Real Estate Advertising Tips

Real Estate WordPress Plugin Enables Searchable Listings for Free

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:20:33 -0600

As an alternative to IDX solutions, real estate marketing company, RealShout, offers a free WordPress plugin that allows agents and brokers to have searchable real estate listings on their site.

With WordPress being the choice for many real estate bloggers, RealShout has unveiled a new plugin for the publishing platform that will enable real estate professionals to have searchable local listings on their blog or website.

RealShout Real Estate Wordpress Plugin

Up until now, real estate professionals had to purchase expensive IDX solutions in order to display neighboring listings to their visitors

The free searchable listing Real Estate Wordpress plugin can be installed on any WordPress template and functional the same day. Pulling data from the Google Base API, the plugin provides ample data to populate any real estate site. Customization capabilities include colors, location (cities), distance, bedrooms, bath, and price. The plugin enables listings to display in a list with thumbnail pictures, which can be clicked on to view more details, photos, a Google Map, and more.

Setting it apart from many IDX services, the RealShout plugin does not place listings in an iframe, thus allowing them to be indexed by search engines.

“Up until now, real estate professionals had to purchase expensive IDX solutions in order to display neighboring listings to their visitors,” says Misty Lackie, CEO of Go Smart Solutions, LLC, the parent company of RealShout. “We’re offering this plugin for free to allow agents and brokers to have searchable listings on their site without spending hundreds of dollars.”

The plugin is offered for free on the RealShout website or the WordPress Plugin Directory, and is compatible with most WordPress templates.

RealShout.com is a real estate marketing company that guarantees leads for agents, real estate brokers, and mortgage brokers. The company also offers marketing services to MLS’s nationwide.

RealShout is the creation of Go Smart Solutions, LLC, a company that has been providing advertising solutions for professionals and small businesses since 2002. RealShout provides lead generating online real estate advertising for agents and brokers in the industry.

You can view a live site that is running this from Real Estate In Chicago

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Be Careful What You Tweet From Your Brand

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:18:18 -0600

With the recent changes Google implemented that shows tweets directly within the search results, it is more important than ever that you think about what you tweet. Your tweets now have a chance of showing up when someone searches for your brand, name, product, service, etc., and these tweets show up at the very top of search results. This means they will most likely get clicked and viewed before your web pages and other content. Following are some key points you should consider when tweeting:

Are basic conversations you have on Twitter going to take away from your conversion?

A basic @reply tweet like, “Hey thanks for drinks tonight”, or something similar, may show up in a Google search when potential clients are searching for your brand. Does your brand, service or product have anything to do with going out for drinks? If not, what will your clients and customers think? Is this really the first impression you want to leave them with?

Are links you post sending your potential clients AWAY from you?

Now this is a big one, and one that I am trying to evaluate for myself as well. I post links all the time on Twitter to other resources/websites. These tweets with links now have the potential to show up in the top of Google when searching for your brand/name. Think of what could possibly happen if a user, searching for your brand, see’s your tweets at the top of the search results and clicks on the link you tweeted. You just may lose that client because they now clicked on a link that is associated with your name but actually takes them to a page that has nothing to do with your company.

Are your non-business tweets hurting you?

Again, another one I struggle with, since I tweet both about business related stuff and non-business related stuff. While the non-business related stuff is always clean and friendly, it is not targeted to my brand and I am pretty sure if a potential client searches Google for my brand and sees these types of tweets at the top of the results, they will be completely confused.

Following is a screen shot of a search on one of our brand names that illustrates some of these concerns.

While I have no concerns of my conversation with Kathy and I think she has built a solid Twitter presence for herself, I have to think about how a potential client would respond when seeing this in Google search results for my business. Will they click Kathy’s name and be taken to her Twitter account? That would be great for Kathy, but could the potential client misunderstand that Kathy’s Twitter account is the Go Smart account? Now imagine if a conversation you have with someone who doesn’t have a solid or professional Twitter profile shows up in Google for your brand. Imagine if the potential client clicks on that person’s name and see’s some not-so-appealing stuff.

Now let’s look at the second example. Again, a tweet that I have no concerns of and one that actually links to a very valuable blog post. BUT again, as a business owner, I have to consider how this may confuse a potential client or send them AWAY from our company and services. A potential client will most likely click on this link and be taken to a page that has nothing to do with Go Smart Solutions or our services. Can we say “confusion”?

You have to remember that you and I and whoever else is reading this is probably aware of and understand these latest changes, but your everyday person (clients, consumers) are in a completely different world and have no idea about this stuff. All they know is, all of a sudden, these scrolling results are now sometimes showing at the top of their searches.

See my other posts about similar topics

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

All online rental ads are not created equal

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:55:36 -0500

In fact, many factors determine whether a rental ad will be successful at attracting renter leads. With so much information and so many choices on the internet, rental marketers need to make sure their ads catch - and hold - the attention of potential renters.

This week, we're highlighting one of our members' ads that received over 40 phone and email leads in one month... 40! For those who like to keep track of the numbers, that's less than a buck a lead (Single-family rental ad = $29.99). Let's breakdown the strong points of this ad that helped to make it a success:

Photos
Competitive Rental Rates
Low Deposit or Incentives
Widespread Distribution
Easy to Contact

View My Other Recent Posts

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

This is for all of those long tail SEO skeptics

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:06:05 -0500

I am a big proponent on targeting long tail keywords. Sure a single long tail phrase may bring in less traffic than a single short phrase, but long tail keywords are so much easier to convert. The screenshot below shows just how powerful long tail SEO is. This is long tail "organic search" traffic that came into one of our sites for a campaign we did for a client. As you can see from this screenshot, this campaign drew in 8,424 visits from 8,186 different search phrases in 1 month. Yes you read that right - 8,186 different search phrases all from long tail.

Following are a few reasons why I am such a big fan of long tail >>

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Home Crisis Investigation - Very Funny

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:57:56 -0500

Funny video from The Daily Show.

"If Timothy Geithner is as bad at handling the economy as he is at picking bathroom tiles, he won't need to sell his house."

Make sure and watch the entire video to see the bathroom.

www.thedailyshow.com

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Do you really want to be used in Facebook ads?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:50:06 -0500

Do you want your Facebook actions to control what ads show up on your friends Facebook wall? Well that may just happen if you are not aware of the Facebook privacy setting that allows for this.

The Facebook News Feed and Wall setting states:

"Facebook occasionally pairs advertisements with relevant social actions from a user's friends to create Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads make advertisements more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends. These respect all privacy rules. You may opt out of appearing in your friends' Facebook Ads below."

So how can you disable this?

When logged into Facebook navigate to "Settings"

Choose "News Feed and Wall" from the privacy settings page

Choose "Facebook Ads" from the News Feed and Wall page and set "Appearance in Facebook Ads" to No one

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Are you in violation of Craigslist Terms and Conditions?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:02:22 -0500

We recently launched our ultimate ad customizer, which allows you to further customize your Craigslist, blog, website postings (30 new formats, set the width, different colors, etc.). One of the top questions we have been asked is why don’t we have live links on the Craigslist version. The simple answer is because it is against the Craigslist TOU.

Under conduct it clearly states:

7. CONDUCT

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:

m) that includes links to commercial services or web sites, except as allowed
in "services";

Posting a listing is not considered "services" and I could be wrong here but I am pretty sure a Real Estate website is considered commercial.

Yes I know MANY others posts links but we respect the Craigslist terms of use and are not going to put our members or ourselves in a position to break them.

Happy posting!

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Customizable Ads for Craigslist, Localism, Outside Blogs

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:33:47 -0500

Post your listings to Craigslist, Active Rain, Localism, Outside Blogs, and anywhere else online!

We've just released the Ultimate Ad Customizer which will enable subscribed members to place listings on Craigslist, and all around the web, with ease and style. With 30 new color, layout, and width combinations to choose from, listings are sure to stand out from the crowd.

Posting your ads to ActiveRain, Localism, or other narrow-width sites? No problem! Set the width of your online ad to fit right in. There's really no limit to where you can post your ads online.

Cross Advertising Benefits of Your Ads

In addition to the increased leads and stylish online presence that come with the new Ultimate Ad Customizer, we've also enhanced these ads in another (very cool) way. Now, subscribed members who take advantage of the Ultimate Ad Customizer will benefit from free cross-advertising on those listings!

If you choose the cross advertising option, there will be a section at the bottom of your posted ads featuring each of your other listings with links, short details, and a thumbnail picture. Now that's what we call easy advertising!

Save 20% with promo code ACTIVERAIN

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Are you advertising with video?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:48:19 -0500

Google has expanded on their Universal Search options to include video-specific results. This is bringing more eyeballs to videos from searches. Oftentimes videos will even show up in Google's organic results without the need to click the video link. We recently did a rental video marketing campaign for a client and within days were able to see results. The video ranked on the first page in Google's video search results and in less than a week the video received over 350 views from the different video portals.

Are you taking advantage of video marketing for your listings? If not you are missing out on Google exposure as well as exposure from the video portals.

How about creating localized videos about your county? Creating a targeted video optimized around different cities in your county can be another way for you to dominate your local area.

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Do you syndicate your ActiveRain blog?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:37:10 -0500

Did you know that your ActiveRain blog includes an RSS feed?

Many do not realize the power of RSS feeds and what you can do with them. One of the most powerful things you can do with feeds is easily distribute and share your content on the web. As you probably know, the more places on the web that your content is, the better.

Did you know that you could easily add your ActiveRain feed to FaceBook, FriendFeed, ClassifiedFlyerAds and many other online resources?

Adding your feeds to these resources will instantly distribute your content into these networks. All you need to do is get the URL from the rss link on your blog and input that URL into other online resources that accept feeds.

Okay, so now you know how to get your blog feed. Now let me give you some resources where you can share your feed.

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Are You Tracking Your Online Conversions?

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:53:46 -0500

A conversion is generally defined as an event that results in a transaction. A "transaction" will be defined differently based on your business model and what your end goal is (ie. information, sign up, subscription, payment, etc.). Regardless of how you define your conversions and transactions, it is important to track where they are coming from.

Maybe you blog on multiple blog platforms such as Wordpress and ActiveRain. Are you keeping track of leads you get from those platforms and in addition to how many of those leads are converting? Maybe you post videos to different video platforms or syndicate your listings to multiple directories. Maybe you use Twitter or Facebook or focus heavily on your own website. Are you tracking the leads and conversions you receive from all of these sources?

If not, you may be spending valuable time in places that are not giving you a return on your investment. Sure, maybe some of these resources are free but your time is not free; it is an investment. Maybe it's time to take a closer look at which resources have the highest conversion.

Click here to view and download a spreadsheet to help track your conversions

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Don't Do That!

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:15:40 -0600

I am so tired of being told what not to do.

First of all, let me start off by saying that this is not directed at any one person in particular, just a trend that I’ve seen a lot of lately. I apologize now if this post offends anyone… okay now that that's out of the way, let me get right to the point!

It seems like the trend lately in blog posts is:

How to blog
How not to blog
What to write
What not to write
How to comment
How not to comment
How to promote
How not to promote
How to use Twitter
How not to use Twitter

Wow, where did all of these "experts" and "gurus" come from so fast?

Why should anyone's way be "the way" for everyone? What works for some may not work for others – the workings on the web are not black and white. Your preferred method may not be someone else’s preferred method. What it boils down to is this: you should do what works for you. If you are blogging for business, then do what brings in the most leads. Once you figure that out, then all the advice people give about what to do and what not to do will matter very little because you will know what works for you.

One of the great thing about blogging and web 2.0 is that if someone doesn’t like what you are doing; how you are blogging, what you are tweeting, what message you’re sending, then they can simply ignore you.

I would much rather see posts about "tips" on what you are doing that is actually working for you and specific examples of methods that have brought you leads, rather than the constant "don’t do that" scolding posts with no meat behind them.

If you can show "why" along with "how not to" or the "don't do" then I will be more open to taking the advice. This post is also in no way meant to attack all the wonderful "how to" tips that AR members bring to the table.

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Why I feel small businesses should learn to serve themselves

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:31:40 -0500

Empowerment

Nobody knows your business like you do. Using self-serve online solutions for your business puts the power in your hands. You have the control and can make decisions on what is best for your business.

Education

You might be surprised at just how much you can learn when you start using tools that are readily available. You will learn about online marketing, SEO, advertising, technology and so much more that your competitors don't know about. It will take a little time and patience, but the payoff will be huge.

Economics

You will save BIG. And when I say "big", I mean thousands of dollars or more.

In order to make "self-serve" work for your business, all you need is initiative, a plan, and determination. The effort you put in to learning to effectively "serve yourself" will pay off in more ways than one, and lay the foundation for a lasting change in your business.

There are so many self-serve tools online that empower small business owners to create their own online presence (ActiveRain, Wordpress, ClassifiedFlyerAds, Squidoo, Social Networks, etc.) without paying big bucks for custom work. All small businesses really need is to be educated on how to use these tools. Once they learn about the technology and how to "serve themselves", they will be able to take their business to a whole different (and higher) level.

Empower Yourself With Self-Serve Business Solutions

Subscribe to Real Estate Technology Tips by Email

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Latest Newsletter From ClassifiedFlyerAds.com

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:04:14 -0600

tuesday march 3rd, 2009

We Got a Makeover!

You may have noticed a few changes around ClassifiedFlyerAds in the past few weeks. That's because we've redesigned the site to make it easier for you to get exactly where you need to go in less time. With a more intuitive site navigation and sleeker look, you'll be able to post classified ads online in a snap!

In addition to the benefits of the new design, our Real Estate members can now assign a display status to their listings (i.e. "Sold", "Pending", "Active", etc.), enabling them to better organize their listings and use them as testimonials as well! See press release

One-Click Social Sharing for Flyers

As you know, once you've created your listing on the site, we'll post the ad to dozens of sites and directories across the internet through our signature syndication process.

Now, with one extra click, you can instantly share your latest classified flyer ad with your connections on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, StumbleUpon and more. And don't forget that all of your web flyers have the ShareThis technology built right in, which allows others around the web to share your listings as well. Read More

Do You Blog About Us?

If so, then we'd love to give your blog some "link love"! Send us the link to your blog post about ClassifiedFlyerAds, and we'll post an excerpt on our website homepage with a link to your blog. Talk about traffic and some great Google juice!

We've made it easy with our resource page of quick access to images, videos, and information to use in your blog post. We'd love to hear what you're saying! Vist resource page

Featured Member

Chris Harmon is an Auto Dealer in Topeka, Kansas who really knows how to showcase his inventory! He makes great use of photos to show off his cars and other automobiles with virtual tours, which of course comes free with his membership.

Since Chris titles each flyer with targeted and effective phrases, he consistently enjoys placement on the first page of Google for related searches. This earns him very valuable and targeted leads.

Keep up the great work Chris, and best wishes for your continued success!

More Neat Stuff

Have a ClassifiedFlyerAds testimonial to share?

We'd love to feature you on our home page! Just send us your short story and we'll post it on our front page and testimonials page with your photo and a link to your professional profile. Submit your testimonial via the contact form on our website or send an email to service [at] classifiedflyerads.com. We'd love to hear about your success!

More Broker Branded Templates

When we launched our Smart Templates last year, they were an immediate hit! With the large focal picture and multi-page layout, these templates feature your properties for sale in style. We've recently added more broker branded styles to the list, including Keyes, Realty Executives, Windermere, Weichert, and John L. Scott. Come on over & check 'em out!

Connect With Us!

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative

Create Free Branded Twitter Backgrounds

Real Estate Advertising - Misty Lackie (Go Smart Solutions, LLC) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:09:25 -0600

Twitter has become a very popular tool that can generate lots of buzz to your business and blog. Now you can create a free Twitter background with your personal information and branding.

Add information about yourself
Upload your logo and photo
Add a link to your website and blog
Add links to your social network profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
Choose from different template styles

GET YOUR FREE TWITTER BACKGROUND

Go Smart Solutions, LLC
Misty Lackie - CEO
http://www.gosmart4u.com
LinkedIn: gosmartsolutions
Twitter: @gosmart4u
Facebook: gosmart

Real Estate Broker Marketing
Multiple Listing Service Marketing
Mortgage Broker Marketing
IDX Website Alternative