Top Real Estate Articles

Video Marketing - A Quick And Easy 3 Step Formula For Amazing Profits Using Real Estate Web 2.0 Marketing

Aug 28, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The internet has inarguably made the world a very small place with its instant communication tools. Technological changes are taking place at a very rapid pace. As a business person you should be able to adapt to these changes and be updated about them. Every marketing industry is experiencing and adapting to these changes. In this case the sector of real estate has been a forerunner. Video marketing has become a successful tool of online advertising. Being a professional of real estate you can utilize real estate video marketing for obtaining your customers’ attention.

Images and sounds are very effective in drawing attention. Pictures can be more easily remembered than words and hence are more effective in real estate marketing. Video which is moving pictures with sound is always impressive to watch. These videos are effective marketing tools on the web. The real estate proprietors, who want to implement video marketing for promoting their online real estate business, will be surprised to know how convenient it is.

Nowadays almost everyone is proficient with using cameras and making tours of any home. Movie cameras have also become affordable and a majority of them are digital and can save you on money that you might have had to otherwise spend on replacing tapes. It is also a lot easier to transfer these videos to your own computer since it requires you to only plug and then play it. Video marketing as a tool of online social marketing can be very convenient and beneficial at the same time.

After you are done with creating your video all you need to do is upload it on any popular social news or social networking sites, such as YouTube, that have almost millions of users and members around the world. The step of uploading of videos is very important for your real estate video marketing.

Your online exposure and presence will increase with the implementation of real estate video marketing and this will provide you with a new tool of advertising that has the potential to generate traffic to your blog, accumulate money and time, provide you with bigger commissions and increase your search engine rankings. Competition is taken care of and in this way you can stay ahead of other competitors in your field.

Video marketing can provide you with different ways to develop your real estate business on the internet. Among the many a few are adding the videos of some important clients to share their experiences and portray your team with a professional and impressive presentation. You can even use it in providing a virtual tour of the homes and properties you want to sell and can make short films on efficient home selling. Providing a first time buyer’s guide can be useful as well. Making movie presentations specifically for real estate agent profiles is also an intelligent way.

To give your business, web site and blog more commissions, potential clients, buyers and greater exposure there are various techniques in video marketing that you can use. Websites like YouTube and other social networking sites for real estate video marketing, can be used for free to increase your customer base for your real estate property buying and selling.

Free uploading is helpful in the sense that it provides one with marketing venues for free and also instills interest in users to visit your property listings. You can do this task by yourself or if you are too busy you can even hire professional service that won’t be heavy on your pockets. The technology which is fast advancing has been of even more help because it makes the usage of movie cameras convenient for video marketing. Therefore whenever you need to update your property listings you can choose to implement video marketing and you will get to know how efficient it is.

Tags: Foreclosed real estate, foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

24 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Inspiration Not Plagiarism

Aug 6, 2009 Real Estate Investments

I confess. My parents taught me well. They taught me not to steal. And all my journalism professors taught me well. They taught me not to plagiarize.

However, it has been a common practice for most direct marketers to use copies of previous mails they have received. Some may consider it plagiarism, but the truth is this is not entirely the case. Let me explain why.

What you do is to keep all direct mails you receive whether it’s from your competitor or from a marketer in a different industry. You are doing this because you are on the lookout for words, expressions, formatting style and action calls which are prominent and exciting. These words may be describing a product totally different from yours but they have great marketing impact.

You then use your new knowledge on the marketing impact of these words in your own real estate direct marketing copy. You don’t use the same sentences or even impart the same idea in your real estate direct mail. You are just using the ‘words’ to market ‘your own ideas.’

What word or phrase can you use to your advantage in your own mailing. I’m not telling you to copy the paragraph word for word. Not only is this illegal, it’ll be highly ineffective as well. But choose a word or two you like and work it into your next headline.

You are merely studying other people’s direct marketing materials and this is totally different from copying their mails. In fact, this method has been used by some of the most successful real estate marketers for years.

If you still don’t have enough collection of real estate direct mails, why not call them up and tell them you want to receive from them. This way you’ll be able to study the make up of their sales letters.

Then when these mailings come in, read them from front to back. Read the headlines, the sub heads, the text and any photo captions that may be included as well. If you must, read them out loud. Listen to what sounds good. Listen with particular interest to any ideas, words or phrases you can use and adapt for your next mailing.

Then place it in your swipe file. Add it to your storehouse of copywriting words. Not only do you know have a jump start on ideas for your next mailing, but you have a little stash of ideas - all safely tucked away - that you can pull out the next time you’re stuck for a word or a new reason to create a sense of urgency on the part of your reader.

Lastly, don’t feel guilty that you are committing a direct mail heist or that only uncreative and mediocre copywriters keep files of other people’s work. In fact, you are dead wrong. The most successful copywriters such as David Ogilvy do not hide the fact that they get inspired by other people’s ideas to help them create their own unique and successful copies. So, instead of getting frustrated about not being able to start writing your real estate direct mail copy; go read and be inspired by how other people use words for direct marketing!

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

25 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Focus on Your Customers, Not on Yourself

Aug 3, 2009 Real Estate Investments

It’s easy to see why as a real estate investor, your real estate marketing copies are focused on yourself, your skills, and experience. Heck, you needed to prove these things to get investment financing and to get your business off-the ground.

However, you should step away from this self-promotion mode when you write your real estate direct mail. At this point, the focus should be turned to your prospective customers and away from you.

The recipients of your real estate direct mail don’t care one whit about you. Heck, they don’t know you. It’s nothing to them if you are an award-winning realtor or not, or whether you have a hundred sales associates.

Keep in mind that your prospects are in a dire situation and that they need solutions to their problems. Your goal is to provide them with the solutions on how they can sell their homes at a good price. They just want to read the solutions, not your personal backgrounds.

Potential customers are turned off by real estate marketers who tens to self-promote instead of giving the solutions once and for all. Avoid imitating other investors who constantly say something good about themselves.

Why do people want to sell their houses quickly. Yes, sometimes it’s because they are looking at foreclosure. But sometimes it’s because one partner has been transferred. The family can’t afford to buy another house in another state or city until the first one sells. They’re anxious to sell to reunite the family and reduce expenses.

However, if you offer a believable and highly-desired solution to their problem in your real estate direct mail, then your prospects will give you a chance.

But in order to do this, you must know well how their problem came about. They may want to sell their houses due to various reasons. It can either be because of foreclosure or a plan to relocate.

The closer your real estate marketing material captures their specific problem, the closer you are to motivating prospects to engage with you and work out a deal.

Hence, before beginning your real estate direct marketing campaign, try to fully understand your customers. Find out what solution is highly desirable for them. And when you are writing your real estate direct mail, do not push your customers to know you. Focus on letting them know you get their situation and you have an offer that can swiftly and soundly eliminate their problems.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Postcard Marketing Tip: P.S. How to leave a Kiss in Your Prospects’ Mind?

Jul 30, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The P.S. is a pick-me-upper of real estate marketing. Every copy maximized to draw customer response has a P.S.

Check your most recent real estate postcard marketing copy. Does it have a P.S.? If it doesn’t, in your next mailing just add a P.S. without changing anything else.

What should you write in your P.S.? Think of a message that you want your prospects to recall. It can just be your phone number or a recap of your free offer. It’s any line that can rev them up to respond to your real estate direct mail.

Why is the P.S. such a fundamental fixture in the copywriting world? Simply because it works, it is also pure and simple. Statistics show that after the headline of your copy, your reader will immediately turn to see who has sent the mailing. And in the process, the reader then reads the P.S. This means that if you don’t use a P.S. you’re missing out on a vital selling opportunity.

Therefore, not having a P.S. in your real estate direct marketing materials is like not having a business card. You are making a decision, not to take advantage of all the marketing opportunities that are open to you.

So what is the secret in making your P.S. really work?

Write your real estate marketing P.S. as an informative and engaging introduction–just like a headline. This is because your prospects usually read your P.S. first, before the body of your real estate direct mail. Your message in the P.S. should then be discussed fully in your real estate direct mail.

It is also important to make the content of your P.S. short but substantial. Make sure to boost the content with powerful words but avoid making it long. Prospects hate it when your P.S. contains too many sentences.

There is a big difference in writing P.S. in a personal letter and in writing a P.S. in a real estate marketing postcard. You may have to re-edit your P.S. a couple of times before deciding which one you think is the best one to use.

Other real estate marketing investors find it effective as well to write the headline first in their copy, followed by the P.S., then putting the main content of your offer at the last part. This is another way of making your real estate marketing postcard more appealing to your prospects.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

19 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Direct Mail Copywriting Made Simple

Jul 27, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Granted, this is not advice you’re about to hear every day when you embark on a postcard mailing. But it is, in my experience, some of the most valuable experience around. I adapted this very clever idea from a journalism professor I had in college who had worked for The New York Times. I figured if it was good enough for him (as well as The New York Times); it was definitely good enough for me.

Most of us find ourselves having a tough time writing our real estate direct mails. Although we know what message we want to communicate to our prospects, we find ourselves at a standstill and can’t seem to produce our ideas in the right order. Hence, the simple method we are suggesting is just to start writing, then rework the piece by rearranging our ideas into the proper order.

So when you begin writing your real estate marketing copy, just put everything that answers the AIDA marketing formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). Some of the basic features your real estate direct mail should contain are the attractive offer, persuasive customer benefits, and the ‘because’ answers to your prospects questions.

Make sure to include sub-headlines in your real estate direct mail. And when you are satisfied with the completeness of the content, print a copy.

Next, with your scissors, cut the document into distinct paragraphs with the sub-headlines included. Of course, each of these paragraphs should contain coherent sentences.

Next, try to read the document once more. You can now decide if you want to reorder the paragraphs or keep it that way. Make sure though that the entire document is coherent and has a clear information about your offer.

The idea is to put these paragraphs into an order from first to last that will create a complete postcard mailing for you. Once you have every paragraph and subhead in its proper order, rearrange them on your original document in the computer.

But it doesn’t stop there. You still have to revise the copy until it has a better flow. Repeat the whole process and print another copy in order to see if you can still improve it. You can modify some changes in a sentence or the whole paragraph. Exclamation marks can also be placed properly for a more animated copy.

So what was usually a stressful real estate marketing task filled with several start-and-stop moments, has now become manageable and smoothly flowing.

Isn’t this the experience all of us wish to have when working on our real estate marketing campaigns?

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

22 Your Guide to an Effective Real Estate Marketing: Focus on One Idea

Jul 27, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that many individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder end up as entrepreneurs. That’s what many studies tell us these days at least. That’s because these individuals can have their hands in as many projects as they like to keep themselves busy.

However, when it comes to developing real estate direct marketing materials; multiple ideas and asking your prospect to consider too many options elicits confusion or indifference to your offer.

The best direct-mail copy focuses on a single idea - at most two. And it tells you over and over again why this one benefit (maybe two) will catapult you to the place in life you’ve always dreamt you’d be.

Avoid including too many benefits that you want your prospects to know. If you use more than two in your real estate direct mails, your customers may find it a bit confusing. You can simply reserve some of the ideas for your next mails. Use the one you think is most convincing for now.

Right now, with your next post card mailing you need to focus your writing on one aspect of your service that sets you far above and beyond the rest of your competition. Many marketers call this your “unique selling point.” It really matters little what you call it. Just be sure that you use just this and don’t clutter your reader’s minds with other possible benefits.

Oh, sure, all of the others you’ve listed are good. But you need to select the best of the best. Then you do your best to ensure that your reader understands this single benefit is the key to their happiness.

You are not expected to come up with this kind of copy right away. The first few versions of your real estate direct mail will usually require several rewrites.

Avoid finalizing your copy right away. The truth is you may think it’s already good enough but if you return to it after several hours or even after a day, you’ll see that there is more to improve on.

You can approach copywriting for real estate postcard marketing as high-resolution writing. Your short copy should be able to give your prospect an amazingly clear understanding and tantalizing view of your offer.

Forget about offering them alternative ideas. Just give them one good offer they can’t refuse. Then sit back and wait for the flood of results.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Investor’s Insider Secret #19: Think of your copy as a jigsaw puzzle

Jul 25, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Do you find it so exhausting preparing your real estate postcard marketing materials? Let me share with you a useful advice on how to make your postcard mailing a lot simpler.

The most common problem we encounter when writing our real estate marketing copy is how to properly relay our thoughts to written words. Sometimes even if we already have an idea about the message we want to tell our potential customers, we still find it hard to translate them into proper order. It is therefore recommended that you begin the process by simply writing down your ideas. Afterwards, you can just arrange them in the right order.

To implement the jigsaw method of copywriting, you start by simply writing your copy. Write why your customers should use your service, what benefits they’ll receive and provide them with an offer they simply can’t refuse. Follow the standard formula of AIDA. Attention. Interest. Desire. Action.

Additionally, be sure to put in some subheads. When you believe you’ve written your copy - and the reasons why your readers should actually become your customers, then print this piece of paper out.

Now take a pair of scissors and cut the document into “paragraph size” pieces. Make sure that each piece you cut contains one - and only one - paragraph on it. (This assumes that you’ve been writing in short bursts of paragraphs all along!)

Now read through these again. And now that these are separate pieces of paper, decide if you want to keep these paragraphs in the same order. You may decide that you’ve mentioned your offer to early in your letter. Take that paragraph and others dealing with the offer and place them behind others.

Afterwards, read the copy once more and try to see something to improve on. Make sure that each paragraph has proper transitions or you can substitute some words that you think would suit best. The purpose is to energize your real estate direct mail to make it more appealing to your customers.

No, you’re not quite done yet. Your next step is to re-read this copy again. Decide if you need to create any transitional sentences to make the copy flow better. You may even decide you need to rewrite a sentence or a whole paragraph. You may even decide you need to punch it up some with more action-oriented verbs. A few well placed exclamation points, even a couple of interjections that create excitement.

Go ahead. Make all the revisions you need to. If after that you think your copy would benefit from another printout and another round of jigsaw puzzle working, and then by all means do so. Before you know it, you’ve painlessly and nearly effortlessly, created an effective postcard mailing.

What at one time appeared to be an overwhelming task and simply out of your grasp is now tamed and brought under control. Don’t you wish everything worked like that?

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Postcard Marketing Tip: Double Your Efforts When Choosing Mailing Lists

Jul 5, 2009 Real Estate Investments

The most common mistake committed by investors for their initial marketing campaign is the failure to recognize the importance of mailing list. If you want your real state investing firm to gain more customers, you must take notice of this.

A good mailing list is an integral part in the success of a direct marketing campaign. Every experienced marketing professional already know this for a fact. They highly prioritize the process of choosing their mailing lists aside from the basic focus on their headlines and offers.

An experienced real estate marketing professional uses a formula called the 40-20-40 law wherein his direct marketing tasks are divided.

When working on your real estate direct mails, you should allocate 40% of your time and energy in crafting your offer; 20% should be allocated for design and content; and the last 40% to analyzing what mailing lists to choose and how to further refine it.

So begin with choosing the right list. First, by making sure you use a list broker. Today, you can rent a list of names in just about any category imaginable - and many even the most vivid of your dreams can’t imagine.

Ask questions you really need to know. Make sure that the list is fresh and updated. Ask him to provide you with the information like the company the list originated from and the process how they created the list. Ask if the duplicates can be removed from the list and if the list can be given to you in various formats.

Be a smart mailing list shopper and ask productive questions. How fresh is the data on the list? Where did the list originate? Or from which companies did the data broker acquire the list? Can duplicates be taken out from the list? In what form will the data be given to you?

Make sure to give him precise details such as the exact location of the customers you want in the list.

Know your intentions. This means know exactly what your mailing want to do. Is this a mailing to generate leads for you to follow up on? Or you are anticipating this campaign to produce some sales? It really does make a difference. And your list broker can help you do this.

Be clear about your objectives. So these are the basic things you should consider in assessing which lists are correct for your real estate marketing campaign. And yes, the effort required is double than what most real estate investors believe.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

How To Come Up With Fresh Ideas To Drive More Traffic To Your Site By Wordpress For Your Real Estate Web 2.0 Marketing

Jun 28, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Undeniably, the power of Real Estate Web 2.0 marketing is much stronger once it is affiliated with Wordpress. With the changing world of real estate industry today, you can’t afford to be left behind or else you will not prosper. Many are putting up their Real Estate Web 2.0 sites in order to keep abreast with the flow of the innovative trends.

Efficient techniques and platforms are used to make your Real Estate Web 2.0 marketing successful. Due to popularity of online blogging, different Real Estate Web 2.0 sites has instituted Real Estate online marketing blogs as part of their strategy to attract more potential leads to your market.

Opting to sign up for Wordpress is the best way to optimize the visibility of your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites. With the command leverage of the Real Estate Web 2.0 marketing and the excellent website design platform and content management system of Wordpress; you are assured of an unparalleled edge over your competitors who are using the old style HTML website. Based on the opinions and unified thoughts of the many bloggers, programmers and techies, they consider Wordpress as the best in the field of blogging.

Thinking how to use this advantage of Wordpress to revitalize Real Estate Web 2.0 sites, follow the tips below. Signing up for Wordpress at www.wordpress.com is an easy access. By simply giving your email ad, you will be able to make an account. The other one is less patronized, but proven to be effective in optimizing your websites. You have to download and install the Wordpress software in your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites.

You have to download and install the Wordpress software in your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites. Get the latest version and follow the instructions there. Make sure that the theme of the Wordpress is readily available for your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites. This will be the backbone of your site. Look for the widgets for these will make your website truly interactive. For better Wordpress themes, you can have the right sidebar that will place your posts and pages before any links in widgets. Having the three (3) columns will also provide much monetization options on your site.

Optimize your Wordpress blogs in the different search engines. Most search engines love ranking online blogs in their searches for they present more personal perspective and information to the viewers. It is good to note that Wordpress has lot affiliations that would make your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites highly searchable in the Web. It makes use of Google XML Sitemaps which are supported by top search engines like Google, Yahoo and AOL.

The possibility of that your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites are great. To optimize the your sites and create links back to your location, make use of plug-ins like All in One SEO Pack and Dagon Design Sitemap Generator

The purpose of your Real Estate Web 2.0 marketing is to reach a larger portion of the market, so make your Wordpress ready for social networks bookmarking. Since Web 2.0 is where the users enjoy most of their time chatting and conversing with their loved ones, any Real Estate Web 2.0 sites should have a connection to these networks to further market your business.

Real Estate Web 2.0 sites are channels for interaction. Make it lively and appealing by improving the commenting system of your website. They will be more interested to stay in your website and meet more people whom they may share ideas about real estate. Aside from that, any feedbacks would also be beneficial to you.

Wordpress is very much a strong instrument in making your Real Estate Web 2.0 marketing effective and efficient in keeping in touch with people. The wonder of Wordpress attached to your Real Estate Web 2.0 sites would really give you the ultimate domination in the Internet.

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing

Real Estate Investor? Hire a List Broker and see the difference!

Jun 27, 2009 Real Estate Investments

Once you become seriously engaged in real estate direct marketing, you will discover the need to know well your customer. There are a multitude of lists out there to choose from, and it’s difficult to identify which mailing lists your prospects are included. There may even be several lists which you have not associated with your target customer, but have been found to be effective lists for real estate direct marketing.

So as you struggle with trying to decide exactly who you’ll target with your next postcard mailing searching for good homes in which to invest, why not turn to a direct mail broker? He can provide you with a list of “seriously motivated sellers.” Now doesn’t that sound like a list you want to use?

Data brokers can help you succeed in your real estate direct marketing because they have the experience in filtering out mailing lists of home sellers who are strongly driven to quickly sell their homes.

Sure, there is a fee charged for this rental- and it’s indeed just a “rental”. The fee charged usually is about $135 per 1,000 names, and you need to rent a minimum amount of names. That particular number differs from broker to broker. If you want to jump in this, be sure about the minimum amount you want to rent- and your total cost incurred.

Of course, there is a fee associated with this rental - and it is indeed just a “rental.” Usually the fee is about $135 per 1,000 names. And usually there’s a minimum amount of names you must rent. But that particular number usually varies from broker to broker. Before you jump in, make sure you know the minimum amount you must rent - and your total costs.

The reason for their asking the mailing date is to avoid double mailing from some other direct marketers. This gives you an opportunity to mail, without worrying about your competitor’s postcard sitting in the mail box the very same day.

When you assess the cost-benefits of starting a real estate postcard marketing plan, it should also be clear to you that the quoted price for the mailing list rental is only for single use at a specified date.

So before renting a list, you need to be sure of the date your real estate direct mail will be ready for mailing. Since this list will be rented out again, the data broker wants to make sure that their customers’ campaigns will not be negatively affected by having the same mailing list used on the same day by providers who are in the same business. So immediately contact your broker if you foresee any changes in your mailing date.

And the additional beauty of all of this is that it saves you time and effort of scrounging through your local legal news, your courthouse or other resources discovering and collecting them on your own. And that frees you up to do what you do best: make money!

Now where can you find the names of list brokers? If you reside in a big city, you may find some in yellow pages. Or you may just search it in the internet by typing “mailing list brokers’ real estate”, and in no time you’ll have a list to choose from, once you do this, your postcard mailing will be more effective-for sure!

Tags: foreclosure investing, foreclosure marketing, how to buy foreclosed homes, how to buy foreclosures, real estate investing, Real Estate Investments, real estate marketing, short sale investing, |how to buy foreclosure, |how to find foreclosures, |shortsale marketing