Showing posts with label organize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organize. Show all posts

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Email Campaigns and Drip Marketing. What Do You Use?

Hello Everyone, I hope you all are gearing up for the up coming holiday. No, I don't mean Christmas. THANKSGIVING!! I know I cannot wait.

In this post I wanted to get your opinion on email campaigns:
 - What service do you use?
 - How often are the emails sent to your subscribers?
 - What type of campaign seams to yield the best results?

I am currently using a email campaign system that has some limits as far as what I believe I want it to do. Coming into the new year my email marketing is one of the bigger projects I wanted to focus on. There are just so many options out there I thought it would be a good idea to see what my fellow AR friends thought. If anyone has any opinions, thoughts or advise on email campaigns I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks everyone in advance.
 
 
 
 
- See more at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/4256653/email-email-drip-campaigns-and-email-blast#sthash.pSqufIMG.dpuf

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Agent Websites and Why Every Ageny Should Have One

In this blog post I wanted to talk about agent websites and my opinion and experience with Zillow's Premier Agent Websites.

As far as Agent websites go I believe that most of us have at least one, maybe two. Since most larger real estate companies provide their agents with a website or page, some may not feel the need for additional sites or pages. However, I feel differently on this.

Company Provided Websites
If you are strictly using a company provided website or web page I recommend obtaining a website of your own for many reasons. If you put all your time and marketing into a website the company provides you, what happens if you switch companies? Most likely, you will lose your website. So all that time you spent doing SEO (search engine optimization) and advertising is gone! I'm a firm believe of NOT putting all your ducks in one basket. Usually these websites do provide great lead management and organization, but they aren't the only resource provided out there as far as agent websites go.
I thinks it important for agents to have their own websites for the sole purpose of having complete ownership of the site. Many company provided websites market the company more so than the agent. When you have your own website you can choose the layout and content.

My experience with Zillow and Agent Websites
I use a combo of Zillow Agent Premier Website and the website my company provides me. I was weary of using Zillow at first, but after finally setting up my site I'm glad I did. Zillow makes it very easy to set up your website, edit and change things around. The templates they provide you are fresh and clean looking. There are many of widgets and extras to add to your site as well. For only $10.00 a month I feel its a great tool to use and promote your business. You also get to pick one free domain name and you do not have to worry about bandwidth like other website providers package.
I also use the web page my company provides me. It's free and adds extra exposure to my business. I don't add content to it as much as my Zillow site because this site isn't on my business card nor do I advertise it. I do however have my company provided website set up to direct visitors to my main website.

What do you use for your website provider? What works and what doesn't?
I would enjoy hearing what everyone is using for their agent website, whats working out and what hasn't. Please comment!


- See more at: http://activerain.com/blogs/rrussellneo#sthash.jCiYzsiO.dpuf

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Finding the Balance of Working IN Your Real Estate Business

Well, I've seemed to find time again to do some more blogging. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments on my first blog post. Again, Thanks everyone!
For this post I wanted to talk about the importance of working IN your real estate business, and finding the balance in which to do so. As I am approaching my second month as an active agent, my goals as to where I wanted to be at an online stance isn't up to par. I've been working in real estate as an admin and tech support for a while. In my time I've found that the biggest neglected factor for others and myself is working inside your real estate business.

Finding, Making and Planning the Time

Working on your real estate business is easy. We do it everyday. Meeting with clients, showing houses, writing contracts, etc. However, do we always take the time to work inside our business? For myself, I've acknowledged the fact that I do not work in my business as much as I originally planed to. My website needs to be updated. I've been ignoring my Twitter, Facebook and I haven't been on AR as much as I would like.   I finally had to set specific time aside to do so!
Since then, I have decided to set a few hours, one day a week to work on organization, web pages, social media and other odd and ends that do not get the attention during the rest of the week. I feel like the importance of this is just as important as working on my business if not more.

Why is it so Important?
I've spoken to many different clients and customers who shared their experience in finding an agent and starting the home buying process online. Since so many people do start online these days, why wouldn't we want to focus AT LEAST a few hours a week to working inside our business. In the experiences I was told, the most common factor that pushed clients from one agents page to another was old content and layout. I don't want to focus on agent websites too much. (That's a whole post on its own) Continuing, a simple update to your homepage can mean the difference between gaining a client and losing one.


Organizing Yourself
In addition to working on your online presence. Making sure your keeping organized is key as well. Entering that clients contact info you jotted down on a sticky note into your CRM, and that those random papers are filed where need be. I've had days were I go look at my desk and question how I let it get that bad. I try to stay organized as I go but at the end of the week I've surprised myself again.

I feel like to could go on and on about the topics in this post. My main goal was to encourage agents to make the time to keep organized and updated on the web. Such a small amount of time can make a bigger difference than you think. My next few blog post will go into specifics on tech for agents and I've included the topics and schedule below. Please feel free to comment and let me know your opinion and any tips or pointer you may have or if there is a topic you would like me to cover. I'd love to hear what other agents have to say.



1) Agent Websites and Zillow Primer Websites 11/11
2) Email, Email Campaigns and Email Blasts 11/20
3) Social Media and Real Estate Agents 11/30
4) CRM's 12/9


Richard Russell
cutler Real Estate
330.281.6582
Selling Akron Oh and Surrounding Areas! 
- See more at: http://activerain.com/blogs/rrussellneo#sthash.qY8dh2ku.dpuf