Why this topic? Why this week?

I just looked at my own tax assessment and I decided to do something to get it changed.

Facebook Business Page or Real Estate Blog Sample Headline

Shocker- Challenging My Assessment Was Easy and Profitable

• I provided comps that were readily available
• I had my assessment reduced 20%
• It took less than 2 hours start to finish
• I’ll save about $2400

Your blog or Facebook Business Page should build your value to your clients and potential clients. A quick post like this works to build value. Help people make or save money and they will like you. They may even send you some business.

Here is what I did.

• Read my assessment letter
• Called the assessors office before the deadline
• Asked the person who answered the phone what I should do if I disagreed with my assessment
• Per the conversation I had with the person in the assessor’s office sent by email 3 comparables for the year prior supporting my case
• Had a phone call and an email back lowering my assessment by approximately 20%
• I celebrated
• Next I thought about what I could do with the information I learned

I hope this will help you personally and with your clients. It may not be so easy in every area but getting real estate taxes lowered is something you should know about, establishes your value and makes you a go to expert.

Make sure you post something like this on your real estate blog or Facebook business page and see the results.

To find out more about our Real Estate Facebook Business Pages or Blogs go to our main Next Level Solutions For Real Estate Website or call us at 877-832-6224.

The problem comes in (does it seem like there is always a problem with technology?) when trying to build the pages- things don’t always go smoothly. Try getting technical support! Phone support? What is that? Email support? Sometimes it is hard to express exactly what the problem is.

I have probably accumulated close to $1,000 in software and special themes to come up with the best possible way of building Custom Real Estate Facebook  Fan Pages. There is no one solution that is perfect. One thing is clear to me- once in a while I am going to need tech support.

Right now I am on 2 weeks of trying to get problems worked out on 2 separate pieces of software. The first one had phone support. Their phone support consists of letting you sit on hold with bad music interrupted by periodic messages saying try our knowledge base (non existent) or use the form on their website. Why do they need to know the middle name of my second son before I can submit the form? After 43 minutes of musical torture I went the form route. Now I get 1 email per day suggesting I try something I tried a week ago. I respond I tried that and get another email from some foreign country suggesting I try something else which I have tried.

My other software had a much more enthusiastic attempt to resolve my problem however they never quite understood my problem and started to imply I had diminished IQ (possible but not verified).

Neither one of my software problems were resolved. They were replaced!

Where is this post headed?

• We offer phone support and you always talk to me
• We offer email support and if we don’t understand the problem- call us
• We test our products fully before we offer them to you
• We speak your language
• We understand your business

If you want Custom Real Estate Facebook Fan Pages- call us we can help!

Today I have 3 quick tips for Custom Facebook Pages for Realtor’s users. These are very simple but if you don’t know about them they can drive you crazy.

Problem 1- People can only see my fan page when they are signed into Facebook. I thought Fan Pages also known as Business Pages are supposed to be viewable whether you are signed into Facebook or not!

Solution-  This one is easy. While using Facebook as a Fan Page click on Edit Page, go to manage permissions, make sure Age Restrictions are set to Anyone 13+. If the setting has a higher age limit  Facebook won’t let your “adult” real estate contact be viewable outside Facebook. Once you are logged in Facebook knows your age!

Problem 2- The address of my real estate fan page is too long. I see other agents who have much shorter addresses

Solution- In order to get a shorter address like facebook.com/RealEstateGuru you need to have at least 25 people “like” your page. Once you have your 25 “likes” you can go to Facebook.com/username and request a shorter name. Your name has to be unique and choose wisely you only get one shot at this.

Problem 3- I am supposed to have this fancy custom Facebook  real estate page but all I see is my wall.

Solution- When you are signed into Facebook and visit your own page, Facebook assumes you are there as the editor and shows you the wall. To see your full site you will have to click on the Welcome (Or whatever you named the link that opens up your site) link on the left side under your picture. When you are not signed into Facebook you will see your custom page the way it is supposed to appear. Note- visitors who have not liked your site should see the full site but with Facebook there is always change so we are never sure. On all of our custom Facebook fan pages for real estate agents we put instructions under the profile picture.

Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

Every week I send two real estate blog post ideas to clients who have blogs.

Blogs are good for search engines.

Blogs are good for communicating with customers and prospects.

Blogs are are good for establishing yourself as a local expert.

Real estate blogs are a smart and low price way to increase your leads and business.

I’ve decided to replace my newsletter with a blog.

Topics coming soon include:

• New Custom Facebook Fan Pages for Real Estate
• Tips on Improving Real Estate Websites
• Real Estate Blog Tips
• Lots of WordPress Tips
• Facebook Tips
• YouTube Tips
• Content for websites, blogs and Facebook
• Links you can use

If you have suggestions for topics I’d love to hear them.

I promise not to be Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! again.

So good bye real estate newsletter and hello real estate blog again.

After a quick review of the benefits I’ll show you a sample post based on our own actual experience.

Search Engines Love Blogs. The reason they love blogs is because blogs supply fresh content. Search engines strive to provide new and relevant information to people who search the web. Blogs by their nature supply fresh content. The more targeted the content the better. (By targeted I mean something more specific- for instance real estate would be too broad, homes in Lombard would be more specific.)

The higher you are in the search engine rankings the more traffic you are going to get. The more traffic you get the better your odds of converting some of the traffic to clients. This is very simplified but illustrates what I’m talking about.

You Connect with Clients and Potential Clients. A blog can be more similar to a conversation than a static website. It is much easier for people to get to know you when they read your posts. Your readers also have a chance to leave comments which can start a conversation. A blog also makes it very easy to deal with current topics in the community. If you do things correctly with your blog you can end up being considered an expert on your blog’s topic or topics.

The Price is Right. You can actually set up a blog for free and there are plenty of low cost options. In fact all of our new websites have blogging capability built into our price and we offer a couple of low cost options for people with existing sites. For most people it pays to have some expert help but if you have enough time to learn you can do it yourself.

This post was inspired by one of our clients’ blogs- Out and About in Lombard. Caryn Kuhlman of Coldwell Banker writes a blog that focuses on Lombard, Illinois, and the surrounding areas. We read all of our clients’ blogs and we always find Caryn’s interesting. Because of Caryn’s blog about the Lilac Festival in Lombard, we decided to visit the town and it’s famous Lilacia Park for Mother’s Day.

Benefits in Action. If I were a client I would definitely lean toward using Caryn for my real estate needs if I were moving in that direction. I think her blog does a nice job of bringing traffic to her website – the statistics show her number of visitors has increased since she started blogging; if we were clients we would definitely be thankful to Caryn for telling us about the area and would feel like she was a trusted adviser.  Caryn bought our Automated Blog For Real Estate Agents ($175 to set up her blog and to receive weekly reminders/topic suggestions as well as to help her with the actual posts.)

To give you an idea of a post that could be effective, below is a sample blog post I might have written if I were an agent.

Why Mom Loves Lombard Illinois

Lombard provides the perfect setting for Mother’s Day

Main Street Cafe, Lombard, IL

This year I wanted to make Mother’s Day special for the mother of my children and my “current” wife of 30 years. I decided a trip to Lombard, IL, would be the perfect way to spend the morning.  Lombard and my wife have a lot in common. The words beautiful, warm and inviting come to mind when I think of both.

Lombard has a real downtown complete with charming shops and restaurants. We arrived in town at about 10 AM and were starved. As we drove around, we couldn’t help but notice the people streaming into the Main Street Cafe on the corner of Main St and St Charles Rd almost across from the Metra station. This looked like the place to go, so we parked on St Charles Rd although there was a parking lot for the restaurant.

Esquire M.E.N.S. Barbershop, Lombard, IL

Main Street Cafe was a real treat. It was a hustling, bustling family style restaurant with friendly efficient help, all dressed in some variation of purple (lilac). You could tell there were lots of regulars in the restaurant which is always a good sign. Breakfast was delicious and the servings were more than ample.

After breakfast, we were off to Lilacia Park, Lombard’s famous park devoted to lilacs and tulips.  First however we had to walk down St Charles Rd to take a look around. Worth the short walk was Esquire M.E.N.S. Barbershop at 22 W St Charles, complete with old fashioned barber pole. Wow!

I also spied Punky’s Irish Pub which looked interesting but it was Mother’s Day and before noon so we passed.

Lilacia Park, Lombard, IL

Off to Lilacia Park. Lombard isn’t called the Lilac Village for nothing –8.5 acres of purple and green beauty. A band was just finishing its free morning concert as we got to the park. We walked the grounds and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Who knew there were so may kinds of lilacs? I am going to write a whole other post going into much more detail about the fascinating history of the park and all you can find on the grounds.

"No Dogs", Lilacia Park, Lombard, IL

Our one disappointment was that we couldn’t bring our grand-dog, Saydee, into the park but we walked her around the perimeter of the park and looked at some of the magnificent, classic homes that were in the area. If you are interested in what the local homes are priced at, Search Lombard Homes For Sale Here . (This would be where I would link to IDX). Even Saydee was impressed with the neighborhood.

If you want to find out more about Lombard, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Note this was originally written in May of 2010. Saydee the dog moved to Nevada. We actually went back to the Main Street Cafe and Lilacia Park again for Mother’s Day 2011 and just about everything still holds true for 2011.

There is one fact of life that jumps out on looking back over the years—CHANGE.
Life changes.
Business changes.
Most everything changes.
(OK my hair hasn’t changed but there are more and more products on the market that promise to grow it back.)

We’ve changed our business model 3 times since we started.  Currently, we’re creating custom websites and customizing blogs in WordPress.  Our company has come a long way from the days of redoing Advanced Access templates! As a two man company (actually husband and wife), we’ve learned the fine art of give-and-take and constructive squabbling to hopefully produce some pretty darn good websites. All that happened over the course of 4 years. Wow!

To survive in the website business as well as in the real estate business you have to deal with and accept change.
The market changes.
Marketing changes.
Prospecting methods change.
The rules change.
What customers expect changes.

Note this was written in April 2010 but the message hasn’t changed. One thing that has changed is I have stopped writing the traditional newsletter and am replacing it with more frequent blog posts starting in mid May 2011.

More…

Two separate events this week opened my eyes. Both had to do with my sons. Both sons are very different –one is a teacher in an Eskimo village in Alaska and one is a stand-up comedian. Both events involved YouTube.

My son in Alaska has decided that one year teaching in the Alaskan “bush” is enough. He is on a nationwide job hunt. One of his main tools to find out about places that he is interested in is YouTube. In some of the places he is looking for a job (he has a tendency to want to be out in the middle of nowhere) the only info you can find are some clips on YouTube taken by people visiting these places.

The light went on. Hey, maybe people actually do use YouTube to search for information! Maybe there is more to it than amazing pet tricks and “Charlie Bit Me”.

OK so I made a note to write something about YouTube soon.

Last night we were at a birthday party in our neighborhood. Several people came up to me and mentioned that they had seen a clip of our son, the comedian, on YouTube and asked had he put up any more. Hmm… I’m starting to spot a trend here. These people were of a different age than my son looking for a job in the hinterlands. It seems like people of all ages use YouTube.

Late breaking news... we are working on a church website and we received an email telling us to make sure that they had the capability to put YouTube videos on their site. Another totally different group again seeing the value of YouTube.

What to do now?

Go to YouTube and set up an account- it is free and easy.

Get a Flip camera- they are cheap and easy.

Shoot some practice videos over the weekend. The Flip camera may be one of my favorite toys of all times –you’ll love it.

Next, visit some of the hot spots in your town, record some video and talk about it while you are recording.

Post on YouTube and make another one.

Send me your videos and I’ll post them on this blog.

Coming soon: More ideas for using YouTube videos. (Feel free to share your YouTube ideas with me.  I would really appreciate it!)

Note this was written in 2010. My son Andy in Alaska found a job in the middle of Nevada. Flip cameras are being discontinued but at least there are some great replacements out there. YouTube or an equivalent is almost a must now for real estate. The popularity of on-line videos continues to grow. Our son Charlie has performed at Zanies and numerous places in Chicago and Milwaukee.

Add a Facebook icon and a link to your Fan Page

Basically, a fan page is a page devoted to your business on Facebook.

The questions I have been getting are:

• Should I set-up a fan page?
• How do I get people to come?
• How do I link my fan page and my blog or website?

The answers I have been giving:

• Yes, you should have a fan page IF you are going to put valuable real estate information on the page.
• The best way to get people to come is to invite them – more on that further down.
• It is easy to link your fan page and your website – just put up a Facebook button and link it from your blog or website to the Fan Page.

Don’t know how to invite your friends to be your fan?  Here are two ideas.

1. Write on your wall that you have built a fan page for your business so that you can have all your real estate information in one place on Facebook and won’t be bothering your friends who are not interested in constant real estate info. Tell them that you will be sending the invite in the next couple of days and if they are not interested, just ignore the invite but just keep it in mind that your page exists if they know someone who needs help.

When they get the invite, they are prepared for it and are not offended.

2. Email people inviting them to your fan page. My wife received an email today from a friend of hers who writes children’s books. We asked permission to use it because it illustrated exactly what I’m talking about.  She wrote,

I needed to separate the author stuff from the personal stuff on Facebook.  It’s strange to ask, but I have a fan page on Facebook if you’re interested in knowing about book stuff as it happens. You can go on Facebook to Barb Rosenstock, Children’s Author or here’s the link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barb-Rosenstock-Childrens-Author/306219448895?ref=ts

Click the “Become a Fan”  button at the top to the right of my name.  Feel free to pass it on to any relatives, teachers,  friends on Facebook who may be interested–it’s a public page.
I appreciate it!

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to invite people to be your “fans”.   Look for a future post detailing what should appear on your fan page.   One quick thought –if you put something on your fan page, make sure it has value for your fans.

Thanks to Barb Rosenstock, author of great children’s books,  for sharing her email. You can visit her fan page at the link above to see how she approached building a fan page.

This was published originally in March of 2010. Since that time, in fact March 11, 2011 Facebook is allowing Custom Fan Pages which are similar to mini websites. We have a new Custom Fan Page Product that has been very popular. Custom Facebook Fan Pages are a great way to get your business on Facebook and separate it from your personal life.

First why do you blog?

• Helps with search engines
• Establishes you as an authority
• A way to communicate and have dialog with prospects
• Another way to promote your listings
• Get leads

There are more reasons but those should be plenty to get you started blogging.

So how do you come up with blog subjects? It is much easier than you think.

• Think about what your customers ask you – write about it.
• Drive through a neighborhood – blog about it.
• Go out for dinner – write about your favorite restaurants.
• Drop your kids off at school – talk about local schools.
• Celebrate St Patrick’s Day – write about in town celebrations and festivals
• Get stuck by the train – explain commuters options or find out about local road repairs
• Thinking about planting flowers or shrubs for the spring – talk about landscaping, landscapers or what grows well in the area
• Have your windows washed – ask the company if you can recommend them on your blog and see if they will throw in a coupon
• Working on a market evaluation – do a market recap for a town or subdivision – repeat monthly or quarterly add extra towns
• Get a listing – write about it

I have a list of hundreds of ideas and every time I review it I come up with more. Every time I talk to an agent they come up with even more ideas.

If you want someone to help you get started or keep you going, we have just the program for you. Our Automatic Blog for Real Estate Agents has been very popular. It is very reasonably priced, we set everything up for you and keep it working smoothly but the key feature is a weekly email reminder with 2 suggestions of what to blog about for the current week. The product is sort of like having your Mom remind you to clean up your room or brush your teeth.

If you would like more blogging ideas just let me know.

This post was written in 2010 and the Automatic Blog for Real Estate agents has become very popular.

When I think about the Super Bowl, I think Social Networking. Lots of parties, lots of people getting together, plenty of talking about something other than business. The Super Bowl parties were a chance to connect with old friends and make some new connections in a casual atmosphere. Even if you weren’t a football fan, you probably watched the game with other people.

I think with Social Networking, even if you are not going to aggressively throw yourself into it, you should be there. If you aren’t involved at all, you are leaving the door open for your competitors to get closer to your prospects and clients. Just like going to a Super Bowl party, you just might enjoy yourself if you participate.

How about those Super Bowl Commercials? What strikes me about the commercials and their relationship to real estate is that it’s important to stand out from the crowd and to show some personality. Often, the public can’t distinguish one brand from another or one real estate agent or company from another. The better brands, just like the better agents, do more or do things differently to stand out. Ask yourself, if your approach to real estate were a commercial, would people remember it?

The Super Bowl itself was a great football game. Neither team gave up. The game wasn’t decided until the very end. You never know what will turn a game around to your favor, so it is important to keep trying right until the contract is signed. Even the best agents or competitors make mistakes so you have to stay in the game to be ready to pounce on unexpected opportunities.

The Olympics to me is the sports version of niche marketing.

Written in 2010 this topic is more true than ever. I still don’t like curling and we are replacing the newsletter with a blog and posts on Facebook.

There are many Read the rest of the newsletter here