4 Online Marketing Tips for Real Estate Professionals

online-marketing

This blog is one of the top blogs online for marketing tips, mostly due to the quality tips and advice regularly contributed by various guest authors.

One thing about success online is that it is nearly impossible without marketing, but a lot of people are missing the mark when it comes to marketing; most people just download generic marketing tips from their favorite websites, they implement it and wait for months, and then wonder why things aren’t working for them.

If you’ve ever been in such condition, it is due to one reason; the marketing tip you’re applying is too generic.

I believe every niche is different, especially online, which is why I’m writing this article specifically for real estate professionals.

If you own a real estate marketing website and read this blog, and you want the best tips on how to grow your business using the internet, this article is for you.

Why the Internet?

If you’re a conservative real estate marketer, this is probably the question you’re asking right now.

Why divert your attention, money and efforts towards marketing a website online when you can easily put the same effort into marketing your business offline?

Well, you’re in for a surprise!

Do you know that in 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors profile of home buyers and sellers, over 88% of home buyers use the internet to find the homes of their choice, making the internet the top choice for most buyers? This might look very impressive, but it is important to pay more attention especially when we consider the fact that just 87% use real estate agents.

What this means is that the internet is the #1 source of information for home buyers, and every smart real estate marketer should catch on to this.

Do you also know that 91% of home buyers who found their home via the internet purchased via a real estate agent, compared to just 71% of those who found a home via other means?

What this means is that the internet not only helps you gain a wider reach, but it also has a high conversion rate.

This only makes sense when we consider the fact that the internet gives people more flexibility, and allows them to properly research the home they want to buy before even paying a visit.

One thing, though, is that even if you have a good website and great properties, you need people to make sales.

How do you get these people to buy as a result of your website? I’ll be sharing a few tips with you below!

1. Optimize Your Website for the Search Engines

One major real estate stat you should be aware of is the fact that 94% of home buyers use the internet to search for a home, and 85% of all internet traffic comes from the search engines.

To be more specific, there are over 2.2 billion searches conducted every year that has to do with real estate keywords. That is a lot of potential customers waiting for you, and a lot of traffic you can tap into.

Of course, you can’t get all the 2 billion visitors to check you out, but you need less than a fraction of that to make your website a success.

Having a properly optimized website will not only lead to a lot of traffic to your real estate website, it will also lead to sales; people mostly use the search engines when they need a solution to a problem, and as such they’re in the right state to buy from you than from any other means.

You should also know that most home buyers don’t go past the 3rd page in the search engines for a particular keyword, and a large majority of them only take a look at the top 10 results, so make sure you try to get yourself in that spot no matter what it takes.

2. Have a Company Blog

The importance of blogging is growing every day, and it is no hidden fact that blogging can be very effective.

In fact, recent data from Hubspot, based on an experiment conducted by one of their users, has proven that blogging is more effective than Superbowl ads.

If we consider how popular the Superbowl is, and how much buzz it generates, we’ll realize how critical having a blog is.

Having a blog is a no brainer, so you should get one today if you don’t already have it.

Having a blog that is regularly updated also goes a long way to improve your search engine rankings, and it can also do a great job of informing, educating, and getting people to check out your services.

Of course, you don’t have to write all the content yourself. If you have the budget, hiring a professional freelance writer to help you with this aspect can make a whole lot of difference.

3. Guest Blog Smartly

Guest blogging is becoming quite popular lately, and it has quickly risen to one of the all time best ways to market a blog.

There are quite a few reasons for this, but one major reason is that guest blogging makes it easy to kill two birds with one stone; guest blogging can help you improve your rankings, while at the same time increasing your exposure and authority online.

Guest blogging is all about doing things smartly, not in quantity.

The key to success isn’t to write a lot of low quality articles and distribute them online, but to write unique articles that stand out in their own ways.

If you’re not yet familiar with guest blogging, here are two articles that should help.

4. Create a Viral Video Campaign

Of course, creating videos might not be as effective as all the other techniques shared above, due to the fact that they are more focused and targeted to buyers.

Creating viral videos, however, can be a very effective way to get more links, more mentions, and more referrals.

The key to having successful viral videos is to be creative, without wasting the time of your audience.

Paul is an expert that writes about The woodlands real estate. He loves anything property related, and helps people find good Houston real estate listings.

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5 Measures You Should Take To Secure Your Website Today

website-security

How long have you been blogging now? 1 year? 2? 3? 5?

Okay, how will you feel if your blog that you’ve been building for several years suddenly disappears overnight? No, you didn’t sell it. Instead, it was stolen from you. How will you feel?

I’m not sure about you, but I know I won’t be happy about it. In fact, if necessary, I’ll even cry about it.

Let’s Face the Reality

The reality is that it is very difficult to get your website back once it has been stolen from you. It is very difficult for your host, even, let alone yourself.

In this case scenario, the best solution isn’t to wait for your website to be stolen. It is to be proactive; it is to take necessary measures to protect it before even the weakest hacker can spell it out loud.

How do you do that, then? This article will be giving you 5 measures you should take today to secure your website.

1. Change Your Passwords Regularly

Don’t just rely on using the same password for all your website accounts, because that will eventually end up implicating you.

Make sure you constantly change your blog passwords, and make sure you don’t use the same password for all your accounts.

Ideally, I’ll recommend that you change your password every 3 months, but this can be different depending on your preference and other measures you have in place.

One thing is important, though, don’t use a single password for more than a year at any point in time.

2. Create a Backup Account to Prevent Eventualities

Another approach I take that has been very effective is to have more than one account; in other words, it is to have backup accounts.

The idea is simple; my main account can be hacked anytime, but do I have a backdoor to take control again?

By having more than one admin account, I can easily login again and take over in case my main account has been hacked.

It is important to be careful when utilizing this strategy, too, because it isn’t as easy as it seems.

The more accounts you have, the more options hackers have to get to you, so make sure you’re careful and that every means of accessing your blog is properly secured.

3. Backup Your Website Regularly

While you can take every measure possible to secure your blog, there is still no guarantee that it won’t be hacked one day.

Your best solution in a case like this is to back up your website regularly.

Install solid wordpress backup plugins like Backup Buddy, and backup your whole website manually every once in a while if it is possible.

Having a solid backup of your website will always protect you, but not having it can be disastrous even if you end up regaining your hacked website.

4. Limit the Number of Plugins You Use on Your Blog

Another approach you should take is to limit the total number of plugins you use on your blog.

Most hackers are able to get into the blog of unsuspecting victims due to a bug in one plugin they installed, and it is only a matter of time before they realize what has happened.

Make sure you don’t use more plugins than are necessary, and always make sure you update your plugin regularly; if a particular plugin hasn’t been updated in a long time, then it is probably a sign that you shouldn’t use it in the first place.

5. Hide Main Folders from the Public

Another way you can protect your blog from being hacked, that many people ignore is to hide certain folders from being seen by the public.

Depending on who and how you installed your blog some of these folders will be visible to the public, and as a result can be used to hack your website. But by hiding them, you will be eliminating another means of hacking your blog.

Some of these folders are your plugin folder, your “wp-content folder”, and your root folder. The availability of these folders to the public will only create problems, but you will reduce your chances of being hacked by getting rid of them.

John is an expert at helping people secure websites. He also writes about adsl2+ for Broadband Expert.

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animoto alternative

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4 Questions Webmasters Need to Ask Themselves

webmaster tips

Running a website is a great way to make money and to achieve a sense of satisfaction that comes from having thousands of people reading your content every single day. That said, being truly successful is a subjective subject and won’t be the same from one person to the next. It’s important then that you [...]

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4 Ways to Make Your Website Faster

fast-websites

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You’ve probably heard the saying, that time is money, and you probably already know that speed has a lot to do with time.

The faster your website is, the more your chances of succeeding because you’re likely to end up having more satisfied visitors.

The purpose of this article is to share with you 4 ways to make your website faster, but I believe it will be a smart idea to share a few advantages of having a fast website before we start.

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Four Ways to Beat Your Local Search Competition (Guest Blog Posting Pays Off)

guest-blogging

Several months ago I did a guest blog post for Site Pro News. I must say they have been very good to work with. Not only have they published and even feature my post but they made a very professional YouTube video promoting the post.

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