Technology Strategist, Speaker, Trainer

2012 brings opportunity. You have a new business plan and goal,  and hopefully a new marketing plan that includes new technology to help your business.  There are eight main areas that have all stood the test of time and should be incorporated into your online strategy for 2012. We feel if you create a plan (no matter how simple) in each of these in the coming year you will have your best year ever online! It is not as overwhelming as you might think so just jump right in and get started.

1. General Marketing

2. SEO

3. Blogging

4. Facebook

5. LinkedIn

6. Twitter

7. Video

8. All other Social Media Sites.

For the full article with several links please visit: www.AmyChorew.com

Technology Strategist, Speaker, Trainer

The Internet has increased the expectation among consumers that your business will have a credible online presence. Prospects you’ve never met are forming opinions about your business at the click of a mouse.

Internet first impressions are not just influenced by how your website looks, but also by how often your business appears in searches on their key words and if you have a presence on the more popular real estate sites. Establishing a good reputation, offline and online, is the only way to be truly successful in business.

Online networking is just like networking in person; being social - meeting people. Create, build and develop relationships.  Starting and “getting out there” is no different than conversations about real estate (sometimes bringing it up intentionally) while at the PTA meeting.

Understanding the way business has shifted with the internet age can help you market your business in the virtual world. You do that by:

• establishing a powerful online reputation and presence
• being available where the consumer is, so they will contact you
• providing content that reflects the specific key words consumers look for
• and using social media and the deep content you create to build and develop relationships with potential clients.

The Hub & Spoke Principle

Real estate professionals often approach online marketing in a disjointed fashion.

They have a website and then decide to create a presence on social networks, not utilizing the power of integrating them. The agent spends a lot of time visiting these various sites to communicate information, reducing their effectiveness.

Like the hub on a bicycle wheel, a website facilitates resource sharing and communications (via the “spokes” in the wheel) to every Web 2.0 tool the sales agent decides to incorporate into their business.

While you want a presence in other places (on and off line) your website should be the place to return as the foundation. It is the hub, your central spot, your foundation that will have searches, information and most importantly, ways for the consumer to get in touch with you when is they are ready to buy or sell.

Whatever other social media or online activities you participate in are the spokes. This is where you establish your reputation and begin to build relationships as consumers get to see bits and pieces of who you are.

The more search traffic you can drive, coupled with the social media traffic you move from your spokes (like Facebook) the more you will be found.

Amy Chorew is a national technology speaker and coach. She is founder of TheTechByte which offers a variety of technology coaching and training programs.

Technology Strategist, Speaker, Trainer

Generations are our new diversity. Our current education departments are being challenged with generational differences. Instruction as it stands now, is not consistent with the four generational groups in our industry.

As a result, we must focus on harmony to form a mix. Students are not used to hearing communications and strategy the same way. In addition, each generation views the business world differently. These differences impact our ability to educate effectively.

These, of course, are just some examples. Done right they are extremely powerful. I use many of these techniques in my live classes, training webinars and one-on-one coaching.

According to NAR and other research we have done independently, 80% of leads generated by you or your company over the internet are lost, marked as dead or simply thrown out? Why is this happening?

An online consumer contacts you by email. They want an immediate response to their question. And As we know the first one to contact the consumer has the better chance of engaging the consumer.  Speed matters, and the speed of the internet has created this consumer need.

The reality is that the online lead many times is not ready to commit right way.
So we give up, or just lose interest, or don’t have systems in place to keep track of them to convert them at a later date.

Todays online consumer does not want to be captured by the real estate agent. They want to stay in control of the process.They feel if they give information the agent will bug them to they buy or die.

The technology needs of a buyer-based marketplace are so different than those of the past five years that many real estate professionals find themselves back at square one.

Here are some of the challenges:
Knowing who today’s consumeris and how they consume information  on the internet
Having all the tools to respond properly

In other words The challenge today is to understand which values are desired; and retool our business around them.

What about the leads that you send information to and then won’t give you enough information for your to qualify them as a lead?
One import fact to remember is that buyers are on line way before they are ready to purchase. Try to eliminate the 45 day mentality we attach to leads. Remember? A buyer walks into your office. You speak to them, read their tells. Wihtin half an hour you know if you have a commission check in your inbox in 45 days. Ahhh . . . memories. Those days are gone forever.

Many buyers enter the real estate search arena up to 4 years before they sit at a closing table. This is the subconscious stage. When something triggers to them to the next phase they actively engage into pre research. This is the thinking about it stage.

Another trigger sends them to active research. They are finally pre-qualified and they actively Search online for homes,  and areas.

The actually buying stage is when they need help on the  Offer, Negotiating and Closing.  Keep in mind the actual buying phase can last as long as 4 months.

What are these triggers? Job change, income change, family change, you name it.
Managing all these leads can be overwhelming,  so look through all the software, programs you own, especially products attached to your website and see if there are any automated email campaigns availble to you.

Please note - I am not an advocate of just pushing unwanted data to these people. AND I NEVER recommend this type of product to your sphere and past customers. Watch for my next post when I review products who pass my 3 Point Marketing test!