Over the past several weeks I’ve been laboring behind the scenes and am finally able to let you in for your sneek peak. In fact, you may have already taken notice - I’ve started allowing HomeStomper readers into the private Stomping Grounds area.

Let me tell you a bit more of what it’s about and what you’ll discover inside…

What is The Stomping Grounds?

The Stomping Grounds is a private members’ area of HomeStomper dedicated to bringing you cutting-edge (and under-the-radar) marketing techniques, tips, and how-to. No rocket-science or brain teasers - just real straight-forward actionable instruction to boost your marketing results.

Now, this isn’t a full launch, just a quiet opening of the doors for fast movers to grab a full 3 days free (FREE!) to take the site for a test-drive. I think you’ll dig it - now make with the clicky

Check out some of what you’ll find inside:

• Videos - exclusive for members showing under-the-radar marketing techniques to drive traffic, capture visitors, and optimize your marketing
• Newsletter - monthly newsletter where I get to reveal some of the more powerful techniques of persuasive marketing.
• Toolbox - like a checklist to follow for writing better emails? blog posts? How about a guide for developing your own Unique Selling Proposition? You get a growing section of downloadable tools that I use to speed up and refine marketing.
• Critiques & Reviews - submit your marketing pieces or webpage for a critique. I’ll tear it up and give actionable feedback and advice on how to improve the results.
• And of course there’s more!

Click here for more details and to take the test-drive. Be sure to look for the 3 Golden Keys on this page.

photo credit

Related posts

• Why You Can’t Sell Real Estate Online (2)
• Way of the Social Media Hunter : Bloodhound Unchained (5)
• Unchained Uncovered: A Review of Bloodhounds Social Media Conference (9)
• The Truth About Building A Sustainable Business (5)
• The Church of You: Building a Community of Raving Fans (3)

In fact, it’s so powerful that companies build their sales models around this and it’s pretty darn easy to apply it to your real estate marketing - your listings and your services.

I was browsing through Amazon the other day (a favorite but torturous pasttime - so many books, so little time) and realized that the one thing I always scroll to are the reviews.

Online you’ll even find entire communities dedicated to customer reviews - epinions, Buzzillions, consumersearch - that get tons of consumer traffic. Product manufacturers recognize the power of these sites and actually encourage their customers to post reviews on them.

Put the persuasive power of reviews into your real estate marketing

So, we know that third-party testimony is more powerful than anything you could say about your own services or a home you have listed. But, let’s think beyond standard testimonials, here.

Here’s some ideas:

Neighborhoods - get reviews from home owners in the area on their impressions of the neighborhood. Use these in your neighborhood descriptions on your website, on your single property sites, and in your listing kits.

Rather than saying something along the lines of

This home is located within walking distance to schools and parks.

folks will be more compelled by…

We love the fact that we’re close to the school. Our daughter likes it too since she’s now participating in more after school activities.

Which description do you think would be more effective?

Listings - neighbors of the sellers or friends could provide review of the home. And while you may have a difficult time getting reviews from open house attendees, you might be able to get usable reviews from other agents about the listing (Daniel offers something to keep in mind should you collect agent reviews).

Services - some agents have a hard time asking for testimonials, and some clients have no clue what to say. What you might try asking for are reviews. Sure, they may be pretty much the same thing but a change in wording can make a huge difference.

Folks are more familiar with reviews and have probably written a few of them. Framing the testimonial as a review may help you get useful feedback for yourself and your marketing.

Now, there’s no doubt that shoppers are in love with reviews so you’ll probably find your site becoming more sticky as reviews grow. Set this up right and you could even have a very strong viral real estate site.

How else can agents implement reviews into marketing? Are there other types of reviews we should be looking for?

Hold up! Have you checked out the secret marketing goodies waiting for you inside The Stomping Grounds? Get hoppin’ grasshopper and grab them while you can.

Related posts

• HomeStomper Strikes Different Chords Around The Net (3)
• Your Email Marketing Sucks And Why Friends Don’t Care (2)
• What’s An Email Consumption Strategy and Why Do Savvy Agents Have One? (0)
• Unleash The Persuasive Power of FAQ Marketing (5)
• The Persuasive Psychology Behind Your Listing Price (2)

“Mark, if your life depended on it, and you were down to to your last $5000 (or whatever), what’s the most likely thing you’d do to attract business?”

First off, if my life was heading towards an untimely end my top priority wouldn’t be attracting new business - I’d be spending that time with my wife *wink wink nudge nudge*

Seriously, though, this is a “no win” question to try and answer because it’s really not the question the person wants answered. What they’re really asking is…

“How can I make a boatload of money as quickly and cheaply as possible.”

Still a no win question, right? There’s no one stock answer!

The answer is going to be based off of a number of different factors from your business, your experience, and personal preferences.

However, I will point out that there are…

3 Very Specific Things You Must Do To Succeed ™

Yeah, they’re worthy of capital letters and a ™

Now, I’ve actually outlined the 3 Very Specific Things You Must Do To Succeed ™ for you in this article.

In fact, you won’t find a single successful business - in any industry - that does not follow these 3 Very Specific Things You Must Do To Succeed ™.

So, head on over and check these out and get into action.

photo credit

Related posts

• Unleash The Persuasive Power of FAQ Marketing (5)
• The Secret Sauce for Real Estate Marketing (2)
• Lead-Generation and the Persuasive Power of Initmacy (2)
• HomeStomper Strikes Different Chords Around The Net (3)
• Build Instant Authority By Taking Your Emails Offline (0)

Mark, you’re breaking all the rules of Email Marketing 101. Your grammar sucks. Your punctuation is mondo-horrible. And what’s the deal with no capitalization?

Truth be told, it’s not the first time I’ve been called on these elements in my emails.

Now, to be fair, the person who wrote the most recent email was actually very cool about it so I thought I’d reveal… how to consistently achieve over 80% open rates and 30% click-throughs by breaking all the rules.

Before I reveal the BIG secret (oh yes, it’s ginormous!) let me address the “email marketing 101″ idea that some people have…

Who wrote the book? Who had the cajones to say “my way is right, your way is wrong?” Did they ever email my list or your list?

See, there are no hard rules in marketing and let’s face it - the more you try to follow “the rules” the more sanitized your marketing becomes. And no money for you.

The only email marketing rule you need to follow

Write and converse with people like they are your best buds.

The biggest mistake I see people make with their emails (or most any marketing, for that matter) is that they try to speak all “sales lingo” and professional.

If you analyze the way I write my emails you’ll notice I write as if I have a buddy-buddy relationship with the reader. And why wouldn’t I write that way - it’s the result we want, right?

If you write from the perspective of “I’m the sales professional and you’re the customer” then how interested do you think folks are going to be in opening your emails let alone taking action once they do?

When you write a message to your list you actually need tow rite as if you’re addressing one person. A good buddy of yours.

If you take a moment to think about it you’ll realize this is a pretty darn powerful technique (and social media friendly ). It definitely ain’t rocket science.

If you receive my emails - I’d love some feedback from you on this. If you’re not receiving my emails (god forbid!) then you can sign up below or at the top of the page.

Have you grabbed a copy of my email marketing checklist? You should - it’s so snazzy it’ll take your emails past 10 to 11!

Related posts

• What’s An Email Consumption Strategy and Why Do Savvy Agents Have One? (0)
• Unleash The Persuasive Power of FAQ Marketing (5)
• The Magic Formula For Getting & Leveraging Compelling Testimonials (2)
• The Easiest Way To Get More Impact From Your Listing Photos (3)
• How To Remove Prospect Anxiety With A Single Email (3)

“Why, it stands for ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and it’s a darn powerful promotional tool for overcoming prospect objections and moving them deeper down your sales funnel.”

That being the case, why wouldn’t you use FAQs in your sales process?

Let’s take a closer look at how to unleash a persuasive FAQ on your sales process and the sort of questions you should include for answer.

FAQs as a sales tool

FAQs function a bit under the radar in that they aren’t perceived by folks as a sales message. FAQs are seen as, well, a list of Q&A questions. This is why folks are more receptive to what you have to say there.

As you can see, it’s a prime spot to identify the most common objections prospects may have and overcome them.

Not all FAQs are created equal

You’ve got two things you’re actively marketing - your ability as a Realtor to help your buyer and seller clients, and the homes you’ve taken listing agreements on.

Obviously, then, one FAQ list definitely doesn’t fit all… you’re marketing to three different groups (buyers, sellers, and home shoppers) that will each have their own unique questions and answers needed.

1. FAQs for buyer clients
2. FAQs for seller clients
3. FAQs for your listings

Your FAQ Quickstart

No messing around about it, it’ll take a bit of time to put together a winning FAQ list - one that removes objections and builds credibility.

So to get your mind mojo working here are a list of a few possible FAQs (notice how each question in the FAQ is simply a rephrased objection or value proposition?):

FAQs for your services

• How do you work with me?
• What is your guarantee policy?
• How long does the process take?
• How are you different from other Realtors?
• How long does it take for you to return my calls?
• Should I talk with you even if I’m not sure I’m ready?

FAQs for your listings

• How soon can we move in?
• What makes this home unique?
• What is the history of the home?
• What type of buyer-assistance does the seller provide?
• How long does it take for you to return my calls?

Where to use FAQs

Website - Put up a FAQ page in your buyer and seller sections of your website. You can also address the FAQs in your “salesletter.”

Autoresponders - I love this technique of dripping on prospects with FAQs. Check out this post on how to incorprate them into your email marketing campaign.

Listing Details - There are a number of ways to use this with your listing websites… on the main page with the home details, as a seperate page, and in any email follow-up for the home.

Direct Mail - Direct mail (postcards, letters) are prime spots for FAQs because they diffuse objections your prospects may have, making them more comfortable to move further down your sales funnel.

What do you think? Will you rev up your FAQs and unleash them in your real estate marketing?

opening text written under the influence of the Beastie Boys’s Professor Booty.

photo credit

Related posts

• HomeStomper Strikes Different Chords Around The Net (3)
• Your Email Marketing Sucks And Why Friends Don’t Care (2)
• What’s An Email Consumption Strategy and Why Do Savvy Agents Have One? (0)
• The Magic Formula For Getting & Leveraging Compelling Testimonials (2)
• The Easiest Way To Get More Impact From Your Listing Photos (3)

Luckily, you can return from the land of link-bloat and use your categories and tags in a manner that actually helps your readers, highlights your best work, and possibly even earns you more Google juice.

How You’re Killing Your Readership

When reading on the web the eye looks for clues as to what’s important. That’s why bullet points, whitespace, sub-heads, and blockquotes are so important. The eye elso doesn’t like to have to work for the information (it’s tiring skimming back and forth on a 21 inch monitor).

Here’s the problem: when you throw a list of categories over in your sidebar you create a messy blob of text that requires work to read. You guessed it, folks aren’t going to put in the time to comb through the list… why should they? Obviously, no content in the list was important enough for you to highlight for them.

But wait - there’s a whole other problem!

When presented with too many options (links) folks suffer from paralysis by analysis. It’s a psychological thing where folks are afraid of making a poor choice therefore it’s easier for them to not make any choice at all. (There’s a reason you don’t show someone umpteen homes in a day, right?)

So, yeah, that list of categories in your sidebar you thought would help folks to find content… it ain’t working for ya.

Trim the Blog Fat

Frankly, I was pretty damn tired of getting hit with analysis paralysis everytime I went to publish a blog post. “Does this go under Copywriting or Email Marketing? Probably both… so then what tags should I use?”

Most folks, and by “most” I might just mean Me, have a hard time with using Categories and Tags in ways that make sense (especially when a post can have multiple categories!) It leads to an incredibly bloated archive and linking structure.

It was time to trim the blog fat and here’s the process I followed…

Highlight What Really Matters

You’ll notice in the sidebar over there that, instead of a list of categories, I actually have a list of posts under the headings “Must Reads,” “Internet Marketing,” and “Worth A Look.”

AH! I’m actually highlighting content and not just a list of archive pages! Brilliant, I know, but it took this troglodyte years to figure it out.

The result: Page views per visit have gone up since I made this switch.

So, I’m using categories like drawers in a file cabinet. When I write a post my category options are pretty clear - do I file this topic in “Internet Marketing” or “Worth A Look” (other)? The really good stuff goes in “Must Reads.” No multi-category filing, either. Nope.

The Trouble With Tags

Tags… I hate the way they’re most commonly used - just type in words that come to mind when thinking about this post. A blueprint for link-bloat if ever there was one.

Tagged as: postcards, postcard, postcard copywriting, postcard marketing, marketing with postcards, real estate postcards

While Categories are providing the file drawer system, I use Tags as a reference system to the content of the blog posts. I created a specific list of the tags I’ll use and will only tag a post with this list. Keeps me from having multiple tags that essentially mean the same thing.

• guerrilla marketing
• psychology
• persuasion
• email marketing
• social media
• events
• seo
• blogging
• conversion
• lead generation
• link building
• web design
• keywords
• branding
• tracking
• business
• personal

Again, this makes it easier for me when it comes time to hit publish and it’s a heck of a lot easier for readers to get to the type of content they want most… just click “email marketing” rather than wading through “email, marketing with email, email marketing, etc.”

Connecting It All Together

Looking at the single post pages you’ll notice no links to the category archives, just tag archives.

The reason is pretty simple… the category doesn’t really matter so much but the inter-relatedness of the content listed under the tag does.

Google can follow the Tag and find other blog posts about the same topic without diluting G’s findings with off-topic content. Good for Google, good for readers, good for you.

Get More With Less

The pitfall of categories and tags is they’re easily used as catch-all tools. You muck up your site structure with unnecessary links and disconnected content.

But there’s hope… all it takes is just a little trimming of your Categories and Tags and you can save your blog from bloat - make it much more useful for your visitors.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…

photo credit

Related posts

• Why Email Can Improve Your Blog (2)
• What’s Most Important in a Website? (2)
• The 3 Elements of Search Engine Optimization (0)
• Simple Keys to Cleaning Up Website Clutter (0)
• REnet Blogging Results and What They Mean (6)

Isn’t that how the most successful agents do it? No? Well then… how does great marketing come about? How do the savviest of agents become superstars?

Nobody ever talks about how they did it… they just talk about what they did and we all know that doesn’t mean their methods are what will work in your business.

Luckily, success is much more science than art.

Innovate

It’s widely known that you can’t get ahead if you’re doing the same thing as everyone else. In fact, if you’re lucky you’ll get similar results but more often than not you won’t do near as well as the other “me-too’s.”

Besides, when you’re doing the same thing as others then you reduce yourself (and the real estate industry) into a commodity. And we all know that’s not a winning position.

The real secret to success in real estate (or any business, for that matter) is differentiation.

There’s a marketing maxim: differentiate or die.

Look around your area. You’ll find the most stand-out, successful agents are doing something very different than everyone else.

The way they market listings or themselves, their listing presentation, their guarantees, uniqueness, or the way they treat clients… they don’t do it like everyone else.

In order to win big in any market you must be an innovator. Continually try new things, create new methods of generating and doing business, stand for something unique.

Test & Track

One thing to always remember: marketing isn’t rocket science. There aren’t folks with over-sized brains pumping out million dollar idea after another.

The trick (and key!) to winning with marketing is testing and tracking. Something every Jane and John Realtor can do.

See, the most successful businesses are alwasy working to improve their return on investment (ROI). The best way to do this (and the easiest to implement) is to independently measure each individual element that could influence your results.

(don’t unleash all your innovative ideas at once then try to measure them. you won’t know which it is that’s impacting your results.)

Adopt

After you try something innovative, test and measure the result, you discover what works and what doesn’t.

The key to constantly improving your results is to keep making small, incremental innovations. Test and measure the results. Then, once you identify a winner, adopt it into your standard practice.

There’s no such thing as a magic bullet in business but you can plainly see it’s the small incremental improvements over time that will lead to a huge boost to your business.

Pro Insights

There’s a trap to being a real estate agent: the unfounded idea that you’ve got to do it all on your own. Obviously there’s added stress, time constraints and the huge drain of energy that accompanies this “lone wolf” idea but with so much going on you can easily lose the ability to think and plan clearly.

Working this way inevitably causes a meltdown. Clearly, not the way to sustain and grow a business. But, it is something that traps many new (and experienced!) agents.

So, here’s the thing: if you’re committed to improving your results and getting all you can from your business then take advantage of the help available to you.

• Get insights into what really gets results.
• Discover the best ways to automate your lead generation
• Get a professional opinion and whether something may work
• Learn how to target the people most likely to buy
• Get help writing copy that converts
• and more

Who do you turn to to get those insights? You can work with a marketing professional or try to bend the ear of an agent that’s getting the results you want.

The point is this: when you get your license there’s no one that calls you up to explain how to really market yourself. While good marketing isn’t rocket science, it’s not a game of guesswork. Now you have the “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” cycle to continually ratchet up your results.

Check out the real estate marketing consulting offer from HomeStomper.

photo source

Related posts

• What Real Estate Pros Really Need To Know (1)
• Unleash The Persuasive Power of FAQ Marketing (5)
• The Secret Sauce for Real Estate Marketing (2)
• The Birth Of Guerrilla Marketing Online was… Comic Books? (2)
• Stomping the RealEstateRadioUSA Show (0)

Today might be a good catch. Usually she’s able to sell a full day’s catch for around $5 at their local market. But, with four children to also provide for the money quickly goes.

But, Im Chhoeum holds on to a dream.

An entrepreneur’s dream

If she and her husband were able to build their own pond they could breed their own fish for sale at the market. No more long days on the river, toiling for a catch that may not be fruitful. The pond means she would have more fish to be sold at the market and a more predictable income for her and her family.

Im Chhoeum is an entrepreneur in Cambodia and she’s caught in the global epidemic called Poverty.

You’ve got to respect and admire the determination it takes to dream big when living under the oppression of poverty. She dreams of being an entrepreneur to better her family and their community.

I have to tell you… my heart reaches out to folks who, despite their circumstances, struggle to create a business that would allow them to make a difference and change lives.

We entrepreneurs shape our world.

You may have heard of the organization Kiva. They provide a channel so that folks like you and I can provide micro-loans directly to entrepreneurs in developing worlds.

Kiva empowers folks like Im to buy the tools, supplies, and other resources to build businesses - they can better support their families and their community.

These are entrepreneurs like you and I, they just don’t have the same resources to reach for their dreams.

Make a difference today

I want to provide an opportunity for all of us to better ourselves, reach our goals, and enjoy a more fruitful life.

So, here’s the deal:

For each person that sits down with me for a 1-on-1 personal consulting session, I will donate $25 to Kiva. I will do this for every consulting session throughout the month of October.

Let’s make a difference in the life of a poverty-stricken entrepreneur while making an impact in your own business.

Register for your personal marketing consult now.

Thank you for all that you do.

This is my contribution to Blog Action Day 2008. Thousands of bloggers making a difference every year. This year, we change the conversation about world poverty.

Related posts

• 6 Random Things You Wouldn’t Know About Me Unless You Asked (24)

]]>