Realtors - 3 Easy Steps to a Steady Supply of Online Leads

by Stan Smith

Your website is packed with information. Potential clients are showing up and spending time reading your helpful tips on home buying and selling. But you have a problem. You don’t know who they are and if they will come back.

Not anymore.

In this article you will learn a simple and affordable way to stay in touch with your website visitors and encourage repeat visitors.

Recent customers have shown that 64% of the people who visit your site will need to visit your site multiple times before they are comfortable contacting you. Your visitors like the anonymity of the web because it allows them to browse without having to make a commitment to an agent. However, at some point you will need to break the veil of anonymity and get their name and email address. Successfully getting permission to stay in contact with your visitors - keeps many realtors up at night. I will show you how Master Internet Realtors flood their contact database with hot leads - with just a couple hours worth of work. Let’s get started: Your potential clients are hungry for information. As a matter of fact - they are constantly afraid that they are “missing something”. Many visitors will visit your site multiple times to make sure that they have all the latest information. Here’s how you can use this bit of intelligence to your advantage. Step #1: Create A Home Buying Mini-Course: Right now, write 5-6 emails that contain helpful information for the homebuyer. You will be sending each of these emails in succession. Email #1 will go out immediately when your lead signs up for the course. Email #2 will go out a couple of days letter, followed by the third email and so on. Resource Tip: Go to
www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles.htm and go to the article “100 Questions and Answers for the Homebuyer”. I suggest dividing this free to reprint article into 10 separate emails and using them as the basis for your Mini-Course. Step #2: Automate the entire process by using a autoresponder service. By now you know that I am a big fan of automating as much of your online business as possible. Some of the realtors that I work with have hundreds of people visit their site every day. If they had to send out each of their mini-course emails by hand, they will be spending all day just on email! An autoresponder gets the information from your PopUp window, saves the leads name and email in a database, and starts sending them the information you creates - automatically. The autoresponder that I use can send out an unlimited amount of messages and can time them to go out on a regular interval. You can check out my autoresponder suggestions at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com/autoresponder Your autoresponder instructions will show you how to cut and paste a contact form right into your PopUp window. This will allow your site to collect the leads information, enroll them in your mini-course and start sending out their timed messages. You will also need to load your autoresponder with the emails that you created in Step #1. Again, your autoresponder will come with instructions that will walk you through the process. I also include a in-depth walkthrough of how to use your autoresponder in Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed. Step #3: Create a PopUp Window that will appear when a person clicks away from your site. If you have a problem with using PopUp I suggest reading my article “Realtors - Give Your Website a Success Makeover” (www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles.htm ). This PopUp will invite the person if they would like to receive your free home buying email course. In my tests I see at least 25% of site visitors submit their name and email to get the course. You’re done! Your PopUp window will attract the attention of visitors as they exit your site. They will sign up to receive your home buying (or home selling) mini-course. And your autoresponder will send them a series of helpful emails - building your relationship with your prospective client. The beauty of this system is that its automatic. Here’s the benefit to you. After you’ve set up this process you will start to see your lead database filling up rather quickly. And without lifting a finger, your autoresponder will be sending your leads a steady supply of helpful information. With each email, your prospects trust in you goes up. Now here is the most important part of the entire process: Ask for permission to contact your lead by phone. On every email that you send let the prospect know that you will be happy to give them a call when they are ready to take the next step. Include in each email a link to your site’s contact page. It is absolutely critical that you always try to get permission to call. The goal is to get in person-to-person contact as soon as you can. Good news - now the entire process for converting visitors from anonymous browsers to hot leads is automated. You now have the time to turn to concentrate on generating more traffic to your website. *************************************** Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead -generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide - written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com Stan Smith may be contacted at
http://www.RealtorInternetTips.com stanhome@terrasimarketing.com. Click here to view more of their articles. How some realtors are using the web to make a fortune Stan Smith has cracked their code so that you can learn their secrets and boost your business practically overnight. Free Details –>
www.RealtorInternetTips.com Free Email Course –> mailto: realtorsample@getresponse.com | Real Estate Web Marketing Club –>
www.Realtor-Web-Club.com

Messaging Software Articles

How to Organize Your Email Without Losing It

By Herman Drost

Do you often get bogged down with too much email to handle, chewing up your valuable time online? With email being one of the most popular forms of online marketing you can be sure you are going to receive much more email in the future, wanted and unwanted. Picture this scenario:

You receive 40 new emails in your inbox each day:

1. 10 are from personal friends.

2. 10 are requests for more information from potential clients.

3. 10 are new newsletters that must be read.

4. 10 are junk mail

Suggested Email Software

So how do you deal with it?

1. Create different email addresses using domain forwarding. If you have your own web site, your web host allows you to forward all your email from your domain (domain forwarding) to an outside address (ie james@aol.com). This is called your “catch all” address ie set up your email aliases (info@yourdomain.com, sales@yourdomain.com etc) so when you receive email from any of these, they will be forwarded to your “catch all” address. The limitation of this method is that you can’t send email from your alias addresses. It can only be sent form your “catch all” email address.

2. Set-up separate email accounts. To also send mail from each new email address, you need to set up a separate email account for each address. Usually your web host will give you a number of free email (called POP3) accounts that come with your hosting package. Create a new email account for different categories ie firstname@yourdomain.com - for emailing your personal friends. newsletters@yourdomain.com - for subscribing to newsletters. articles@yourdomain.com - for submitting articles. ads@yourdomain.com - for advertising information ads1@yourdomain.com - a public email address you use for forums, newsgroups and SPAM. If the spam gets too much you can dispose of this address and set-up a new one.

3. Create new inboxes for each of these separate email accounts. Set-up your corresponding email accounts (as above) in your email software (ie outlook express, eudora etc). You will need this information: incoming mail (POP3) = mail.yourdomain.com - incoming mail server (SMTP) = mail.yourdomain.com or your ISPs - outgoing mail server. account name = newsletters@yourdomain.com password = the password you select Do this for each of each of your email accounts.

4. Create folders and subfolders in your inbox. ie newsletters - marketing tips newsletter - web design newsletter - forum newsletter This allows you to immediately categorize your incoming email by dragging and dropping it into each of these subfolders. Now you know instantly where to retrieve your past correspondence.

5. Set-up filters (message rules) for receiving different emails. Most email clients have filters or message rules you can set-up to filter your incoming email. For example to make sure you don’t ever receive emails from a specific email address again, you can block the sender. To do this in outlook express, highlight the email address you received, go to message - block sender. That’s it! For a more extensive tutorial on setting up extensive message rules in outlook express, go to:
http://familyinternet.about.com/library/weekly/aa020603a.htm

6. Periodically delete your received email. Soon you will get into the habit of automatically hitting the delete button as you recognize email that is obviously spam. This means your inbox will fill up very quickly with deleted email and will slow down your email software. Therefore clean out your inbox at the end of every day. In Part 2 of this article, I’ll go more deeply into how you can effectively deal with spam. This will help you to be more organized, save time, frustration and enable you to be more efficient in your online marketing adventures.

About the author:

Herman Drost is the author of the NEW ebook “101 Highly Effective Strategies to Promote Your Web Site” a powerful guide for attracting 1000s of visitors to your web site.
http://www.isitebuild.com/web-site-promotion Subscribe to his “Marketing Tips” newsletter for more original articles.

Realtors - Give Your Website a Success “Makeover”

by Stan Smith

You know something is wrong - but you just quite can’t put your finger on it. You visit other realtor’s websites and you have to admit to yourself that your website wouldn’t take the blue ribbon at the Miss Website USA pageant. If this is sounds like you - then this article will give you the tips you need to give your website a “Success Makeover”

Makeover Tip #1: Less is More!

The difference between a professional-looking website and an eyesore can be measured by the amount of fluff on the homepage. Websites that have flashy color schemes, blinking animation, and a grab-bag of fonts are quickly dismissed by web visitors as unprofessional and perhaps a little incompetent. However websites with subtle color schemes, consistent font usage and a clean, easy to understand layout are greeted with enthusiasm and trust by web visitors.

Here is what you should look for:

- Color Preferences o Select colors that convey professionalism, integrity, competence and trust. The colors that do the best job at doing this are blue, green, white, tan and maroon (avoid fire engine red it tends to excite rather than relax) o Colors to avoid would be: Black (too dark), Yellow (strains the eyes), Grey (too drab and institutional), and Purple (gaudy). Any colors that you are unsure of - discard. Your instincts are usually right.

- No Background Textures o Avoid putting watermarks, patterns or textures in the background. These designs tend to make the screen busy and hard to read. If your visitors have to strain to read your website - they will click away.

- Minimize the Use of Large Graphics on Your Homepage o Pictures slow the download time of your website. Studies show that you have 3-6 seconds to catch your visitor’s attention before they click away. You don’t want to waste this precious window of opportunity on flashy pictures or animation. The only pictures that I would put on your homepage would be your “Featured Homes” photos. These pictures are useful and are great attention grabbers. Just make sure that their file size is as small as you can get while still maintaining their quality.

Special Note:

This is a sensitive subject so I will be blunt and move on: Don’t put your picture on your website unless you have an absolutely great picture. Enough said.

Makeover Tip #2: Make Your Website Easy To Browse

Save the complicated navigation schemes and avant-garde link placements to the “Fashion” websites. Your website should be a lesson in simplicity. Here is what you should look for:

- Put your main navigation on the left-side of the page.

Here’s why: People have been trained to looking for navigation links on the left hand side o Left-hand navigation will definitely show up on the screen. Navigation placed on the right hand side can be clipped off the screen and links on the bottom may not show unless the user scrolls down. I strongly recommend that you use simple text links. While picture links may look cute, they are hard to update and sometimes are hard to understand. Again, the simpler the better.

- Divide your home page into three easily identifiable areas.

Here are the areas:

One area for Buyers - This section has everything that a home buyer would need to research a new home purchase

One area for Sellers - This section is the home sellers information “paradise” .

One area for “Featured Homes” - This section has the necessary photo eye-candy to get the home buyers dreaming about their new home purchase. It also shows prospective listers how well you market your homes. - Your homepage should link to the following pages:

About Me: Don’t make the mistake of putting your resume on the homepage. Frankly, new visitors to your website are not interested in you - yet. They want to get educated on the listings in your market. Once they have their information appetite satisfied they will focus on you.

MLS Listings: Create a nice neatly-laid out page for your MLS listings. I don’t put this information on the homepage because this information tends to overwhelm the first-time visitor who would like to get oriented before they plunge into the website. However make sure your link to your MLS listing is prominently displayed on your homepage. o Partner Links: Build another page that will showcase businesses to which you would like to send referrals. I will talk more about the hidden benefits of this link page in just a moment.

Makeover Tip #3:

Pack your website with information. Homebuyers and sellers are the most information-hungry consumers known to man. And for good reason, their home purchase will probably be the largest financial transaction they will ever make!

So the typical homebuyer spends weeks researching the details of the home buying process. But, if you would take a quick look at most realtors’ websites, they have little to no information on buying or selling a home! Most realtor websites are listing heavy and information light - a definite no-no. Let me tell you why an information-packed website does well:

- Search Engines Love Websites with Relevant and Helpful Information. Search engine designers put a great deal of pride on their search engine’s ability to give relevant and helpful results. As a result, they reward websites with lots of helpful information with high rankings in their search engine.

If your website is packed with free articles, tools, and tips - it will naturally do better on the search engines. If you would like to learn about some other proven search engine tips - check out our new eBook “Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed” at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com - An info-packed website gets more repeat visitor. People will come to rely on your website for information and come back for more. And the more they come back the more chances you have to convert them into clients. You can learn more about how to create high-performing Real Estate Websites by enrolling in my Realtor Internet Tip Mini-Course - by sending a blank email to realtortips@getresponse.com

Makeover Tip #4:

Create A Referral Generating Links Page I teach in my book that generating a steady stream of online referrals is critical to putting your real estate business on auto-pilot. The best way to get online referrals is to create a Resource Link page. This page is simply a page that has links to other businesses that complement your own.

These companies could be:

Home inspectors

Home Appraisers

Title Companies

Mortgage Brokers

Landscaping Companies

Cleaning Services

Attorneys

Tax Accountants

These companies would love to have a link on your site and they would also be willing to put your site in their link page as well. All you have to do is ask! I’ve seen realtors generate dozens of hot-leads a week just by putting building and promoting their Resource Link page. Learn more about this at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Suggested Real Estate Resources

Makeover Tip #5:

Use PopUp Windows to Build Your Contact Database Wait! Before you run me out of town, let me tell you why your site should have at least one PopUp. First, to cut directly to the point - pop-up windows work! When used responsibly they can double the amount of leads you get from your website every day. I know that some people find them annoying, but I’ve often been submitted my name to receive information - as I was leaving the site. I didn’t feel annoyed, I felt good that I could quickly and easily get information that I felt was valuable. Guess what? Many of your site’s visitors will fill the same way. Imagine that they’ve spend 15-20 minutes at your site reading and collecting information.

As they leave, a popup window appears letting them know that they can receive a mini-course on how to successfully sell their home. Do you think they will be annoyed? Absolutely not!. Remember, people get annoyed with popup windows that have nothing to do with the reason they are at the site. For example, if I am at a parenting site learning about child development, and a popup window selling discount oil changes appears - I will be annoyed. If a popup window providing a free child development chart appears - I am grateful. So I suggest that you find or create a piece of information that you can give away (if you need some ideas check out
www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles.htm ).

In return, ask the visitor to submit their first name and email address. Use this information to send them their free information - and stay in contact with them. Realtors who use this popup window technique quickly fill their contact database with email addresses of warm to hot leads. They then use this information to stay in-touch with the lead until they are ready to buy; A great way to convert site visitors into clients. By the way, don’t worry if you don’t know how to create popup windows. We’ve provided a list of resources that you can use on
www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles/popup.htm

About the Author:

Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead -generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide - written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Realtors - A Tidal Wave Is About to Hit - Are You Ready?

by Stan Smith

I couldn’t believe my eyes. The number was staggering.

You will doubt what you are about to see - but it is a cold hard fact. Today - 24,180,000 (that’s right - 24 million) people are researching their next home purchase on the Internet. Sit down; wipe your glasses if you must - because you just got a wake-up call.

Right now, only 43% of realtors have websites. This means that 24 million homebuyers are gathering information from roughly 200,000 realtor (don’t be impressed - this is just a drop in the bucket) websites. I smell an opportunity and so should you. On one hand you have 24 million homebuyers (US) and on the other hand just 200 thousand realtors are chasing them.

I have news for you - these 200,000 realtors are going to make some serious commissions in the next 3 years. Here’s why. Internet homebuyers spend more money on their home and close the deal quicker. If there is such a thing as a dream lead - this was it.

In my book, I explain how to prosper in this new Internet marketplace. I’m used to dealing with the rapid changes that the Internet has caused in the Real Estate marketplace. But I have to admit - I got caught flat-footed on this one. Today 24 million people are online searching for a new home - amazing.

Today is Saturday, Here’s is what I will be telling the Realtors that I coach on Monday.

1. Build A Website - I don’t care if it is a great one - I can help with that - but get your hat in the ring now. Cash is literally laying in the streets.

2. Include your Website in every piece of sales literature you have. According to a recent NAR study 67% of homebuyers believe that the Internet saves them time in their home search. Providing your email address is a excellent way to show that you are web savvy.

3. Learn to love Email and the World Wide Web - Technology savvy realtors make $22,600 more than their non-internet savvy colleagues.

Suggested Real Estate Books

4. Learn how to attract Internet Homebuyers to your website.

Visiting
www.RealtorInternetTips.com is a great start. I would also visit
www.Realtor.Org to get the information you need to educate yourself on adding the Web to your marketing mix. Top Real Estate professionals predict that by 2005 - 97% of commissions will be earned by just 3% of realtors. If you want to know how this will happen - just take a long hard look at your computer. Right now - millions of dollars are being made by just having a
www address. Right now, you should start to tingle - just a bit. Let me explain what that “tingle” is all about. If you know how to pick the right web address for your site, if you know how to pick keywords that get you top search engine listings, if you know how to build a website that appeals to buyers and sellers, then that tingle my friend - is excitement. If you have any doubt in your website’s ability to bring you red-hot leads - that tingle is one of anxiety. If you tingle is anxiety - go back to the list I laid out and put a plan in action. The opportunity is too great to ignore.

About the Author:

Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead -generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide - written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Messaging Software Articles

Fast Forward Your Business with Instant Messaging

By Lee Traupel

Instant Messaging is rapidly becoming accepted in the business community as a viable communications tool and process - it’s faster than e-mail, free on the client side, even a novice user can easily grasp the interface in just a few minutes and it enables remote workers and business partners to “talk” and share files and information effortlessly using the in-place infrastructure of the internet. Its mushrooming in popularity too - according to IDC, corporate and general business users will jump from 5.5M in 2001 to close to 200M by 2004.

What are some of the pitfalls and concerns you need to have when assessing and integrating Instant Messaging (”IM” another biz acronym) with your business processes? Be aware you are sending clear text messages over the public Internet - so all IM technology is inherently insecure. Privacy issues can also be raised - these messages are typically archived via the IM servers of the company whose services you are using and can be made public at a later date. Anyone with a network scanner may have access to and be reading your messages and if your are downloading files, you need to ensure your anti-virus software is setup to scan these files when you open them.

One of the biggest pitfalls of the technology and process is that it adds another communications layer to your busy day - but you can offset this by selecting or filtering who you communicate with at any point by using the IM interface to block all or selected individuals from “seeing” you when you are online.

Suggested Instant Messaging Software

Finally, like all things in today’s computer industry (or many) each of the Instant Messaging vendors are trying to build applications which don’t integrate with the other (no surprise here - arrogance has not faded away in the business community!). So, you need to assess the installed base of the market leaders and make a decision on which company’s product you want to utilized - my recommendation would be to review Microsoft’s or AOL/Time Warner’s products - their installed bases are in the 200 million users plus when combined (these numbers include consumer and business usage) and they both work well and have user interfaces that are intuitive.

There is one alternative company that is solving the “IM Tower of Babel” issues and claims to integrate well with all proprietary apps by utilizing XML technology, Jabber, Inc.,
www.jabber.com So, if interoptability is important to you then I would recommend assessing their products.

Most of the IM providers including Microsoft are integrating voice communications with their IM clients - you may be able to bypass your local telephone carrier at some point using this technology, but don’t bet on it anytime soon - all of those lobbyists here in the states need to keep generating fees on behalf of their telecom clients in Washington D.C. We use Microsoft’s IM product and we have upon occasion utilized the voice and video features (you must of course have a multimedia setup for your PC and camera) and they do work. Although the video quality is a little jerky and the voice is akin to the old Citizens Band (”CB”) radio - your Internet connection impacts the quality of both.

Whose technology do you choose? There are some clear market leaders in the Instant Messaging marketing including Microsoft (no surprise here)
http://messenger.microsoft.com But, like most Microsoft technology/tools you pay a price for the software/services, albeit a small one. You have to register with Microsoft’s NET Passport
www.microsoft.com/myservices/passport service which is designed to be a universal login - this only takes a few minutes but be forewarned they also try to get you to setup a Hot Mail account, but you can work around this.

The other dominant IM product is AOL’s ICQ product
http://web.icq.com - it has similar functionality as Microsoft’s application. A great Israeli company, Mirabellis, Inc., subsequently acquired by AOL, developed the original technology. My chief complaint with this product is the irritating banner ads that AOL keeps pushing at you when you are utilizing their product. But, it’s a small price to pay for a free product on the client side.

Yahoo also has an IM product (”Yahoo Messenger”) but I am not convinced this will stay as a core part of their business, as they appear to be still trying to figure out what they are going to become in the post “.com gold rush era” market; i.e. Portal, Directory, Media giant, software/services company, etc. And, they’ve certainly jettisoned parts of their business the last 12-18 months and I would wager they’ve had discussions about getting out of the IM business. Finally, IM is also quickly moving into other markets and devices including PDAs and Pagers - if you’re a real geek and you can’t stand to be out of touch while your in the shower and you have a water proof device you can ping away. But, I think we all need some down time for friends and family, but wanted to make sure I covered all possible bases with this column - until next time!

About the author:

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience - he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc.
http://www.intelective.com, a marketing services and software company which provides strategic and tactical marketing services exclusively to small to medium sized companies.

Getting Real About Real Estate

by Steven Mattos

Buying real estate is a complex process, with lots of ‘nickel and dime’ fees. But what is the biggest fee that is actually REDUCEABLE, 97% of us don’t even question it?

You got it: The real estate agent’s commission. What I’m going to share with you is what every agent doesn’t want you to know. It won’t make me popular with agents, buy hey - this is YOUR wealth at stake.

It’s an amazingly ignored fact, but true: Real estate agent fees are negotiable. In my area of California, it’s typical that real estate agents take 6% of the sale price! And honestly folks, there are many great real estate agents out there. Some of my best friends, and two of my family members are agents. BUT…do they really deserve 6%? I think not!

Think about it. When I bought my first property, I plunked down $225,000. The agents walked away with $13,500! Just for looking on a computer to pull up why I told them I wanted, and driving me around to look at a few homes.

Don’t get me wrong - agents can provide an invaluable service, especially in competitive bid situations or complex real estate deals (which often an attorney will be involved with - and can be hired separately). The typical home purchaser, or seller, may not need these services.

Today is different. The multiple listing service (know as MLS listings) is commonly available on the web. There are web sites that search for exactly what you want! Need 2000 square feet? 3 bedrooms, 2 baths? A certain zip code for a residence? No problem. A few keystrokes and your list of dream homes is there on your computer, with pictures! (see resources below).

Now I just need an agent to open the door and show me around - but do I? Many sellers will be interested in showing you their home without an agent, especially in these lean times when so many sellers are motivated to make deals.

Remember that home for $225000? Some years later I sold it for much more as the market value had appreciated. BUT - I used a fixed fee broker to list my home (you can buy homes through these folks too.)

This time, it only cost me $2,000 to sell my house!

Which would you rather pay, $13,500 or $2,000? Tough choice eh?

Many companies have popped up to help owners and buyers connect, and save on fees. Many options exist, so do your homework before enlisting your next agent:

· Ask yourself is there another way to buy or sell a home

· Check the web for resources

· Look for agents and brokers the specialize in a set or reduced commission

· Look for private investors, they often buy and sell real estate at a discount

· Ask your agent for a discount (very realistic these days compared to the “boom years” of yesterday)

· Do your diligence: Talk to your attorney, accountant, and tax professionals about your choices before you make them.

About the Author:

Go for it!
http://www.massagehome.com/grs Steven enjoys writing and teaching others on the special topics of wealth, health, and human potential. Steve left a lucrative career in biotechnology to fully pursue his passions in 2000. Now he writes, trains, and coaches full time in San Jose, CA.

How to Build Your Online Real Estate Business

by Caterina Christakos

Building your online real estate business takes more than designing a pretty website. It takes research, creativity, and dedication. The first thing that you need to decide on, before you build a single page of your web site is:

What is my niche?

Attempting to be the number one real estate site on the net is almost impossible. Instead we recommend that you find a highly profitable niche within the real estate market and make it your own. Once that niche proves its profitability you can begin mining some of the other real estate niches. Create your real estate online presence niche by niche and you have a real shot at drawing eager, paying customers to your business. How do you know which niche to start with?

Research.

Go to pay per click search engines and use their key word tools to see how many times each key word, phrase or niche is looked up monthly. Then find out the exact key words that people use to look up the niche you want to tap. If there are enough searches for that target market then proceed to step two. Look online and see how many other web sites focus on that niche. How many sites will you be competing against? Keep searching and testing until you find a sought after niche that hasn’t been discovered by many of your competitors.

Once you find your niche, you can think about designing your web site, using the keyword phrases that you have found to be profitable. Use them in your domain name, your title, your meta tags and within the content of your site.

About the Author:

For more real estate design and marketing tips go to:
http://www.webpagedesignerforrealestate.com Caterina Christako. Written by Caterina Christakos (c)2001 for more writing tips check out:
http://www.howtowriteachildrensbook.com

How To Get Top Listings For Your Real Estate Web Site

by Stan Smith

Search engines are a key tool in the Internet Realtor’s arsenal. The effective use of search engines can insure that your website gets a steady stream of traffic.

The Pay per Click Advantage: The old way to getting the top listing on search engines required hours of tedious programming work - with no guaranteed results. Now, a new breed of search engines have made it easier to get the #1 listing for your category by using a time-honored technique - the good old auction.

These new search engines allow you to select the keyword the best described your service and allows you to bid on the top spot. For example if you sell pet food - you can buy the keyword pet food. Now, everyone that enters the search term will see your website listing first.

There’s a twist though. If your keyword is popular you could end up paying as much as $5.00 per click for the #1 spot. If your keyword is searched once every blue moon - you would pay as little as .05 cents a click.

I like pay per click engines such as Overture.com because if I invest in the top spot for my sites, then my site will be listed #1 on Yahoo, MSN and Google which represents roughly 80% of the web audience.

Another advantage is that sites like Overture.com keeps track of how many people actually searches specific terms. This means that you can find out the potential audience for your search term before actually bidding. This gives you the opportunity to search for niche terms that get a lot of traffic but have gone unnoticed by your competitors. These keywords are like winning lottery tickets and I never launch a site unless I can find the “magic word” .

You can check out the Overture Term Suggestion Tool by visiting
www.overture.com and going to the Advertiser Tools section. Look around a bit and you will find the Term Suggestion Tool (overture moves the link around a lot). In my book Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed, I walk you through a fool-proof way to find your Magic Search word and how to use it to generate high-quality hot leads to your website. You can check it out at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Search Engine 101: Search engines are the most sophisticated and useful tool on the Web today. Search Engines are the phone book and tour guide of the web - directing millions of users a day to their preferred destinations. An estimated 80% of all web traffic is routed through search engines - making them a valuable tool for web users. Search Engines do their job by periodically visiting every web site on the web and indexing them. The grunt work is done by small automated programs called spiders that crawl the web looking for new sites. These spiders gather information about the sites they visit and relay it back to “Search Central” for cataloging. Sites are catalogued using a super sophisticated and super secretive algorithm. This algorithm spits out a ranking for your web site and voila your #1 or #2000. Right now, there are millions of super smart people trying to crack the code for these algorithms.

Keeping it simple, amazingly enough is the best strategy for consistently getting ranked in the Top 10. I talk a little more about this in the next section.

Making Your Site Search Engine Friendly: Without getting too technical there are a few ways that you can tune up your realtor site for the search engines. Here are some quick tips:

- Make sure you use the word Real Estate or Homes in the title of each of your web pages. The title of each of your pages can be seen in the top-most blue bar (in Internet Explorer). Also, it helps tremendously if your page title includes the same keyword that you are bidding on in the Pay Per Click Search Engine.

- Choose text over graphics. Search engines are automated indexers who love words. The more words you give them the better the like your site. Real Estate sites that have large page-smothering graphics will always rank lower than sites that have descriptive text talking about real estate and selling homes.

- Alt-Tag your pictures. When you place a picture of your homes on your site - always add an “alternate description” to the picture. This description will be shown even if your picture doesn’t load correctly. In fact, some search engines regard descriptive alt-tags as a plus in their ranking calculations.

- Fill Your Keyword Meta-Tag: Make a least of 10-15 keywords that describe your site and include these keywords in the keyword meta-tag on your site. Caution - don’t stuff this tag with hundreds of keywords. This tactic worked in 1996 but it doesn’t work now - in fact most search engines will ignore the tag if it is “stuffed” with random keywords.

Telling the World Your Open for Business: Ok. You’ve found a great keyword in Overture and made your web site absolutely irresistible to the search engine spiders. Now it’s time to submit your real estate lead generation site. Now I know there are tons of free search engines out their and if you want to submit to them that’s fine. However, I’ve found the vast majority of search engines to be a waste of time because they just don’t get any traffic. I recommend concentrating your efforts on Overture.com, Google and if you have $300.00 to invest - on Yahoo. Here’s a hot tip, almost everyone uses Google’s search engine listings. So submitting your site to Google will give you the best bang for your buck, especially because it’s free (for the moment). Search Engine NO-NO Here are some search engine tactics some realtors use that don’t work and can even get your site banned by the search engines!

1. Submitting to FFA (Free For All) Sites - FFA sites are pages that allow you to list your site for free in return for your email address. Millions of hapless users submit their site to these pages in the hopes of getting quick traffic. These sites have been proven not to work and are generally considered a nuisance. So much so that if a search engine sees your site listed on a FFA site it might get banned. So avoid FFA sites all together.

2. Hidden Text - Some believe that they can trick the search engines into ranking their site highly by repeating a popular keyword hundreds of times. They change the keyword’s font color to the background color of the site - making the word invisible. The search engines know of this tactic and they have programmed their spiders to ignore the junk keywords and in some cases blacklist the site.

3. Constant Resubmissions - Once you have submitted your site your done. Constantly resubmitting your site is considered to be a form of spam by many search engines which could lead to your site being banned. Only resubmit your site if your site drops drastically in the rankings or if you radically chance the content on your site.

4. Using exotic techniques like cloaking and doorway pages. These techniques are used to fool the search engine spiders into ranking your site highly. The problem with these techniques is that they require constant monitoring and carry the risk of your site getting permanently banned if you’re discovered. Don’t take the chance.

One last piece of advice; don’t spend too much time poring over your site’s search ranking. Improving your search engine rankings is just one key to the success of our Real Estate Lead Generation Web Site. You also need to make sure you have a good inventory of listings, a reliable method for converting lookers to buyers, and a effective referral system. All of these factors will insure the success of your web site - not just one. Good Luck!

About the Author:

Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead -generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide - written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at
www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Alternatives to Large Down Payments

by ajay Pats

The good news is you have many mortgage options. That’s also the bad news.

Selecting a mortgage is one of the biggest financial decisions an individual or family can make. It is crucial to see how your choice affects your total financial picture. Many borrowers shop just for the lowest rate on the loan program they think is right for them. The Internet has further turned mortgages into a commodity according to many. The lowest rate on the wrong program is far more costly than a competitive rate on the program that best suits your needs.

Rates are important, but you also need to consider a host of other variables, including taxes, term, fixed vs. adjustable, rate locks and, perhaps most importantly, the loan amount.

The size of the loan is perhaps the most frequently neglected question. Buyers commonly shy away from larger mortgages because they don’t understand the alternative uses of their money. Most people fear debt, sometimes to a fault.

Homebuyers often have better alternatives for their money than putting it toward the purchase of a house merely to cut the size of their mortgage. For example, many relatively safe tax-exempt bond funds pay a better after-tax return than you would get from paying down your mortgage.

A family in the 28 percent tax bracket actually earns 9.44 percent (after taxes are figured) on a municipal bond fund paying 6.8 percent. So at mortgage rates below 9.44 percent, you should consider taking out the biggest mortgage possible.

Home prices have escalated in recent years. Many homeowners find themselves with relatively small mortgages relative to the market value of their homes.

An example helps bring the point home.

You buy a home valued at $250,000. You can afford to put $150,000 down. That leaves you with a $100,000 mortgage at say 7.5 percent.

You could also put $50,000 down and take out a $200,000 mortgage. You could take that $100,000 of free cash and put it into a municipal bond fund yielding 6.8 percent. Youll probably end up making more money that way in the long run.

Look at it this way; the borrowed $100,000 would cost 7.5 percent minus the tax deduction (let’s say 28 percent) of 2.1 percent, netting the cost out to 5.4 percent. The difference between the two options (6.8 percent municipal bond and 5.4 percent net cost on the mortgage) is 1.4 percent.

The savings on $100,000 would be $1,400 per year. The higher the tax bracket the greater the savings. Be careful not to borrow more than 80 percent of the value of your home or you will need to pay a monthly private mortgage insurance premium that would negate the savings and is wasted money. The mortgage tax deduction ends at $1 million for first mortgage liens on primary residences. The tax deduction for second liens is capped at $100,000. Mortgage rates can be slightly higher for “jumbo” loan amounts, loans over $300,700. This is the current limit for “Jumbo” loan amounts.

Many other alternatives can be worthwhile. Paying off higher rate or non-deductible debt can save a lot of money. Individuals who have chosen more aggressive though riskier approaches have found them to be very profitable.

The S&P 500 stock index has averaged a return of about 15 percent per year for the past four years. After a capital gains bite, the net percentage earned after tax would be 12 percent. This is a much greater return than the 5.4 percent net cost of borrowing on your mortgage. In fact, the S&P 500 has averaged a greater than 15% return for the past 30years. That means your money should double every five years. This can have a dramatic effect over time. Lets look at a couple of examples:

I see many people using a home loan refinance to save money by lowering their monthly payment. Thats great, but the monthly savings is often spent frivolously and not used for a long term, meaningful investment like college or retirement. Think about keeping your payments the same but borrowing a higher amount. So if you owe $200,000 and are saving $200 monthly by refinancing, you could borrow $230,000 and keep the same payment. That $30,000 could be used to invest for your child’s college education. Based upon historic rates of return for the S&P 500, that $30,000 investment would be worth $240,000 in 15 years. Thats a great way to save for college.

A mortgage is typically the largest single financial move people make and should be the centerpiece of any good financial plan. Use it to create wealth for yourself. Lets say you planned to take out a loan of $200,000 on a home worth $350,000. If you make a down payment of just $100,000, you can invest the extra $50,000. At an historic rate of return of 15% annually, that $50,000 investment would be worth around $400,000 in 15years. That’s enough to pay off the mortgage completely in half the time and give yourself a bonus of $215,000. That is a nice way to reach your retirement goals.

A mortgage can be a great financial tool. It should not be obtained the same way you buy a book online. It’s your money.

About the Author:

Ajay Patole is a qualified management professional working as sales manager and runs a site ‘Venturemall’,a cool hangout to play money games,buy and sell in auctions,date and photochat.It is available at URL
http://venturemall.tripod.com and newsletter to rediscover true colors of life at
http://www.topica.com/lists/venturemall.

 

How to Shop Around for a Loan or Mortgage

Before you start shopping around, you need to establish exactly what you want so that you do not waste your time looking at deals that will not benefit you. You should also learn how to compare loans or choose what features of the loan package are important to you.

The first step is to ask your friends or family for recommendations of lenders. Then contact several lenders and let them know that you’re shopping around for the best rates. You may want to discuss your needs with banks, credit unions, mortgage companies and brokers. Comparing loan plans will help you get a better deal.

Your next step is to read expert opinions in national newspapers and magazines. These publications usually publish editorials that rate mortgage and loan deals from various banks and lenders. This information will give you a good idea of what to expect.

1. Loan Comparison Websites

Some web sites offer services that allow you to compare thousands of loan deals from different lenders. All you have do to is, enter a few details about the kind of loan you’re looking for and their software will produce a list of lenders based on your search parameters. You can then contact the lenders that you’re interested in. This is one of the fastest and easiest ways to shop around for a loan. The only disadvantage with this approach is that some of the web sites that offer this service only show results from lenders who have paid to be included or from whom they receive commissions.

2. The Major Banks and Finance Companies

Visit the web sites of most of the major banks and find out if they have any special offers. You can do this easily by making a list of all the banks and building societies that you know and visiting their websites and taking note of their rates for the mortgage deals that interest you.

3. Brokers

You can also get a loan deal through a broker. Most independent brokers investigate all the loan deals on offer from every lender in the market to find the best for you. Some brokers only choose from a selection of lenders so check how independent the broker is before applying. If you do not want to go directly to the lender for a mortgage, you can approach an advisor or a broker to search the market for the best deals. So if you want to get the best deal on a mortgage or personal loan, you can either shop around yourself or you can use the services of an independent broker. Using the methods outlined above you should be able to find a deal that’s right for you. About the Author

Suggested Real Estate Books

About the Author:

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