3 "Easy to Produce" Vertical Videos (for Real Estate Agents)

VIDEO is VERTICAL – that’s the trend to embrace:  Instagram + Facebook Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts.

Trouble is, making and sharing videos is a significant undertaking. Top social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, for instance, have practically insatiable appetites for more and more content—video content, in particular.

You’ve gotta work smarter 🤨 when it comes to video-marketing nowadays.

Bearing that in mind… here’s a list and instructions for three “easy to produce” video shows to step-up your vertical ↕️ video game now and into next year:

3 (Easy-to-Make) Vertical Video for Realtors

1. Talking Heads 🗣 - (Not the band 🤣) Close-up, camera-facing videos in which you provide real estate market commentary, share tips and advice, or explain nuances/intricacies about real estate.

I’d recommend batch-filming to record videos in bulk. You may opt to shoot in the field or at a set location, with your smartphone🤳 or perhaps a DSLR/mirrorless camera 🎥. That bit’s up to you.

Be sure to prep your points in advance, maybe bring a few changes of clothes, and I’d definitely advise outsourcing the editing.

• Here’s an example: Sarah Roy - Farr Group NW

2. Gimbal Tours🏡 - We all know people like watching home-tours. (Ever heard of HGTV⁉️) Nonetheless, some myths that might be holding you back from making more of these videos:

MYTH 1:  The subject property has to be your listing.

That’s not the case so long as you obtain proper consent. In fact, the properties don’t even have to be, quote-unquote, “for sale,” just as long as you don’t misrepresent/mislead otherwise.

MYTH 2:  You can only produce polished videos or it’ll present the home improperly.

Before I get into this, let me be clear: I have no qualms with pro-quality listing videos. (Far from it, actually.) However, because social algorithms are burning through content so rapidly, the odds of ALL the right people seeing any one post is mathematically improbable.

If you’re bottlenecking your output of content because each video, for instance, is overly time- and labor-intensive, a pivot to your approach may be in order.

TRY THIS:  get a gimbal (i.e., a handheld mechanical stabilizer to help you shoot smoother video) for your iPhone (e.g. DJI Osmo) and shoot a selfie-styled video that begins with you introducing the property. For example:

“Wanna see what $500,000 can get you in South Nashville…”

Then, with your gimbal, rotate the camera to forward-facing and begin touring the property. Step to the corner of each room and pan from left to right to give viewers a full view of its interior spaces. Film in 4K, 60 frames-per-second (fps), and at the 0.5 magnification setting to get that wide-angle lens look.

When you’re done, load your video into an editing app like Splice. Pop-in a few transitions, speed-up or slow-down the footage to your liking (that’s called “speed ramping”), and edit your video in like two minutes flat—done and dusted!

• Here’s an example: Ray Ellen - Pixel Properties

3. Selfie Spotlights🤳 - Using similar filming techniques as the selfie-gimbal video aforementioned, hit the town to document its hotspots and amenities. Try using the voiceover (VO) functionality that’s built into Reels, for instance. That way, you can just film to your phone’s camera roll while you’re out-and-about the town and then add your footage into a Reel/TikTok/Short after-the-fact.

• Here’s an example: The One Team

If you plan to conduct interviews with locals, for instance—and wanna record quality-sounding audio—consider investing in a LAV or condenser/cardioid microphone.

• RODE Wireless GO ii

• Deity Pocket Wireless Mobile Kit

• Deity V-Mic D4 Duo Microphone

• Rode VideoMic GO Lightweight On-Camera Microphone

The simple fact is, social algorithms are greedy — they want more content than ever (especially, vertical videos). If your videos are overly difficult to produce in bulk, then you oughta explore new methods/concepts to streamline your process.

4 Tips to Prevent Your Instagram Account Getting Hacked

It seems, lately, that Instagram has been under attack with accounts getting hacked, impersonators springing up all over, and scams galore.

Don’t get me wrong, these issues are prevalent on pretty much all mainstream social platforms. Nonetheless, it’s estimated 30,000 Instagram accounts get hacked daily. Yikes 😱

The good news is, there are measures you can put in place to help mitigate your exposure.

Granted, there’s no perfect defense or 100%-effective safeguard -- however, the tactics herein are certainly smart ideas.

1. Third-Party Logins: Lots of sites/apps allow you to link your Instagram account: e.g. social publishing tools or reporting platforms. The risk is—in the event one of those platforms’ user-data becomes comprised—so does your IG login. To check and see which apps/sites are “connected,” tap the menu button (☰), hit Settings, press Security, and then tap Apps and websites. The fewer, the better.

2. Two-Factor Authentication:  On Instagram (or anywhere you’re logged in) it’s vital to have two-factor authentication enabled whereby you're sent a one-time code to authenticate any attempted login. Instagram, for instance, allows you to authenticate via text-message, WhatsApp, or by means of a third-party authenticator app. The third-party app is generally the most secure option. 

3. Email/DM Malicious URLs: Cybercriminals notoriously make use of malicious URLs to loot your login info. That means they’ll DM or email you a link that doesn’t do what you think it does. This is an especially common tactic used by impersonators or hackers peddling exclusive perks—like Blue-Checks offers, for instance. Scroll through the next few cards to review common deceptions.

   • Phony “Copyright” Infringement Scams: Watch out for phony “copyright infringement” messages. Instagram won’t DM you—they’ll either display an in-app notification or email you. However, hackers could also email you, imitating an official-looking correspondence. If you get an email you’re not sure is safe, you can check in the Insta app. Tap the menu button (☰), then Settings, hit Security, and finally, select “Emails from Instagram.”

   • Fake “Suspicious Activity” Alerts: Fake suspicious/unusual activity warnings are go-to hacker tactics. Slow down and think before you click the link! Remember, you can double-check any Instagram email in the app to certify its authenticity. What’s more, Insta only emails from its @mail.instagram.com address. And don’t forget… Instagram won’t DM you these sort of notices.

   • “Lookalike” Impersonator DMs:  Hackers create bogus accounts with (almost-matching) usernames, scrape an creators’ content (e.g. posts, profile name, bio, etc.) to make you think it’s them, buy followers to appear credible, block the actual creator to tie their hands, so to speak, and then message that creator's followers as if it's really them—only, it’ll eventually turn into a crypto pitch. If you ever get a DM like this, double-check that you actually follow the account. When you open the message, beneath their (stolen) profile pic, it’ll specify if you follow them. That said, perhaps you followed them unknowingly. If that's the case, be sure to look closely at the username to see whether or not it’s genuine. And if they try to sell you crypto—well, that’s a pretty good clue too.

4. Data-Leaked Passwords: Passwords are a pain to manage. Nonetheless, be wary of using the same password across the web. If there’s a data leak, for instance, your password could be getting "passed around" the dark web. Hackers may retrieve portions of your IG login credentials and obtain leaked PW datasets to try and break into your account. Also make sure your two-factor authentication is turned on! 

5 Database Marketing and Nurturing Tactics (for REALTORS)

Your database of past clients and center-of-influence contacts is, in all likelihood, your BEST source of business. Question is, are you“working it” sufficiently?

Per the Nat’l Association of REALTORS®, 68% of sellers and 60% of buyers identify an agent for hire via REPEAT/REFERRAL. 🤯

Fact is, if you’re not fully-leveraging your database—no doubt—it’s costing you. 💸

Here’s a quick list of marketing ideas to more effectively nurture your database:

1. Weekly Email Round-Up.  Email marketing is WAY underrated—and I know why. It’s because far too many agents are sending out canned, pre-written emails that  don’t work. My advice: start to view email as a channel for distributing your content. As you publish blogs, videos, and more, assemble and send out a weekly email digest. It’ll improve your performance metrics and, more importantly, it’ll nurture your database.

2. Google Display Network Ads.  Position your brand across the web via the Google Display Network—i.e., the banner ads you see scattered across sites and apps in side-bars, pop-ups, footer-bars, and elsewhere. They'll help keep you top-of-mind with your database. Head over to Ads.Google.com to setup a new ad campaign and upload your database contacts for retargeting. Type in this URL to watch my tutorial:  bit.ly.JP-GDN

3. Handwritten Notes/Cards.  Let’s face it:  some marketing channels give off a phony vibe. Like, I don’t feel warm and fuzzy when I get a mass text message that reads:  “Reply STOP to unsubscribe." But handwritten notes, I've gotta confess, are pretty-darn touching. Trouble is, they’re high-effort!—or, at least, they were. Look at bulk-sending plat-forms like Audience.co or AddressableMail to nurture your database with personalized, handwritten notes and cards.

4. Educational Webinars.  I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill "first-time homebuyer" or basic "seller" seminars/webinars. I'm talking about offering webinars on much more nuanced, relevant topics. Imagine inviting your database contacts  to monthly webinars in which you tackled the most relevant topics of the day—especially now, as the market is highly volatile. My advice:  be the knowledge broker!

Home Equity Updates. Homes value is STILL a topic of tremendous interest amongst homeowners. So what’s your process to keep your database contacts in the know? Perhaps try sending out quarterly “Equity Updates” to them. After all, they’re your database contacts and so it’s on you to keep them informed of market conditions. Use an automated tool or run your own comps—either way, it's about sharing the data.

My Tom Ferry Success Summit 2022 Conference Top Highlights and Recaps

#TFSummit22 was absolutely EPIC this year — I dare say the best-ever! More than 7,000 rockstar agents, teams, and coaches in-person—plus thousands more on livestream—all working collectively and collaboratively to level-up their businesses. I flat-out love what I get to do! 

Tom Ferry laid out the perfect framework to organize 3-day’s worth of stellar content:

• Day 1:  DEMAND (i.e., how to establish multiple lead-generation pillars to drive new business)

• Day 2:  BRAND (i.e., positioning to create massive consideration and credibility in your marketplace)

• Day 3:  REFERRALS (i.e., working your database and personal network to to build a business empire)

What were your top takeaways?—I’d love your thoughts. 💬

P.S. Photo cred 📸 goes to the ultra-talented AJ Canaria, courtesy of Moxiworks. 🙏

7 Nonobvious Ways to Market a Listing (For Real Estate Agents)

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way. Yes, you should market a listing via: email campaigns, listing videos, circle-prospecting, door-knocking, open houses, MLS syndication, social media posts (+ ads/boosts), and so forth.

But how else can/should you market a listing? Scan the images above for A BUNCH of detailed ideas.

As a listing agent, it’s on you to expose a property to the LARGEST pool of ready, willing, and able buyers... So get the word out. 📢

(P.S. Here’s a link to the training I promised on Dynamic Google Search Ads—just copy/paste the URL: https://bit.ly/DYN-ADS.)

Top 5 Ranking Signals Instagram Measures to Prioritize Posts (2023)

This post was updated on January 9, 2023.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, published a video in which he shared the 5 most important “interactions” IG measures to calculate whether or not a Post, Video, Reel, or Story is worth prioritizing in the feeds. I’ve outlined (and strategized) all five.

End of day, the performance of your next post on Instagram is tied to is ability to generate interactions. Interaction = Visibility. In other words, a post that fails to generate any sort of response/feedback, like views, hearts/likes, swipes, comments, and so forth, simply isn’t going to be circulated widely through the feeds. And, frankly, if your your post isn’t getting shown, it’s as if it was never even posted.

Additionally, Instagram is testing/releasing a couple new filters that’ll enable its users to rearrange what they see in their feeds. The first filter has been dubbed, “Following” which will simply sort the posts of whomever a user follows into a chronological feed. The second is called, “Favorites,” which will enable users to manually select their favorite accounts and prioritize only those accounts’ posts in their feed.

That said, these are additions, not replacements. By default, your Main Feed will continue rank and personalize what you see as it does presently.

So, going forward, there’s gonna be a Main Feed with sorting options (i.e., “Following” and “Favorites”), a Story Feed, an Explore Page, and a Reels Feed. That’s A LOT of feeds!

My thinking is… it’s all the more important to understand the ranking signals IG prioritizes no matter the feed in question. Hence, the top 5 interactions to get your posts to rank:

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Top 5 Instagram Interactions

1. Time-Spent: Just like money is the currency of economies, attention is the currency of algorithms. Literally every algorithm out there—Google, Facebook, etc.—prioritizes content that holds viewers attention. Attention signifies relevance. So, obviously, make content that captivates. But beyond that, utilize post formats that innately hold attention: e.g. subtitled videos, swipe-through carousels, “meatier” captions, and/or talkative comment threads.

2. Hearts/Likes: Attention speaks volumes, but action, arguably, speaks louder. For example, a user watching a video start-to-finish is definitely a HUGE algorithmic consideration... but a user willing to go, quote-unquote, “on the record” with a "Like"—now that’s next-level. Here’s a simple (or not so simple) question: are you publish-ing content that’s “Likeable?” If you don't know for certain, visit your IG Insights to calculate your Reach-to-Likes ratio.

3. Comments: Comments put the “social” in social media.” So if a post doesn’t spark much of any dialogue in the comments thread, then chances are, its reach will be comparatively underwhelming. For that reason, when a user comments on your post, always reply! In fact, reply with a question or tag other Instagram users in an effort to stir up a bigger discussion. Conversation cultivates Community.

4. Saves: People Save (i.e., “bookmark”) posts they want/plan to revisit. Instagram is continuously observing and inferring the presumed interests of its users so that it can prioritize what they see in their feeds respectively—and the Save button is a dead giveaway. People save posts that are useful or offer a lasting value, worth coming back to over-and-again. My advice: if the post warrants it, write-in a recommendation to Save it in your post caption.

5. Profile-Taps: If a user taps to visit your profile, odds are, it’s someone who doesn’t follow you. Of course, it could be somebody who does, looking to peruse your posts. But regardless, does your profile deliver? As a non-follower scans your page, for instance, do they opt to follow you? That's why it’s critical to dial-in Profile Name, Bio, Link, and Highlights to help convey your story! And, arguably more important than that... it’s ALL about your content—does it compel or repel?

5 Home Buyer Objection Handlers for Realtors (Spring, 2022)

You don’t need me to tell you that it’s a competitive real estate market 😥. Agents have been hustling like crazy:  showing properties, writing-up contracts, loosing multiple offers (far too often), and on it goes 🔂. Frankly, it’s all a bit maddening.

Home price escalation, rising interest rates, and limited inventory have caused quite the predicament. And, as a result, lots of home-buyers have grown rather apprehensive about moving forward or not.

No doubt, buying a home is a BIG decision—always has been. And no script or dialogue can quote-unquote, “make” somebody buy a house. (Nor should it.)

Nonetheless, in the midst of a “tough market,” in my opinion, a (respectful) dose of “tough counsel” is appropriate.

Truth is… nobody can go backwards to buy a house in yesterday’s market—nor can anyone assuredly predict how tomorrow’s market will or won’t turn out. Fact is, we only sell houses in today’s market—not yesterday’s or tomorrow’s.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD: 5 Home-Buyer Objection Handlers (for Realtors)

Objection Dialogues/Ideas

• Home-Price Sticker Shock 😱

  • I can appreciate that… Real estate certainly tends to go up in value. I wonder… What do you think this home will cost, say, a year from now? [Listen] So I guess what matters in the future is whether or not you purchased the property today, right?

• This isn’t my “Dream Home” 😔

  • I can appreciate that… Ever wonder how some people afford houses like {Dream Home}? [Listen] In many cases, it's because they bought a home like {Subject Home}, later sold it, and then reinvested the gains into their dream home. Most people don’t "buy"a dream home—they "trade-up" to it.

• Waiting on Interest Rates 📉

  • I can appreciate that… By nature, rates always rise and fall. The good news is you can refi a mortgage if/when rates go down again. What you cannot do, however, is go back in time to buy a house at today’s prices. Historically speaking, home values nearly always go up.

• Looking for a Good Deal 💸

  • I can appreciate that… In my experience there are two types of home buyers—those who are looking to get a "good deal" versus those who will do whatever it takes to "get the deal." The only question is… how do you define a "good deal," in say, a year from now?

• Friend Only Paid $$$ Last Year 🤨

  • I can appreciate that… In my experience there are two types of home buyers—those who are looking to get a "good deal" versus those who will do whatever it takes to "get the deal." The only question is… how do you define a "good deal," in say, a year from now?

5 Email Marketing Tips for Realtors (in 2022)

I’m willing to bet you’re not sending enough email. I know, I know—that’s a big statement, especially considering how much email each of us receives on a daily basis. What I mean is, we’re not sending enough VALUABLE email. The fact is, if you poll any group of marketers, chances are, they’ll unanimously vote email as their best performing sales/marketing channel.

Question is, what should you send? Answer:  CONTENT 😉. Start to think of email marketing as another channel to distribute your blogs, videos, and social media posts. If you immerse yourself in creating valuable content—tips, advice, and updates about your local marketplace—then no matter where you publish that content, it’ll be received with great enthusiasm. Email included. Why? Because it's valuable/useful.

Now, what to send is one matter—best-practices around HOW to send your email is another. Scan through the stack of images for tips on how to get better performance out of your email marketing campaigns.

1. Everything Clickable: Since Apple’s release of its Mail Protection Privacy program, Open-Rate metrics are virtually unreliable. Nowadays the Mail app on iOS devices preloads ALL your emails on its “proxy servers,” which email service providers interpret as an open—even if the recipient never did so. So hyperlink your images, text, and so forth so that you can get a better read on who’s consuming your campaigns.

2. Smartphone Optimized: Year-over-year, mobile email adoption rates continue to soar. That being the case, it’s critical to ensure your email campaigns are outfitted and optimized for smartphone consumption. For example, make sure text is sufficiently sized so it's readable, avoid multi-column layouts in which viewers have to pinch-and-zoom in order to see properly, and make all buttons extra BIG for an easy tap.

3. Preview Text: When you send an email campaign, there’s an option to customize the “preview text,” which is the sentence-or-two snippet that appears below the sender name and subject line in recipients’ inboxes. If you don’t modify it, by default, it’ll usually say something unfortunate, such as: "Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list." Nooooooo! My advice: customize it!

4. First-Name Personalization: When someone says or writes, JASON—as would be expected, it get’s my attention. Why? Because that’s my name! It’s simple psychology. My advice: utilize your email service provider’s {FIRST-NAME} merge tag feature so that your bulk emails send out personalized to each and every recipient. It’ll increase your campaign's relevance and, by extension, its performance.

5. Drop the ”Newsletter:” Not literally. In fact, I think the concept of a newsletter—that is, a recurrent email campaign sharing news, tips, advice, and/or updates related to your business—makes for a fabulous email. However, that being said--whatever you do--DON’T incorporate the word “Newsletter” in your subject line. It’ll get deleted faster than you can type DELETE.

5 Database Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents

Your DATABASE of past clients and sphere-of-influence contacts is probably your BEST source of business. Question is, are you, quote-unquote, “working it” sufficiently?

Swipe through the images above to review FIVE marketing ideas to effectively nurture your database.

1. Weekly Email “Roundup” - Email marketing is WAY underrated—and I know why. It’s because far too many agents are sending out canned, pre-written emails that  don’t work. My advice: start to view email as a channel for distributing your content. As you publish blogs, videos, and more, assemble and send out a weekly email digest. It’ll improve your performance metrics and, more importantly, it’ll nurture your database.

2. Educational Webinars - I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill "first-time homebuyer" or basic "seller" seminars. I'm talking about much more nuanced, relevant topics. Imagine offering your database contacts monthly (Zoom-powered) webinars, tackling topics like ew construction, negotiating through multiple offers, buying/selling at the same time, and more. Be the knowledge broker!

3. Outbound Handwritten Notes - Let’s face it:  some marketing channels give off a phony vibe. Like, I don’t feel warm and fuzzy when I get a mass text message. “Reply STOP to unsubscribe,” haha 😂. But handwritten notes, I must confess, are pretty-darn touching. Trouble is, they’re high effort!—or, at least, they were. Look at bulk-sending plat-forms like Audience.co, HandWrytten.com, or HandWrite.io. 

4. Google Display Network Ads - Position your brand across the web via the Google Display Network—i.e., the banner ads you see scattered across sites & apps in side-bars, pop-ups, footer-bars, and elsewhere. This’ll help to keep you top-of-mind w/ your database. Head over to Ads.Google.com, create a new ad campaign, and upload your database contacts to the Audience Manager, thereby enabling Google to retarget your peeps.

5. Home “Equity Updates” - Homes have been & are still appreciating at record pace. That being said, what’s your pro-cess to keep your database contacts in the loop? Perhaps try sending out quarterly “Equity Up-dates”—not as a straight-up sales pitch to list, per se—but as a professional courtesy. After all, they’re your database contacts and so it’s on you to keep them informed about the market. Use an automated tool or run your own comps—either way, it's about sharing the data.

5 YouTube Tips-and-Tricks to Boost Video Performance (for Realtors, 2022)

YouTube is a gift that keeps on giving 📈. When you post a video on FB or IG, for instance, it’ll get nearly all its lifetime views in the first day or two as it circulates through the feeds. But after that:  it’s crickets 🦗

On YouTube, however, a well optimized video will amass views for days, weeks, months, or even years into the future. It’s a snowball effect! Fundamentally, the more people watch your video, the more YouTube promotes it—in the search results, explore pages, recommended next videos, and so on.

#TomFerry coaching member, @the.real.brad.mccallum, for instance, averages 22 minutes of cumulative watch time EVERY minute that passes—24 hours-a-day, seven days a week 🤯 Now, for starters, Brad’s videos are amazing—so it’s no surprise that they perform well. But besides that, if you analyze his top 10 videos in terms of most views month-after-month, for example, you’d notice many of the same videos make the list over and again. Why? Because on YouTube, it only get’s better w/ age!

Hence, it’s mission-critical to properly optimize your videos when uploading! Swipe through the images above for FIVE practical tips and PLEASE tag someone in a comment who could benefit from this post 🙏

1. Keyword-Rich Video Title: YouTube is a search engine. Search engines analyze “keywords” in a searcher’s query in order to rank the most relevant results. The title of your video is critical to its SEO. Use tools like TubeBuddy or VidIQ to assist or just start typing phrases into the search bar and analyze YouTube’s suggestions. Point is, whatever search term you want your video to rank on, that keyword (or phrase) needs to be in your video’s title.

2. Vocalize Your Keyword(s): YouTube listens and transcribes your videos. In other words, the platform knows the words you are (or aren’t) saying and can thus analyze whether or not the actual substance of your video aligns with the keyword(s) in its designated title. So... make it super easy for YouTube! Say your keyword(s): at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of your video.

3. Embed Video Chapters: YouTube is practically the only platform where long-form videos still prosper. Naturally, long videos tend to have more content packed in than short ones. Consider adding timed markers (like a table of contents) in the description of your video. Simply Type, “00:00 - Introduction” or “02:34 - First-Time Home Buyers” and it'll divide your video into chapters. This’ll give your video extra chances to rank on more search phrases.

4. Optimized Filename: This one’s super easy! Before you upload your video to YouTube, modify its filename to support your keywords. If the auto-generated filename is something like “1234567890.mp4,” rename it to something like “First-Time-Home-Purchase-2022.mp4.” Remember, YouTube is a search engine, so the clearer you are about your target search term or phrase, the greater YouTube’s confidence in your video’s relevance.

5. Clickable Thumbnail: Once published, your video may appear in the search results page, the Home feed, the Explore tab, the Subscriptions section, as a recommendation, or elsewhere. Whether or not prospective viewers click to watch your video is conclusive evidence of its relevance. If they click, great–if they don’t, YouTube may curb its reach. Your video’s thumbnail (i.e., the viewable image associated with it) is the primary factor to entice viewers to watch.

How to Improve Google Local Services Ads to Get More Leads (for Realtors)

Google Local Services Ads (GLSAs) are freakin’ incredible. If you’re not running them, here’s why you should:

• Ad-Placement:  GLSAs are positioned at the tippy-top of the Google’s search results page!—primo placement for prospective customers to discover you. Plus, there’s no keyword-planning involved. You simply declare your industry (e.g. real estate agent) and Google handles all the targeting.

• Service-Types:  You control the types of leads you do/don’t want to receive. For instance, if you don’t want First-Time-Home-Buyers or Renters, it’s easy to say so. 

• Cost-Per-Lead:  You only pay for legitimate leads. Lots of services will spend your budget and, at the end of the billing cycle, whatever you get (in terms of leads generated) is what you get. But GLSAs only charges you for valid leads. What’s more, you get to set a budget in terms of what you’re willing to pay. So it’s NOT like you would set a $1,000/month budget, end up w/ only one lead, and then Google would be like, “Welp, your cost per lead came out to $1,000. Sorry 😅.” That’d be ridiculous!

• Seller Leads:  Finally, consumers who search for agents online is (generally) characteristic of seller-intent. If you’re looking to generate some seller leads, GLSAs may be a good fit for it.

Now… all the happy & fuzzy feelings about Google aside—Local Services Ads aren’t w/o blemish.

• 🚫 For starters, GLSAs still aren’t available in some regions—most parts of Canada, for instance. Boo 😒!!!

• ⬇️ Second—though search volume is gaining more-and-more ground, there’s just not an overwhelming-ton of looking for a REALTOR types of Google searches happening on a consistent basis. As a result, GLSAs won’t show nearly as often as, say, “Homes for sale near me” Google Search ads.

• 🥵 The competition is fierce! When GLSAs first became available for real estate agents, it was like come-list-me calls on the daily! Well, word spread and other agents joined in on the fun 🤩!

Which brings us to present day…

5 ways to Improve Your Google Local Services Ads to Get More Leads!

1. Local-Services Biz Profile:  Fill out your GLSA profile in its entirety! Set your hours-and-availability, insert your business's bio, specify your services areas/zip-codes, declare the services you offer (e.g. “new construction,” “first-time-homebuyers,” et al.), and so forth. Bear in mind, Google measures how often your ad converts—i.e., how often a viewer calls or messages you. The more info you provide, the more there is for a lead to gain confidence in contacting you.

2. Customer Reviews:  Sync your Google Business Profile (GBP) to front-load customer reviews. Keep in mind, the quantity and average star-rating of your reviews impacts how your ad ranks. For customers who find/use your business via Google Local Services Ads, request that they review you on GLSA directly vs. on your GBP. That way, Google will mark the review as verified, which'll reinforce rankings. The downside, though, is that the review won’t sync over to your GBP. Can’t win ‘em all 🤷🏻‍♂️.

3. Answer. The. Phone. The simple truth is: Google knows when leads call or message your business. So, if you fail to answer those calls or if you don’t reply the messages quickly, Google will demote the ranking of your ad. So… If your profile is set as open 24 hours/day, for instance—unless someone's monitoring for incoming leads overnight—you may reconsider your settings.

4. Log-&-Notate Your Leads: GLSA offers advertisers a basic lead-management dashboard/platform. My advice: USE IT! Mark-up every lead's record with detailed notes as well as update the statuses of your leads (e.g. active, inactive, or otherwise). Remember, by showing your ad, Google is indirectly giving its approval of your business. So provide them reassurance that your leads are being properly serviced.

5. Tweak/Adjust Your Bidding:  If you're lead-flow has declined, you may think about altering your bid-settings. The default bid strategy is set to "Maximize Leads"—meaning, Google will seek to generate as many leads as it can w/in your specified daily, weekly, or monthly budget. First off, try increasing your spend. If that doesn’t do it, consider switching to a “Max-Cost-Per-Lead” bid strategy. Using the latter, you're essentially offering top-dollar for any-and-all leads in your market area—that is, depending on the amount you tender per lead.

Google Business Profile Optimizations for Realtors: How to Rank in Local-Intent Google Searches!

Nearly HALF of all Google searches are looking for something LOCAL:  your business, possibly

If you want to increase the discoverability of your #GoogleBusinessProfile (GBP)—which, naturally, YOU DO!—swipe through the images above and follow the recommendations.

Here’s a quick rundown of the points:

1. Select the most “trending” business categories to help rank your GBP in the top-three section of Google’s Local Pack.

2. Tweak your profile name to rank on “Best realtor near me” types of search queries.

3. Collect keyword-optimized reviews from customers to boost your SEO.

4. Upload photos, videos (max file-size of 75M and up-to 30 seconds long), and posts on-the-regular. Profiles w/ 100+ photos, for instance, garner 520% more inbound calls from prospective customers.

My advice:  PLAY THE GOOGLE GAME!

6 YouTube SEO Tools for Realtors

#YouTube is more of a ꜱᴇᴀʀᴄʜ-ᴇɴɢɪɴᴇ than a ꜱᴏᴄɪᴀʟ-ɴᴇᴛᴡᴏʀᴋ—meaning, viewers are prone to discover your content in YouTube's search results versus scrolling through feeds, like w/ other social sites.

In a way, it’s as if viewers are literally seeking out your videos:  they’ll watch for longer and tend to demonstrate higher levels of intent/interest concerning your video’s subject-matter (e.g. “real estate in ____”).

On the flip side, though, it’s a lot more competitive to get discovered on YouTube—which is why you need an SEO tool to optimize your uploads for maximum reach and performance.

Swipe through the images to review a short list of services to dial-in your YouTube SEO strategy. (Personally, I use @tubebuddy—there’s a link to it in my bio.)

Who’s putting energy/effort into growing on YouTube in 2022? Comment below ⤵️

4 Ways to Grow Your Email List (For Realtors)

The Internet is changing (rapidly) — for instance, new privacy regulations are coming into operation practically every day (e.g. Apple’s iOS 14.5 , Google’s Privacy Sandbox, etc.). And, because of that, running targeted or retargeted ad campaigns (e.g. Facebook, Google, and more) to reach customers is now and will become increasingly more restrictive.

Advertising platforms like Facebook and Google, for instance, have historically relied on what are known as third-party cookies to accurately deliver targeted/retargeted ads to designated audiences. Now that’s all changing—third-party cookies are getting the boot 🥾

Backstory:  when you installed your Facebook Pixel and/or Google’s Global Site Tag on your website, for instance—in so doing, you permitted Facebook and Google to plant “cookies” (third-party cookies, technically) on the web browsers of your site’s visitors. Those cookies were/are used to track the actions and behaviors of the folks surfing your site and could/can then be made into target audiences for your ad campaigns. Impressive, right?! 

In effect, however, every Pixeled-and-Tagged website here, there, or anywhere has become somewhat of a spy network for these platforms, observing Internet-users’ patterns, interests, and so forth. (Sort of like how, in The Dark Knight movie, Batman turned everybody’s cell phones into a sonar system to track down the Joker 🤡) It’s all big data!

As privacy restrictions intensify—and, as a result of that, as ad-targeting becomes less and less effective—it’ll be all the more critical to build your email list! (What’s more, it’ll be equally as important to develop useful/valuable email content to send out.)

Email marketing is (way) underrated! Many marketers believe it's purely a direct sales channel—but it's more than that. In 2022, consider distributing a once-a-week email in which you share ALL your content (i.e., blogs, videos, social posts, and so forth).

Here are FOUR ideas to grow your email list in 2022:

1. Postcard QR-codes:  On every mailer you send out, consider adding an email opt-in call-to-action (CTA) adjacent to a scannable QR-code. Link the code to an entry page on your website whereby visitors can subscribe to your email list.

2. Website Pop-Ups & Banners:  Optimize your website with pop-up boxes, banners, and/or promo-bars to offer visitors a free subscription to your weekly email.

   Heads-up:  improper use of pop-ups, for instance, can damage your site's SEO. (I’ve added details in my blog — just tap my LINK-IN-BIO.)

   For example, Google penalizes websites in which pop-ups cover a page’s main content immediately after the page loads. So be sure to program your pop-ups to appear, for instance, on a delay, on the second page viewed, or when a users demonstrates exit-intent.

   In addition, Google notes that fullscreen pop-ups that block a desired page’s content and/or that require the viewer to dismiss prior to accessing the page’s content can also damage your site’s SEO. The solution for this is the same as before: program your pop-ups to only show on, for instance, the second page viewed or upon exit-intent.

   From a search-engine POV, Google’s only looking at the page that’d be listed in the search results—not other pages on the same website to which visitors may navigate next. Those, for all intents and purposes, are fair game for pop-ups.

3. Social Media Link-in-Bio: The use of a "LINK-IN-BIO" tool, such as Liinks.co, Linktree, or LinkFolio, is popular (and useful) on social sites like Instagram. Insert important CTAs to drive visitors to your various links—for instance, a podcast, a blog, or, you guessed it—your email subscriber form!

4. Facebook Advertising: In your FB Ads Manager, run either link-click (redirects to a URL) or lead-form campaigns to capture emails and grow your list. Target your market area, retarget your website traffic, and/or retarget your Facebook-Page and Instagram followers.

Bottom line: the Internet, in many ways, is changing. As privacy ramps up, make email marketing in 2022 a top business priority!

LIKES-TO-LEADS: How to use social media to organically generate real estate leads

Go from LIKES-2️⃣-LEADS. When it comes to social media marketing for real estate professionals, there are FOUR primary audience segments to hone in on and activate.

1. Past Clients + Sphere-of - Influence (PC/SOI)

   • Chances are, the bulk of your sales are the result repeat/referral business, from your past clients and sphere-of-influence contacts. Whether you're publishing original content or engaging with their posts, don’t loose sight of the role your social media activities play in cultivating your PC/SOI.

2. Leads & Prospects Database

   • As you procure new buyer/seller leads (e.g. pay-per-click, third-party portals, open houses, etc.), make a concerted effort to invite those individuals to connect with you on social. After all, social media (should) represent a major component of your ongoing lead nurturing efforts.

3. Organic Discovery

   • If you're sharing quality content, it'll attract an audience. They'll find you in the Explore Feed, through hashtags, or via location-tags. Users will share your posts via Stories/DMs and they'll tag others in your comment threads. You'll gain followers, some of whom will opt to buy, sell, or invest. Make content!

4. Agent-to-Agent Network

   • Even if you're creating hyperlocal, consumer-centric content (which you should), odds are, a significant chunk of your followers will consist of other agents. GOOD!—ever heard of agent-to-agent referrals? My advice: follow and engage w/ other agents on social. It'll pay dividends.

Success on social boils down to 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 and 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Produce and share value-packed posts, videos, and stories and proactively engage your network. If and when you do that, each of the segments above WILL produce leads and inquiries—and it’ll go down in your DMs.

For example:

“Hi____. thanks for all your great content! We’re planning on selling to move out of the area and wanted to start a conversation to get things rolling. Can you help?”

Your reply: YUP! 😜 -- because you’re the agent-of-choice!

5 Different Types of Marketers (for Real Estate Agents)

Just like there’s more than one way to crack an egg 🥚—there’s more than one way to MARKET your business. My advice… start with what comes to you most naturally and build on it!

Swipe through the images and tell me: WHAT TYPE OF MARKETER ARE YOU🤔

1. Digital Marketer: Lead-gen. focused. Utilizes Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising (e.g. Google Search Ads) to drive website traffic. Search-engine optimized. Extensive social ads: Facebook, Insta, & beyond. Nonstop retargeting (e.g. Google Display Ads). Business fits inside a sales funnel.

2. Content Marketer: Thinks and acts like a media company! A modern Creator: blogs, videos, emails, and all-things content-publishing. Social-media savvy; brand-strong. Attraction-based lead gen. (inbound & organic). Followers, comments, and DMs—cultivates a growing & engaged audience.

3. Relationship Marketer: People-first POV. Extraverted & conversational: calls, texts, comments, & DMs. Past clients, friends/fam., neighbors, networking contacts, agents, et al. Active in both social media & in-person group settings. Gift-giving, pop-bys, and client parties. All about connection: repeat & referrals.

4. Traditional Marketer: Mainstream branding and advertising: TV, radio, billboards, signage, and sponsorships. Top-of-mind centered marketing machine. Online ads, postcards, events, open houses, and even swag — whatever it takes to get the message out! Call-to-action centric.

5. Direct Marketer: Cold-calling, door-knocking, sales-and-conversion focused. All the $$$ in the follow-up! Portal inquiries (e.g. Zillow), PPC-to-IDX web leads, expired listings, FSBOs, absentee owners, and NODs. Make the calls, book appointments, repeat!