R TEAM

Another Reason to Contact Your Past Clients

I promote offering an Annual Mortgage Review to my clients...in fact, I take it a step further, I'm offering to adopt mortgages.   Adopting a mortgage means that I'm going to review a home owners mortgage that I did not originate.   9 times out of 10, this does not result in a transaction--it does result in adding someone to my data base who trusts me because I provided a free service of value to them.   My annual mortgage review includes:

• review of their current mortgage (ideally reading their Note).  Many home owners do not know the terms of their mortgage, especially if it's an adjustable rate mortgage.
• review of their credit report with advice if there is room to improve their credit scores.
• review of their financial goals to make sure their current mortgage still suits their needs along with a comparison of their existing mortgage to current products (these days, odds are their existing mortgage is better than current rates).
• property profile from my preferred title company (this is where you could come in!)

I encourage you to contact your past clients to see if they are interested in an updated Market Analysis.  Most home owners are lost right now when it comes to estimated the value of their homes and do have questions about it.  This is another opportunity to reach out to your clients -- even if the news isn't good.  I think it's important to show that we are there for our clients during all times of market cycles.   

I'm happy to adopt your client's mortgages in Washington State if their loan originator is no longer in this business (many are and will continue to leave).

Leaving a Digital Footprint

This should have been posted on July 23, 2008 with the others from Bloggers Connect...Typepad Mobile was having issues.   Without further ado, here are my notes from "Leaving a Digital Footprint".

Participate in social media and social networks like linked in, twitter and facebook.

comment on blogs and regional real estate on-line news articles (such as Seattle PI or Seattle Times) when they allow you to leave your email/website as a link for your signature.

leave a trail of bread crumbs on the internet back to your blog.

broadcast mainstream media is merging with blogging.

your blog needs to be your starting point/home base for your digital footprint.

Recommendations from the panel of one social media:

• Rudy Bachraty III - Trulia Voices (of course!) and Facebook.  He suggests that you seek out people you went to school with just to "say hi".
• Pat Kitano - Twitter.  Find RE pros who are twittering and follow them (you just click follow on their main twitter page) to watch their conversations, news and links.  You may not understand twitter at first, but you will... Rudy adds that you should use twitter to follow local consumers (you can search terms, cities, etc.).
• Jay Thompson recommends LinkedIn to expand  your social network and connect with previous co-workers (prior to your real estate career).  He also suggest checking out www.meetup.com.
• David Gibbons recommends having a profile on Zillow and answer questions in formats like Zillow...and Craigslists.

Yelp rates real estate agents.

David G wisely suggests that when you feel your blood pressure rising (during comments), don't leave a comment on a blog...walk away, take a break and see if you still feel the same way in an hour.  Your comments remain on the blog/internet and one day, someone could google you and find your comments.

Jay says the internet never forgets.

Rudy says that if comments get too heated, send a personal note/email or pick up the phone and give that person a call.

Use Google alerts to manage your on-line reputation.

subscribe to the posts you have commented on so you can stay involved with the conversation if you want to and in the event that someone after your comment has a specific question/comment for you.   Check out coco.mment.com

Twitter is used to promote blog post.

Rudy will use the Q&A on LinkedIn to research content.

friendfeed.com

use retaggr.com to keep all of your social networks together. [Check out my retaggr badge on this blog].

David G invites you to take your top 10 blog posts and create a "top 10" on Zillow.

get local.

outside.in to see local conversations.

Growing Pains - Take Your Blog to the Next Level

To determine your 'next level' you must define your goals. Is it more content, exposure, authority, comments, leads, SEO etc.

YEO instead of SEO.
Y-ou
E-ngaging
O-thers

you getting out into the community physically.

engage others to participate to your blog. if they are not willing to write -- interview them. they will forward the post to peers.

Dustin Luther is doing Rain City Radio with interviews of local blogs and local people. they promote that they are going to be on the radio (live podcasts) before and after the event.

Nicole Nicolay says instead of posting school stats interview the Principal and find the school needs...write about it.

more content equals more exposure.

Dustin will look to see how people found RCG by reviewing the google terms and writing a post about it.

don't be afraid to have a home seach tool on site. be sure to have your name and number on site.

Blogging Pitfalls-How NOT to Get Sued

Russ Cofano says if you are using copy and paste to create a post that you are in jeopardy of copyright. presume content has copyrights and ask the blog owner if you have permission to use.

Fair use is not a right-its a defence for copyright infringement.

Photos and videos has more protection than text.

Todd Carpenter recommends that you just do a quick post with a link to the original post instead of copying a post you like.

Ardell trains commenters by ammending comments if they have cuss words. she also will not name companies. she stays neurtral.

Russ says that if you 'monkey' with comments that you could be in jeopardy based on the Interactive Content Provider.

Todd will delete comments if they are just based on rumor or are not appropriate.

be professional...don't be a jerk...you are not John Scussel.

Live from Inman cont...

Case Study-How Four Bloggers are Closing Sales moderated by Jay Thompson

Examples of actual business received from the blog.

Linda Davis had a client select her because they liked a post she did about her cat.

Teresa Boardman receives clients from a post she did on satalite dishes on condos.

Laurie Manny has clients who say "I have been reading you since...."

Mary Pope-Handy writes about her neighborhood. when she had to take time off for her family, her blog carried her business.

Clients may not comment on your blog.

Laurie found at one time in her career she was working with not the type of client she prefers. She decides what types of clients she wants to attract and targets that in her writings. she is currently targeting buyers instead of listings.

Mary is targeing "the sweet spot" which is approx 1-2 mil in her town where the highest listings are around 18 mil. she promotes "helping nice folks buy and sell homes".

if you write about foreclosures you'll attract foreclosures. if you write about luxiry homes, you'll attract luxury homes...don't write about what you don't want.

Linda blogs about an hour a day (more on weekends) and does a weekly update of the RE community, on Friday she features a photo and her assistant may write a guest post.

Mary writes about her town of Los Gatos including reviews of local shops oe services and photos of the town. people fall in love with her town and learn more about it from her blog. she is attracting a lot of relo business.

Teresa recommends taking pictures and posting the. [NOTE: watch for a follow up post on flicker].

Linda recommends that you write true to yourself. your blog needs to show your personality so consumers know who you are...for the same reason you shouldn't use a photo that doesn't look like them.

Find something you enjoy writing about.

Live Notes from Bloggers Connect

I am currently listening to Creating Content that Hooks Readers moderated by Kris Berg.

*write what you enjoy and have a passion about. if you are laboring to write, it will show.

*be conversational instead of preachy.

*your blog is a live billboard about you. It shows your personality and people will do business with who they like.

*talk about success stories. even in this market, they are out there.

*ask your clients why they selected you. what they liked and didn't like...and write from that to attract other buyers like them.

*use your assistant to proof read your post...not to write your post. use spell checker.

*content for blog posts may start as a sentence or idea that is saved and added to as your ideas evolve.

*read 4 times as much as you write. Comment on other blogs...stay away from commenting on local competitors blogs...it gets too political.

*embed surveys into your blog to draw readers back www.woofoo.com

Posted live by my Treo.

OMG! A Huge Success on my Neighborhood Blog

This is so easy and fun...you're not going to believe me.  On my neighborhood blog, I just started doing "Pet of the Week".  I didn't do a mailer...I just happen to take a photo of a neighbor's notorious dog and declared him "Pet of the Week" with an offer for other neighbors to submit their local pets for this big honor...well the photos are rolling in and I'm having to schedule out "Pets of the Week" in advance!   Should the pet photo submissions begin to slow...I have 3 cats and one old pug of my own to submit...but I'm thinking they're going to have to wait based on the line up I have thus far.

Cheesy?  Goofy?  Fun?  YOU BET!  Guess what...it also means my neighbors are reading my blog and are probably telling their friends and family that Fluffy is on the internet.   

Yep...I see your wheels going now.

What Exactly Is Twitter?

One of the terrific real estate agents I work with must have just read my newsletter and asks this question:

Rhonda, What exactly is TWITTER?

First, visit my Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mortgageporter to get a quick visual and to see how I use it (not saying I'm right or this is the only way to use Twitter...just how it's worked for me).

Wikipedia explains Twitter as:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as tweets) which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

In my R TEAM Newsletter, that I just emailed a few moments ago, I explain how I use Twitter to promote my business and keep clients informed of current rate and mortgage trends.   I encourgage borrowers, when I first meet them, the check out my Twitter if they are interested in following rates.

Lots of news media, including the Seattle PI are using Twitter to get their info out quicker to readers.  In fact, Tracy from West Seattle Blog recently said during our Rain City Radio interview that she's getting a lot of her news from Twitter now.  It's more than just a social fun gizmo.

Consider it a quick "text" blog of what you're doing.  I signed up for a Twitter account months before I actually used it.  I saw a lot of "goofy-ness" to it, which of course, still exists.   The point is in how YOU want to use it.   

Not only can you post 140 symbols of "what you're doing" now (which is what Twitter is intended for), you can also use to to send messages to others who have a Twitter page.  You can send a message to @mortgageporter and I'll be copied to it.  Even if you said something along the lines of: 

Looking forward to meeting @mortgageporter next week!

This shows up under my "Replies" tab. 

It's a "new media" way to promote you and  your business.  Here are some local RE Twits:

We'll start with me!

Jason Mook

Sandy Kaduce

Ben Kakimoto

Larry Cragun

Diane Tuman

Drew Meyers

Jim Reppond

Ardell

Rich Jacobsen

Jillayne Schlicke

I know there's more "local" Twitter-er's out there!  Did I forget you?  Please let me know...and if you sign up for Twitter (it's free and easy to do), please "follow me"!

Want more?  Here are other articles I've written about Twitter.  Better yet, dive in and give it a try!

How to Fix the Long Web Site Addresses

Have you ever commented on a post or email for reference and wondered how to make a big long obtrusive web link shorter?  I use Tiny URL.   Tiny URL (www.tinyurl.com) takes your long web addresses (url's) and converts them to smaller ones.   It's presto magic!  What's really cool is that recently, Tiny URL has added a new feature to where you can decide what your tiny url address will be.  (Before, it was their assigned code).

For example, if I wanted to use a link on for this article you can find in the Seattle PI: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/369902_interest08.html  I would do this:

1. Copy the link to the article from my browser
2. Go to www.tinyurl.com
3. Paste the long web address into the blank box (it's real easy to figure out on their site).
4. Enter what you would like the address to be (remember, the idea is to keep it short).
5. Click the "Make TinyURL" button
6. Copy and paste your cute, petite URL

Voila: http://tinyurl.com/buynowSeattle

Both links will take you to the same place except, the tiny link is better and you have some control (except for the tinyurl.com portion) of controlling what it is called.   This is especially useful for your Twitter comments where you are only allowed 140 characters per post.

10/24/2008 UPDATE:  I now prefer www.budurl.com over tinyurl.com... why?  At this time, www.budurl.com provides tracking information.  You can see how many clicks you received on the long web address you shrank.  I'm just trying this out...so if I change my mind, I'll let you know.  For now, I think it's pretty sweet!

Great Way to Improve Your Typepad "About" Page

I don't know how to write html computer codes...one day, in my spare time, perhaps I'll take a class.   It looks like you might need to know how to be a computer wiz if you don't want to use the Typepad format for their "About" page.   There's nothing terribly wrong with it...it's just a little inflexible as far as where photos and links go.

Your "About" page is important because it's...well...about YOU.  Here is the place to provide your background information and to explain or compel your readers to work with you.   It also should have all your contact info as well.   

I recently made an "ah-ha" discovery when it dawned on me that I can simply use a plain ol' Typepad "page" (not a post, although that could work too) in lieu of their "About Page".   I simply created a new page and titled it "About Rhonda" including photos and my background info as I want it to be.   

My about page BEFORE (you can click this link to see "my old about" however, I may not keep it live for long):

My About Page AFTER (how it is currently):

To "turn off" your old about page, you'll need to do the following:

1. Go to Design
2. Click Content Selection
3. Unselect "About Me"
4. Republish website.

After creating and saving your new (flexible) About Me page, you will need to do the following:

1. Create new Page
2. Save and publish new About Me page
3. Copy the URL for the new page
4. Go to Typelists (green tabs)
5. Select Create a New Typelist
6. Select Links (for the type of typelist)
7. Enter your About Me typelist as:  <!--AboutME-->
8. Paste your About Me URL into the URL section
9. Enter your title as "About [Your Name]" or what ever you want to call it.
10. Select the blogs you want to publish it that you have with Typepad.
11. Rearrange your content to where you would like your About Me link to be.  I like having mine right under my big head on my blog.

I have noticed that my About Me page is being viewed more often than my old "about" page.  It really was just called "About" and was in a fine font.  The new "About Rhonda Porter" is much easier to find.

Hoorah!