How to be the “Knowledge Broker” (for REALTORS); the Housing Market is Volatile

“How’s the market?" I’d wager that’s the question you (i.e., REALTORS®) hear most often. Probably multiple times a day. Thus, it’s super important to equip yourself to answer satisfactorily.

And, in order to do that, you’ve gotta prioritize market research and study every day. You can hardly assume the title, “knowledge broker,” without knowledge.

MY ADVICE:

• Read/watch everything @keepingcurrentmatters publishes

• Utilize your MLS to analyze market-localized stats and analysis.

• Setup a Google Alert for the term, “Real Estate.”

Program it to send you a daily digest of the top-trending news articles related to the term, “real estate,” so you’re always in touch with what may be on the minds of buyers and sellers in your area. Simply visit alerts.google.com, type “real estate” into the search bar, tap, “Show options,” then, under Sources, select “News,” and finally, specify any other preferences. Once it’s configured, just watch your inbox for updates on the daily.

The real estate market is volatile. News headlines “doom-monger” about its future conditions—speculating of corrections, collapses, crashes, and so on.

Consequently, buyers and sellers in your marketplace will look/listen to the knowledge broker – and I’d sure like for that to be you. So seek to answer that question—“How’s the market?”—in your videos, your emails, and more. Be your community’s agent-authority.

4 Email Marketing Optimizations for Mobile Devices

Most of the folks are opening your email campaigns on a smartphone 📲. Case in point, HubSpot reports 41% of all email views 👀 come from mobile devices. Here’s the full breakdown:

‒ Mobile ➟ 41%

‒ Desktop ➟ 39%

‒ Tablet ➟ 19%

‒ Other ➟ 1%

On that account, here are FOUR mobile-first email marketing optimizations:

1. Keep the subject-line short and to the point. Campaign Monitor recommends a max of 41 characters. Why? Simple… It’s because your phone’s screen isn’t very wide ↔️. If your subject line exceeds the character limit, for instance, the inbox is just gonna show a generic, “•••” for whatever text doesn’t fit.

2. Make any buttons 🔘 in the content of your email easily tappable. If it’s just hyperlinked text, for instance, it could be easy for a viewer to overlook or mis-click a link. Point is, make sure any important links are easy targets for the press of a viewer’s thumb 👍

3. Use LARGE-SIZED TEXT. If you’ve got excessive line spacing or if the email is just hard to read because your font is too tiny, it’s gonna drive down the overall performance of your campaign.

4. Avoid using email templates with side-bars, columns, or any special layouts other than a single-column ↕️. Thanks to social media, we’re all used to scrolling through feeds. My thought is… Your email should function the same. If the user has to pinch-and-zoom to read your email, then—frankly—your email’s broken.

Realtors are Cost-Cutting Marketing as the Real Estate Market Adjusts (And It’s an Opportunity)

As the real estate market continues to adjust and decelerate, my opinion is that change creates chances (meaning, it presents new opportunities).

Fear and uncertainty has led far too many agents to slash their marketing budgets, essentially cost-cutting their way into “feeling safe.”

And because of decisions like that, the overall cost-per-lead on advertising platforms like Google and Facebook, for instance, has been on the decline. So… like I said:  change creates chances!

In a world where things are getting all-the-more expensive – marketing, apparently, has gone on sale (at least in some sense).

Once claimed territories and zip codes offered by third-party home search portals (like Zillow or Realtor.com) have suddenly become available.

What’s more, listing agents are pulling back on their property marketing efforts (super bad timing, if you ask me!) because, with days-on-market on the rise in some areas, they’re nervous to tie up too much cash while waiting to recoup at closing.

The point is… Lots of agents are giving up their “seats” 🪑 at the proverbial “table.” So, my thinking is, you oughta go and sit yourself down.

I’ve said it before… Fast markets, slow markets; up markets, down markets; strong markets, weak markets—no matter the market circumstances, remember—NEVER STOP MARKETING! 👊

What’s the Optimal Instagram Posting Frequency? (in 2022)

How often should you post on Instagram? Just try Googling that question and you’ll find a wide variety of answers 🙃:

• One reputable source will recommend 2-to-3 times a week.

• Another will swear you’ve gotta post at least once-a-day.

• A third source will urge you to post like 2-to-3 times a day, if you wanna grow.

So who has the right answer?

Logically, the more frequently you post (especially with Instagram Reels, for instance), the greater the total reach of your posts. That is, the more users who—whether they follow you or not—will see one or some of your posts. And, the more folks who see your content, the greater the odds of gaining new followers.

In a way, it’s like having a surplus whereby—because you “fed your followers,” so to speak—there’s still “reach” leftover for non-followers.

On the downside, however—the more often you post—you should also expect a slight reduction in the engagement rate of your respective posts.

Later Media, in fact, just did a comprehensive study on this exact topic. The loss of engagement is likely because Instagram’s algorithm—in the main Feed, especially (where your “engaged followers” are the most likely to see your posts)—tends to favor showing your most recent post. So if you’re posting like crazy, each respective post is gonna see slightly less of that action.

But don’t let that scare you into posting less. In fact, Later Media recommended that accounts with between 1,000 and 250,000 followers post, on average, 14-times a week. I’d wager that sources pretty daunting 😫. If so, I challenge to you look at your current content mix and ask FOUR questions:

1. What additional content am I missing that I should start producing?

2. How can I batch content to produce more of it in less time?

3. What existing content could I expand into multiple posts?—i.e., “slice-&-dice.”

4. What old content can I repost or repurpose?

YouTube Shorts are now Ranking in YouTube Search Results

Youtube Shorts has a leg-up on vertical-video rivals like Instagram/Facebook Reels and TikTok videos. What is it? In a word: SEARCH.

Now, I’m not saying Reels and TikToks shouldn’t remain a focal-point 🎯of your video and content strategy. I’m just saying… YouTube Shorts has something worth looking at more closely.

In its truest sense, YouTube is more of a search engine than a social network. The primary mechanism for consuming content on a social network, for instance, occurs by way of scrolling through feeds.

However, on YouTube, content is mostly discovered through search – which explains why long-form videos have historically performed so well on YouTube. It’s because if a viewer goes searching for a specific video to watch versus it just magically shows up in a feed… then, presumably, there’s a greater willingness to watch that video for longer.

Another perk of search-based video discovery is that your videos can keep on ranking in the search results for a long, long time – versus with social networks, they distribute through the feeds and then after that, they’re no more than an afterthought 💭.

Well guess what… YouTube Shorts—on desktop and mobile—are now ranking in search results pages‼️

In fact, when I look at my own channel’s performance insights, YouTube Shorts have become my most-viewed videos (without diminishing the performance of my long-form videos). What’s more, the bulk of the viewership is discovering my videos via YouTube Search—not from the Shorts feed (as would’ve been expected).

And, here’s the cherry on top 🍒:  my top-performing Shorts were posted over a year ago‼️ Search is like a fine wine 🍷 that gets better with age!

So… here’s my advice:  start making search-optimized YouTube Shorts and customers are gonna find your business.

Free PDF Download:

15 “search-ready” video titles for Youtube Shorts ⤵️

Simple Lead-Scoring Formula for Your Real Estate Leads

Lead conversion is like basketball 🏀…

For sales teams—when it comes to lead conversion—it’s essential for you and your team members to grasp where the leads “are at” in the process of buying or selling real estate.

Otherwise, you won’t know how to recognize a ready-now opportunity from a “long-shot,” so to speak. And, if enough of your leads start to look like long-shots, then your sales team may begin treating all your leads accordingly.

Think of it like this…

• Some leads are like half-court shots. You can try to close ‘em, but you’ll almost always miss. It’s better to push the ball down-court, metaphorically speaking.

• Some leads are like three-pointers. If you get an open look, go for it—but you’ve gotta have sharp skills. What’s more, you’ve gotta “follow your shot.” In other words, don’t wait to miss; instead, go after your own rebound.

• Finally, some leads are like layups:  referrals, “come-list-me” calls, and so forth. When you get yourself into a scoring position—bottom line—the ball’s 🏀 gonna find its way to you.

The question is… how can you tell where a is at in terms of their readiness to transact?

Most sales people are familiar with sales funnels—i.e., funnel-shaped visuals divided into stages that represent where a lead is at in the process of buying or selling a product or service.

The traditional sales funnel, for instance, categorizes leads into three progressive stages of intent:  awareness, consideration, and decision.

I like to call those stages:  walking, jogging, and running because I think it better conveys the intensity with which a lead is moving toward taking action.

If a lead is “running,” for instance, it demands a proportionate measure of follow-up. On the other hand, if they’re “walking,” you wouldn’t treat ‘em as if they’re “running” — and if you were to, they’d block your calls.

The point is, knowing where the lead is so you can meet them where they are… Because if you can accurately pinpoint where they are from the start (and “meet them there,” so to speak), your lead conversion is gonna skyrocket 🚀.

The question is, how do you know?

LEAD-SCORING FRAMEWORK

Welp… the answer depends on how a lead is generated. There are two fundamental factors to determine a lead’s “stage of readiness” — that is, are they walking, jogging, or running.

The first factor is…

• THE PROPOSAL - When a lead is procured—e.g. via an open house sign-in, through a website form-fill, from a personal referral, or an “out of nowhere” inbound call, for instance—it’s never random; it’s a response.
  
  Somewhere along the way the lead was presented with an offer (a “proposal”) that, depending on whether it was a high-intent or low-intent type of offer, elicited a response relative to its invitation.
  
  For example, “click here to schedule a showing” is a higher-intent offer than “click here to learn more.”
  
  Ultimately, it has to do with whether or not the lead, in response to the offer, is opting to act Independently (without you) or Dependently (with you).
  
  Requesting an automatic home valuation or setting-up a custom home search on your website, for instance, are “independent” actions whereas scheduling a consultation or calling your office directly are “dependent” actions.
  
  So… does the proposal elicit a Dependent or Independent response? That’s the first factor to scoring your lead.

The second factor is…

• THE PLACEMENT - Regardless of whether the offer was high- or low-intent, the next factor for consideration is whether or not the lead, quote-unquote, “asked” for the proposal. In other words, was it shown to them voluntarily or involuntarily?
  
  For example, did they run a Google search that triggered your ad (voluntary) or was it a Facebook ad that simply showed up in their feed (involuntary)?
  
  The point is, where (and by what means) was the “placement” of the offer? It makes a difference.

Having said all the above… here’s how you use these factors to determine where a lead “is at” in the sales process -- as in, are they walking, jogging, or running?

• Independent + Involuntary = Walking

• Independent + Voluntary = Jogging

• Dependent + Involuntary = Jogging

• Dependent + Voluntary = Running

Knowing where a lead is at is mission-critical to effective conversion — otherwise, you won’t know how to recognize a ready-now opportunity from a “long-shot.”

Why REALTORS Should Diversify Their Marketing Strategy

Marketing (all of it!) is governed by the principles of human psychology 💭. For example, there’s a psychological phenomenon known as the Frequency Illusion.

In a marketing context, if someone sees your marketing there, over there, AND there as well — across multiple channels versus only one, for instance—it forms an illusion 🤹‍♂️ that they’re seeing and experiencing your marketing more frequently than is actually the case.

Thus—from a budgeting standpoint—to put all your eggs 🥚 in one basket 🗑 is bordering on wasteful. On the flip side… by diversifying your marketing efforts you’ll foster a kind-of “economies of scale”—i.e., more bang for your buck. 🤑

When asked about this… I think, usually, people expect me to say:  “spend it here, there, or on that,” so to speak. However—by doing only ONE THING—I’d argue, it’s gonna raise your cost-per-result.

Now, I’m not saying to overspend or spread yourself too thin—that’s not my point. My point is to embrace the power⚡of multichannel marketing magic! I want you to hear, all-day, every day:  “Oh, you’re that agent—I see you everywhere!”

Every Lead Source Works – When It’s Worked Consistently

There’s no such thing as a “jackpot” lead source 🎰. The truth is, every lead source works – when it’s worked consistently.

It could be open houses, or online leads, or email marketing, or geographic farming, or social media, or database nurturing—you name it, it works!

In fact, when you look at the respective business of most top producers, there are numerous lead sources (as in, 8, 10, 12, or more) factoring into their success. Some sources will outproduce others, of course—but it’s the sum of them all that adds up.

That being said, you may see/hear a rockstar-agent on a conference stage or a podcast, perhaps, share about a singular lead source or strategy that’s been effective for them. And, while what they’re sharing is no-doubt incredible and useful, it can be easy to think that’s all the agent does to generate business. However, their success is almost always the product of multiple sources of business.

You’ve probably heard the stat that 87% of real estate agents fail in their first couple of years. I’d argue one of the dominant reasons behind the failure of those unfortunate folks is the result of “dabbling.”

For example, an agent might give a specific lead source or tactic a try, and then, unless the results are clear and immediate, the agent abandons the effort prematurely and moves on to the next idea -- when in reality, the results are (always) in the repetition. 

So here’s my advice:

A. Diversify your sources of business.

B. Don’t dabble; stay the course!

I’ve seen agents who crush it with postcards, or door-knocking, or social media, or geographic farming, or email marketing, or online leads, or whatever else. Every lead source works when it’s worked consistently.

Tactics to Attract More Instagram Followers (Who are LIKE Your Current Followers)

Wanna attract more Instagram followers who are like your current followers?

For starters, double-down on making valuable content that’s intended FOR your followers. It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the desire to grow your following, all the while failing to look after the followers you’ve already got. Thing is, if you 100% focus on adding value to your existing audience by continually publishing content “worth following,” then you’ll naturally draw a bigger crowd (i.e., more followers).

That said, there are some accounts that for one reason or another stall out growth-wise. And I know you’re thinking—that it’s gotta be the content. But not necessarily.

Sometimes it’s the product of a low engagement ratio—i.e., an account’s average number of hearts/likes relative to its follower count. Engagement ratios are a major factor Instagram evaluates in deciding whether it should suggest your account to non-followers or distribute your content in its explore feed.

Over time, accounts gain and lose followers. Some of those followers engage with your content, some don’t, and some are bots—regardless of whether you’ve ever “purchased followers.” The point is, it’s possible to fall victim to stagnation at no real fault of your own.

So… Another tactic you may consider is to try boosting your posts. Not all of them — just every so often. When you boost, by default, Instagram targets people LIKE your followers. So… if you’re making content that’s FOR your current followers, perhaps consider boosting your posts to Instagramers LIKE them. Logically, since they’re LIKE your followers, the odds are pretty solid they too will elect to follow you.

Instagram’s job, in terms of helping its users discover new accounts to follow, is to size up your page and recommend it to other Instagramers who are “like” your current followers.

So… If you’re dissatisfied with the degree to which that’s happening for you, boosting may go a long way.

Real Estate Postcard Marketing Idea: “Thumb-Mailers”

Postcard 📪 marketing most definitely has its benefits. In fact, when compared to digital campaigns, postcard campaigns reportedly require less brain-power to mentally process, they’re quantifiably more memorable, and, what’s more, they hold attention spans for longer. That said, print campaigns tend to cost more than digital alternatives. Bottom line—the point I’m trying to make—is that postcards have a place in your marketing mix.

According to UK ad-agency, JICMAIL—when primed by physical mail—people spend 30% longer viewing the sender-business’s content online. In practical application, that means folks scanned the QR-code on the postage and then spent longer on whatever web-page or video the QR-code opened.

So let’s assume you’re sending out mailers regularly to a defined geographic farm, to your database of personal contacts, or to the neighbors around your listings? Perhaps, from time-to-time, you oughta slip in what we’ve dubbed a “Thumb-Mailer.”

Basically, you’d take the thumbnail image that corresponds with a video you’ve presumably posted on YouTube, Facebook or wherever, and you’d make that image the front side of your postcard 🤯 Slap a QR-code on it that links🔗 to your video and enjoy the perks of folks watching said video for an average of 30% longer 📈. That’ll make the algorithms happy with you 😎

And one more point to mention… By using the postcard AND the video together, it’ll trigger a bit of multichannel magic✨— meaning, it’ll make a more memorable and meaningful impression with your audience.

Should Real Estate Teams Involve Team-Members in/on Social Media?

Attn. real estate team leaders:  should you involve your team-members in/on your team’s social media pages? It’s a fair question—I mean, what if a team member up and leaves?

I’ve gotta say, in my opinion, that’s just a risk of doing business. For example, check out how @FarrGroupNW goes about it.

1. They prep/plan content throughout the month and then block a day during which they film VERTICAL VIDEOS together — as a team.

2. Next, they contract a local videographer who handles all the technical aspects of the production—like setup, filming, gear, editing, an so on.—so all they have do is basically show-up and talk to the camera.

3. Finally, once the videos are edited the team utilizes the Instagram Collab feature to effectively “co-author” the videos.

With FarrGroup NW, it isn’t a so-called team page that only features its leader(s); it’s actually a team effort—and they all win together! It’s like your favorite TV show 📺 with a whole ensemble of characters.

For a long time I’ve been sharing just how important video is in terms of building your agent brand. After all, real estate is most-definitely a know-you, like-you, trust-you form of business.

Your agent-brand is, to put it simply:  YOU. Nobody does you better than you — and, in all the land of marketing, there’s nothing that puts YOU on display quite like video.

But not just you—your entire team. No team’s value or culture is defined by a single individual. Unfortunately, though, when it comes to content and social media, that’s traditionally the extent of it. Together, in my opinion, is ALWAYS better.

3 Categories of SEO-Strong Keywords for REALTORS

From an SEO standpoint, there are effectively THREE types of keywords in #realestate.

1. Name:  If you’re an agent the name of your business, for instance, is most likely just your first and last name. If you’re running a team or if you operate an office, obviously, it’d be that. The point is, if someone Googles your business name—assuming your SEO is strong—then your content and web pages oughta rank.

2. Occupation:  The second type of keyword has to do with the sort of business you conduct. So, for example:  “Realtor,” “real estate agent,” “listing agent,” etc. It describes “what” you do—your role and the function of your job.

3. Location:  Finally, there are location-based keywords that specify “where” you do business:  counties, cities, neighborhoods, and so forth.

It’s mission-critical to make good use of these keywords when representing your business online:  on your website, Google Business Profile, and social media pages, for instance. 

If you wanna get discovered by customers more frequently on Google, you’ve gotta CRUSH your keywords!

Should Realtors Publish Multilingual Content Online?—Social Media, Blogs, and More

Is it worth it to publish videos in different languages? 100%, yes!

Here’s a list of the TOP FIVE spoken languages, worldwide 🌏:

1. Chinese

2. Spanish

3. English

4. Hindi

5. Arabic

I figure you’ve got a couple of options in terms of how to go about implementing a multilingual video strategy:

• You could create standalone pages and channels across social, each customized to a particular language. If you don’t actually speak that language, you could consider hiring a voice-over translation artist. No lying, it’s gonna be a lot of extra work. I should also point out that closed-captioning and subtitling tools have come along way in terms of translation capabilities.

• You could produce “some” multilingual content—like, for example, a market update video in different languages. Maybe all that content lives on your blog OR in its own Playlist on your YouTube channel, for instance.

WHEN and HOW to Ask for Online Reviews: Google, Yelp, and more. (For Realtors)

When should Realtors ASK clients for an online review🤨:  Google, Yelp, et al.

From what I’ve observed, loads of agents wait to ask until they’re at the closing table ✍️. I don’t wanna sound hypercritical or anything, but I’d argue that’s perhaps the least-optimal time to request a review because clients tend to be fairly preoccupied with the proceedings of the closing.

The best time to ask for a review, IMO, is whenever something good happens. For example:

☑️ a ratified purchase agreement

☑️ contingency removal(s)

☑️ the clear-to-close notice

☑️ post-occupancy, after the dust has settled

Build in multiple requests as part of your transaction-to-close process! As the saying goes:  “If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again!”

And it isn’t just WHEN you ask – it’s HOW you ask.

Most agents simply send out a one-off email 📧 with a link to leave a review 💬. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough! You may get some reviews but  not as many as possible (IMO). Even if it’s the best-written, warmest email ever — a lone email isn’t gonna cut it. Try, for example, accompanying that email with a text message. Something like…

“{NAME}, it’s Jason Pantana. I just sent you an email requesting a review on {PLATFORM]. It’s been truly wonderful working with you and I’d be grateful to hear your feedback about the experience. Will you take a look at that email when you get a free moment, please? Thanks in advance!”

Sending a coinciding text, DM, video message, or even a handwritten note or card with your email casts a spell of multichannel magic ✨—thereby upping the odds of request performance.

Getting online reviews is well worth the effort (IMO). REVIEWS = REPUTATION.

How (and Why) to Repurpose Social Media Posts on Your Blog

A post on social media (Instagram, Facebook, et al.) has approximately the lifespan of a fruit-fly. It circulates through the feeds for about a day and then abruptly keels over into content oblivion. The fact is, producing and sharing content on a consistent basis is most definitely a grind. 

But here me out:  SEO is social media afterlife 😇—it’s the difference between SEARCH vs. SCROLL.

So why not repurpose your social posts as blogs on your website?

Last year, for instance, I published an Instagram Reel that, for all intents and purposes, did well in the feeds. Nevertheless, let’s not forget it was just a fruit-fly—so it flatlined in a day or two. However, the respective blog-post is generating roughly 2,000 - 3,000 clicks per month from related Google searches ever since. Every month Google sends me its Search Console report, and there’s that fruit-fly, transformed in a dragon.🐲

What if Your Google Business Profile’s Physical Address is OUTSIDE Your Service Area?

What if your physical mailing address 📍 of your #GoogleBusinessProfile is outside the area(s) you conduct business?—will that impede your ranking position in Google Search and/or Google Maps?

Google offers what’s known as a “service-area based business.” Basically, it’s a GBP with no physical address. Instead, it specifies area(s)—like zip codes, cities, counties, etc.—in which one conducts business.

That’s a fine option IF all your competitors also operate service-area-only businesses. Unfortunately, in real estate, that’s definitely not the case.

Having (and listing) a verified address in the CITY whereby or wherefore the “Googler” is searching gives you a major algorithmic edge. What’s more, Google evaluates your address proximate to the prospective customer’s point of search – so it pays to be nearby.

Anybody can specify service areas on their GBP—whether they have a physical address or not. But doing so is effectively superficial. Service areas don’t have any direct impact on improving a profile’s discoverability across Google’s products. They do however, provide two major benefits:

1. Google will map-overlay a shaded outline that defines where you do business. So if a customer does manage pull up your profile on Google, your service areas will help to give them a sense visually about whether or not you work in their territory.

2. When it comes to ranking factors, Google DOES analyze whether or not a GBP has been totally filled out. That includes ALL informational fields, which, of course, takes service areas into account. Service areas alone don’t really give you any extra Google juice, so to speak—however, a failure to include them takes some away.

Do This When Your Videos Aren't Performing

If you’re posting videos consistently and it’s not working… let’s talk!

In particular, I want to explore TWO scenarios:

A. Your videos were performing but now they’re not. If you’ve noticed a steady decline in the reach, views, and engagement of your videos, it’s likely an indicator that it’s time to revise your approach – and/or devise a new one altogether.

B. Your videos have yet to perform. If you’ve been posting videos consistently and you know for certain you’re publishing quality content, my advice is to stay the course.

Obviously, ensure you’re optimizing your content properly: e.g. hashtags, caption text, location tags, cover images, working your comments thread, utilizing trending audio/sounds, and all the stops. Beyond that, however, keep in mind that it’s the algorithm’s job to assess your content and recommend it to users whose interests align. Granted, I’m oversimplifying here—but the point stands to reason.

Your ideal audience is out there. So just keep posting videos—keep feeding the machine—and eventually, that recommendation engine will ignite.

Why Your Instagram Follower Growth and/or Engagement Rate Has Become Stagnant

If the growth of your Instagram followers is sluggish or stagnant OR if your posts are garnering LOW-TO-NO engagement (e.g. views, likes, comments, etc.) – then hear me out.

When it comes to social media… what you FOCUS on e-x-p-a-n-d-s.

Any and every social algorithm out there—Instagram or whatever—looks to establish patterns of interaction. So by commenting, liking, and messaging with others, it’s actually priming the algorithm to prioritize your posts in their feeds. Call it the law of reciprocity!

How to Manage Missing, Removed, and/or Filtered Google Reviews

#GoogleReviews gone missing or hidden⁉️ Turns out, Google reportedly—per a recent Uberall study—reigns supreme in terms of having the highest percentage of “unauthentic” reviews. Revel in your glory, Google 🫠

Here’s the breakdown:

• Google:  10.7% of reviews are fake

• Yelp:  7.1% of reviews are phony

• TripAdvisor:  5.2% of reviews are artificial

• Facebook:  4.9% of reviews are bogus

Consequently, Google’s intensified the, quote-unquote, “strictness” of its automated review filter.

So, of course, the natural solution is to punish the innocent by un-publishing perfectly legit reviews. Right!? Meanwhile, prank reviews or fake-account haters continue to operate seemingly unchecked. 

Although, in fairness, Google appears to be aware of this issue and has offered assurance that they’re “working on it.”

Notwithstanding, here are a couple of checks to hopefully reduce the odds of your customers’ reviews getting removed:

1. Don’t designate that your business offers free Wi-Fi on your Google Business Profile. It seems Google is able to detect whether the IP address of the machine you access to manage your business listing matches-up with that of your customers’ devices when they submitted their reviews. The thought is that it could make any outside networks (i.e, IPs) looks spammy—or, more likely—that it appears as though you’ve basically setup a “review-collecting booth” on site at your business, which is a policy violation.

2. Be wary of soliciting for out-of-area reviews. If a reviewer’s recent locations, for instance, doesn’t reflect that they’ve visited anywhere proximate to your business address, it could raise a flag. Moreover, if their detected location at the time of leaving the review is WAY out of range of your business, that also looks rather suspect—so try to avoid it.

If a legitimate review fails to publish or get’s filtered from your Google Business Profile (formerly dubbed, Google My Business), your best recourse for the time being is to submit a claim ticket.

• Google’s review policies

• Google support contact

The Most Important Question About Your Real Estate Business

What do you sell?

That may sound like an overly simplified question, but it’s foundational to EVERYTHING you do: sales activities, marketing efforts, and the total operating scope of your business.

I can tell you this: you don’t sell homes (per se)—or, at least, that’s not what consumers, quote-unquote, “buy from you.” Fundamentally, you’re hired on the grounds of your expertise-- and the means by which you impart your expertise.

And, the thing is, expertise is dynamic and undefined—it’s merely a label used to describe competence. So perhaps you’re the economics guru, the lifestyle guru, or the investment guru in your local marketplace. Whatever and/or whoever you are, one thing I know for sure: nobody does you better than Y-O-U.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – your AGENT-BRAND is:

• your Voice

• your Mind

• your Heart

• your Face