Have you thought about using WordPress as your main real estate website or blog? Are you concerned about not having the lead capture forms and automated contact management system built in? Well, I might have a solution for you!

I recently moved my real estate virtual assistant website from a standard site, and jumped in and got my own WordPress blog/website combo. I don’t have the need for as many lead capture points on my site, but I decided that I DID need to do a better job at collecting visitor information, needs, wants, and I wanted a way to streamline the process, build my relationships, as well as build in some email marketing capabilities which I hope to add into my action plans as well. I’m no web designer/guru and I didn’t want to spend a ton more money on another CRM solution.

In looking over my options I quickly made the realization that there aren’t an outstanding number of real estate CRM systems that are quite equipped to handle many of the things traditional real estate websites do, it takes some extra additions. For example the challenges might be:

1. Adding lead capture forms to your blog that include What’s Your Home’s Value, Dream Home Finder, Market Stat Reports, or your Company newsletter/new listing alerts
2. Converting seller/buyer leads from your website to add to Top Producer or Outlook (requires manual input)
3. Based on contact type you have to input the contact info to your drip campaign, e-newsletter etc.

Before you know it, you are managing multiple accounts for your website and blog etc. That is not streamlining! So, here is the most affordable solution I have found so far, and will be adding it to my online business management systems. By using the user-friendly system Batchbook I can create a customizable CRM powerhouse for my business.

For $9.95 per month I have the ability to:

• Create customizable lead capture forms that AUTOMATICALLY are added to my contact management list for that form. (no need to add it to another system).
• Automatically create and send email marketing campaigns through my Mail Chimp account (Mail Chimp is free up to 5000 emails a month, with upgradable accounts).
• Track communications of my contacts and create TO DO lists.
• Import and Export my Outlook and Gmail contacts.
• Enter information such as Twitter usernames, Twitter feeds, blog feeds and LinkedIn profile URLs (plus many others!) on a contact record.
• Log emails, phone call notes, or any other communications with your contacts.
• Use a list to easily generate mailing labels, export, or back up your data or create customized, printable reports from your contact data. Use these reports to generate call lists, add to presentations or to take notes when you’re traveling, in the field, or working off-line.
• Super-Tag your contact types so you can easily sort them by birthday month, anniversary, buyer, seller, past client etc.
• Have your emails delivered to your mobile iphone, Blackberry or smartphone with the email forwarding so you never miss an email from a lead.

If you are thinking about your current CRM system, or need something to enhance your WordPress blog or website, (or another web platform) and need a great way to streamline, I definitely recommend taking a look at Batchbook. (and check out my sleek capture form below as an example..its easier than adding a widget!)

So I drove home from my second experience at RE Bar Camp in San Francisco with a bit of urgency..after experiencing some amazing sessions! When I walked out of Trulia Headquarters, I realized what I walked away with was not just “ideas” or “new technology” or “tips”..I walked away with some “in your face” implementation tactics that can be used NOW!

If you could take steps right now to increase your leads, increase conversion, streamline your website and your Social Media strategies, and actually track your ROI, I know you would feel the urgency I feel as well. So here goes: My brain dump from my experience from RE Bar Camp San Francisco.

Why Your Website is Failing..Creating a Website that Works

by Jim Marks of Virtual Results

After studying the statistics of what consumers are clicking on there are some clear standout strategies that you can take now on your website to give the consumer what they want. The basic concept that you all must be considering is the difference between Traffic Conversion vs. Branding.

If your website is all about you, then you are not giving consumers what they want. They don’t care about you, they don’t care how many designations you have and what they stand for. They Want LISTINGS! They want Information! According to statistics of what consumers click on the most, here are the Top 4 things to do on your website right now to increase traffic and conversions;

• LISTINGS- Your Home page biggest feature should be “FIND YOUR HOME” “call to action” with a basic MLS/IDX function right there. Don’t make consumers look for it, give it to them by framing it into your home page. (DON’T call it “Search the MLS“, as only 17% if consumers actually know what the MLS is”) You can have different levels of search functions. An example would be to have limited basic photos and details, before asking them to sign up or add their email.

• MARKET REPORTS- Let your consumers know how the local market is doing? What are the stats? Put this info in layman’s terms so that they understand what those stats mean to THEM. What is the information per neighborhood or development? They want to know what their neighbors house sold for and why?

• WHAT IS MY HOME WORTH? Another popular call to action is offering a CMA so that they can find out for free what their home is worth? Convert these leads by giving them something of value! A free Market Report, a Community Newsletter are some ideas. (ok I added that in…)

• Add YOUR BLOG TO YOUR WEBSITE- How many of you have a static website, and separate blog? That is SO 2006!!! Your Blog IS YOUR BRANDING! Remember how putting your dog on your home page was all the rage?? NO more! Your blog needs to be incorporated in your website, and it is there that you are free to share your voice, your personality, your photos..but remember to remain an authority on your community and balance your branding and flair with relevant information for your consumers! Even if your only blog is on ActiveRain, get it into your website!

Edutizing an Agent Population by Matt Dollinger

Learning to be a Local Expert does NOT just have to come from your experience or out of your head. It come from real life, in the moment information. And sometimes being the first to get that information out, makes you the front runner in being THE Authority in your market. So think about how you get that information and streamline the process so that your are getting relevant information for your consumers and your market. Some must have tools to have in your arsenal are:

• Use Google Reader: Grab your favorite RSS feeds from blogs, online newspapers, real estate outlets and craft your information to give the consumers what they are looking for.
• AGENT Metrics:
• OutsideIn.com
• MetroMix , YELP
  
• Local Photos, FLICKR
• Education.com, GreatSchools.net

Next, you must find out the correct delivery of this information for you target consumer. Do they hang out on Facebook? Do they respond to video media? Are they on Twitter? Are they Blog Followers? What is that they want the most?

You may need to do some experimenting to find this out, but here are some thoughts:

Have a 30 Day Facebook Campaign, a 30 Day Twitter Campaign etc. For 30 days track your statistics of how many people are clicking on your links, referring back to your website etc. Spend 30 minutes a day pushing the information out there and see where most of your hits come from. Then you will know what works and what doesn’t. Keep your 30 Day campaigns separate so you can track them accurately. But once you know, you can create an even better strategy for getting you information out there so they can devour it from their expert! (you can track your links with various link shorteners, like BUDURL.com and others.)

Ask yourself these questions on an ongoing basis:

What did I learn?
How was it received?
What medium is better in my market?
Was the topic valuable?
How could I make this more effective?

Implementation is sometimes the hardest thing in real estate! What many of you may feel you need is a start-up plan to help you start implementing the strategies that you learn along the way. As fast as things change in RE Tech and Web 2.0 we just can’t afford to sit and figure out HOW, when we just need to DO it!

This was just a taste of what I learned at RE Bar Camp SF..hopefully I can write more later, but I’m still wrapping my brain around it all!  It is an awesome event!

It was so great to finally meet IRL, ACTIVE Brad Andersohn, Gena Riede, Calie Waterhouse, Heather Elias, Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Rocky Turner, Mike Mueller, Dale Chumbley, Kristal Kraft, Sandra Mathewson and see again all the friends from RE Bar Camp LA.

Special thanks to:

Andy Kaufman, Ginger Wilcox, Todd Carpenter, Brad Coy and Rudy Bachraty

OK, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am on a quest to learn more about all of these video trends that are taking off in real estate, because frankly I only see it becoming more and more valuable to our businesses. As a real estate virtual assistant, I’m always trying to keep myself educated so that I’m trained to provide the best assistance when new trends are arriving on our doorstep, so that we can assist agents, and free up their time.

The video file formats can be a bit daunting, as they are all different. We have video from our cell phones, digital cameras, flip-videos, iMovies, webinars, downloaded from and to Youtube, our blogs etc, iPods, iPhones, and other video devices. To be able to use these files on the platforms that are most useful to our businesses, there will come a time when one format needs to be converted to another, especially MPEG 4.

Well, I stumbled upon a program that will allow even video newbies to convert almost any video format to another, and its called ANY VIDEO CONVERTER…great name huh?

To quote their website:

Any Video Converter (for PC) features include:

* User-friendly interface that is easy to use.
* Converts all video formats to Apple iPod Video, Sony PSP and more
* Batch convert any video formats including avi, wmv, asf, mpg, mp4, etc.
* Support DivX and Xvid avi format as importing and exporting video
* Support default video/audio settings or user customized parameters for video and audio.
* Has the option to preview the video in real-time before conversion .
* World’s fastest video conversion speed with stunning video and audio quality.
* Supports adjust many video/audio options for MP4 files. For example, video/audio sample rate, bit rate, video size…

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around most of this, but this FREE program is a good place to start, and is a good tool to bookmark for future reference…as you may need it:)

Oh, yes…and for the MAC users out there(you know who you are;)…here ya go: There is an AVC for MAC!

Laura Monroe | Real Estate Virtual Assistant | Copyright 2008

NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT! Remember that deodorant commercial?  It can be applied to so many areas in our businesses, you can’t help but relate to it.  I have to say that one of the many benefits of being a real estate virtual assistant, and owning my business is that I get to partner up with agents at all different levels in their businesses. From Top Producers, new agents and teams the challenges are as different as the individuals themselves. But sometimes, I see them sweat.

One recurring theme that often pops up when considering options in an agent’s marketing efforts is the overwhelming amount of vendors and choices to be made. Branding yourself, as we all know is extremely important. But with so many options in direct mail, email marketing, property marketing pieces is your branding really consistent, or do you often change mid-stream only to start over because you have found something better..? Or do you start over because a competitor has better looking marketing pieces or logo…? Has your franchise been pushing one way to do things, but you feel your way is better?

Stop the madness, and stop second guessing yourself! It is far better to develop your branding and marketing by starting small, consistent and top-notch, then to go to every vendor in the world to get as many marketing pieces out as possible, only to change your mind. Second guessing your marketing efforts will cost you more money and more business in the long run. How can you stop this madness of second guesses, and create your image and branding that will carry you to your next transaction, and to the referral after that..? How can you track your ROI on your marketing efforts to find out what is working or not working..?

This is where a real estate virtual assistant can be a huge help! Navigating the sea of real estate vendors is one of the things that VA’s do best. We know what works, what doesn’t work, what’s in and what’s out. We can help you navigate through the options to develop a system, an image, a brand that will consistently grow your brand and your name, and we can track your ROI to make sure you are getting your money’s worth from your choices. If you haven’t yet gotten comfortable with a CRM lead/database management system that works for you, your real estate virtual assistant can guide you to a system that may work for you and your work style. Not only that, but your real estate VA has probably used to some extent or another many of the programs and vendors out there, and may or may not have to be trained.

Get your image and branding to the level you want, keep it consistent, keep it top-notch, and whatever you do….keep it! Let your real estate VA help you stay on the path you have created for success. If you are second guessing yourself, your potential clients are too! And remember…never let them see you sweat.