5 Methods of Using Technology to Sell Real Estate Part 1

When you consider all of the methods to communicate with people over the Internet and ways to use it to sell a house or a piece of property, the considerations are staggering.  Consider this fact: The National Association of Realtors reported the results of a survey that showed a whopping 80% of the people that are looking to buy a piece of property today, start looking online first.  Now, that should indicate to you that if you are in the real estate business and you are not using online tools and are not “tech savvy” you may want to consider the option of giving yourself an upgrade.

So, over the course of the next 4 or 5 blog posts, I am going to share with you even more creative methods of using technology to market and sell real estate while getting those exclusive real estate leads.  Ideas that I didn’t even think about considering the fact that I’m scratching my head every day, trying to figure out how to expand this subject.

Staging a House When it is Not Staged

In this posting I’m going to show you how to stage a house over the Internet that is not staged.  In order to do this, though you will need a halfway decent graphics editing program, but bear in mind that if you are running a real estate office, you may want to consider either buying one of these programs ( which is not the best way to do this) or outsourcing this work ( the better way of doing it) . The reason why I say that outsourcing is the netter way of doing this is because, even if you buy the necessary software to do this, which is kind of expensive, you will still need to learn how to use it.  Adobe Photoshop, which is the industry leader in photo altering technology, will run you about $700, while its immediate competitor, Corel Paintshop Photo Pro will run you right around $300.   As I said earlier, you will need to take the time to outsource this work if you don’t know how to use these programs or have the time to learn them.

Once you either find someone or get the software, you can then alter a totally naked room of any house by putting furniture into the rooms that wasn’t even there.   The best scenario would be to have the rooms completely bare when you take the photographs of them originally.  This will reduce the amount of work that you will need to do.  Once you take the pictures of the rooms, it is a very simple step to add the furniture that you want from the room.

Clip art and Photography packages abound on the Internet wherein you can download or buy pictures of furniture to fill in these rooms.  However, I am all for outsourcing this work dirt cheap.  One of the best places for finding people to do this type of work is at Fiverr (www.fiverr.com) wherein you can hire just about anyone to do anything for $5.00.

In my next post, I’m going to show you how to use mobile devices to sell houses and properties

One of the hardest things to do in marketing is to keep track of all of the real estate leads that you have as well as past clients. As you have probably read on here before, keeping in touch with past clients is more profitable than actually finding new clients because these are people that have worked with you, know you, and will probably do business with you again and again. The big problem with keeping in touch with all of these people is that it is a lot of work and it requires organization, patience and a host of other factors that are important to your real estate marketing campaign.

Use an Automated System

The ideal way of keeping track of all of these people, would be to have an automated system set up in place so that when the mere press of a button you can contact these people over and over again. The reason you would want to do this is so that you can remind them that you are still in the real estate business and you can still help them with different aspects of real estate for them, their families and friends.

Get an Auto Responder

So, how can you automate a system so that you do not need to do a ton of extra work?  Well, there are a host of online auto responder services that are excellent and they can help you to organize all of these people into an e-mail system so that all you have to do to stay in contact with them is to write one e-mail letter or full-color newsletter, press a button and then send it out. If you have set up the system correctly, the names of the people that you will be staying in contact with will actually appear on the e-mail or newsletter and therefore you will be able to make sure that they are aware of the fact that you remember them and would like to do business with them again in the future.

There are several auto responders out on the market today that are just outstanding. One of them is called Aweber and it is a world-class system that is rivaled by few on the Internet. The service itself resides on the Internet, and you will not have to install any software to use it. All you have to do is get a password and access their website and Aweber ill take you through a step-by-step process of setting up your account so that you can send out automatic, beautiful e-mails and newsletters through the Internet any time that you want to send them.

To find out more about Aweber, just click on any of the advertisement that you see on this blog and you will be taken automatically to the site.

In this blog we usually talk about ways that you can gain real estate sales leads using technology.  In this posting we are going to kinda – sorta deviate away from this idea a bit and talk about a time tested method for marketing to your target real estate market.  I am speaking specifically of real estate marketing postcards and how you can use them to gain more listings and prospects.

Just a Little Deviation Away From Technology in Real Estate Marketing

Actually, we really aren’t getting away from marketing with technology aspect of selling real estate because we will still be using technology in the delivery system of the real estate postcards.  You can easily go to an online service and order post cards for your marketing campaigns.  Most of these online services will not only allow you to design your postcards using stock photography, but they will print them up in the quantity you need and then send them out to the address that you give them.  This saves you a tremendous amount of time.

However, don’t expect the printing service that you choose to write a marketing message for you.  For that task, you will either have to learn how to write the message yourself, or hire someone that is real good at it.  At any rate, you will want to have a call to action somewhere on the real estate marketing post cards so that people or potential real estate sales leads will be spurred onto to call you.

The best call to action that a real estate marketing postcard can have is something that is tangible for free;  just for getting together with you and talking about your services.  You can always get boat loads of inexpensive gifts to give to people that make an appointment with you. There are tons of online companies that gratuitous gifts that have your company’s logo and contact information on them, from pens to desk clocks.  Generally, offering a free consultation is what many real estate professionals use, but this does not work and does not have a strong enough pull for real estate leads to actually take action and meet with you.

Make Your Real Estate Marketing Postcards Unique!

Another thing you have to consider when dealing with marketing with this type of vehicle is that on average, people make a decision whether or not to read or keep an advertisement sent to them within three seconds.  You have to really have a unique post card that initially arouses a person’s interest enough to make them read it.  Many of the online companies that make these types of post cards have templates that are like this.  Look, if you get a post card in the mail with a pink penguin on it that has big yellow letters on it that says “NAKED”, wouldn’t you at least look at the back of the card to read it???  So, make sure that you have a mind blowing picture with a caption that makes the prospect interested enough to read the back side of it.

To recap on how to Get Real Estate Sales Leads With Real Estate Marketing Postcards, remember to have a good free offer with something tangible, make sure there is a good call to action, and always have a compelling picture and text on the front to ensure that the prospect will read your message.

Usually, this blog covers the area of how real estate professional can sell real estate utilizing technology. Well, I guess I have been ignoring a certain segment of the market that is also involved in real estate; the mortgage professional and their industry. Yes, that’s right; we are going to talk specifically to mortgage professionals in this post, particularly professionals in the reverse mortgage industry. So, this article is going to talk about how mortgage professionals can utilize Internet technology to get prospects for reverse mortgages.

The reverse mortgage industry, as many of you already probably know, is a growing industry because of all of the baby boomers that are getting older and moving into retirement age. So, when you consider the fact that many people that still have mortgages can get a loan that is like this, it really doesn’t seem to be too daunting of a task to cultivate these folks as prospects. It would be foolhardy for any mortgage company to ignore the reverse mortgage industry and not have a focused marketing plan in place.

To get quality leads from the Internet, you need to know several different things. First of all, you need to know as much about your target market as you possibly can. You don’t want to be chasing the wrong herd of people that don’t have a need for what you or your services have to offer. If you do your research enough and it is thorough, you will at least find out that most homeowners over the age of sixty two are the target age of the prospects that you are looking for. The value of the home that the target prospect is currently living in is another factor to consider when you are looking for a good reverse mortgage lead.

Not only should the value of the house be an important factor, but also the equity that has been built into the property is an important factor as well. Also, a person that has been subject to medical bills in their older years would make a good candidate as well because they can probably use some help with finances. Some of the ways you can use the Internet or technology to help you with looking for reverse mortgage leads or prospects is by visiting a forum or blog that talks about mortgages and real estate issues. Many times, people will be looking for information or advice when considering an action or financial decision. You want to make sure that you visit the most reputable sites, because if you are going to forums that look or act unprofessional, then you will get a reputation that you, as a mortgage professional; could probably do without.

Start Your Own Reverse Mortgage Blog

One way to establish yourself as an expert in your field of expertise online is to start a blog dedicated to your profession. If you are an expert at a particular area in the field of mortgages, then you can establish an online presence for yourself. All you have to do is get a blog either with Wordpress or with Google’s Blogger (both are free platforms and services) and start writing good articles on reverse mortgages. Don’t worry about the design of the blog, like everyone else does, just grab a blog theme or set of colors and start writing.

If you really want to bump it up a notch, you can always write an e-book that you can give to people to read as well. One other thing that you can do to find good reverse mortgage leads is to go to a site that is, a lead generation firm. You can buy leads for your target market and start a direct mail campaign through the regular mail. Do not buy email leads, because you don’t ever want to run the risk of being blamed of spamming people.

As always with any marketing plans that you have, always make sure that you do your research before approaching any segment of the market. That way you will be much better prepared for other plans that you may have to implement a different strategy or segment of the market.

It is vital to know how to get real estate leads if you are going to be successful at selling properties.  As a matter of fact, the only way that you can guarantee that your real estate business will succeed is if you know how to prospect in a way which is conducive to your business goals.  It is very important to know how to keep the clients that you have and market back to them, but without your initial client base, that is going to be very hard.  It probably goes without saying, that if you want to become successful in the real estate business then knowing how to generate real estate leads is vitally important.

Most people usually go through the route of handing out business cards, advertising, attending community events, running newspaper ads, and cold calling, but without a proper system in place, your marketing plans as well as your prospecting efforts will go unrewarded.  The best system to have is an automated one wherein prospects contact you and then your system automatically collects their contact information for you.  There are several ways to do this, which is what we will be discussing in this article.

Getting Real Estate Leads Using a Call Capture System

A call capture system is a system wherein you place an advertisement talking about your listings or services and then people call you and leave you their call back number.  You can actually have the number placed on a real estate website asking the potential prospect top call and leave their information, or you can use an online service like Aweber to place an opt – in box on your website to get them to leave their contact information.

Usually, a call capture system has several features that go along with its services.  You can have your own unique 1-800 number system put into service from the company that provides these services for you and these numbers make it very easy for you to capture real estate leads with.  One of the best innovations that is included with the call capture system is what is called an “Automatic Number Identification” or “ANI”.  Basically, this system allows you to store in memory any numbers that call your number so that you will have their number to call back.  Having this system in place will also protect you from the dreaded “do not call” list because it will give you proof that the prospect initiated the contact with you.

Once a real estate agent or Realtor has the call capture system in place, they can begin to publish and use their number whenever they begin to market their business.  You should put your number on every advertisement, website, business card or any other marketing vehicle that you are using.  You ought to use the number liberally with your ads and you should display the number prominently in all of your marketing ads no matter where they appear.

Call capture systems can sometimes be rather extensive on learning how to use them; this has been just a brief overview on how to set up and use a call capture system to generate and get real estate leads for your business.  The best way to see some of these phone systems and ads that are in actual use is in the various opportunity magazines that you can find at the store. Looking at these ads will allow you to not only see how ads are set up to use this phone-marketing vehicle, but it will also let you take a look at the ad copy and call to action that is used by each business.

Before the advent of the Internet, real estate marketers had to rely on media such as radio, TV, the Yellow Pages and newspapers to generate leads for their real estate sales and listings. Despite the power and draw of the Internet in the real estate marketplace today, a Realtor or agent can still use offline medial to generate interest in their listings and services.  Newspapers, TV, radio, and especially direct mail, plus all of the other traditional ways of advertising should still be a part of your marketing plan.

Here are a couple of tips that you can use to build your print media off-line marketing plan in generating real estate leads:

1. In the real estate realm, there are many related publications that you may be able to use.  Now, you don’t want to use real estate publications, but if there are magazines that focus on local issues and articles, then you may want to get some ads or articles placed in those periodicals.
2. You should know your real estate geographic target market.  If you are in a big city, you should have a good idea of who you will be selling to and in which location.  In these areas, try to find out which publications are popular and then try to target the publications that are most related to your business.  If you are dealing with upscale people then the local upscale metro magazine should be a great place for you to put a small advertisement with your web address and contact information on it.
3. If you are a pretty successful Realtor that handles vacation properties, try to find out which national publications that you can get into that will help you market seasonal properties.  Seasonal rentals, vacation properties, time shares, etc. are great for this type of marketing idea.
4. To break down the best method to generate the types of real estate leads that you want you can run print ads in different publications and have your web address a phone number in the ads that you run.  If the prospect calls your toll free number, then you can have a service set up (at a modest price, of course) so that it will automatically take their contact information.  If the prospects go to your site after seeing your real estate ads, then they can simply fill out a form that is on your website so that you can call them and talk to them about what you have to offer them.

Bear in mind when placing these advertisements to generate real estate leads that you are getting collateral prospects that quite possibly most other real estate professionals and Realtors may not be considering.  A large number of people are looking on line these days so don’t expect a flood with printed media.  Also, you may want to start collecting small advertisements from several magazines which will give you an idea of how to write a small ad with a call to action on it.  If you want to write a bigger ad with a larger advertising space, expect to pay for it.  These types of advertisements, even in local periodicals and papers can still run you quite a bit of money.

In my last blog post, I told you the first steps that you need to take and some of the things that you will need to consider when creating a real estate flyer.  If you want to generate good qualified real estate lead leads that actually will want to contact you, then you will have to put some thought and work into creating your flyers and advertisements.

How to Create Text and Content for Your Real Estate Flyers

A key factor that you will want to consider in creating your flyers, is the font and the size of the font which must be clear and easy to read.  My personal favorites are Arial and Verdana because they are very easy to read.  I also like to use between a sizes 10 to 12 font when putting text into a document, because it is easier for most people to see.  You don’t want to use fancy or artsy-tartsy fonts and letters except for your logo if that requires it.  You will also need to break up the paragraphs into small chunks and be as concise with your writing as you can.

In the case of writing, you will want to use the old adage, “less is more”.  You are trying to generate interest in your services or the houses that you represent, so, don’t run on too much with the dialogue about a subject, just state basic information and try to have a call to action on your flyer.

Writing Your Real Estate Flyer Content In a Way That Will Generate Real Estate Leads

You must write the ad content of your flyer in a way that will grab your reader’s attention very quickly. You will want to answer all the questions that prospects will probably want to know while spurring them on to take some sort of action that will be conducive to your real estate sales.

Tip: If you are going to be designing and writing advertisements online or off line you should invest in a couple of books that will train you on how to write advertising copy.  The popular marketing expert, Dan Kennedy, has a great book on this subject on Amazon or you can buy one of his courses at his online store, here.  This would be an excellent way to learn how to write and copy to magnetically generate real estate leads.

Don’t Forget the Important Details on Your Real Estate Flyer!

If you are designing a flyer that is specifically trying to sell a particular house, then you will need to include the exact address of the property or properties, and directions on how to get there. You can use Google maps to get graphics so that you can actually print it up and place it on your flyer, if you want.  Make sure that your contact information can easily be seen right next to your call to action and make sure that all of this information is correct.

Tip: You should always make sure that your ads are as professional as possible with zero mistakes in the content.  Get a ruler and straight edge of some sort and go through the content line by line reading in aloud.  Next, get two other people to read it to see if they can find any mistakes.  Whenever you work with something too close, it is always easy to make errors and overlook them.  By having a fresh set of eyes looking at them you can get that error rate in your content moved down to nothing.

I hope that this post can help you get the real estate leads that you need  and I hope you can and will use the advice in this post to help you design your real estate flyers for your prospecting and sales marketing plan.

In the last blog post, wrote about how you could use Google Maps to get prospects to come to your open house.  In this blog post, I will show you how you can create great, effective and professional looking real estate flyers to generate qualified interest in your real estate services and listings.

Real estate advertising has evolved from the printed page into internet marketing from the old days when people used to use news paper ads and even flyers. Today, most real estate advertising is usually done online, which has become the predominant method of selling real estate.  As a matter of fact, over 80% of all people looking for a home that was surveyed stated that they look for homes on the Internet first over any other method.  However, real estate leads and letting people know that your client’s home is up for sale in the bricks and mortar world with a flyer would definitely attract possible buyers to visit your location. Fliers are an integral part of real estate marketing, because these are the marketing vehicles that people will look at if they bump into you or come to your open house.  In this article I will give you step by step directions on how you can create great flyers for your own real estate marketing plan.

I have listed here, a step by step guide as to how to create a great real estate flyer that you can use to promote any open house or event you might have.

Identify your Real Estate Market Before You Make Your Real Estate Flyer

When you are trying to decide what type of flyer content you are going to need, you must consider your audience and ensure that you make different types of flyers that can be used for different situations. You should make flyers that relate to the different types of people it will be used for in order for it to be effective and interesting. You will also need to consider what understand what the different groups of people will need and think about how you can design an advertisement out of that market.  If you can make the real estate flyer relevant and hit a particular need, then this will help you increase their interest in what you have to offer.

Decide On What Type of Art and Layout You Will Need

When you are trying to figure out the best type of design for a real estate flyer there are a couple of things you need to think about.  First of all you will want to consider the size of the flyer, color of the background, as well as the number of pictures and types of photos.  The reason you need to first consider the size of your flyer is because the price depends on the size, and when you think about all of the information that you will be putting on them they will have to be easy to read. We will also need to think about the text fonts and the finish on the paper.  Now, when you begin thinking about your color scheme, you will want to consider your company’s branding and use of color. Try to use a color scheme that will catch a person’s eye while using the colors of your company’s logo or advertising design.  You don’t want to use colors that are too bright or florescent because it makes the flyers, as well as your real estate business, look cheap.

You are going to of course think about the number of photos that you will be placing on your flyer, and as the size of the flyer will naturally affect the size and the number of the photographs on your advertisement.  If you have room to include pictures of the property, then try to use the rooms that people are most concerned with, such as the kitchen. You should also choose your most professional looking photograph to place on any of your advertisements.  One of my pet peeves in real estate marketing is seeing female realtor’s pictures that look like they were made at the photography vendor, “Glamour Shots.”  Ladies, have those kinds of pictures made for your husbands or boyfriends; when it comes to the sales business of real estate, you should get the most professional business picture you can afford.  You are trying to sell and represent a real estate business, not attract the opposite sex.

In my next blog post, I am going to tell you how to write content for your real estate flyer so that it will create a need for real estate leads and prospects to contact you about the services or properties that you are representing.

If you really want to get people to go to your open houses and know exactly where you are, here is a tool that is very easy to use and costs nothing to put on your blog or website. Google Maps is an easy online tool that you can use to get people to connect to you with ease. One of the things that you can easily do on Google is go to their map site (http://maps.google.com/maps) and follow these simple instructions:
How to Send Your Real Estate Leads to Your Open House Using Google Maps
1. Type in the address of the house or place of business into the Google Maps field.

2. Once you get to the page that has the address that you wanted, you can then go up to the top of the map page and highlight and copy the web address of the page you are on.

3. On the right hand side of the map just above the picture of the map you will see the word “Link”, click on it.

4. Take the piece of code that is on the page and highlight the top one that looks something like this: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3836+Cambria+Street,+Lynchburg,+VA&sll=37.97783,-84.523981&sspn=0.007933,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=3836+Cambria+St,+Lynchburg,+Virginia+24502&ll=37.387498,-79.169862&spn=0.007996,0.01929&z=16

5. Now go to your blog and paste the link into your blog or website page.
6. You can also take the same link and paste it into an email to your real estate leads. If people click on this link, they will automatically be switched to the Google map that you wanted them to see.
7. Double check the map to make sure it is right. Sometimes Google maps are inaccurate, but most of the time they are correct.
8. Send out your email or post your web or blog pages. It is just that easy.

If you do have hot real estate leads that want to come to your open house or event, then you can actually type in their starting address into the field on the left side of the map page that has the letter “A” in a green circle. Then type the destination (the place that you want to meet them) into the field that has the letter “B” next to it in a green circle. When you click on the button that says “Get Directions” Google Maps will then give you the exact directions from the starting point all of the way to their destination. You can email them the directions so that they will know exactly where your open house is.
Don’t forget that in any email or posting, you are dealing with potential clients so you will need to be cordial and courteous in your communications with them. It may also be a good idea to give your real estate leads your cell phone number, just in case the Google map that you generate or its directions are flawed.
Google has a wide variety of high tech tools that you can easily use for your real estate business, and I will be covering more of these in subsequent blog posts.

It doesn’t take very much brain power to figure out that if you are reading this blog you are probably going to hear about the virtues of getting real estate leads through the use of technology. If you are one of the any real estate agents that I meet every day that has not made the leap into the 21st Century, well, then let me just say, “Wake up and get on board!” You are definitely going to hear me advise you to get into technology here because if surveys and demographics are correct, almost a whopping 80 to 90% of the people looking to buy real estate today are using the Internet or at least some sort of technology to find a home.

Many real estate professionals that are not using real estate technology to get real estate leads or at least communicate with clients and past clients only do so because they are intimidated by it. Perhaps you are an older agent that has only been using a cell phone because using a computer and the Internet seems so vast and intimidating to you. One of the reasons for this is because there are so many websites, online services, blogs, applications, tools and software that you can use that you may get confused looking at the list or options that are available to you. Well don’t despair, because you really only need to learn a few of these things well to get ahead in the technology end of acquiring clients.

To give you an example, I have been involved in online marketing for almost 10 years. I have had several online businesses that not only operated in the online world but also in the real bricks and mortar world as well. Now please bear in mind that the tools that I am about to tell you about are the tools that I use, you don’t or won’t need t use all of these if you don’t want to.

Tools for Acquiring Real Estate Sales Leads

The technology tools that I generally use from day to day are as follows:
1. Software
a. Adobe Dream Weaver – This is a great software program that allows me to build great web pages.
b. Adobe Photoshop – Over the years this has become a personal passion of mine, but basically it is a high- end graphics program that allows me to alter photographs.
2. Blog Platforms /Websites
a. WordPress Blog – This blog platform is free to use and is the premier blog on the Internet to use. You can also use Google’s Blogger which is actually easier for novices to use.
b. HostGator – I use Dreamweaver to build my site but I use HostGator to Host with.
3. Social Bookmarking Tools
a. Facebook – If you know what you are doing you can leverage Facebook’s social networking attraction to gain clients and get great real estate sales leads. However, you will need to invest time and patience in building your network online.
b. Twitter – Twitter is great to use because after you have used their application considerably and posted your links on the site from time to time people will find and come to your website.