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All Posts By

Mike Blaney

Jun 22
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Open House Tips for Realtors®

By Open Houses, Prospecting, Realtor Marketing

I have written before about open houses and while I cannot speak for every city, every market, every country and every price range I can’t imagine why a Realtor would not hold an open house.

To be fair and balanced in this blog the arguments against open houses are usually:

  1. Open houses rarely sell houses. (see next paragraph)
  2. Open houses benefit agents. (exactly why you should have them)
  3. Open houses are a security risk. (the best reason I must admit, but handled at the end of this post)
  4. Open houses attract neighbours and browsers. (who want to have their friends buy your house!)

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Jun 21
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Sponsoring Golf Holes For Realtors®

By Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

I have been in a lot of golf tournaments and I am always amazed at how many companies sponsor golf holes, usually at great expense and all they get is a little sign. What if you were actually at the golf hole?

I like the idea of the sponsor actually sitting at the hole – in person. Then make it fun for the golfers.

  1. Set up a couple of croquet wickets as a putting course on the tee and have the teams “putt through” while they wait to go.
  2. Take a video, digital photo or Polariod photograph of the foursome and ask for their email address so you can send it to them. Or play the video at the banquet.
  3. Mail them a framed photo.
  4. Have each foursome drive marshmallows or cotton swabs while they are waiting. Farthest drive gets a prize from you–visor, club cover, etc.

Imagine the impact you would make over just having a sign.

Jun 17
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For All Realtors® – Advertising Headlines for Home Ads

By Advertising, Realtor Marketing

Writing copy for home ads can be one of the most difficult aspects of marketing a home and finding the right headline is critical to capture the attention of the target market you are trying to reach.

Here are a few to get you going on the right track:

LANDSCAPING
Right out of Better Homes & Gardens
Think Garden!
The War of the Roses
Stop to Smell the Flowers
Made in the Shade

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Jun 10
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Innovative New Buyer-Centric Website For Ottawahomes.com

By Prospecting, Realtor Marketing, Responsive Websites, Website Design, Wordpress

I have visited thousands of website in the last 18 years and I think is the first buyer-centric website, at least in Canada. Yes, a website designed to attract buyers. If this is the only website targeting buyers there is little or no competition. As Realtors® you know the pros and cons of working with sellers and buyers and there are fewer Realtors® wanting to work with buyers than sellers, but the Walker Ottawa team see things a bit differently. Click here to view the live website.

The concept was to make it as easy as possible for a buyer to drill down to the home, condo or townhouse of their dreams.

On the Home Page you have three choices. Are you looking for a house, townhouses or condo? That’s it!

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Jun 10
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Responsive Websites for Realtors – Does Your Website Need Updating?

By Mobile Websites, Responsive Websites, Website Design, Wordpress

On April 21, 2015 Google went public with a change to their algorithm that sent website users into a panic. As of this date, it was reported mobile-friendly websites would rank better than non-mobile optimized websites.

According to MOZ a leading source of Google algorithm information “In a rare move, Google pre-announced an algorithm update, telling us that mobile rankings would differ for mobile-friendly sites starting on April 21st. ”

Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward. If your website is one of the original looks or the “Kuni 920 widescreen” template (see below for examples) your search rankings are being negatively affected. The solution is to update to a mobile-ready responsive template.

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Jun 10
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Google My Business Tips

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

There is a great article and the infographic below provided by www.fobtoronto.ca . Here is an excerpt. You can read the rest of the article by clicking here.

Google MyBusiness Tips to grow your search engine optimization and ranking on Google Maps. Stay ahead of the competition with our infographic about GMB. Follow these DO’s and DONT’s when improving your ranking on Google. Google is the most used search engine in the world. It is important to learn how to rank higher as your business grows if you want to improve.

Be sure to follow the Google MyBusiness guidelines to avoid problems and improve your position on Google: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

Your customers will notice if you are ranking high on Google and you do not want your competitors to be higher than you. If you follow all of these Google MyBusiness tips, your business will do better in the long run!

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Jun 07
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Top Branding Tips for Realtors®

By Branding, Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

How to uncover the unique brand that sets you apart from all the other honest, hard-working, professional, results-oriented Realtors® out there.

BRANDING

Even if you have never spent a penny on branding you are a brand already.

There’s a lot of confusion about the term “branding.” This list comes from What Language are We Speaking? Understanding the Day-To-Day Jargon of Designers & Printers, care of Unisource Canada, Inc.

A brand promises a result and experience you can count on.

A Brand is intangible – It is the meaning or feelings you associate with a service, company or product. If five people are asked to describe a well-known brand, you may get different descriptions; however, there will be similarities. These similarities are the brand, and they are very powerful.

A Brand is not a logo – A logo only identifies the brand; it is an entry point.

A Brand is not an identity system – An identity system only controls the expression of the brand. Identity systems (often called branding systems) are created to express the brand in a consistent and cost-effective way.

A Brand is not a product – Many people talk about managing their brand, but they really are managing their product. The brand is often the reason we buy the product. People, corporations and countries can have brands.

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Jun 05
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Google Voice Search – How Will It Affect Realtor® Websites?

By Blogging, Realtor Marketing

What Is Voice Search?

Voice search essentially allows users to speak into a device as opposed to typing keywords into a search query to generate results. Instead of typing in the search “4 bedroom homes for sale“, buyers are dictating much longer searches such as “4 bedroom homes for sale under $900,000 with 3 bathrooms and a finished basement near shopping“. Very few people would type such a long search string.

So what does this mean to you? Google puts websites on page 1 that answer search queries in context. In other words, if you don’t have enough of the words that are in a search you will most likely not be on page 1.

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