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Mike Blaney

Dedicated Single Condo Building Website

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing, Website Design

A dedicated single condo building website is the best way to dominate sales in a condo building by projecting yourself as an expert and providing a valuable service to the owners in the building.

Condo buyers often know what building they want to live in and condo sellers are looking for a Realtor with experience selling condos in their building. How do you become the Realtor they call? Set up a website using the Limelight Marketing dedicated condo building platform and watch your search engine rankings soar.

Are you trying to focus your marketing on a specific condo building? Our new unique, customizable dedicated condo building websites are designed to feature a building address and name enabling you to dominate the searches for that building. Buyers will find current listings and sellers will find an expert who knows about the building. Single building websites allow you to showcase the building and provide floor plans, strata minutes, photo gallery, amenities, rental service and much more.

For some cities we can also list all of the current MLS listings* in the building by bedrooms to further enhance your marketing. In today’s media rich world every property for condo building deserves its very own website.

Building Website* Listings available for buildings in Victoria, Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, Northern BC, Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon

Tips for the Ultimate Listing Presentation

By Listing Presentations, Realtor Marketing

Limelight Marketing writes weekly guest blog posts about Realtor Marketing for the Real Estate Weekly website; one of the leading real estate websites in Vancouver. This weeks post was titled Tips For The Ultimate Listing Presentation. Following is a brief summary (as search engines frown on duplicate content). You can read the whole article by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

The blog post is about the three elements of a listing presentation;

  1. The meet and greet
  2. The actual presentation: the three Ps
  3. The physical material you provide

The Meet and Greet is a far more important stage than you might think. The post summarizes research into how important your non-verbal communication is versus what you say and what you present. We also expand on how to improvey our nonverbal communication style?

According to Cindy Stockhaus, a successful listing agent from Jarvis Realty Group in Indiana, there are four keys to creating a personal connection. The 4 main points are:

  1. Mirror and match
  2. Listen
  3. Build commonality
  4. Be genuine

The article goes on to the elements of the actual listing presentation or “The Three Ps”

  1. Prepare with property knowledge
  2. Prepare with accurate market data
  3. Prepare to impress

What should be in your listing presentation?

The first thing to remember is what the seller is thinking as you are presenting:

  1. How much are you going to sell my house for?
  2. When will you sell it?
  3. When do I get my money?

If you are using a “canned” presentation from your broker, your current listing presentation is 90% about you and 10% about selling the home. Check out a recommended general table of contents in a recent blog post for a seller-centric listing presentation:

How will you know if you are on the right track? Your job is to create an environment of trust, respect, and collaboration where your seller feels supported to make the best decision possible… and that decision is to sign your listing agreement.

You can read the whole article by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

Advertising a Listing? Good Grammar Matters When Selling a House

By Realtor Marketing

A recent study from property firm Redfin has revealed just how damaging bad grammar can be for a listing. In an online survey of 1291 people, 43.4 per cent of respondents said they would be less inclined to attend an open house if the listing featured had spelling mistakes and poor grammar.

Here’s some advice from Refin and Grammarly for writing the perfect property listing:

  • Check for literals as well as spelling errors. A spell check will only pick up a typo, not wrong words that are correctly spelt. Think “walking closet” or ““stainless steal appliances”.
  • Avoid capital letters and exclamation marks. A good description with some beautiful photos should be enough to get buyers’ attention.
  • Break it down into bullet points that are easy to read. Summarise the highlights of the property briefly then list its main features in dot points.
  • Use descriptive sentences and plenty of adjectives to really sell the property to prospective buyers. But be careful not to go overboard.
  • Finally, keep it short. Property-hunters will likely be short on time. The ideal length for a property description, according to the Redfin study, is about 50 words.

Real Estate Weekly in Vancouver recently published an excellent article detailing the top 10 confusing words that they see most often used incorrectly in listings. Here is n image from the post.

confusing-words-for-realtors

They go on to explain the right use and wrong use of all of the words circled above. For example:

principle-rooms-confusing-words-for-realtors

Principle/Principal Should be principal rooms. These are the most important ones, just as the principal is the most important person in a school. Principle is a noun that means an underlying law or assumption, as in, “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.”

Memory Aid For principal rooms, think “princi-palace” or “princi-palatial.”


 

plurals-confusingwords-realtors

Plurals Plurals don’t have apostrophes. When you turn one into more than one, just add the s or es and you’re done. Really. It’s that simple. Those quartz things in the kitchen are countertops.

Memory Aid The plural of apostrophe is apostrophes, with no apostrophe.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

Shay Mitchell’s Lifestyle Blog Relaunched By Limelight Marketing

By Website Design, Wordpress

We are excited to be a part of the successful launch of the new lifestyle blog for Shay Mitchell, the Pretty Little Liars star and Michaela Blaney. Over the past few months we have been working with Shay and Michaela to introduce a new, fresh look. While Shay and Michaela had the vision we had the expertise to bring it to digital reality.

The new look uses a scalable WordPress theme and we added all of the bells and whistles to make it ecommerce ready.  Amore & Vita is the go-to lifestyle, fashion and beauty tip resource for young women.

During a People Magazine Style Watch interview Shay talks about the vision “As for the name, which translates to “love and life,” Mitchell says it was an easy pick. “They’re words I live by. Our site is mostly our experiences continuing along the same vision as the first blog: lifestyle, travel, health, beauty and fashion —[just with a more current, fresher and revamped look,” she says.

“I’m sharing everything, from my experiences sitting at home checking out a new bikini line to having fans weigh in on a red carpet look. I want to get feedback, have help selecting what dress to choose [for an event],” she says. “The clothes we feature won’t be extraordinary — affordable, mix and match of high and low price points.”

Shay Mitchell and Michaela Blaney - Amore and Vita

Social Media for Realtors: How to Use the Key Platforms

By Realtor Marketing, SEO, Social Media

Limelight Marketing writes weekly guest blog posts about Realtor Marketing for the Real Estate Weekly website; one of the leading real estate websites in Vancouver. This weeks post was titled Social Media for Realtors: How to Use the Key Platforms. Following is a brief summary. You can read the whole article by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

Where do you start?

Facebook

Facebook is good for interacting with people on a more personal level, so it is useful for real estate. You can use your personal page, but a separate business page is recommended to keep your personal life separate.

Twitter

Compared with the lifespan of a Facebook post, where 75% of engagement occurs within the first five hours, a tweet has a life span of about 18 minutes.

YouTube

Posting a video of a listing on YouTube works the best for exposure.

Instagram

This is purely visual – showcase your listings by adding key photos to Instagram.

Pinterest

People will see your pictures, re-post them and provide free traffic to your website.

LinkedIn

Building a network of potential buyers and sellers is difficult on LinkedIn, but within the real estate industry, LinkedIn can serve as a means to participate in community discussions with fellow professionals and those interested in real estate.

Google+

Google+ is the second largest social media network behind Facebook.

You can read the whole article by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

 

 

SEO for Realtors: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By SEO

Limelight Marketing writes weekly guest blog posts about Realtor Marketing for the Real Estate Weekly website; one of the leading real estate websites in Vancouver. This weeks post was titled SEO for Realtors: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Following is a brief summary. You can read the whole article by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

The “Good” Things to Do for SEO

Blogging: Blogging is one of the most important tasks you can undertake.

Sitemap: Make sure your sitemap is submitted to Google Webmasters.

Analytics: Set up your Google Analytics so you can monitor visitors to your website and their activities while visiting.

Page titles/descriptions: Add page titles and descriptions using keywords and phrases that best describe the communities you work in and the types of real estate you sell.

The “Bad” Things Not to Do

Hiring an SEO amateur: Employing an amateur to optimize your website is like hiring your neighbour’s teenage son who is taking a high-school auto mechanic course to fix the brakes on your family car.

Duplicating content: Buying content for your website runs the risk of the content being duplicated across many websites and Google will penalize your ranking.

The “Ugly” Things to Avoid

Unnatural links: Buying links from unknown websites was popular a few years ago, but recent Google algorithm changes actually punish websites that have “unnatural links” coming in to a website.

Believing the marketing hype: Falling for SEO claims to get your website on page one is like believing in the tooth fairy.

Read more by visiting the REW website by clicking here.

 

The 8 R’s of Client Relationship Marketing for Realtors

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

You have heard of the 4 P’s of marketing; product, price, place and promotion, but have you ever considered the 8 ways you can interact with clients and prospects to build your business?

R1 – Revitalization and Renewal

How to revitalize your value proposition with new services, sharper differentiation and premium pricing. Do you need a new look? Do you need to redefine your products and services?

R2 – Retention

How to hold onto your existing high profit, repeat business and high referral clients. Stay in touch programs.

R3 – Reacquisition

How to win back your inactive and lost clients. Getting back in touch through phone calls, emails, letters or newsletters.

R4 – Referrals

How to woo profitable prospects by networking with the right people. Ensuring your clients know your business relies on referrals and you will make them look great in the eyes of the person referred.

R5 – Regeneration

How to rebuild and grow your client base with precision marketing. Again this can be through newsletters, personal mail or phone calls.

R6 – Rainmaking

How to target and win new high-profit loyal clients. Using networking, seminars, face to face meetings. Any way and any place you can hand out business cards. Social events, sponsorships etc

R7 – Related Sales

How to grow revenues and margins by up-selling and cross-selling. If they bought from you once they are more likely to buy from you again. Is there a complementary service or product you can offer?

R8 – Reputation Building

How to brand your business to attract premium clients and customers.

Please email us at info@limelightmarketing.ca or call us at 800-568-8338 to discuss how Limelight Marketing can assist you with any of these 8 client relationship strategies.

Real Estate Websites and Social Media

By Social Media, Website Design

Your website is your brand. It is how you represent yourself and your business. It is where you present your listings, accolades and client testimonials as well as a fountain of knowledge for buyers and sellers. Unfortunately in a profession like real estate, it is important to have an esthetically pleasing site but even MORE important to have a well optioned site also. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be your number one priority because without it – you will be lost in the sea of Google pages.

Like you would stage a house to sell, you need to also stage your site properly. Make it user friendly with links to help the “not so world wide web” familiar customers easily navigate the information presented to them. Also make it easy for them to find your listings as about 80 – 90% of your visits are to your listings.

With these two things to consider – invest your marketing budget in continuous Search Engine Optimization (SEO), continuous website development and treat your real estate website as YOUR prime realty!

Capitalize On Your Existing Clientele

Though an existing client isn’t always ready to immediately buy again they are also your most valuable sales force. One happy buyer or seller will lead to a future buyer or seller. Not to mention, word of mouth and happy customers will create a broader customer database. Return clients are the BEST clients so focus on the existing ones to ensure the best customer service…it will serve you well.

That being said, whilst you nurture your existing relationships, the new customers will be doing their due diligence which is where the importance of SEO and Site staging will come full circle.

Let’s get started with some revenue generating tips:

Local SEO

The good thing about the real estate industry? Doing local SEO is easy.

The bad thing about the real estate industry? It’s so easy, a lot of realtors forget to do it.

The number one place to start is getting set up on Google Places for Business.

Some things to consider:

  • Local Reviews on social platforms such as Yelp
  • Local city directories
  • Trusted Service referrals
  • Email newsletters
  • Donate to local community initiatives
  • Volunteer your time in some way in the community
  • Piggyback on local events and sponsorship

Social Media

Social Media is excellent for creating a community. Find interesting articles, real estate updates, home decor, local news etc with appropriate hash tags to gain a following. Don’t forget to include all of your social platform links on your website. The world runs on social media and it is a good idea to jump on this bandwagon because it is an important tool that isn’t going anywhere

Twitter

  • Twitter can be a great way to let everyone know about an open house, a reduced price listing, a new listing – anything at all.
  • Use it to link back to your site to gain traffic, use appropriate hashtags (#OpenHouse) and invite people you know using their appropriate handle.
  • Interact with your followers and ask questions or for their opinion…form that community!

Facebook

  • Facebook is good for interacting with people on a more personal level, so it can be very useful for real estate.
  • Post photos, ask questions, reply to all inquiry’s.
  • Treat all communication like a personal conversion and educate everyone else who may come across the post.

Instagram

  • This is ALL visual – showcase the excellent and beautiful elements of your listings.
  • Create a well curated and album of all your clients listings.
  • Tag appropriately and try to post often to create a beautiful display of all your listings – it will be a plus to your clients

Pinterest

  • Don’t just use this to push a sale – use it to become an expert in design, DIY, real estate, decor and anything home related.
  • People will see your pictures, re-post them, and provide free traffic to your website.

YouTube

  • Posting a video of a listing works. If you have ever searched for a house by address and the Realtor has a video of the house it is almost always on page 1 in the first 5 results. Google will rank your video higher than your web page.
  • After uploading your video to Youtube you can also take the embed code and add it to your website.
  • Remember to provide a long description full of keywords and add as many Tags as you can think of.

Website Blogging and Content

You can really stand out among your competition with a well thought out, keyword-rich real estate blog. If you are trying to attract people moving to your city when people buy a house that is far outside of their previous residency zone, they usually immediately need the following:

  1. Information about local schools, daycares, universities.
  2. Information about summer camps.
  3. Information about prospective employment.
  4. Information about entertainment.
  5. Information about sports, music classes, art, and dance.

Think about the kind of information that you search for with regards to where you live and what you do around there, and write about it. Think about questions that people have that deal with where they live:

  • Which restaurants have outdoor seating? Which ones are within walking distance?
  • Are there any good outdoor camps for my kids this summer? What’s the transportation situation for them?
  • Where can we see a professional ballet performance or a play that’s geared towards preschoolers?
  • What are the options we have for my children when they go to high school? Are there early college programs available?

BECOME AN EXPERT IN YOUR COMMUNITY!

The Most Important Blog Posts You Can Write

While blogging about mortgages, renovations and home care tips is nice and may attract a few people interested in advice the most effective real estate blog post is writing about what buyers and sellers are searching for. A blog post titled “New Listings of Homes For Sale in Anytown” will attract all of the early buyers who are “tire kicking” on the internet. Writing a blog post titled “Anytown Homes For Sale From Your Anytown Realtor” will help you get found if someone is looking for a Realtor in a specific area. Even “Anytown Recent Sales and Market Update” is a great way to attract visitors.

A Few Other Website Tips To Consider

  1. Your title and description should look good in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
  2. If you have other social platforms that you use, put that on the home page.
  3. Make sure your site works on mobile!
  4. If you have an open house advertised on your site, list the hours.
  5. If you only sell houses in one area, list it in the title and description of your site.
  6. If someone has given you a bad review on Yelp or any other site, respond to it. Make things right if you can.
  7. If you sell houses in 1,000 different cities, don’t list links to those 1,000 cities in the footer of every single page of your website.

Just like with food, houses are something that people (usually) want to buy. You aren’t trying to sell a product that no one wants. You’re trying to make sure that the people who want to buy something are finding you and buying it from you.

Making heavy use of visuals without forgetting the basics or neglecting social media is key – visuals alone won’t be worth much when your competitors are doing all the other stuff better than you.

Michaela Blaney

Realtor Marketing Mind Map

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

If you are a Realtor you already have an idea of the scope of your marketing activities, but this infographic puts your marketing activities in perspective. Click here for a pdf version of the Limelight Realtor Marketing Activities Mind Map.

The key marketing activities for a Realtor are generally:

  1. Open Houses
  2. Retaining Client
  3. Dealing with Referrals
  4. Prospecting
  5. Promoting Your Brand
  6. Business Planning
  7. Productivity
  8. Listing Presentations

But it is all of the related marketing activities where you can get bogged down and that is where Limelight Marketing can help. Just look at all of the elements of Prospecting from Newsletters to Direct Mail to Open Houses to name a few.  Limelight Marketing offers a wide range of Realtor Marketing Services from Direct Mail design and implementation to Open House packages and Newsletter Design and Writing. Check out all of our services by clicking here.

Realtor Prospecting Mind Map

Realtor Prospecting Mind Map

 

Top 10 Website, SEO and Social Media Mistakes To Avoid

By SEO, Social Media, Website Design

Website marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media marketing are a fact of life and a source of frustration to small business owners. Without enough knowledge or time to spend on these areas it is sometimes easier to take the easy route or hire the first person you come in contact with. Do so at your peril as these three areas are the keys to your online success!

So what are the top 10 Website, SEO and Social Media Mistakes To Avoid?

  1. Letting an amateur optimize your website 
    Would you let the next door neighbor’s teenage son taking an auto mechanic course in high school fix the brakes on your family car? Then why would you let an amateur optimize your website? You only get one chance to add the most descriptive, keyword Page Titles and Descriptions that Google will use in part to rank your website so turn to an expert. They will research  the keywords people use to find your business and service and use them correctly to optimize your website. (…read more)
  2. Buying links
    While this was popular a few years ago, recent Google algorithm changes actually punish websites that have unnatural links coming in to your website. If the link is not from a legitimate, known source such as a supplier or customer then turn it away. Better yet go through all  your link and make sure they are legitimate.
  3. Letting the intern handle your Social Media
    Who knows more about your business and clients than someone who has never worked in your business? Everybody, but the intern! Your Social Media is is critical to your brand that it should be handled by an experienced marketing person or company. You need to plan your social media strategy and implement it professionally. An intern is a great resource and can manage the posts etc, but let the propfessionals do what they do best. (…read more)
  4. Buying content
    See Buying links above. The only content that should go on your website is content related to you, your product or your service. If it is not related to your business and helpful to the visitor it will not contribute to your search engine success. If the content you buy shows up on dozens of other websites it will actually penalize your rankings from what we have read.
  5. Emailing the same thing to everyone rather than segmenting
    It is rare for every customer of yours to be at the same stage of their relationship with your company or have the same interests. Look at your database and at least differentiate between prospects and clients and email appropriate information. If you are a Realtor segment between buyers and sellers.
  6. Buying Likes
    When you were 5 years old having someone like you was important. You would invite them over for dinner or share a treat with them so they would like you, but buying likes for a Facebook page is akin to leaving your phone number on a bathroom wall. If the people “liking” your page are not interested in your product or service then you will never know how many people are really interested in what you have to say. Post good information and people will like you for who you are and you will always know how many prospects you are reaching.
  7. Falling for SEO Claims to get your website on page 1
    Do you really believe someone when they make a claim they can get your website on page 1? Do you really think the Google algorithm with a reported 185 elements that no one knows about can be tricked by the guy who emails you or calls you randomly? Would Google jeopardize the multi-billion dollar search business by letting inferior websites on page 1 of a Google search? The short answer is not in a million years. We do make claims that with our knowledge of “white hat” tactics and lots of hard work your website can get on page 1 for specific search terms over time, but no one can “guarantee” page 1. The flip side is if you do nothing we can guarantee you won’t be on page 1. (…read more)
  8. Getting Likes using animal photos
    See Buying Links and Buying Content above. Visitors who “like” your Facebook page because you add cute kitten photos are there for the photos and not your brand, product or service. It does not hurt to mix up your content, but you want people to “like” your page because it is informative, entertaining and interesting.
  9. Submitting links and articles to bogus directories
    This went out with bell bottoms, but people still flog the idea that they can post a new release on 200 “legitimate” new release sites which will create 200 links back to you and is as harmful to your website rankings as Buying Links and Buying Content above. Do not let anyone do this on your behalf.
  10. Setting up E-Commerce on a global platform like Amazon instead of a more targeted platform
    If you have a local or regional product and you want to make it easy for people to buy it find an E-Commerce platform that makes it easy for people to buy online. Adding a single sku to Amazon and expecting people to navigate through all of the ancillary crap on the website is a recipe for abandoned shopping carts.

I did not start this list to slag every SEO technique or vilify legitimate companies or individuals starting in the business, but like I said in the opening paragraph your website, optimization techniques and Social Media strategy are the key to your future so avoid these mistakes.

For more information please call us at 800-568-8338.