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A few months ago, a year ago actually, I finished up my Realtor Internet Marketing Book and put it up for sale. Now times are changing of course but I as I was looking a couple of days ago I realized that the book that I had all but forgotten is still very relevant, so I have decided to start to give it away to the subscribers of my newsletter.

I have spent the last couple of days making some changes to the book, updating some info and now I believe that it is all complete. If you would like a copy of the book all you need to do is visit the Realtor Marketing book website at www.realtormarketingbook.com.

Have you forgotten what was in the book? I was reminded as well and now that I have looked more closely I realize that I should have probably broken it up in more pieces at the outset, Here are the Realtor Marketing Book chapters

Finding your target market online - You need to focus even more online to find your market then you do offline

Search engine Optimization - Get more people to your site by making sure that the search engines, including Google, know what you page is about

Blogs - Blogs, if done right, are a great way to get people to know your and get more visitors

Websites - It is time to get your website to work for you instead of just look good.

Social Networking - Social Networking is a new and exciting way of getting the word out about your site.

Autoresponders - If someone is interested in buying or selling, then you want to build the know, like, and trust that will keep them with you. That is what an autoresponder can do for you.

Promotion - There are some great ways to promote your internet presence. Lots of people want you to spend lots of money but there are many inexpensive or even FREE ways to promote yourself online.

Newsletters - Do you have a newsletter? Do you wonder why you would need an online newsletter.

Everything that I wrote I wrote from the angle of an internet marketer instead of just from my Realtor background so although you will recognize some of the terminology a lot of it may be a a bit foreign to you…this is of course fine.

Go to the Realtor Internet Marketing Book website and get the book now.

Have you heard of Twitter? Twitter is the most exciting new Web 2.0 type of communications that we have out there today.

The way that Twitter works and what it is for is that you have a blank slate of an account. You do searches through Twitter for people or subjects and when you find people that are interesting then you can go and “follow” these people. As you follow others they will follow you back so that every time that you sent a “tweet” (a comment, a small text message) then the people following you will see the message and on the other side you will get to see all the people in your list of people that you follow.

So how can you use this as a Realtor?

You can lean from other people in the Real Estate industry
You can become the go to Realtor in your marketplace
You can build relationships with other Realtors

It is difficult with Twitter to really hone in on your market but is of course possible. Do a search on Twitter for your city and just start adding these people from your town or city.

So what are you going to write in your comments?

First of all do not try to market to people. The best thing to do is to make sure that you are always helping others. The real problem for us marketers online is that it is really irritating to others that we try to sell to. People think of Twitter nad Web 2.0 sites as a place where there is no marketing and so any heavy handed marketing would be seen as offensive to others.

What you really want to do is add value to people and they will naturally ask questions about real estate to you.

Try Twitter by joining Twitter and creating a username right now and after you have added yourself to Twitter then start to follow me at http://www.twitter.com/billnad

See you on Twitter.

Google AdWords for Realtors is a real crap shoot it seems with people paying anywhere from $1 per click to $5 per click. But what if I was to tell you that you may be throwing away most of that money and that ther is a better way.

To lower your cost per click you just need to look at the following variables:

Your ad - Make sure that oyu ad is relevent to your customers. The more often that your ad is clicked the more that Google will trust your ad

Your keywords- Everyone wants to rank for Realtor and real estate but there are many more keywords that are much better to rank for with less competition and lower cost.

Your landing page - Making sure that you landing page that you are sending your traffic to is realted to your keyword is critical. The more relevant that it is the better.

When looking at these three variables you can see that making the most of your ad being seen with the right keyword and clicking through giving a relevant page is a lot of work. I would bet that you can cut that $3 - $5 keyword down to 20 - 30 cents per click.

There is one more thing that can help you a lot besides the above three variables and that is the ad groups. If you are writing an ad directed at First Time Buyers then the ad is going to look a lot different than the ad you have going to First Time Buyers or Real Estate Investors so do not bother trying to mix and match instead set up a few ad groups.

Once you have three or four different ad groups then write the Google AdWords ad and then give it keywords and a good landing page, different landing pages for each keyword if possible or necessary and then move on to the next ad group.

There is no shortage to optimizing that you can do with your Google Adwords using the Ad Groups, ads, keywords and landing page quality.

Real estate marketing is about communicating with people and staying on top of the industry. You need to communicate with your past clients, locate new clients, and generate leads through multiple methodologies. When you aren’t there in person, your advertisements must speak for you. It is critical that realtors adopt highly effective print advertising campaigns with newspaper inserts and full-color flyers in order to cast a wider net and secure present and future business.

The key to becoming a successful realtor is your ability to market yourself and your properties. You need to maintain a first-rate image if you want to attract the best clients and generate more income.

You will need to research your market(s), develop a strategy based on your competitors and market needs, and put together an advertising campaign that truly makes you the best option for your potential clients. Choosing proven flyer design techniques and a knowledgeable printer can help you achieve your goals with each campaign …and you may even learn a little in the process! So let’s get to the good stuff - below you will find helpful real estate flyer design and printing tips!

Follow these 7 simple tips to make your real estate flyers more effective:

1. Print in full-color on glossy paper - never print low quality materials

2. Design the flyer around the images and properties - not the price!

3. For each property create a positive headline - differentiate each property

4. Use a subheading that only highlights the homes best features (the history, # of rooms, etc)

5. Pictures speak a thousand words - minimize the text, reduce the “boring” factor

6. Pick 2 fonts and stick with them - one for headlines, one for information

7. Always use ultra-high quality images on your flyers (300 dpi)

Once you’ve designed the perfect real estate flyer follow these 7 printing tips:

1. Print in full color 4/4 - this means full color on both sides of the paper

2. Print with a “bleed” - a bleed means that the images extend all the way to the edge of the page

3. Print on 60# or 80# gloss paper - use 100# gloss paper for upscale areas (ie: Gold Coast, etc)

4. Choose an online print resource center that understands print advertising

5. Ship your flyers direct to your local newspaper for insertion to save time and money

6. Choose a printer with an experienced and friendly staff that will review your file before printing.

Chris Barr is an experienced marketing professional and graduate of Christopher Newport University. He specializes in print advertising, business development, web business strategic positioning, and technical writing. For the lowest prices on printed flyers, newspaper inserts, brochures, menus, and postcards please visit http://www.taradel.com

Press releases are a popular and effective way to get the word out about a new product or a service. I have looked at many press releases in the past and some are really great, while others are just OK. Here is an example of a great press release.

Local Tampa Bay Realtor Uses Innovative Strategy to Sell in Tough Market - PR.com

So why is this press release a good one and why should you use it as a model? Well what this Realtor is offering is a multimedia web type service for promoting properties online. The service is a great one to promote online as the people reading this type of press release would be interested in the use of technology to sell their home so it feeds right into the buying cycle. Another reason that this is a good press release for a Realtor is that it is written in the third person making it look like Rande is being interviewed and it leads a little bit into being a marketing piece by the end.

Press releases are very powerful and one of the reasons that they can work well for your business is that when a press release is picked up by Google it can show up in the top of the listings for your city and town in the search engine rankings, this is a situation that is impossible to get otherwise without a lot of work or money.

“What makes a good real esate agent, broker, or Realtor® web page?”

People ask me this all the time, though they often encounter difficulty boiling the question down to so few words.

You, like any serious real estate agent, want to know how to create and maintain the best possible agent website that nets you the most buyer and seller leads and prospects.

The following “commandments” represent the ideals towards which every new or existing real estate agent website should aspire.

1. Thou Shalt Have Purpose
Clearly define your site’s purpose and ensure all content, graphics, and text tightly focus on that purpose.

For example, don’t mix your seller and buyer reports on the same page since prospects for selling or listing a home are not interested in your buyer reports right now. Keep them focused.

Discard all extraneous or distracting material and regularly revisit your site to ensure all changes fit with the site’s primary purpose.

2. Thou Shalt Be Lightweight
Many realtors are tempted to use lots of “eye-candy” graphics, flash and other large files to make their pages “look good.”

Don’t fall into this trap.

Use only fast-loading graphics and other elements.

If you must use large graphics use thumbnails and image slicing to diminish the size of every file to lessen load times.

Though the majority of buyer and seller prospects now carry high-speed access, avoid any content that requires them to download special, non-standard “plug-ins” to view your content.

3. Thou Shalt Load Fast
Each and every entry or “landing” page on your site should weigh in under 50-100KB total, including graphics and navigation.

Interior pages (where you detail subdivisions, services, or other exntended information) can run larger, but the “front doors” to your site should not make buyers or sellers wait long to start interacting with your site.

4. Thou Shalt Not Use False Code
You should only use html or asp to create your web pages.

Many agents get sold a “bill of goods” by webmasters who want to build up their billable hours with complicated programming and animation.

Never use java, xml, dhtml or other forms of code that require a surfer to keep their browser set up “correctly” to accommodate your page.

You’re targeting “mom and pop” buyers and sellers -not “geeks” and “techno-nerds” -so ignoring this rule will only lose you buyer and seller prospects.

5. Thou Shalt Respect the Search Engines
If you want free buyer and seller prospects from the search engines, use whole web pages that don’t incorporate frames or large amounts of code unrelated to your content.

Also, if you want search traffic, actively cultivate linking relationships with other real estate sites in your area, such as: mortgage brokers, title companies, insurance agents, architects, interior designers, etc.

Any real estate related sites that don’t compete with you make great potential link partners.

6. Love Thy Surfers and Visitors
Design for “last year’s” technology so buyer and seller prospects using older computers and slower connections can download your content and use your site quickly and easily.

Designing for the “bleeding edge” will only cause buyers and sellers to move on to the next agent’s website that doesn’t give them any technical challenges.

7. Thou Shalt Not Annoy
Use only stationary text and graphical layout elements.

No Scrolling text, marquees, or large Flash animations of any kind, including those annoying, full-page Flash home pages that say “Skip Intro.”

Webmasters love to try selling these expensive intros to feed an agent’s ego, but they do nothing to help convert website visitors into buyer and seller prospects.

This “eye candy” rarely adds to a site’s main purpose and often causes your visitors to miss something or leave in frustration.

8. Thou Shalt Not Scroll Sideways
Design your pages so they never force a visitor to scroll left or right no matter what the resolution settings on their monitor.

Sites that read “best viewed at 1024 x 768″ really say “look at it my way because I don’t care about your preferences or limitations.”

9. Thou Shalt Stay Consistent
Include a standard navigational structure on every page.

Though it may mean a serious challenge for the “artsy” designer, buyers and sellers should only need to click once to find every major section of your real estate site.

This includes using standard link colors in all text links. Blue: hyperlink; Purple: visited hyperlink; Red: active hyperlink.

10. Thou Shalt Cultivate Leads
Nothing floods your website with targeted traffic like sending an email message to your email list.

Whether for your new listing, an office listing announcement, or price reduction, that list of buyer and seller prospects represents your most valuable online business asset.

Make sure your website actively cultivates leads by giving them multiple opportunities to sign up for reports, listing announcements, property searches and more.

Then, make it worth their while to pay attention to you on a regular basis.

Whether you’re a new agent fresh to the business or a seasoned real estate veteran with 20+ years experience, these “commandments” will guide you to eternal online prospecting happiness and prosperity.

The SEO Book Review has moved.

If you do not know already, the SEO Book by Aaron Wall is one of the most popular and accurate books about gaining on the search engines.

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In my work creating an online marketing for Realtors book I am always interested in what other authors are writing about or have written about for Realtor marketing. I came across this book at amazon and thought I would quickly post it here for you to check out if you are looking for some offline reading material.
The realtor’s essential guide to harnessing true earning power How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate gives real estate agents both the powerful sales techniques and the practical management tips they need to double their income by closing more transactions. Based on the outstanding success of Darryl Davis’s seminar “The POWER Program,” this motivational guide utilizes POWER Principles to help the new agent as well as the experienced top producer dramatically increase listings and sales. The book is full of Davis’s surefire methods for managing the sales process, including time management for agents, prospecting for listings, handling the seller’s and buyer’s concerns, maintaining a winning attitude, and generating more sales in less time. He also reveals how clever use of the Web can provide a competitive edge and how the top producers work smarter not harder. Offering field-proven tools and techniques, Davis shows agents how to progress at their own pace to their own personal Next Level and accelerate their entry into Top Agent status.

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