HOT Real Estate Marketing Ideas!

Sizzle sizzle Summer time is coming!

The real estate market in Idaho is already getting H O T – HOT! And for those agents not so busy moving real estate that they don’t have time to think about marketing it’s life on easy street, but what about everyone else? Well, if you’re not riding around with the Rockefellers showing off mansions you gotta work it – and that means marketing!

To help you navigate this fiercely competitive marketing we’ve put together some quick marketing ideas to jump start your Summer season!

Make It Stick
Don’t just give your friends, family, or potential clients business cards – give them business card magnets! Maybe it’s because people need something to stick notes to their refrigerator with, maybe it’s just because they are different, but for whatever reason these seem to hang around longer than regular business cards. Find ways to mention your work during conversation when you’re shopping or even just getting coffee – this opens an opportunity to give out a card or magnet. Word of mouth is powerful; after all if you don’t tell anyone you’re a REALTOR® how will they know?

Write Something
You know that blog you had setup two years ago and have never posted on? Yeah, you should post something.  A couple great ideas might be something like “Fun things to do in my town” or “10 reasons I love my town”, anything that is positive and highlights your local area is fine. Don’t make it about selling anything, just write about something you enjoy and wand to share. If you get reall inspired it may be even better yet write an article and submit it to Buzzfeed – a popular technique for food bloggers looking to get traffic. ( read more on how to do that here )

Be A Sponsor
Work with area charities to find out about local community events and offer to sponsor and setup a coffee or snack stand. You may be surprised to find how often you get powerful results from getting your face and branding out there in the real world where people can see it.

Show Appreciation
Previously clients can make up as much as 40% of your return business – this is even more true in real estate where repeat clients count for as much as 25% of all business. You should treat these people like gold, because they are! A great way to do this, and drum up good hype, is to stay in touch. Whether this is a small gift at closing and then following up with seasonal cards throughout the year or even holding a special event just for clients, you do not want to ignore the importance of your past clients.

Launch a Campaign
Hit the streets and take your camera with you! Make your day on the town visiting shops, eating, or hitting the market into a day of images; post them on your social media accounts throughout the day. This allows you to showcase your location in a fun way and also makes great easy content for posting. Focus on a different part of town or activity each week and be sure to link to your website whenever you post a new image.

These are just a few quick ways to get your name out there and make the most of an absolutely hopping real estate market!
Get creative and let us know about it – we’d love to hear about your challenges and success stories as you move more real estate in 2016!!

Get More Real Estate Leads

You’ve got a website and it’s been online for a while; you may or may not be getting some natural traffic rolling in but where are the leads? Where are the millions of people online beating down your virtual door?

Unfortunately the days of the popular notion that if you build it they will come have long since passed. Just having a website alone is something akin to standing in your closet and shouting about how great your chocolate chip cookies are and then being disappointed when you don’t have people ringing your doorbell with money in hand. A website is a tool, like any other, it is good for specific tasks – and only if you use it properly – you wouldn’t expect to hammer many nails with a screwdriver after all.

You can’t depend on your website to do all the work, so here are some good ideas for things you can actively do to bring in more real estate leads!

Cold Calling
Gives ya shivers don’t it?! But it’s like the old axiom says: don’t be afraid to ask pretty girls for a kiss, you’ll get a lot of slaps in the face but you’ll get a few kisses too! Like any other tactic cold calling takes some strategy to be effective. Start by developing a script to work from that speaks to your potential clients needs; from there stick to a standardized calling routine to make sure it’s not a try once and quit effort.

Blog
Not just have a blog, but actually write and publish a blog regularly. By creating interesting content not only can you establish yourself as an authority in the market but you can also give your audience insight into who you are. Not to mention search engines love blogs! Fresh, keyword rich content updated on a regular basis can be a huge boon to getting more traffic on your site and more traffic equals more potential contacts. Ever struggle with stuff to post on social media? Your own blog content is PERFECT content for your fan page or other profiles – and best of all if done correctly it drives traffic to you!

Door Knocking
It can be daunting in this day and age, and much like cold calling be prepared for some difficult feedback – but you can get good response too. Getting out into the communities you work in is a great way to stand apart as so many agents are digital only these days. It really gives you a lay of the land; is a good way to get your brand in front of people you might not normally reach. Make sure you go out with some door hangers and printed materials with your photo, website, contact info prominently displayed.

Niche Marketing
Find your niche a work it. Everyone wants to be number one for “city name real estate” on Google…so aim for another target. If you can get your foot into a niche corner of the market – like 55+ buyers, or equestrian properties – it can open a whole other client base. Good ways to passively find leads from these niches is to build simple realtor lead capture websites focused on that particular theme or demographic.

Work Social Media
There could be – and have been – whole posts written on just this and the reason for that is simple: no other platform offers more bang for your marketing buck than social media. The catch? It’s a very easy way to spend a lot of time and money if you don’t know how to do it right. Now, just about any frequently updated page that caters to it’s audience is better than none at all but there are some key things to making social media work for your real estate business. Most importantly: be positive, post often, and link to websites you control any time you can.

Have questions about putting these things into practice?
Not even sure where you stand or where to start? Tour Real Estate Inc has provided the very best real estate websites for over a decade; our experts know the industry and the technology that powers it because we helped build it. We’d love the chance to talk with you about your goals and how you can reach them!

The Modesto – Our Latest Mobile Responsive Real Estate Template

We hate to brag, but our latest template THE MODESTO is pretty great!
Mobile responsive and currently available in 4 different color themes this elegant, modern real estate website design is sure to please.

We’ve made sure to include all the features you want like easy searching, intuitive navigation, and great images combined with all the things the search engines love like fast load time and data rich content.

Even our templates stand out from the crowd! Get in the game and show them you mean business – seize your digital destiny and move more real estate!!

MORE Than Just Another Website

Working in the real estate technology industry for over the last decade we’ve seen it all. Fast talkers, smoke blowers, and deal breakers coming and going – imitating rather than innovating – making promises of unimaginable returns and then simply vanishing from the scene.

We’ve seen websites go from something hardly anyone had to being something no one in business should be without; we’ve seen a booming business spring up around that fact – web design.

Now, we realize you can toss a rock and hit 5 web designers in the head with one throw, but very few of them specialize in any one industry. When their client is a handyman, they become and expert on handymen. When their client is a window washer, they become the foremost window washing website maker around.

Us? We’ve specialized in real estate and have done so for over the last decade. We do what we do and we do it VERY well. But, what makes us stand apart?

For one, with most design houses you will get a website and a website alone.
Even if they offer a content management system (CMS) that system can many times be confusing or hard to use; if they don’t you are stuck trying to get a designer to make the changes you need.

Often you will have to use multiple companies to get the things accomplished that you need to do: a website company, a contact management company, a virtual tour company, a print marketing company.

Wouldn’t it be easier to get all those things in one place?
We think so too!

Every website from Tour Real Estate includes not only the front facing website that is your storefront to the world, but also comes bundled with a digital toolbox of comprehensive marketing tools.  We put the control in your hands; encourage our customers to use their website as the tool it was intended to be.

Whether it’s a simple single page website to showcase your latest listing, a development website for your featured community, or a full custom real estate brokerage design – we can do it all!

So before you talk to just another web designer come talk to us. We know real estate technology because we’ve helped build the industry!

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Idaho Builder Websites

Most of you already know we provide some of the very best real estate web sites in the industry, but did you know we also can create exceptional sites for Idaho builders and developers as well? It’s TRUE!

We love working with home builders in Idaho who are looking to showcase their plans and homes. Our builder websites are 100% custom designed to fit your needs – and we don’t believe they need to cost a small fortune! – whether it’s something just basic to get you up and running or a full blown dynamic web presence complete with floor plans and galleries we can help!

Don’t forget developers either!
It’s great when folks work together and our custom designed real estate developer websites provide a platform for agents and builders to come together to showcase a community. It’s a great way to share costs between parties and spotlight listings in the subdivision as it grows.

Need mobile responsive design?
We excel at mobile design and can gladly offer stunning concepts that will be sure to keep your potential buyers coming back. Unlike many other companies who simply forward your domain to some third level dot mobile platform our mobile websites are html compliant and full working versions of your design. We don’t skimp and cut corners – we innovate!

If you are an Idaho home builder feel free to give us a call to find out more about how we can help you create a powerful online presence today!

REALTOR Marketing: Content is (still) king!

The rules for SEO change. The trends in social media come and go; the networks themselves are constantly changing their formats. One thing that has not changed is that your website visitors want good content – no – GREAT content. And if you are actively providing relevant, interesting content chances are you are not only going to see more traffic but also more visitor engagement. Enter Content Marketing.

Content marketing is not a new thing, in fact, in it’s most simple form it has been around as long as there have been people online with whom to interact. There should be no doubt then that it is not a fad; as consumers gain more and more control over what they choose to take in their appetite for straight hard sell marketing is waining. Just like the way DVR has given the end user the ability to simply fast forward through commercials, so too the web offers surfers the ability to turn off ads or to simply unfollow sites and pages which are too ad-heavy.

Creating great content is more than just regergitating what others have written, and it’s more than just becoming your own personal press. It will never (thankfully) be as easy as copy/paste; seeing real results from this marketing technique not only requires time to build momentum but also effort to run the long race. More than just creating content, you need to provide the answers to the questions your customers are asking. This is especially true in the real estate industry as there are literally millions of websites – including big name national brands – where people can search and find homes. The content you create may very well be the thing that sets you apart and seals the sale.

Here are some statistics to consider:

90% of all home buyers use the internet to find homes.

78% prefer getting to know an agent rather than know their ads.

70% believe companies providing quality content have more to offer.

Effective content marketing provides 3 times as many leads as paid search.

The key to putting content marketing to work for your real estate strategy is simple: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. This should be no surprise as that is one of the keys to any effective marketing. It makes sense that the same content that appeals to Generation X and Y will not be interesting to retiree’s. Single’s won’t have the same interest as small families or baby boomers. So do your research; know who you are looking to work with and how to sell to them in the manner that they will most easily receive.

Once you’re on the path to content creating nirvana remember: it is essential to let people know about what you’ve written! If you are simply writing in your little box it won’t do you a lot of good – no matter how much your mom likes it! – so be sure to publish and distribute your articles on social media, your website, and other sites like stumbleupon. A little bit of cross platform sharing can go along way – now get out there and create!!

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Real Estate Website Myths: BUSTED!

With the return of real estate this past year there have been website companies popping up left and right all offering the “best real estate websites” online. Despite the success of the internet as an advertising platform many real estate professionals still have preconceived notions on what can and cannot be done – much less what should be done – and unfortunately this can cause a lot of myths to be created and a lot of relationships to be destroyed.

We here at Tour Real Estate have had a singular focus for over the last decade: providing great, effective, real estate websites. So before lending an ear to the myths you’ve been hearing, or straight up falling prey to some fast talking smoke blower, consider these top real estate website myths and allow us to put your fears at ease.

A Website is Going to Change Your Life.
Uh, no. We stress this strongly in order to be fully up-front with our potential customers. A website is a tool. Nothing less, nothing more. If you do not use that tool by customizing it to your market, and advertising it to your sphere it is still fully functional but you simply can not expect to see amazing results. Like much else in life you get out of your website what you put IN to your website – this also means leveraging the visibility of your website by social and real world networking.

You Are Stuck With the Search MLS Provides.
In many systems this is true. It comes in pre-canned, framed in, and fairly awkward. The way we do things here at TourRE is a little different: We take the raw feed from MLS, reformat it, optimize it, and push it out to your website in a dynamic fashion. This allows us to provide custom searches instantly for out clients like: Today’s New Listings, REO Homes, HUD Homes, Searches by City, and just about any other criteria you will find in MLS itself.

The Free Site from my Brokerage Is Just as Good.
Big no to that. The old adage of you get what you pay for is true! That’s not to say you can’t have a free site and possibly even get some use out of it. A simple, free website is certainly better than no website at all. However we generally caution people to just be aware of what they are (or aren’t) getting as part of that deal. Most freebie websites offer very little customization or control – meaning that to your visitors and to search engines you look exactly like a million other real estate sites out there. What incentive does that give potential client to choose YOU?

Having a Website Takes Too Much Time.
You’re not a geek, you want to be moving real estate, not punching buttons – we understand that. No website is ever going to be brilliantly effective if you just set it and forget it, but thankfully our websites are very easy to get setup with very minimal effort. Once there the functionality of the site largely takes care of itself – your listings, your offices listing, and the entire MLS is automatically pulled into your site without any effort from you. We still recommend using the large number of additional marketing tools we provide at least once a week; for those who are really interested into taking their online presence to the next level we can gladly provide guidance and consulting.

It’s a Nightmare to Get Help.
Most other web companies are from out of state, and then have call centers in other countries. To even change your name or contact info you could be waiting weeks to even hear back from a tech. Tour Real Estate is proudly located in Idaho’s beautiful Treasure Valley. Our system allows you to control most every piece of text on your website; if you don’t have the time, or just can’t figure it out our customer service can’t be beat. We reply quickly and resolve issues fast. When you call us you’ll be talking to a real live person who can generally get your request taken care of immediately.

We excel at what we do because we care. We excel because we’ve chosen to focus on doing one thing, and doing that one thing very well, for over the last decade. If you’re unhappy with your current real estate web presence – or don’t yet have one – we’d love the chance to talk with you in order to show you how we can help you. Visit our website, or check out any of our social media portals below to find out more!

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REALTOR Twitter Tips 2: So you want to be a real estate twit (some more) ?

We’ll assume you’ve already created your shiny new twitter account correctly. If not this article should help in that area, and feel free to read our first Real Estate Twitter Tips article here.

That aside there are a few things you’ll want to focus on to help get you on the fast track to using twitter more effectively. Like all social media it is encouraged that you access and use these profiles frequently (at least daily) for best results. Thankfully most major social networks are very mobile friendly which only increases their practicality through ease of use, and allows for exceptional response time when handling follower activity.

Remember the first basic simple things that come with ALL proper profile setup: Visit any available settings and enter information pertinent to you or your business. This means about text, any place you can put a link
to your main site (if you don’t have one, shame on you), and adding a profile picture. If you aren’t going to make use of the available tools don’t complain when you get less than stellar results. For many setting a non default [egg] profile picture doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but let me tell you it’s the little things that count. Having a default profile picture, or even a low tweet count, can be the first biggest block to losing followers.

Special REALTOR® Specific Tip: If you plan to use your twitter account for any largely visible real estate marketing and want to customize your background image, make sure you include the Equal Housing, National Association of REALTORS, and Your Regional MLS logos as well as (depending on your mls requirements) your office logo prominently in the image. This can help avoid technical problems with your mls or brokerage down the road.

Ready? Now TWEET!
…but don’t get carried away. once you’ve learned how to do it, the 140 character limit almost becomes like a challenge; it’s easy to go overboard. Tweet well, be entertaining, be relevant, but don’t be a flooder. It’s better to break up your tweets and spread them out over the course of a day rather than a dozen at a pop. Posting too frequently or in large uninterrupted bursts (Flooding) your stream can cost you followers, be thoughtful; considerate.

Even with a 140 Character Limit: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.
Post photos. Services and apps like instagram make it easy to post images; sharing sites like Pinterest have become all the rage. Don’t let 140 character limit slow you down, get creative and reap the benefits. Humans are visual creatures; you very well may see your highest levels of interaction based on an image you post more than any smarmy quip.

Be a good listener.
It’s about more than just putting stuff out there though. Yes you want to interact often and posting great content (or at least links to it) must be par for the course, but beyond that there’s a whole other level of network nurturing to be done. Be there to serve. A big part of your success and visibility socially is what others say about you; being positive and offering assistance tends to garner better responses. If someone asks a question and you know the answer, put it out there. Retweet and share the links and tweets of people you follow (this is a compliment) and by helping get the word out about their posts you can often expect the same in return.

Follow back those (NON-BOTS) who follow you, even if they are technically your “competition”, as every follower potentially expands your overall exposure eponentially.

Search twitter for regional keywords (the cities where/around where you operate) and find other local people and businesses to connect with. Working your local-most sphere of influence is where you can very often see the bigger online interaction as well as the most real world returns.

Are you a real estate professional using social media to get the word out about your services or listings? We’d love to hear from you, talk some shop, or even try to answer any questions you might have. Drop us a line here, and feel free to tell us about your own online experiences (include your links!).

ALL of Our Websites Are Elite

More real estate websites from Tour Real Estate Inc appear in the top search results than websites from any other one company, and there is a reason for that: websites from us provide the tools and resources you need to market your online presence effectively.

Other website companies offer freebie websites that don’t do a whole lot, or offer to “upgrade” your website to their specialized package of functions.

We want to let you know that our websites come in one flavor: AWESOME.

Our pricing has stayed consistent and competitive over the years; even though we now offer more functions than ever there has not been an increase in our costs in over 5 years! Fact is you can still get one of our powerful real estate websites online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for about what you would pay for a print ad to run one single time.

We offer more than just websites in a can. Our websites come with a built in powerful content management system that allows you to control your content and search engine visibility. Along with all the features that come standard with your website (like over 50 templates to choose from) we also offer great marketing tools like the ability to create your own photo tours, creation of graphical Craigslist ads, and social network publishing for your listings.

All that and more backed by some of the best customer service in the industry. When you call or email us with an issue you will receive a prompt response, not a forwarding message to some call center. We strive to make ourselves as available as possible in order to provide personal dedicated service to all of our website customers.

It’s no secret, in today’s technology driven market you’ve GOT to be online to move real estate; your website needs to be the very best it can be. That’s where we come in. Contact TourRE today to find out what we can do to help you strengthen your digital exposure.

REALTORS: You May Be Online But Are You Social?

We’ve been preaching about blogging and leveraging social media for years; we’re glad to see so many great real estate professionals finally coming around. Despite it’s relative ease of use and wide availability however the fact is REALTORS® don’t want to be punching buttons on the computer all day, they want to be moving more real estate!

Tour Real Estate has heard your cries of frustration and in response have begun providing exceptional search engine optimization and social media management services for the real estate industry.

Our Gold Package SEO Service is an add-on service in addition to our standard real estate website services that will help improve your website’s search engine visibility and social exposure.

Here are some details regarding what the service includes:

Blogging – Blog Setup includes setup of an external blog which links to your site, an RSS pull of your listings, and multi-month blog posts targeted to your keywords.

Social Management – Setup of Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages with custom images and links to your website. Fan Pages also include conversion to the new Timeline format and a custom search tab that allows fans to search from within Facebook – driving traffic to your site! In addition to weekly posts to these social profiles we also manage and nurture your followers to help your fan count grow and to remove unwanted spambots.

Backlinks – Quality backlinks to your site come standard as part of the setup of your blog and social network profiles. Beyond that we also offer over 200 extra backlinks and in the future this functions power will grow exponentially as Gold Package customers will be available for a very special real estate marketing engine that we are developing — potentially creating thousands of high quality external links to your site.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – a review and consulting session on your target market includes a search engine results placement (SERP) report of your current standing in search results, as well as keyword research for your specific goals to make sure your website is optimized for the best keywords to get results.

This service is ideal for progressive real estate professionals looking to invest in their digital presence, but we realize it may not be for everyone. Some of you may already have a blog but just don’t know how to use, or simply are active on social networks but just want to understand it more.

We’re always glad to talk shop! By following this blog, or our other social profiles you can get a lot of great free info! Beyond that we can also customize a social or search engine strategy for you’re specific needs!

 

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