We also give you a choice as to where and how to display your listings within your Facebook account. You can post listings individually on your Profile page, or include all your inventory on a dedicated “My Listings” tab on your Business Page.

Now you have a third option. From the same “Social Syndication” section of the Homes & Land Control Panel, advertisers can choose to post select listings on their Business Page wall. This way your new listings are shared with everyone who “likes” your page – instantly.

Here’s How

(What you’re hoping for) – (What you get)

This might be the simplest possible explanation of customer satisfaction.

Dissatisfaction occurs when salespeople and marketers tend to try to amplify the first part (what you’re promised) while neglecting the second.

The ability to delight and surprise is at the core of every beloved brand (product, politician, teenager…). Overhype and shady promises will undercut that before it even has a chance to get started. Yes, of course you have to make promises to earn attention and trial. The mistake is when you put more effort into the promises and less into what you deliver. Promise a lot but deliver even more.

[One really important amplification: Research shows us that what people remember is far more important than what they experience. What's remembered:

--the peak of the experience (bad or good) and,

--the last part of the experience.

The easiest way to amplify customer satisfaction, then, is to underpromise, then increase the positive peak and make sure it happens near the end of the experience you provide. Easy to say, but rarely done.]

Are you thinking about doing more volunteer work, helping the needy in your community, but not sure where to turn? Here’s a website that identifies both short-term and long-term volunteer opportunities. Go to www.VolunteerMatch.org.

According to Google, “mobile went mainstream in 2011” with increased smartphone and tablet usage – which means your listings not only have to be online to reach consumers, they have to be mobile-accessible too.

Nielsen reports that 44% of US mobile customers are using smartphones – up from 18% in 2010. With thousands more consumers having instant access to the Internet, it’s no wonder mobile browsing has increased 45% in the past year – not to mention the huge influx of Internet traffic from tablets (up 440% according to Google).

In fact, Google states “It’s not just that more people are using smartphones and tablets (though the numbers are skyrocketing at an accelerating pace)—it’s that a huge, and fast-growing base of smartphone users, now expect to engage with businesses on mobile.”

This is true for home shoppers too. HomesAndLand.com has seen an 186% increase in mobile traffic in the past year. That’s why mobile-enabled websites are included in our marketing package. Advertisers receive personal websites that are automatically formatted for smartphones and tablets at no additional charge. Which means no additional work for you to put your listings online – or on-mobile.

Last month Bernice Ross, a Realtor and one of Inman.com’s best columnists, declared that Micromarketing is the hot real estate marketing trend for 2012. Ms. Ross described micromarketing as “old-fashioned farming with a 21^st Century twist.”

Micromarketing means marketing to an area where the residents’ demographics, lifestyle, and recreational pursuits match your own interests and expertise. Perhaps you target residences around a large recreational lake where people buy second homes or retire. This appeals to you because you are an agent who a. lives on the lake and b. owns a boat and likes to fish.

Ms. Ross uses AustinLakefrontProperties.com as an example of a micromarketing website, as opposed to a more common and generic URL like www.Realtorsname.com. You should also use micromarketing to enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and promote your social media efforts.

Ms. Ross reports that “agents who are having the best luck with this approach have integrated their print marketing efforts with their online marketing efforts.”

If micromarketing intrigues you, consider using Homes & Land’s Integrated Marketing Package. Your Homes & Land Publisher can help you reach a micromarket using direct mail. A Homes & Land ad is also a great place to promote your Facebook page and blog. In addition, we feature QR codes that link to a video promoting your micromarket.

With the Homes & Land package you receive a website that can be branded as a micromarket (e.g., AustinLakeFrontProperties.com). You can also backlink your Homes & Land site to your current website for enhanced SEO.

As usual, Homes & Land is ahead of the marketing curve.

• www.DiggersList.com is a home improvement classified site that offers heavily discounted items from other remodeling projects
• www.TheStoneBroker.com provides granite remnants for smaller projects that don’t require full slabs
• www.Rejuvination.com sells high-end lighting fixtures from top manufacturers at 20-30% off specialty store prices

From Money Magazine

Read the Full Story Here.

When you are marketing what to most Americans is their biggest financial asset, you need to do it right. Columnist Phoebe Chongchua explains how great photography can help you sell homes. http://bit.ly/wcRTJs

Credit reporting companies are starting to include payment histories in credit scores – which may help first-time homebuyers who have not established credit through traditional sources. It may also help consumers who have lost homes to foreclosure rebuild their credit.

These days, everyone can use a little help boosting their credit score so
share this article with your clients and prospects.

Often there is little time to do your elevator pitch. Seth Godin said the other day that no one has ever bought anything in an elevator: in other words a very short elevator pitch consisting of 2 sentences with hollow buzz words is not going to excite anyone.

Instead, you need to add more specifics to intrigue the prospect to invite you to another occasion where there is more time to discuss your services.

But sometimes, elevator pitches become less effective when you take too much time. You start adding details and providing facts, which takes the energy out of your presentation and requires time to close the deal. There is a dip between the perfect short pitch, and the full-length 25 minute story. Do not get stopped in the middle, it is better to keep it short.

Sample Pitches:

• “I’m a real estate agent concentrating on historic homes like the Betton Hills neighborhood in mid-town.”
• “I help people figure out why exactly their house is not selling, how can they get it sold, and if they like, I will even sell it for them.”
  [from Real Estate Agent Alliance:]

The key is to keep it short, succinct and say something of interest to the prospect.