Advanced Access Blog

Wow, it’s been a tough week so far. Ups and downs in the market have a lot of people very nervous about making certain investments, such as purchasing a home.

Is it the right time to buy? Should the real estate market just duck and cover until this all “blows over”? Or is now the time to persevere and keep building your business?

I hope that no matter your political and economical outlook you still continue to improve your marketing strategy. It’s never the wrong time to make sure all your ducks are in a row.

Over the last few weeks I’ve written to you about overcoming some of the obstacles in the way of your online success. I talked about lack of time, wondering where to begin improvements, and how to write content for your real estate website.

One of the biggest roadblocks to success can actually be your clients. In these times it can be difficult to overcome a potential buyer’s qualms about purchasing real estate.

We sent an email last week inviting you to download a free buyer report which gives potential buyers ten reasons to buy now. We see that thousands of you have already taken advantage of this free report. Advanced Access will always try to find ways to help you grow your business both online and offline.

I encourage you to download the report from our website if you haven’t already. Please refer to the email we sent you to download the report without completing a form or visit http://www.advancedaccess.com and complete the form to download your free report. You can never have too much help marketing your services!

And now, you promote, promote, promote! Use the advice from this blog, and especially the most recent tips to get everything in order.

Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of.
- Charles Richards

Trulia.com allows you to add open house times to your listings. You can do this with any listing already on Trulia, or use their single listing submission form to add the listing and open house information.

Click for instructions for submitting open house info.

Remember that Trulia is one of our syndication partners. The best way to get your listings exported to Trulia is entering as much information as possible for each listing you add to your Advanced Access website.

I just wanted to give a “shout out” (again) to George and Suzie Crudo - our two-time winner of the Most Impressive Real Estate Website contest! They have been featured in RISMEDIA Magazine, and on the RISMEDIA website… here’s the link, check it out!

Congrats George and Suzie!

Many of us have been communicating online for several years - others of us have only just begun using basic online tools. When you consider how long you’ve been using various forms of online communication as it relates to the span of your years, it is most likely just a drop in the bucket. My point is, it’s probably a newer experience for you than you may even realize.

I have spoken with many people who get overwhelmed by feeling inexperienced with the Internet and technology. The quickest way I have found to ease this apprehension is to remind them how good they are at all the other things they do in their business to be successful. Everything they need will come from this foundation. That’s what we’re going to do today - get over the “I don’t get it” hurdle with stuff that we do “get”.

Let’s forget the Internet altogether for a moment shall we? (I know, don’t faint, fan yourself or grab a cool drink, it’s going to be ok). But let’s just ignore the online world - pretend you are reading from an ancient manuscript book and let’s get down to business.

I am a potential client of yours who found you on the Inter- wait, we’re supposed to forget the Internet aren’t we? Well let’s not consider how I found you; I am magically in your office having a meeting because we have to ignore how I (and most clients) find you because that involves the Internet.

Ok… I’m in your office. What do you do then? Chances are you are going to be very comfortable answering all of my real estate questions, and you will not sit there worrying what to say to me. You will probably know of some properties on the market that will meet my needs, and you will even have plans forming for the sale of my home.

I appreciate all your assistance and have more questions about getting my home ready to sell. For example, I need to do some work on my home and need an honest contractor. Who can you recommend? I also need to ask if it’s a good idea to paint the house a darker color. Will that come out ok on photos? And, I almost forgot - what suggestions do you have for trying to “go green” a little bit to make my home more attractive to people?

That’s a lot of questions - and I’m sure you’ve heard all those and more. Sometimes, when you get the same question over and over you probably write down some answers and resources to help. Once it comes up enough you may even type up an info sheet for common topics to hand out to clients when they ask about those subjects. It’s a natural progression to having a streamlined business.

I’ve now left your office… you can finally get to work on your computer, which has an Internet connection. Oh that’s right, the Internet, let’s bring that back into the mix.

There are certain kinds of information that clients need which are universal - such as the questions I used in my example. And some which are less universal, but still common enough to be valuable. And what better place for this type of information than your real estate website?!

So what does the Internet and your website have to do with your business? Everything! Hopefully this helps paint a clearer picture for you about what to write about and why.

No magic, no special effects - just do what you do best.

This is the 2nd Marketing Tip in a series about overcoming obstacles that get in the way of making your real estate website a success.

Last week I wrote to you about time and how you can make some simple changes to make time to improve your website. I am sure you’ve all set aside some time to get working…

Now what do you do once you decide to work on your site? Once you’re sitting at your computer - what’s next?

I don’t know where to begin.

There have been times I have had a goal in mind, but I had no clue where to start myself on the path to seeing that goal through, so I didn’t do anything. I assume I am not the only one who has ever given up before I started.

Think of all the things you can accomplish with your real estate website if you push past that initial mental road block and try something new.

You don’t have to know everything there is to know before you get started. That’s one of the reasons you hired Advanced Access. We have been designing and hosting real estate websites for 10 years! Use us to your advantage.

What can we do for you? First, we can continue to publish helpful articles and email you tips on what to do. There isn’t a “right order” at this point, just taking one step at a time toward a more successful business. Don’t just file these away, take them in. I realize sometimes it’s difficult to take in so much at once - this is why our Marketing Tips are going to be a bit shorter from now on.

What else? We have online training classes with a live instructor to help you learn about the tools you have available and how to use them. We also have a Customer Support team available to you 7 days a week to answer any of your questions you have (even if you don’t know what to ask).

Let’s get a starting point for you…

Once a visitor reaches your website, what do you want them to do next? Do you want them to blindly contact you? You may get some people to do that, but they will likely be pretty unqualified leads. So you need to decide what you want your visitor to do, and how you want them to get to that point.

This is your first task - figure out why you have a real estate website and what kinds of leads you want contacting you. Next, you need to decide which way is the best way to get them there. Think of your “main attractions”, such as listings, and neighborhood info. How can you engage people while they are headed to those popular areas of your site?

I’ve gone over listings and content very recently and how to use them to your advantage. Re-read those tips and then make up a very basic “path” you want your visitors to follow. Next, use your content to guide them exactly where you want them to go. And don’t be afraid to change it up to figure out what works best for you.

I’ve found that the best way to overcome this particular obstacle of not knowing where to begin is simply understanding that having a successful real estate website doesn’t just happen, and certainly not overnight. It is a process that you keep reshaping as you go.

Get working on your plan for getting leads to contact you once they are on your site. We’ll work together on what to do next.

“Begin at the beginning…” - Lewis Carroll