when you consider an average commission across the United States is about $5,000 that means you could invest up to $1,000 in marketing to generate a transaction. Optimally you will spend much less (think 7% of your average commission) and the savings will go right into your pocket!
2. How do you want to generate leads? – Generating leads online is one of the most affordable so if budget is a concern develop a plan to generate leads online. There are many different ways to generate leads online so think about the direction you would like to before you spend any money.  Whether you want to focus on leads from your website, blog, articles, etc. there are different methods for each one so pick your favorite and develop a lead plan around it.
3. Develop actions for a consistent flow of leads – In order for you to get leads every day it requires that you put into place actions that are easily repeatable. This can range from running new pay per click ads, writing new web pages, or even sending out blast e-mails. When you decide on how you will generate leads make sure you have an action that you can take every day to ensure that new leads keep pouring. The big real estate lead generation companies have a variety of action items they do constantly but your plan can be much smaller and get the results you need to generate new business each and every month.

It may sound like quite a bit of work to develop your own real estate lead system and it will require some work, but it will save you money in the long run. One of the best aspects about creating your own system is you can tweak it to hit your goals and save money.

If the task of creating your own systems sounds like too much work, consider hiring a real estate coach or purchasing a system that will help you discover the proper methods to creating your own real estate lead system. Investing in a coach or a “do it yourself” system will save you hours of frustration and thousands of dollars of trial and error.

I invite you to consider taking the time to look through a few different local real estate websites and keep track of what you find on each site. Do you find access to the MLS, a page on buyers, a page on sellers, and maybe even the awards the agent has earned? Beyond those basics what else is on the website that would actually enable you to learn more about the real estate in that area?

In order to differentiate your real estate website from the 1000′s of others just in your city, it takes being different. This doesn’t require a movie, or a video of you as a “talking agent” on your website. Being different online means offering a unique value to the visitor that they can’t find on other websites. You can certainly already be different with information that you already know.

Consider the following tips for creating website content that visitors will crave and search engines will love.

1. Neighborhood Information – Write up information about the neighborhoods in which you operate every day. Share your unique perspective about what it’s like to walk the streets and how it feels to live in that neighborhood. It doesn’t have to be flowery, just share about the neighborhood as if you were speaking to someone new to the neighborhood. This will probably require more than 1 page and that is ok, just keep writing and putting it up online!
2. Detailed Home Information – Many neighborhoods across the USA have specific floor plans and models of homes. Take time to share about the different models that are available and what is appealing (or not) about each one. Documenting the names of the models, sq ft, and even how many of a particular model might exist in a neighborhood will have you standing apart from the competition.
3. Condo and HOA information – When you have condos in the areas that you service it’s a great opportunity to create unique content. Writing up information like the property management company, floor plans, and about the amenities will allow a website visitor to discover if the complex is right for them, just by reading your information.

When you take the time to focus on content that isn’t readily available online you will find that you have plenty to share. Don’t assume that people really “know” about their own neighborhood. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is new to the area and share the most common of details.

Your real estate website, armed with fresh and compelling content, will become a true resource for people searching online for information about the neighborhoods in which you operate. It may take time to develop each page but it will live on for as long as you have your website and it can work for you 24 hours a day.

Have you ever driven past a home for sale and on a whim grabbed the flyer to check out what other agents are doing? And did this flyer proudly proclaim, “Visit www.123ElmSt.com for more information!”? And did you think, “Wow, what a nice idea. I wonder how to do that myself?” There are many ways to do create a listing website, from very simple to much more complex. Daily, new tools are being created to make this task even easier.

Postlets
Postlets.com is a virtual flyer service that allows you to quickly enter in information about your listing, and upload six photos (more are available for purchase). Postlets then creates a virtual flyer specifically for your listing. All you have to do is buy the domain name for your listing and direct it to the Postlet flyer. When your prospects type in the address of the home they are interested in, they’ll see the Postlet flyer. Neat!

Virtual Tours
You can do the same thing with your virtual tour. Set up the tour and include as much information as you can. Definitely add more information – and photos! – than is available on your flyer. If your virtual tour service has the ability, you can even add music to the tour! Once all is complete, purchase the domain name and direct it to the virtual tour site. This makes it super easy for your prospects to check out the virtual tour. And shows that you are making the connection. Plus, your sellers will love it!

WordPress
Have you heard about WordPress? WordPress is actually blogging software that you can use to create some sharp websites. And it’s free. For a listing website, just load WordPress onto your site and add a ton of information. This one’s more complicated than the first two, as you need to have website hosting as well. If you have a techie on your team, this is where they’d come in. Working with WordPress is simple, compared to straight HTML and CSS. And you can do so much more with a WordPress site than you can with a Virtual Tour or Postlet flyer. You can include links to your Virtual Tour and Postlet, and even have links to the schools, utility companies, maps, CC&Rs – the list goes on. What a tremendous resource this could be!

With the competition for clients pretty fierce right now, you have to find a way to stand above the crowd. You want to show your prospects that you have the knowledge and ability to help them. So what makes you stand out from all the other real estate agents in your area? Express your credibility through sharing your knowledge through articles!

If you’ve never written an article before, it can seem quite daunting. However, it’s really very simple. One of the easiest ways to write an article is to follow the following steps:

1) Write down the three biggest mistakes you see people make when ________________
Fill in the blank with an activity that your ideal client would perform. If you want to work with first-time home buyers, you could fill in that blank with “buying their first home”. Once you have your topic, go ahead and list three mistakes that you see folks make all the time.

2) Write two or three sentences for each mistake, clarifying or expanding on the mistake.
Take this opportunity to share your knowledge about the industry. Let those who read your articles know that you understand what they’re problems are and that you can help them overcome those problems and purchase their first home.

3) Write a brief introduction and conclusion for your article.
With the body of the article (the three mistakes) done, it’s easy to write a few sentences to introduce the three mistakes. For a conclusion, all you need are a few sentences to wrap up your thoughts.

The only other piece to add is you Author Bio or Resource Box. Share your website with folks and let them know that if they need help or want further information, to let you know!

Your next step is to publish the article on your website, in local newsletters, in online article directories — anywhere that your ideal client hangs out. And then, write another article!

If you are a newer Real Estate agent, it’s pretty obvious that the days when placing a “For Sale” sign in the yard of a house and waiting for the calls to pour in is long gone. Agents are constantly hunting for new and creative ways to market their Real Estate listings. Since most of the country is turning to their computers to do the research for purchase from new shoes to new homes, many agents are beginning to advertise their listings online. While there are many options for online advertising, there are three that quickly come to mind.

Classified Ads

There are several sites online where one can place classified ads. Some of these are even free, which is pretty nice! One of the best known of these is Craigslist. Since this is basically a free, online classified section, anyone can advertise on Craigslist. While this means that a researcher has to wade through a LOT of miscellaneous and many times misleading advertising, there are many people who rely exclusively on Craigslist in order to find things they need, including housing.

Automatic Flyer sites

Another way to advertise your listing online is through a site that creates an online flyer. Again, there are several of these sites, and range from free to for-fee. Just enter in your listing information and a few photos and you are set to go! You can direct a purchased domain name to your flyer to have an instant, simple site. What’s great for Craigslist users, is that the flyer creation site provides the HTML code to insert into the Craigslist ad. So, when prospective buyers see your ad in Craigslist, they aren’t seeing the text you typed and the photos you linked. They are seeing a replica of the flyer. With all the bells and whistles that it provides. Pretty neat!

Listing Collections

A listing collection is a website that features listings from all over the country. Prospective buyers and sellers visit these sites to see what’s on the market in various areas. It’s always a good idea to make sure that you and your listings are showing up on these sites as several of them are well known and receive many visits daily. You can input your listing details, photos, etc. and even showcase your open houses as well. These sites are typically free, with features for giving your listing extra exposure for a fee.

If you’re a professional in the real estate business, then you might want to get some real estate business cards that stand out from the rest and will assist you in increasing your closings (and commissions). There are a lot of businesses both online and off that have some great printing services.

The choice is yours, if you want to shop in the privacy of your home or office or if you want to get out and run all over town finding a store that has the design that you like and can get the cards printed in a reasonable amount of time.

You can choose to go out to a local printer and look through their catalog of designs and pick the best design for you, then wait a week or so for the cards to come back to you.

You could go online to find an internet printer that specializes in your industry. Many do excellent job in making business cards. It’s certainly acceptable to go to a very large corporation, but it will be the smaller boutique operations that will have the latest cutting edge designs that will increase your revenue.

Regardless of your online printer choice, the printer will have different options for you to choose from for a business card design. The good ones will work with you to find the one that is right for you.

Just by looking at your real estate business cards your clients can get a feel of your attitude and your professionalism. If you pick a bright and nicely designed card then you’re going to get more clients rather then if you picked a pale looking picture on a card. Bright, sharp looking cards are better when you’re in a great profession like the real estate business. Be bold and bright.

So if you’re a real estate professional and want and need to get the word out there about your services and business, then get you some awesome looking bright and bold colorful real estate business cards. Get noticed, be bold, get those clients calling you.

Some places might be able to get you the cards fairly quick but do they have the real professional look that some of the other sites may offer? Do they have both the glossy and not so glossy cards and do they offer front and back side printing? If you can’t find what your looking for please take a look at the other websites and get what your looking for today. You will have a nice selection of realtor business cards to choose from. The cards have a nice bold and colorful look and they can be printed on both sides if you like. Its great to have both sides with information, two times is better then one.

It will be worth it to get the cards at a high quality printing site, when you can shop in the convenience of your own home and then get free shipping that is a great deal. So take a look at some of the sites today and find the perfect real estate business cards for you.

Business cards are a number one priority in the real estate market. The competition among realtors is massive and to stand out in front of the pack a realtor needs to stand out in every respect, so it behooves them to have the best marketing materials possible that will not detract in any respect from their service offering. An attractive design with a targeted message to your prospect will separate a professional from an amateur every time.

Choose Between Templates Or Custom Design Work
Many people choose a template already designed by a printer. On a startup or limited budget this is a choice that is simple, easy, but not necessarily going to lend you any extra mojo to your sales presentation. To take a step in front of the rest who choose the template route you should have a design customized to your business.

Sounds expensive? It does not have to be if your printer does regular real estate printing work. Customization also shows extra time and effort put into your presentation. A well thought out and good presentation is how real estate is sold to the prospect in person, in the presentation folder, and when you first meet them with your business card, right? Given the right approach, anything is possible. A design that the prospect is going to remember before all the others gets you a step in front of everyone else.

Selecting A Printer For Quality And Price
Type in the words “business cards” to your favorite search engine and you will be presented with a list of internet printers many of whom will offer free or ridiculously cheap business cards. They can offer these low prices because the print materials being used are of adequate quality for a vanilla business card and they are not providing industry specific design experience. This type of card works well for someone who is not targeting an affluent customer base or is otherwise not heavily focused on relationship selling.

Affluent clients will pick up on a mass produced generic template versus a card designed and customized for your specific business. It’s even more true if your are selling products and services to small business owners who are often involved in their own business marketing material creation as opposed to a larger corporate client.

Select the Business Card Paper
Premium card stocks, 14PT or greater, feel quite different than a thinner card. With the treatments available they are exceptional platforms to make a great first impression. With the cost difference between a 16PT card stock and 10PT card stock as low as it is, there is no reason to risk scaring off a perceptive affluent buyer. Relationship selling works best with the best marketing materials.

To remain professional find yourself a printer and designer that offers experience in your industry. A good quality printer will have a design staff for customization needs as well as a number to contact for advice on design issues. You should intend to grab your client’s attention entice them to reference your card, and lock it into memory. It will take a certain amount of time and effort to complete a card design that does that.

Ask the Relationship Manager you work with their opinion on the design. Ask for some alternatives. Be prepared to listen to their advice even if you don’t agree with it. You’re the customer, they will likely do what you want. Keep the parts that make sense to you.

The alternative is going to a website, select a generic design, upload your logo and contact info. Your paper quality choices will be slim. You should expect just a basic business card.

Build Your Brand In The Customer’s Mind
The image you portray on the real estate business cards is the image that the client will carry and what they will remember you and your services by. It will determine if they recommend you to their friends and business partners. If you present a card that looks sloppy, quick and pre-done, they will draw a different conclusion than if you present a laser focused graphic design for your target customer with compelling selling (branding) phrases you will reinforce when you speak with them.

Maximize the creation of your brand. A business card is the first step to achieving the image you want to maintain for a lifetime of successful business sales.