SEO Tip #2

Blog!

It's not just for social networking, information sharing, or building an online network...

As long as the blogs are written properly and follows the text link rules from a previous post titled SEO Tip #1 ...blogging will also help you build valuable traffic for your website.

If your going to blog--you might as well make sure your posts are SEO optimized.

Working with a Real Estate Virtual Assistant...EFFECTIVELY!

Well, a few years ago our company phone would ring off the hook and the most common questions from real estate professionals would be...What is a virtual assistant anyway?

Fast forward 4 years and most agents have heard or worked with a virtual assistant (or 2 or 3) in the past. Many with not so great stories of inexperienced VA's and others that swear by their Virtual Assistant as being the #1 integral part to their success (and sanity)...

That being said, for everyone still wondering what a Virtual Assistant aka VA is and does...here it is in a nutshell;

Virtual Assistant: Business professionals trained or experienced in usually a marketing or administrative capacity (or both) that integrate into your business remotely.

The topic of this post will actually be a series...each identifying how to work effectively with a virtual assistant.

Tip #1: Understand the Nature of the VA-Agent Relationship
It is collaborative in nature, and email is the primary mode of communication.

I've had clients where the client practically spams our company with questions 24/7 ...on the other hand I've also had agents that took 2 weeks to respond to a questions and/or phone call to provide feedback. Either extreme is unacceptable when working with a VA because the VA is unable to work effectively in either scenario. Similarly, lack of response or email overload should not be something that an agent should have to deal with either.

VA-Agent Etiquette: Regular feedback/updates should be expected from a VA for work performed as well as re-occuring phone appointments (if necessary) to clarify workload. After initial account is set up with an agent the workflow should go on autopilot so to speak. Agents--Unless it is an emergency...email a VA and request an appointment time...same goes for Virtual Assistants trying to reach their agent/client. Determine priority or level of importance and act accordingly. EVERYTHING is not high priority. However, VA's should pay special attention to time-sensitive tasks and act accordingly.

SEO Tip #1-Optimize Your Text Links

Optimize your text links...what does this mean????

Well, if you are a real estate agent in San Diego California one of the key terms you might want to be optimized for is 'San Diego California Real Estate' or 'San Diego California Home Sales'

By optimize I mean, increase the chances of people searching on a search engine like Google or Yahoo to find your website in the search results...

Now, the text that points to the link tells the search engines to associate those words with that URL.

I will use Creative Agent Solutions website as an example. We want people to find us in Google when they search for the keyword phrase 'real estate virtual assistants'

So, when we blog, post to forums, customize our myspace, or add links to our website, etc. we always use keywords as the 'anchor text' that links to our website URL.

Example:

If we blog we might use the...

CORRECT EX: View more information on real estate virtual assistant services...

but we would NEVER use...

INCORRECT EX: Click here for more information on real estate virtual assistant services...

We do not want to tell the search engines to associate our website URL with the words 'click here' INSTEAD we want them to associate our keyword phrase of 'real estate virtual assistants' with our URL.

Hope this helps :)

Recommended Social Networking Sites

With all of the networking sites available it can be a bit overwhelming. We've been fine tuning our real estate Social Media Marketing (SMM) services and have 3 that you should definitely sign up for if you not already...

Active Rain
Wanna Network
Real Town

*Active Rain & Wanna Network also allow you to showcase your listing

Real Estate Social Media Marketing

Our team is growing!!

We've recently added Tami Hughson and Roxanne Tidmore as a virtual team member. Tami specializes in REO & BPO support, while Roxanne is our Lead Conversion Specialist.

You can view all of our virtual assistant team members here
http://virtualcas.com/about/meet-our-team-members

Top 5 Ways Home Buyers Find Agents...Did you know??

Below is how home buyers find Real Estate Agents...

Referred by (or is) a friend, neighbor, or relative 40%*

Used agent previously to buy/sell a house 13%*

Visited open house and met agent 7%

Walked into/called office and agent was on duty 4%

Internet Site 7%

Source: 2006 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

*This means that (40% + 13%) 53% of buyers will come from your current sphere of influence, i.e. family, friends, co-workers, etc or your past client database (which is probably comprised of 40% referral clients already)

Remember it is less expensive to keep a client than it is to find a new one!!

Q: What should this mean to you????

Answer: Contact Database Management or what we call Relational Marketing should be a consderable part of your 2008 marketing budget.

E-Mail Subject Lines: Beyond the Basics - Entrepreneur.com

Follow the link below for some useful tips to amp up your email marketing campaigns. Keep these same ideas in mind when you are writing articles or blogging. Same rules apply!!

E-Mail Subject Lines: Beyond the Basics - Entrepreneur.com

So What the heck is Web 2.0??

Glad you asked...

With all the buzz about MySpace, YouTube, Facebook lately you are probably wondering...can this help my business?

Yes! Web 2.o or what we like to call Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the new media channel for online marketing. Blogs, podcasts, videos, etc are also included in this category...

Creating online profiles social platforms such as Active Rain, Ojeez, Meet Up, Hub Pages, Squidoo, Stumble Upon, Linked In, Real Estate Voices, etc... are great ways to:

1. Build backlinks to your website
2. Increase online exposure for your services/listings
3. Increase higher search engine rankings
4. Network with other industry professionals and people with similar interests
   
5. Build referrals
6. Let clients read your background profile

For example. I just signed a client (real estate agent) for our new Social Media Marketing (SMM) service and set up her online profiles. We also created her online groups for others to join and made sure all of her websites and blogs were linked in to her profiles. We did this on Monday and already she had an investor from New York contact her.

Pretty Cool, huh?