Posts Tagged ‘realtor marketing’

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Is the traditional real estate agent/brokerage dead?

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
MarketingCharts.com

MarketingCharts.com

traditional – pertaining to time-honored Orthodox doctrines;

orthodox – adhering to what is commonly accepted; “an orthodox view of the world”

I ask this question not to be argumentative but to spark a debate

It seems to me that while the business world has changed,

  • Google
  • Blackberry
  • iPhone
  • Zillow
  • Trulia
  • Amazon
  • Expedia
  • Social Media

{I could go on and on,}

the traditional real estate agent/brokerage continues on-unchanged.

Question. What is the value proposition of the traditional real estate brokerage? Agent?  Why would an agent/consumer choose to work with you?

Lets come back to this one.

Traditional Value Proposition of a Real Estate Brokerage:

  • Fees
  • National Ad Campaign
  • Office Space
  • Education
  • Renewal Hours
  • Referral Network
  • E & O Insurance
  • Coaching
  • Leads
  • Broker support
  • Legal Support

please don’t kill me, I’m sure I have missed some………….

In today’s climate most of these things are vanilla unless a brokerage can actually help an agent get more business.  After all, why in today’s market (any market really) would a real estate agent choose a brokerage unless it can help increase their business?

How this started.

Over the past year I have met with brokers/agents around the valley, some of the conversations I have had with them are rather surprising.  For instance, one of the 1st things I ask a broker or agent when we sit down is “What is the value of you or your brokerage? Why would an agent/consumer choose to work for you? The answers I get back are telling.

(These are real answers……..)

  • Brokerage
  • Location
  • Centrally located
  • Parking Space  yes, parking space!
  • Office space
  • Free Copies
  • Postcards/flyers
  • “We believe in our agents!”
  • “We have office hours!”
  • Floor time (insert snicker here)

Not that these things are worthless, they aren’t BUT they become less and less relevant every day.  Why? For some consumers, a brick and mortar office is a value add, but I would argue this type of buyer/seller is disappearing-and fast.  How many prospective clients want to meet at your office?

Agent

  • I work hard
  • I’m passionate
  • I’m knowledgeable
  • Friendly
  • I follow up
  • Designations
  • My Marketing plan

While these traits are important once someone meets you, they have not met you yet. They don’t even know you exist.

Why would a consumer choose to work with you? Want the right answer? Because they found you FIRST. 80% of buyers will work with the 1st agent they come across.

Value

“A new class of real estate brokerage or BETA brokerage is springing up across the country to attract the web 2.0 agent/consumer.  The next generation brokerage markets themselves in new ways – ways never thought possible –  and connects with consumers across the myriad of social media channels that were once considered frivolous or off limits to marketers.”  These brokerages/agents offer:

  • Websites
  • Blogs
  • Landing Pages
  • Squeeze Pages
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Video classes
  • Green Rooms (Video)
  • Google PPC Campaigns
  • Facebook PPC Campaigns
  • Social Media Training

And not only these things, but they also help an agent understand how these things work and how it will grow their business.  These agents and brokerages understand that the goal of web 2.0 technologies like the ones listed above is to develop online strategies to eventually meet the consumer offline-toe-to-toe-belly to belly.

1st rule of sales…be where your customers are.  Sounds pretty simple right?  Well the customer is online.  Yet most the the tools, training, etc.. of a traditional brokerage/agent revolve around them, their brand, not the consumer

You need to be where the consumer is……………

Consumer behavior has changed.  The days of calling an agent to inquire about a property are disappearing.  Today’s consumer wants this information, but on their terms-not yours.  Can you imagine how you would like it if you called a tire company-for product info and prices and tire salesmen started calling you-trying to sell you tires?  How would you feel about that one?

The Future.

The Future of consumer behavior and ultimately Real Estate marketing revolves around mobile applications and browsing.  How much surfing do you currently do on your desktop/laptop compared to your Blackberry, iphone, HTC or Drooooooooid?

Google most popular search engine in mobile devices

According to Web researching firm Gartner In the next “3 years mobile browsing is expected to pass PC’s as the most common browsing device”

Are you ready for that?  According to Market Share the iPhone has almost 65% usage leaving all the others far faaaaaaaar behind with Google being the dominant search engine, literally crushing all others with 95.57% of all global searches

Mobile Browsing By Platform

What does your website (if you have one) look like on a smart phone?  Is the functionality still there or do you get the dreaded blue cube (iPhone)?  Does your website have flash? As of now, I am aware of no smart phones that support flash.  Apple announced recently that it will not support flash.  Apple “We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.” What does that mean to your business?  If you have flash, your website will not function properly for the 33 Million iPhones that have been sold since 2007-and this number does not include the millions of iPod Touch and iPads……

Give to receive.

Today’s consumer wants information.  And if you won’t give it to them,, someone else will-and quicker.  The days of requiring the consumer to register on your website to search for properties is dying-fast.  Why would I register for your website and risk you calling or emailing me over and over again when I can just repeat a Google search?

Here is the good news…..you can still became a BETA brokerage or agent but you have to change your mindset.  You need to embrace inbound marketing techniques over stale outbound techniques and most of all-you need to add Value.

If you are an agent in the Phoenix Metro area that would like help growing your business, call me….let’s meet for coffee to discuss.

And if you are a brokerage in the Phoenix Metro area that is looking to attract top talent to your company-offer education that will help their business grow!  The genie is out of the bottle, this stuff is not going away-it’s jut going to get bigger and better.  Want help getting your agents into the web 2.0 world where their customers are? Call me….let’s meet for coffee and discuss how I can help you attract or maintain your assets-the agents.  Did I mention I’m a title rep?  “Will work for escrows”

Oh yea, one more thing…..Facebook officially hit 500 Million users today. Told ya its not going away, just getting bigger……..

For All Your Arizona Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs.

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Posted in BETA Brokerage/Agent | 1 Comment »

The Great Reset-Arizona Real Estate

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Here in Arizona, if you are a Realtor and you are busy with deals, you are most likely one of two things-a Short Sale Realtor (specializing in Short Sales) or an REO Realtor (specializing in-well, you know).  With all the focus on Short sale vs foreclosure, it’s really easy to overlook the systems that are required to run and build a successful-profitable real estate business.  Things like Marketing, Building Relationships, Networking, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, I could go on and on.

Here is the problem.  Many Realtors have not contacted their databases in years.  Yes….I Said YEARS! I understand the temptation to target the “low lying fruit” (Short Sale and Foreclosure) as it seems like the market is dominated by them but what is the cost?  When the market returns, those agents that have not spent any time building lead generation models and systems will be at a distinct disadvantage.  Some REO agents could literally go from 300 deals one year to 3 the next!  I call it “The Great Reset”. It’s not too late to begin to add passive lead generation systems into your business.

Lets meet for coffee to discuss how I can help you grow your Real Estate business.

For All Your Arizona Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Inbound Marketing | 2 Comments »

Realtor Marketing-It’s Not About YOU!

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Realtor Marketing in Arizona (everywhere I’m sure), for the most part is horrible.  It’s true.  Now don’t kill the messenger, the consumer is telling you that not me.  How do I know?  Is your phone ringing?   I’m a consumer. We all are, and I have asked many of them over the years what they think about your marketing-well not YOUR marketing but you know what I mean.   Here is the problem. Most Realtors market themselves-I’m awesome, I have X amount of years of experience, I’m a top producer, Presidents circle,etc.  Even your designations you use in your marketing are about YOU. The consumer has no clue what a GRI compared to an E-pro or ABR is.  Here is your rude awakening.  No one goes to the internet to look for YOU-buyers look for real estate-not you. There, I said it.  Most buyers will go with the 1st agent they come across when they identify a home they like. That’s why 80% of buyers will work with the 1st agent they come across.

So, what can you do about it?  Change your marketing.  Be the 1st agent they come across! Guess how many internet searches there were last month for “Real Estate Agent in Phoenix AZ” ?  201,000! Here is why that’s significant-they are not going to the internet to look for you-Joe Schmoe Realtor, ABR, GRI, CDPE. they are actually searching for “Real Estate Agent in Phoenix AZ”.  Change your marketing to reflect what the consumer is looking for-property. 90% of buyers start their home search on the internet,  96% of 1st time buyers go to the internet, that’s where you need to be-not on a postcard or flyer! Learn keyword research-how to dominate words like “Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ”.

Ready to change your marketing?  Call me.  Lets talk.  My network is deep.  Custom WordPress designers, SEO experts, Social Media animals….  I can help.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Blogging | 2 Comments »

Missing! Out On Great Service

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

If you are a REALTOR in Arizona and you are not getting the benefit of a marketing representative then you are MISSING! out on a great service.  Marketing rep’s for title companies in Arizona have 2 main purposes, promote the company they work for and help you grow your business..  Most of them are very good at one, and the other-”Not So Much”.

Why?

Well, if you sit down with a marketing rep, they are most likely going to spend most of the time telling you how amazing the company they work for is, how amazing the escrow officers are, how amazing the service is……but how does any of that grow your business?  Sure great service is important but call me crazy- I actually think that fantastic service should be a bare essential to be in business.  Who gets into business to provide OK service?

Marketing-Marketing provided by title companies usually consists of template websites, postcards, flyers, call capture-things along those lines.  The problem-90% of buyers are going to the internet first when looking for property, 70% of those buyers will work with the first agent they come across.  So….if you want to grow your business, you need to be one of the first agents a potential buyer/seller comes across.  That means Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short.  SEO is what gets you and your business found in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. You are wasting time and energy if your marketing rep cant help you get found where over 90% of your future clients congregate-the internet.

How am I different?  I am a marketing rep that gets it.  I understand how to get you and your business found in the search engines and I can show you how to do it.  I also have a network of trusted professionals that can handle all your technology needs, from custom WordPress and fan pages to Search Engine Optimization.  Want proof? You found my website didn’t you?

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Inbound Marketing | No Comments »

Arizona REALTORS: Is Your Marketing Ahead Of The Market?

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

I took a drive up to Scottsdale from the southeast valley today to hear Max Pigman of Realtor.com discuss capturing and converting buyers, social media and getting ready for profit in 2010.  Just when I thought I knew it all, someone like Max comes along and puts what I was thinking into hard numbers.  That what he did for me, and that what I will attempt to do for you.

Now, this information is for my clients, if you are not one of them, kindly close this page and go about your day…….

OK, now that they are gone…..  Here we go.

What is the market doing?

Nationally we have seen 8 straight months of rising higher sales rates. More houses will be sold this year than last year and more the following year.

REALTOR.com expects 15% higher unit sales nationally.

Have you seen the local news lately? Even the news is encouraging buyers to get off the fence and buy now.

Why this is a great opportunity for you:
1980 there were 760,000 REALTORS in the U.S., at a time when there were 17, 18 or even 19% interest rates. 70,000 of these folks got out of the business in 1990 due to the recession.
1990 673,000
1990 820,794
1995 726,251
2000 756,748
2006 1,103,386
2007 1,265,569
2008 1,336,855

NAR has just announced they expect their membership to drop to approximately 1,112,645 members. This number is down 224,000. This means there will be more homes sold this year than last year AND there are less competing REALTOR’s.

Here is your opportunity:

Most profit is made by REALTORs that are positioning themselves for the rebounding market. Your marketing needs to be ahead of the market. Most agents I speak to are shell shocked, they have cut out most if not all of their marketing!  You have an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time.

In the next 90 days, there should be alot of buyers entering the market, more and more buyers believe the market has experienced a “snap bounce” they believe the market has gone down too far and will rebound quickly.  This is a great time to capture market share.

Is now the right time to buy?

YES! You know it and so do I.

Facts:

In 2007 the average price here in Phoenix was 257,900. In 2009 Q4 the average price was 143,900. That is a 44.01% decline!

Now could be the perfect time to buy. Lets take a a value of $300,000.

2006 value                                      $300,000
Today’s value                                      167,700
% adjustment                                         44.1%

Difference                                          $132,300

Now factor in appreciation.  Lets use conservative estimates.

5 year Appreciation estimate

Year 1    0%

Year 2    1%

Year 3    2%

Year 4    3%

Year 5    4%
2015 estimate of value for  a home purchased today is $184,470
potential gain $16,770
tax credit $8,000

Gain in 5 years =$24,770

BUT…..If interest rates go up even .5% a buyer will have $25,000 less in purchasing power. This is why it’s important to buy now..

I’m telling you, This is the most opportunistic market most people have EVER or EVER will see.

There are more houses to sell and less agents to sell them. There is some opportunity there for you.

Of course, all the information above assumes that you are continuing to market yourself.  When a buyer believes that there is a great opportunity to buy, they will go to the Internet.

Will they find you?

Ready?

Go.

Arizona Realtors, If you would like help getting your marketing set up to take advantage of these opportunities, Lets Talk…. please call me.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Education, Inbound Marketing, Marketing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Is Google Playing Tricks on You-Personalized Search

Monday, March 1st, 2010

If you have a website or a Blog you know how important it is to be on the 1st page of Google. Statistics tell us that 75% of the clicks in Google will go to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd result, after that, the numbers drop substantially. Think about it, how often do you click on a link that is not in one of these positions?

After waiting so long and working so hard on your internet strategy, as a Realtor or Loan Officer nothing is really more rewarding than being on the first page of Google in one of those 1st, 2nd or 3rd positions. It feels great, the whole world can see you now and your website or blog should be getting the attention it so richly deserves.  But is it?

The guys and gals at Google are very smart, sometimes it feels like they are reading our minds, they often know what we are searching for before we do.  It’s this Google intuition that can play tricks on your true ranking in Google.

Below, I google’d the “Housing Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Act” which is in regards to short sales.  If you are a short sale agent and you don’t know what HAFA is, you will soon. A search for those key words from an earlier blog post gives me the #1 rank in Google.  After turning off my personalized search option, I can see that it really is #1 in Google.  (This explains all the calls I am getting from potential short sale candidates.)

Search: Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Act

If you search for a keyword or long tail search, Google after awhile learns what you are looking for and will display it on the first page.  But, that may not be your true ranking.  In December 2009 Google started a service to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. Its called Personalized Search.

From Google: “Google sometimes customizes your search results based on your past search activity on Google. This customization includes searches you’ve done and results you’ve clicked”.

“Previously, Google only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser. It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users)”

Meaning: If you Google “Chandler Homes For Sale” enough times, Google will learn what you are looking for and prominently display your search on the 1st page. BUT, that does not always mean that your keywords are truly in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd position.

In order to truly know where you rank for a certain keyword, you will need to turn off personalized search.

Turning Off Personalized Search

Turning Off Personalized Search

If you are a Realtor or Loan Officer in the Phoenix Metro area and would like assistance with your internet strategy, please give me a call. I would like to earn your business.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Google | No Comments »

Arizona Realtors: Facebook Fanpage Updates Now Included In Real Time Search

Monday, March 1st, 2010

As a Realtor there are certain things that are an absolutely necessity to conduct business. Things like a license, a car, a lock box key, access to the MLS, a broker and a Facebook Fan Page.  What? You didn’t know that a facebook fan page is just as important to conduct business?

I have been preaching the benefits of incorporating a facebook fan page into your real estate business for some time. According to my friends at Elance,  The Benefits to your Real Estate business include:

1. Community Building: The Fan Page is a great platform for your loyal followers to come together for your product or service by utilizing the Wall feature or other available modular applications. Users can submit text testimonials, post pictures, create and upload video, hold discussions with each other – all supporting the growth of your online real estate community.

2. Search Engine Optimization: A Fan Page also gives you more footing in search ranking. By publishing backlinks to your business’ pages as well as having a Facebook Fan Page with your name in the title, your business will be receiving some big bonus points in the SEO department.

3. Insights: Facebook Fan Pages are nicely equipped with a good amount of analytics tools accessible by page owners. You’ll be able to track the number of interactions your page has with fans, view key demographics like sex, age, and location, and more.

4. Communication: You have a variety of customization options when choosing to communicate with your fan base. You can send an update that appears as notifications on homepages, and you can target your message to match a specific age, gender, and location. Don’t forget – since you can publish to the “stream”, you’re able to communicate messages and posts directly into your fans’ homepages.

5. Price: It’s completely free!   You could have one up and running in just a smidge of time.

Add #6: As of February 24th 2010 Google now includes Facebook Fan Page updates in real time search.

What’s Real Time Search?


As of now, only information provided by Page owners will appear. So shared links, status updates, multimedia, etc. will appear but users’ comments on Pages will not.

Facebook’s has over 3 million active Pages. 1.5 million of them are business pages. 20 million people become Page fans each day, and more than 5.3 billion fans have been created .

Check out my fan page: Facebook.com/MyTitleGuyStephen

SMUrcle

What’s all the buzz about the institute of learning with the funny name called SMUrcle ? Some will tell you why you should be using Social Media to increase your bottom line, Smurcle shows you HOW! Find out for yourself at Smurcle.com

If you are a Realtor or Lender in Arizona and you would like assistance integrating a Facebook Fanpage into your business, please call me.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Facebook, Facebook Fan Pages | 3 Comments »

Branding Can Make Or Break Your Social Media Efforts

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

OK that’s it-you have had enough, you are going to shut everyone up that has been telling you to Blog or get on Facebook and Twitter and embrace the 21st century through social media.   You’re ready to go, you have waited so long. Now……WAIT!

In the rush to join the social media party you need to stop and think about a staple for any party-the “B” in B.Y.O.B..  Only this time the “B” is not for Beer but rather for BRAND.

A Brand is a set of emotional attributes that you want people to associate with you and your company or business. Specifically, a brand is used to stand out, a strategic set of actions that is necessary to distinguish or differentiate yourself from other Realtors or Loan Officers. Remember these?

“My bologna has a first name, it’s O-S-C-A-R / My bologna has a second name, it’s M-A-Y-E-R”

OR

“I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, I want my baby back, baby back, baby back / Chiliiiiiii’s baby baaack riiiibs / Barbecue sauce”

Rushing into social media could be at best-a waste of time and at worst-catastrophic if you don’t first do your research and develop a brand.

Why? According to “The Immutable Laws Of Branding” In today’s day and age, “most products (and services )are bought-NOT SOLD. “ Because of the Internet, A buyer or seller may choose your brand before you even meet, you may not have a chance to sell them.

Why brand yourself?

Building a personal brand for your real estate business will help you:

  • Focus and drive your efforts
  • Make yourself more “relevant” to the people who are searching for your real estate services
  • Establish yourself as the expert in the real estate industry
  • Extend your influence so your credibility is accepted and your reputation precedes you.
  • Makes it easier for your market (sphere of influence) to market for you.
  • Branding reduces the sales cycle by pre-selling your real estate services to your customers.

Scott Bedbury Starbucks former Vice President of Marketing controversially admitted “Consumers don’t truly believe there is a huge difference between products” which proves that successful brands need to establish emotional ties with their customers.

Branding is serious business.  Take note of these failures.

Brand Failures by Matt Haig- 7 Deadly Sins Of Branding.

  • Brand Amnesia: Occurs when a brand forgets what it’s supposed to stand for and tries to create a new identity. Example: The New Coke. Enough said.
  • Brand Ego: Occurs when a brand overestimates it’s own importance and capability and ventures into other markets for which its ill equipped.
  • Brand Meglomania: A result of an inflated Ego. When it occurs, Brands attempt to take over the world and venture into every product category (or market)  imaginable. “Call me for your Short sale, Land, REO, Carryback, Leasing, HUD homes needs”
  • Brand Deception: Covering up the reality of your brand. This often leads to lies.
  • Brand Fatigue: Occurs when you get tired of your brand and fail to maintain it.
  • Brand Paranoia: Occurs when a brand faces increased competition. This often results in a willingness to reinvent the brand every 6 months and a longing to imitate your competitors. (I have seen this one over and over in the real estate and Title industry)
  • Brand Irrelevance: Occurs when the market changes and the brands associated with it risk becoming irrelevant or obsolete. Example: REO and Short Sale Branding. These markets wont be here forever. Plan ahead!!

Steps to personal Branding

  • Discover
  • Create
  • Communicate
  • Maintain

As you can see, branding is serious business.  It takes time to look inside to find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), your passion, goals and expertise. As your brand grows, you will need to maintain it or risk being irrelevant (invisible).

Call me If you are a Realtor or loan officer in the Phoenix Metro area and need help with your personal branding.  I can help or refer you to someone that will help you discover your brand.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

Realtors: Blog, your Business Depends On It. Well, At Least Half Does

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

I’m a title rep.  That’s what do. I help Realtors and Loan Officers increase their business with the hope that they will use my company, Old Republic Title Agency in Arizona for their escrow and title needs.  2 years ago a meeting with a potential client went something like this:

Client: “Hey Stephen, Can you help me with some flyer’s and postcards for my new listing or house I just sold?”

Fast forward to today. Now I usually get:

Client: “Hey Stephen, Can you help me with some flyer’s and postcards for my new listing or house I just sold?”

No your eyes are not playing tricks on you, it is the same question.

That’s the point. In today’s day and age the biggest challenge I run into is surprisingly not getting Real Estate professionals to work with me.  No, the challenge I run into is finding a way to make them understand that their traditional method of marketing is less successful-if it works at all.

If you are like me you open your mail in the kitchen, over the garbage can. Why….easier to dump all the junk mail.

If someone doesn’t know you, or what you represent, or your product, or your service, than regardless of how glossy and beautiful and full color and JUMBO your postcard or flyer is, it most likely will end up in the garbage.  Its true. Even if a potential buyer or seller was to save your beautiful flyer or postcard-what are the chances they will remember it or even better-find it when they need it? I know I wouldn’t (you should see my desk!)

So what can you do about it?  BLOG.

87% of us-You, me, your past clients, your future clients go to the Internet when they are looking for real estate.  They probably don’t say “I want to sell my home, now where is that beautiful-Jumbo-full color postcard Joe Blow sent me 6 months ago?” We deal with immediate gratification and immediate gratification comes in 2 words: Search Engine.

One of the things I leave a potential client with at the end of our meeting is “If you are not blogging, (or using social media) you are leaving money and deals on the table”. I always tried to explain that but never had the data I needed to support it.

Until now.

My friends at Hubspot just tweeted me (yes I tweet too-@MyTitleGuy follow me!) an interesting post regarding blogging.

They looked at data from 1,531 HubSpot customers (mostly small- and medium-sized businesses). 795 of the businesses in their sample blogged, 736 didn’t.

The data was crystal clear: Companies that blog have far better marketing results. Specifically, the average company that blogs has:

  • 55% more visitors
  • 97% more inbound links
  • 434% more indexed pages

Hubspot.

Hubspot Link Data

Hubspot Indexed Pages

Blogging is really not that hard, look at me, I just did it- and you just read it.

I look forward to the day when I ask “Do You Have A Blog” and the answer isn’t “a what?”

If you are a Realtor or Loan Officer in the Phoenix Metro area, lets talk.   I would love the opportunity to earn your business. Besides…Your Title Rep didn’t tell you about this.

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Posted in Blogging | No Comments »

FaceBook-The New Google?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Last week Facebook announced that it now has over 400 million active users,  Let me say that again……Facebook has more than 400 Million users. Even more amazing…..225 million of those were added in the last 12 months!  To put this statistic in context, the population of the United States is a little over 300 Million. We all belong to the country of Facebook.

These days you would be hard pressed to meet anyone that does not have a facebook account.  In fact, I can tell a-lot about someone that does not have one, to which my usual reply is “They still make you?” I guess I can understand if you are in the Witness Protection Program, probably don’t want your “friends” to know where you are…..everyone else; “not so much”.

According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN.  Some believe social media sites could become the web’s next search engine. If you pay attention to the changes Facebook has made recently, you have noticed the search bar.  Search used to be limited to searching just Facebook, not anymore.

Facebook Search

15 percent of traffic to major Web portals like Yahoo, MSN and AOL came from Facebook and MySpace. Most of that traffic, 13 percent came from Facebook. A quick search for “MyTitleGuy” within Facebook produced the following results:

MyTitleGuy Search

As a Realtor or loan officer, all this really doesn’t mean much unless you know how to use Facebook to drive traffic to your website or Blog. Problem is, whether you are using outbound or inbound marketing techniques, most sales people don’t know where there their leads come from.  I can tell you that as much as 20% of traffic to my blog comes from Facebook. To demonstrate this in terms relative to you, I searched within Facebook for Chandler Real Estate. See below.

Chandler Real Estate

Whether you work for a large or small brokerage, there is not much incentive for a competing Realtor to share the benefits of Facebook and social media as a whole with you…a competitor. Me on the other hand, I believe in the old Brian Buffini saying “Give it out in slices and it will come back in loafes”

So…..who wants a slice?

Call or email me for a

For All Your Escrow And Title Needs

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Posted in Blogging, Facebook | No Comments »

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Stephen Garner
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