June 29, 2007
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This week I had the distinct pleasure of being asked to judge Project Blogger. For those who don’t know, Project Blogger is unique experiment in which 10 blogging coaches each training a real estate blogging apprentice for 4 months with the goal of creating a successful blog! |
Each week, these blogs are critiqued by “blog gurus” and industry leaders like Matt Heaton (ActiveRain), Mike Simonsen (Altos Research), Keith Garner (NAR), David Gibbons (Zillow), and Jessica Swesy (Inman). You can find the Project Blogger Week 11 Round Up on the Project Blogger site.
In addition to providing Project Blogger apprentices with constructive feedback,
I also hope to provide an approach and set of criteria that all bloggers
can use to improve the marketing effectiveness of their blogs.
[Disclosure Statement - I borrowed this statement from Mike at Altos Research since it also applies to me - I know some of the team members personally. Some are friends, business partners, and users or subscribers of our service. That said, I have done my best to be impartial]
Judging Criteria - Guidelines for Marketing-Driven Blogging:
Everyone judges blogs differently! Many people get into blogging to indirectly make revenue (sales or advertising), make friends (social networking), or simply to make hay (fun hobby)! In the former case, your blog becomes a marketing vehicle for your business or yourself. When evaluating blog, I generally use a set of criteria that looks at the effectiveness of online media from a marketing perspective. Believe it or not, new media marketing has a number of similarities to old media marketing as you can see from my list:
- Originality of content: Nobody reads old news! If every newspaper carried the SAME stories, you would only read ONE newspaper. People don’t ready blogs that carry “old news” so originality and relevance is important.
- Freshness of content: This is also known as frequency. Newspaper come out everyday day! Not occasionally. If you want people to read your blog and visit with any frequency you have to post new content regularly!
- Use of Photo and Graphics: Pictures are perhaps the biggest pull for newspapers. Imagine newspapers without photos! Okay, imagine blogs without picture - hopefully you get the point. People like picture and they like moving picture (video) better !
- Site Utility and Design: Your site is the container in which your blog posts sit in! Make it look good and it’s a plus. In the newspaper world we called brand and print quality. No one likes a cheap flimsy black and white newspaper - the ones that leave ink smudges on your fingers.
- SEO Sensibility: These are things you can do or ways you can write that increase the likelihood that your blog will garnish organic traffic. Personally, I think some of these are important. If your newspaper is not available on the rack, no one will buy it. I could spend hours on this but to summarize here are a couple of pointers:
- Links to other blog posts or sites (adds relevance, add trackbacks, and almost always gets the other blog author to visit)
- Good descriptive titles for your posts and good use of keywords (gets them picked up by search engines)
- Registering your site with Technorati and other blog search engines
- Ability to translate your blog to other languages
Judging Results, Feedback and Tips
Based on this criteria I picked the top 5 teams and tried to provide feedback to all of the teams. I also gave some extra weight to the # of posts made during this judging period. From the winning entries I also provided 2 visual breakdowns to illustrate some of my points. Marketing people tend to be visual - so sometimes its easier to show people things than to write about them!
My picks for this week are:
- Jackie Colson-Miller (with Jim Cronin)
- Ines Hegedus-Garcia (with Paul Chaney)
- Tisza Major-Posner (with Drew Meyers)
- Julie Ferenzi (with Jeff Turner)
- Kevin Tomlinson (with Ardell Della Loggia)
June 28, 2007
This week’s Watermark Plus image come from Cindy Jones of RE/MAX Allegiance
of Burke, VA. I choose simply because of its quality, simplicity and the clarity of the message! More and more real estate and auto professionals are using Watermark Plus to embed important sales and product information into their photos.
If you haven’t used Watermark Plus yet, here are some great examples and ideas of what you could be communicating about your listing: Price Reduced, For Sale, Pending Sale, 2 Tee Ptarmigan, Easy to Show, Just Listed, Front View, $199900 3/2/2, Rented, Sold, Open House, Your Relaxing View, Ocean View Acreage, Great Ocean Views, 2 Family Rental Income, Make Offer, and Gas Saver.
Here are some previous posts on Watermark Plus:
June 27, 2007
A recent trend we have noticed among both auto dealers, real estate professionals and HR professionals is using RSS to syndicate their listings! The value to web-savvy consumers if obvious! Mark at Inkbots makes a good point:
One of the many hassles in buying an automobile has been driving to a dealer (or calling them) to see what they have in their inventory. In either case you usually have to dodge a salesman who really wants to get your name and phone number. All I want to know is whether you have a silver Eclipse, okay?
The basic idea is that prospective customers can easily subscribe to your inventory (in the same way they would subscribe to your blog) using your RSS feed and their favorite news reader. Some of the more innovate auto dealerships offer RSS feeds of their inventories (Ikon Auto, Mall Cars, i.e.) and I am certain some smart real estate agents are doing the same thing.
The good news for vFlyer users is you already have an RSS feed of your flyer inventory! Just in case you haven’t noticed, each user has a gallery (See Example) – your gallery is a graphic summary of all the flyers in your account as well as your business or contact information. Subscribers can customize their galleries (See Example), while non-subscribers get the basic gallery view (See Example). All users, however, get RSS feeds of their flyer!
You will notice at the bottom right hand corner of your gallery page there is an RSS icon that points to your RSS feed. The url to your feed looks something like this:
http://www.vflyer.com/home/Listing.jsp?acctId=551040&format=RSS
Users can add this url to their favorite RSS news reader and voila! – they have subscribed to your RSS listing feed! For most, it’s as simple as clicking on the link. All of the new browsers have made it a lot easier to subscribe to RSS feeds.
There are also many free online and desktop RSS news readers available to users. For online users, My Yahoo, Google RSS Reader, Bloglines and Newsgator online are some of the most popular readers. You can also download and install as browser add-ons or applications desktop-based readers. For more on the subject of readers, you can visit the Wikipedia.
June 25, 2007
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I just found out a short time ago while surfing on Joel Burslem’s truly excellent Future of Real Estate Marketing blog that vFlyer has been nominated as a 2007 Inman Innovator Award finalist in the “Most Innovative Web Service Category†along with companies like Point2, Trulia, Zillow, WellcomeMat and Cyberhomes (many of which I mentioned in my Real Estate 2.0 Roundup). As always, we appreciate the recognition and thank you goes out to Inman News and to all our faithful users and customers (you)! Keep your eyes peeled for even more innovation in the months to come and we truly enjoy providing you with a world-class service that helps you grow your business! |
A couple of days ago I talked about the importance of high conversion rates and promised to share some points on improving your conversion rate in general and more specifically using flyers.
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Improve your Response Time
Today most customers move at “Internet speed” so don’t delay following up on leads! When using vFlyer give prospects more than one way to contact you – remember some people prefer email over phone calls and vice versa. Consider including your IM information or using services like click-to-call to make it easier to get a hold of you. If you have a web-based mobile phone, use vFlyer Mobile to check on flyer leads and stats even when away from the office! More… |
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Personalize your Message
Customers like to feel special and important (after all they are!). When sending flyers or other communication via email you may want to include a personal message. Knowing your market will definitely help you better understand their needs. Understand the market dynamics such as pricing trends, market conditions and other factors. More… |
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Grow your Number of Leads
Get your message out as far and wide as possible! It’s not rocket science but the more people who see your message, the more leads you’ll get! vFlyer allows you to distribute listings to a broad range of online marketplaces. Consider posting your flyers to marketplaces like Craigslist, Backpage and eBay (classified and auctions) or using widgets to draw more leads on your blog. More… |
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Manage your Leads More Effectively
It may make sense to invest in contact manager, customer database or what is know in the industry as a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Make sure each lead you get is stored somewhere safe. vFlyer forwards leads via email, also it will soon be possible to receive them as vcards that can easily be cut and pasted into your contact managers (such as Microsoft Outlook). Ask leads if you can add them to your mailing list and communicate with them regularly via email by sending them flyers or newsletters – who knows, they may become a future customer! More… |
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Reduce your Marketing Cost
Reducing your cost allows you to do more marketing. Doing more marketing gets you more leads! Services such as vFlyer are a great way to reduce online marketing costs. Distributing your listings to free online marketplaces is a great way to supplement (or replace) some of the more expensive lead generation mechanisms you may be using. Using other free features like widgets, PDF generation, Watermark Plus and email only compounds your savings. More… |
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Present a Professional Image
Put your best foot forward! Services like vFlyer were designed to help online sellers present a more professional image online. Including items like photo, company logos and association logos on flyers definitely boosts your professional appearance. Subscribers can also use company-specific themes to show their affiliate with a national brand or franchise, again boosting one’s professional image. more… |
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Improve the Quality of your Information
By using a flyer, you are on your way to improving the quality of your information! Be sure to include as much information about your product on the flyer as possible. Consider adding links to reviews or a PDF version of your flyer. Subscribers can add video to their flyers. Consider adding product information to your photos using Watermark Plus. more… |
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Test your Marketing Material
Good marketers always tell you to test everything! Here is an idea – create a flyer for your listing or product. Next, clone your flyer (or duplicate it), modify the title, modify the copy or use slightly different photos and finally publish both! Then using vFlyer’s built-in reporting and analysis tools compare their response rates. This is an easy and affordable way to do very basic A/B testing for your flyers to find out what messages or copy works best! more… |
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Help People Find what they are Looking For
You can easily improve the chances of someone finding your property on the Web by posting it on a blog, such as ActiveRain, Blogger, Typepad or Wordpress. Use a vanity URL (similar to the concept of “single site properties”) for offline advertising – so potential consumers can easily find your listing online. Similar to my previous point, include as much relevant information on the flyer as possible so people don’t have to look elsewhere. more… |
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Do a Better Job of “Merchandising” your Listings or Product
Use high quality photos and when posting to Craigslist, subscribers can use the large photo format to display more large photos! Consider using Watermark Plus to add graphics, watermarks or call to actions directly on photographs. Show the product in action – if you have video, subscribers can include it in their flyer. Include links to reviews, awards or other third party links that promote your product. more… |
Last week I noticed something that looked like a cross between a pimped out golf cart and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV)! This extreme golf cart is a fully loaded – wheels, sound and all. GT Auto, writes about this suped up golf cart.
Many options on this unit and you must see to appreciate the vehicle. Options included are: AM/FM CD w/remote, 4 x 6″ speakers, antenna, headlights, foglights, turn signals, hazard lights, forward/reverse, removable canopy top, seats 4 or 2 when back carrying area is use, storage compartment below backseat, horn, gas gauge, gas motor, 11HP motor, chrome rims w/knobby tires, parking brake, alter suspension, glove compartment, carbon fiber dashboard, 4 cup holders, back-up sound signal, approx. 5 gallon gas holding tank, choke control, automatic kill gas pedal.
June 22, 2007
With Independence Day (July 4) around the corner we have put out a very patriotic new flyer theme called – you guessed it “Independenceâ€. Here is an example of a flyer using the new theme! We hope you like it.
June 21, 2007
I got this email today from Mark Galloway, an avid eBay Real Estate user and a realtor (United Country) and thought I would share it with you! Mark writes:
In regards to yesterday’s post about eBay Real Estate, I do it all the time. Today, I just put up this listing using a vflyer with the custom theme option. In fact, I wrote an eBook all about utilizing eBay to market real estate called “Real” 21st Century Real Estate Marketing, and I feature vFlyer as an easy way to create an attractive listing. It’s been a couple months since I released the book, so I’m busy working on an update, which are free to buyers. Thanks for keeping me updated on new vFlyer features through your RSS feed!
So it looks like we found someone who sells homes on eBay AND uses vFlyer AND has an eBook on the subject – its definitely worth checking out for all those interested! Mark sold his first house on eBay in 2004 after he and his family moved from Georgetown, Colorado to Kansas. After a buyer for his house backed out, Mark decided to auction it on eBay with great success. He has some great experience with classified ad and auction formats on the site.Thanks for sharing that information Mark!
Here are links to Mark’s eBook and vFlyer:
NOTE: I am doing some informal surveys with Realtors who use eBay to sell homes and i will be publishing a full report once I am through, if you subscribe to our rss feed you’ll get updated once I post it, thanks!
Since the launch of our public beta of Watermark Plus, a number of users have asked us why some photos have an “Image Enhanced on vFlyer.com†inscribed in the lower left-hand corner of the photo and some don’t so I wanted to quickly explain the difference. Photo created by vFlyer Personal (free) users have the inscription but photos created by users who are subscribers (vFlyer Starter or above) don’t – hope that explains it.
June 20, 2007
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Recently ,while selling on eBay, I ran into a little know fact about eBay – it’s actually possible to use eBay to sell homes. I don’t mean auction homes (although you can do that too) – but sell them more traditionally by using the service simply to get exposure and generate leads! eBay supports formats other than auctions including fixed price and classified ad formats as explained in their helpful guide for those looking to use their service for the purpose of selling a home. |
The process is pretty straight forward:
- You create sign up for eBay
- You “Sell†your property using the the “ad format” option to generate leads
- It will cost you $150 for a 30 day listing or $300 for a 90 day listing
- Leads are routed to you via email
Home Seller Benefits
A benefit of using eBay is that your listing potentially gets exposed to 147 million potential regional, national and international buyers. According to eBay, there are now over 370,000 property page views each day. Additionally, they have great support for vFlyers. You can cut and paste your flyer and widget HTML directly into your eBay listing to create eye-catching ads.
Home Sellers Resources
If anyone has tried using eBay to sell a home let us know. We would love to hear about your experience.
June 19, 2007
Today I got yet an email from Jesse Williamson, CEO of Southwest Mortgage Partners who writes:
You guys are missing the boat not putting my industry in the drop downs. I use this for my agents to wow them but it would be nice to allow mortgage brokers to utilize this for their own advertisements.
I will expect a check in the mail for that one. 
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I have actually received a number of emails like this in the past from other mortgage brokers but today the light went off in my head – vFlyer for Mortgage Brokers - what a good idea, thanks Jesse – not sure I can send you a check, but hopefully a vFlyer in the email will do for now (using my nifty vFlyer Outlook Plugin)  Thanks as well to Jonathan Vetter of Mercury Lending who mentioned the same thing to me earlier this month – so the both of you share my great idea award.
So, to all you mortgage brokers out there who have played around with vFlyer, I need your help! Let me know what fields and attributes a mortgage broker would want on their vFlyer (and any other ideas you may have) and we’ll get working on it ASAP.
Our flexible (and powerful) platform makes it easy for us to create custom flyer types quickly! I will be sure to let you know as soon as this new category becomes available – but please, in the mean time – we need your input (Send emails to blog@vflyer.com) |
Last week, we started featuring interesting, funny or innovative flyers. Some users forget that we support over 40 different product categories – everything from homes to cars to pets to furniture! This week’s vFlyer of Week is in the funny category. It caught my attention because it was the first time I saw it being used to sell a chicken – actually to to be more accurate: find a good home for a rooster. Samantha of Leucadia, CA writes:
This White Silky rooster isn’t working in our coop, so it’s time for him to move on.
He is a rooster, and he “coc-a-doodles,” so he’s not suitable for a quiet suburb location where the houses are on top of one another.
He is nine months old, and goes free to a good home. (ie: No rooster-fighting or barbecues in his future).
So if you know anyone who needs a pet rooster, please pass it along!
According to a recent data from the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) indicate that of the $7.8 billion spent on advertising by auto dealers in 2006, 11.5% was spend on online marketing and competition is on the rise! Although dealer sites received more visitors in 2006 then in 2005 (320 per month in ‘06 versus 228 per month in ‘05), conversion rates to sales dropped (from 26.4% in 2005 to 19.2% in 2006 for both unqualified and qualified leads). The most common customer gripes were slow dealer response rates and the poor quality of information
Improving conversion rates continues to be one of the most important topics facing auto dealers and online sellers alike. In the next couple of days, I will try and share some pointers on how you can improve your conversion rates using vFlyer!
June 18, 2007
Since launching vFlyer, we have gotten multiple requests for custom themes (see Example). In the past, our professional services organization has built a dozen or so of these for some of our bigger customers.
Last night, we release the first in a batch of premium themes for real estate (other industries will follow) aimed at provide broker-specific themes for all subscribers (you must be have at least vFlyer Starter account to access them – so now is a good time to upgrade). In the first batch, we have themes for REMAX, Prudential, Coldwell Banker and Alain Pinel agents to use in order to promote their brands and their listings through vFlyer, on blogs like Activerain, and on local classified ad sites like Craigslist and Backpage.
If you think your firm should be on this list, let us know (or better still, let them know). If there are enough vFlyers users from your firm, we’ll be more than glad to creating a premium theme just for you (Email us at blog@vflyer.com). Check out some of the new premium themes for yourself:
In addition to real estate and auto, motorcycles are another popular category on vFlyer! Last week we started highlighting flyers on the blog, this week I ran into a couple more Watermark Plus images I wanted to share. This weeks image comes from Jason Siegel of Honda Northwest. Jason has been using vFlyer for a couple of weeks after seeing us on Craigslist.
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omuoto @ 3:17 am 
asperling @ 4:42 pm 
